Silverstone's historic racing weekend returned this July with a new name and a sharper focus, and after three days trackside, it's hard not to ask the question: is the BRDC Classic about to become the UK's answer to the Le Mans Classic?
A New Chapter for Silverstone's Historic Weekend
The BRDC Classic ran from 24 to 26 July 2026, marking the first year of the event under its new identity. The event was brought to life through the British Racing Drivers' Club and Motor Racing Legends, the two organisations behind the shift away from the old Silverstone Classic format. (Silverstone, Motor Racing Legends)
The timing lines up with wider change across Silverstone's summer calendar. Silverstone Festival and Car Fest have effectively merged into a new Car Fest, taking place in August and absorbing much of the family entertainment side of things. That left the pure motorsport core of the old Silverstone Fest to stand on its own as the BRDC Classic, unapologetically focused on historic racing rather than festival extras.
It was also the largest event in Motor Racing Legends' history, with more than 300 entries across nine categories and ten decades of motoring history on show, spanning a 1924 Bentley 3/4½ Litre through to a 2015 BMW Z4 GT3. (Motor Racing Legends preview)
GP Icons: Formula 1's 3.0-Litre Era
Two brand new grids made their debut at this year's event. GP Icons, presented by Goodyear, brought together sixteen Formula 1 cars from eleven marques covering the 3.0-litre era between 1966 and 1985. Lukas Halusa won the inaugural race in his Brabham BT49, a result described as a measure of redemption for a car that missed out on victory at Silverstone back in 1982. (Sportscar Digest)
Endurance Icons and the Le Mans Contingent
Endurance Icons made its own debut alongside GP Icons, bringing Le Mans-style machinery from the 2000s back to Silverstone. Keith Frieser won both races outright in his ex-Beechdean Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S, the same car Nigel Mansell raced alongside sons Greg and Leo at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mike Newton took third overall in an MG-Lola EX264, the same car he had raced at Silverstone during the 2005 and 2007 Le Mans Series, still overseen by its original RML race engineer. The 23-car field also included an Audi R8, a Bentley Speed 8, and a Cadillac Northstar LMP making its first appearance in historic competition. (Sportscar Digest, GT Report)
The BMW M3 GTR: A Genuine Porsche Killer
Among the GT2B-class entries was a BMW M3 GTR, chassis based on the E46-generation M3 but bearing almost nothing else in common with the road car. BMW Motorsport built the GTR as a homologation special for the American Le Mans Series in 2001, ditching the standard M3's straight-six for a 3,997cc V8 producing 444 horsepower, developed after the naturally-aspirated six proved unable to live with Porsche's 996 GT3. Campaigned by Schnitzer Motorsport, the car was successful enough in period to earn BMW the nickname "Porsche Killer" among rivals. (BMW M3 GTR history) The example on track at the BRDC Classic ran under the West Suffolk Racing entry. (Motor Racing Legends entry list)
That V8 is exactly why it stopped me in my tracks trackside. You could hear it coming from a long way off, nothing like what you'd expect from an E46 on approach, and it sounded superb precisely because it broke every assumption about what that car should sound like.
Every Flavour of Circuit Racing, Catered For
What stood out across the weekend was the sheer range on show. Gigantic machines from motorsport's earliest era shared the paddock with Formula 1 cars from the height of their era, Le Mans icons, and the heroes of touring car racing. It's rare to get that much breadth under one roof, and it's exactly what gives the BRDC Classic its Le Mans Classic energy: a weekend built for anyone who wants to see proper historic race cars being driven as they were meant to be driven, not just parked up for show.
Getting Close to the Cars
The other thing that set this weekend apart was access. Full paddock access meant getting close to cars that are normally only seen from a distance, or hidden away in garages and race trucks between sessions. For anyone with a genuine enthusiasm for the cars on show, that kind of proximity changes the experience completely. You're not limited to watching machinery flash past on track. You can walk the paddock and stand next to the cars you've followed for years, which is a rare privilege at most modern motorsport events.
Room to Grow
As a first year under its new name, the BRDC Classic already feels like it's found the core of what made Silverstone's historic racing weekend special in the first place. If future events can add night racing to the mix, that would be the final piece needed to push it further up the ranks of Britain's motorsport calendar. On this showing, it's got every chance of becoming a genuine fixture, and a real rival to the Le Mans Classic in spirit if not yet in scale. Motor Racing Legends itself called the weekend a highly positive note to launch on. (Motor Racing Legends)
Part of what makes Le Mans Classic what it is goes beyond the racing itself. It's the camping, the atmosphere, and the sheer scale of the crowds built around Le Mans 24, and that's something incredibly hard to replicate anywhere. This feels like the start of what could become that, but it's got a way to go yet. Wider variety on the grid would help too. Cars like the Lolas that ran in period sports car and endurance racing would be a great addition to future events, adding another layer to the entry list beyond what was on show this year.