Barnett Racing Engines

01/05/2026

Under 24 hours to go until our next race of 2026. However, this one doesn't involve any racing cars.

Tomorrow, Josh will be running 66 miles around the Isle of Wight. That's over two-and-a-half marathons. The plan is to do it in under 13 hours and it's all in aid of Dementia UK.

Is he mad? Yes. Will he meet his time goal? Who knows. Is it for a great cause? Of course. If there's any change left in your 2026 racing budget, it would be amazing if you could donate.

Help Josh Barnett raise money to support Dementia UK

03/03/2026

We've been pretty quiet on here recently, but that doesn't mean we've been quiet in the workshop.

In fact, this engine in particular has been making quite a lot of noise after we embarked on a comprehensive testing programme.

Five days on the dyno, spread across three weeks. Two full rebuilds (and a further stripdown mid-test cycle). Nearly 70 power runs.

We've tested new products, new processes and plenty of different tuning setups. You'd think, after a decade in the game, we'd just fall back on our tried-and-tested, championship-winning ways.

However, engine building is about always learning (and sometimes challenging your preconceived ideas about the best way of doing something).

Now the next stage is to track test the engine in its final form and see if all the hard work has been worth it on the stopwatch.

Once we have real-world verification, we can start rolling out the improved designs and ideas to all our customers.

09/10/2025

We don't just specialise in competition Ford Crossflow at BRE. This 5-bearing MGB road engine is currently in the midst of a full rebuild.

After a 100,000 miles, there was significant oil use, the camshaft and followers were worn out, and one of the exhaust valves had seen better days!

Rather than chasing fast road numbers, the refreshed engine is being built very much with everyday touring in mind.

To that end, we've bored out to +0.020" and fitted a new set of cast pistons, as well as a Piper Cams BP255 cam kit (timed up with a new steel Vernier sprocket).

Along with a reduction in deck height (and a small skim off the head), our static CR has bumped up from the standard 8.8:1 to 9.4:1.

With all this, we're confident of bumping the 1822cc 'GD' motor to just over the 100bhp mark (95bhp was the original rated output), with a nice extra slug of torque too.

The bottom end is nearly complete (just an in-house electronic conversion of the Lucas 25D4 distributor to go).

The next big jobs are on the cylinder (which we've had fitted with hardened exhaust valve seats and new bronze guides).

57 years of use hasn't been kind to the old rocker shaft and rocker bushes (the shaft has worn by 0.025" in places, and some of the bronze bushes are down to the steel backing).

Using a new tuftrided shaft, we're currently rebuilding the rockers with new bushes (to be fitted and reamed in-house) then it'll be on to shimming the valve springs to ensure the correct installed length/seat pressures.

It's been a bit of a battle at times making various aftermarket parts marrying up correctly (such as lapping a new thrust plate down to achieve the correct cam end float, and making a custom 0.061" shim for the crank sprocket to sort the timing chain alignment on the new Vernier).

However, we're really pleased with how it's all coming together, and we can't wait to get it on our dyno in a few weeks' time.

10/09/2025

2025 Classic Formula Ford Champions!

Congratulations to Jordan Harrison for wrapping up this year's Classic Formula Ford 1600 Championship after another double victory at Mallory Park.

Jordan has used BRE power in his Lola T540E for a number of seasons now but, this marks our first title together (and our first HSCC crown too).

Starting from pole in both races at Mallory, Jordan had to fight back past the fast-starting FF1600 legend, Rick Morris in each encounter, eventually winning the pair of races (and setting the fastest FF1600 race laps of the weekend too).

It's been a remarkable season for the Harrison and BRE partnership, taking eight wins from ten races (so far), including the current run of eight consecutive victories, poles and fastest laps. If it hadn't been for chassis issues at the Snetterton opener, perhaps we would have seen even more success!

What we do know is, hard works pays off. Jordan has worked relentlessly to ensure the car, engine and driver are always at their maximum.

At the start of the year, a crack caused a valve seat on his old Minister cylinder head to come loose, requiring us to rebuild the engine in just three weeks. This included us porting two new heads.

After three days on the dyno (testing three different head designs), we were left with an engine that was even better than his 2024 unit (and was a full BRE build from the ground up).

We've worked carefully at each pre-race test to dial the engine in to that weekend's conditions, ensuring Jordan always has the best machinery at his disposal.

But, it would be nothing without a fantastic driver and, in the cockpit of the Lola, Jordan hasn't put a foot wrong all year. Fingers crossed he can sign it off in style at the Silverstone Finals next month.

05/09/2025

The summer holidays are over and in less than 24 hours the Barnett Racing Engines Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship will roar back into action at Mallory Park for the penultimate round of the 2025 season.

