The Motor Racing Spectator

Having taken as much medication as possible following the events of October 6th it was with some trepidation that I ventured trackside again! It was BRSCC Championship Finals weekend at Donington that enticed The Spectator back out on the Sunday of a 2 day meeting. 14 races were scheduled for Sunday with the majority of the BRSCC's championships racing both days. Several other BRSCC championships were having their Finals Weekend on the Silverstone International circuit this weekend so a difficult decision for Midlands based spectators to chose which meeting to go to. Even despite the fact that a Caterham Formula One car was being demonstrated at Silverstone and that the meeting there was free to get in to, The Spectator chose Donington simply as it's nearer! A damp track greeted competitors for 3 qualifying sessions in the morning before racing started in earnest and the circuit gradually dried as the day progressed until about 3.00pm when the heavens opened and led to a bri...

The fact that it has taken me over 2 weeks to post these words indicates that this particular meeting made The Spectator's well-monitored blood pressure boil over and I think I've just about calmed down now...... The British GT championship final round was the centre piece for this BRSCC organised 2 day meeting held on the 2.5 mile GP circuit. Following the demise of a normal British F3 championship in 2013 the support races on the GT package have been a little on the thin side,especially after an attempt to run a series for Duratec Formula Fords collapsed after only 1 round. Bolstering the timetable at Donington were 2 races for the Mazda MX5 Autumn Challenge and, following a successful race at the Superstars meeting, a hastily arranged HRDC Allstars race. As both these raced on the Saturday only however, Sunday meant only 6 races on the schedule with 3 for the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, 2 for the Volkswagen Cup and the 2 Hour British GT race. 6 races with a scheduled finish o...

Another Sunday, another visit to Donington....This time for a Motor Sport Vision Racing organised meeting where the headline event was the finale of the BRDC Formula 4 championship. 12 races on the bill included 3 for the Mini Challenge, 2 each for Production BMW's, F3 Cup and Radical SR3 Challenge along with the aforementioned Formula 4 plus a 1 hour Lotus Cup UK race. The BRDC F4 championship has been one of the season's highlights. Pitched against the newly winged Formula Ford at the start of the year for drivers wanting to start their climb on the single-seater ladder, the series can quite easily claim to have "won" the battle with grids hovering around the 20 mark for most of the year. 18 cars entered Donington as those drivers who'd got no say in the title race left for pastures new or ran out of money. To have 6 drivers in with a mathematical shout at winning the championship going into the final 3 races says much for the competitiveness of the series...

After a brief taste of Winter weather at Donington the previous week it was back to glorious blue skies for the visit of the 750MC this weekend. The 750MC fixture in June was on the GP circuit so it was back to the (better for club racing) National circuit layout for this 2 day meeting. I went on the Sunday only so missed out on 750 Trophy (shame...)Monoposto's and Roadsports, but other than that all of the clubs many championships were in action on the Sunday with 14 races in total. Qualifying for the BMW Compact Cup started bright and early at 9.05am but David Drinkwater in the No.67 car probably wished he hadn't bothered making the long journey from Farnborough. He trundled slowly down through the Craner Curves and parked up near the old Spark Plug commentary point without completing a full lap. His mood cannot have been good but a few minutes later it would have dipped slightly more as another BMW Compact got on the grass on the exit of the Old Hairpin and headed straigh...