VSCC, SeeRed, Donington Park, Sept 15th & 16th, 2007.

[John Turner]

I'll see if I caught the FJ car, John, and the Lola Mk1 is indeed a pretty car and going through a bit of a renaissance now.

Before the track action, a few other shots. The first shows the 11702cc powerhouse of Mike's (see pic of whole car earlier in the thread) Brasier Voiture De Course. Terrific effort to get this magnificent beast going again; I hope that it went well on Sunday.

[jamesholland]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kitson

Is that the same Mercedes that Colin Crabbe found and subsequently owned by Neil Corner? If so, I saw Crabbe demonstrating it at the 1971 British GP. He even raced it at the VSCC Oulton meetings in '71 & '72.

No it's not. That car, which incidentally was a hillclimb car and had a shorter chassis, is now in BE's collection. The demonstration car has always been owned by M-B.

[John Turner]

Thanks for clarification, James.

I see that from Marcus Pye's write up, Sunday was a much better value day. I'll obviously have to go on the Sunday next year. Incidentally, Having now read the programme from cover to cover, it is excellent, but would have been helpful if we knew who the authors of each piece were.

I will post a few pics from Saturday in due course.

[John Turner]

I guess that the competitors were happy with just 5 laps, although if you blinked too hard you probably missed most of it. 8 laps would have been better, but since 5 of the 21 starters failed to finish, maybe the organisers know something about the reliability of these cars that I don't!

Anne Templeton made a great start with the KN Special (150), a beautifully prepared car that looked and sounded superb, and drew out a gap over the pursuers whilst Tom Dark had to recover from a poor start in the Q type (138). He caught Templeton by lap 3, but she withstood the pressure and, in fact Dark had to retire at the end of the 4th lap. Contrary to the race results, it was he who posted fastest lap, not Templeton, who nevertheless went on to win by over 40 seconds from Edward Mullins K type:-




Brandon Smith-Holland took this K3 to 9th:-


Fred Boothby finished 14th in his Montlhery, but more importantly for him, was winner on handicap:-

[John Turner]

A 10 lap race packed with interesting front engined Formula Junior cars, it looked like Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk2) would have this one early on when he made a good start and appeared to clear off into the distance. Inexorably however, Robin Longdon (Lola Mk2) hauled him in, posting fastest lap on the way, and took the lead to win by just a quarter of a second. Here, at the Old Hairpin Longdon has Roach in his sights. Derk Walker in the 'Flying Carrot', Terrier Mk4was 3rd:-


At the other end of the field Anthony Childe-Freeman brought the pretty Volpini home in 24th and last of the classified runners:-


Paul Smeeth was 14th in his Elva 100:-


Somewhat less attractive but rare and pleasing to see out, the Sadler of Stephen Bulling who finished 19th:-


5th overall, and winner on handicap, was Tony Goodwin in Gemini Mk2:-


And here's one I don't think that I have seen before; the Smith F2 of Jeremy Bouckley who finished 22nd:-

[Brendan Roberts]

John did you get any shots of my Lola Mk2 - no 115 - at Donington? First time out since 1982 (for the car that is!) and after a terrible start having not launched the car off the line before the throttle linkage undid itself on lap 2 so I came to a halt on the approach to McLeans and spectated there for the duration. Would love a shot of the car in its first race in my ownership if you have one.

[John Turner]

Sorry Brendan, I really wish I had, but to be fair, I really need more than one lap to snap all the participants, and, unfortunately, yours was not one of those I caught on the first lap.

Race 3 was another 5 lapper; I really think they might have managed to make it 8, especially when the programme intro to this particular event hyped it up for the spectator. You really can't blink with these shorter VSCC races (it's OK at the one day Silverstone Spring start which is a different sort of meeting). There were quite a few non starters as well.

First Lap and Paul Mullins (ERA R7B) is ahead, and where he stayed to the finish. On his tail at this stage is R10B, driven by Paddins Dowling, who was later to be passed by Dean Danaher in the Maserati 6CM, seen a few lengths back here. This was the only change to the top 4 positions as behind is 4th place Pete Candy in his Riley Falcon, although he was almost caught on the line by the similar car of Robert Cobden who is seen in 7th place in this picture:-


Geraint Lewis finished 8th in his Frazer Nash GP:-


The Odd Couple! In front, the Alfa 6C 1750GS of Nicolas Rossi; following, the Austin Ulster of Paul Lawrence. The latter appears to have the onset of a smokers cough, but it didn't prevent it from passing its more glamourous adversary to finish 11th by just over a second:-


Close racing at the back of the field. 110 is the Bugatti Type 35A of Proby Cautley; 236, the Wolseley Hornet of Barry Baxter, and 235, the Alfa 6C of Roger Buxton. Baxter got to the front of this little group to finish 21st, but they were still covered by less than 3 seconds at the end:-

[John Turner]

Race 4 was for bikes, which seems a 'must have' now for some of the bigger historic car race meetings.