It also means we're just one meeting away from the Silverstone Finals in October, where we'll be conducting the prize draw for the free standard engine rebuild.

During the break, we've been crunching some numbers (no, it hasn't take us all summer) and, including the provisional Mallory entries, there are now 127 names in the hat, comprising 49 different racers.

Of that, there are seven competitors who currently have their name in the draw five times and just need one more entry at Silverstone to win a bonus seventh chance in the raffle.

It would be fantastic if we could get 50 different competitors in the final prize draw (and over 150 names in total). With news that the Silverstone Finals entry list is already burgeoning, we've got our fingers crossed!

11/07/2025

Whilst we might be the title sponsor of the Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship this year, Classic Formula Ford 1600 has been our happiest hunting ground in 2025 so far.

Last time out at Donington Park, Jordan Harrison secured another brace of dominant victories in his Lola T540 powered by Barnett Racing Engines.

After taking pole with the fastest FF1600 lap of the weekend, Jordan broke the tow early on in both encounters, romping away from the field to win by 13.7s and 14.9s, respectively.

Two fastest laps added to a flawless weekend that, coupled with a similarly perfect score at Silverstone in May, has cemented Jordan's spot at the top of the championship standings.

If that wasn't enough though, Tom Gadd added to the BRE-powered silverware haul with two superbly battling drives to third and second, respectively.

A newcomer to FF1600 racing at the start of the year, Tom has taken to the formula like a duck to water in his Van Diemen RF81.

Despite missing the Silverstone meeting, Tom started the season at Snetterton with a second and win! The net result of his 100% podium record is third place in the points at the season's midway mark.

With just a day to go until the Brands Hatch GP meeting, we're hoping our front-running Classic Formula Ford duo can keep the success coming.

23/06/2025

Come rain or shine, the Barnett Racing Engines Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship never fails to entertain and, at Donington Park this weekend, that once again proved the case with two thrilling races.

After the blazing hot conditions of qualifying, a rain shower as cars were heading to the assembly area had everyone scrambling for their wet setups (with varying degrees of success) ahead of the opening encounter.

Polesitter, Benn Simms got the hole shot into Redgate and quickly opened up a 1.6-second lead by the end of lap two in his Jomo JMR 7.

Simms' advantage was short-lived however. A slow start may have dropped Sam Mitchell from third to fourth but, after a succession of fastest laps, the post-Cadwell championship leader was quickly back on the heels of the leader.

It took just one lap for Mitchell's Merlyn Mk20 to find a way through and, from there, he was never headed on his way to a second victory of the year.

Before a late safety car neutralised the field for the final five minutes, Simms stayed in touch to take second, as front row starter Ben Powney came home a comfortable third place in his Jamun T3.

Gislain Genecand had to work hard for the entirety of the green flag running in his Crossle 16F but, the Swiss managed keep the charging Neil Hose at arm's length for fourth and fifth, respectively as Oliver Chapman survived the treacherous conditions to take a solid sixth-place.

In his first ever wet race, Novice class winner, George Townsend brought his Merlyn Mk17 home in seventh overall.

Race two on Sunday brought dry conditions (albeit cooler and breezier) but, Simms once again made the best start to lead into Redgate and, once again, built up a small gap in the opening laps.

Genecand initially relegated Mitchell to third, with Hose joining the squabble too after a few laps.

The trio's battle looked like it might allow Simms to escape but, instead, Mitchell and Genecand upped the pace, mounting a sustained chase of the leader (dropping Hose's Titan Mk6 in the process).

By lap 12, the three cars were all back together, often heading down to Redgate three abreast over the next couple of tours.

After a few brief stints at the head of the field, Mitchell made the decisive move just ahead of the penultimate lap, eventually taking the chequered flag just 0.18s ahead of Simm, with Genecand a further 0.14s behind.

Hose was hounded in the closing stages by Powney, but held on to take fourth, while Danny Stanzl put in a typically charging recovery drive from the back of the grid (after a race one DNF) to cross the line sixth on the road.

This became seventh after a track limits penalty, promoting the BRE-powered Christian Goller to sixth.

Throughout the field, both races created incredible racing, with large groups of cars regularly dicing wheel-to-wheel.

We can't wait for the Brands Hatch Superprix in three weeks' time, where we will be raffling off six Driven Racing Oil oil change kits worth nearly £100 each.

📸 by Motorsport Classic Media/HSCC

03/06/2025

Better late than never! We've had the privilege of working with Jordan Harrison since 2022. In that time he has won numerous FF1600 and FF2000 races with engines tuned by us but, for a number of reasons, he had never won with a fully BRE-built motor.

