Nowadays, the notion seems difficult to imagine. The idea of Formula 1 stars Lando Norris or George Russell taking part in a British Endurance sportscar race at Snetterton, while champion Lewis Hamilton competes in a single-seater contest on the support bill, seems somewhat far-fetched – not least because of the ever-expanding F1 schedule.
But, in decades gone by and during a time when leading drivers were free to be far more versatile, an equivalent situation was commonplace. And the Autosport 3 Hours race that was originally held at the Norfolk circuit in the 1950s and 1960s is the perfect example of this.
As a driver on the cusp of breaking into F1, Jim Clark won the third edition of the race in 1959 at the wheel of a Lotus Elite and was victorious again four years later, this time as an F1 title contender. After being created in 1957 as a grand finale to Autosport’s sportscar championship, the 3 Hours also brought night racing back to Britain, following the final Goodwood Nine Hours two years earlier.
That initial race – administered by the Snetterton Motor Racing Club – featured a Le Mans-style start and was won by successful GT driver Ken Rudd at the wheel of an AC Ace, but the event quickly grew from there.
In 1959, a non-championship F1 race was added to the undercard and that year’s world champion Jack Brabham was in the thick of the action. Fellow title winner Graham Hill was among those tackling some of the subsequent tin-top support races over the years, while Brabham was the touring car race winner in a Ford Galaxie in 1963.
Yet, despite the prospect of such international stars doing battle with amateur club racers, that year’s event only attracted a limited crowd and the 1964 instalment, won by inaugural British Saloon Car champion Jack Sears in an AC Cobra, proved to be the last period race.
But the history lives on. The Historic Sports Car Club first revived the 3 Hours in 2007 and it continued to run until 2015, and the club is now bringing it back for a second time this year. The contest’s glorious past is very much at the centre of the HSCC’s plans for the event, including the creation of a replica of the original cup so that more drivers can join the likes of Clark in having their name on the winners’ list.
“We’re a historic racing club, we’re racing historic cars and there’s historical significance to this race, so the history is very important to us,” explains HSCC CEO Andy Dee-Crowne. “The cup is as much of a replica of the original as we can get, and all of that nostalgia is important. I think the opportunity to have your name on a cup alongside names like Jim Clark is a fantastic draw.”
After the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dee-Crowne believes that now is the right moment to return the historic race to the schedule.
“It’s always been my ambition and intention to bring an endurance race back to the HSCC and it made sense to resurrect this race,” he says. “Endurance racing is a leveller – it does give people the opportunity to get a good placing within the class structure. Now seems like the appropriate time to bring it back.”
"The opportunity to have your name on a cup alongside names like Jim Clark is a fantastic draw" Andy Dee-Crowne
The 2023 edition is set to return to the roots of the Autosport 3 Hours, with the focus due to be on pre-1966 GT cars, rather than the slightly later sports-racers that were at the front of many of the races when it was first revived. The 23 April race – on Snetterton’s 200 layout, which is the closest configuration to what was originally used in the period races and is also less demanding on the historic machines – has already attracted a diverse entry with almost a month to go.
Lotus Elans are set to be joined by Porsche 911s, while TVR, Morgan, Austin-Healey, Marcos and even Gilbern are among the other manufacturers set to be represented on the grid. There is also due to be a strong MGB presence, with eight of the cars already signed up in the marque’s 100th anniversary year, and the HSCC will award a special trophy to the highest-placed MGB in the final result – “We wanted to recognise the importance of the MGB,” says Dee-Crowne.
Inclusivity is very much the name of the game, with low entry fees set and competitors from outside the usual HSCC fold encouraged to take part and embrace the spirit of the one-off fun contest early in the season.
There may not be the current F1 stars on the grid anymore, but there is the chance for others to follow in their footsteps and write the latest chapter in the Autosport 3 Hours’ long history.
