Donington Derby Race Review
- Apr 17
- 16 min read
The CSCC office team are finishing preparation for Mallory Park tomorrow and then leave for Spa Francorchamps next week, so let's look back to our first event of the year, at Donington on March 28th/29th.
As has become customary, Marc Peters has distilled two days of action into two, brilliant highlights videos. It continues to impress us that Marc finds new techniques and styles.
Saturday
Sunday
Jaguars top action-packed Donington Derby
Words by Marcus Pye, photos by David Stallard.
The Classic Sports Car Club’s first race meeting at Donington Park was on June 19, 2005 and evolving into a popular annual fixture since 2009. Branded the Donington Derby from 2021, this event has flitted about the calendar between March and October over the years and was this season’s opening event, bringing almost 400 entries from enthusiastic members emerging from winter hibernation; the scene was set for an action-packed weekend.
Few gatherings have been as cold as this year’s, however, when a howling gale brought rain and hail to challenge racers, marshals, medics, circuit crews and the race control team on both days. Having made the pragmatic decision to postpone the first of two Jaguar races from Saturday evening until Sunday morning, intensified logistical issues. At least on a weekend when the clocks sprang forward an extra hour of light worked in everyone’s favour.
Twelve grids – with seven 40-minute pitstop races plus five double-headers - was a healthy start to the season, indicating competitors’ eagerness to come out to play. Set against a backdrop of political turmoil-stoked warfare in the Middle East, fuelling depressing rises in energy bills, not least at the petrol pumps, the appetite of CSCC members was a welcome and positive start to the year’s calendar.
On a less happy note, as arctic temperatures, vicious crosswinds - onlookers marvelled at skilled pilots forced to apply opposite lock, of which the great Ronnie Peterson would have approved, as their aircraft took off from the adjacent East Midlands Airport - and an oft-slippery track led to spins and excursions aplenty. The most serious incident saw the Co-ordSports Tin Tops stalwart Andrew Windmill hospitalised with multiple injuries when the lightest of contact (and no judicial action) sent his Honda Civic EP3 spearing into the pitwall while disputing the lead. Thankfully, Andrew is on the mend, and we wish him a full and speedy recovery.
The liberally regulated Adams & Page Swinging ’60s posse populated Saturday’s first race, 40 cars from 15 marques taking to the 1.979-mile National circuit for qualifying. On a bright dry morning the orange MG Midget of Rob Sinclair/Nik Aveyard was the first of our season to cross TSL’s timing stripe. Mark Halstead wound up quickest in his pale green Ginetta G4, the only competitor inside 80 seconds. Mark’s 1m19.927s was 0.902s swifter than the sonorous TVR Tuscan V6 shared by class leaders Dominic Mooney and Connor Kay. Graham Wilson’s neat Triumph TR6 gridded third, with Sam Polley’s division-leading 1380cc BMC-powered Mini Marcos alongside, comfortably clear of SB rival Dutchman Marc Kniese, unusually far down in 19th with his orange-roofed Mini Cooper S.
Steve Hodges snared fifth, but the former Chevron racer had a fright when a half-shaft failed on the descent of the Craner Curves, firing his Lotus 7 into the greensward with a wheel and its stalk detached. Class A leader Stephen Pickering (Sunbeam Tiger) found himself sixth as one of five drivers to have his best lap annulled for track limits infringements. Sinclair/Aveyard, James Hughes (Austin-Healey Lenham Sprite), Claire Norman/Charles Tippett (BMW 2002) and Andrew Rollason (Lotus Cortina) were the other class pacesetters, Rollason hotly pursued by Martin and Gregg Rumble’s white and gold ‘Broadspeed’ Ford Anglia 105E and the MGB of Ian Ball, the trio covered by 0.747s.
Conditions turned damp for the afternoon race, and the fiendishly slippery track caught out leader Halstead, who spun into the Old Hairpin gravel trap on lap two, triggering a lengthy caution period during which the pit window opened. Most competitors took the opportunity to scurry in for their mandatory stops, at which point Kay took over the TVR from Mooney. Quickly into his stride, Connor forged the blue coupe - Dr Rod Longton’s 1970 Modsports championship contender - to the front, but a second safety car thwarted his quest to shake off Pickering’s rasping five-litre Tiger and Hughes’ Sprite, enjoying in power-levelling conditions. A final green lap saw Kay and Pickering take the chequer 0.973s apart, with Hughes in their wake.
