Donington Park GP – 14 September 2024 Race Report, Images and Results

Posted on: September 27th 2024 • Posted in: Race Results

Rounds 9 and 10 – Donington Park GP

SRCC Race Report Donington Park GP Loop 14 – 15^th September.

Report by Alan Jones

It was an almost full 34 car entry that assembled for qualifying at Donington Park for the penultimate event in the 2024 season. It would be a very busy Saturday with qualifying and both races taking place on the Saturday. For many the Grand Prix Loop section was unfamiliar and many were looking to either learn or re-learn this section of the circuit. Amongst the entry was some new names. Charles Richardson having his first ever race in his father ‘s (Mark Richardson) March 84S. Mark a former regular within Sports 2000 had been enjoying racing his Group 6 Lola T290 in Thundersports races, but brought his son back to Sports 2000 to enjoy his first experience behind the wheel.
Andrew Noble is a familiar face in the paddock being part of the team assisting Mike Turner, Donington being his first opportunity to race his Gunn TS7. Sadly his first event with the car would last only as long as qualifying. A hub failure ending his first race meeting.
Richard Johnson had made his welcome return to the grid at Zandvoort with his MCR, but for Donington he arrived in a Lola T88/90, to be joined by his brother Nick in a similar chassis. Peter Brouwer being the 3rd driver similiarily mounted. Peter and Richard taking the Duratec option whilst Nik chose to continue with a Pinto engine. Richard pre-qualifying admitted he was running the car for fun as an invitation car and did not expect to be at the front of the grid as was back to a standard H style gear shift in the car.
After an absence at Oulton Park Patrick Sherrington would be back to share the University of Wales MCR with Tim Tudor. The team having experienced some non-finishes during the season. Used the Friday heavily silenced test day to conduct some development work primarily on the damper settings for the car.
Unfortunately the team found themselves with some major unscheduled work when during the 3rd session of the day, the fastening on the rear pushrod failed leading to the the collapse of the rear suspension into the Craner Curves. Tim Tudor at the wheel brought the car to rest without collision with other cars, the tyre wall or the barrier but even so the trip across the grass had rip off part of the floor ripping off the oil tank with it. When the car returned on the recovery truck it looked like car would not be competing.
The University students have risen to every challenge set them this season with Donington being no exception. MCR had the parts required and the team where able to refabricate the floor working late into the evening. For the car to be able to take part in the qualifying.
It is always surprising the effort everyone makes to go racing. Not as dramatic as the work conducted by the University team but, Clive Steeper determined to come racing flew back from Montreal the flight arriving an hour late. To jump into a taxi dash home and with the help of his son load up to arrive at Donington lunchtime Friday. I think all slept well that night.

