The Motor Racing Spectator

Another Sunday and another visit to Donington, this time for the visit of the Classic Sports Car Club to the East Midlands. Celebrating their 10th anniversary of existence this season the club caters for the racer on a budget. The main core of the CSCC's series run to a 40 minute race which enables costs to be shared between 2 drivers (if required). Sunday saw 9 races along with 4 qualifying sessions in the morning. The days racing kicked off early with the first of 2 races for the German based Triumph Competition & British GT series. I had never seen this series race before and was very impressed with not only the size of the grid but also the quality of the racing. Funnily enough both races were won by the only 2 British interlopers in the field. The first race was won by Paul Conway's Morgan and the second by Brian White's Triumph TR4. A large grid of large cars can only mean Jags! The lumbering beasts put on a good race and some entertaining scraps, especially i...

Marshals standing away from their posts. Barriers in place to stop spectators standing where they shouldn't. The distinct smell of diesel in the air.....It can only mean one thing- Truck Racing! The Spectator's first trip to Donington in 5 weeks saw the British Truck racing championship highlight a 13 race schedule which also included Pickups, Legends, Caterham Graduates & Saxmax. Saturday had seen qualifying and 8 races take place and it was good to see a healthy crowd in attendance on the Sunday. It's not everyday you see truck racing and the sheer novelty factor certainly helped draw a crowd with a lot of families and barbecues camped out on the grass banking. I voted last year's European Truck meeting at Donington as my meeting of the year last year, simply as it was a great spectacle. The domestic series didn't quite reach the same heights this year though, but despite there being 12 rigs they were still entertaining. Indeed there was quite a bit of con...

The first weekend of August and already a circuit's last car meeting of the season....Autumn must be around the corner. Yes the last of Mallory's 5 dedicated car meetings of 2013 saw The Spectator visit the second day of what was billed as "The AUTOGLYM Classic Festival". Festival is the word here, as not only was the entire days racing going out live to the watching world on an internet live stream, but there was also a very large crowd in attendance which is a rarity for a club meeting these days. Apparently there was a GroupOn discount offer where tickets were just £6. I'm not an avid on-line bargain hunter so I was completely unaware that such an offer was happening, I duly paid £15 on the gate.....The large crowd reminded me of the Renault Free days at Donington & Silverstone in the recent past where, if something is free/cheap, hordes of people arrive at 11.00am, wander about for a bit dressed in entirely the wrong clothing, drink lots of alcohol,eat l...