Polley’s turquoise Mini Marcos fell early, when a nut came off a shaft leaving the diminutive fibreglass coupe with one-wheel drive. Thus the class advantage was ceded to fellow wet weather ace Kniese, who screamed his Mini into fourth ahead of the Triumph TR4 of Mark Campbell/Ben Ferguson. Ian Staines (MG Midget) and SL contest winner Chris Winchester (Lotus Elan) enriched a cosmopolitan top seven. Elan convert Jonathan Crayston, now in a Lotus 7 S4, finished 1.895s adrift of Winchester as class runner-up. Behind Wilson’s TR6 and SD winner Simon Tinkler’s MGB GT, second saloon home was Mark Cloutman’s unmistakable violet Austin A40, which beat Tom Pead’s BMW 1600Ti into 11th. The Tippett/Norman BMW, playing catch-up after early 1970s’ Gryphon Clubmans racer Charles’ first lap excursion, lapped quickest in class with daughter Claire up, but finished way down the order. Mention must be made of club stalwart John Leslie - seventh here back in 2005 - who brought his faithful Ford-engined Reliant Sabre 6 home 16th of the 31 finishers this time.
The FIA HTP spec cars came out later for Midland Classic Restorations Ecurie Classic K battle, running concurrently with a magnificent Mike Hawthorn Jaguar Challenge (with Suffolk Classic Services) group. Connor Kay was on pole by 1.892s when a rear wishbone failure stranded his 26R spec Lotus Elan at McLeans. Both of the homologated adjustable ’bones were replaced with standard issue fixed ones for the race. Mark Halstead, now in his closed yellow Ginetta G4R, ran Kay’s 1:21.103s closest, half a second clear of father and son Richard and Michael Wheeler’s Brisky Racing Elan. A trio of class leaders made it five in the top six, Bristolian Mark Williams in his recently-acquired Austin-Healey 3000 ahead of John McGurk’s Lotus Cortina and Dan Lewis’ Cooper S posting strong times. Lewis had Nigel Winchester/Chas Mallard (Ginetta G4A), the Campbell/Ferguson TR4, Peter Smith’s Cortina and Andrew Garside’s pretty ex-Lightwork Racing Elan fastback bunched on its tail in a month when Shapecraft Coupe designer/racer Barry Wood passed away at 90.
Gwyn Pollard/Daniel Gannon (Mk1) headed the Jaguars in 11th, 2.4s clear of Scot Darren McWhirter (Mk1), who had Bruce McWhirter (Mk1) and Guy Connew/Simon Lewis (Mk2) in close attendance. Quickest of 10 MGBs was Andrew Tate’s, 14th overall, with Mighty Mini racers Ahmed Shahrabani/Olly Samways’ example less than seven tenths adrift. Another B now with a Mini graduate was that of Nigel and George Fraser Ker.
The race was interrupted when Halstead spun at the Old Hairpin on lap 2, bringing out the safety car - an Oulton Park-badged Hyundai Ioniq as Donington’s was unavailable - after leader Kay had passed the pits. This gifted Connor a full lap’s lead, which proved impossible to address by waving the rest of the 39-car pack through over the couple of laps it was out. As Kay set fastest lap, a marginally sub-pole 1m21.006 (87.95mph), focus switched to the fight among distant pursuers. Neil Armstrong in the race’s third Ginetta G4R bagged silver, seven seconds ahead of the green Campbell/Ferguson Triumph and Smith’s JRT-built Cortina.
Former Historic F1 racer Williams, who had chased Kay initially, lost time mid-race - through a full course caution with Bill Watt’s Elan embedded in the Schwantz Curve gravel trap - but never gave up. He growled his Healey past Winchester/Mallard’s Ginetta to annex sixth on the final lap. Darren McWhirter won the Jaguar race in an excellent seventh, clear of Lewis’ Mini, Graeme Brown’s Elan, McGurk’s Cortina and MGB standouts Shahrabani/Samways who topped their division. Pollard/Gannon and Mark Uka (Cooper S) completed those on 23-laps. Jaguar men Bruce McWhirter, Connew/Lewis and Nigel Webb (Mk1) were next back.
