Britain’s first 24 hour race, the ‘Willhire’ will be honoured this year with a special two hour ‘into the darkness’ race on October 18 at Donington Park.
The event has been devised by ex-Willhire entrant and current HRDC race director Julius Thurgood, and will feature the ‘Production Class’ sports and touring cars which contested the Willhire race events during its run from 1980 to 1994.
“The spiritual home of the Willhire is Snetterton, but we ran into planning problems with the night racing aspect of the Willhire Reunion,” said Thurgood.
“Thankfully, Christopher Tate and his team at Donington came to the rescue and we now have the go-ahead to run this race into darkness on the National circuit. Having canvassed the opinions of many of the original Willhire drivers, the vote was unanimous that this specific element of the original events be incorporated into the Willhire Reunion.”
Owners of over 35 original Willhire cars have been contacted so far about the event, with some of the cars already committed to the reunion race including an ex-Pete Hall/Andy Rouse Opel Commodore GS/E 2.8, the Willhire 25th Anniversary winning Ford Sierra Cosworth of Slim Borgudd/Mark Hales, the 1985-winning Ford Capri of Roy Eaton/David Oates/John Clarke and the Nissan Skyline of Andy Middlehurst.
More information on the event can be found at: http://hrdc.eu/willhire_24hr_reunion.html
