Walter Hayes Trophy
Walter Hayes Trophy
Silverstone
The Walter Hayes Trophy is held at the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’ on the 1.6-mile Silverstone National Circuit. This short track hosts the most Formula Ford 1600 doing battle you will see all year. The ‘Hayes’ or WHT is a trophy to commemorate an ex journalist and executive who worked for the Ford motor company and celebrate the "Formula" Ford and his legacy.
Hayes was instrumental in starting what was at the time a junior racing category, Formula Ford, the breeding ground for motor racing's future stars. Formula Ford has now been established for over 50 years and due in no small part to Hayes.
His foresight has enabled many up and coming race car drivers to fulfil their dreams of becoming a professional race car driver.
These days Formula Ford still helps develop those young drivers with aspirations to become the next F1 world champion. However, the WHT is a celebration of the class and sees drivers young and old compete over the weekend for the number one spot.
It’s a simple concept get as many Formula Fords on the grid as possible, let them race and the top 18 will go through to the next round. Race them again until you have a final grid for the last race on Sunday afternoon.
The WHT is traditionally the last track event of the year at Silverstone and the last Formula Ford race. Being held in November the track conditions for this event are never ideal and this weekend was no exception.
This is a good and bad thing, good as it produces challenging racing conditions which means you are guaranteed the thin tyres of the Fords losing traction which keeps the racing interesting. The bad is that it is always cold and usually wet which is not ideal for spectators.
However, the British Racing Drivers' Club had opened their grandstand at Brooklands to the fans which is one of the best places to view the racing on the National Circuit. From the covered grandstand you can see down the Wellington straight that leads into Brooklands and then into the Luffield complex.
Next to the Grandstand is the BRDC Club House which has even better views. This was also open, but unless you are a member, or know one there is little chance of gaining entrance to this impressive building.
The BRDC run Silverstone and there are only 850 BRDC members. To become a member you basically have to be from Great Britain or the Commonwealth and be a racing driver of high regard.
Not being racing drivers of high regard, the Luffield terracing was where the three Pistonclick photographers spent most of the day. Not as cozy as the BRDC club house, but it still gave us great views of the racing.
Silverstone is not the best track in the world to take automotive photography at due to its high thick safety fences. If you are unsure of where to go when visiting Silverstone we have produced a guide
to help you out and improve your chance of getting a good picture of the race cars.
These next shots demonstrate why you should never check your pictures while there is racing in front of you and to be prepared for the unexpected. I have captured many cars at Luffield that have had a slow spin and then flamed out a few seconds after coming to rest.
The two photographers you can see taking pictures in the background looking at the stationary Ray GR17 of Neil Broome are two thirds of the Pistonclick team out that day.
To complement the WHT there was a support race package that included the Allcomers open and closed wheel classes. Historic Sports Car Club Closed Wheel race was run on Saturday, but it was the Allcomers closed wheel race that had the best race sounds of the day on the Sunday.
Coming in third place in that race, the #28 Lola T280 driven by Chris Fox sounded great down the National Straight. The howl of the engine bouncing off the grandstands and pit walls was fantastic.
Foxes Lola was arguably the best sounding car of the day, but the Peter VAN SMIRREN Lola T70 was a very close second. The T70 wasn’t the most successful race car ever built but was one of the nicest looking cars being put through its paces out on the slippery Silverstone track.
Winning the Allcomers Closed race was #39 Jon-Paul Ivey and in second #7 Will Powell both driving Radicals. These British built for the track race cars that hail from that hot bed of automotive design, Peterborough are not as pretty as some on display over the weekend but they have one purpose, win races, and they do.
In Allcomers Open, Myles Castaldini was the star of the race in his Vab Diemen RF94. Chasing down car 93 driven by Mark Harrison who was to finish third. Castaldinis RF94 was well alight coming out of Luffield and still belching out flames down the straight until I lost sight of him.
Staying well out of the drama behind them #10 Martin Daly went onto win with Christopher Davidson in second, both were racing the Dallara F311.
So after the heats, which had lots of thrills and spills, we arrived at the main event of the weekend.
It was all high drama in the final of the WHT. It all started well with #31 Jorden Dempsey leading the final 36 cars in the final race of the weekend before the red flags came out after three laps had been completed.
The incident between Jamie Stanley and Jamie Chadwick happened at Luffield but there was apparently another crash elsewhere on the circuit so the race director call the red flag.
After a lengthy delay the restart happened with revised grid positions and it was much the same with Dempsey heading off on his own. #1 Michael Moyers the 2017 and 2018 WHT winner had moved up the grid after the red flag and was in a great position to make it three on the bounce.
However, Scott Huffaker had other ideas trading places with Moyers, but couldn’t quite do it and eventually took the last podium place with Moyers in second.
The Walter Hayes Trophy is a great festival of racing for the spectator photographer with guaranteed close action and plenty of racing. It’s also a bit of a bargain if you purchase your tickets online from the Silverstone website before the event - its only £10 for the final on the Sunday.
Where else can you see over a hundred Formula Fords being driven like they should be? If this sort of racing is your cup of tea check out David Harbeys report on the last three Formula Ford
races of the season.
And as a bonus, you are able to drive infield which doesn’t happen that often at Silverstone and as it's an open pit so you can walk around at lunch time and get up close to the cars. We didn’t, we have seen race cars before and the lure of a hot cup of tea and a posh biscuit was too great. We will get down the pits next year.
Follow us on Social Media: