As has become something of a tradition with my reports I’ll start by commenting on the weather (a British obsession as you may have noticed!). It is supposed to be “flaming” June and only a few days before the nights start getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere but of Summer there has been no sign; the jet-stream has been forcing Arctic air over the UK for weeks and, whilst we did briefly see the sun at Cadwell Park yesterday, the air temperature was around 12 degrees (53 degrees F) and there were a couple of massive thunderstorms! However, the spectacle of these ancient cars sliding around on a very slippery surface takes some beating and reportedly some of the drivers quite enjoy it!
Cadwell is a really challenging circuit, often referred to as the “little Nurburgring”, it twists and turns, falls and rises in quite spectacular fashion and the setting is very picturesque with farmland and woods; all of which make for excellent photographs! Situated in the mainly flat county of Lincolnshire it is around fifteen miles from the North Sea, heading East it’s next stop Holland, where several of the competitors and spectators came from.
Ten races were on the card all of which, with on exception, being for cars built before WW2- the exception being the Seaman and Flockhart Trophies Race, held in memory of two great drivers from the past. This race was for Pre-1966 racing cars which, of course, could also include pre-WW2 cars however there was only one, a 1934 ERA driven in his usual fine style by Mark Gillies; the rest of the entry being late 50s/early 60s formula One and Two cars… apart from a 1948 Alvis Special and the remarkable 1957 Kurtis Indy Roadster of Fred Harpur. This car simply should not work on a circuit like Cadwell but it does and always to great effect; pure horsepower and skilful driving making up for the disadvantage of only having two gears (fast and faster).
Practice was held in the morning when the track was dry, things really changed in the afternoon with some races dry, some half and half (wet under the trees) some wet and some very, very wet! This presented challenges for everyone- organisers, participants, marshals (corner-workers) and even photographers; an absolute thundery deluge during the MG race had anyone who could find shelter making for it- your plucky correspondent stuck manfully to his post however and tried to record the slipping, sliding and brave overtaking. One thing which separates the VSCC meetings from the rest of events in the UK is the standards of driving; safety-car interventions and red flags are almost unheard of, unlike more modern categories where many drivers seem to think they are still on the racing simulator; rant ends.
As usual the number of entries in each race was more than enough to provide a decent spectacle; toward the end of the day two races were run together, not because of low entries but because things were running slightly late.
I’ve just found a rather good nine-minute YouTube video from the meeting; I’ve no idea who CF Photos is but this puts over the atmosphere of the dry bit of the meeting, well done!
Full details of practice times and race results can be found here:
https://www.theresultslive.co.uk/vintage-sports-car-club/2024/2024-meetings-1
From this, you will be able to see the variety of entries. Any questions, or suggestions, please contact me via: www.petetaylor.org.uk
Next stop: Oulton Park Gold Cup at the end of July.
