Halsey heads the horde for Donington Park CSCC glory

One of the most fiercely contested of the tantalising smorgasbord of Classic Sports Car Club grids that caused the hills around Donington Park to echo with a cacophony of roars last weekend was the first race of the Swinging Sixties category.

The 40-minute competition was decided in favour of Dean Halsey and his 1971 Datsun 240Z. At first, it appeared that polesitter Simeon Chodosh would be untouchable after posting a qualifying time four seconds faster than his nearest challenger. However, after taking a commanding early lead, Chodosh pitted early to investigate a knocking noise coming from his Chevrolet Corvette, which left Halsey to battle it out with James Hughes’ Austin-Healey.

After the pitstops had played out, Halsey drifted his Datsun around the circuit to head the pack to victory while Stephen Collins (MGB) managed to jump ahead of Hughes for second. “The car was a bit tail happy,” explained Halsey. “Everybody thought I was being exuberant but actually I had a very minor oil leak throwing oil on the rear tyres!” The second group of the Swinging Sixties racers was topped by Mark Halstead in his Ginetta G4R ahead of Stephen Pickering’s Sunbeam Tiger.

The Slicks Series contenders also put on a very entertaining show during the opening laps as Tom Walpole lost out to Andrew Christopher at Goddards on the first tour. Walpole tried to use all the 440bhp available from his GT4 KTM as he attempted to get back on terms with Christopher’s Ferrari 488 Challenge. In a matter of minutes though, the pair were passed by the flying Porsche of Steven Gambrell. Gambrell managed to pull a breathing gap out front while the battle for second heated up with Sam Howarth and British Touring Car star Colin Turkington joining the fight and dicing for the remainder of the race.

While Gambrell managed to keep the win despite two penalties for track-limits infringements, Christopher and Walpole were less lucky with a 15s penalty for the former dropping him off the podium. Walpole had it even worse when, not only did he get 30s applied due to having a mandatory pitstop that was too short, but also had to endure a one-minute stop/go penalty for his excessive abuse of track limits. The podium was therefore rounded out by Howarth’s Porsche 991 and Richard Wheeler’s Lamborghini Huracan.

Although Christian Pittard secured victory by a cool 1.9s in the Magnificent Sevens opener, race two was a far more energetic affair as Pittard climbed through the field following his 10-place success penalty for his earlier triumph. Long-time leader Stephen Nuttall valiantly held off Pittard but was constantly under pressure in the dying stages of the race.

Eventually, Pittard’s orange machine ducked out on the last lap heading into the Fogarty Esses after Nuttall was momentarily delayed by a backmarker. Nuttall vigorously tried to reclaim the lead over the remainder of the lap, but Nuttall kept his cool to cross the line ahead. “I didn’t plan it!” said Pittard. “I was trying hard to get by as quickly as I could. I got very lucky with backmarkers frankly.”

Paul Sibley triumphed in the first Midget & Sprite Challenge contest after resisting attacks from Stephen Watkins during the middle stages. After the race was restarted following a collision at Redgate that left several vehicles stranded, there was a short safety car period early on. Once back under way, Watkins was putting heavy pressure on Sibley before collapsed suspension put him out of the running.

“Under braking for the Esses, I just locked up – but I didn’t hit anything,” explained Watkins. “Then I was actually thinking of coming in as the engine wasn’t sounding right, so I was actually slowing and, under braking for the Esses again, the front-right suspension collapsed.” With the damage on Watkins’ car unrepairable, Sibley took an unflustered win in race two by nearly half a minute.

Despite a late safety car, Danny Morris was victorious in the first Special Saloons & Modsports race. The former Thundersaloons racer utilised all the speed available from his Cosworth-powered Peugeot 309 to beat Thomas Carey’s brakeless Honda CRX. Carey then took home the spoils, sans brake problems, in the second encounter as Morris climbed from 10th to second following his success penalty from the earlier race.

The combined New Millennium and Turbo Tin Tops race featured much drama, with multiple safety cars as well as a battery of yellow flags, but Turkington and Mark Smith maintained their composure to guide their BMW E36 to a comfortable win. Nathan Wells seemed to be clear in second and potentially a threat for the win in his GTR specification BMW E46, but he ended up in the barrier at Redgate when the BMW suffered brake failure on lap six of 20. “It was straightforward in terms of race pace, but it was more about basically doing everything by the book,” said Turkington. “It seemed different every lap.”

The Jaguar Championship opener was resolved in favour of Jack Robinson’s XK8. Polesitter Robinson had a good start but a daredevil move by Colin Philpott’s XJS resulted in the latter leading down into the Craner Curves. However, the speed differential was plain to see, and it was a matter of when not if Robinson found a way past. He ultimately made the move on lap two on the start-finish straight. The second race then again went to Robinson with another trouble-free run.

The Modern and Future Classics contest was won by Dave Griffin, who worked his way up the field. Griffin had actually started from pole position but, after a mix-up off the line where he snatched third gear instead of second, the pack engulfed the BMW M3. Michael Russell followed Griffin home in his similar E36 M3.

Griffin fizzed back from troubled start to take Modern Classics spoils

Photo by: Mick Walker