VSCC, SeeRed, Donington Park, Sept 15th & 16th, 2007.

[eclectic]

The VSCC is organising its two day extravaganza in two weeks time, where else can you see such a wide range of historic racing?

Full details can be found here.. http://www.vscc.co.uk/vsccweb/news/news.jsp?id=280 Among the 'stars' it is confirmed that Mercedes Benz are bringing the Mercedes W125 from the 1937 season and it will be demonstrated over the weekend. The car was part of the legendary German ‘Silver Arrows’ posse that wowed the British crowds gathered at Donington Park to watch the 1937 Donington Grand Prix. It was the first time that these cars had ever been seen in the United Kingdom. The Auto Union powered off to victory with the Mercedes
W125 finishing in second place.

For those of you who like modern exotica, Graypaul will be displaying the new Maserati Gran Turismo. As this car has only previously been displayed in the UK at The Goodwood Festival of Speed, it will be a real rarity to view one in the flesh.

On a more mundane level, I have entered my1908 chain driven 12 litre Brasier in the 5 lap Edwardian race on the Sunday.

[John Turner]

Ah, the welcome return of 'eclectic' Mike. Good to get a thread started on this one. Might try to make it on one of the days.

[john ruston]

The details for the meeting have just arrived and it seems to be a good one.Not being one of VSCC's greatest supporters they seem to have done a good job and answer many of the whinges we all have about other organisers.We will know more on Monday

[Brendan Roberts]

Looking forward to it. First time out in my Lola FJ. Lets hope the sun shines.

[eclectic]

Here is the race card for the weekend, I'm looking forward to blasting my 12 litre Brasier around in the Edwardian Race on Sunday. It has 200++ brake horsepower at the rear wheels, no front brakes, seatbelts or windscreen.

Here is a brief quote from the publicity email that arrived today and the programme of events for the weekend is as follows;

A highlight of the event will be demonstrations by the mighty Mercedes W125 Silver Arrows that, along with the Auto Unions galvanized the legendary Donington Grand Prix of 1937. The Auto Union and Mercedes Cars dominated the event forcing previously dominant British contenders to the sidelines. Many cars of the type that raced in the '37 Grand Prix will be racing at Donington over the weekend; see ERAs and Bugattis racing for glory and many other thrilling Pre-war cars competing in The Seaman Trophies Races on Sunday.

Other racing highlights include a very full grid of 1950s and 60s Lansdowne Series Motorcycles that race twice over the weekend, Formula Junior Cars, a race for pre-war MG cars and the, now customary 2-hour VSCC White House Memorial Team Race on Saturday evening for pre-war sports-cars. A full programme of events can be seen below.

Off track highlights include air displays from The Rolls Royce Spitfire (both days), a large trade area and autojumble in the paddock, a VSCC Members Car Concours infield at Redgate corner (Sunday), VSCC off road trialing demonstration (both days), a display of modern Ferrari and Maserati super cars from Graypaul Nottingham and the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying and race will be aired on a large screen in the paddock suite where all are welcome to view.

Saturday 15 September

Duration
Approx Start Time
Practice 1 VSCC Pre-war Relay Race 1 15 Mins
09:00
Practice 2 Lansdowne Class Bikes 15 Mins
Practice 3 VSCC Pre-war Relay Race 2 15 Mins
Practice 4 Formula Junior 15 Mins
Practice 5 VSCC Pre-war Relay Race 3 15 Mins
Practice 6 Group C/GTP 40 Mins
Practice 7 MG Race 15 Mins
Demo 1 W125 Demo
Practice 9 VSCC Pre-War Scratch Race 15 Mins
LUNCH BREAK
12:25
Race 1 MG Race 5 Laps
13:30
Race 2 Formula Junior Race 10 Laps
Race 3 VSCC Pre-War Scratch Race 5 Laps
Race 4 Lansdowne Class Bikes Race 8 Laps
Demo 2 W125 Demo
Race 5 Group C/GTP Race 1 40 Mins
Race 6 White House Memorial VSCC Pre-War Relay Race 2 Hours
Sunday 16 September

Duration
Approx Start Time
Practice 1 Lansdowne Class Bikes 15 Mins
09:00
Practice 2 Williams Trophy 15 Mins
Demo 1 W125 Demo
Practice 4 Edwardians 15 Mins
Practice 5 50’s Sports-Cars 15 Mins
Practice 6 Historic Seaman 15 Mins
Practice 7 Flockhart 15 Mins
Practice 8 Vintage Seaman 15 Mins
LUNCH BREAK
12:05
Race 1 Lansdowne Class Bikes 8 Laps
13:10
Race 2 Edwardian Race 5 Laps
Race 3 Flockhart Trophy Race 12 Laps
Race 4 Vintage Seaman Race 12 Laps
Race 5 Group C/GTP Race 30 Mins
Race 6 Williams Trophy Race 8 Laps
Demo 2 W125
Race 7 Historic Seaman Race 12 Laps
Race 8 HGPCA Pre-’66 Race 12 Laps
Race 9 50’s Sports-Cars Race 12 Laps

[eclectic]

Here is a photo of our fun racing Edwardians.

[eclectic]

And another.

[john ruston]

Real cars!

[terence]

I,ll second that,Hope it goes well for all.

[skid mark]

Had agood day today. Tony Dron drove the W125, although I wish he had the bottle to get the tail out! Still, it sounds fantastic.

The best race was the Group C event Rob Hall qualified 5th spun at the first corner down to dead last and stormed through to finish 3rd.

The crowds were small, and if you want to get to the infield you need to go to the tunnel near coppice, there is a kit car show outside the exhibition centre which caused a bit of confusion and chaos.

