The Motor Racing Spectator

The last car meeting of the year at Donington meant The Spectator simply had to go to the Sunday of the 2-day BRSCC organised finals weekend. 12 races were on the schedule..a very ambitious schedule given the time of year...more of which anon. Kicking off the day, bright and early at 9.05am was the first of two races for the Fiesta Junior Championship. The market for 14-17 year old drivers to try their hand at circuit racing is a curious one, watching youngsters race around while still not legally able to drive on the public highway. With 12 entries, it is a crowded market these days for the precocious teenager to choose from. New for 2017 Clio Junior plus the more established Junior Saloons and Ginetta Junior championships all trying to encourage parents and sponsors to part with the cash to go racing. Nicholas Reeve won both races on this day, the second of which was red-flagged due to an incident at the Chicane and subsequently restarted. The Alfa Romeo Championship is sadly a ...

As is the way in 2017...after an enormously long gap between meetings it was 2 in a week for The Spectator and back to Donington Park for the 750MC Finals weekend on the (much better for racing..) National circuit layout. It didn't seem 5 minutes since the opening 750MC fixture back in March and after a long and varied season for the club it was time for their final "normal" meeting of the year aside that is from the Birkett Relay at Silverstone later in the month. On paper this meeting always looked a cracker and it certainly didn't disappoint! After a rather strange 20 minute Closed Wheel Practice..which saw mainly Civic Cup contenders gain a little track time...plus a couple of qualifying sessions, it was racing all the way starting with the first of two Formula Vee races. After overnight rain the track surface was slightly damp for Ian Jordan's victory but was drier for the day's later race which saw Graham Gant triumph. The quality of racing throughout...

After a 6 week hiatus..(it's been one of those years!!)..it was to Donington Park for the final rounds of the British GT Championship and it's support package. A package that saw 13 races scheduled for a very full day's racing on the 2.5 mile Grand Prix circuit layout at Donington organised by the BRSCC. Indeed the Midlands centre of the BRSCC were amazingly organising 3 separate meetings on this day...Donington plus Mallory Park and a Ferrari meeting at Silverstone! Simply crazy and a sad reflection on how race meetings are organised in these modern times...The Circuits offer take it or leave it dates to clubs so if they leave it, it's simply a case of no meeting. The clash between Mallory and Donington was extremely unfortunate, especially as Mallory only has 4 car meetings scheduled for 2017. Indeed I was very tempted to go to Mallory but having not seen the GT Package this season it was all systems go for Donington early on Sunday morning. It was a good job I did...