[tbtstt]

Forgive the double post but, as promised, some pictures from the British Rallycross Grand Prix, which took place the day after Round 8 of the British Rallycross Championship.






In a nod to the Rallycross Grand Prix’s of old, this year’s event saw the multiple classes being dropped in favour of a single Grand Prix class for everyone; Supercars, Super National, Hot Hatches, BMW Minis… all running together in mixed grids.


The only exceptions to this rule were the RX150’s and Retro Rallycross classes which ran for their own respective Grand Prix titles.


Andy Scott began his first heat in exactly the same fashion as he had the previous day; a trip to the turn one gravel trap…


…he managed to power through with a heavy application of right foot this time: but absolutely pelted me with gravel in the process!



After spending Saturday as a spectator, the replacement component for Pat Doran’s DS3 had arrived and he was back in action.







TV star Kelvin Fletcher (apparently he’s in Coronation Street?) made his rallycross/gravel trap debut. He didn’t make the finals, but actually did pretty well for his first time out.





As the heats reached their mid-point the track started to suffer, with the penultimate turn becoming increasingly rutted. Initially it was only the unmodified cars that were giving clues as to the deteriorating condition of this corner.




But by the time we had reached the finals even the bigger, most technically advanced cars, were having a rough ride over this section.



It wasn’t just the track that was suffering after a weekend of racing. Most of the Marshall posts were steadily accumulating a pile of parts, though the post on the loose section seemed to have the best haul.



An engine and some wheels and the Marshalls will be ready to enter their own car!



In the RX150’s, Jake Harris had been pushing hard through the heats – a little too hard at times – in an effort to repeat his Saturday victory. The RX150 field were all close, but James Grint established himself as the man to beat, taking the win in the final.



Rob Gibson led the way in the ’82 – ’87 Retro Rallycross heats…




…and the final. I can understand why Rob wouldn’t want to risk his iconic Metro 6R4, but it would have been fantastic to see him fighting in the “main” Grand Prix class with the modern supercars.



The pre-82 Retro Rallycross class was won by Barry Stewart at the wheel of his flame spitting Porsche 911.

After a weekend of anticipation, it was finally time for the Grand Prix A final. With a 10 car grid I was sure that there would be first corner carnage as no one would be prepared to yield but, to everyone’s relief, the whole pack made it around turn one.



In a repeat of Saturday’s final, Andy Scott headed the field as they headed onto the dirt for the first time, with Kevin Procter in hot pursuit.



After two laps of close racing, Scott ran slightly wide and left the door (half) open for Procter. Procter braked slightly later into the final turn, edged his way up the inside and nosed Andy Scott out wide.



Despite the best efforts of Andy Scott, Procter seemed to have fractionally more pace and began to pull away. Behind Andy Scott was Pat Doran, who had also passed Julian Godfrey and was beginning to close down Scott.




There was some committed driving from Steve Mundy, but he was unable to duplicate his B final success and finished tenth, behind the venerable Escort Cosworth of Derek Jobb.



Crossing the line ahead of both the Fords was Ash Simpson in his Lotus Exige: a brilliant result as he was the only 2WD car to make the final.



It was a great race and a brilliant way to round off the weekend. Sadly my last motorsport fix for 2013 though: roll on next year!