Off to Silverstone tomorrow!

[simon drabble]

are the results on MST?

[Peter Horsman]

http://www.theresults.co.uk/vintage_...b_results.html

VSCC don't use MST I think. (Not posted yet). This is HS Sports Tining

[simon drabble]

great thx Peter - I was trying to find them yesterday!

[John Turner]

Well, are they, Simon? Have you looked? Your'e getting soooo lazy! For the record I can't find them there, nor anything so far, on the VSCC site (unless I'm looking in the wrong place) which could prove interesting if I try my usual pictorial view!

Since SeeRed seems to be touted as one of the big Historic meets of the year in the UK, and having never been, I decided at short notice to attend on Saturday. It was great to meet up with John Ruston, Gareth Burnett and Adrian Van Der Kroft (they even bought me a bacon butty!) but having been relieved of £20 (it turned out to be at least a fiver too much!) at the gate, I was disappointed, on the whole, by the number and length of the races. Clearly it was an appetiser for the following day, (like skidmark, I went to Silverstone on Sunday to watch the LMS cars) when, according to the programme, there were 9 races, including Vintage Seaman, Flockhart Trophy and the Edwardians (which I would have loved to have seen , I must admit). I also hope that attendance was much better on Sunday, but what was the admission price?

Saturday's races included 2 of only 5 laps, plus an 8 lapper for the bikes (in which I have only a passing interest, but they seem to be a prerequisite of Historic car meetings these days). So the highlights for me were the FJ cars (a superb entry of front engined cars - the later rear engined cars were at Brands with the HSCC), the Group C cars, the W125 display and the brief but excellent Spitfire display. I also enjoyed the content of the final race which was the 2 hour White House Memorial Team Relay, in which Gareth Burnett (in Talbot 105, not Alta) attacking the Craner Curves and the old Hairpin with some verve, along with a number of the Frazer Nashes and HRGs, was notably quick.

However, I'm afraid that I left before the end (the race was due to end just after 7.00pm) and frankly, I think that the race timings could have been better, with perhaps a couple starting before the lunchbreak.

I hope that someone can tell us about Sunday and be more enthusiastic than I have been about Saturday!

Oh, and Donington, please put the wing back on the Spitfire or dismantle it altogether. It is doing the circuit no favours leaving it as it is!

I'll put some pics up from Saturday later, but it is in the queue I'm afraid (behind Goodwood and Tour Britannia).

[John Turner]

Please note that I was drafting my post whilst Peter was posting his! However, my leg pull still applies, Simon!

[JimW]

Originally Posted by skid mark

Tony Dron drove the W125, although I wish he had the bottle to get the tail out!

Hmm, I think that's is the first time I've ever heard Mr Dron accused of that particular weakness.

Regards

Jim

[John Turner]

Jim, that's true but I guess that even Dron would want to be circumspect with a car this powerful, tricky and valuable!

[JimW]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Jim, that's true but I guess that even Dron would want to be circumspect with a car this powerful, tricky and valuable!

Absolutely and good for him, but I don't class that as a lack of bottle.

JIm

[John Turner]

True!

I claim that the lack of definition in this picture was deliberately achieved to convey the aura that surrounds this car ....... and if you believe that, I must be more convincing than I thought. Incidentally, the helmet is a nice touch, and came about by dispensation given to Dron for the demo:-

[Andrew Kitson]

Is that the same Mercedes that Colin Crabbe found and subsequently owned by Neil Corner? If so, I saw Crabbe demonstrating it at the 1971 British GP. He even raced it at the VSCC Oulton meetings in '71 & '72.

[John Turner]

Andrew, I'm not sure. Crabbe managed to extract 'his' W125 out of the Iron Curtain back in the late 60's early 70's, rebuilt and raced it a few times. I saw it at Silverstone back then, an incredible sight amongst the ERAs and absolutely gobbled them up on the straights with wheelspin in every gear. The car then passed to Neil Corner who raced it with some success, but what happened to it after I don't know. I'm sure one of our experts will know though.

[LYNX]

Try www.hssports.co.uk - but when I looked earlier the results had yet to be posted. The FJ race was good value, close racing, no contact and plenty of passing all down the field. Brendan Roberts made a very good start from 3rd on the grid but retired with a broken throttle linkage in his first outing with the Lola - bodes well for the future.

[gungadan]

Originally Posted by LYNX

Try www.hssports.co.uk - but when I looked earlier the results had yet to be posted.

Results can be found here
(Link to VSCC site)

[morrisnutter]

Originally Posted by skid mark

Had agood day today. Tony Dron drove the W125, although I wish he had the bottle to get the tail out! Still, it sounds fantastic.

Oh... he did have the bottle!! I was lucky enought obe leaning over the pit wall for all of his runs (th benefits of startline marshalling!) and he was sideways every lap out of the last corner. As he passed us, his cheeks were puffed out with eyes dead ahead evey time.

When he rumbled through the pit entry he looked like a very, very contented and relieved man. What a car

[JRTM]

I was only there on Saturday to see my two cars being raced by Simon Diffey. I arrived (late) to find him climbing out of the Junior with the engine steaming. It lasted only three laps after an expensive rebuild and had water coming out of the Weber!!

The Lola Mk1 finally made it out after a year of restoration but not quite ready to be honest. Simon used the Sunday as a test day and moved from having an undrivable car to one that just needs a lot of setup work. Very pretty and lots more speed to come I hope.

If i knew how to insert a picture of the car I would!!

PS - for me the best race of the day was the Group C. fearsome racing with the unmistakable smell of buring cash.