Qualifying

As the cars assembled to qualify Colin Peach had to make a quick return to his awning when a quick fix was required. Going out onto the circuit the unfortunate Tony Barwell did not get to complete a lap before the alternator failed on his car going into Redgate. He was able to pull off to a safe place and the qualifying continued without interruption. There was a suggestion of some oil at the Old Hairpin as Charlie Richardson had a quick spin. Roger Donnan was one of the first to record Track Limits being joined later by Josh Law, who does tend to push to find the boundaries during qualifying. By the end of the session those listed as having times deleted for pushing to the limit in qualifying included Ben Cater, Richard Johnson, Marc Naoro and David Muse.
Despite his protestations of expecting to be slow in the Lola T88/90 Richard Johnson actually headed the timing sheets early into the stint. Another doing well in the early part of the session was Nick Bates who ran as high as 4th. Although following a pit stop to check tyre pressures he did drop down the order when he came out in traffic. The full field and the speed differentials making for some interesting qualifying and occasional impatient passing that at times was misjudged.
The Ridge brothers Wayne and Adrian, had a tempered session. Wayne doing the first stint whilst Adrian managed to qualify coming in early when the left rear wheel worked loose.
Following the overnight rebuild of the University car of Tim Tudor and Patrick Sherrington. Both drivers reporting an inbalance and vibration with the car sitting down at the back through the fast corners Additional component changes being made prior to Race 1.
Another competitor with problems following qualifying was Colin Peach who had a bolt failure on the rear Upright of his Van Diemen. Luckly the upright had stayed in place despite the movement at the rear alerting Colin to the problem.
Charlie Richardson was gaining plenty of experience of the ups and downs of Motor Racing. His car stopping when the carburettor came loose having shed its securing bolts.
Clive Steeper after his Friday afternoon preparations had a problem with overheating brakes managing to qualify 4th on the Historics grid. Adjustments to brake balance and steering geometry had the car race ready.
Not everyone was having problems. For Michael Gibbins qualifying running true to its current form giving him pole position from Josh Law, Ben Cater returning with his MCR which had given him some issues with the replacement wiring loom but was running well in qualifying. 4th would be the Tim Tudor/Patrick Sherrington car which may have been higher up the order had Patrick not met a number of cars returning to the pits on his flying lap. Tom Wheatley sharing with Grant Gibson in the Van Diemen would start 5th with Richard Johnson starting 6th. Ash Law would start 7th with Steve Ough coming in 8th quickest heading the Derek Bell Class from Roger Donnan in 9th whilst rounding out the top 10 would be Tom Stoten in the Gunn.
In the Historic Classes Will Schryver in the Royale headed the timing sheets by 9 thousandths of a second from Nik Johnson. There was no doubt Nik was back and ready to make up for a lost season. Chris Snowdon would be 3rd in the Tiga SC82 and leader of Class HC, from Mike Fry Tiga SC79 and Clive Steeper Tiga SC80.

