The Motor Racing Spectator

Super Karts at the Melbourne Hairpin Donington Park BARC Sunday 3rd June 2018 The 40th anniversary of the British Superkart Grand Prix was the headline act at Donington Park on Sunday 3rd June. The BARC organised meeting saw a mixture of Superkart and car action with the various kart races supported by Mazda Max5, Mighty Mini, MG Owners Club, Clubmans, Kumho BMW & Classic FF1600 championship races to form a 17 race schedule on the Sunday of the 2-day meeting. The CIK-FIA European Superkart Championship made a rare appearance on British soil and German driver Peter Elkmann not only dominated the pair of European races, he also went on to win the Division 1 British GP plate race in his Anderson kart. F250 National karts competed for overall British Superkart Championship points along with a handful of F450 karts. Australian Jordie Forde taking the GP victory. Not to be out done by their larger engined counterparts, the F125 Open karts always provide spectacular racing and L...

Donington Park Saturday 5th May 2018 Time for another monthly update dear readers...Following on from a decidedly chilly Touring Car meeting at Donington on April 29th, it was back to Donington just 6 days later for the first raceday of the annual Donington Historic Festival. Organised this year by MSVR and not the HSCC, Saturday morning saw bright blue sky and a +20 degree change in temperature from the weekend before!  Qualifying for the weekend's activities had taken place on the Friday so it was wall to wall racing on Saturday with 10 races on the programme. The Donington Historic Festival (DHF) has always sat somewhat uneasily in the over-crowded Historic racing season since it's inception in 2011 in my opinion. Various FIA Historic series have visited in the past but as for this year there was nothing particularly headline grabbing.  Racing is racing though and there were 2 separate races for Formula Junior, front-engined and (you've guessed it!) rear engin...

     Truly awful "Spring" weather in March and early April put paid to The Spectator's best laid plans to go to any meetings. The weekend of March 17/18 saw the 750MC meeting at Donington get cancelled at lunchtime on the Saturday due to snow. Ironically the following weekend saw very pleasant weather yet I couldn't go anywhere. On Easter Monday I had planned to go the British GT opener at Oulton Park then thought better of it when I awoke to a covering of wet snow that morning! That the meeting was abandoned at Oulton early due to rain that day vindicated my decision not to go thankfully. Thankfully the various "Beast from the East" weather systems subsided and April eventually saw more traditional Spring weather take hold. That is 5 degrees one day...25 degrees the next!!  Having somewhat rashly purchased a MotorSportVision 4 Wheel Season Pass in March, it was with some relief that I finally got around to actually using it during the month of Apri...

Happy New Year dear readers! 2018 makes me feel really old....learner drivers born in 2001!! What better way to kick start the year with some motorsport. Having given the Plum Pudding meeting at Mallory Park on Boxing Day a miss this time around, it was the annual New Year's Day meeting in the heart of Britain's second city that saw The Spectator shake off the post-Christmas blues and head trackside. With a civilised 2pm start, this was a four formula meeting that was headlined by the "Best in Britain Championship" for Stock Rods. A very healthy entry was on show for this prestigious title and the small 1300cc-1400cc mostly Vauxhall Corsa's, provided some excellent action. Stock Rods 1st Heat in the sunshine that would soon disappear! Stuart Smyth (No.447) won the final and with it the title of Best in Britain. He's got another 364 days as holder too! STOCK RODS You can't have an oval meeting without some form of contact racing and the M...