Walter Hayes Trophy

The Walter Hayes Trophy is a non-championship Formula Ford race. Sanctioned by the Historic Sports Car Club and created by James Beckett the race has grown into the most prestigious Formula Ford race worldwide. The race is held annually in November at the Silverstone Circuit.

History

The first Walter Hayes Trophy was held at Silverstone between 26 and 28 August 2001 after being created by James Beckett. It is named after Walter Hayes who was a Ford Motor Company public relations executive. As a public relations executive Hayes was very much involved with racing and was instrumental in the creation of the famous Cosworth DFV engine. Hayes died on 26 December 2000, aged 76 and since, his name has carried on in this event. Neil Fowler won the inaugural race in a classic Lola T200 beating 48 competitors. The 2001 race was the only Trophy held in August as part of the Silverstone Historic Festival in which the race was sanctioned by the BRDC (British Racing Drivers club).. From 2002, the race became (and still is) a stand-alone event. The events held between 2002 and 2006 were sanctioned by the BRDC, with this role being taken by the HSCC (Historic Sports Car Club) from 2007. Gavin Wills won the 2002 edition and after that, Joey Foster won three races consecutively in 2003, 2004 and 2005 in a Reynard chassis. He is the most successful competitor after winning the race 4 times, once more in 2022 with Don Hardman Racing in a Firman RFR20 chassis. Four Team USA Scholarship racers have won the race, Conor Daly in 2008, Connor De Phillippi in 2009, Tristan Nunez in 2012 and Max Esterson in 2021. Fellow Team USA Scholarship drivers have finished highly in the event such as Oliver Askew, who finished second in 2016 to Niall Murray. Drivers from the United States must user a Ford Kent engine, as the Honda L15A7, which has dominated domestic Formula Ford racing in Sports Car Club of America sanctioned competition since being legalised in 2010 for Kent-based Formula Ford racing, is prohibited in this event.

Winners

Year	Driver	Team	Car
2001	Neil Fowler	Neil Fowler	Lola T200
2002	Gavin Wills	Team West-Tec	Swift SC92
2003	Joey Foster	Marque Cars	Reynard 92FF
2004	Joey Foster	Marque Cars	Reynard 89FF
2005	Joey Foster	Marque Cars	Reynard 89FF
2006	Peter Dempsey	Cliff Dempsey Racing	Ray GRS06
2007	Peter Dempsey	Cliff Dempsey Racing	Ray GRS05
2008	Conor Daly	Cliff Dempsey Racing	Ray GRS07/08
2009	Connor De Phillippi	Cliff Dempsey Racing	Ray GRS08
2010	Peter Dempsey	Cliff Dempsey Racing	Ray GRS05
2011	Adrian Campfield	Kevin Mills Racing	Spectrum 011C
2012	Tristan Nunez	Cliff Dempsey Racing	Ray GRS08
2013	Scott Malvern	Kevin Mills Racing	Spectrum
2014	Wayne Boyd	Medina Motorsport	Van Diemen MS13
2015	Graham Carroll	BM Racing	Van Diemen JL13
2016	Niall Murray	Bernard Dolan Racing	Van Diemen RF99
2017	Michael Moyers	Kevin Mills Racing	Spectrum 011C
2018	Michael Moyers	Kevin Mills Racing	Spectrum 011C
2019	Jordan Dempsey	Kevin Mills Racing	Spectrum 011C
2020	Oliver White	Souley Motorsport	Van Diemen JL015K
2021	Max Esterson	Low Dempsey Racing	Ray GR18
2022	Joey Foster	Don Hardman Racing	Firman RFR20
2023	Chris Middlehurst	Team Dolan	Van Diemen LA10
2024	Rory Smith	B-M Racing	Medina Sport JL18