The Pre-War Sports Cars opened the Motor Racing Legends season finale, setting the tone with a thrilling contest that went right down to the wire. In a fitting finale, Eddie Williams and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards held their nerve to take victory in a grandstand finish.

Poleman Williams streaked well clear in the opening phase of the 40-minute contest aboard a Frazer Nash Super Sports, while behind, Rob Beebee (Frazer Nash TT Rep) engaged in a thrilling duel against Clive Morley (Bentley 3/4 1/2 Litre) for second.

Through the pitstop phase, Beebee relayed to son Josh and then pulled away from James Morley, who in turn had taken over the Bentley from his father but maintained a comfortable third place. Out front and with an additional 45 seconds to serve at the mandatory pitstop as a handicap, Blakeney-Edwards took over from Williams and only just rejoined fractionally ahead of Beebee Jr.

The pair spectacularly traded places several times over the closing laps around the 3.66-mile Historic Grand Prix circuit layout, before Blakeney-Edwards utilised traffic on the final tour to stay ahead at the chequered flag by 0.567s.

“It was great fun. PBE is always the man to beat, and the car was going fantastic. The last lap traffic did play a part and I thought it’s better to be safe rather than sorry, but it was a fantastic battle,” said Josh Beebee after his thrilling charge.

“I knew it was going to be a close battle later in the race, so I just pressed on,” said Williams, who had built up a margin of more than one minute before handing over to PBE.

The Morleys completed the podium, with each of the top three also taking class honours, while Alex Hewitson, in his Riley 12/4 TT Sprite Rep, enjoyed a frenetic early duel with Simon Boreham’s Aston Martin Speed Model but just missed out on a repeat of his Spa rostrum.

“I had a fantastic battle with the Aston. He was better than me under braking, but I got the run out of the corners. We were just saying after, the thing with Pre-War cars is you feel safe because you can trust the people you’re racing,” said Hewitson.

Boreham and co-driver Robert Blakemore finished fifth and leading Post-Vintage Under 2001cc runner, while the top six was completed by Paul Pochciol in his Bentley 3/4 ½ having risen from 12th and aided by the early retirement of Sue Darbyshire’s Morgan Super Aero with a mechanical issue. Chris Lunn also took class honours in his Talbot 105 after finishing 12th.

Gary and John Pearson claimed overall fifties sportscars honours, guiding their Lister Jaguar Knobbly to victory in the one-hour race. Their charge to the front was helped as several key rivals fell by the wayside, leaving them to take a well-earned win in the combined Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy race.

The brothers started fifth having run out of fuel during qualifying, but Gary moved up to third by the end of the opening lap, as Max Lynn led from poleman John Spiers before a brief safety car to retrieve a stricken car.

Pearson soon moved up to second on the restart at the expense of Spiers’ Lister Costin Jaguar, but Lynn had built a gap of almost six seconds by lap eight before he pulled off the circuit with gearbox gremlins aboard the Lister Costin Chevrolet he was due to share with Andy Wolfe.

It left Pearson in front, but he was unable to shake Spiers until the Costin suffered a right-rear puncture and dropped out as Gary relayed to brother John at the pitstop. “I was having a lovely battle with Gary, it was such good fun but that’s motor racing,” said Spiers after his retirement.

A healthy lead soon began to diminish for John Pearson though, with Nick Finburgh putting on a thrilling late charge. Finburgh and co-driver Ollie Crosthwaite started at the back of the field, losing all nine lap times in qualifying after track limits transgressions in their Cooper Monaco T49.

Finburgh passed Rick Bourne’s Lotus XI five laps from home and closed a lead gap of more than five seconds down to just 1.377s at the chequered flag, but had to settle for second. “The car handled beautifully. It was all good apart from not knowing where the track limits were in qualifying,” said Finburgh, after also taking class spoils as well.

“Gary knows that Lister like the back of his hand but it’s my first time in it for more than 10 years,” said John Pearson after taking another victory.

Bourne finished just six seconds adrift and was also a class winner in his Lotus, ahead of a similar machine driven by Michael O’Brien, with Christian Albrecht and Kyle Tilley’s Jaguar D-type fifth. Julius and Florian Nicolai Brandt took class honours, too, in their Elva Mk5.