Past master Keith Ahlers remains at the top of his game in The Morgan Challenge, which the marque fanatic has contested for decades. Fresh from racing his 1958 Lola Mk1 Prototype at Phillip Island in Australia - the southern hemisphere’s greatest Historic event - the Channel Islander was quickest into his stride in qualifying, thus was the only driver to post a competitive time before the rain came on Saturday morning. Even Keith was shocked to find himself on pole by 11.953s in his trusty fully modified Plus 8.
Races are not won in practice, thus nearest rivals class 2 leader Andrew Thompson (Plus 8), reigning champion Louis Ruff (Williams Automobiles Plus 4 Turbo), Hampshiremen William Pratt (Plus 4) and Oliver Pratt (ex-Matthew Wurr Plus 8 99 OK) resolved to do better in the first leg of the double-header. Howard Clark (Plus 8), Garry Townsend and Freddie Haith (in Ford-engined Roadsters of different specs, hence classes) and Richard Plant in his Historic Plus 8 were next, with John Milbank (4/4) completing the top 10 of the splendid 23-car grid.
Thompson made the best getaway on a damp track as the Malvern marauders set off from the lights, but Ahlers soon bustled past. Plant slithered up to third before Oliver Pratt and Haith overpowered him. William Pratt was fourth behind his brother when Simon Sherry (Plus 8) found the kitty litter at the chicane, bringing out the safety car for four laps. With time for only two more laps in anger from the green light, Ahlers stormed to his 110th Morgan Challenge victory - the long retired Rick Lloyd is next on the roll of honour with 27 - taking the chequer 6.049s ahead of Oliver Pratt, who grunted past Thompson as the caution was lifted. Plant, Sam Garland (Plus 8) and Haith completed the top six, ahead of William Pratt and Ruff, who had spun back to 20th in the opening lap charge.
Race 2 was dry and while Oliver Pratt and Ahlers disputed the lead - Keith squeezed his nose ahead for a lap - it ended bizarrely when the duo, and pursuer Ruff, understeered on oil at Coppice. Ahlers regained the track quicker than Pratt and crossed the line first, but the race was red flagged and the result backdated a lap, to when Oliver was ahead of Keith. Ruff was classified third, ahead of Thompson, William Pratt and Plant, with class rival Garland 0.246s behind him. Thompson, Haith, Milbank and Kathy Sherry (Plus 4 Clubsport) notched class doubles. Oliver Pratt set fastest lap, 1:16.061s (93.67mph), in a car he’d not driven for many months.
The Advantage Motorsport Future Classics and SuperPro Modern Classics race was the pick of Saturday’s crop. Driving his BMW E36 like the wind, Lincolnshire welder Tom Barley earned victory over Mark Chilton (Nissan Skyline GTR R32) having outrun the five-litre TVR Tuscan Challenge cars of Alex Taylor and the gearbox hobbled Aston and Tony Blake, who run in opposite categories. The Porsche 911s of Paul Winter/Tim Speed - the Dorset Sports Cars combo last on the lead lap in their ex-Team Parker Racing 2004 996 Carrera Cup car - and Peter Dilnot split the TVRs in the final reckoning.
Futures contender Aston Blake claimed pole position, his 1:15.741s (94.06mph) charge a mere 0.172s quicker than Moderns pacesetter Barley, separated from rival Taylor by Oliver Pratt (Morgan Plus 8) and Chilton all in the 16s. Winter/Speed’s Porsche, in its natty stripy livery, the burly Swallows Racing Jaguar XK8 of brothers Jack and Tom Robinson and omnipresent Aussie Dave Griffin (BMW E36 M3) clocked 17s to keep them honest. Thirteen of the 43 cars circulated inside 1m20s, including the remarkable Ginetta G20s of Roger Hamilton and Steve Griffiths and returnee Geoff Beale’s Talbot Sunbeam Lotus. Nick Rinylo’s classic Porsche 911SC shone, but poor Rob Hardy’s Porsche Boxster expired after a couple of laps.