Race 5 - a 40 minute race with a stop; even if solo, no driver could do more than 30 minutes in one stint, without one. With 26 cars entered this had great promise. This was somewhat dampened, when Marcus Pye, our commentator announced 8 non starters. We lost more during the race, including the Spice SE Chevrolet which caught fire and was pulled off at the top of the Craner Curves by Freddy Kumschick after just 3 laps. In fact only 13 cars finished; they are mechanically fragile aren't they? Odd for endurance racers, really, but then I would imagine that they are difficult and expensive cars to maintain for privateer owners.

Justin Law put the XJR12 on pole in a stunning 59.3 seconds. No-one else got under a minute, and I was frankly looking forward to a non Porsche/Spice victory (for those who have been watching Group C for a couple of years!), but ominous oil smoke from the rear of the Jaguar on the rolling start lap was not a happy sign! Sure enough, although Law took the lead, and initially edged away, the smoke got thicker, and inevitably, after only 4 laps, it pitted permanently. Mark Sumpter took the victory in the 962C but Brian De Vries did extremely well to be with 2.06 seconds at the end:-


Jaguar honours were therefore upheld by the Rini/Hall XJR12D which finished 3rd albeit over 45 seconds behind the leading pair:-


Neil Clarke (23 - Spice SE 90C DFR) finished 7th and David Mercer in the similar car (21), in which he has had so much success over the past 3 seasons, finished 4th. Duncan McKay (11 - Bardon Ford DB2) finished 11th:-


Last of the classified finishers was Richard Bateman in the Tiga Rover GC287:-


'Our' Chris Randall failed to start in what I assumed to be the Momo liveried Nissan R90K, and Nick Randall failed to finish in the 88 car, so not a good day for them:-


Although there by dint of the loss of 4 quicker cars from the race, it was good to see the Aston AMR1 not only finish, but finish 5th, in the hands of Paul Whight:-

[John Turner]

A 2 hour race, I was looking forward to this, not least because of the variety of pre war cars and the fact that the length enabled me to view it from several different vantage points. But why did it need to start so late in the day? The programme describes this race 'as a firm favourite with competitors and spectators alike' but the relatively small number of spectators attending on Saturday had dwindled further before the race had run half an hour and even I left before the end

43 is Frazer Nash Falcon of Winston Teague, a member of the 'Loulou's Lovelies' team who finished 9th on scratch and 2nd on handicap:-


24 is the Vauxhall Quartermaine Special driven by Jonathan Bennett as part of the delightfully named 'Vaguely Vauxhall' team which finished 14th on scratch and 4th on handicap:-


Neil Perkins drove this Riley Riley Brooklands as part of the T.A.R.T.S Toyboys. They finished 16th on scratch and 18th on handicap:-


Simon Hope drove Peter Neumark's Alfa Romeo Monza, as part of the 10 Minute Wonders (Team Captain of whom was our own JR) and they came 2nd overall and 8th on handicap. Clearly they managed to last more than 10 minutes!


Incidentally, am I on my own on this thread? I thought that there might be some comment on the Group C race. I'll carry on anyway!

[john ruston]

The Monza lasted 22 mins due to a very minor problem but was the quickest car in the race,even the special FN.Peter Newmark deserves a good time with the car next year.

[Tim the Grey]

There you go Mr.Turner? That's at least two of us listening, and enjoying things...

[eclectic]

Me too, did anyone get a shot of my Brasier in company? I had a very lonely rece out there!

Great VSCC Sprint last weekend at Goodwood, but it is not publicised as it is a closed event, any spectators who turn up get in free.

[John Turner]

I will get back to this shortly, although I suspect Mike will require a sunday visitor for a pic of the Brasier running.

