Round and round and round - Hednesford Hills Raceway

Report by David and Andrew Harbey

12 December 2022

Back in the last century, when we only had three or four television channels and absolutely no “catch up on iPlayer”, there were a number of televised motorsport events that would be in the “must see” category. ITV showed eagerly awaited highlights of the Bathurst 1000 with in-car TV we could only dream off, and more locally, they also showed the Hot Rod World Finals from Foxhall each July.

I saw speedway at Foxhall a couple of times back in the eighties, but it took the best part of fifty years to get to a four wheel short oval meeting. Andrew and I did it in fine style this year with BRISCA F1 Stockcars at Brafield (or as its officially called Northampton International Shaleway, if you will).

More recently, we went to the Best in Britain end of season Hot Rod meeting at Hednesford Hills Raceway (Hendo). Banger racing remains off the agenda for this purist though …

Situated in a disused reservoir on the edge of Cannock Chase, the track at Hendo is in the bottom of a bowl with spectator terracing and a covered stand at each end. The paddock is open to wander round with final preparations underway as we arrived. Once the racing started, we were at the fence.

Hendo is a tarmac oval but, on a cold day with drizzle in the air from time to time and a distinctly damp track as racing got underway, tyre choice would a factor. So, too, would car control !  It was somewhat disappointing as a snapper, but entirely unsurprising as a spectator, to see wire fence round the whole track. Sadly, phone cameras don’t yet have a “through the fence” setting … here we test a Sony Xperia and an iPhone SE with little success.

After final practice for the National Hot Rods, racing started at 1pm, with two heats and then finals for, in running order, Stock Rods, Superstox, National Hot Rods and 2.0 Hot Rods. Let the racing commence !  Stock Rods are a non-contact class for hot hatches with engines up to 1400cc and with what seems to be crazy front near side wheel camber – until you see them corner round the banked track.

How the field lines up without any apparent organisation (to our eyes at least) remained a mystery all afternoon but, who cares ? When the racing starts its twenty laps or so of fast, frantic and skilful action. Having witnessed all of eight Audi TTs trailing round Donington for fifteen minutes with lengthening gaps between them, or processional Radicals at Snetterton, this gave me a new perspective ! Even the modest Stock Rods provided quick, close action.

Being at the fence, we couldn’t hear the PA above the engines and only by watching the man on the starting gantry very closely once the race got underway could we tell who was leading – but it didn’t matter !  Perhaps we should have bought a programme for some guidance, but the link at the end of this article provides some background.

Having watched and photographed a lot of bike racing in the last few years, I have decided that, whilst I reckon I could drive a Fiesta round a racetrack with a degree of competence (note, this has NOT been tested …), there is no way I would even consider riding a bike round the same track. I think I have similar feelings about short oval racing – not even in a humble Corsa !

Second out was the Superstox, 2 litre engined cousins of the V8 engined BRISCA cars and contact is allowed. Superstox run anti-clockwise. For the first set of heats, we were on the straight opposite the start / finish line and paddock entrance. I’d only got the 70-200mm zoom with me shooting close to the fence. A longer zoom would have enabled some tighter shots of the action on the other side of the track.

The advantage of this location is that the podium is directly in front of where you are standing.

National Hot Rods, the fastest cars, are specialist rear wheel drive machines, using silhouette bodywork for familiar models, including a Ginetta, but typically much lower and wider. Powered by either Ford Pinto or Zetec 2.0 engines they are very quick and very skilfully driven This is a non-contact formula; there may have be some rubbing, it was certainly very close action, but not the full contact seen in BRISCA (or, indeed, British Touring Cars).

Finally, the 2.0 Hot Rods – all forty of them - came out. Again, we have no idea how the grid formed up. Drivers seem to move around the track to form the grid almost at random. The MN report confirmed that for the heats the grid was drawn out of the hat.

Whatever, the pace lap was completed, the green flag flew and the noise and spectacle captivated entirely. Drivers can find themselves stranded on the outer edge of the track against the Armco following mechanical damage – so long as the driver is OK, the race continues unabated; not sure I would want to sit there !

For the second set of heats, we moved to the end of the track to get a shot of the cars coming towards us. The fence does leave that slightly softer feel to photos and some shots did have that fence pattern showing, but keeping as wide an aperture as possible and trying to shoot at right angles to the fence helps.

On a dull afternoon, with sunset due at 4pm (not that we could see the sun), the ISO started creeping up and the track lighting started to have an effect. Most of the liveries were bright and colourful, adding to the spectacle. It was also getting distinctly chilly, but the action and a hot chocolate helped no end !

For the finals, we headed to the other end of the track where the drivers lined up along the fence before forming up the grid for the rolling start. The National Hot Rods also get a three lap warm up – again a mystery until we spotted the “laps to go” boards being shown by the starter.

David Addison was conducting the podiums for the finals. There was a short delay for a couple of them as the stewards made their deliberations and altered the result – although explanations were not made clear at the time.

For this pair of spectators though that didn’t really matter – we were out to experience Hot Rods for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed our time at Hendo. I sense we might be adding Mildenhall, Kings Lynn, Ipswich, Buxton and a few other short ovals to the sat nav.

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