Parklife - Part Three - Postcard from Mallory Park

Report by David Harbey

4 Aug 2020

For part 3 of our visits to English parks, it’s off to Mallory for the 750 Motor Club meeting. We reported on the first 750MC meeting of the “new normal” at Snetterton - 750 Motor Club at Snetterton 

There is also a PistonClick guide to shooting at the circuit - Mallory Park Circuit Guide. 

For this car meeting, the simplest version of the circuit was being used (see the track map below borrowed from the PDF event programme), although access to the inside of the circuit and paddock was not possible due to coronavirus precautions.

The 750 Motor Club describes itself as the home of affordable motorsport and was formed in 1939. With a roll of honour which includes Colin Chapman, Adrian Reynard, Tony Southgate and Gordon Murray to name just four, it has been a training ground for some of the brightest and greatest names in motorsport.

Much of the early activity was based around Austin Seven based cars using the 750cc engine – which continues to this day. There’s lots more information at https://www.750mc.co.uk

A modest crowd were present which meant that it was easy to get to any part of the outside of the track. The only thing to note is that it is not possible to walk round the outside of the hairpin. I arrived mid-morning as the Caterhams were qualifying.

One of the unique features of Mallory is how close you can get to the track at the Devils Elbow – the fast, blind left hander from the Hairpin to the start / finish straight. With just a low wooden fence a dramatic shot can be taken.

I used the 24-120mm zoom for all the qualifying shots. With slowish shutter speeds, it doesn’t seem to perform as tightly as my favourite 70-200mm zoom. Interesting, though …

It was a short walk up to the Hairpin for the Hot Hatch qualifying session. The arrival of 30 hot hatches at the hairpin after the flat out blast down the Stebbe Straight and seemingly barely reduced speed through the Esses was impressive.

Noisy and colourful as a number of the cars had short oval style liveries. With only 15 minutes to secure the best possible grid place, there was, to quote the phrase, no time to lose ! Particularly impressive was the flamethrower specification Fiesta.

The final qualifying session was for the 750 Formula Championship. There’s real history here as the class as first introduced in 1949 and is the longest continually running race formula in the world.

There lots of scope for self-build and all cars now use the FIAT 1108cc FIRE engine and run on Yokohama slicks. Despite relatively modest numbers, the cars looked good at a range of angles through Devils Elbow – oh, and there was some blue sky now !

Racing started before the lunch break with each category getting two 15 minute races – except for the Caterhams who had three 20 minute races. On Mallory’s 1.35 mile track, that meant plenty of chance to see the cars passing by. For the cars, without chicanes it is fast and flowing – until the hairpin each lap !

I was at Gerrards to get the “from the grid” shot using the 200-500mm zoom. This is the Historic 750 Formula cars – a class that caters for a range of vehicles including Austin Seven based specials, Cooper F3 cars and other Reliant engined cars.

There’s a really nice panning shot with the lake in the background. There was a close race for the lead between Lyndon Thruston #23 and Trefor Slatter #72 with Chris Wilson’s Cooper also getting in on the battle. I’m no expert on Austin Seven Specials but #20 glories in the name of Pigsty Special …

The Caterham Graduates were invited guests to this race meeting and provide some excellent close racing – it’s hard for a bunch of Caterhams racing not to look good. A little black and white and Dutch Tilt provide some additional interest.

As is usually the case at Mallory, I was able to drive round to the bank overlooking the Stebbe Straight to take break for some lunch, enjoy the sunshine and watch the MotoGP race from Jerez on the phone (the latter was a bit heavy on the data !). Lunch break over it was Hot Hatch time.

It is a short walk up to the Hairpin - the scene of much out-braking, smoking tyres and only one flame-out from the Fiesta in the whole race - which I missed ! There’s no fence until just before the bend itself so a panning shot is easily obtained.

However, I did wonder briefly about the wisdom of standing with my back to the cars in the first lap or so as they seemed to come round in a single pack of cars. By now I’d also swapped to the 70-200mm zoom.

The spectator area overlooking the hairpin is steeply banked and from the top gives a clear view over the fence as the cars go round the second half of the hairpin or head towards Devils Elbow. I will experiment with my step at a future meeting and see if that gives full clearance over the fence.

I then started to head back to the Esses. The run up to the Hairpin is a favourite overtaking point. In the shot of #17 and #11, you can see people standing in the area on the inside of the track that in normal times would also be available to spectators.

Caterham race two saw the usual long line of competitors heading down the Stebbe Straight on the first lap and then close action on the second lap.

An altercation between a Caterham and the barrier (fortunately without injury) caused a red flag, so it was time to drive back round to the parking above Devils Elbow for the rest of the afternoon.

The Caterhams made a fine sight in the sunshine as they headed towards Devils Elbow especially #28 Harry Senior who won all three races.

The Historic 750 Formula had their second race and these shots show the wide variety of cars racing. One of the really neat things about these cars is the ability to see the driver – and sometimes even to get a sense of the expression on their face!

I am afraid I have no explanation for the arrangement at the rear of #78 - the Warren 750F of Kevin Welsh.

The Hot Hatch second race was also dominated by Honda Civics, with #91 of Gary Prebble winning again. It’s also a bit of a nostalgia trip – we had both a Golf GTI Mk2 (well, more than one) and a Peugeot 106 Rallye.

The 750 Formula featured some tight battles again and one altercation coming out of the Hairpin left #28 with a somewhat askew rear end for the rest of the race.

It was back to that spot at Devils Elbow for the second half of the 750 Formula race with winner Peter Bove #2 making it two out of two.

The final race of the day was for the Caterham Graduates who had, by and large, behaved well. A light sprinkling of rain might have made things a little interesting but in the event, it dried very quickly.

There are a good range of shots available from the fence at Devils Elbow and I will be returning there on future visits to Mallory.

All in all a good day out at reasonable cost (£15). I will definitely be attending more 750MC events and they do, of course, run the unique Birkett 6 Hour Relay at Silverstone every Autumn which PistonClick reported on last year - The Birkett Six-Hour Relay



Full results from this and all other 750MC meetings can be found at - theresultslive.co.uk and more extensive galleries for each class can be found on my Flickr at the link below.