We were last at Anglesey Circuit in mid 2019 for the Tom Pryce Memorial Trophy and were thrilled by the photographic opportunities available to the spectator snapper. The PistonClick Circuit Guide can be found here – Anglesey Circuit Guide.

There’s only one fence around the whole circuit and that’s not very long; about the only downside is that the start / finish line is only visible from the pit wall (not allowed there) or across from the outside of the track between Church and Rocket.

So to RoR 2021; there was a large entry of 53 teams, of which three were multicar entries to confuse this snapper (where’s that red and white Elise come from?). Twelve hours of the challenging 11 corner 2.1 mile Anglesey track lay ahead of the competitors of which a third would be in the dark.

We also had a team on the inside – I’d noted historic hot shoe Will Nuthall on the entry – but in a Citroen C1?   More of the HRL team later.

There was a support race – the RoR ClubSport Trophy was a 45-minute affair which was dominated by the #10 Global GT Light of Gary Mitchell until a long pit stop delayed him and honours went to the #51 Golf of Luke Handley.

After a break for lunch (the paddock café at Anglesey is recommended), the grid started to assemble for the 3pm start for the first six hours of the race – darkness would fall after 90 minutes or so …. 

The piper paraded up and down the grid behind the specially liveried Lotus Exige safety car. A new trophy, for the overall winners of this year’s race also made its debut.

Created by Jack Taylor – himself a beneficiary of Mission Motorsport - it is named Perseverance in recognition of the daily battles faced by those who have been affected by their time in service, and for the endurance race that is held in their honour every year.

After around an hour, I have to confess that it felt very much like one of those 750 Motor Club Enduros I had seen at various circuits this year. In the early laps the Rob Boston Racing Elise was hotly pursued by various Caterhams.

Meanwhile HRL were getting used to their C1 which had barely turned a wheel before qualifying.

Then the available light started to drop (and the ISO started to increase) and almost magically a whole new set of images emerged.

No spectacular sunset tonight, but we did get an MX5 flaming on the approach to Rocket. One point to bear in mind is that there is virtually no light away from the pits and paddock – it might be worth packing that head torch …

After thoroughly enjoying the photographic opportunities up at Rocket and Peel, it was down to the pits.

The usual rules apply and so long as you didn’t step into pitlane (and kept out of the way of the teams doing stops), there was plenty of opportunities to get a different side of the race.

There’s no F1-sized pit crews here and often the other drivers were on fuel or wheel changing duties.

The sunset we were denied on Saturday evening was replaced by a sunrise on Sunday morning before we headed back to the track. Soon enough, the cars were heading out behind the Poppy Car for the re-start at 9am.

After only a few laps the Lotus was back out at the head of the field. It was a little damp as one MX5 discovered. Worse was the fate of the new race sponsor SSGC’s Civic.

The driver’s side of the Civic gave few clues as to the interface between car and tyre barrier on the passenger’s side at Rocket. The driver was philosophical enough – something to sort out over the winter …

Another notable team taking part was the Mission Motorsport / Bad Obsession Motorsport Citroen C1.

From the creators of Binky – (the box set of their Celica GT4 powered Mini is available here - YouTube) and inspired by the idea that you could go racing for the same price as a decent online racing set up, the C1 they built had then been handed to Mission Motorsport this time last year – that story can be seen here - Building an £850 hatchback into a competitive race car

The BOM duo were behind the wheel (Richard) and on the spanners (Nick) with Matt Stringer, Ollie Brand, and Ben Norfolk also driving. 

At 10.45 the race was red flagged as planned and the cars formed up on the grid. The Padre from RAF Valley led the Act of Remembrance in the pitlane.

All the teams were present along with spectators and marshals. A timely reminder that sometimes there are more important things in life than motorsport.

At the conclusion, the shout went up – “Let’s go racing” – and that’s what we did to complete the second six hours of the Race of Remembrance.

On this occasion, it wasn’t possible to walk round the outside of the track clockwise as a short stretch of spectator bank was out of bounds between The Banking hairpin and Church – so we drove up to Peel and walked the other way round instead.

At Church, perhaps appropriately, it was time for Slow Shutter Speed Sunday to see what could be achieved.

Further round, we happened to look out to sea and spotted a pod of dolphins putting on a show. I really needed a bit more than 500mm focal length but even from a distance it was impressive.

In general the racing was clean but often close – indeed, the competitors were praised at the end of the race for their good behaviour especially with cars of such variable performance. There was this moment of extreme slipstreaming though …

To end the weekend, the prize giving was held on the pitlane. It may not be Le Mans or Sebring or Daytona, but for each team to get to the finish was an achievement – to win their class even more so.

The light was dropping by now and I should have taken the DSLR – but I was travelling light and my iPhone was not really up to it. Next year …

As more than one person has observed, it’s not a race - it’s an event (much like Le Mans) which in 2019 featured Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti on the entry list.

This year, John Hogan editor of Superbike, was one of the team driving the #40 Morgan. Nevertheless it’s very much an event for the ordinary competitor. 

