Brands Hatch inspires Padmore to top times in Lotus and Mini

He was competing in two races for Masters Racing Legends, which are for Formula 1 cars from between 1966 and 1985, driving the ex-Gunnar Nilsson Lotus 77 of the Black and Gold Collection owned by Chrome Cras and run by Britec Motorsport.

In this car he is in the pre-78 class and competes against several much newer cars, and his weekend got off to a great start with second overall in qualifying securing him a front row start for race one.

Away from the start, he slotted into second and briefly challenged for the lead round the opening lap – a challenge the leader rebuffed. Padmore harried the leader and might have had an opportunity to go for the win had the red flag not signalled an early end to the scheduled 20-minute race. Second overall, narrowly beaten by one of the much newer cars, meant class victory and more championship points.

Lining up fourth on the grid for race two, he made a good start to nip into third and made a decisive move for second place. Padmore chased the newer McLaren ahead of him and was ideally placed when that car retired halfway through the race, going on to take victory despite late pressure brought about by a safety car intervention and setting overall fastest lap of the race.

Earlier, he had shared the driving duties of a pre-’66 Mini Cooper S in an hour-long race for Historic Touring Cars. He shared with Matthew Page of Page Three Racing and they lined up 28th on the 40-car grid, seventh in the ultra competitive Mini class. At the end of an eventful race, they secured fifth in class, 22nd overall.

The previous day Padmore drove a Lotus Elan 26R Shapecraft, sharing with owner Robin Ellis, in the Gentlemen Drivers’ 90-minute race. The pair were second in class and took the chequered flag an amazing fourth overall and second in class. Padmore thanked the owners of the cars for the chance to drive and the teams that ran them so well. Next for Padmore is the next round of the Peter Auto Series on the undulating Dijon Circuit in eastern France that used to host the French Grand Prix.