Donington National – 15/16th July 2023 Race Report, Videos,Images and Results

Posted on: July 23rd 2023 • Posted in: Race Results

Rounds 7 and 8 – Donington National

Race report by Alan Jones.

As continental Europe baked in unprecedented high temperatures, Donington Park echoed the more traditional English summer we have grown used to over the years. Sunshine and showers with temperatures that struggled to get into the low 15 Celsius during the morning peaking at 23 celsius during the day which for the tyre gamblers in the races proved to be expensive.
For drama over the weekend the combination of unpredictable showers and a suicidal Squirrel who interrupted the power supply to the local area on Sunday the event had everything. Plenty of overtaking and some really good racing.

Apsley House Capital (PLC) Historics (Pinto) Qualifying

It was good to see both Mark Hobbs and John Deane-Bowers back after their appearance at Castle Combe. Sadly, for both Donington will be an event best forgotten. John detonating an engine in qualifying and Mark still sorting out the car. His weekend ended following qualifying as a number of issues including the clutch proved to be too many problems to fix at the circuit.
Things were looking better for Patrick Egan under the stewardship of the Pegasus team. Patrick like many club drivers came to racing in his 40s. Racing Formula Ford back home in the USA. Business and life commitments halted racing for a few years. Followed by a move to make England his home. Time and finances started to align again and with Sports 2000 he has introduced himself to close wheel racing. This was his first time at Donington and the weekend did not produce the easiest learning conditions.
David Muse in the distinctive Shrike came to Donington supported ably by his family. His daughter Gemma being the star as team manager when it came to Race 2.
Those who took advantage of the morning test session prior to qualifying were able to experiment with a the wet setting as an early morning shower passed through. The Historic qualifying started on a dry track. All heading out on slicks.
Nik Johnson was the early pace setter, one of the drivers who missed Castle Combe, keeping him company in the battle for pole was Charlie Hyett. On lap 3 John Deane-Bowers pulled into the Melbourne loop. His engine having blown leaving some fluid on the circuit. The drivers quickly spotting the problem with all of the times set by the top 3 being established on laps 5 and 6.
As the competitors settled into their rhythm for the final push to the line the next shower burst upon the track. With 4 minutes left on the clock all had retreated to either the pit lane or paddock and the session ended. The order being Johnson, Hyett, Streat, with Mike Fry, David Williams, and Chris Snowdon rounding out the top 6. Patrick Egan was 10th in a time very close to Clive Steeper’s shadowing him was Andreas Floth having a really competitive run. This group was well clear of a tight pack headed by Richard Cooke with David Muse and Nick Bailey bedding in new slicks in close formation behind.

BS Burner Services Ltd Duratec Qualifying

Just like the Historic Qualifying the Duratec session started dry but the next shower was coming. The University of Wales Team cars, were probably hoping for a wet race as all three drivers had tested in the wet earlier in the week. John Iley in particular reporting the cars stability appeared to increase with the amount of wet on track. The new surface laid at Donington is widely reported to have better grip and as competitors were to discover it drains and dries very quickly.
From the outset it was the two leading names from the 2023 season who were fighting for pole position. It seemed that this weekend could be a top one for Josh Law as he claimed pole from Michael Gibbins. 3rd on the timing sheets was Patrick Sherrington in the MCR he shares with Tim Tudor. Patrick able to get his times in before the rain hit. Leaving Tim to gently navigate an increasingly wet circuit to get his three qualifying laps to enable him to race.
Joining Tim in the frustration stakes was John Illey who just could not get a clear lap. Only managing 15th fastest. 4th on the timing sheets was Tom Stoten with the development Gunn the TS12. The radical shape of the car prompting comments from Richard Johnson that it reminded him of jet fighter. Perhaps there were missisles concealed in the front wings? In qualifying Richard took up 5th place on the grid alongside David Houghton. Paul Trayhurn was 7th on the grid heading the DB Class.
Colin Peach the only other driver to stay out on slicks in the wet session was 11th overall heading class B. He did wonder why with the forecast of more rain why so many just dived into the pits to end their session. Despite having a broken CV joint he found the time on track in the wet gave him a great feel for the conditions should they occur in the race.
Clive Hayes was 20th shaking down Mike Turner’s car rebuilt following Mike’s Brands shunt. Mike himself is nearing completion of his personal rebuild and plans to share his car with the talented youngster Clive at Oulton Park in August. The star of qualifying was David Gorst, who certainly had a lot of people drawing a deep breath as he headed off into the gravel at Coppice. His recovery driving through the gravel without stopping certainly earned him a round of applause in race control. Following qualifying Roger Donnan set about changing his alternator; electrics and race cars were going to become something of a sub theme to this event.