We were hoping to change that at Snetterton in April however, a cracked chassis prevented Jordan from racing his Lola T540E at the HSCC season opener.

At the weekend though, Jordan dominated the SDC Classic Formula Ford 1600 Championship meeting around the Silverstone GP circuit to take his first two BRE-powered victories, and he did it in style.

After taking pole by 1.8s, Jordan broke the tow on the opening lap of both encounters, leading every lap of the weekend en route to massive 20-second and 13-second wins, respectively.

Heading to Donington in three weeks' time, Jordan now provisionally leads the Classic FF1600 standings (once dropped scores are taken into account). It's going to be a tough battle all season but, hopefully we can keep powering Jordan to the front of the field.

06/05/2025

What a difference a year makes! Last weekend, 29 racers made the trip to Snetterton for the first round of the 2025 Barnett Racing Engines Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship.

This was a stark contrast to 12 months earlier, where just 13 competitors took part in the season opener. A big well done to Chris Sharples for his tireless work in making it a huge success.

Benn Simms took two comfortable victories in his Jomo, though Ben Powney's Jamun T3 kept him honest in the first half of the opener en route to a maiden HFF podium in second. Behind, there was a titanic scrap between new BRE customer, Christian Goller (Lola T200) and Neil Hose (Titan Mk6).

Switching positions lap after lap, the duo slowed each other sufficiently to allow a recovering Sam Mitchell to take third place on the road in his family's Merlyn Mk20, only for a track limits penalty to ultimately promote Hose to third, and Goller to fourth.

Fellow BRE-customers, Simon Toyne (Winkelmann WDF2), Mark Wilkes (Merlyn Mk20) and Cormac Flanagan (Alexis Mk14) finished sixth, eighth and ninth, respectively, as all our HFF customers finished race one inside the top ten.

Simon (who took an overall Classic FF podium earlier in the day) eventually saw off a dogged Danny J Stanzl (Elden Mk8), while Mark put in a sterling recovery drive after second lap spin dropped him to 16th.

Cormac gradually worked his way through the field from 13th, just piping his great friend - and rival - Ross Drybrough (Merlyn Mk20).

As Simms romped away in race two, Mitchell, Goller and Hose ran nose-to-tail until backmarkers just after the halfway point split the gang up.

Mitchell would ultimately take a comfortable second as Goller just snuck away from Hose in the closing laps to round out the podium.

Danny Stanzl and Powney duked it out in possibly the most entertaining battle of the weekend, with the Elden man coming out on top for fifth place.

Flanagan would take seventh on the road but, a brace of track limits offences pushed him down to an official 15th, promoting Dryborough, Kevin Stanzl (Merlyn Mk2), Michael Grant-Peterkin (Brabham BT21) and Jonathan Speak (Merlyn Mk20A) to the final top ten positions.

While we won't be at Cadwell Park - a visit to the Indy 500 beckons - 28 HFF competitors are currently down to make the trip to Lincolnshire, including a few new names for the Free Rebuild Prize Draw. If you're planning on entering, there are just two guaranteed start spots left, so don't delay!

05/04/2025

The 2025 season will see Barnett Racing Engines return as the title sponsor of the HSCC Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship and, this year, every competitor who enters a round of the championship will be eligible for the end-of-season prize draw in which one lucky racer will win a free FF1600 engine rebuild.

Last year, competitors needed to enter any five of the six HFF meetings to qualify for the free rebuild raffle. However, this season, just one race entry could be all that’s needed to win the prize worth over £3,000.

For every HFF meeting entered, competitors will get their name added to the hat, with an extra bonus entry for every racer who enters all six rounds of the 2025 Historic Formula Ford Championship. That means that any racer could have their name in the hat up to seven times, rewarding those who race across the season with greater odds, while also allowing the occasional racer a chance at winning this fantastic prize.

On top of this, there will be three £500 discount vouchers up for grabs in the draw as ‘consolation’ prizes. These will be redeemable against a full rebuild at the end of the 2025 season. Again, to get their name in the hat, all competitors must do is enter a single round of this year’s championship.

Further to this, at one of the summer meetings, there will be another prize draw where six competitors entered at that round will win a free oil change kit each. The kit will consist of 4.7L of Driven racing mineral oil and a spin-on oil filter, with each kit having a retail value of nearly £100.

Like last season, Josh and Neil will be present at almost all the 2025 championship rounds, offering technical support and advice to Historic Formula Ford competitors, as well as an engine spare service (where most parts will be offered to HFF racers with a 10 per cent discount).

It’s fantastic to see the Barnett Racing Engines Historic Formula Ford Championship flourishing again. We can’t wait to see many of you on the bumper grid at Snetterton on 26/27 April.