Rare Caldwell car races as FF1600 entertains

Unusual car: Warburton’s Caldwell Formula Ford

The Caldwell is a rare Formula Ford chassis in the UK, but made history back in 1969 when a D9 won the first SCCA National Formula Ford Championship at Daytona, in the hands of US racing school pioneer Skip Barber.

Seen in both Formula Ford and Formula Vee in the US, the cars were built by Ray Caldwell’s Autodynamics company. Andy Warburton has owned his D9B for about seven years and it is his first race car. “I had helped friends with their cars in the past, so the interest was there, and I got talked into it when I was living in California,” he explained.

“I bought the car from a driver in San Diego who was retiring and knew they had been prolific in Formula Ford and Vee, but very rare in the UK. It came with a spare engine, but the car was totally original and became a project for me and my son.”

Having returned to live in the UK in 2021, Warburton made his race debut with the Caldwell two years later. “This year my son Max has started sharing the car with me, he had never raced before and he is quicker than me, but it’s great fun in well-supported championships,” he concluded.

Warburton Sr contested the Historic FF1600 races at Donington Park, finishing 20th and 23rd, while Max came out in the Classic FF1600 contests. He just missed out on the top 10 in a worthy 11th in the opener, before retiring from ninth in race two.

Star car: The Tustings’ Lenham

The Lenham P69 Spider of father-and-son racers Robert and Ben Tusting has been a regular Guards Trophy winner in recent years, since the pair opted not to race against each other.

Developed during the late 1960s, the cars had tasted numerous successes in period and more recently in the historic racing scene. In 1969 a similar car won its class in the STP Motoring News Championship with Ray Calcutt.

“We’ve had the car about four years now, it’s got a Lotus twin-cam engine and before us Brian Casey and Greg Caton raced it for a few years,” said Tusting Sr. “We have continued to try and develop it, but the first set-up suited Ben, but I kept spinning it. Now we have a set-up to suit us both and last year we dominated the championship.

“We used to race in Formula Ford 1600 and 2000 against each other, until we were both involved in an incident at Oulton Park, and vowed not to race each other again.”

The duo has also ventured to Mondello Park with the Lenham – “We won the Martin Birrane Trophy at the Irish Grand Prix and passed Martin Donnelly in a Chevron,” added Tusting.

Having qualified on pole for their latest contest at Donington, Robert had started the race and handed over to Ben just after retaking the lead. Ben then had a close battle with Dan Eagling in Daniel Pickett’s Chevron B16, before his race ended in retirement two laps from home.

Best races: Historic FF1600

The second Historic FF1600 contest was particularly close as Mitchell just managed to double up

Photo by: Mick Walker

Sam Mitchell’s Merlyn Mk20 won two hotly contested Historic FF1600 races as the single-seaters provided plenty of entertainment at Donington.

Polesitting Benn Simms’ Jomo JMR 7 led a damp race one from Ben Powney’s Jamun T3, while Gislain Genecand’s Crossle 16F went head-to-head with Mitchell for third. Mitchell grabbed the place into Redgate for the second time, before then taking second from Powney a lap later with an identical move.

As Simms’ early advantage evaporated, Mitchell got a run on the leader out of Coppice on lap four, and was ahead as they exited the chicane. Powney was running solo in third after shaking off Genecand but, with Daniel Stanzl’s Elden off, out came the safety car – which took them to the chequered flag, sealing victory for Mitchell, from Simms, Powney and Genecand.

“I had new tyres, so it was a bit of a tactical gamble,” said Mitchell. “I was able see where Benn was quicker and where he struggled, so once ahead I tried a different line and it worked.” Simms added: “I saw him racing with Powney early on then, after a couple of laps, he caught me too.”

Simms broke away again in race two, aided by a four-car fight for second, with Genecand taking the place from Mitchell into the chicane on lap three. However, it was not long until Mitchell was back ahead and, gradually, the second-place battle closed in on Simms.

Mitchell grabbed the advantage into the chicane, only for Simms to retake the lead on the exit. Mitchell was then through again a lap from home, before they were almost three abreast into the chicane for the final time.

“It popped out of gear a couple of times, so I had to keep well off the kerbs – if I had given them an inch, they would have taken it,” said Mitchell, taking win number two by 0.178 seconds over Simms, with Genecand equally close in third. Neil Hose just pipped Powney for fourth.

Star driver: Ben Glasswell

Glasswell (l) was on a Historic FF2000 charge after qualifying troubles

Photo by: Mick Walker

The weekend didn’t start well for Historic FF2000 racer Ben Glasswell. His Reynard SF77 was third quickest in qualifying, but he only managed three laps after going off at the chicane with a sticking throttle.

Starting from the back of the grid, he was third by lap three and second two laps later, but was still six seconds down on winner Graham Fennymore (SF81) by the chequered flag.

From row five he was up to second in race two when Fennymore had an oil pipe burst and the race was red flagged. Glasswell was then a comfortable winner of the five-lap restart. “A good way to end the weekend, but I still had to drive around throttle issues,” he said.