BRSCC Winter Raceday 2015 - The Musings of Mark Haggan

It’s November, and as the nights get longer and the sun sets earlier, the motor racing season in this part of the world draws to an end for the winter, and after many trips this year, I headed off to Donington Park yesterday for the last race meeting of the year, the BRSCC Winter Raceday 2015. The day started appropriately, with a wintry wind and plenty of rain at the Leicestershire track, before the sun came out in the middle of the day and allowed us to enjoy the last few hours of racing for the year at the circuit.

The morning had seen qualifying, then the first four races of the day; the British Superkart Racing Club Championship, the Monoposto Tiedeman Trophy, the HRDC A Series Challenge, and the MSA British Dunlop Endurance Championship/Dunlop Endurance Sports & Touring Championship. This obviously provided a wide range of motor racing formats, with plenty to see during the day. The afternoon was similar, and kicked off with the Superkarts. It is superb to see such a busy event, with almost forty competitors on track. That said, there were a few competitors with problems, meaning that their race was shorter than it should have been, with a raised arm indicating a problem.

If you have not watched Superkart racing before, you might be surprised at how quick the karts are, and at how close the racing is. Yesterday was no exception, and there was plenty of close racing.

The race was eventually won by Gavin Bennett in kart number 0. We watched as Gavin and his fellow competitors made it back to the pit lane.

Next up was the Monoposto Tiedeman Trophy, a great single seater series the features cars of various ages and varieties. A lap one incident brought out the red flag, and given that there was a forced stop at the end of the day due to the likely failing light, the race was cut short to deal with the recovery of the cars in the incident. The race had seen Jeremy Timms start on pole from Shane Kelly, with Jeremy’s brother, Jason Timms, in third. Very quickly, though, the Timms brothers were racing in first and second, positions they held until he last lap, when Jason Timms, in the Dallara Suzuki, alongside Ian Hughes in the Van Diemen RF88 went out, meaning that the podium was made up of Jeremy Timms, Neil Harrison and Nigel Davers.

Finishing the day and the season at Donington was the MSA British Dunlop Endurance Championship, a 90 minute race including some of the Britcar competitors. The race got off quickly, given that the daylight would run out at the end of the race, and the BMW Z4 of Richard Neary & Martin Short led from pole, with the Ferrari 458 of Dunbar & Mowlem following from second on the grid. Equally, the Audi A8 of Phil Hanson & Nigel Moore held on to the grid place of third as the racing got under way. The race was slightly more complicated because of the various classes within the race, and as well as the usual racing incidents, there was one exclusion from the race when Mark Radcliffe did not pit as required in his Porsche. However, after all that, the top three cars were the first three on the grid.

Meanwhile, here are the rest of my photos from the day. It will not be too long before the 2016 season is underway, and trips to Donington are a regular occurrence again. In the meantime, I’ll settle for heading to Donington Park for the cafe and the marvellous Donington Collection.

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