My first experience of motorsport was with the Classic Touring Car Racing Club. At the time it was a fairly small club but with a good racing programme and interesting grids. In the intervening years (many, many of them) the club has grown from strength to strength and now provides a route to some top class racing.
Since the BTTC and Ginetta parted ways they have showcased a number of racing categories from Mini’s to Legends.
Last weekend the Everard Pre-’66 Touring Cars celebrated 50 years of the Classic Touring Car Racing Club by joining the British Touring Car Championship support bill at Croft in North Yorkshire.
Over 30 cars took part in three non-championship races over the weekend, with a few star guests among the line-up, including a Le Mans winner, 3 former BTTC drivers and a former Formula 1 and IndyCar.
Sunday’s two races, at 1320hrs and 1740hrs were screened live on ITV4: free-to-air national television coverage in front of a huge audience and no doubt raised the clubs profiles significantly. You may still be able to get them on ITV4 catch up.
The racing was excellent with Yorkshireman and former BTTC driver Sam Tordoff winning both the races I watched. He was piloting a huge Ford Falcon which, once it reached the front was hardly troubled, though the Lotus Cortina of David Dickinson pursued him to the end. Talking of top drivers there was also tuning guru Nick Swift and F1’s Max Chilton driving. One of the drivers lost places on the podium due to exceeding track limits. During his post race interview he said he didn’t care about track limits , he was just there to have fun. He then gave his third place trophy to a young man in a wheelchair as he left the podium.
If you like your racing grids varied then you can do no better than this race series. Three Ford Falcons, A couple of Ford Anglia’s, A Hillman Imp that had a habit of discarding its exhaust during the race, and of course a bevvy of Lotus Cortina’s and Mini’s.
There are few more exciting sights than a Ford falcon powering down the straight pursued by a tiny Mini which catches and almost passes at the corner before the huge Ford pulls away again.
A lot of motorsport enthusiasts limit their trackside visits to the big events with super star drivers. But they are missing out on some excellent racing and even some big names from the past. I think its also true that in this less pressured environment the drivers are more relaxed and approachable. For more information about the CTTRC click on the link below.
RACE 2 – Results.
Race Distance: 13 Laps / 27.30 miles
First: 600 Ford Falcon, Sam TORDOFF
Second: Ford Lotus Cortina David DICKENSON
Third: 3 Ford Lotus Cortina Guy SMITH
Fourth: Ford Lotus Cortina, Victor CULLEN
Fifth: Austin Mini Cooper S Joe FERGUSON
Race Three – Results
First: Ford Falcon, Sam TORDOFF
Second: Ford Lotus Cortina Guy SMITH
Third: Ford Lotus Cortina. David DICKENSON
Fourth: Ford Lotus Cortina Patrick SHOVLIN
Fifth: Ford Cortina Max CHILTON