British GT Round 2 - Donington

[rdjones]

I was at Donington yesterday, for round 2 of the British GT Championship and to say it was wet is a bit of an under statement. Anyway we witnessed another cracking BGT race, again victory was taken by Scuderia Ecosse, they where followed home the Team Tiger Marcos and the Beechdean Motorsport Ferrari of Neil Cunningham and Nigel Greensall, both of which run in the GTC class rather than GT2. With 30 mins to go, it looked as if the LNT Panoz would take victory, but Luke Hines went stright on at The Old Hairpin and sat in the gravel trap for a couple of laps while he was recovered by the marshalls. Anyway I have uploaded a few photos and they can be found at -
http://www.rdj-pics.co.uk/Photos/200...ton/index.html

[Khamelion]

Yeah, it was very wet at Donnington yesterday (21st May) I got soaked through, managed to shoot off nearly 300 images of which I've binned 200 ish. I'm going to upload them tonight.

Did you get trackside?

Unfortunatley I could only get an unrestricted view at Redgate, bottom of the Craner Curves and McCleans.

Some very nice shots in the gallery as well.

Regards
Dave

[SilkShirt]

Anyone know why Radio Donington wasn't working? We couldn't hear anything of what was going on. Plus it was so wet, it would have been really good to be able to sit in the car for a while and still know what was happening. Good races though.
SS

[TheNewBob]

Some great racing yesterday, shame about the weather. Was great to see the Mosler up there doing so well early on in the race. I've really gotta get myself a proper camera - I took some decent pictures but the eventual quality was limited by the equipment - only have a cheap family digital camera. I'm certainly interested in getting a good camera and doing a good job of it, even if it is only for fun.

Can anyone tell me exactly what that #3 Aston was in the Heritage GT race? It was simply gorgeous, but the program only said "Aston Martin V8". That doesn't exactly narrow it down enough, really! I know very little about historics, but there were some fabulous looking cars on display there.

[rdjones]

Thanks for the nice comments about the photo's, I didn't have a pass and they where all taken from the public area's.

[Khamelion]

Well I've picked a few of, in my humble opinion, the best of the ones I took, here's the link
Donnington GT3 I'm quite pleased with them, but I know I still need a lot of practice.

Regards
Dave

[DriversKnow]

Lap times a lot slower than 2005 though in dry qualifying

[renkadima]

Originally Posted by DriversKnow

Lap times a lot slower than 2005 though in dry qualifying

Are you perhaps suggesting that the brand of a particular component of the car being used this year (tyres, for example) isn't as high quality as the one used last year?

[TheNewBob]

I have some videos uploaded from the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zktGq0uW7Qg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNkOX7-LZZE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9SyF8LgXgs

[DWA]

Re the tyres I was told over the weekend by a leading GT team mechanic that the tyres are not to the standard of the ones they use in FIA series, different tyre manufacturer, but they also understand that Avon are trying to supply many different car types and there will therefore be some compromises. They are generally happy with situation though.( My website has around 250 pics from the weekend for anyone who wants to have a look)

[renkadima]

I fully understand the tyre situation and know that Avon are putting great effort into bringing their tyres up to speed as soon as possible - they've still got some way to go, though. But my reply was based more on the fact that the poster's moniker bears a striking similarity to a certain British Motorsport website that features a well-known supplier!

[Ayr]

Great race and I really enjoyed the day despite having drenched feet from about 11am onwards thanks to the long grass.

About half hour from the end I got a coffee and wandered down to the edge of Schwantz, next to the fire marshall Jag and that massive downpour started. What a vantage point! I got to see the Porches slithering down the Craner curves, the Rollcentre Mosler going through a lazy spin, Luke Hines losing the front end of the Panoz and the 360 spitting flames going up to Mcleans. I can not wait for LMS 1000km now.

I watched the historic race and could not take any more soaking after that.

Great photos in the gallery.

[TheNewBob]

Ayr - I too had to stay for the historics race - what I saw from my trips through the paddock, and the pictures in the program, just looked too good to miss!

What I like about Donington is that the start/finish straight, the Dunlop bridge, the craner curves and Macleans are all within 5 mins walk of each other if you nip across the infield, and there are some great views too. At a circuit such as Silverstone, the opposing sections of the track can be a whole 30-60 min walk away. Whilst the walking time isn't such an issue for something like the LMS, it's often different with British GT because the races are frequently so short in comparison (despite a 2-hour event at Donington).

[MikeHoyer]

That was a good weekend, despite the weather and some camera issues trying to make it as difficult as possible for me!

Photos will be online soon...