Rockingham Monday 6th May 2013

After the sadness of the previous evening at Donington it was off to the glamorous town of Corby and my first visit of the season to Rockingham. Just like Marmite, you either love it or hate it but there is no denying that "Europe's Fastest Circuit" is a bit different to what you're used to as a spectator. I took the train to Corby on a gloriously sunny Bank Holiday morning, arriving at 9.10 and walked to the track. The northern ring road of Corby isn't the most salubrious of places and there surely can't be a stranger location of a circuit anywhere in the UK! The gigantic main grandstand loomed into view and 40 minutes after leaving the station I arrived (sweating profusely..) at the ticket booth.
The second round of the British GT championship was the headline event with a 2 hour race but the day only featured 4 other races, 2 each for the Volkswagen Cup and Ginetta GT5 Challenge. This package last year also featured Formula 3 and Formula Ford which have departed for various reasons, and is in need of another regular series joining. 5 races on a day which cost £20 plus £5 for a programme works out at an expensive day for the spectator.
British GT, along with other GT series across Europe, is alive and well with a 32 car entry. Although the Balance of Performance derived GT3 isn't one for the purist there is no denying that it is a successful formula to house a diverse range of machinery. The Porsche 997 GT3R is the car to have so far this season it would seem with the race won by the Trackspeed run version of Richard Westbrook/Gregor Fisken. Trackspeed cars were 1-2-3 on the grid and the other 2 cars won at Oulton Park at Easter so they are doing something right. They won fairly easily but racing down the field was very competitive with the Warren Hughes/Rembert Berg Audi R8 finishing 2nd after a good drive from Hughes in the second half of the race. Demoted from 3rd place due to a yellow flag infringement was the Aston Martin Vantage of Jonny Adam/Andrew Howard.
The Ginetta GT5 races were won very easily by Will Burns who showed prodigious first lap speed in both races to break away from the pack- a sign of a good driver. More exciting were the VW Cup races with as usual a big grid of varying types of VW's . With the VAG Trophy series at Donington the week before, if you own a VW there is plenty of opportunity to race.
I still find the Rockingham viewing experience frustrating. Viewing the entire circuit has it's benefits but what usually happens is that you always seem to miss passing and incidents while looking somewhere else! Only half the main grandstand was open and it was patrolled by large amounts of security personnel. Beware if you have the temerity to stand up at the back of the stand for more than 10 seconds as you are told to sit down very quickly. As you've just climbed what seems like the Eiger to get to the top of the stand you need a minute or two to get your breath back... Like I said last year the oval circuit should be used more often but the Pickups only visit twice this year so only 4 races will take place on the oval in 2013....The management at Rockingham need to decide where their priorities lie. Either use the oval or lose it and turn the facilty into a   decent road course in my opinion.
Please find below a photo of what appears to be the sun out in the UK! Summer 2013 arrived on May 6th. Summer in the UK finished on May 7th.