Donington Park Sat/Sun 13th/14th July 2013
For many years now the Caterham (in all it's forms) has been one of the stalwarts of the UK racing scene. Indeed, if you own a Caterham, you could probably race one every weekend as not only is there the package racing this particular weekend but there is the Graduate group of races with BARC and the Classic Sports Car Club run a massively popular Magnificent Sevens series too. Add in various regional Sports/Saloons championships aswell and the Caterham is the perfect car to go racing in. As a spectator they are well known for fantastic racing and the quality of racing this weekend didn't disappoint. The brick like aerodynamics of the Caterham, plus having more power than mechanical grip invariably lead to huge packs of cars jostling for position. On the rare occasions a driver makes a break they are reeled in by the following pack. Close racing though can lead to incidents and all four Caterham races on Saturday suffered Safety Car interruptions. Thankfully on Sunday the dreaded safety car made only one appearance but there was a red flag in the 3rd Roadsport race. Highlights for me were the Academy races where every driver taking part were making their circuit racing debut and Supersport races where there was constant change of position all throughout the field.
As good as the Caterham's were though, a contender for race/races of the season took place at Donington this weekend. The pair of Northern FF1600 Post '89 bouts were superb. Both races were mini epics and were a reminder of how good Kent engined F.Ford is and was. A blend of young hot-shots with category veterans led to both races having multiple changes of position and mostly fair racing. Remember these names- Skylar Robinson and Austin Kimberly. 2 young American's racing with Cliff Dempsey Racing, with Skylar (great name!) winning both races under huge pressure. Castle Combe regular Ben Norton was up at the front in his Spectrum, but retired with electrical problems in both races. The presence of the young American drivers in this series though indicates all that is wrong with the single-seater ladder in the UK. In an ideal world they would be racing in the TOCA supporting EcoBoost series but money counts more than talent in everything these days.
The final 4 races to mention are a double-header for yet another series catering for the Mazda MX-5, the "Supercup". Even as a racing anorak, I have trouble in keeping up with all the different MX5 series that are racing in the UK at present. Suffice to say that 11 cars were on the grid at Donington but, to be fair, the quality of racing at the front was very good. A race each for Pinto and Duratec engined Sports 2000 completed the programme. Sports 2000 are like Radicals. By all accounts fantastic cars to drive but not that great to watch!
2013 will probably be remembered as the year when the weather went weird. After Mallory on Easter Monday which was one of THE coldest days spectating ever, this weekend was one of THE hottest ever! I carried as much fluid as physically possible in my rucksack over the course of the weekend to combat the 30 degree heat. I dread to think what it must have been like wearing fireproof overalls as a Marshal and Driver. It was hard work watching......Admission was free (thanks Peter) and as no programmes were on sale in the shop on Saturday morning, the nice lady in Race Control gave me a free programme. All money saved went on buying copious amounts of bottled water......Stay cool everyone.
Comments
Post a Comment