HISTORIC Modsports & Special Saloons
Re-Creating a Glorious Period of Motorsport History
latest 2026 news
Fantastic Battle at Combe Autumn Classic
Ellis and Barnard share the spoils, but Barnard's consistency nets him the Tony Hazlewood Trophy
Fantastic Battle at Combe Autumn Classic
Two fabulous races entertained the crowd at the Castle Combe Autumn Classic with both races being settled by less than half a second, however it was a familiar man on the winners podium. Joe Ward and Baby Bertha lined up alongside Steve Barnard in his now familiar Duckhams liveried Escort and the pair put on a fabulous show for the big Saturday crowd. There was only a whisker between them both throughout both races, the second one seeing a change in lead on numerous occasions. In the the end though, it was Steve who triumphed on both occasions, in the first race by 0.27sec and in the second a mere 0.08 seconds separated them at the finish. A fitting finale to the season.
Barnard Successful at Croft
Ellis and Barnard share the spoils, but Barnard's consistency nets him the Tony Hazlewood Trophy
Fantastic Battle at Combe Autumn Classic
Steve Barnard enjoyed another successful weekend at Croft taking two wins and with it the Peter Baldwin Trophy. What is turning out to be a stellar year for Steve his fabulous Mk1 BDG powered Escort took two victories.... but only just . Steve had what could now be regarded as a routine win for him in race 1, but in the 2nd race he was deemed to be 'out of position' at the start and as such was awarded a 10 second penalty. David Morrison had chased Steve throughout the first race, but with the penalty it was now Steve doing the chasing. The crowd were not disappointed with the outcome and a thrilling pursuit, Steve just overcoming the penalty on the last lap to snatch the win away from Morrison. With that Steve took home the Peter Baldwin Trophy and David Morrison won the Jon Fletcher trophy.
Ellis and Barnard share the spoils, but Barnard's consistency nets him the Tony Hazlewood Trophy
Ellis and Barnard share the spoils, but Barnard's consistency nets him the Tony Hazlewood Trophy
Ellis and Barnard share the spoils, but Barnard's consistency nets him the Tony Hazlewood Trophy
All eyes were on the DAF55 of Andy Wilson, driven expertly by Matt Ellis, and his attempts to replicate the 100mph average lap set by this car at the venue back in period. A small mechanical issue put paid to his efforts in race 1 and Steve Barnard swept to the win in his fabulous Escort. Ellis took the spoils in race 2, but with Barnard coming in second his aggregate victory to take the Tony Hazlewood Memorial Trophy was secured. Full details in the RACE REPORTS section
Morrison Takes Doug Niven Trophy May 16th -17th 2026
First Race Silverstone From the Steve Barnard Escort with Myles Castaldini Driving
Ellis and Barnard share the spoils, but Barnard's consistency nets him the Tony Hazlewood Trophy
Our first visit to Knockhill in Scotland for the Doug Niven Trophy, ended with David Morrison taking both wins to secure the overall aggregate. Here he can be seen receiving the award from the legend himself.
With this also being the first time David had raced at Knockhill he took advantage of the extra laps we were allowed to learn the track as best he could. The weather conditions were changeable to say the least, but at the end of it David's opinion of the track was, "I love it, a real rollercoaster, we'll be back".
First Race Silverstone From the Steve Barnard Escort with Myles Castaldini Driving
First Race Silverstone From the Steve Barnard Escort with Myles Castaldini Driving
First Race Silverstone From the Steve Barnard Escort with Myles Castaldini Driving
Castaldini takes CHASE Equipment Spring Trophy. April 12th 2026.
First Race Silverstone From the Steve Barnard Escort with Myles Castaldini Driving
First Race Silverstone From the Steve Barnard Escort with Myles Castaldini Driving
Deputising for Steve Barnard, who was sidelined with an injured foot, Myles Castaldini took Steve's Ford Escort to a double win in the CHASE Equipment Historic Modsports & Special Saloons at the Silverstone opener to carry off the Spring Trophy. Iain McBay was also a double winner in Class C and Dave Brewis in Class A, picking up awards from the Black Shuck Distillery. More details and photo's to follow of what turned out to be a fabulous grid of cars, thanks to everyone.
RACE RETRO STAND 2-543
Historic Modsports and Special Saloons have now secured Stand 2-543 at the Race Retro Exhibition at Stoneleigh on 20th-22nd February 2026. We will share the stand with our partner championship the Scottish Classic Sports & Saloons, also present will be the series tyre supplier Walthem Services, who can inform us all on the latest products from Nova and Hoosier. We will also be having our end of 2025 season awards at the Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club (see separate story) at 2.30 on the Saturday afternoon. All welcome.
Come along and see how you can enter our series , speak to competitors, view the calendar etc..
Confirmation of Formal SMRC Tie Up
We have now received formal confirmation from MSUK of our series registration with the Scottish Motor Racing Club (SMRC).
Calendar, classes, regulations and all other information is on the specific series page under the 'Championships' tag
Club Membership is £100
Series Registration is FREE
Please click on the link below to take you to their website.
https://www.smrc.co.uk/championships/historic-modsports-special-saloon-series/
Historic Modsports and Special Saloons - about us
Modsports & special saloon History
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.
Our series
Our series today retains, to a very large extent, those regulations from the Blue Books of the 1970's and our quest is to try and remain as faithful as we can to the specifications developed during that period. New cars being built from scratch, are more than welcome, as long as they comply with our technical regulations and just as importantly, the spirit of the series. Some cars that existed back in period may need restoring to their former glory, such as the Ford Escort here belonging to Steve Barnard, whom along with his team brought this car back to life.
modsport & special saloon legends
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.
Our SERIES SPONSOR
CHASE Equipment have been with us from the very start, their MD Derek Sweeney being a racer on the hills, was eager to get involved. Established in the market for over 100 years, this accolade has been earned through their consistent attention to detail, the use of the best quality materials and innovative design ideas. What gives CHASE the edge is their flexibility and speed of reaction: the aim being to operate efficiently and productively to meet every type of customer need.
CHASE supply a wide variety of intelligent materials handling solutions ranging from scissor lifts, industrial doors, container loading ramps (mobile yard ramps / portable yard ramps) or loading bay solutions including dock levellers, modular docks, dock shelters, dock seals and edge of dock levellers which are all designed, precision engineered and the majority manufactured in their our own factory. Please look them up at: https://chaseequipment.co.uk/company/
Our valued partners
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/
Our valued partners
Stephen Carpenter produces some excellent images and produces our bespoke race reports and publishes them on his website. Please have a look at the images and reports, there is one link to his main site and another to the specific Historic Modsports and Special Saloons area. https://www.spc-photography.co.uk/
https://www.spc-photography.co.uk/chase-equipment-historic-modsports-and-special-saloons.html
Our valued partners
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/
Our social media
In 2023 we started a Facebook page for those interested in the history of Modsports and Special Saloons, our series and the cars from across the period. Since then we have followers from across the world all accessing and contributing to this crazy category of motorsport we all love. Please visit us at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1017365995623723
Our Team
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.
Capturing the thrill of the race day moments
Andy Robinson 's Ford Falcon at Donington Park
Andy Willis in his Mustang powered A30 at Cadwell Park.
Charles Colledge in his Mini Marcos and Steve Watton in his Turner at Silverstone.
Joe Ward in Baby Bertha leading a pack at Croft.
Myles Castaldini, Ray Rowan and David Morrison receive the spoils at Cadwell Park.
Myles Castaldini in his Davrian at Oulton Park.
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