The Motor Racing Spectator

There was a lot of motorsport to chose from on Bank Holiday weekend but there was only one choice as far as I was concerned....Silverstone for the 2nd round of the Blancpain Endurance Series. The lure of a 60+ car entry of GT3 cars racing for 3 hours was far too good to miss. The GT3 category is one of motorsport's success stories in recent years and Silverstone saw an even bigger grid than the 1st round at Monza in April which only saw 58 start! A complex Balance of Performance regulation tries to ensure a degree of parity throughout the field which, although irks the purist, helps maintain Manufacturer interest and there were 11 different makes on show at Silverstone. The support categories were all making their only visit to UK soil too this was a rare "International" meeting. There was a race each day for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Northern European Cup (NEC) Formula Renault and Auto GP. Strangely the Blancpain series leaves qualifying for the race until Sunda...

After a 6 week gap it was time for The Spectator to get back to his spiritual home of Donington Park. The Sunday of this 2-day BRSCC organised meeting saw 14 races scheduled. The headline act were 4 races for Caterham's. Roadsport, Tracksport, Supersport & Superlight versions of the marque had a race each day of the weekend. Apart from the Roadsports which had 20 minutes the other categories had 30 minute races. Should have in the case of the Supersports which was Red-flagged early with about 8/9 minutes to go. As usual there was some very close racing with the Caterham's but all a little samey in my opinion. Also on the bill were double-headers for the Jam-Sport Fiestas, Fiesta Juniors, Mk2 Production GTi and Mk5 Production GTi. The various incarnations of the Fiesta provided some entertaining racing and it was good to see the Juniors feature a 12 car grid and behave themselves on track! A name to watch for in the future is that of Aaron Thompson who easily won both r...

The Spectator's latest meeting was a last minute decision to go to Darley Moor. Located just South of Ashbourne in Derbyshire, the 1.5 mile circuit caters only for motorcycle racing. Although Darley is but 20 miles away from where I live, this was only my 7th ever visit. My first love will always be car racing but desperate to get trackside again for the first time in 3 weeks I ventured to the edge of the Peak District on May Day. Darley is a fearsomely fast place, not for the feint hearted, and that's just spectating! The ex-airfield triangular layout means that it's essentially straight-corner-straight-corner-straight-corner. From the startline there is a fast chicane that leads to Park, a basic 90 degree right-hander. Then a flat out blast to another quick chicane before the circuit's most infamous corner-Townleys. This quick left hander has zero run-off and on my first visit to Darley in 2001 I witnessed a fatal crash there.A very tight right-handed hairpin follo...