The opening skirmishes between Taylor, Barley and Black were intense, but Chilton was able to claw them back in, setting some fastest laps. Aston Blake grunted his black TVR past the blue one to lead to their scheduled stops, Barley resuming ahead of Chilton. As Tom pulled away, beating his Q time by half a second to leave fastest lap at 1:15.427s (94.45mph), Mark won a super duel with Alex to claim a fine second. Behind the 3.4-litre 911s of Winter/Speed and Dilnot, and the Blakes’ TVR, the Robinsons, class victors Rinylo and Beale and Roland Jones (BMW M3 E36 Evo) rounded out the top 10. David Sharp - in the Lotus Elise S1 engineered by his wife Tina Cooper, fabled National Mini Se7en champion of yore - repelled Martyn and Rob Adams’ Ginetta G20 by 0.398s for class MC victory.
Niall Bradley and Paul Cook shared the top steps of the hypothetical Ramair BMW Championship podiums, recording 1-2 and 2-1 finishes in their M3 E46s, pursued both times by Luke Yeomans in his E36 Evo and defending champion Graham Crowhurst’s unmissable E46, still the Class B yardstick. Bradley qualified on pole on a moist track on Saturday, with Wells, Jason West (E46), Yeomans, James Card (E46) next in line.
Cook - his steed now resplendent in a vivid yellow and red Shell Helix livery - started the weekend sixth, but tore through the chasers as Bradley fled to a 10 second victory in the afternoon. Joe Collier (E46) shadowed Crowhurst home fifth, with Giuseppe Callari (E46) and Russell Dack’s spectacular black 3.2-litre Compact and Anthony Unitt (E46) next. Having cut fastest lap at 1:09.915s (101.90mph) Nathan West had a fright for the second successive year when his stunning IMSA tribute liveried E46 GTR careered off at Redgate when a rear brake calliper mount sheared. Fortunately, its nose spoiler only kissed the Recticel barriers. Undaunted, his West Suffolk Racing crew set about repairing the car overnight.
Bradley led Sunday’s dry stanza for its first three laps, but stuck in fifth gear was unable to stop Yeomans from passing as they chased leader Cook. By playing with the paddles Niall re-found sufficient impetus to reclaim silver with Yeomans and Crowhurst monstering him. Wells shot through to fifth on the road, but a 15 second penalty for a yellow flag infringement dropped him to seventh behind Coller and West. Steve Berry (MINI JCW Coupe) and Sean Wortley (Mini Cooper S R53) won class C once each. Josh Pearce-Robinson claimed turbocharged MINI R56 honours both times, while Aaron Clark and Matthew Hibberd bagged supercharged R53 victories.
Although Connor Kay beat him to pole in wet qualifying, Cheshire golf professional James Hughes was uncatchable in the Lackford Engineering Midget and Sprite Challenge openers. Class E rival Pippa Cow challenged the Foregolf machine initially, but as Hughes left fastest lap at 1:21.011 (87.94mph) she slipped to a distant second on Saturday’s now dry track, with Kay third. William Potter, Barney Collinson and reigning champ Hugh Simpson completed the top six. In an unusually attritious race, seven of the 23 starters fell by the wayside.
The Spridgets returned on a drizzly Sunday morning when grip was scarce. Hughes stayed on the fairway to win by 11.439s from double class C victor Kay and Simpson. Cow spun on the opening lap but - in a race interrupted when sole class A entrant Mike Chalk’s highly modified Midget smote the inside bank exiting McLeans - battled back to sixth behind Collinson and Ian Burgin. Although he was docked 15 seconds for a false start, William Potter again beat Justin and Archie for family bragging rights.
There was plenty more intra-family fun in the Alpha Lexis Law Firm Jaguar Championship, the first round of which was postponed until first thing Sunday morning by cumulative delays and circuit clean-ups on Saturday. The breakfast bonanza saw speedy Swallows Racing siblings Jack and Tom Robinson set the pace, 0.635s having separated reigning champion Jack - who claimed pole with 1:18.076 (91.25mph) lap in his XKR - Colin Philpott’s Powerbell XJS and Tom’s supercharged XJR6 in dry qualifying.
Philpott’s long-serving machine looked unfamiliar in fresh green Eden Interiors warpaint to match Mike Holt’s S-Type, which gridded fifth behind Simon Lewis’ Motul-badged XJS, with a wailing 5.3-litre V12 under its snout. Talking tribute liveries, it was wonderful to see Guy Connew’s XJS sporting the iconic colours of Group 44, the American racing team which took Jaguar back to Le Mans in 1984. Its inspirational founder Bob Tullius died earlier in March, aged 95.
