Donington Park Sunday 15th September 2013

The Spectator's latest meeting was another visit to Donington with the BRSCC in charge for 14 races for the 2nd day of a 2 day meeting. Qualifying and 3 races took place on the Sunday so I missed out on Sports 2000 (dare one say phew...) and the Time Attack series. The day promised much on paper as the ubiquitous Mazda MX5 Mk1 provided 4 races along with 6 races for Ford Fiestas of various descriptions. Throw in a double header for the Open Sportscar Championship and a couple of Alfa Romeo races too and the day was complete.
Following one of the warmest summers for a very long time, Britain has managed to forego the season known as Autumn and on Sunday plunged headlong into Winter. The forecast had been apocalyptic on Friday but thankfully seemed a little better by the time Sunday morning arrived. A very cold wind blew all day which led to the occasional shower and at 5.00pm it was looking like we might have got away with it. Then a VERY dark cloud appeared on the horizon and within 15 minutes the circuit was awash! Fair play to the BRSCC who had ran the meeting very quickly to that point, (even starting early after lunch which is a rarity with clubs nowadays) so only the final 2 races of the day were affected by a very wet track.
The Open Sportscar Championship copped the worst conditions of the day as Craig Fleming's Juno managed to cope with the tricky surface the best. 12 cars took the start despite 21 qualifying on the Saturday. I'm not sure what happened but the result sheets suggest the Saturday race was restarted after a red flag so a shame for a series trying to re-energise itself after thin grids of previous seasons to have numbers dwindle over the weekend.
Before the downpour this had been a very good days racing, with not a bad race to be seen during the day. Lots of spins and incidents too, keeping the very sparse crowd entertained at the Old Hairpin. The Fiesta Championship splits itself into 2 separate races now with the modern ST version (Class C) having it's own race with older machinery (Class A,B,D) catered for in the other race. The double headers for both were entertaining affairs and I was impressed by the Class C category who aren't afraid to rub panels...
A small field of 10 cars for the Fiesta Junior championship but some impressive driving and racecraft from the youngsters. I'd pay good money to see a Junior Series Race Off between these, Ginetta Juniors & SAXMAX. All in the old version Renault Clio to see whose best........No circuit owner would bow to that request though!
38 Mazda's were entered so were split into 2 x 19 grids for the weekend. All through the field the little open top MX-5's provided some cracking racing and it's a sign the end of the season is around the corner as Tom Roche sealed the championship title following Sunday's 2nd race.
The Alfa Romeo's had just the one race on Sunday which Neil Smith won on the road in his Super Touring 156 but having recovered from starting at the back plus spinning on the first lap he was given a 30 second penalty after the race. Ian Stapleton's mighty 3.8 litre GTV6 inherited the win and he won again in the days final race which catered for Pre'91 Alfas which despite only 7 starters was surprisingly good too.
I really enjoyed this meeting and when club racing is good there is nothing better in my opinion. Such a shame there weren't many people there to witness it as I'd say this was the lowest crowd I've seen at Donington this year. Given the weather forecast though, I don't blame them for not coming! The Spectator's long suffering umbrella finally bit the dust just to emphasise how bad it was.... Goodwood and Touring Cars at Rockingham would keep the attendance down too.
Admission was free thanks to Peter and a good programme £3.