Apsley House Capital (PLC) Historics (Pinto) Race 1

A heavy shower in the preceding race left the grid guessing on tyres. Some of the supporters had up to 4 weather apps open trying to decide what to do. As Clive Steeper put it the herd mentality was to go safe. No one wanting to risk damage the choice was for wet tyres for everyone except Nick Johnson. He decided to take the risk in the early laps to reap the rewards later in the race. With hindsight others were to agree. But at the time Nik Johnson was the lone rebel. A delay whilst recovery from the previous race took place, meant the combination of sunshine and wind was rapidly drying the circuit.
Because of the change in conditions the cars had two formation laps before lining up for the start. All eyes were on the front Charlie Hyett who has struggled with his starts this year made a good launch to be alongside Nik into Redgate but on the exit Nik appeared to slow and on the descent down Craners for the first lap. The leading group being, Charlie Hyett heading Paul Streat, Mike Fry with Ross Hyett 4th having moved up from 8th on the grid followed by Chris Snowdon and Charlie Besley. David Williams being the big loser at the start falling back to 8th place.
Chris and Charlie had a brush on the approach to Coppice, when David Williams took the line inside of Charlie to pass both cars moving back into 5th place. Chris acknowledging that Charlie had been pinched in the middle. Braking into the Esses Charlie Besley slipped past Chris to take 6th place chasing after David Williams. Nik Johnson’s torrid race continued as he slipped towards the rear of the field.
Charlie Hyett was leading but being rapidly caught by Paul Streat who was eating into the time interval. On lap 3 going into Redgate David Williams passed Ross Hyett. Charlie Besley thought he saw an opportunity to follow David on the run down through Craner Curves. Sadly the move proved to be over optimistic. Charlie tagged the back of Ross’s car spinning him around inducing a second contact which disabled Ross’s steering leaving the car stranded on the track at the approach to the old hairpin. The safety car was called and the race neutralised whilst the car was recovered.
The safety car triggered two further retirements. Chris Snowdon coming in declaring his Wet tyres wrecked. In his words it was like racing a blancmange it was so wobbly. Nik Johnson also came into the pits where a front wheel nut had failed. Luckily the wheel did not come off but regrettably it did rob Nik of a sure victory.
The safety car period did mean that for the remaining runners they were able to rescue their tyres and allow them to cool. Clive Steeper was another reporting difficulty on Wet Tyres which he discovered were 12 years old after the race. Unsurprisingly he found they lacked grip particularly under braking. It did make for some close racing when the race was eventually able to restart.
At the restart Charlie again made a good start from Paul Streat who now had David Williams hard on his tail. The top three immediately pulling away from Mike Fry in 4th place. Charlie Besley was sitting in 5th whilst Clive Steeper had his work cut out to hold onto 6th as he had Andreas Floth challenging him whilst in turn Andreas was having to defend from David Muse who had the Shrike working well. Nick Bailey and Richard Cooke completed the field as Patrick Egan retired to the pits on lap 7, not comfortable with the feel of the car.
The restart had ignited David Williams who was all over the back of Paul Streat. Given all the runners were on worn and overheated Wet tyres David’s pace on the closing laps put him a class of his own overtaking Paul Streat into the Esses at the end of lap 9. Into Redgate Paul repassed before David regained the position and pulled away. His sights now set on the leader Charlie Hyett. He established the fastest lap of the race in his effort to take the lead. Crossing the line just half a second behind Charlie having been 2.5 seconds behind when he passed Paul.
Mike Fry managed to hold onto 4th place from Charlie Besley, and Clive Steeper.

