That was Brands Britannia 2026!
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
True to the event's British theme, we love talking about the weather. After a long winter we crave sunshine, then when it arrives it's too much! In record May temperatures everyone sweated out there, marshals, scrutineers, recovery and rescue teams, drivers, pit crew and crowd. The grandstands were scarcely occupied; only the brave stuck it out, cooking under umbrellas, the rest seeking shade where they could find it.
Next week we will bring you race reports from Mark Paulson and video highlights from Marc Peters.
Full results can be found now on the TSL website: https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/262164
The Monday live-stream can be enjoyed here, in two parts:
Official CSCC photographer, David Stallard soldiered on for our benefit. Battling considerable glare and heat-haze, David still managed to capture every qualifying and race session. Please consider buying his photos; he offers drivers a deal for all the photos of your car he took at the meeting.
The heat took it's toll, with a number visiting the medical centre or hospital, the live-stream equipment was affected throughout Sunday and even one of the pit wall gates expanded and was jammed shut on Monday! The circuit had a brief power cut, before back-up power kicked in, again the suspicion was it was heat-related. This caused a delay, whilst race control re-grained communication with the Marshal post-chiefs, and the gantry matrix sign was also out of action for a time. Thanks to slick work by race control and the circuit team we were soon back on schedule again.
The Lackford Engineering Midget & Sprite grid walk was brilliant, it was so good to see families getting up close to the cars and drivers. Thank you to the drivers who jogged from the back of the grid to just make it in time for the 50th anniversary group photo. A couple of Spridgets needed a bump start, with all but one car making the rolling start.
Our European friends from HTGT performed well, with a number of them already asking to come back next year. Whilst the Indy is certainly different from Spa, they all seemed to enjoy this different challenge. We wish them safe travels on their journey home today.
The second Midget and Sprite race, and the penultimate of the event, saw three cars off on oil, coming together in the Paddock Hill gravel. With the primary concern being the health of the drivers, once they were out of the cars and headed to the medical centre, the recovery and dressing of the spill could be finished.
The final race of the meeting started ahead of schedule, the Gold Arts Magnificent Sevens screaming past the start line at lights-out, all set for a full race. With drivers wanting to avoid, or at least straddle the cement dust lines, it meant one driver was left with no room at the very last moment, contacting the end of the pit wall. With debris everywhere, the Marshals sprang in to action, including a number of the start-line team. As a driver, sat in a roasting car it all felt like an age. In race control though there was plenty going on. It takes time to co-ordinate and manage an incident. The decision was made that at the re-start a single-file, safety car start was safest. Grid sheets were printed on the second floor and distributed to the couple of remaining start-line marshals. With no laps run, cars needed to be placed back in to their original running order; they couldn't just start as they were. When the much-shortened race did get under way, one of the Sevens succumbed to the heat, halting on the track, bringing out a final red flag. As always, circumstances like this will always be looked at afterwards, to see if there is room for improvement.
A sorry end to what had been a largely problem-free race meeting and an excellent Gold Arts Magnificent Sevens race 1. In the prize-giving it was a pleasure to present Rob Singleton with a signed, framed photo, commemorating 50 years of BOSS Racing, on behalf of the club, Tom Suckling and the drivers.
You really should take a moment to look back to the last two days of posts on our main Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ClassicSportsCarClub/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/classicsportscarclub_/
Charlotte Lake took care of our Brands Hatch social media postings and has taken some spectacular photos.
There are far too many people to thank individually, but with regular safety car observer Joyce, unavailable, committee member Richard Thurbin stepped forward as safety car observer on Sunday, Tim Cairns on Monday. To every one of you working in the heat, THANK YOU, you helped make it a memorable event that keeps building year-on-year.