In the concurrent Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy, father-son duo Rick and Joe Willmott finished on top and sixth overall in their Jaguar XK140 Gomm Special, 23 seconds clear of Charles Angrave/Richard Hodson’s Lotus VI, which also won in class and led early on. Ben Eastick’s Jaguar Long Nose D-type completed the podium in ninth overall.

Further class winners included Josh and Tom Ward’s Frazer Nash Le Mans Rep and Jean Laurent-Bellue and Blakeney-Edwards in a Frazer Nash Targa Florio.

The HMRN Pre ’63 GT race brought the Motor Racing Legends’ 2025 season to a close, with John Spiers and Nigel Greensall dominating proceedings in their Shelby Cobra. The duo mastered the wet conditions from pole to take victory by more than a minute.

While Spiers left a huge trail of spray behind him in the treacherous conditions, fellow front-row starter Michael Gans ran wide at Becketts on the opening lap and dropped to fourth behind Oliver Marcais and James Hanson, before recovering one of those positions in the following laps. Marcais had jumped from seventh to the top three with a superb start, driving round the outside at Copse in the Jaguar E-Type.

Gans eventually cycled through into the lead as others pitted and was second after his own mandatory pitstop. However, the Lotus Elite driver’s stop was too short and he had to serve a penalty, dropping him back to third in the final reckoning, behind Marcais, who shared with Gregor Fisken.

“The Cobra is lovely to drive in these conditions. I had a lot of fun, but I’m soaked,” said Spiers after his opening stint. Team-mate Greensall was seen in the hospitality unit drying his soaked race boots with the heating fans before racing again with HRDC in the evening!

Alex Hewitson just missed out on the podium in fourth, although the Austin-Healey 3000 Mk2 driver still took class honours from Toby Partridge and Steve Soper. “It was an education, you’re learning every moment,” said Partridge, who is an HTCC regular but was racing his Jaguar E-Type for the first time. “It’s my first race with it, I could have picked a nice sunny day, but it ended up like this!”

Further class wins went to Neil Burnside/Mark Daniell (MG MGA) in eighth and husband-wife pairing, Tony and Pia Bianchi (Lotus Elite), who finished ninth overall.

The Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup brought Saturday’s action at a chilly but dry Silverstone to a close, and did so in spectacular style, producing the closest finish in Motor Racing Legends history after two hours of hard-fought racing.

John Davison, sharing a TVR Griffith with Mike Whitaker, did just enough to claim victory despite the best efforts of Olly Bryant in the closing stages, the pair split by just 0.081s at the chequered flag in a thrilling contest.

The majority of the 30-car field, featuring an eclectic mix of machinery, made the first of two mandatory pit stops in the opening laps. The influx was down to an early safety car period, triggered by the stricken TVR of John Spiers, which had suffered a failed upright at the start and led to spectacular avoidance from several drivers unsighted behind.

The pitstops scrambled the order, allowing the AC Cobra of Guy Ziser and Oliver Webb to lead for a period before heading to the pits. That put the Max Lynn/Andy Wolfe Lotus Elan 26R to the front, but the little car would drop away as the race went on.

All this meant it took until after the first hour of racing for poleman Bryant to emerge back at the top of the leaderboard, having held Whitaker at bay as they climbed the ranks. But after serving a longer second stop, Bryant emerged 17 seconds behind Davison and for the final 45 minutes, chased hard to reduce that margin.

He nearly did enough, drawing alongside the Griffiths at the line but falling short by less than one-tenth. “There was too much to do but it was a great race. I knew with the extra time in the pits at the stop it was going to be hard, and I could have done with one more lap,” said Bryant.

If Bryant wanted more laps, Davison was unsurprisingly of a different opinion!

“I could have done with about five laps less,” added the victor. “I need to go find, and thank, an MG driver because they stopped Olly from driving around the outside of me at Brooklands.”

The podium was completed by Jeremy Cottingham/Calum Lockie’s Shelby Cobra Daytona, the duo starting eighth and steadily working their way up the order.

John Tordoff and Andrew Jordan came out on top in the battle of the Lotus Elans for fourth overall and first in class, the latter trading fastest laps in the closing stages with the chasing Scott Malvern, who was sharing with Nick Jarvis, as Lynn/Wolfe completed the top six.

