August 2019
Apologies for the rather graphic picture of my left foot below but this explains why there is no July 2019 chapter for the blog! With a run of 4 meetings on the trot in June it was time for a rest so there was only one meeting planned for July and that was at Cadwell Park on July 21st for a good looking 750MC meeting. With a ticket costing £12 already bought in advance, I instead spent the morning of July 21st in my local drop-in clinic seeking advise as to why my left foot had apparently suffered a burn of some description whilst walking on my job as postman the day before! Driving to Cadwell was out of the question much to my disappointment and to this day I am none the wiser why it happened. Answers on a postcard please??!
Sunday 11th August (and still far from 100% fit) saw The Spectator travel southward on our nations finest roads to Kent and Brands Hatch for the visit of the superb DTM. As one of my highlights from last year, it was with some excitement that I journeyed to Brands. Over the winter the DTM had seen a big change with new 2 litre, 4 cylinder turbo engines replacing the old V8 engines. Producing about 100bhp more than last year the DTM cars in qualifying at 10.00am were a joy to witness at Clearways corner. Slightly less noisier than last year (that is the way with modern motorsport alas..) but seemingly a little more on the edge. Another big change in the winter was the exit of Mercedes from DTM competition as their efforts head towards Formula E. In its place comes 2 privateer Audi's run by the crack GT outfit WRT plus 4 new Aston Martin Vantage machines run by R-Motorsport. Following the rather brief 20 minute qualifying session it was championship leader Rene Rast on pole position in his Team Rosberg run Audi and following the 55 minute + 1 lap race it was Rast who just pipped fellow Audi driver Nico Muller at the flag by just 0.240secs. In fact it was a 1-2-3-4 for Audi with top BMW driver Phillipp Eng in fifth and the highest placed Aston Martin was that of Jake Dennis in 9th.
I'm not quite sure what to make of the DTM weekend format with a qualifying session plus race on both Saturday and Sunday. Maybe it would be better to have a double-header on just the Sunday as this is the day where the crowds turn out on.
Indeed there was a large crowd at Brands as with not only the DTM there was a Formula One car demonstration by David Coulthard in a Red Bull circa 2011. Coulthard certainly was trying on his laps over two sessions and the sound of the Red Bull was something else.
Another draw for the crowd was the final round of the new for 2019 W Series. The 6 round championship entirely for women drivers was launched with some fanfare and a little controversy. Gender equivalence is possible in motor sport and this series has taken the stance that there a some good female drivers who haven't got the breaks and deserve as platform to perform on. With live Channel 4 coverage the series has gained popularity as the year has unfolded and should be hailed as one of the success stories of the year. British driver Jamie Chadwick headed into the final round with a healthy buffer over her nearest rival, Beitske Visser and having qualified on pole position she did just enough in the race by finishing 4th to win the championship overall. The race was won by fellow Brit Alice Powell who held on despite a late safety car for the beached car of Miki Koyama at Paddock Hill bend. The W Series car is similar to that of the Formula Renault Eurocup (Haloed Tatuus T-318) and powered by an Alfa Romeo 1/8 litre turbocharged engine. Like all single seater races, there isn't wall to wall passing but the race at Brands was entertaining enough just monitoring the title battle between Chadwick and Visser.
The pair of combined Mini Miglia/Mini Se7en races won the most entertaining of the day award for sure. With a mammoth 42 car grid the 2 x 20 minute races were frantic affairs both won by the Miglai of Aaron Smith. A little too frantic at times with the second race stopped early with Rob Davis rolling in the Paddock Hill bend gravel trap!
Rounding off the days action were a couple of Lotus Cup Europe 30 minute races. Hungarian Bence Balogh's Evora GT4 Lotus beating an unusual field of various Lotuses. The second race had to be red flagged and restarted following a fire taking hold on the GP loop on Robin Nilsson's parked ExigeV6. The car looked badly damaged when brought back to the paddock later.
Although feeling lousy, the bad foot healing gradually plus a nasty chest infection taking hold, I enjoyed the day at Brands. I could hardly walk so spent the entire day at Clearways so no venturing around the GP loop. Admission was £30 with an advance ticket and a very good 80 page programme was £5
Less good was the 4 hour journey home....truly a shocker with heavy traffic from leaving Brands Hatch to almost until my doorstep 4 hours later. It made my mind up that from now on, if travelling far make a weekend out of it!
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| Autographs thanks to Callum Tyers! |
Monday 26th August saw the relatively short trip to Mallory Park on a glorious Bank Holiday Monday for a BARC organised 8 race meeting. The 8 races were simply 4 categories having 2 races each and they were the Pickups racing on the 1 mile oval plus Junior Saloons, MG Owners Club and the Super Silhouette championship.
Due to only having 4 formulae the BARC gave each category a practice session then a qualifying session in the morning before racing began at the rather sedate time of 1.55pm. Following the traditional BARC long lunch break another tradition is a red flag in the first race of the day instantly putting the leisurely timetable into jeopardy!Guess what? That's right, a red flag in the first Junior Saloon race with contact off the startline leading to a blocked track! The 20 Junior Saloon drivers,all aged between 14-17 in identical Citroen Saxos, then behaved themselves in the restarted race and they were definitely the most entertaining races on this day. Alex Jay wining both races and interesting to note that one of the drivers, Harvey Caton, was making his debut on his 14th birthday..born in 2005 which makes me feel ancient!!
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| Pickups on the oval |
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| Proof that it can be warm and sunny in the UK!! |
The MG Owners Club wins were shared by William Sharpe and Steve McDermid in MG ZR's and both Super Silhouette races were won by the Vauxhall Tigra bodied Malcolm Blackman. Given that the Silhouettes are essentially National Hot Rods designed for oval racing then it would make sense next year for them to race on the oval circuit too like the Pickups. We shall see?
The day will be remembered for the relentless heat and sun perhaps more than the on track action I would say but overall not a bad way to occupy an Bank Holiday Monday. Admission on the gate was £13 and the very thin programme was definitely not worth the £3 I paid for it!
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