Donington Park Sat/Sun 18th/19th June 2016

As Summer arrives in the United Kingdom, invariably so does the rain! After a quite appalling week of very wet weather in the East Midlands, it was with some trepidation that I arrived at Donington on Saturday morning. The previous weekend had seen the Download Festival take place at the circuit and the internet was full of scenes of rivers flowing through campsites and mud everywhere!
As expected on arrival at the circuit there was a sense of the calm after the storm as the giant clean-up operation was under way and as parking was unavailable outside the circuit perimeter, I was directed to park in the Formula E factory units and ended up parked directly outside the Mahindra racing team's front door!
Thankfully the main stage at Download is located outside the boundary of the actual circuit but there was still quite a lot of flotsam and jetsam left over at the Old Hairpin where hardy campers had been camping on the steep slopes of the spectator banks...The cleaners had found all the loose change it appeared but as tent pegs aren't legal currency in the UK, there were plenty to be seen still stuck in the grass! Not so good was the find of a syringe on the banking during the weekend though. For years any meeting directly post-Download has been blighted with the clean-up operation taking place and, as a Donington regular, you kind of get used to it, but quite why the circuit schedules meetings the week after is a mystery as it simply isn't fit for use. I wouldn't have liked to have brought a family over the weekend that's for sure.
As for the on-track action this always looked like a very good meeting on paper. Unusually there were several series on show who usually race elsewhere in the UK to be seen over the 2 days of the mammoth 23 race BARC organised meeting.
There were 7 races on Saturday and after a morning's qualifying, racing was kicked off by the first of 6 races across the weekend for the various denominations and classes from the Classic Touring Car Championships. The Pre '93 Touring Cars/Pre '03 Touring Cars & Blue Oval (Ford) Saloons had the honour of first race of the weekend and also had the dubious honour of first red flag too as a 2 car crash at Coppice on lap 1 saw a full restart required with Ray West's BMW M3 winning both Saturday & Sunday races. Other combined grids were for Pre '66 Touring Cars/Group 1 Touring Cars/Pre '05 Production Touring Cars and Pre '03 VW's/Thunder Saloons. All contained full grids of all kinds of Saloons but with such a myriad class structure, all races were a little difficult to follow at times.
For the first time ever The Castle Combe Saloon car Championship ventured away from the South-West for a single race on Saturday. Sadly the non-championship experiment didn't quite work with "only" 16 cars making the journey up the M5 and produced a poor race too. With a first lap incident at Redgate splitting up the field somewhat it turned into a bit of a procession and an easy win for the wonderfully named Charles Hyde-Andrews-Bird or Chab for short in his Renault Megane.
The good old Mini Miglia and Mini Se7en series had a race on both days with the Se7en race on Saturday easily winning Race of the Meeting award in my opinion. Incredibly close racing throughout the race all through the 26 car field with multiple changes for the lead battle which got a little too close at the Old Hairpin towards the end. Zak Booth emerging to triumph with Lewis Selby wining on Sunday as Booth's off at Redgate bringing out a brief safety car. Sadly only 11 Miglia's on show and with easy wins in both races for Stock Hatch convert Shayne Deegan in Peter Baldwin's old car, the more powerful (and expensive) racing Mini series is showing signs of decline.
Saturdays racing was rounded off by the first MG Owners Club race. The 22 car field was reduced in morning qualifying by 1, as poor Michael Shrimpton's MGB engine let go in spectacular fashion and deposited oil around the circuit. With cars spinning off in all directions the session was stopped. Thankfully both races passed without further oil slicks and saw a win apiece for MG ZR team mates, Adrian Wray and Adam Jackson.
Sunday only racing was kicked off by the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup Championship who produced a fantastic 27 cars, all making the long journey South. With all other rounds at Knockhill, drivers seemed to cope with the different circuit well and despite Chris Reid being deposited into the Craner Curves gravel trap in race 1 and a brief safety car period in race 2 , both races were competitive and featured some very good racing. Kyle Reid winning the first race and with the top 6 finishing positions reversed to form the race 2 grid, Shane Stoney winning the 2nd race.
With slightly fewer miles to travel down the M6 than their Scottish brethren, the North-West based CNC Heads Sports & Saloons also saw a huge entry of 35 cars for their double-header. Both races were the story of Roof vs No Roof as the 2 Saker closed-roof sportscars of Paul Rose & Steve Harris did battle with the open-roofed Locosaki of Joe Spencer & Westfield of Garry Watson. Eventually the Saker of Paul Rose won both entertaining encounters.
Mark McAleer won both 25 minute Porsche Club Championship races. The first of which featured a farcical safety car period where the safety car picked up the wrong car and not only that, the car off that the safety car was called out for managed to get back on track anyway!
More Mini action was provided by a combined Mighty & Super Mighty Mini pair of races which saw the few Super variations lap the Mighty class runners in a frenetic finish. A pair of quiet Mazda Max 5 races rounded off a very hectic programme which did well to finish just before 6.30pm on both days. The last few races on Sunday evening were held on a damp circuit too as rain started to make it's way in from the West.
All in all a curious meeting this was. The Motors TV coverage of the meeting on Sunday afternoon certainly helped entries as the paddock was heaving but even this coverage was delayed "as live" which started at 6pm. There was certainly some dubious use of the safety car too during the televised races as one felt the "show" had to be spiced up for TV. Safety Cars have their use in International meetings but as I've said countless times before they simply have no place in a 15 minute clubbie...
The remnants of Download also gave the weekend a surreal feeling too with a feint whiff of hundreds of portaloos being emptied giving the circuit a farmyard feel!!
23 races over 2 days did provide some good racing though and it is Racing that keeps The Spectator going despite all the hassle. Admission was £15 with £2 Donington Supporters Club discount and a programme was £3.