The Caterham Festival at Donington Park at the beginning of the month included the Donington Formula Ford Rounds July 2017 with the National Formula Ford Championship and the Northern Formula Ford Championship both in action. The weekend was hot on the heels of the Kirkistown round a few weeks before, and was part of a fantastic weekend that saw the cars share the track with various Caterham races.
The weekend enjoyed both good weather and good crowds, with plenty of people there to watch both of the popular racing series, on a weekend that included the launch of a new Caterham special edition themed on Donington Park to mark the 60th birthday of the car. However, July 2017 also marks the 50th anniversary of the first Formula Ford 1600 race, so it was fitting that the two series came together to mark these very special birthdays, and given that 2017 is the 40th anniversary of the reopening of Donington Park, there were a hat trick of celebrations worth marking.
The National Formula Ford championship is made up of three classes, the Pro, the Clubman Post 89 and the Clubman Pre 90 events, with Luke Williams, John Ferguson and Mark de Rozarieux taking the lead into the weekend. The Northern Formula Ford championship, meanwhile, is split into the Post 89 and Pre 90 classes, with Joshua Smith and Jaap Blijeven leading into the weekend. The Northern series is based in North West England, with most races being based at Oulton Park or Angelsey, so this was the annual visit to a track outside that region.
Here are some photos from the weekend.
