The Motor Racing Spectator

After the big crowds of the week before at Donington, it was back to the usual hardy few for the 2 day Motor Sport Vision Racing meeting. MSVR were also organising a meeting at Silverstone on the same weekend and they had amassed a superb 420 car entry for both events. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday there were 2 races each for Monoposto 2000/Classic, VAG Trophy, Monoposto 1800/1600, VW Golf GTi, 3 races for the GT Cup and single races for Trackday Trophy & Team Trophy. Saturday afternoon saw racing hit by several heavy showers, some of which contained hail. Sometimes rain can "liven" things up a bit but I always feel (especially in club racing) that it's a case of stay on the track first and foremost with racing taking second place to preserving the car. Thankfully Sunday stayed fully dry even if it was another freezing cold day in the Arctic tundra of the East Midlands..... After some rather thin grids and not the most exciting racing at the BTCC meeting ...

British Touring Cars were the headline event at Donington this weekend with the arrival of the country's biggest series to the East Midlands. A busy 2 days with qualifying and 4 races on Saturday followed by 11 races on Sunday. There were 3 races for the BTCC along with triple-headers for Formula Ford and Ginetta GT Supercup. Renault Clios, Ginetta Juniors and Porsche Carrera Cup had 2 races each. It's 20 years since the TOCA Package was launched in the UK which changed the face of UK motor racing forever. Before that, all major championships tended to headline various events around the country. The gathering together of series and "packaging" them became the way forward and not always successfully. Remember Power Tour, Power Nights and Premier Package.....?? Touring Cars have had a constant presence on our TV screens and they are by far and away the most popular series in the UK. The heady days of the mid-90's with factory teams are long gone but 27 cars on the ...

The first "big" meeting of the year in the UK took place at Silverstone with the opening round of the World Endurance Championship headlining along with 3 races for the European Formula 3 championship and more sportscars in the form of the European Le Mans Series.... Since the revival of the 1000km/6 hour endurance format in 2004, the UK round has always taken place in either August or September but the calendar this year placed Silverstone in the middle of April. It would appear that in the corridors of power in Paris that they haven't visited the Northamptonshire/Buckinghamshire border at this time of year!With many international categories, sun chasing is part of the deal (Monaco in November would be interesting) so you could argue that by holding the race in April the WEC holds no fear of the cold.... The Spectator spectated on the Saturday & Sunday of the 3 day meeting and Saturday was a busy one with Free Practice and Qualifying for the WEC, 2 races for F3 a...

Back to Donington 13 hours after leaving the day before for the annual visit of the MG Car Club. A 10 race card on this day with races for all the clubs championships along with the BARC administered MG Owners Club series. MG's of every description are catered for from the super quick MGB GT V8's and modified Midgets to the humble Metro. Having owned a van version many years ago it was good to see a few Maestros on track and there was even a Montego, British engineering at it's best...... After a really good meeting the previous day it would take a lot to match it and I have to say I was disappointed with this meeting. The dreaded Safety Car made several appearances during the day and I remembered the equivalent meeting last year,quoted below; "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 serie...

Having just about thawed out from my visit to Mallory Park on Easter Monday, it was time to dig out the thermal underwear again 5 days later and head for Leicestershire's other circuit-Donington Park. BARC were in charge for a 13 race program. 11 of the 13 races were televised live by Motors TV and I'm sure the viewers sat at home would have been pleased with the quality of racing as much as I was. There were double-headers for PCGB Porsche Club, Classic Formula Ford, Mazda Max 5, Citroen 2CV, Kumho BMW & Clubmans along with a single MG Invitation race. Each series provided a large grid of cars no doubt swelled by the prospect of live television. Gaining sponsorship at club level is extremely difficult so exposure to a large audience is a great way of getting sponsors onboard. The only downside with being on the "telly" is any mistakes will be replayed again and again.... Highlights of what was a very good meeting were the Classic Formula Ford races. The lead ...

Well here we go again for another season.... My last meeting of 2012 was at Silverstone on November 4th when the temperature was barely above freezing and light snow fell. My first meeting of 2013 was at Mallory Park on April 1st when the temperature was barely above freezing and light snow fell...... . plus ça change. In all my years of spectating I've never encountered such cold conditions trackside. Let's hope that the longest, coldest winter for many years comes to an end soon! This was spotted at Gerards..... The 750MC were the organisers for this Easter Monday meeting and, as is usually the case, they ran the meeting efficiently and 11 races were done and dusted by 4.55pm. The opening races for the club's portfolio of championships were split between Mallory and what should have been Donington the weekend before. The "Big Freeze" put paid to the Donington meeting however. There were double-headers for 750 Formula, 750 Trophy, Stock Hatches and Classic S...