historic modsports & special saloons

Racing during the 1960’s and 70’s saw predominantly production-based categories for both sports cars and saloon cars.  For saloons, the manufacturers dominated the Group 2 and Group 5 categories, which resembled the standard road car on the surface, but under the skin were high tech, highly regulated, high-cost machines which were well out of reach of the club competitor. 

The rules for Group 1 cars however, which again required the car to remain recognisable as their road car ancestors, were becoming more relaxed and as long as the basics of shape and dimension remained unaltered, modifications under the skin became more and more unrestrained. 

The equivalent sports car category was ‘Modsports’ which whilst slightly more restrictive in the fact that the original engine type and chassis centre section was to be retained, also provided the club competitor with the opportunity to create some pretty quick machines.

Both categories obtained their own set of regulations imposed by the RAC from the early 70’s onwards and were published in the annual ‘Blue Book’ to retain control and credibility, this then spawned a whole plethora of now iconic championships along with a cult following amongst British club competitors and spectators, a cult which exists to this day.  The DAF in the photo here, originally created by Tony Hazlewood and now raced by Andy Wilson is a prime example of the type of cars that still have a special following amongst race fans.

Two people who were legends of the sport back in period kindly offered to link theirselves with the series once they found out what we were about, these were Peter Baldwin and Jon Fletcher.

Peter was a legend of mini racing during the 1960's, 70's and 80's winning many races and championships,  his ultimate space-frame BB6 mini being immortalised in the 1984 BBC TV series Driving Ambition, in which he stunt-doubled for housewife star Donna Hewitt!

Jon was famed for his exploits in Lotus Elan's, winning many Modsports championships from 1972 to 79, whilst in 1978 he ran an Elan in the Silverstone 6 Hours round of the World Championship of Makes with Barrie Williams.

Sadly now, with neither no longer with us, the families of both these stars from the past kindly donated trophies won by the respective pair during their careers and these trophies are fought for annually at one of our race meetings.  Recipients in 2024 were David Morrison, David won the Jon Fletcher Trophy driving his self prepared MG Midget and Joe Ward, driving the legend that is Baby Bertha took away the Peter Baldwin Trophy.  The trophies can be seen in the photograph on the left.

The Black Shuck story began in 2011 when Patrick and Sarah together with their children had an idea for a new business that was to be a family project.  The original aim was to have a part time business which could supplement their pensions in the years to come. Patrick and Sarah worked long hours, often 7 days a week, to build their business and Sarah gave up her job as a teacher of mathematics to devote more time to the production of Gin. Sarah said “I am very fortunate to be leaving one job I am passionate about to do another job I absolutely love.”  The business is now a well established distillery with a range which has expanded to include a collection of Gins,

Rums, Vodkas, Liqueurs and most recently Schnapps.

To find out more about this great story and see the products please visit: https://www.blackshuckltd.co.uk/

I am pleased to say that James Hutchings at Waltham Services will provide us with a dedicated point of contact, capable of supplying a variety of makes of tyres suitable for the series, Hoozier, Nova etc..  Although there is no compulsory requirement to buy from Waltham Services and tyres in the series are free, James will provide a specific discounted price for each purchase, giving each of us the opportunity to obtain tyres at an excellent price.  There will also be tyre support at selected meetings during the 2026 season dependant on where our final calendar of events takes us.

Please visit the website for further information: https://www.walthamservicesgroup.com/

In order to function in UK motorsport the series needs to be adminstered by a registered MSUK organisation, and we are lucky to be supported and administered by the Scottish Motor Racing Club (SMRC).  The team based at Knockhill handle our entries and the 'Sporting Regulations' which have to be in place.  Steve Burns at the SMRC and his team will be more than happy to receive your entries for our coming events.  Entry forms for coming events are available on this website.

We also collaborate with the Scottish Classic Sports & Saloon series, which we share girds with, these cars are similar in look and performance to ours and together we provide very healthy grids which the spectators enjoy.  

Our own 'Historic Modsports and Special Saloons' team consists of:

Andy Wilson:  Andy has been associated with Special Saloon racing for many years, firstly in mini's, he has a vast knowledge of the cars and races the ex-Tony Hazlewood DAF with some vigour.

Myles Castaldini:  Our Modsports representative, Myles races his very quick Davrian with us, has been racing for many years and also has a depth of knowledge, especially of smaller engined Modsports cars.

Steve Watton:  Steve is the person responsible for the creation of the series and is the series principal.  He previously raced a Turner Modsports car and is now restoring the Rover P6 in the photo for the Special Saloons category, Steve is one of those people who joined the cult back in the early seventies after witnessing the cars at Mallory Park and has been addicted ever since.