MORE RACING AND RALLY LEGENDS ADDED TO RACE RETRO LINE UP

March 4, 2008 | Filed under: Classic News | Posted by:
Race Retro, the international historic motorsport show, has added more racing and rally legends to its amazing line up when the doors open from the 14th to 16th March at Stoneleigh Park. Racing drivers Tim Parnell, Richard Attwood, Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams and Willy Green will be making appearances along with rally drivers and co-drivers Rosemary Smith, Paddy Hopkirk, Nicky Grist and Mike Wood. Driver Tim began in motorsport as a mechanic to his father Reg Parnell and didn’t start racing until 1957 in the Cooper-Climax 1100 Sports car. When he retired from racing in 1963, he moved into motorsport management and was the BRM Team and Works Manager from 1966 to 1975. Richard also started his career out of the driving seat as an apprentice at sports car manufacturer Jaguar. He started racing in 1960 at the wheel of a Triumph TR3 and went one to drive with the BRM, Lotus and Cooper Formula One teams. The female star of the highly successful Rootes Rally Team, Rosemary Smith will also be appearing. During the 60s, Rosemary was an icon to an army of fans of the sport and won countless awards during this time. As did Paddy, who is best remembered for winning the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally with Henry Liddon in a Mini Cooper S. His victory sheet spans from 1955 at 1990. Rally co-driver Nicky Grist is most closely associated with the late Colin McRae, for whom he was co-driver between 1997 and 2002 in the World Rally Championship as well as Colin’s final three WRC events in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Nicky has founded the Nicky Grist Co-Driver Academy to help young co-drivers wishing to make an impact in the sport. He is also involved with Nicky Grist Motorsports Ltd, a business which sells motorsport products and has a stand at the show. These names will join Markku Alen, Bjorn Waldegard and Russell Brookes in signing autographs as well as demonstrating their skills on the Live Rally Stage in the Park. Motorcycle racers attending include Phil Read MBE, John ‘Moon Eyes’ Cooper, Charlie Williams, Frank Perris and Chris Vincent as well as the Yamaha Classic Racing Team members Rob Gould, Dieter Braun and Ferry Brouer. Eight times motorcycle GP World Champion Phil Read and his works Yamaha machines won 250cc World Championship titles in 1964, 1965, and 1968. For the earlier part of the 1960s, Frank Perris led the Suzuki works team assault against the rival Japanese manufacturers, taking 125 GP wins at Suzuka, Sachsenring, and Brno. John ‘Moon Eyes’ Cooper is one of England’s most successful and popular motorcycle racers of the late 60s and early 70s. Tim Reeves, World Sidecar Champion for the past three years, will be joined by his racing partner Patrick Farrance as well as ten times former champion Steve Webster MBE, to conduct the show opening ceremony on Saturday. They will be joined by several of the other former British champion riders and passengers including Steve Abbott, Stan Dibben and Darren Dixon. A memorable gathering and showcase for the elite of the sidecar racing community and their special racing machines.Tags:, ,