The Motor Racing Spectator

After a 260 mile round trip for my last meeting it was a mere 16 mile round trip for The Spectator on Sunday. The BRSCC were in charge for their "Finals" weekend. This was a 2 day meeting and the only categories I missed from the Saturday were the pair of HRDC historic saloon races. As I'd seen these at Mallory Park 3 weeks ago, there was no guilt on my part by just going on the Sunday! 14 races were scheduled so a packed day was in prospect. As October edges towards the dreaded weekend when British Summer Time becomes Greenwich Mean Time (THE worst weekend of the year......!) the mornings are ever darker and it was a particularly dark morning at Donington. Thankfully no fog to report as this meeting has been cursed by fog in years gone by. The first of 2 Mazda MX5 Supercup races kicked the days activities off and it was a blast from the Touring Car past as Paul O'Neill easily won. The second race later in the day saw a lengthy safety car period following 3 cars ...

The Spectator doesn't venture outside of the Midlands much for his spectating thrills these days so it was time to put that right and a visit to Castle Combe in Wiltshire was made for my latest meeting. Indeed it was way back in 2004 when I last made the trek to Combe. Situated near to Chippenham, the circuit is only allowed 12 racing days each season and this was "Grand Finals Race Day".  The circuit has always been a favourite for spectators with Bank Holiday meetings seeing crowds in their thousands turn out. There is a very local South-West feel to Combe...the Castle Combe Racing Club (CCRC) run core championships at the majority of meetings. Formula Ford 1600, Saloons, Sports Racing plus Sports & GT filled 6 of the days 10 races with visiting championships, Production BMW and Historic 1 litre Formula 3 completing the card with double-headers each on this particular day. The CCRC was formed several years ago due to the circuit management wanting to take m...

"Return to Mallory" was the title of this BRSCC organised raceday as the club (who once virtually organised all meetings at the circuit) were back in charge for a meeting at the Leicestershire circuit for the first time in several years. The glory days of the Overend family's tenure running Mallory seem a very long time ago now with weekly car and bike meetings running from March to October. Indeed this was only the 4th car meeting at Mallory out of 6 scheduled in 2015. At least the circuit is still open for racing though so it was on a gloriously sunny morning I headed off to Mallory for a meeting that contained 9 races with an eclectic mixture of old and new.  The Old came in the shape of 3 races run by the Historic Racing Drivers Club (HRDC). With the emphasis on the "car is the star" this club have found a niche in the crowded historic racing scene for drivers to race original touring cars from the 1950's & 60's. There was some special ...

Another Sunday, another visit to my spiritual home of Donington Park. This time for the second day of a Motor Sport Vision Racing (MSVR) meeting on the 2.5 mile GP circuit. A good looking timetable with 11 races scheduled to finish by 5.30pm and a very good entry in all classes meant The Spectator was eagerly looking forward to the days activities! A gloriously sunny September morning saw racing kick off with the VAG Trophy for Volkswagen group cars (including SEAT's!) Having watched the VW Cup the previous week supporting the British GT's the VAG Trophy does see some overlap in competitors but there are still some of the German marque's older cars to be seen on track with a few Vento's and Mk2 Golf's in evidence. Rob Cox won race 1 in his 2015 version Golf and race 2 was won by the Passat of John Stevens. Both races were very entertaining and robust encounters with the Old Hairpin gravel traps littered with VW's for recovery vehicles to take back to the padd...

The final round of the British GT championship saw The Spectator venture to Donington Park for the first time since July. A 2 hour race for the British GT's was the centrepiece of the BRSCC organised raceday. In support were double-headers for BRDC Formula 4, Ginetta GT5 Challenge & Volkswagen Cup.Add in to the mix  single races for Formula Jedi and Ginetta Racing Drivers Club and a 9 race programme was the result. On a sunny early Autumn morning the days action started with a qualifying session for the Formula Jedi's and the always curious 10 minute GT warm-up before racing commenced with the Ginetta GT5 Challenge. An excellent entry of 30 cars saw an entertaining first race but the days second race was a very poor affair with the safety car making 2 appearances, which, in a 15 minute race led to paltry few racing laps. Callum Pointon and Ryan Hadfield sharing the wins but James Kellett emerging as 2015 champion. Another staple diet on the Britsh GT package is the Volk...

After a 3 week "Summer" break, or should that be a 3 week Autumn/Winter break given the less than Summery August weather, The Spectator ventured to Silverstone for the first day of the World Series by Renault meeting. Starting at Donington in the mid 00's and then moving to Silverstone in 2008 the "Renault Weekend" was always a highlight in the calendar. Free tickets were given away in their thousands and huge crowds turned up every year. Featuring the core Renault championships of Formula Renault 3.5, Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and a Megane based saloon series the UK saw a round each year until 2011. After a 3 year hiatus the Renault weekend was back . No free tickets this time around though but a very reasonable £10 on the gate each day and a weekend ticket for £12 if bought in advance. The enormous crowds of yesteryear were not in evidence on Saturday and a crowd figure of 20,000 was quoted for the weekend which would appear to be that 19,500 turned up o...

With the motor racing circuits of Leicestershire not offering anything much in the way of car racing in August, it was time for The Spectator to travel further afield. A good looking BRSCC meeting on the Silverstone National circuit was my destination on the Sunday of the 2 day meeting. 12 races were on the bill and following 3 qualifying sessions in the morning, racing kicked off with a Mighty Minis race. It "kicked off" too much at Copse though early in the race as a 2 car shunt led to the appearance of the safety car for several laps. The dreaded safety car made another outing in the next race for Fiesta's after an incident at Brooklands but thankfully that was that for the day! The Fiesta championship provides a home for 4 examples of Ford's finest creation with the faster 2.0 litre ST version being the car to have. James "JJ" Ross taking both race wins in very dominant fashion. The ST Fiesta is also the model used in the Fiesta Junior championship. ...