Nürburg, Germany (14 August 2024) — Continuing their tour of Europe with us, three iconic Shadow Can-Am race cars competed in the 2024 Belmont Oldtimer Grand Prix on the world-renown Nüburgring GP Circuit in their first-ever European race.
After Exhibition outings at the Goodwood Members Meeting and Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year, three of the most insane cars ever built earned a podium sweep against a host of other Can-Am cars at the German circuit!
The 4.569 km (2.839 miles) 15-turn circuit hosted the cars for a day of testing on Thursday, followed by a 30-minute qualifying session on Friday and two 30-minute races, one Saturday and one Sunday.
Kyle Tilley started off the weekend strong in Jackie Oliver’s 1974 Can-Am Championship winning DN4 by earning pole position in qualifying by well over a second, with Kirt Bennett earning second in his 980 horsepower Shadow DN2, and Jason Miller putting down the third fastest time in the class in the Shadow MK III.
Saturday; time for the first race of the weekend, and immediately the Shadows took off. The trio of black Can-Am cars proved they were some of the wildest machinery to ever hit the track, beating out plenty of modern prototypes and Group C cars alongside over Can-Am cars from the era including a fleet of McLarens, and a Lola T310.
After the 30-minute race had ended, all three Shadows had landed on the class podium with Bennett at the top, followed by Tilley and Miller. Bennett and Tilley also managed second and third overall.
"In terms of fun, it's 10/10!” Tilley said after Race 1. “It's a great, great car to drive. Thank you to Jim for trusting me with it, it's an absolute monster! Maybe half an hour is a bit long for the brakes, I don't know how the boys did an hour-long Can-Am race back in the day, but all three cars ran faultlessly so what more can you ask for?”
Race 2 on Sunday saw similar success despite the DN4 retiring with a broken input shaft. Bennett was still able to pull off an overall podium in the DN2, also taking the class win, with Miller in the MK III behind him in fifth overall and second in class.
“The race was too long!” Bennett joked afterward. “That's too many laps in a car like this! But it was great. Kyle and I had a great time out there, it's a lot of fun racing with a guy like him.”
“To run that fast for a half hour straight is really difficult on this track in these cars. We've got Silverstone coming up in a couple of weeks with the Formula 1 car, but after that, it's probably going to take me a year to recover from this year!”
Miller also had a great time at the Nürburgring and was honored to have the opportunity to show off the Shadow to the German fans.
“I gave it everything the old MK III had and more!” He said. “We had a great showing here at Nürburg, we just enjoyed every minute out there, it was just a fantastic event. I'm just happy we could show off the car!”
“These cars in their day rarely finished. It's just a testament to how well Era have prepared them, and to Jim Bartel and what he's put on the track. It's just an amazing racecar. I'm so thankful to show it off. Multiple times fans have come up to me and said, 'We have come to this race because of the Shadows.'”
And of course, car owner Jim Bartel was thrilled to see the cars race competitively on a track like the Nürburgring.
“It's great, you don't see that much anymore, and seeing the two cars start off the race on the front row was really exhilarating,” he said. “It was a great race, the cars ran great, the drivers did an excellent job; everything's good!”
“I feel relief, satisfaction, and gratitude for the whole weekend. It was spectacular.”
As far as wrapping up the weekend, “the silverware speaks for itself,” Tilley said.
“Amazing event, big thank you to the organizers for getting the cars here. Obviously, the Era Motorsport crew in the UK workshop have done such a good job turning these into reliable cars.“
“Just a mega, mega weekend, super excited for everybody. Big thank you to everyone who made it happen, and hopefully we get to do it all again soon! It's such a treat, it's been such a blast to drive the DN4, so thank you to Jim for trusting me with it.”
The BELMONT Oldtimer Grand Prix is an annual event at the Nürburgring considered to be the largest historic racing weekend on the European continent, bringing in over 600 historic race cars for nine racing grids.
For more information about Era Motorsport and the Shadows, follow us on social media, or visit our website, eramotorsport.com
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