Ciprian Nistorica/Grant Williams (Jaguar E-type FHC), Rory Henderson, Gavin Henderson and Michael Squire (Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA) and Ben Savill/George Gamble (Porsche 911) all took their respective class wins. The Ward family’s Ginetta G4R driven by Steve, Josh and Thomas, which spent several laps in the pits while a new fan belt was fitted, was also a class winner.

A new chapter in the Motor Racing Legends story began at Silverstone, as the inaugural Generations Trophy took to the grid with 20 MGBs and plenty of family pride on show. The fresh concept aims to welcome new drivers into historic racing, and its debut certainly set the tone.

Several drivers were making their racing debuts in the one-hour race, which was won by the father-and-son pairing of Rick and Joe Willmott. The Willmotts were on pole but the early lead was held by fellow front-row starter Aimee Watts. Nick Whale grabbed the lead from Watts into Becketts on lap four, with Willmott running third before the mandatory pitstop – the amount of time stationary dependent on the combined age of both drivers sharing the car.

With Watts and her father, Patrick, serving 15 seconds less time in the pits, it meant the ex-British Touring Car driver rejoined out in front, with Joe Willmott in hot pursuit and taking the lead through Abbey and Farm with seven laps remaining.

Willmott crossed the line with a 30 second advantage from the Watts family, who claimed top spot in the ‘Mixed Generations’ class for teams made up of both a male and female driver. “It was great fun. It was lovely talking to all these people. Some are very experienced, but for others it’s their first race,” said Watts Sr.

The podium was completed by James and Harvey McBrien, the latter having set the fastest lap of the race in climbing from P13 on the grid, while the Whale car had to retire with a power issue before son Harry could rejoin.

Gordon Russell and granddaughter Evie Russell took honours in the ‘Dynasty’ class after finishing P15 overall, the latter making her first ever race start. She said: “It’s so special to do it with my grandad. This has been special for both of us, and I can’t stop smiling.”

Motor Racing Legends owner Shaun Lynn shared a car with daughter Jemima, who was also making her first race start, with the pair finishing 17th. “She’s enjoying it and got a big smile on her face and that’s what we want. It’s a bit of a baptism of fire but it’s a great thing as there’s so many other people out there doing it for the first time,” said Lynn Sr, with the concept set to continue and expand in 2026.

Richard Hammond also raced with his daughter, Izzy, making their motorsport debut together. “Izzy and I both came here to learn. We just wanted to finish the race in one piece, and we did!” beamed the Grand Tour and Top Gear presenter post-race. “We’re not yet ready for a ‘real’ historic race, and the Generations Trophy seems like a great entry point for people like us. We will do more!”

Ric Wood mastered the conditions at a wet Silverstone on Sunday, overcoming both the elements and a stop/go penalty for pit lane speeding to take a hard-fought victory in the Historic Touring Car Challenge.

Using his Nissan Skyline GT-R’s four-wheel drive capabilities to good effect in the downpour, Wood passed poleman Julian Thomas on the second lap of the one-hour race and gradually edged away, while Jonathan Bailey soon followed past to make it a GT-R one-two.

However, Bailey ran deep at Village and dropped back to third before pitting to hand over to Andy Middlehurst, with Wood also pitting from the lead. Thomas stayed out and began setting fastest laps and would have held the lead with Wood’s impending penalty but for an electrical issue. The battery in Thomas’ Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 was replaced during a lengthy pitstop, and he would lose a couple of laps.

This meant Darren Fielding’s BMW E30 M3 found itself in the lead, but Woods moved back to the front with 10 minutes remaining and claimed the win by 28 seconds.

“I was having a few moments but I kept it on the track and that was the main thing,” said Wood. Fielding claimed class honours in second and admitted, “It was more than [he] could have hoped for.” The podium was completed by Bailey/Middlehurst, the latter chased hard in the closing stages by Steve Soper. Soper, in the M3 he shared with Toby Partridge, finished just over a second away from the rostrum.

Nic Strong’s Nissan was fifth from Tom Roche (BMW 3.0 CSL), who was a class winner despite also serving a stop/go penalty for a pitstop infringement, while Thomas took top spot in class as well after rejoining and finishing 11th.