The Motor Racing Spectator

Another weekend, another visit to Donington....This time for a BARC organised 12 race meeting which was, in effect, a mini Mini festival! There were 2 races each for Mini Miglia's and Mini Se7en's plus a single race each for Mighty Minis and Super Mighty Minis. Also mini in size were 2 races for Smart Cars and the programme was completed by double-headers for Intersteps (ex Formula BMW cars) and for the grandly titled Dunlop Production Touring Car Trophy. This was the second day of a 2 day meeting so most of qualifying had taken place on Saturday, so after only 3 qualifying sessions on Sunday morning it was straight into racing. As we head towards Summer it was another day of cool temperatures and at times some heavy showers. March's glorious weather is now but a distant memory! The best racing of the day took place before the lunch break when the track was dry. Indeed some of the action in all the forms of Mini races was superb with 3 abreast through the Craner Curves at ...

The first "big" meeting of 2012 for me took place last weekend with the arrival of the British Touring Car package to Donington Park.I hadn't seen the BTCC in the flesh since 2008 so was looking forward to seeing the new "New Generation Touring Car" cars. Along with 3 races for the BTCC, the meeting consisted of 3 Ginetta Supercup, 2 Ginetta Junior, 2 Porsche Cup & 2 Renault Clio races. Sadly there are no single seaters on the package this year with the cancellation of Formula Renault for 2012 due to lack of entries. 6 cars were entered and if the series ran on the F3/GT package for example, I'm sure they would have started the season and waited for things to pick up, but because of the demands of live television on ITV4, 6 cars were deemed unacceptable. Both days were dry but very cold. Indeed on Saturday morning there were quite a few spins in the Craner Curves/Old Hairpin due to cold tyres = no grip. Saturday was mainly free practice and qualifying s...

My first meeting of April was at Donington on Easter Sunday for a 9 race MG Car Club meeting. After the warmth of March, April began in usual fashion with snow mid-week and, as is usual for the Easter weekend, freezing temperatures! The track was damp to begin with but by 11am had dried out and apart from the occasional very light shower the afternoon stayed relatively dry. The MGCC had a large entry for each of their races-indeed they amalgamated classes to provide full grids in a couple of races-something which certain other clubs should try now and again.....Qualifying on a damp track was very entertaining with plenty of spins down at the Old Hairpin. The first 2 races were run before the lunch break and both had a safety car period. Another pet hate of mine are needless safety cars instead of local yellows. Safety cars have crept into the sport over the last 10 years or so from the top downwards and are purely to spice up the action for televised series in my opinion. At club leve...

The final day of the 3rd warmest March on record saw,somewhat ironically, a cool & overcast day at Donington for a BARC organised Motors TV "Live" raceday. For a couple of years now Motors TV have broadcast the occasional club meeting in its entirety live. It's an opportunity for the club driver to gain some valuable air time for sponsors and show their skills to a wider audience. Sadly (as is usual at Donington) there wasn't much of a wider audience trackside with a very small crowd in attendance, the majority of whom I know personally..... The meeting had 10 races with double-headers for Kumho BMW's,Vintage Sports & Formula Junior plus the 4 classes of Caterham Graduates each had 2 races each. Despite the threat of fuel shortages and a perceived economic downturn there were a staggering amount of entries,especially for BMW's and Caterhams. Best races were the Classic/Mega Caterham races with both classes providing frantic racing. The only downside ...