With Superformance as our new headline sponsor, we entered a whole new world at the Donington Historic Festival. The paddock was fantastic as it was packed with all sorts classic cars with a noticeable change over of races series on Saturday and Sunday so there was something for everyone to enjoy.

The SFCC entry was the best for years with 28 cars entering and 26 cars arriving at the circuit. There were no completely new entrants at the circuit but plenty of familiar faces turning up to enjoy the event. There were still some notable absentees who are sure to join us later in the season. The race season promises to be one of the best ever.

The racing was good as well with varied track conditions. A dry qualy was followed by a decidedly slippy race on Saturday and Sunday started with a dry race followed by a wet race. With the conditions of each race suiting different racers this was a weekend to remember.

Whilst Class-6 did not emerge as a dominant force the races were won by three different drivers each in a different class. In all three races there was some very close racing all through the field with an unusual number of positions determined by some very small margins – this was proper racing on show.

Qualifying

This went well in good conditions with the 355’s taking the front four places. Notable performances came from Charlie Ugo very quickly on the pace in 7^th position and Jago Keen in an impressive 12^th place.

Rob Pulleyn running the “Swifty” 308 GTB had an unfortunate and immediate gearbox issue which could not be resolved on the circuit,  sadly meaning Rob took no further part.

Race 1

The 355’s at the front all made good starts with Tris Simpson taking the lead, it was though soon apparent that the track conditions were not the same as during qualifying making some corners a little tricky… our cars were not blameless. A near replication of Ayrton Senna’s 1993 win from the back was not to be with the 355 of Wayne Marrs sadly bleeding as it made its way through the grid after starting from the back.

Further strife was created when Andy Riddoch beached his car in the gravel after going off on the approach to Macleans and in doing so he succeeded in spreading an exceptional amount of gravel back on to the track, it looked initially that we were switching for a tarmac stage to a gravel stage. The marshalls apparently thought a sweeper might be required, Nick Taylor for one did not relish this understatement as his windscreen was truly splattered as his Mondial T was unlucky enough to be one of the first cars to follow through the gravel close behind another car.

All this mayhem caused some key changes with Marrs taking the lead and Gary Culver moving up to second place in his 328 GTB and ultimately being gifted the lead when Marrs was forced to stop. Tris Simpson who had been leading was now running in third place with a flying Jim Cartwright close behind in his Class-3 328 GTB

Elsewhere Nick Cartwright made a welcome return to racing and soon showed that he has lost none of his flair with a trip to the grass outside the Craner Curves to be followed a few laps later with a pirouette after missing the chicane.

William Moorwood in his 308 GT4 had a race long tussle with the 355 of Ray Ferguson finally letting him by with 3 laps to go. Some way ahead of these two was Jago Keen who looked to have Class-2 well under control until, with two laps to go, his 308 GTB ground to a halt with a driveshaft failure gifting the Class win to William.

Race 2

Sunday morning brought with it ideal racing conditions for many – dry.

Jim Cartwright leapt into the lead in his Class-3 328 GTB but normal order was restored by lap two with Tris Simpson taking the lead. Nicky Paul-Barron moved his 355 into second place close behind and Jim would continue in third place staying ahead of the 355 piloted by Tim Mogridge – Tim doing well as he was hampered by a heavy cold.

Gary Culver made a poor start and made up places until he came up to the Class-4 348 of Colin Sowter. Colin put in an excellent measured performance to drive very consistently such that the two were lapping with near identical lap times but the 348 kept the class lead, albeit by the narrowest of margins.

It was good to see the Ugo family back in action in their 328 GTB with Paul getting the drive for this race. I am not sure how it happened but unlike anyone else he stayed in the same position for the entire race – 8^th from start to finish.

After a quick trip to obtain replacement parts from the Cartwright empire at Matlock, Jago Keen was now running well finishing close behind Ray Ferguson. Tony Claringbould with his Mondial T, and Tim Shearman’s 328 GTB, both found the track conditions to their liking going much better with Tony getting the best of the two on the last lap.

Race 3

Forecast rain only appeared at the last moment causing a late flurry as tyre pressures were adjusted in the collecting area. When the race got under way the two clear front runners were Jim Cartwright and Gary Culver. Behind them and best of the rest was Tris Simpson who must have put on his least worn set of tyres.

Early on Nick Taylor showed really good pace moving up to 5^th place until Chris Butler put in some stellar final laps in his 328 GTB to get up to 4^th place. Everyone seemed to keep on track and in the midfield there were good performances from Riddoch, who seems undeterred by a bit of rain making up a number of places to finish in 6^th place, and from George Macfarlane racing at Donington for the first time who after a cautious start did well to move up to 8^th place just a mere tenth of a second behind Taylor.

It was good to see the “flying dutchman” Robin Biesbroek back in the paddock, even better to hear he is committed to entering every round this year, the acquisition of a trailer will certainly help with the travelling. Donington was also an entirely new circuit and his increased familiarity certainly showed as he kept me working hard with a keen eye in my mirrors for almost the whole race.

Starting at the back after reliability issues were Charlie Ugo and Chris Goddard in his Class-6 355. Both would keep their cars on track and finish securely in the midfield.

And finally to quote Marcus Pye in Autosport, “James Cartwright cooly withstanding three successive fastest laps by the resurgent Gary Culver to take the wet finale by 0.521 seconds”.

It was a great event and the whole weekend was a resurgence of the series.