Photographing Castle Combe Finals Weekend (Sponsored by VP Racing Fuels)
19th & 20th September 2020
Report and Images by Chris Pearson of CPe FOTO
A glorious weekend of racing with near perfect weather conditions for the Castle Combe Racing Club’s Finals Weekend. The event was very special with a limited number of spectators being allowed back to the circuit to watch the action live from Quarry Corner.
Also new for 2020’s incredibly unusual season was the return of visiting clubs from 750MC, MGCC and Mighty Minis.
The entire weekend was streamed live on YouTube and Facebook with the fantastic commentary team of Chris Dawes, Clive Woodward, Josh Barrett and John Moon. They did a sterling job of keeping everyone entertained and informed across the weekend.
Saturday’s action started with the visiting 750MC Mazda MX5s. A huge grid, as it always seems to be with the MX5s, got a clean start with everyone slicing their way through Quarry Corner and onto the Esses.
Hard fought battles all the way through the race concluded with Ben Short taking the Chequered Flag.
Short went on to take P1 for the second race with Alistair Bray taking the win in Race Three.
The climax of the Formula Ford season saw Felix Fisher take a double victory on the day but the overall season Champion was Luke Cooper who had fight against the clock to get his Swift SC18 back in action after an incident in Race 1 left Cooper with some front end damage!
Fortunately for him, the crew at Swift Cooper, along with help from Wayne Poole, managed to get the car back together in time for Race 2 and a P3 finish was enough to secure him the Championship title.
Next on the schedule was the BARC Minis which proved to be an exhilarating pair of races with the lead changing hands on almost a lap by lap basis! The classic tripod moments on the exit of corners was plentiful with almost everyone cocking a back wheel!
The eventual victors were Neven Fitzpatrick in Race 1 and Ian Slark in Race 2.
The Final CCRC Saloon Car Championship races were unsurprisingly superb to watch.
Gary Prebble added another double victory to the record books with a very dominant performance in his mighty Leon. In a twist to the Championship, due to the different categories within the group, the overall Championship winner was Mark Sutton in his brightly coloured MG ZR1800.
Chris Hignell, who declared his retirement from the Championship at the end of this season finished his racing career in style with a Class Championship 1st and an overall Championship 2nd place trophy for the cabinet!
The 750MC Locost who came to visit Castle Combe put on a fantastic show with thrills and spills a plenty! A packed out grid rumbled their way round the circuit in both of their races.
Much the same as the MX5s, there was battles up and down the field ensuring the limited spectators at Quarry corner had epic racing to watch throughout the races.
Race 1 finished up with Simon Walker-Hansell in P1 and Race 2 honours was taken by Louis Wall.
Sunday
After a brief visit back home to export my cards, charge my batteries and have a much needed shower and sleep, it was back to the circuit for the second day of adrenaline fuelled action!
The day started with the spectacular GT Championship tearing up the tarmac. The sound of these incredible cars is something that can only be described as a ‘You had to be there’ experience!
With a slightly reduced grid due to a variety of reasons, Oliver Ball made Pole in qualifying with nearly 3 seconds to the next car! He came away with a double win on the last meeting of the season. The Championship points however, fell into the hands of Tony Bennett (King of Combe) with his Caterham R300 in Class B. Bennett took the top spot in the Championship with a P2 and a P6 (after a spin in Race 2).
The battle of the day in the GTs was without question the Battle of the Evos between Barry Squibb and Bradley John who had a great scrap until there was a mechanical issue with John’s car which meant a DNF.
Another retirement from Motorsport, Barry Squibb hangs up his helmet and gloves after 45 years of racing!
Next on the agenda was the visiting Sprites and Midgets from the MGCC. I have never seen these guys and girls racing before but I was surprised to see how fast these classic cars could blast through the twists and turns of Castle Combe!
Race 1 saw a dominant victory by Richard Wildman in his MG May Midget with an 8 second gap to the P2 finisher Pippa Cow in her Austin Healey Sprite.
Race 2 was a different story altogether with a back and forth battle for the lead between the #6 car of Martin Morris and #99 Wildman. They were passing each other and jostling for position in excess of 20 times throughout the race.
A momentary loss of grip on the final lap, which was being led by Morris, was the break that Wildman needed to take him to the Chequered Flag with a little bit of breathing room!
The Hot Hatch Challenge at Castle Combe is a very well represented series in Club Motorsport. Some suggestions that this is due to the affordability and single location, while others suggest it is down to the ability to dip in and out as needed to fit in with your busy lifestyle.
You are not committed to completing an entire season, so there is of course no fear of missing out on Championship points if you can’t make it to one or more of the meetings.
That said, there is a great number of the competitors on the grid that show up to each session without fail and live and breathe for the racing!
The finals weekend was a very hard one for some. Race 1 began with a huge incident off the lights which saw debris and car parts flying all over the place. The worst effected was #39 James Blake who was knocked into a path that saw him go head first into the pit wall (Fortunately, all drivers are are okay with no broken bones but the cars didn’t fair quite so well).
The restart saw several gaps on the grid but as the lights went out, all got away without a hitch. Jordan Curnow lead the way until, on the exit of the Esses, he did a bit of grass-tracking which allowed Anthony Cooper and Nick Gwinnett to slip by.
Curnow then fought hard to work his way back into P1 before yet another red flag!
It was expected that the race would then be abandoned but after a bit of discussion from the officials, they lined up on the grid for a third start. The final 8 minute race saw it’s way to the Chequered Flag and Curnow with the victory.
Race 2 was a much less eventful session. Not to say that the racing wasn’t exciting, as this simply isn’t true. The racing was action packed from front to back but fortunately there wasn’t so many spills to go with the thrills. Jordan Curnow made it the double by securing the top step on the podium for the second time of the day.
Next up we saw the very welcome guests from 750MC BMWCC. A stunning mix of Germanic machinery with a variety of M3s and other 3 Series’ along with a Z3 and possibly my favourite, an E30!
Much the same as the other races over the weekend, there was loads of action and battles throughout the field.
Race 1 honours went to Michael Pensavalle.
Race 2 was being led by Brad Sheehan for a number of laps. Pensavalle piled on the pressure and eventually, Sheehan had a spin at Quarry which allowed Pensavalle to be another double winner at Castle Combe on Finals Weekend.
The CCRC Formula Ford Carnival was a memorable occasion as it was raced in honour of Con Evans. A long serving member of the Orange Army who had been marshalling for over half a century.
Con sadly passed away while travelling to Castle Combe to marshall for the Bank Holiday Monday Raceday in August. The entire venue was brought to a standstill as every marshall and official around the track clapped for a full minute, at trackside, in memory of Con. His memory will certainly live on at the circuit.
Once the Formula Fords were ready for the off, it was very much a Luke Cooper lights to flag victory. He finished his 2020 season on a massive high with both the FF1600 Championship and the Carnival victories.
So much racing needed a lot of words!
As the CCRC season comes to a close for 2020 I can only express what I’m sure we are all thinking. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that we can continue to enjoy our motorsport events that are remaining around the country for the rest of the year.
Also, lets do everything in our power to make sure this Coronavirus curse, is controlled and dissolved by the time 2021 comes around so that we can enjoy a full season of octane fuelled fun, at all levels, throughout the year.
Be safe and sensible everybody.
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