Donington Park Sunday 2nd October 2016

October...Chilly mornings...rapidly darkening evenings....leaves falling...but perfect for Motor racing! Indeed it was perfect early on Sunday morning with not a cloud to be seen in the East Midlands skies. It was far from perfect the previous day as racing had to be abandoned following the lunchbreak due to heavy rain. All in all 7 races were lost, so organisers for the weekend, the 750MC added time onto those championships racing on Sunday in compensation.
13 races were scheduled for Sunday and the previous days only real casualty was the 45 Minute Roadsports encounter that was lost and could not be accomodated on Sunday's timetable. At least those who lost a race on Saturday could sleep well in the knowledge that Sunday would bring better weather and a chance to race!
Unsurprisingly given the previous days deluge, the asphalt was glistening wet as qualifying began. After 3 sessions it was time for racing to start with Sport Specials kicking things off. Indeed the Sport Specials produced a great race which set the tone for a fantastic day's racing. A tense lead battle raged throughout, which was only settled on the last lap as Rob Johnston spun out of the lead at the Melbourne Hairpin leaving the Eclipse of Clive Hudson to take victory.
This was my first glimpse of the new for 2016, Tegiwa M3 Cup Series. Catering for the BMW E46 M3, the series has shared grids with the Mini Cooper Series this year but with 15 entries this weekend for stand alone races. The M3 looks an intriguing,difficult to drive car with race winner Adam Shepherd having an unusual tail out style into the Old Hairpin that seemed very effective. Jamie Ingram's wild spin at the same corner saw so many rotations I lost count....I'm sure the driver needed a few laps to recover his balance after! There's potential for a good championship here that could grow quickly in the way the BMW Compact Cup Championship has in the last few years.
Award for most enjoyable races of the season must go to the pair of 5Club Mazda MX-5 races. The race before lunch on a damp but drying track was hugely entertaining, eyes peeled to take in the 40+ car grid using all the circuit plus kerbs and grass to put on a show. Will Blackwell-Chambers wining both races where all the action took place behind him. The renaissance of the Mk1 MX5 in recent years has been one of Club Racing's success stories and long may it continue.
A little less entertaining were the 2 Bikesports Championship races. The story in both was how will Brown started from the back of the grid to finish 2nd in the first race and then win the 2nd race. An alarmingly high attrition rate saw only 8 finishers in race 2...the highly stressed motorcycle engines not matching the transmissions of several cars!
The Civic Cup has grown a lot in just a couple of seasons and boasted a 32 car entry at Donington. A cleverly designed series this with Civic's of all ages catered for with any from 1990 onwards allowed. The second race of the day saw one of the days only 2 red flags as there was a coming together on the Exhibition Straight which led to a delay while the armco was repaired. Walking through the paddock at the end of the meeting, I noticed a very second-hand looking Civic so it must have been quite an impact. Both drivers unhurt thankfully.
Another huge grid saw 36 Mk2 Toyota MR2's compete in a double-header that saw some excellent racing. A bit too close in race 2 though as on the last lap the top two in the race, Kristian White and Jim Davies, went off handing the win to the Roadster of Stuart Nicholls.
The RGB Championhip was decided on the very last lap of the season as Billy Albone spun away the rear-engined title with a spin at the Melbourne Hairpin handing it to his Spire team-mate John Cutmore. This was justice for Cutmore as at the original start he was comprehensively stuffed by Albone at the Old Hairpin and was put on the grass. A Red flag due to a car off at the Esses gave Cutmore a second chance and fate took care of the rest!
A combined Stock Hatch and Hot Hatch grid produced 20+ cars but it has to be said the glory days of Stock Hatch are well and truly over. It will be very interesting to see what the 750MC do over the winter with their "Hatch" portfolio. With the Classic Stock Hatches producing a larger grid, is it time to lay the contemporary series to bed?
The final race to report was a humdrum Historic 1000cc Formula 3 race, a rare outside championship on a 750 meeting. Steve Smith's Chevron B15 leading throughout a static race.
In conclusion this was an excellent meeting at a gloriously Autumnal and sunny Donington. With all the Infield works now complete it's good to report that the Donington I've been visiting every year since I was 15 is now looking back to it's former glory. All we need now is new (and more) toilets plus a better way of entering the circuit and it will be perfect!
Racing finished in the gloaming at 6.27pm so the 750MC managed to fit in the unscheduled extra length races, albeit 1 hour after the originally scheduled finish!
If I have one criticism of the 750MC it's that their timetables are always "tight" but with UK circuit's charging ever increasing rental fees per weekend what can clubs do but try and cram as many races into the day as possible to maximise revenue.
Also of interest to me was how much emotion was displayed when drivers were interviewed post-race. With championship's won and lost it's nice to see and hear that although it's "only club racing" the thrill and emotion of competing is what drives the sport to continue despite rising costs, noise issues & the vagaries of life in the 21st century....
Admission was £15 with £2 DPRAC discount and I actually purchased a programme for a change for the sum of £3. The Rocky Road cake in the super little Paddock shop was also purchased for £1 and I wonder why I've put a stone and a half on in 18 months....!!

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