[John Turner]

The Riley 12/4 of Richard Iliffe, part of the 'Diamonds are Forever' Team which finished 10th on both scratch andhandicap!:-


Another Diamond and another 12/4; this one driven by Mike Gilbert for the 'Diamond Geezers' Team who came 13th on scratch and 11th on handicap:-


Dudley Sterry in an HRG Sports, part of the simply named HRG's Team. They came in 3rd, and 9th on handicap:-


Peter Cobb in the Frazer Nash TT Replica of the 'Missing Links' Team. They finished 15th and 6th ion handicap:-

[John Turner]

Described in the programme as a Talbot Tourer, this is surely a 105 Tourer to be precise. I'm sure John Ruston can not only confirm this but tell us the chassis number, too. Driven by Nicholas Pellett, as part of The Talboteers team, they finished 19th on both scratch and handicap:-


231 was entered as an Alta 2-litre, but turned up as a Talbot 105! Driven by Gareth Burnett, it was, inevitably, one of the quickest cars in the field. Gareth's entry speed into the Old Hairpin was a sight to behold and only one or two of the Frazer Nashes appeared to attack the course to the same degree, whilst I was watching. John Ruston managed the team (he's good at giving orders!) of Burnett, Hope, Neumark and Bronson under the title 10 Minute Wonders, so they either had little faith in themselves and their steeds, or (more likely) were alluding to something else (where we won't go!). The fact is that the team finished 2nd on scratch and 8th on handicap.


This one seems fun and looks like it would look equally at home trialling! Ron Birkett and the Singer/Ford Sports Special, part of The Autosports Singers team. They finished 18th on scratch and 15th on handicap:-


Not the laid back approach from Gordon Riseley who seems to be urging his Aston Martin 15/98 Speed on. A member of the Team George Formby took 6th place and 13th on handicap:-

[john ruston]

The Nick Pellet car ihas only just been purchased by him and is one of the most historic of the works cars.Brooklands.Le Mans MM etc and is Reg GO53 with Gareth in GO52.Our first Team was named after our crap performance at Oulton GC.It proved a good name as the idea of running the Alta vanished and was replaced by Talbot.Julians Riley broke on Tour Britannia and Monza stopped after 22mins.The Team ran with Gareth and Adrian van Der Kroft doing all the work.Adrian had GO 51.With our second Team coming 5/6 with
Phil Stainton.John Polson and Michael Stravaldo six of the seven original works Talbot 105 's were at Donnington and racing and they all finished.Not bad for the big ugly machines!John-You were correct about the orders.

[John Turner]

Nice one, John; excellent info, thanks!

[John Turner]

I'll make this my last post on this thread; the relative lack of interest and comment seems to sum up the nature of Saturday's programme but I'm surprised that there has been little or no discussion about Sunday which was, by all accounts, an excellent day.

A few more from Race 6.

Ms Amanda Fane De Salis in her Austin 7 Salamander, a member of the 'Austin Powers' Team. 21st on scratch but 12th on handicap:-


Peter Glover, of the already mentioned 'Vaguely Vauxhall' team in his 30/98 OE Velox:-


Sir Ralph Robins in Delahaye 135, a member of 'Les Chiens de la Chasse' team who came 11th on scratch and 5th on handicap:


The MG K3 of Philip Walker of the MG no1 team (MG had 4 teams!). They finished 8th, and 21st on handicap:-


I don't seem to have mentioned the winners of either the scratch race or handicap, so I can tell you that the scratch winners were the 'Dirty Dogs' Team of 3 Frazer Nashes and 1 GN special, and the Handicap winners Benjafield's Guest's, a team, as you will probably have worked out from the name, of Bentleys.

[eclectic]

Here are a few more photos..........

The last one is of Jo White demonstrating the versatility of her Riley on the sample trials hill in the infield, after leaving the circuit where it was driven in the relay race., pity it was so dry!

[John Turner]

Lovely pics, Mike, but I have had to realign them and reduce the first four to thumbnails; they were waaaaay too large (see FAQs, and my 'stuck' thread at the top of this forum!).

It would be good to get some more pics and comment of this event for Sunday. It's supposed to be one of the big historic meetings of the year in the UK but doesn't deem to have attracted too much attention. What were the spectator levels like on Sunday?

[eclectic]

Ooops,

Sorry, will keep them smaller next time.

I have never been to SeeRed before, it clashes with my local event Les Circuits des Remparts at Angouleme, and the village Frairie (Fete weekend) but I skived out of both to race in the Edwardian race at SeeRed what fun that was!

I had a great time, Group C did nothing for me except to hasten the onset of deafness, even though I watched from the pit lane, I must admit that I wasn't paying attention when they were around first time.

Crowds were well down apparently, something to do with there being no newish F1 Ferraris about and the weekend clashed with other historic events.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, there were some fantastc cars in the concours, and demonstrations of trialling to whet people's appetites, my Brasier shot up the hill finding no end of grip in the soft dust.

I had friends in the relay race so enjoyed it, but it must have been like watching pitch set to a stranger.

The Spitfire demo was really great, excellent piloting skills.

Come again, all of you.