Race 1

The first of the races proved to be very dramatic from the start. Prior to the cars leaving the assembly area John Iley’s gear lever snapped off as he tried to reverse the car. John handing the broken component to the mechanic. Some quick work got John’s car into 1st gear to return to the awning for some rapid repair work. A spare length of aluminium was found some holes drilled and John was back in action to take up his hard earned starting position.
Tim Tudor in the lead University car made a terrific start from his row 2 position to make it three abreast into Redgate for the 1st time splitting Michael Gibbins and Josh Law. Michael taking the inside line to draw into the lead whilst Josh slipped into second place at Hollywood.
John Iley with his temporary gear shift made a good start too with Nick Bates to the left and Andy Chittenden to the right, it all got a little tight but behind there was chaos as Peter Brouwer was tagged sending him off onto the grass making contact with the barrier to end his race weekend. It would be disappointing for him especially as this would be the last race with Peter for his long time mechanic also named Peter.
At the Historic Start Mike Fry stalled off the line delaying Nick Bailey as he was right behind him. Will Schryver leading from Nik Johnson, Chris Snowdon and Mark Noaro. Clive Steeper having made a good start when Chris Snowdon appeared to raise his hand entering Redgate. The hesitation enabled Marc Naoro to pass down the Craner’s.
With Peter Brouwer’s car at the side of the track the safety car was deployed for a lap with Michael Gibbins leading from Josh Law, Tim Tudor, Ash Law, who had come up from row 3 then Ben Cater, Nick Bates and Tom Wheatley, from Steve Ough. Colin Peach retired to the pits with a broken gear cable.
At the restart Michael led away from a closely following Josh Law, the two rapidly building an advantage over Tim Tudor in 3rd place. Lap 3, and Richard Johnson got shuffled back to 7th by Tom Wheatley and Ben Cater, with the Historic class leaders having made up their 10 second delayed start were now in amongst the slower Duratec cars with Novice Wayne Ridge being the first to be overhauled.
On lap 4 a frustrated Clive Steeper managed to outbrake Marc at the Fogarty Esses. But he could not shake off Marc and Simon Aldworth. Under the pressure from the pair Clive made an error running wide coming onto the Wheatcroft straight allowing the pair past with a big job to catch up and pass again.
Lap 5 produced some dramatic changes in the order. On lap 4 Josh Law had slowed and on the following lap came into the pits to retire. At the Melbourne Loop Ben Cater had spun with some of the following cars taking avoiding action to miss the stricken car. Unfortunately Tom Stoten was blind to the stranded car and both drivers terminated their race weekend in the ensuing collision. Thankfully no one was hurt but the neither car could be repaired for Race 2 at the end of the afternoon.
As the safety car boards came out. Tim Tudor raised his hand to indicate to those following he had seen the flags and was reducing speed. Both Ash Law and Tom Wheatley assuming Tim had a problem and wanting them to pass him.
After a lengthy safety car while the two cars were recovered racing recommenced on lap 9. It was now a race against the clock would there one or two laps remaining for the end of the race. For Michael Gibbins the timing was academic he was able to pull away from Ash Law who was second and Tom Wheatley 3rd, leaving a bemused Tim Tudor in 4th wondering why the two in front had not yielded the places back to him. Richard Johnson was having great run lying in 5th place ahead of Steve Ough and John Iley followed by Roger Donnan Nick Bates and Andy Chittenden rounding out the top 10.
John Owen had a great start after problems in Qualifying that left him and Tony Barwell at the back of the Duratec grid he was able to pass both Andrew Butler and Rollo Tomasi to get within striking distance of Clive Hayes by the end. Andrew later kicking himself for his own slow getaway.
The safety car had been of great help to Clive Steeper who had caught and passed Marc on lap 6 Simon Aldworth now firmly in his sights. When the green flag was shown Chris Snowdon made a rare mistake spinning at Goddards allowing both Simon and Clive past. Their dice went down to the flag (a short in car video of which will be released to the website) with Simon being thwarted at the end when the K nut on his gear linkage came off in his hand at the Fogarty esses. Clive taking the final Historic podium step with 3rd place overall.
Following discussions with the Clerk of the Course regarding incidents under caution flags, there was an amended result issued. Michael Gibbins another faultless drive to victory from Tim Tudor in second Ash Law 3rd and Tom Wheatley 4th both moved penalised positions following the misunderstanding with Tim. Tom winning his class. 5th would be Richard Johnson, 6th and winner of the Derek Bell class Steve Ough, 7th Roger Donnan second in the Derek Bell Class, 8th John Iley who had missed a caution flag and passed Roger Donnan in error, 9th was Nick Bates whilst 10th and 3rd in the Derek Bell Class Peter Williams.
William Schryver held off the close attentions of Nik Johnson to take the top stop of the podium for the Historic classes completing the podium would be Clive Steeper winner of the HC Class.