BS Burner Services Ltd Duratec Race 1

Very strong winds kept the rain away and the track dry for the first of the two Duratec Races. From the start Josh Law led into Redgate as Michael Gibbins was challenged on the inside by Patrick Sherrington from Row 2 in the University of Wales car. Tom Stoten made a run for the outside hoping to clear the pair but sadly got jostled back down the order. Tom falling from his starting position to 8th on track.
Michael Gibbins having reclaimed 2nd behind Josh Law, set off in pursuit but was unable to mount a serious challenge. Patrick Sherrington having his best run in the University car slotted back into third place the trio pulling away from the pack of 4 squabbling behind them. The order being Richard Johnson from Paul Trayhurn who the commentator was convinced was Tom Stoten, followed by David Houghton, James Barwell with Tom following on behind.
At the end of lap 1 Roger Donnan pulled into the pits, alternator trouble once again and another paddock fix before race 2 on Sunday.
On lap 2 Tom Stoten passed James Barwell into 7th place, at Macleans Josh Needham had a big spin on entry into the corner, Clive Hayes following close behind spun in sympathy, both avoiding contact and were able to continue. Josh later retiring at the bottom of Craners with a failed rear upright which was probably the cause of his initial spin.
Behind James Barwell came the next battling pack headed by Ash Law, Colin Peach with Steve Ough and Keith Mizen. Further back David Williams ran wide at Redgate John Iley took the opportunity to try for the pass but sadly clipped the front splitter of his car. Leaving him a little further back but with a clear track to continue his pursuit of the bunch in front.
Ash Law had developed an overheating problem which was slowly backing the train of cars behind him. Colin Peach was the first to slip past Ash on lap 8. On the following lap Ash wisely decided to cut the engine and was able to coast down into the pit lane on Lap 8. Not without some loss of fluid reported at Coppice and Starkeys.
The loss of Ash should have benefitted Keith Mizen who had passed Steve Ough on Lap 9. But it was Grant Gibson who had been making better progress further back consistently lapping faster than the cars in front. Overtaking both cars on lap 10. The slippery conditions saw Keith and Peter Williams running wide which gave John Iley the opportunity to slip through displacing Keith to slip in behind Steve.
John ignored the teams concerns about his gradually disintegrating splitter continuing to race. The final twist in the story of Race 1 took place on lap 13. Definitely unlucky for some. Paul Trayhurn frustrated at having followed Richard Johnson for so long saw an opportunity to overtake. The result was the pair colliding with Paul finishing his race in the gravel trap. Having viewed the footage after the race Paul did go to find Richard to apologise for the incident. With Paul in the gravel trap the Red flag was shown and the result declared as of lap 12. Thus sparing John Iley’s splitter.
A very confident win for Josh, although Michael had reduced the gap in the closing laps, with the happiest team being the University of Wales who got Patrick Sherington onto the podium.
Grant Gibson had a top ten finish winning the DB Class from Peter Williams in 11th place.