On a track offering less grip than a skating rink, a scintillating sequel provided the race of the weekend as the Robinsons harassed Philpott, swiftest out of the blocks. Tom thundered his wieldy saloon ahead past the pits on lap nine, but all eyes were on James Wall who had bustled Mark One Motorsport’s three-litre diesel-engined X-type shooting brake - the Silk Cut-esque crowd pleaser 14th on R1’s grid - up to join the lead battle in the company of Lewis’ big XJS.
Revelling in the torque and front wheel drive of the “soot chucker” [as Philpott amusingly described it], Wall closed rapidly on Jack Robinson. When Robinson caught a massive tank-slapper out of the Robert’s chicane [named for the late Donington prime mover Robert Fearnall, not American motorcycle champion Kenny Roberts] for the final time, Wall and Lewis gleefully shot past as he wrestled the svelte coupe back under control. Despite their mounts’ disparate specs, the top five’s best laps were 0.714s apart, Tom Robinson’s 1m27.214s (81.69mph) the standard.
The top three were class winners as South African Rodney Frost (XJS) finished sixth, ahead of Ronald Ferguson’s energetically conducted X300, stalwart Chris Boon’s blown Cov Cats XK8 and Luke Veitch’s grey XJS which shed its bonnet in front of the pits on the Wheatcroft Straight, during Saturday’s Q session. Andrew Harper’s wheezing supercharged S-Type R completed the top 10 in a superb advert for Jaguar racing.
A magnificent 35-strong field signalled a renaissance for the long-running Gold Arts Magnificent Sevens series, for which - after a chaotic start to qualifying, stopped when Martin Leadbeater’s Caterham tagged into the wall in the pit entrance before he’d triggered TSL’s timing system - Stephen James put his 2.5-litre Caterham 7 on pole with a 1:09.996 (101.78mph) effort. The supercharged Caterhams of Jonny Pittard and Dan Kelly ran James closest, in the 11s, with class leaders Stephen Collins, Darren McCormack and Tim Davies in the chase and John Cutmore quickest of three well-matched 1340cc Suzuki Hayabusa-powered MK Cup 200s in 11th overall and Sam Smith’s Locost 7 14th. Best of the 1600cc Caterhams sat 19th and 20th, Leo/Nathan Bell (310R) and Paul Hawker (270R) heading their divisions.
With an oil spill at the Old Hairpin, race 1 got underway behind a safety car. As James slipped back and retired, Pittard prevailed in a tussle with Kelly once he had deposed the fast-starting Stephen Nuttall, who finished third overall, beating class A rival McCormack into fourth. Crawford bested Richard Carter in B, which Chris Wilkinson screamed his MK Cup 200 home eighth, two places ahead of Smith. The BOSS Racing team fixed Leadbeater’s car for him to climb to 14th. Mitchell Fasanya (Roadsport) and Leo Bell earned TA and TB wins respectively. With time running short, the incident-strewn second race was stopped after three laps, with Kelly ahead of Pittard and Nuttall. Although academic, for the record, 20th placed Matthew Simpson (MK Indy R1) set fastest lap with 1:38.971 (71.98mph).
The Fox Transport Turbo Tin Tops race, shortened to 10 laps in dire conditions for the recovery of two cars beached between the Old Hairpin and Starkey’s Bridge, provided a new winner in Steve Berry’s MINI JCW Coupe, whose closest opponent David Robb (Audi TT) was one of the gravel bound vehicles, slipping on oil with no change of surface signal.
Richard Clarke (Renault Clio Cup) was classified third, ahead of Matthew Jackson’s Ford Fiesta ST180 and the Clios of Andy Tate/Patrick Scharfegger and Travis Coyne. Berry had qualified second to Nigel Tongue in John Hammersley’s VW Scirocco R, with Andrew Marson (Abarth Assetto Corse) third, but destined not to start after an oily exit from qualifying.
Now backed by Trackday Solutions, the rejuvenated Puma Cup ran concurrently with the Turbo Tin Tops and featured 11 of the Blue Oval’s 1700cc coupes, almost doubling numbers of recent seasons. Thomas Merritt detached himself from the pack in the morning preliminaries with a 1:25.817 shot, but James Clare trumped him by 8.914s in the race. Marcus Williams finished third, ahead of Daniel Sayers, Ian Howard and Neil Jackson/Nick Fulljames.
