The Motor Racing Spectator

"Return to Mallory" was the title of this BRSCC organised raceday as the club (who once virtually organised all meetings at the circuit) were back in charge for a meeting at the Leicestershire circuit for the first time in several years. The glory days of the Overend family's tenure running Mallory seem a very long time ago now with weekly car and bike meetings running from March to October. Indeed this was only the 4th car meeting at Mallory out of 6 scheduled in 2015. At least the circuit is still open for racing though so it was on a gloriously sunny morning I headed off to Mallory for a meeting that contained 9 races with an eclectic mixture of old and new.  The Old came in the shape of 3 races run by the Historic Racing Drivers Club (HRDC). With the emphasis on the "car is the star" this club have found a niche in the crowded historic racing scene for drivers to race original touring cars from the 1950's & 60's. There was some special ...

Another Sunday, another visit to my spiritual home of Donington Park. This time for the second day of a Motor Sport Vision Racing (MSVR) meeting on the 2.5 mile GP circuit. A good looking timetable with 11 races scheduled to finish by 5.30pm and a very good entry in all classes meant The Spectator was eagerly looking forward to the days activities! A gloriously sunny September morning saw racing kick off with the VAG Trophy for Volkswagen group cars (including SEAT's!) Having watched the VW Cup the previous week supporting the British GT's the VAG Trophy does see some overlap in competitors but there are still some of the German marque's older cars to be seen on track with a few Vento's and Mk2 Golf's in evidence. Rob Cox won race 1 in his 2015 version Golf and race 2 was won by the Passat of John Stevens. Both races were very entertaining and robust encounters with the Old Hairpin gravel traps littered with VW's for recovery vehicles to take back to the padd...

The final round of the British GT championship saw The Spectator venture to Donington Park for the first time since July. A 2 hour race for the British GT's was the centrepiece of the BRSCC organised raceday. In support were double-headers for BRDC Formula 4, Ginetta GT5 Challenge & Volkswagen Cup.Add in to the mix  single races for Formula Jedi and Ginetta Racing Drivers Club and a 9 race programme was the result. On a sunny early Autumn morning the days action started with a qualifying session for the Formula Jedi's and the always curious 10 minute GT warm-up before racing commenced with the Ginetta GT5 Challenge. An excellent entry of 30 cars saw an entertaining first race but the days second race was a very poor affair with the safety car making 2 appearances, which, in a 15 minute race led to paltry few racing laps. Callum Pointon and Ryan Hadfield sharing the wins but James Kellett emerging as 2015 champion. Another staple diet on the Britsh GT package is the Volk...

After a 3 week "Summer" break, or should that be a 3 week Autumn/Winter break given the less than Summery August weather, The Spectator ventured to Silverstone for the first day of the World Series by Renault meeting. Starting at Donington in the mid 00's and then moving to Silverstone in 2008 the "Renault Weekend" was always a highlight in the calendar. Free tickets were given away in their thousands and huge crowds turned up every year. Featuring the core Renault championships of Formula Renault 3.5, Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and a Megane based saloon series the UK saw a round each year until 2011. After a 3 year hiatus the Renault weekend was back . No free tickets this time around though but a very reasonable £10 on the gate each day and a weekend ticket for £12 if bought in advance. The enormous crowds of yesteryear were not in evidence on Saturday and a crowd figure of 20,000 was quoted for the weekend which would appear to be that 19,500 turned up o...