Castle Combe Grand Finals
Report and images by Chris Person of CPe FOTO
18th September 2021
On approach to Castle Combe at about 7:30am on Saturday morning, I knew it was going to be a trying morning photographing the racing at Castle Combe, largely due to the fact I could barely see the end of my bonnet!
With qualifying due to start at 8:30am, it was looking doubtful that the days racing was going to go to plan. Following a lengthy wait for Mother Nature to get her act together, at 9:45am, additional action needed to take place.
One of the main rules for visibility and safety on the circuit is that the marshal at the flag posts need to be able to see each other, and this still wasn’t possible on the back section of the track.
Fortunately, the awesome orange army and staff were able to add an additional interim flag post to allow the qualifying sessions to begin.
Following a driver briefing to encourage everyone to drive with caution, the visiting Track Attack folks, followed by all the other home and visiting drivers, went out to set some times.
After a short time of race cars throwing some air around, the circuit cleared and made way for the sunshine to come out. A lot of the qualifying was carried out in the shorts and t-shirt weather, which enabled some of the drivers to set new personal best lap times!
After a quick lunch break, the first race of the day kicked off with the dulcet tones of the Master of Mics, Mr Chris Dawes warming up the crowd.
The first of two Track Attack races started the afternoon, with local regular Shaun Goverd on Pole in his very well sorted Class C Peugeot 106 GTi.
Alongside him was Rich Hockley in his rapid blue Honda Civic.
Loads of battles up and down the field meant that the 15 minute race flew by in what seemed like a matter of seconds, with Hockley bagging the top step with 3.7 second of clean air between him and Goverd in second place, and Chris Bassett (Pug 306 GTi Cup) rounding out the podium.
The second Track Attack race (Race 6) was much the same great racing. The P1 & P2 swapped places and Goverd took the top step this time round with Hockley in P2 and Bassett taking another P3.
Next up it was the turn of the home-grown heroes in the CCRC GT Championship.
Oliver Bull assumed responsibility for the rolling start in his regular pole position spot with his blisteringly fast Tigra Silhouette.
He claimed another lights to flag victory, but non finisher Tony Bennett (Caterham R300) had already built enough points throughout the season to claim the Championship by 5 points, even with Bull’s dominant 17 second clear win.
On to the Formula Ford Championship.
Two races (Races 3&8) were on the cards for the “Fuffers” in today’s event. Qualifying saw Felix Fisher (Ray GR05) take both pole positions with just over a tenth of a second difference between his top two times.
Oliver White (Medina Sport JL 17K) and Fisher did battle on epic proportions throughout both races, with White taking the top spot in their first outing and Fisher winning the honours in their second race by a tiny 8 hundredths of a second!
This is a championship that has phenomenally close racing throughout the grid across the different classes and even between classes.
The day ended with Oliver White as the 2021 CCRC Formula Ford Champion!
The visiting Mighty Minis Racing and Super Mighty Minis followed the Formula Fords in both of their races (Races 4&9).
Their first race was unfortunately brought to a close after 7 laps following a big collision into the wall at the exit of The Esses.
Chris Moore went in head first and the red flags were waved to stop the race almost immediately.
On-looking spectators feared the worst as there was a long delay before he got out of the car, but with an incredible team of highly trained professionals in attendance and a super strong race car build, he was taken to hospital for cautionary checks and discharged later with bruising.
Best wishes to Chris Moore for his full recovery and getting back on track soon!
The race ended with Greg Jenkins taking the top spot from 6th on the grid.
Race 2 was a spectacle of action-packed racing (which you always get from classic Minis on the edge!) and the results of the top 4 were a shuffle of Race 1 with Ian Slark in P1, Greg Jenkins (P2), David Kirkpatrick (P3) and Neven Kirkpatrick coming in just off the podium 2 seconds behind the top 3.
The Hot Hatch Challenge cars fired up and filed on to the circuit for their race, with Tim Adams (Honda Civic) on pole with Shaun Goverd (Peugeot 106 Gti) sitting alongside.
As the lights went out, a healthy grid of 26 cars stormed off to the formidable Quarry Corner for the first time. A good mix of cars in different classes mean that there is always a race to be had regardless of where you are in the pack.
The Hot Hatches finished with a lights to flag 1 & 2 for Adams & Goverd and a cracking race from Lewis Clark (Ford Fiesta) who grabbed a few places to finish 3rd from 6th on the grid.
Next up was the crazy fast CCRC Saloons.
Adam Prebble took pole in qualifying with a time of 1:10.894. A time that no Mk4 Vauxhall Astra should be able to dream about! This is no normal Astra though!
The race went pretty well for most but a quarter of the grid of 16 were unfortunately stopped in their tracks before the end of the race with mechanical or electrical gremlins.
The race finished with Adam Prebble taking the top step honours with nearly 7 seconds grace. Tony Hutchings battled with Alex Kite in their respective white Audi TTs.
The older model (talking about the car) prevailed with Hutchings taking P2 and Kite in P3.
At the chequered flag James Keepin (MG ZR) claimed the Championship Victory with 84 points!
The last race of the day was the CCRC Open Race.
A mix of home and away drivers in a wide variety of cars took to the track as the sun was starting to dip behind the circuit’s trees. Tony Bennett, in pole position, had to sit this one out as he had unfortunately DNF’d in the earlier GT Race and was unable to get the car back for the Open Race.
This left Tim Woodman from P2 to get the rolling start going as the lights went out.
A blazing start from Jordan Billinton in his beautiful Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 saw him as the first car over Avon rise and round Quarry corner.
This was quite short lived though as Woodman (Caterham Seven) and Russell Humphrey (Tigra Silhouette) quickly stole his thunder and went to do battle for the top step.
Woodman eventually claimed 1st with Humphrey in 2nd place.
Lewis Clark (Hot Hatch P3) was on fire again in his Fiesta and squeezed out everything it had to offer in this final race. He ended this in the same fashion with another 3rd place trophy to add to the cabinet and a P.B. of 1:16.317!
The day was done. The season was over. The Championship winners crowned.
Everyone’s attention now falls to planning next year’s tyre shredding monsters to bring to the prestigious Castle Combe and race before the ever welcoming family of drivers and fans alike.
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