Race Report

Car 12 - Citroen C1 - HRL001

Kane Tilley / William Nuthall / George McDonald / Brandon Rowley

So, how did HRL – the Historic Racing Legends team - get on in their C1 ?  HRL itself was born out of lockdown where a number of historic motorsport preparers, drivers and mechanics decided to create an online place to race / chat / laugh !  The four drivers tell us how it was for them …

Will Nuthall:  A passing thought we’d carry HRL on to a track slowly turned into a reality. A number of the crowd didn't have a race licence so thoughts went into what would be the ‘perfect’ car - eligible for a variety of endurance races, reliable, easy to maintain and most importantly cost effective. We are not sure how it ended up with C1s, but it did. 

We had heard about RoR, but none of us had attended previously, and only one had even been to Anglesey, so a 12hr race and 4.5hrs of qualifying sounded like a perfect first test session! 

A ‘donor’ car was sourced, collected, wrapped then we went into RoR without turning a wheel, very blind and wholly unprepared, way more so than we even thought !

The event itself well exceeded our expectations, the organisation was amazing and the ex-servicemen, competitors and team members inspirational. The help, advice and parts we received from our fellow pit members was invaluable (to put it mildly).

The fact that we finished the 12hrs without any major problems, 7 pitstops and 1 penalty (see below), was nothing short of a miracle and it turned out to be the perfect first event, ironing out both small and large car issues, and giving the debutants a lot of track time. 

George McDonald: All I can say really is how much fun it was. From a driving point of view the C1s are terrible really ! Coming from a RWD background, I've got used to the "slow in, fast out" techniques and learning where to be patient mid-corner to reward you on exit.

However, the only way to go fast in a C1 is to be an absolute hooligan ! Mash the brakes on entry, plant the throttle mid corner and hang on to the understeer. It's probably not really the ideal car for the novices to learn about driving in but it was so much fun, and that's what it's all about !

Over the course of the weekend, we worked a fair bit on the car, basically made it go in a straight line and brake properly, and the net result was that we were about 6 seconds quicker by the end of the race than in qualifying !

The lads did a mega job for their first race too, we definitely threw them in at the deep end and they were faultless, did a far better job than I would've done when I started out 10 years ago ! The only thing I can fault was our most experienced team member locking up and punting the RAF teams BMW, costing us a chunk of time (DH - was that Will ?) !

As an event though, I thought it was great. My first RoR but something I've always wanted to do because I love the circuit when I've been there in Formula Fords in the past.

I thought the service on Sunday morning was really powerful too; unexpectedly, it definitely made us look at the bigger picture.

Kane Tilley: Coming out of lockdown and having made new friends in the historic paddock from our online race series on Gran Turismo we decided one evening to get a C1 after seeing Neil Fowler Motorsport get theirs.

After a collective effort from Will and Brandon (IN Racing) George (Hall and Hall) and myself (Mirage Engineering/Era Motorsport) we had our own little C1 ready to race.

Personally speaking I think we have a great team, full of laughs - George slipping over in the mud 5 minutes after arriving at Anglesey was the main source.

Being my first race I was certainly nervous (as I’m sure Brandon was too) but having Will and George on hand to offer advice was so useful in helping calm the nerves and it wasn’t long before I was having the time of my life!

Having never driven the C1 before it was certainly an eye opener, it felt fast being in it but then the Caterhams and Lotus’ blasting past certainly changed my opinion.

However the car ran really well all race, we couldn’t fault it ! And while we may not have had the pace straight away we all improved as the race went on and was setting competitive times and the little HRL001 C1 ploughed on for the whole 12 hours.

I can’t thank anyone enough for all the help throughout the race, we certainly have some ideas on how to improve so bring on next year !

The Race of Remembrance was a fantastic event for such a great cause! I had a great laugh with the RAF guys on the pit wall especially when we put out the “Penis” pit board. There were many photos and laughs from the whole 12hrs, already looking forward to next year.

Brandon Rowley: I have always loved endurance racing so when I found out about an opportunity to do some for myself along-side some good friends I met through the world of motorsport, I couldn't refuse ! The overall experience lived up to all my expectations.

The crazy nature of multi-class racing, the thrill of driving full chat in darkness and the team work that was required. The one thing the exceeded my expectations was the car. I truthfully had some doubts about the car making it to the end. But I was optimistic.

Despite Will’s best efforts the car managed to finish and finish rather well! I loved every moment of my first race. From actually driving the car to trying to find some more tyres and brake pads ! 

The paddock was as friendly as always and so many people were willing to help.  Overall, I don’t think I could have had a better start to my racing career – ups, downs and everything in between - the full motorsport experience in one weekend !

Postscript – by the ever patient and very wonderful Mrs Harbey

When David says to me “ Do you fancy a few days away in November” I know by now it won’t be to a warm, sunny climate or a sun kissed beach but that cars and racetracks will be involved. However, a (windswept) beach was involved this November in Anglesey and the cars were for the Race of Remembrance.

Though the climate wasn’t hot, the welcome at Trac Mon was warm and the event was special in respect of what Mission Motorsport do and the rationale behind it. The Remembrance service on the Sunday morning was poignant and it was wonderful to see so many there.

This type of race meeting makes you feel as though you are involved even if you are only a spectator. The livery of some of the cars was inspired and certainly added to the event. I know we will be back.

Thanks to Madeline and David Harbey for the great report and images and Team Historic Racing Legends.

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