MSN Circuit Rally Championship Round 3

Donington Park

5th December 2021

Photographing the MSN Circuit Rally Championship round 3 at Donington Park last weekend was quite challenging. To start with the stages, they looked demanding for the drivers but from a spectators point of view they weren’t so great at first glance. 

If you have been reading our reports you know we like a challenge, and that’s why we generally shoot events from the spectators' viewpoint. On arrival we headed to the outside of Redgate which was the end of the wooded and tarmac section of the first stage.

We were limited to a small area as the stage used the access gate to the track, which meant the crowd could only cross between stages. No problem, but once on that side of the track you had to stay there for the duration of that stage so selecting your viewing area was quite important.

Previously, we have been able to download the Oulton and Cadwell Park stages from the internet and plan our day trackside, but for some reason they were not available beforehand. However, they were printed in the programme which was helpful, and we soon worked out where to go to get a good view of the action.

As there were quite a few of the PistonClick team at this event we were able to pass on the better vantage points via social media message apps, and soon we were all capturing the action.

The way the MSN Circuit Rally Championship is run, the fastest cars go first so if you are after that tyre shredding, mud spitting, slide into the corner you will need to be in position for the start of the stage to capture the faster cars.

The Dukeries Motor Club were organising this event for the 62nd time and had an entry list that was well over a hundred cars with a reserve list in operation, fastest at the front slowest at the back.

Having said that there were a few in the middle order that were very quick and were happy to announce the fact with horns blaring, telling the slower cars to get out of the way, so you needed to be on the ball.

The infield was where I spent the morning.  This was all-gravel road with some tight corners with short straights. It’s quite standard procedure now to keep the spectators in safe locations, and quite right, so we were a little far from the action. Gone are the days of hundreds of spectators standing right next to the track in some freezing forest in Wales.

Not a problem for me as I had my long lens, but a few of the other photographers around me had to head off and retrieve their long glass as they had only brought along short lens thinking they would be a lot closer to the action.

I generally take a selection of lenses, so was quite happy also doing some arty panning with a short inappropriate lens, the 24 - 85mm f2.8. 

The infield was fine but there were only a few angles and my photos were getting a bit similar so I was looking for a different area to shoot from.

When a pair of stages were completed the track layout was changed, involving quite a bit of the circuit furniture being moved around, so I headed off to the main grandstand while the safety crews were rolling tyre walls and moving bollards.

My idea was to get up high and use the reach of my long lens, but on arrival I spotted a better location at the base of the grandstand.

Not much in the way for different shots, but the light was good (for a short time) and it was a great location just to watch as the cars screeched doing handbrake turns into the pits service road. 

As the light was fading fast and I wanted to take in as much of the stages as possible, my next stop was to take a look at the Esses down to the Melbourne loop. There were quite a few nice shots to be had here and the sun made a brief visit,  helping to capture a few nice images.

The sun was now dipping below the horizon just as the rain started to fall again, so we headed for the car park and called it a day. I will leave you with a few words and a view from the cockpit of the RACE Performance Puma. 

RACE Performance writes:

Having not properly sorted (or paid attention…) to our event calendar, we missed the entry date for the Dukeries Rally and ended up well and truly on the reserve list - 16th reserve in fact! As such, Paul the entries secretary for the club, rightly pointed out that there would be minimal chance of us getting a run at the very oversubscribed event at Donington Park. 

However, optimism rewarded, and whilst it was indeed a very late call (Thursday evening!), PoomaCat was ready to go and in the trailer she went with 105 on the door! So, we made it to Round 3 of the MSN Rally Championship!! Wooo!! Although we did very nearly lose Chris in an unfortunate awning assembly incident, but that’s for another story… 

Sunday Morning scrutineering and a start time that put us as Car 34 for the event. And what an event! Fortunate enough to know our way around virtually every circuit in the country, but to find a gravelly surprise waiting for us at the end of SS1 caught us well and truly out as we understeered pathetically into a cone!

However, now to be expected, we had literally no excuse but to dust the cobwebs off the handbrake and throw some style points back into the equation! Especially after disappointing the Special Stage Rally Review commentary team so badly at Cadwell Park. Hopefully, amends have been made… 

Then, we got settled in, worked around the ever changing weather, made the right call on tyres all the way through the event and fully enjoyed the fast and long stages.

Once again, for the Championship, we led Class D2 from Stage one to the finish, but it was unfortunate to hear Tom and Robert having alternator issues in the Civic causing them a DNF, especially after changing a gearbox between stages earlier in the day. Top effort from all there. 

However, we were once again “officially” running in Class C for the event and P4 had to suffice, along with once again P21 overall but as always, improving on our seeding! We did have a late push and some awesome stage times, so much so that we were shown as P3 for 20 mins after we finished, even with the official press release showing us as P3 but, for some unknown reason, another car appeared in second, leaving us P4, but P2 for championship contenders, so not too shabby! 

As always, development continues and we will do our best to be on time for the Brands Hatch Rally Entries opening up! 

Until then - time to take the kitten apart and see what we can’t do to step her up some more! Six weeks and counting! 

Thanks to RPW Photography and Georgie for helping out on this report which you can share with your friends on social media.