Apsley House Capital (PLC) Historics (Pinto) Race 2

In many respects the second race was to mirror race 1 in that the cars came to the line on a wet track that was potentially going to dry. Three drivers electing to gamble with slicks as the others chose Wet Tyres again. There were no additional non starters from the 14 cars that started race 1. Ross Hyett’s car having been repaired by the team.
The cars lining up in the finishing order of race one. The interest being aside from the battle between the top 3 would be how quickly would Ross Hyett and Nik Johnson come through the grid from the back.
The additional drama to day 2 was created by a power cut in the local area. Which delayed the start of the meeting by an hour. The main problem was recovering sytems with modern meetings being very reliant on electronics, everything from the gantry lights, repeater signals around the circuit, cameras and internet for the timekeeping. A modified timetable was produced which meant the lunch interval between the Duratec Race and the Historics disappeared with only a short interval for a 10 minute Kart race separating them. Things were tight and with clouds all around those weather apps were really put to work.
One person working exceptionally hard was David Williams and his mechanic. They had replaced a switch that had failed. What they had not realised it had also knocked the starter switch too. So they were frantically buried in the wiring system as the cars were called to the assembly. While others stood with cars on jacks for that final tyre decision.
Nick Bailey starting near the back was on a set of new scrub slicks. He had bedded them in for three laps during qualifying then parked the car when the oil and rain prevented any quick time on the Saturday.
Clive Steeper was another to gamble with slicks along with David Muse when his daughter Gemma had read the weather reports and told him to take the risk. For Nik Johnson having taken the risk on Saturday he decided to play safe on Sunday. Who would make the right choice?
With damp conditions on the track the cars again had two formation laps. Because of the late start and the need to try and get back on time the race duration got trimmed slightly to 18 minutes from the original scheduled 20 minutes. At the start it was Charlie Hyett who led; just into Redgate, with David Williams pumped up with the adrenalin of trying to get the car to assembly battling alongside him through the corner. Paul Streat and Mike Fry in close pursuit.
Nik Johnson and Ross Hyett both made good progress from the back running 7th and 8th respectively at the end of lap 1. Charlie Hyett was extending his lead as Paul Streat and David Williams battled for second place, Paul taking the place on lap 3.
Whilst David Williams progress in Race 1 had been rapid, Paul Streat was Meteoric as he closed down Charlie’s advantage of almost 4 seconds to take the lead after a 2 lap pursuit. Paul was driving a superb race and as he extended his lead he was looking unstoppable.
Nic Johnson also had a great drive reaching 4th place by lap 3 at this point his progress stalled as the track now almost dry was starting to overheat his tyres. Ross’s progress had similiarily stuttered as he settled into 7th place behind Chris Snowdon.
After a strong race 1 Mike Fry was not having a happy second race slipping down the order to finish 12th. On Lap 4 Richard Cooke made a pit stop which put him a lap behind becoming the last of the listed finishers at the end of the race.
By lap 5 Clive Steeper’s slick gamble was beginning to work as he began to progress through the order. 10th on lap 1 Clive was 6th by lap 5 over half a second a lap faster than Charlie Besley the next car up the line. No one was anywhere near Paul Streat who was recording lap times in the 1m 17seconds over 4 seconds a lap quicker than his pursuers.
The top 4 placings had become static with Charlie Hyett second, David Williams third and Nik Johnson holding on to fourth place. Along with Clive Steeper, David Muse was now coming through the field. The yellow Shrike demonstrating the form we had long expected from the experienced pilot.
At the start of lap 11 the pattern of the race altered, Paul Streat who had dominated at the front came into Redgate with a sudden trail of smoke coming from the back of the car. As he attempted to pull off to a safe place he spun on the fluid coming from the back of his car. Executing a well controlled pirouette he pulled the car to a halt on the grass a disappointing end to what had been a very dominant performance.
Charlie Hyett inherited the lead with David Williams second, but Clive Steeper was coming having passed Nik Johnson on lap 10 Clive was the fastest car on circuit by almost 3 seconds a lap. Could he achieve the win? Clive passed David for second place but with only a lap left on the clock the gap was too large. David Muse came through to finish 4th winning his class. Nik Johnson finishing 5th from last on the grid. Nick Bailey finished 8th and Patrick Egan completed the race to come home 10th having felt a lot more comfortable in the car. Whilst Mike Fry and Ross Cheever had disappointing finishes. Ross having encountered electrical issues was the last of the finishers with Mike finishing in 11th to Ross 12th.
David Williams for his strong performance in both races was awarded driver of the day.

