With the BRSCC MX-5 Championship over for the season, it was time to pitch my skills in a mixed class race.
The BRSCC Clubsport Trophy race, held on the Donington Park National circuit in Derby on October 19th 2019 provided the ideal opportunity. The BRSCC ClubSport Trophy is a new multi-class format of production car racing which allows drivers to share race cars, involving a compulsory pit stop and an optional change of driver. Wanting to test myself in a longer race, I opted to drive the whole race without a driver change.
It’s a 45 minute race with a grid consisting of cars from three classes featuring Honda Civics, Caterhams, Mini Coopers, BMWs, Porsche 911s, a variety of Mk1 and Mk 3 MX-5s and even a Ford Capri. Cars were separated into one of five classes which are determined by a car’s power to weight ratio. In my Mx-5, I was placed in Class E – the least powered class.
Qualifying went very well, managing 19th best time overall out of 41 competitors. second in my class and outpacing quite a few cars with more power.
The Weatherman has his say
My Dad is a bit of a weather app addict, using the Accuweather app to predict weather conditions for the coming race. At Donington, the app paid off. A weather front was coming in and a band of rain was heading our way and likely to dampen the track midway through the race. So, a late change of tyres was sorted by the AB Motorsport team.
I made a decent start from 19th on the grid, managing to avoid the carnage that ensued on the first bend. Throughout the early part of the race, I made good progress, moving up through the positions. Around 10 minutes in, the rain started to come down, making the track very slippery and resulting in quite a few cars sliding off at the corners. Fortunately, there were no major incidents, and I kept it together, keeping clear of those who were taking a tour of the grass and the gravel.
The compulsory pit stop went without incident. By lap 17, I’d made it up to 15th and was leading my class, where I held that class leading position until the end. From then on, I went from strength to strength.
A class win!
I finished in 9th position overall, a class win. My overall time of 47 mins 13 secs was 39 seconds better than the next competitor in my class. So, a great experience in multi-class racing, great fun racing against a real mix of different cars and a great result. I’m looking forward to another ClubSport challenge in 2020.
The BRSCC video of the race is available on Youtube.
