HSCC Croft Historic Race weekend and Show 2&3 September

[Malcolm Smith]

Details of the event at link below. Some excellent grids and some rather sparse in numbers. Hopefully a few more will be added this week.

https://hscc.org.uk/event/croft-2/

[delta]

Heading north later this morning . Hope to catch with some tenthers later . ?

[coppice]

I'm local so will wander up later on today to catch up with some familiar faces. There on Sat /Sun too . It'll be quieter , less frenetic contrast to last weekend of 3 days at Silverstone and steward duty at Mallory ...

Good to see Baby Bertha on the entry list. I was living elsewhere when she was racing in period - I saw Gerry Marshall in the Viva GT at Croft in 1970 but did Bertha race there ? I assume she did .

[gary396]

Intending to be there on Sunday, can't make the Saturday due to other commitments.

[Malcolm Smith]

I’ll be there Saturday and Sunday, look forward
to chatting to tenthers, will be in paddock with
Scottish Classics.
Iain, are you competing, and if so, in which car?
(didn’t see you on entry list but I know late
changes have not been updated.)

[Silver Fox]

Is there a printed programme this weekend, does anyone know? Or is it a digital version?

[Speedy norm]

Baby bertha would have raced at Croft under the ownership of Phill Barak. It was never raced there by GM

[justracing]

Entry list
https://hscc.org.uk/wp-content/uploa...-Nostalgia.pdf

[delta]

Good to catch up with Malcombe . Thank you for the biscuits . Had some engine issues so trundling around at the back of the grid . Hope we have worked some Delta magic over night . It’s still been a very nice clubby meeting . I’m enjoying it . ?

[delta]

Long drive home but very enjoyable weekend . It had good feeling about the meeting and you could feel the excitement from owners and drivers with their classic cars being let out on track for the parades . There were ques of people waiting to get on the open top busses . I sorted out engine and went from P20 to P14. Garry came by Sunday morning which was lovely as we have not caught up since before Covid . Interesting to hear our retired high speed motor bike cop is now involved with mountain rescue . Top bloke ?

[coppice]

I enjoyed it but there were some fiddly shortcomings - long and unexplained delays and , unforgivably for such an important meeting , a PA which was silent for all of Saturday am and subject to such interference at times that it was inaudible. This is basic stuff ,and I suspect MSV wouldn't have made the same errors.

But that minor carp apart it was excellent and felt like the meeting had got its mojo back again. But can we bin the Guards race, which rarely, if ever gets a proper grid- tack it on to something else ...

[gary396]

A very enjoyable day yesterday (didn't go on the Saturday). The event was blessed with great weather and good crowds, with lots of classics on display and on the parade - all inspiration for me to get my MGB back on the road!

Really good to catch up with Iain after all this time for a good chat - good luck to him with the rest of the season - still more races to come on his travels. I didn't take many photos for once, as I spent most of the day just watching the racing or in the display areas. Did a bit of videoing for a change so if I get time I'll try and string that together.

Good to see so many people enjoying Croft.

Also great to hear Marcus Pye on commentary (when the PA system worked!) - pity he doesn't seem to be used on the big events these days!

[Derwent]

It's my "local" historic event, albeit 80 miles away. Great weather and some very mixed grids, sadly so many historic racers these days seem to live in the dark South or Midlands and see Croft as an outpost near to the North pole. Silverstone a week before can't of helped.
The management at Croft is abysmal compared to MSV or indeed Knockhill, and they did very little local publicity and very few cars clubs got invites.
The PA was patchy and in the grandstand it was absent. Surely this should have been checked in the week before? The programme was a joke at £5 and difficult to understand the merged races. Fortunately I had printed off the entry list from the HSCC website. Obviously no one had proof read the programme either, too many mistakes.
On the other hand it was good to catch up with folk I had not seen for ages.

[coppice]

To be fair , the local paper has had a fair bit of advance PR about this meeting . But that is unusual as the circuit normally has a very low profile locally. I've been a season ticket holder for years and while MSV and Santa Pod email me almost daily about upcoming meetings and deals I never hear anything from Croft . Its current management is far better than the toxic idiots we had a few years ago, but even now we have more security people than spectators at some meetings - God knows why . I've gone there for over 50 years, seen F3 , GTs , Lauda, Pace , Button Raikkonen and Hamilton - Perez still has the lap record but it can still feel like there's tumbleweed blowing around . The northern location doesn't help , but one cant help feeling Jonathan Palmer would light a fire under it .

[delta]

I for one will be back next year . BTW the circuit lost power from most of Saturday afternoon.

[Alan Morgan]

Croft is a 5 hour drive for me but worth it. The only negative was the attitude of some of the security staff.

The weather was great on the Sunday and there seemed to be a very good crowd. I'm planning to have it on our (Historic FF2000) calendar next year.

[Thundersports]

Originally Posted by Alan Morgan

Croft is a 5 hour drive for me but worth it. The only negative was the attitude of some of the security staff.

The weather was great on the Sunday and there seemed to be a very good crowd. I'm planning to have it on our (Historic FF2000) calendar next year.

I'm guessing you run the FF2000 championship Alan? It's a real highlight of the HSCC meetings for me thank you for your work making this happen.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by Thundersports

I'm guessing you run the FF2000 championship Alan? It's a real highlight of the HSCC meetings for me thank you for your work making this happen.

Second that, great championship

[gary396]

A couple of batches of photos, mainly of the off-track activities:

[gary396]

Second batch.

[Alan Morgan]

Originally Posted by Thundersports

I'm guessing you run the FF2000 championship Alan? It's a real highlight of the HSCC meetings for me thank you for your work making this happen.

Thanks guys. It was Iain's idea in the first place (2006). Somehow I ended up holding the baby...

Anyway, Gary's pictures show what a great weekend it was.

[andy97]

The winner of our first CSCC Magnificent 7s race on Sunday, legged it straight up to Croft after the race to compete and come second in his Chevron B8 in the sports racing race!

[Heightswitch]

2 DNF's but still had a great weekend..

The whole new E ticketing thing was a pain in the arse as was the security arrangements.. i am assuming they are just trying to maximise income from ticket sales which is just causing a great deal of inconvenience for competitors.. The new way of the world it seems... Some of the security were being over zealous !! Great track and organising club though and great circuit staff and Marshalls. Was good to catch up with Malcolm and some of the Scottish Sports and saloons gang :-)

[Malcolm Smith]

Great weekend of on-track action and classic vehicle displays, with marvellous weather too.
A pleasure to chat to Iain and Neil, genuine enthusiasts who really enjoy racing. I agree with many of the comments above regarding organisation. Additionally, it would benefit everyone if pedestrians were kept away from the assembly area, as at times it was chaotic bordering on dangerous. A few temporary barriers and security staff controlling traffic in that area would greatly help too.

[Malcolm Smith]

Photos 2: