The Motor Racing Spectator

There's nothing much good about the month of January is there?! Christmas and the New year celebrations are a rapidly fading memory, the bank balance is rapidly shrinking and the waistline is rapidly expanding. One way of breaking up the mid-winter gloom and doom is to go to the annual Autosport International show at the NEC near Birmingham....so I duly did! With the NEC charging £12 to park your car these days, I made the decision to travel by train early on Saturday morning which having done some Maths probably turned out to be the slightly cheaper travel option.... I've always preferred to see racing cars on track and in a racing situation. Watching testing has never really appealed and although Museum's are very interesting and worthy, a stationery,silent racing car is a curious beast. The main reason for going to the show for the second consecutive year was to garner as many fixture lists as possible from clubs, circuits and organisers in a bid to try and make sens...

Ho,ho,ho....For the first time since 2011, The Spectator headed to Mallory Park for the circuit's annual Plum Pudding meeting. After the mass over consumption of Turkey, alcohol, chocolate and Sprouts the day before, Boxing Day has always been a day to enjoy a bit of fresh air and (perhaps more importantly...!) escape from family... For many years the old New Era Motorcycle club organised a full meeting on Boxing Day, then in the 90's car racing appeared on the programme in a bid to attract the four wheeled fan. The BRSCC and then the BARC organised the car side of things, usually a couple of races each for Saloons & Sportscars but there have been races for Minis, Caterhams & FF1600 in the past too.For the first time in many years the BRSCC took charge of car racing on this particular day. When New Era folded, Thundersport GB ran the bikes then the local East Midlands Racing Association club (EMRA) took over. My first Plum Pudding was in 1999 and the event has chang...