Silverstone Classic 2018: America's endurance icons and 50 years of the Ferrari Daytona

The spirit of America’s most famous sports car race will infiltrate the home of British Motor Sport on July 21, when the Silverstone Classic pays tribute to the Daytona 24 Hours.

Silverstone is now firmly established as host of the world’s biggest historic motor racing festival and this year’s Classic features “Daytona at Dusk”, three evening races that show off many cars that have competed at Daytona since it added a 24-hour event to its annual roster in 1966. It has since become one of the world’s three most significant such races, alongside Le Mans (the 86th edition of which took place on Saturday) and the Sebring 12 Hours.

Daytona’s motor sporting pedigree stretches back much further, of course. In March 1927, Henry Segrave became the first man to set a world land speed record at more than 200mph, recording 203.79mph on Daytona Beach… and by 1935 Sir Malcolm Campbell had raised the bar to 276.82mph. Visitors to the area can trace their record-breaking wheel tracks today, although the speed limit is set at 10mph and tends to be rigorously enforced.

It was in 1948 that Daytona Beach hosted its first conventional race, forerunner to what became America’s blue-riband Nascar stock car series. When the event outgrew its humble origins, a two-and-a-half-mile, purpose-built banked oval – the Daytona International Speedway – was constructed a few miles inland. Today this is home to both the annual 24-hour enduro and the Daytona 500, still the biggest event on the Nascar schedule, and there are different circuit configurations to accommodate both. The sports car course includes parts of the banked circuit linked by an intricate infield section.

“Daytona has been deified by motorsport followers in Britain since the days of Segrave and Campbell,” says Nick Wigley, the Silverstone Classic organiser, “so we’re delighted to be celebrating its incredible heritage. The 24 Hours is an epic challenge that is now revered alongside Le Mans as one of the greatest endurance tests in global sports car racing.”

Many of motor racing’s biggest names have conquered Daytona, including Pedro Rodríguez, Jo Siffert, Brian Redman, Vic Elford, Hurley Haywood, A J Foyt, Derek Bell and Juan Pablo Montoya. Concluding a full day of historical competition, Silverstone’s three Daytona-themed races: the International Trophy for Classic GT Cars (pre ’66), The Yokohama Trophy for FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship and new Masters Endurance Legends series, will feature coveted classics such as AC Cobras, Lola T70s, Ford GT40s (an example of which won the first Daytona 24 Hours, in the hands of Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby), Porsche 911s and Dodge Vipers, as well as many sports-prototypes. New for 2018, Masters Endurance Legends admits cars that competed in front-line endurance races from 1995-2012, so much of the technology is relatively fresh.

And some of the drivers will be every bit as familiar as the cars, not least ­serial Olympic cycling gold medallist, Sir Chris Hoy. Having added four-wheeled racing to his portfolio some years ago (he ­describes himself as “a keen amateur with a serious passion”), Hoy fulfilled a long-standing dream in 2016 when he entered (and finished) the Le Mans 24 Hours.

“I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never previously been to the Classic,” says Hoy, 42, “but everyone keeps telling me I’ll love every minute. I was genuinely expecting to find myself in something like a Mini, which would have been fun, but I’ll be in a serious bit of kit – a proper racing car with a bit of downforce. It’s going to be fantastic.”

He’ll be contesting the Endurance Legends race at the helm of a Courage LC75 sports-prototype that appeared at Le Mans in 2007, when future Formula One racer Vitaly Petrov was among its drivers, although transmission problems forced its retirement after 198 laps. The Daytona theme isn’t limited to activities on the circuit. It’s a tradition for the Silverstone Classic to celebrate key automotive milestones – and this year that includes the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 “Daytona”.

This distinctive front-engined V12 grand tourer is said to have been given its illustrious nickname in honour of the marque’s top-three clean sweep at Daytona in 1967, when the factory-entered 330 P4s of Chris Amon/Lorenzo Bandini and Mike Parkes/Lodovico Scarfiotti led home the 412P of Pedro Rodríguez/Jean Guichet. Appropriately, the 365 GTB/4 went on to perform well on the track after which it was named, finishing a class-winning second overall at the 24 Hours in both 1973 (François Migault/Milt Minter) and 1979 (John Morton/Tony Adamowicz).

Silverstone has two paddocks, at opposite ends of the circuit, and both will be in use. There is no extra admission charge and members of the public are welcome to enter and pore over the 1,000-plus entries. And once the sound of internal combustion fades, visitors can remain on site to watch Saturday evening’s concert. It is headlined by UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey, who originally formed in 1979 and thus predate many of the competing cars.

Full details at silverstoneclassic.com; Simon Arron is features editor of Motor Sport magazine. Founded in 1924, it is the world’s oldest motor racing magazine.