Last Sunday had all the makings of a superb event for the Turbo Tin Tops and WOSP New Millennium, alas, after a big accident in a preceding race, qualifying was all the CSCC drivers received.
We were blessed with a 41 car grid, dry weather, a big crowd and even the paddock parking was ok too. As we waited in the assembly area with 7 minutes to go of the preceding race, it was looking good that we would get our full, live-streamed race. A minute later that all changed, when a battered, smoking car appeared under the bridge, towards Clearways. A 5 -car accident triggered a red flag, with considerable damage to armco, posts and track surface. We're not going to share videos and photos, but will say that Alison Tyrrell was Marshalling nearby and later described the debris and mess, that included oil up the sides of the bridge. Mercifully, whilst 3 drivers went to the medical centre and one of those (Rod Birley, a CSCC JMC Racing Special Saloons & Modsports member) went to hospital, there were no more lasting injuries than a broken bone and very damaged cars.
Regrettably that was the end of the CSCC's racing day, a real anti-climax to what had been an exemplary display of driving skill and courtesy from CSCC drivers. Our qualifying session saw no contact, no complaints, no-one stuck in gravel and just 6 track limits reports in total. In the 21 years of the club booking 'out-rounds' this is the first time we have ever had a race cancelled.
As was said in the assembly area, no matter what the CSCC does next, it can't compensate for the amount of effort and money each driver and team puts into getting the car to the grid. Track time and live-streaming at Brands GP is expensive and our entry fees were kept to a minimum, to cover costs, with a tiny excess to go towards the work in the office in the run up.
That said, we are a club and we directly feel your pain, so with the agreement of CSCC Directors, Chairman and Treasurer and support of our friends at MSVR, we will be issuing each entry a refund of £100. We don't believe in hanging on to your money as a credit, we think it more appropriate, that it goes back into your account, to spend as you wish. Drivers will start to see this appearing back on their cards from later next week. In addition, if the CSCC secures a Brands Hatch Grand Prix race next year it will again be offered to the WOSP New Millennium and Turbo Tin Tops drivers, with an assurance that we won't be last race.
We want to share with you what we captured from qualifying.
So, first up is a video from Marc Peters:
Qualifying was live-streamed and features a couple of beautiful super-slo-mo's.
David Stallard photographed every one of your cars in qualifying, click the screen grab below to see his gallery and perhaps buy a photo or two.
Commiserations to Winter and Speed, who having had a driveshaft break on their 911 after just 2 laps of qualifying, worked hard to replace it in time for 3 laps behind a safety car (thanks to Clerk Ian). The team put in a lot of effort for those few laps, only for it to come to nothing!
Thank you to Rob Singleton at BOSS Racing, who wasn't even racing on the Sunday. He still responded to a call from help on a Sunday morning, for a driver who had an out-of-date extinguisher.
Finally, a thank you to all our members who expressed concern for the drivers in the other race and for not making any complaints when notified our race was cancelled, through no fault of their own.
