Donington Park Sunday 18th October 2015
After a 260 mile round trip for my last meeting it was a mere 16 mile round trip for The Spectator on Sunday. The BRSCC were in charge for their "Finals" weekend. This was a 2 day meeting and the only categories I missed from the Saturday were the pair of HRDC historic saloon races. As I'd seen these at Mallory Park 3 weeks ago, there was no guilt on my part by just going on the Sunday! 14 races were scheduled so a packed day was in prospect.
As October edges towards the dreaded weekend when British Summer Time becomes Greenwich Mean Time (THE worst weekend of the year......!) the mornings are ever darker and it was a particularly dark morning at Donington. Thankfully no fog to report as this meeting has been cursed by fog in years gone by.
The first of 2 Mazda MX5 Supercup races kicked the days activities off and it was a blast from the Touring Car past as Paul O'Neill easily won. The second race later in the day saw a lengthy safety car period following 3 cars spinning off at the Old Hairpin. For whatever reason the towing ropes kept coming off a lot of cars as the tractor tried to pull them away from the gravel trap and amid some farcical scenes there were at least 4 laps behind the safety car. A brief restart saw a win for James Blake-Baldwin.
The Supercup caters for the Mk3 version of the Mazda MX5 and has grown quickly with 30 cars entered at Donington. The Mk1 version saw a mammoth 57 cars entered which meant 4 races on Sunday with split grids. The venerable Mk1 is an ideal little racecar with a 1600cc engine in a compact chassis meaning that it's a user friendly car and one which provides close racing. Too close racing at times with 2 of the 4 races seeing the safety car after incidents at Redgate both times. Emerging from a 5 driver fight for the overall title was Brian Chandler as champion.
The curious combination of Honda VTEC Challenge and Smart 4Two Cup was racing again in Leicestershire after their visit to Mallory Park recently. A couple of things to note in both races were the Khaki Camouflage liveried Honda Integra of Darren Smee......ideal when spinning several times as the Observer on post can't see you. Also I'm fairly certain I've never seen the race number 666 before as chosen by Paul Donkin for his Honda Civic! He drove like the Devil on Sunday....
The OSS Open Sportscar championship races saw easy wins for series sponsor Duncan Williams Juno. He lapped the other 14 cars in the field in race 1 and it was only the Spire of Tim Gray who stopped him from repeating the process in race 2, Gray having retired from the first race.
The biggest turnout of Alfa Romeo's I've seen in many years (29) is fantastic to report. The days of the heavily modified cars have long gone but there are still a few beasts at the head of the field. Graham Seager's GTV wining both races.
Having raced on Saturday, the Mighty and Super Mighty Mini's raced just the once on Sunday. Australian Liam Sullivan simply drove away from the Mighty Mini field after taking the lead, winning by 5 seconds which is unusual in Mini racing.
Only 7 Super Mighty Minis started their finale but provided a mini-epic with all 7 circulating in close formation for most of the race. It couldn't last and it didn't last as contact was made at the Old Hairpin between Ian Slark and Scott Kendall putting Slark into the gravel.
A decent days racing at Donington then with a 5.35pm finish. This was the last meeting at Donington for me this year and hope that 2016 sees the Infield fully restored and that will see the circuit finally banish the dark memories from 2009/2010. If circuit management can be persuaded to open up Starkeys Parking again then I'm sure the circuit can regain the loyal fanbase it once had. The trek from the car park outside the Paddock to the spectating enclosures is a dangerous one at times.
Admission was £10 with the usual £5 DPRAC discount and I didn't buy a programme as I printed the entry lists from the BRSCC website.
The only downside of the day was the commentary from Jake Sanson. I've heard him several times this season and his style is simply irritating in an Alan Partridge-esque, Disc Jockey like commentary with emphasis on what MAY happen rather than what is ACTUALLY happening. He's definitely enthusiastic but a complete lack of factual information such as entry alterations, grids and results throughout the day is a fundamental error. The advent of the Internet has seen a crop of young broadcasters eager to become the next Murray Walker and race commentary is a difficult thing to get right. Bad commentary is nothing new though and it's not that long ago that meetings were blighted by the likes of Andrew Wilkins and Brian Jones. In these noise sensitive times is it time to put an end to PA based commentary and broadcast purely through personal media, so we can choose whether we want to listen to the commentary or not. With live timing available on our phones is there any need for commentary at all???
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