Silverstone Classic 2014

The Silverstone Classic hasn't had the continuous history of other vintage racing events; in fact, its present iteration is barely 10 years old. But if this year's version is any indicator, it's become one of the premier events of its type in Europe, if not the world.

Although final figures for the gate haven't yet been released, organisers expect it to exceed the 92,000 reported last year. More than 90 car clubs had displays in the vast infield area, with almost 9,000 cars total on hand. The races themselves comprised 14 different classes with an astonishing total of about 1,100 cars. The huge numbers of entrants are no doubt drawn by the attraction to race in front of huge crowds at a modern F1 circuit.

For DK Engineering this typically busy weekend was no different in 2014, with four cars competitively racing across Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's action included the ex Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro Jaguar driven by James Cottingham in the Stirling Moss Trophy, this was the very first outing for the car since the tight time schedule hadn't even allowed time for testing and so the strong pace showed by the car is encouraging for Goodwood. Saturday's scorching heat meant that last minute cooling modifations were required to the GT40 in advance of the WSM race in the early evening. Despite this, temperatures were extremely high in the cockpit of the GT40 and James did extremely well and battled hard with Mike Jordan and Philip Walker in their GT40.

On Sunday Morning David Cottingham completed the hour-long Woodcote trophy in his Ferrari 500 TRC and in the process showed some strong pace in the 4 cylinder Ferrari, however the highlight of the weekend was the thrilling Pre-63 GT race on Sunday afternoon. James Cottingham was driving the silver and red DK E-type from fourth place on the grid, the ever-fast pairing of Jackie Oliver and Gary Pearson on pole on the Giallo Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Minshaw, 2nd in his E-Type, The Aston Martin DB4 GT of Friedrichs and Hadfield in third, the DK "E" 4th followed closely by Patrick Blakeney Edwards in the AC Cobra. The first few laps saw Cottingham take the lead as a fantastic start from James and a moment of over exuberance from Jackie Oliver in the SWB allowed the plucky E-Type to hold the lead. Driving what Marcus Pye described as "one of the drives of the weekend" James managed to hold off the repeated and aggressive (sometimes physical) charges of Jackie Oliver until just before the half-way mark. Following a spin on dropped oil after the pit stop the DK E-Type had a slightly lonely race but consistent and precise driving allowed the E-Type to keep 2nd place and take home a fantastic result.