Cadwell Park Sunday May 27th 2012

There weren't many car meetings this weekend with the nearest on Sunday being Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, so it was to Cadwell for the 750MC organised 14 race meeting. My last visit to the circuit had been in 2009 and since then the A46 road between Nottingham and Newark had been upgraded to dual-carriageway so I was looking forward to a quicker journey. Indeed it saved 20 minutes in the morning but the tortuous Lincolnshire roads cost me the 20 minutes on the way back in the evening! Cadwell is unique. The narrow ribbon of tarmac is quite a shock after spectating at Donington & Silverstone and the topography of the circuit is a refreshing change from the "airfield" UK tracks. As a spectator it's definitely the toughest to walk around..... Not much catch fencing exists at Cadwell and the Mountain/Hall Bends/Hairpin section is the closest you will get as a spectator in the country.
As for the racing it was a very good day. It was the second day of the meeting and most classes were having their second race of the weekend with the odd exception. A highlight was my first view of the BMW Compact Cup which had the best lead battle of the day with 6 cars vying for it. Plus some rough and tumble which is always entertaining. The 750MC have downsized this year with the "less is more" philosophy of having less meetings to encourage what meetings they run to have as big a grid as possible and it certainly worked at Cadwell, which due to it's remote location, can have less entries than other tracks. The only dud races were a 30 minute Morgan race which was 15 minutes too long and two poor 750 Trophy races which called into question their suitability to run on a tough track like Cadwell. Indeed several cars were struggling to climb up the various hills and many required a tow or a push to get back to the paddock!
Admission was £10 (bought in advance) and £2 for a typical 750MC programme. In the many years I've been going racing they have always produced a pretty basic prog! The weather had finally taken a turn for the better with a gloriously sunny day in the Wolds of Lincolnshire with a fresh breeze to keep things a bit more comfortable. Hard to believe I was wearing gloves and Winter hat at Donington the weekend before. One final note is while walking around the circuit the view from the newly extended run-offed Chris Curve needs a little work......

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