AUTUMN CLASSIC (CASTLE COMBE)

[Mike Bell]

A recently introduced event that is increasingly popular with spectators and competitors.

In 2017 will include races for GTSCC series, FISCAR and F3 500 cars

[brands]

Timetable : http://www.ccracingclub.co.uk/assets...as-of-29-9.pdf

[brands]

Entry list: http://www.ccracingclub.co.uk/assets...T-Web-5-10.pdf

[GCCheddaris]

Thanks for the entry lists Brands . Nice to see the forty car entry in GTSCC race including Ten Tenths own Mike Bell . I hope Mike makes it back from the Hungaroring in time ! Good luck to Mike and any other Tenthers racing at Castle Combe tomorrow , hopefully see you there !

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by GCCheddaris

Thanks for the entry lists Brands . Nice to see the forty car entry in GTSCC race including Ten Tenths own Mike Bell . I hope Mike makes it back from the Hungaroring in time ! Good luck to Mike and any other Tenthers racing at Castle Combe tomorrow , hopefully see you there !

Thank you for the good luck wishes! Please come and say hello. Got back from Hungary yesterday afternoon, and ten minutes later the Morgan arrived, fresh from post Spa engine rebuild and last minute rolling road session. Loading this afternoon ready for an early morning start. See we are a late race so it's going to be (another) long day.....

[356sc]

Just be grateful that CC is closer than the Hungaroring!!!

[brands]

Wet for all qualifying with rain showers blown through on a stiff breeze. Hope the red SLR can be sorted for the race. No fun for the driver having to stand out in that weather.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by brands

Wet for all qualifying with rain showers blown through on a stiff breeze. Hope the red SLR can be sorted for the race. No fun for the driver having to stand out in that weather.

Yes! T'was damp. Race suit drying at moment! Car sorted (touch wood)- was charging prob. Now connected to van battery with jump leads to charge.....

[midgetman]

Blimey were just 50 miles south of you and no rain all day! Castle Combe truly has its own climate

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

[brands]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Yes! T'was damp. Race suit drying at moment! Car sorted (touch wood)- was charging prob. Now connected to van battery with jump leads to charge.....

Wasn't sure which driver it was as we were some distance away. I appear to have you in the background of several shots. Glad you could take to the grid and finished.

Wandered the east side of the circuit in the morning, in the rain, shooting qualifying and then spent the afternoon watching the racing from the car at Tower.
Excellent grids and some good, clean racing.
Not sure what the neighbours thought of the track displays but big grins from the spectators.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by brands

Not sure what the neighbours thought of the track displays but big grins from the spectators.

I think 'big noise' sums the Star Cars parades......

It's quite a few years since I raced at Combe. Apart from the 'Rise' not being as prominent as before, very little seems to have changed! As last visit, so many very well informed spectators to chat to, which seems very much a Combe 'thing'. Never met someone before that raced against a Morgan SLR in period (in his +4SS), and saw the red car catch fire at Silverstone! Another gent worked with Chris Lawrence, and is still in regular contact with John Sprinzel (SLR= Sprinzel Lawrencetune Racing....), but had never seen any of the three in the flesh before.

As for the GTSCC race, despite not having covered the minimum amount of qualifying laps due to electrical problems, we were allowed to start at the back of the grid. Big thank you to the CoC! Well aware of the risks of Combe, I started very carefully and overtook a few cars before pitting to hand over to Simon. He then had a clean run and moved us up a few more places. As we were treating the race as a test session after 2 major engine rebuilds, the result didn't matter- we were just happy that the car performed perfectly in the race and is healthy for the trip to Portugal.....

Good to meet Mr & Mrs Cheddaris, and embarrassed that they remembered me racing Gilbert Gilbern at the circuit back in 2007 or 2008! Also nice to catch up with Delta's No1 mechanic, Martin, hard at work looking after 500s and Juniors while the Boss was sitting in a bar with a beer at Zandvoort......

[brands]

A few pictures from a moist qualifying:

[brands]

and a few more:

[Belmondo]

Superb meeting as always.

Some tedious paddock shots:

[GCCheddaris]

Another very enjoyable Autumn Classic at Castle Combe . Happily the morning rain gave way to afternoon sunshine allowing spectators to enjoy some excellent entertainment , especially the little and large battles between Ben Adams' Lola and Mark Williams'Cobra in GTSCC and Barry Dye's Lotus Elite and Steve Boultbee Brooks' Aston Martin DB3S in the Fiscar race .

It was great meeting Mike Bell who took time to have chat in spite of problems in qualifying .I'm not sure if Mike was impressed or disturbed that I remembered that the last time he raced at Castle Combe was June 14th 2009 !

The demonstrations were also very impressive with the Hesketh 308 of Mark Martin , Nick Mason's Ferrari 512S (driven by Mark Hales) and Chris Helliwell's Cooper T75 among my personal favourites . Not sure if Steve Griffiths' glorious Lotus 101 was under the noise limit though !