The Classic Sports Car Club (CSCC)

Cadwell Park 

29th October 2022

Photographing racing cars at Cadwell Park was the order of the day last weekend, specifically the final meeting of Classic Sports Car Club. The CSCC meetings have loads of different cars at their events from classic to more modern metal, but the events are a little odd with the way they run the races, especially the duration.

40 minute races with a pit stop and driver change is more like a short endurance race than your standard sprint around Cadwell. As a spectator, I’m not sure if I like this way of doing things. After a set time the pit window opens and the cars go in to swap drivers, and when they emerge the field is well spread out. 

Also, if you happen to have won a race previously you are held in the pit for 30 seconds during the mandatory stop, thereby stretching the gap even more. This is done so that the race series isn’t dominated by a few drivers.

It turns the event into more like a time attack race, where a lot of the cars are circulating on their own and the driver is trying to set the best time he can, and is not necessarily racing other cars. This is great for the racer behind the wheel but not so good for the spectators.

On the up side, as a motorsports photographer, it gave me plenty of time to move around the track and capture some nice images of the cars, especially the “Swinging Sixties” class. The grid for this race was very easy on the eye with some great looking cars that had been well prepared by their owners.

Classic Minis, MGs, Triumphs, all instantly recognizable as the cream of British sporting cars of the 1960s were out on track mixing it up with some classics from the continent and further afield. There were a few that speeded past me that had me scratching my head as to what they were, regardless they looked great!

The flowing lines of the swinging sixties gave way to the modern angular lines of the of the tin tops, Clio’s, Ford Fiestas and Puma, which were out setting a faster pace. The race I watched was another stretched out race, only two cars finished on the same lap, 12 seconds apart. The rest were lapped, some more than once, a lot more than once!

It was kind of the same for the modern classics, with many cars being lapped, but we did get some good racing at the front between the V8 powered Triumph TR7 driven by father and son combination of Martyn and Rob Adams.

In second place, giving the Adams family a run for their money on this Hallowe’en weekend, was the Peugeot 205 GTi driven by Shaun Ely.

Clinton Ewen was third in the BMW M3 E36.

The best racing but arguably not the best looking cars of the meeting, the magnificent seven class, the Lotus 7 type cars. Made up of mainly Caterham, they were joined by a few Spire RB7 and Locost Ma7da out on track. 

These single seat race cars have a great power to weight ratio and high levels of grip so were making rapid progress around the winding Cadwell track. Standing back to do a bit of arty panning was a little challenging, for as soon as they appeared into Halls bend they were exiting at speed. I still managed it, but I have had a bit of practice at this.

To summarise, the CSCC meeting gives the spectators plenty of different vehicles to watch in one day's racing. The paddock, as always at Cadwell, is open and the teams turned out some great looking cars. The 40 minute races might be an acquired taste but didn’t overly distract from the overall feeling of the meeting, which was relaxed, well run and enjoyable.

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