Race 2

Following the incidents in Race 1 three drivers did not start the second race they were Peter Brouwer, Tom Stoten, and Ben Cater. With the shared cars we had some new drivers on the grid for Race 2, with Patrick Sherrington starting from the front row in the car he shares with Tim Tudor, on Row 2 was Grant Gibson in the car he shares with Tom Wheatley, and on row 9 Adrian Ridge would be starting in the car he shares with brother Wayne. Behind Adrian were the two retirees that could be fixed. Josh Law and Colin Peach. At the back of the Historic grid following his retirement at the end of Race one would be Simon Aldworth gear linkage secured. The potential for a trio of great comeback drives was awaited.
At the lights it would be Patrick Sherrington that led Michael Gibbins with Richard Johnson 3rd and Ash Law 4th. At the end of lap one Roger Donnan was up to 4th with Steve Ough 5th Peter Williams 6th and Josh Law 7th! Grant Gibson had slipped back to 11th with class rival Colin Peach in 12th behind hm. Adrian Ridge had passed Rollo Tomasi, and Andrew Butler to be on the tail John Owen.
In the Historics it was Will Schryver who led from Nik Johnson and Chris Snowdon Clive Steeper having drift wide at Redgate leaving the inside line open for Chris. Simon Aldworth having made up two places despite a brush with David Muse and Marc Naoro at the start.
The first two laps were run behind a safety car as Ash Law had gone off at the Old Hairpin on lap 1. At the restart Patrick Sherrington held a tentative lead over Michael Gibbins with Richard Johnson 3rd. On the following lap all of that had changed with Michael back in control of the race from Patrick with Josh Law closing in by over a second a lap.
Colin Peach having made his way to 12th would get no further, retiring to the pits on lap 4. Let’s hope Colin can end his season at Snetterton the way he started at Silverstone with a really good pair of results.
Down the order there were some great dices taking place, Steve Ough, Roger Donnan, Peter Williams contesting the Derek Bell Class joined by Nick Bates. Then a 5 car train involving Tony Barwell, John Owen, Mike Turner, Clive Hayes, with Adrian Ridge closing.
Patrick Sherington did a really great job holding onto 2nd place but inevitably the time would come when Josh Law would pass. In the low sun heading into the Fogarty Esses Patrick assumed that Josh would be coming alongside him. Braking a little early Josh who was still behind him ran into the back of Patrick causing him to spin, both drivers were able to continue. Josh in second place but the gap of 5 seconds to Michael had extended to 9 seconds, by the end of the race it would over 14 seconds. Patrick restarted back in 11th place behind Grant Gibson. Richard Johnson looking at a podium finish he would not have anticipated.
On lap 5 Nik Johnson found the gap he had been looking for to take the lead of the Historic classes. The interval between him and Will Schryver see-sawing as lappery took place but Will could not find the opportunity to retake the lead and Nik was able to mark his return with a well earned victory. Clive Steeper after a slow restart had been gapped by the leading trio and behind him Mike Fry was soon to be involved in a dice with Simon Aldworth who had passed Marco Naoro after the restart.
On lap 7 Peter Williams dropped out of the race he was having with Roger Donnan to retire to the pit on lap 8. The front of the field was gradually spreading out but there was still action further down the order. John Owen fending off Mike Turner, Adrian Ridge and Andrew Butler. Adrian still perfecting his race skills put a wheel into the gravel at Redgate, the resulting spin dropping him down to 19th place.
On lap 11 Patrick Sherrington managed to catch and pass Grant Gibson and a slowing Andy Chittenden who retired on lap 13. This being the lap when Simon Aldworth would finally pass Mike Fry. The pair having swapped places a couple of times only for Simon to make a small mistake to allow Mike back. This was just as well for Clive Steeper who had picked up a piece of rubber in the cockpit which not only stuck to his shoe but also his throttle and brake pedal making it difficult to transition from one to the other.
The race ended with no amendments being required to the result. It would be a win for Michael Gibbins, from Josh Law with Richard Johnson in 3rd place. Steve Ough came home in a fine 4th place to win the Derek Bell Class from Roger Donnan. Patrick Sherrington recovered to 6th overall after Nick Bates had been penalised for track limit infringements. Nick coming home in 7th place. 8th would be Clive Hayes completing the Derek Bell Podium whilst 9th place would Grant Gibson taking the class win in his Van Diemen. 10th after an interesting weekend would John Iley. Mike Turner was very happy with his weekend having bettered his previous times on the Donington Grand Prix circuit.
Nik Johnson in the new to him LolaT88/90 won the Historic race from William Schryver and Chris Snowdon who won the HC Class from Clive Steeper and Simon Aldworth who had closed to within 4 tenths of Clive by the finish. David Muse in the Shrike was the winner of the HB Class.
Charlie Richardson completed his first full day of racing with a clean sheet and a smiling face. Hopefully we will see more of Charlie at SRCC events.
Nick Bates was again Master of Ceremonies and despite some difficulty pronouncing Steve Ough’s name, but then looking at that spelling who could guess the correct pronounciation, brought the day to happy close awarding Nik Johnson the Driver of the Day Award.

Race Report by Alan Jones with especial thanks to all who contributed to this piece your personal insights are greatly appreciated.

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