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Event Information
Donington Park, UK; June 1st, 2008
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Race Results
| DATE | DESCRIPTION | RACE RESULTS |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, June 1st | HGPCA Race for Pre 66 Grand Prix Cars |  |
Race Report
The Vintage Sports-Car Club’s annual visit to Donington, their SeeRed meeting, moved from its usual September date to early summer for 2008 and this time the HGPCA had reserved two races for our grid of pre 1966 rear-engine Grand Prix cars.
The entries published in the event programme and those present on the day were not quite the same, not least because we had accepted a couple of late entries, front-engine cars - Michael Steele in his C Type Connaught and Eddie McGuire in his Cooper Bristol; also, sadly, some entries were still broken from our race at Brands Hatch the previous weekend. First time out with the HGPCA was John Palmer driving Dave Saunders’ unique F2 Brabham BT16 with its Cosworth SCA engine of 998cc.
Despite a gloomy forecast, Saturday’s weather was warm and dry, rather different from our April outing at the circuit and a pleasant change for the previous weekend at Brands. When practice started ten minutes early, Christopher Mann was still preparing his Lotus 18 after it had stripped a CWP at Brands. Helpful friends got him on the track in time to qualify. Andrew Newall driving Philip Walker’s Brabham was fastest in qualifying practice some two and a half seconds ahead of Mark Piercy in the Tasman Cooper T53; John Clark led the 2.5 litre Coopers one hundredth of a second faster than Nigel Bancroft. Ian Ashley led class 10 with Tony Ditheridge fastest in class 9. Sadly by the end of practice, four cars had suffered mechanical breakages, Sid Hoole, Tony Ditheridge, Brian Maile and John Palmer, all in Coopers with the latter two out for the weekend.
The VSCC timetable for the HGPCA races was very suitable for Saturday, morning practice and mid-afternoon race but for Sunday, it was not the case. We were programmed to be the last race of the meeting, due to start at 5pm and in fact starting nearly 20 minutes late. There was a very long wait between the two legs of our event!
Race one on Saturday afternoon ran very much to the expected pattern. Andrew Newell led into Redgate corner on the first lap and was never threatened. Behind him, Mark Piercy slowly dropped back to finish some ten seconds adrift. John Clark and Nigel Bancroft had an excellent race in their similar type 51s until a misfire developed in both cars causing the Bancroft Cooper to slow and be passed on the last lap rewarding a spirited drive by Ian Ashley in the LDS with fourth place. Andrew Smith won class 9 with Ian winning class 10. The engine on Jon Fairley’s Cooper expired on the second lap reducing the field to twenty finishers.
We may have been the last race on Sunday but at least it was dry; earlier races had been held in the wet and with the circuit at Donington slippery at the best of times (could it be from the aircraft taking off from East Midlands airport?), a wet surface makes it very difficult. As the Union flag was dropped, Mark Piercy led into Redgate with a charging John Clark second and Andrew Newell’s Brabham third. However by the time the leaders had been through the Craner Curves and were heading up the hill to Mcleans, the Brabham’s extra power and road holding told and Andrew was securely in first place. Paul Smeeth was holding the Lotus 18 in ninth position until a spin and an accidental switch-off of the ignition dropped him well back. A close battle developed between Andrew Smith and Sid Hoole for fifth place with victory going to the V8 car in the final laps.
As is the custom of the Association when we hold two day events, there is a constant supply of tea and coffee at the Red Truck from dawn until dusk. In addition, not only did Madeline prepare lunch on both days but the usual very high class BBQ was provided to competitors in the race on Saturday evening. There is no doubt that this excellent catering costs the Association money, covered by your subscriptions and the generous support that we receive from our sponsors. However, at the SeeRed meeting, many members were there racing in other - non HGPCA races. It was decided to ask them for a contribution to the cost of the BBQ. We would like to thank all who attended and especially those who paid for the additional tickets.