Masters Historic Donington Park - 7th/8th April

[geordiecriag101]

For anyone who interested, this weekend is the first race meeting for the Masters Historic European Tour. The Good Friday is mainly for qualifying sessions and the Easer Saturday for the races tho on Friday its Gentlemen Drivers and on Saturday its the turn of the Pre-66 Touring cars. Here's the timetable and entry lists for anyone who's going:

https://www.mastershistoricracing.co...entry-list.pdf

https://www.mastershistoricracing.co...ue-four(1).pdf

[brands]

Disappointed with a couple of the Masters grids but it's early in the season I suppose.
The HGPCA grids are Front engined 16 and Rear 29.

[Thundersports]

A bit of a disappointing entry which i'm sure wasn't helped by the Peter Auto event in Mugello last weekend. The Endurance Legends is short on numbers; they had around 3 times the number of cars last weekend at Mugello. The race that's really short on numbers is the Masters Sports Car Legends which was always well supported in the UK. No B8s at all when there used to be nearly double figures of them!

[drbob]

delta and I are there in the Elite for Gentlemen Drivers.

[percy]

Originally Posted by drbob

delta and I are there in the Elite for Gentlemen Drivers.

I'll try and catch you with my camera then... as long as Delta gives me a cuppa!

[dwh43scale]

I'm there Saturday; there may be photos.
Declining grid sizes for some, but not all, races seem to have been a feature of Masters and the DHF in recent years (and not confined to historics)
Whilst it only takes two cars to make a race, punters will vote with their feet if they have not already done so, which is a shame ...

[delta]

Not sure if we will have electric . If we do then look forward to making you a cuppa Percy?

[midgetman]

Surely that's a massive data breach publishing their race licence details?

It's not surprising that grids are falling given that cars are getting older. Spares must be difficult to source and e.g. Endurance Legends isn't a mainstream series that gets to the prestigious events so maybe the incentive isn't there to keep them running. The costs must be horrendous.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[Lancsbreaker]

Can't really see why licence (and transponder) numbers need to be published, tho it wouldn't bother me unduly.


Only 2 non-Fords in the pre-66? Can't remember them being quite that dominant, back in the day.....

[grantp]

Maybe the Endurance Legends just need to age a little more to the point that they qualify for "continuation" status if enough of the young enthusiasts from their original years have become sufficiently wealthy to create such a market.

From memory the Group C races of the past used to have almost decent entry lists with numbers in the mid-teens but 3 or 4 cars never turned up.

1 or 2 would be lost in qualifying and 2 or 3 in the first race of a 2 race event.

Nevertheless, just the spectacle and noise of half a dozen cars circulating was worth the visit. (Subject to ticket price.)

[delta]

Gentleman driver race is well supported.Last week at Mugello the grid was 64

[delta]

We have electric ???

[JTN358AT]

My issue is with the way the meeting is scheduled. There are two really good grids; the Gentleman Drivers and touring cars. Problem is, these races are on different days. The Gentleman Drivers, on Friday is only supported by a couple of other races. Both races are plonked at the end of the day. With some combining of grids, CSCC style, this could be a very good meeting for spectating. But, even as a season ticket holder, I'll give it a miss.

[andy97]

Good luck to Delta and DrBob today at Donington, hope all goes well.
I am not able to pop up to watch, sadly, as I am off to Norfolk shortly for the long w/e.
Shame you couldn’t make it to the pub last night with Grant…..it was your round.

[Gerard C]

Good luck delta and DrBob, flat out or nothing!

[E.B]

Plus 1 on the good wishes to dr bob and delta.

Anyone know if it will be live streamed?

[Peter Mallett]

Good luck chaps, watch out for those track limits!

[delta]

Thanks guys . Safely through qualy . ?

[delta]

Nice race . Dr Bob did brilliant first stint .I took over and had no front brakes . Not sure why . We bled the system after changing diff and at one point the front master cylinder did stick down and a few taps it came back . Might of been telling us something . I very nearly retired the car but kept on pumping brakes and building up pressure before braking points . Another finish and class win but we were the only ones in the class .Happy Easter ?

[E.B]

A few retirements but P22 overall. Couldnt find a stream but followed on live timing with their timing chart and audio commentary. The Commentators there gave you P20 at the end, but I think two late DNF's ahead, of outright cars, still had a lap in hand.

Happy Easter back at you.

[Peter Mallett]

Well done chaps. A win is a win.

[drbob]

When I handed over the car to delta it was perfect lol
I must say the standard of driving of the vast majority of drivers was very good

[geordiecriag101]

So had a trip to Donington yesterday and left feeling a bit underwhelmed by the days racing. I'm not sure what to blame, but the decrease in grids is now starting to become a massive problem.

In the Endurance Masters, particular the second race was a real low point, only 7 cars! took the start and 4 of those were LMP3, not exactly historic! The new championship for older one make cup cars and GT4 could be good but needs a massive entry to make it work, again only 9 cars took the second race!

In the Sports Cars Legends, same problems as above, compared to a few years ago the grid was really thin, tho never get bored of listening to a T70 or 3 at full speed and driven hard.

The HCPCA races were great to watch, especial in the front engined race with Tony Smith and his Ferrari 246 Dino, that thing is just stunning to watch and listen too.

The final race of the day, Sam Tordoff in his Ford Falcon was on top from start to finish tho watching the hordes of Mustangs and Cortinas sliding and drifting never gets dull.

Any way, here's my vid of the days action for any one who interested:

https://youtu.be/wAIv0wnnGTc

[Derwent]

You wonder how they make it pay. Most organisers work on on 66% full grid to cover costs. Obviously you can spread that over the whole day. Given the costs you have to maximum the amount of track time used and the number of each grid.
I can't see those grids pulling in many spectators.

[percy]

Originally Posted by delta

Not sure if we will have electric . If we do then look forward to making you a cuppa Percy?

Sorry - change of plans meant that I couldn't make it on Friday.
Next time...