MSVR Cadwell
MSVR Club Car Championships
Cadwell Park
It’s a Mini celebration again in this week's report from Cadwell Park; it’s the 60th anniversary of this British Leyland icon going into production. Events have been held all over the UK to mark this moment and a small but not so insignificant one was held last weekend.
Over 80 minis turned up at Cadwell Park race track to put on a parade lap during lunch break, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Mini with the spectators, keeping them entertained between races.
We went along to photograph the event but our main focus was the MotorSport Vision Racing Club Car Championship, which included three race series featuring the Mini in its different guises at the race meeting
The other races being held were Heritage Formula Ford, the popular single-seater racing series. Classic Touring Car Championship (Pre-83 Touring Cars) for cars like the Ford Escort Mk1 and Dolomite Sprint. The Classic Touring Car Championship (Pre- 66 Touring Cars) featuring some real classics like the Lotus Cortina and Ford Anglia.
Within the Touring Car Championships there were a number of sub classes in the same race includng cars as diverse as a Ford Falcon and the legendary Nissan Skyline.
MotorSport Vision Racing (MSVR) is the racing division of MSV the company who own five of the larger race tracks in the UK. It runs 19 car championships and series, including the flagship event the Bennett's British Superbike Championship.
The British Superbike Championship Round 9 was being run at Oulton Park during the same weekend as this event. A few of the PistonClick Photographers went along to Oulton, and with the rest not being available, it was down to Steve from Lonely Furrow Photography to fly solo at Cadwell to capture the action here.
Let,s keep the Mini theme going and look at the three race series that were being run. There were four races held for the Mini Challenge broken down into three Classes. Pro, Am and Cooper S.
The Cooper S Class is the open class and usually race on their own. Being able to run slick tyres or wets if required, the car's power is capped which encourages close racing. However, as it's an open class the regulations permit a good deal of engineering to be allowed on these cars resulting in a competitive class.
Mini Challenge Cooper S Results
Race 2
23 Daniel BUTCHER-LORD
24 Rob AUSTIN
21 Keir McCONOMY
Race 8
23 Daniel BUTCHER-LORD
24 Rob AUSTIN
12 Stuart McLAREN
The Mini Cooper Pro Class use a 1.6lt engine running 130bhp with slick tyres. The Mini Cooper AM Class uses the same engine but with a higher weight, up 30kg on the Pro Class, and with treaded tyres, so at the end of the season if someone wanted to move up a class it's not to difficult to modify their racing Mini, keeping costs low.
Mini Cooper Pro Results
Race 4
85 Toby GOODMAN
91 Robbie DALGLEISH
2 James HILLERY
Race 10
8 Hannah CHAPMAN
85 Toby GOODMAN
Mini Cooper AM Results
Race 4
89 Josh MARTIN
94 josh PORTER
Race 10
94 Josh PORTER
23 Lee PEARCE
80 Archie O'BRIEN
We caught up with Hannah Chapman who races in the Mini Cooper Pro Class this season, and she penned us a few words after a hard battle in Race 10 to get on the podium.
Hannah Chapman
"Absolutely buzzing to get my first Mini Challenge UK podium of the season!!
This year has been quite a tough one at times but with improvements made with every outing I’m delighted to bring home some silverware at last!
Race 1 I narrowly missed out on my first podium but race 2 was brilliant! Getting off to a good start side by side with Dom I held it on the outside into turn 1 which meant I had the inside for the next bit and took the lead! What a difference from being dead last at the start of the season! I held onto the top spot for a couple of laps or so but a small mistake saw Robbie capitalise and pass round the outside dropping me to P2. With a couple of laps to go though my ABS decided to fail but thankfully with a bit of caution on the brakes I kept it on the black stuff and brought the car home in podium position YESSSS.
A huge thanks as always goes to my team LUX Motorsport for all their hard work and giving me a car that feels so sharp every time out and to my sponsors who without all of which I wouldn’t even be on the grid!
Moving onto the Formula Ford cars they were originally designed around the 1498cc Ford Cortina engine. They first started racing on the 2nd July 1967 using standard road going tyres. Times have moved on but the essence of the Heritage series is still alive and well.
The engines are now cross flow 1600cc Kent models which are quite old engines now and went out of general production some time ago. However, new cylinder blocks are still produced in the USA by the Ford Racing's Performance Parts division so this race series should be around for a few more years.
Heritage Formula Ford
Race 1
43 Jaap BLIJLEVEN
2 Mike GARDNER
25 Scott GUTHRIE
Race 7
43 Jaap BLIJLEVEN Reyard 898f
81 Tom ROARK Van Diemen RF92
The Classic Touring Car Championship had four race series run by the British Automobile Racing Club. Within the Championships there were quite a few sub classes. Pre-66 and 83 ran in their own races. Pre-93, 03 and 2005 were all together in the same race and the Classic Thunder Saloons & Blue Oval Saloons running together.
Pre 83 Group 1 Touring Cars
Race 5
1 Stephen PRIMETT
49 Mark OSBORNE
18 Mark LUCOCK
Race 11
1 Stephen PRIMETT
49 Mark OSBORNE
18 Mark LUCOCK
Classic Touring Car Championship (66 Touring Cars)
Race 3
56 Michael SHERATON
17 James BURROWS
Race 9
56 Michael SHERATON
38 James EVERARD
Classic Touring Car Championship (Pre-Boss/93/03/05/66 Touring Cars)
Race6
100 Andy ROBINSON
19 James JANICKI
15 Tony DAVIES
Race 12
100 Andy ROBINSON
19 James JANICKI
148 Don HUGHES
That concludes our look at the 2019 MSVR Club Car Championships at Cadwell. Thanks to Steve from Lonely Furrow Photography for covering the event. You can see more of Steve's work on his website and his Flicker account.
Lonely Furrow Photography
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