Donington Park - 20th March

By time honoured tradition, entries for the first round of the championship are rather sparse – winter rebuilds are yet to be completed and aged bones are yet to recover. Not this time, the first race at Donington had a full entry and 10 reserves.
This potentially difficult situation was resolved by the unusual decision of allowing the 6 slowest Class E cars to elect to run in the Classic Racing Cars race.
The track was as good as ever, the organisation and marshalling to the customary high standards of HSCC -  sadly the infrastructure not yet so – the paddock toilets were disgraceful, many being locked or lacking water – ugh! Still, Donington lives and Kevin Wheatcroft has the gratitude of us all – no doubt he could have made much more money by scrapping the circuit and planting houses – well done Sir – Tom will be proud of you.

QUALIFYING

Qualifying times promised a close race – the first 4 cars being covered by less than 1 second – Callum McLeod, Mike Hibberd, James Murray and Sam Wilson followed by the familiar Cooper T59 Tandem of Simon Armer and Steve Smith. Denis Welsh languished in unfamiliar territory following new car gremlins with the ex  Barry Westmoreland Lotus 22.
Derek Walker hadn’t forgotten his way round Donington and led the front engined brigade from a rather preoccupied John Chisholm  - the latter achieving the result of the day – following qualifying – he dashed to hospital in Leeds – saw his daughter and newly born twin boys  - returning just in time for the race – many many congratulations Sir – on reflection, no, the much deserved congratulations are for his daughter. No sign of Kitty all weekend – wonder why! Happily, all 39 cars were able to practice.

THE RACE

Denis Welsh started from the back row after Robin Longdon withdrew his Lola after doubts on his engine – he didn’t stay there long! At the front, McLeod demonstrated that old age and treachery is no match for being a young gifted professional driver and kept the Caravelle comfortably ahead of Sam Wilson and the battling Mike Hibberd and James Murray.this battle closed up when Hibberd was unable to overtake a lapped car during a yellow flag period after Mike Gregory had a prolonged stay in the Redgate sand, Murray lost ground on the last lap (don’t know why)
Crispian Besley since he now enjoys patronage from Champagne felt it only appropriate to have his immaculate Cooper T56 fizz to an emphatic win in class C2 while Derek Walker won the Front engined class from the returned (just) John Chisholm. Andrew Tart pedalled the wonderful Bond to third in this class – what a joy it is to see this car (largely ignored in period) going so incredibly well – a tribute to his preparation.
The Morton family were out of luck – Pete spun off at Redgate on lap 2 while Alex’s Ausper had rotor arm failure and didn’t start thereby allowing a very surprised “last reserve” Birrell to start at the back.
Denis Welch tigered from the rear row up to 4th place – a great drive – its good to have him back where he belongs.

In summary – a great start to the season – a dry track all day, good racing with a few spins but no damage – at least none that I saw. The fortunate few are leading for Monza as I write – the unfortunate few endured an extremely cold and waterlogged Goodwood on the previous Friday – “if you cant take a joke, you shouldn’t have joined.”

CRC Race

Our race within a race with our “Kissing Cousins”  in Classic Racing Cars produced 5 class E Juniors. (Readers please note that it’s the cars that are the kissable cousins – not the drivers)
Sadly, Chris Woodgate driving Jon Gross’ Envoy Mk 1 expired on the grid while Linden Brand’s Lotus 22 lasted 8 laps. Mark Pangborn certainly got to grips with his ex John Monson Lotus 20B and finished easily the best Junior and ahead of several more modern and potentially faster cars. Next up was Rudolf Ernst from Germany racing his ex Ian Walker Lotus 22 as well as a Ralt RT1. Finally came Steve Jones in his Cooper T67 – a car with an extremely successful “recent history” having been raced by John Harper Duncan Dayton and others?
Kissable cousins included all the 1 litre F3s, definitely Lincoln Small’s delectable 1964 Brabham BT10 F2 – the Formula Fords? No chance – wrong side of the blanket!

Lt Col Bob Birrell