On a day blessed with brilliant sunshine, which later turned into rainstorms of biblical proportions and even a tornado (fortunately after the meeting had ended) the VSCC made their annual visit to the wonderful twisty and undulating circuit in the Lincolnshire Wolds, which is often called the “mini Nurburgring”.
Originally established as a motor-cycle racing venue in 1934, the circuit was laid out on the gravel drives of a sizeable country estate- Cadwell Hall, for the use of the owner’s sons and their friends. They turned it into a proper paved racing circuit and it was used exclusively for motor-cycles until the first racing cars arrived in 1953. This meeting was for 500cc Formula 3 cars, fitted with motor-cycle engines they were quite also fitted with ex-motorbike racers in the cockpit, reputedly 30,000 folks turned up, so it must have been quite an event.
The venue has been modernised, altered and extended several times since and in 2004 was purchased by ex-F1 racer Jonathan Palmer’s MSV organisation. The spectator facilities have been superbly improved since, without destroying the charm of the place.
The VSCC has run events at Cadwell Park for as long as anyone can remember and their annual visit is a firm favourite with drivers and spectators alike. We were treated to ten races on the day:
- Standard and modified pre-war sports cars.
- VSCC “specials”.
- Pre-1935 Grand Prix cars.
- Slower(!) FrazerNash/GN cars race.
- Fast handicap for pre-war cars.
- Voiturette Trophies race.
- Pre-war and pre-1966 racing cars.
- Faster(!) Frazer Nash/GN trophy race.
- Slow handicap for pre-war cars.
- Allcomers and vintage scratch race.
In other words, something for everyone.
Quick reminder for non-UK readers, the term “vintage” here means pre-1931 and those are the cars primarily catered for by the VSCC, however they also include younger old cars(!) in their race meetings and therefore we have the one including such things as a 1957 Kurtis Indy, 1933 MGK3 special and Grand Prix cars from the late 50s/early 60s- quite a mix. On a tight and twisting hilly circuit like Cadwell there is no way in which a two-speed (fast and faster!) Indy car should work but Fred Harper somehow manages to be a front runner wherever he goes. This race was a particular cracker, it was just like a Cooper vs Cooper Grand Prix from the 1950s with other stuff chucked in- best race I’ve seen in ages.
At the other end of the speed spectrum a couple of the two-cylinder 1920s GNs barely made it up the Mountain (it’s definitely not a real mountain but must be one of the steepest sections of track anywhere in the world) I could have walked briskly alongside one of the drivers and easily had a chat with him!
Frazer Nash cars always feature heavily in VSCC events and I’m not sure how well known they are outside the UK, they have an excellent website:
which is well worth a look; the main feature of vintage FN cars is that instead of a conventional gearbox they have a set of four chain drives which are selected via a shift lever outside the body of the car. One might question the sensibility of this engineering solution but a remarkably high percentage of the cars built are still in use by the most enthusiastic owners one could ever meet. They refer to themselves as “the Chain Gang” and I think it’s fair to say that quite a proportion of them are crackers; they are, however, the most welcoming folks you could meet anywhere. It is always a pleasure to be in their company.
One of the great things about the VSCC is the way they are encouraging younger members to get involved in old car activities; there are quite a few now racing in such things as Austin 7s and they progress to faster machinery as they learn.
A rather special treat was a fly past by the only remaining flying WW2 Avro Lancaster bomber in the UK from the Battle of Britain Memorial flight based not too far away at RAF Coningsby. Earlier in the week it had been part of the birthday fly-past at Buckingham Palace for King Charles III and they were returning to base from another display, so naturally called in to see the other Vintage machinery.
The VSCC have a full report and results on their excellent website here: https://www.vscc.co.uk/page/news?year=2023&newsItemID=1604
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the photos in the gallery, if you have any questions, or suggestions contact me via the Sports Car Digest Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VRVRMag
Or direct, on my website:
