Donington Park Sunday 8th April 2012
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 level there is no need for them but we are in the era of "timed" races so any stoppages in the programme are avoided at all costs. On many occasions drivers are unaware how to drive behind the safety car and many a race has been ruined with fields spread out at restarts. If the safety car is here to stay at least all you can ask for is that the driver of the safety car picks up the leader when they exit the pit lane.....
Thankfully the 7 races after lunch ran without problems. A couple of new series were on the timetable. Fiscar is a new series for 50's sportscars which has, in effect, split from the Aston Martin Racing Club and Ecurie GTS, as opposed to Equipe GTS which has defected to the Aston Martin Racing Club. The UK national racing scene is a diverse jigsaw where many series overlap and replicate each other even at club level....
All in all not a bad day (despite the cold ). Admission £10 with £5 DPRAC discount and a very colourful programme £3
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 level there is no need for them but we are in the era of "timed" races so any stoppages in the programme are avoided at all costs. On many occasions drivers are unaware how to drive behind the safety car and many a race has been ruined with fields spread out at restarts. If the safety car is here to stay at least all you can ask for is that the driver of the safety car picks up the leader when they exit the pit lane.....
Thankfully the 7 races after lunch ran without problems. A couple of new series were on the timetable. Fiscar is a new series for 50's sportscars which has, in effect, split from the Aston Martin Racing Club and Ecurie GTS, as opposed to Equipe GTS which has defected to the Aston Martin Racing Club. The UK national racing scene is a diverse jigsaw where many series overlap and replicate each other even at club level....
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