BS Burner Services Ltd Duratec Race 2

Following the power problems at the circuit in the morning, the Duratecs were the first of the Sports 2000 grids on track with the Historics following shortly after them. Weather apps and University of Wales students deployed around the circuit everyone was trying to second guess the weather. It was fine but there was a dark cloud approaching. All of the field decided that slicks were the only option and hoped to retain enough heat in them towards the end should the rain hit.
Following yesterdays shortened race all cars were repaired and ready to race again. Richard Johnsons incident with Paul Trayhurn had left Richard’s team with a lot of head scratching. The knock appearing to have upset the electrical systems on the car. Many hands came to Richard’s assistance including Steve Ough who had a spare steering wheel as Richard’s dash had ceased working.
Ash Law had switched the engine off at the right time so with no engine damage the car was repaired and ready to go. Eyes were focused both to the front and rear of the grid with Paul Trayhurn starting from the back. Tim Tudor who had been feeling unwell all weekend decided he was fit enough to race and take advantage of the great job Patrick had done in the first race. The second University car of John Iley had its splitter repaired so they were hoping for a good run from both cars.
The only driver reporting trouble was Colin Peach following his great run in the first race, discovered he had a leaking slave cylinder to the clutch. No spares available they hoped the fix would work. But it was leaking fluid.
Off the start Josh Law again led from Michael Gibbins with Tim Tudor in 3rd place. Michael shadowing Josh a lot closer this time. The gap between the lead two ebbing and flowing by nothing more than half a second for the first 6 laps until Josh was able to increase the advantage on lap 7.
Andy Chittenden had a terrible start slipping to last as they entered Redgate. By contrast Ash Law and Paul Trayhurn had started to move up the field to 13th and 15th respectively. By lap 3 Paul had moved ahead of Ash both still making progress to the front.
At the start of Lap 9 Richard Johnson saw an opportunity to pass Tim Tudor for 3rd place. The move did not quite go to plan as David Houghton was able to take advantage, moving up to 3rd place with Tim being shuffled down to 5th place. Tom Stoten 6th Paul Trayhurn 7th place with James Barwell 8th the now clutchless Colin Peach 9th completing the top 10 was Peter Williams who was being caught by Ash Law who caught Steve Ough and Keith Mizen on the entry into the Esses Chicane overtaking both giving John Iley the opportunity to slip past Keith as well.
The rain was now falling but not sufficiently to affect the performance of the slick tyres.
Colin’s battles with gear selection finally caught him out as first Grant Gibson, Peter Williams, Ash Law and Steve Ough all overhauled the Van Diemen.
On Lap 15 Grant Gibson was caught out by the worsening conditions spinning down the order at the Esses. He rejoined in 15th place.
With traffic to lap in the worsening conditions, Michael Gibbins made one final push for the win finishing just 0.192 seconds behind Josh having been 1.5 seconds behind on the previous lap. A great final effort. Richard Johnson had managed to pass David Hougthon for 3rd place on lap 16 but David managed to rest it back on the line.
All 22 cars completed the race, Paul Trayhurn winning the DB class from 6th overall. Whilst fellow back of the grid starter Ash Law, finished 9th with John Iley despite damaging the repaired splitter brought the second University car home in 10th with Tim Tudor 5th. Despite his clutch problems Colin Peach was again Class B Winner.
At the end of this report a special mention to the MSVR Race Control Team along with the staff and Marshals at Donington. Who on Sunday in difficult conditions delivered the full programme of scheduled races despite having lost all electricity to the circuit until 10.00 a.m. A terrific job from all concerned. The writer would like to thank everyone who submitted their personal reports to aid in producing this report.

Many thanks to Alan Jones for this report.

Full results are available via the Results Page. Here

Race Images

Many thanks to Kevin Gibson of KJG Photograpy for these Images from the event. To view the full set or purchase copies visit https://www.kjgphotography.co.uk