With his Fives Garage Ford Fiesta unready, Adam Brown was drafted in by Nigel Ainge to share his Hillwood Auto Honda Integra DC5 in the Co-ordSport Tin Tops race. Brown - at 27 precisely one third of Ainge’s age - duly eclipsed local ace Andrew Windmill’s best in the RAYS Wheels Honda Civic SL EP3) by 0.095s. Brown’s 1:16.038 (93.69mph) put the turquoise screamer on pole for Ainge, who made his race debut in a Mini Cooper S in the 1960s, to start. Jon and Tom Dee’s black Integra DC2, Alfie Jones (Civic EP3 Type-R) and Joe Hathaway (Renault Clio 172) led the pursuit.
Ainge found his equilibrium and strategically relayed hotshot Brown as the pit window opened, as Jon Dee and Windmill continued to scrap for the lead in their Hondas. When they found traffic to lap on the start straight, Windmill’s more accelerative Civic ‘Super Leggera’ and the Integra went for a gap between two cars and an inadvertent touch sent Windmill spearing into the pit wall at unabated speed.
Momentum spun it round 180 degrees, back into the barrier, then another half-turn into the pit exit lane. Marshals and medics were quickly on the scene and painstakingly extricated Windmill, who was transferred to hospital. While his beautifully built car’s cage stood up well, and a top-quality harness did its job, the initial impact broke Andrew’s sternum, back, several ribs and a leg and ankle. Incredibly, days later he was discharged in a back brace and was working from home inside a fortnight.
The race was stopped and restarted for 10 laps, whereupon Brown zoomed to the front. Former short over banger racer Jones and the on-form Hathaway touched at Coppice en route to joining Adam and Nigel in the podium places. The contrasting Civic iterations of Steve Papworth and Blair Roebuck filled the minor placings, with Steve McDermid’s Triad Racing MG ZR, Julian Fisher’s Ford Fiesta ST150 and David Bellamy’s Peugeot 106 GTi adding variety in their wake. Hathaway, Roebuck, Fisher and Bellamy all won classes. Brown left fastest lap at 1:19.209s (89.84mph) in slippery conditions.
After Saturday’s tribulations, Nathan Wells rewarded his crew with victory in the Liqui Moly Slicks race which unfortunately saw grooved rubber de rigueur. Sam Howarth set a cracking 1:08.200 (104.48mph), the weekend’s quickest, to secure pole position in his Porsche Centre High Wycombe 991.2 GT3 Cup car, a second better than Midlander Kevin Clarke’s Intersport Lamborghini Huracan. The more experienced Wells adapted to tricky conditions better, but Howarth was closing on him towards the end. Quadruple BTCC champion Colin Turkington and Mark Smith in the latter’s Amspeed-prepared BMW M3 E36 Evo were third, with Clarke’s raging V10 bull filling Mark’s mirrors.
Tim Crighton set fastest lap at 1:19.000s (90.18mph) bringing Will Garrett’s svelte supercharged Lotus Emira GT4 back to fifth at the flag. A noteworthy debutant was Nigel Mustill’s twin-turbocharged BMW M4 GT3, which the west country veteran drove gingerly after a fall while setting up his paddock awning. A painful wrist turned out to be broken when Nigel sought medical advice back in Wiltshire the following day.
Wells also claimed gold in the Verum Builders New Millennium finale, the chequered flag of which was flown at 1917 on Sunday evening, helped by extra light afforded by the clocks moving an hour forward to British Summer Time overnight. Thus ended a gruelling weekend for loyal marshals out on their posts through an array of conditions.
In what could have been mistaken for an advert for BMW Motorsport, M3s from Munich filled the top nine places. Mark Smith/ColinTurkington (E36 Evo) were second ahead of Tommy Grout’s Warsteiner tribute E46 with the sister cars of John Cockerton and Aldo Riti also on the lead lap. Tenth and top ‘interloper’ was the rare Ford V6-engined Ginetta G55 Supercup of Neil and Oliver Armstrong. On a drying track Ulsterman Turkington clocked fastest lap in the closing stages.
