Donington meetings always seem to come at the start or end of the season for the HSCC, so our impressions of the place are tainted by the inclement weather we frequently have to endure. The first weekend of October always threatened to be wet, and the gloomy weather forecasts did little to raise anyone’s hopes. As it turned out, after a very cold Friday night, some rain did fall on Saturday morning, leaving the track looking very greasy, and almost all the Historic FF2000 drivers fitted their wets. The temperature was still quite cool, but a strong wind dried the track surprisingly quickly, and all the cars took to the drying circuit on slicks.

The session was destined to be curtailed early, when the unfortunate Rod Stead suffered an engine blowup, which left a lot of oil on the track. So it was, that most drivers set their fastest time on their last lap. Tom Mills continued the good form he showed at Brands, to bang in a lap under 1:17 (the only driver to do so) and grab pole. Next up was Colin Wright, who got out for qualifying first, and looked right on the pace from the outset. Oliver Thorpe had opted to do both our race and the Classic F3 round, and lined up third. Brands victor, Peter Denham was hot on his heels, with Iain (who claimed his pole position lap was thwarted by the red flag…) in fifth.

Roger Price, a fan of Donington, was next, followed by Russell Love. To see Russell (having his first race with us since his Silverstone win) in seventh, might have been a surprise, had it not been for the fact that this was his first ever visit to Donington. To set a time less than two seconds from pole on his fifth-ever lap around Donington was a very impressive achievement. Trevor Arkell, Nigel Grant and Antony Raine were next up.

Just behind this group were Jan Langdon, the unfortunate Rod Stead, Alan Tomkins (who was guesting in Iain’s usual Delta), Eric Hoult, John de Ritter, Adrian Desoutter and Lou Watts.

The remaining sixteen cars lined up for a 15:40 start for our race, generously sponsored by TRS Harnesses, thanks to James Ledamun. When the lights went out, Colin Wright surged into the lead, followed by Oliver Thorpe, and Tom Mills, who seemed to get bogged-down at the start. Tom got by Oliver on the second lap, and set about closing the 0.6s gap to Colin. The next time round, the roles were reversed, with Tom having a 0.6s advantage. Tom made no mistake from there, and gradually opened out a 4s advantage by the end of the race, to take the win, much to the delight of his sponsors, who were there to watch. Behind him, Colin and Oliver were involved in a furious scrap, with Russell, gaining in Donington experience, closing in.

Despite being dry, the circuit was still very slippery, and several drivers, including Russell Love, had excursions between McLeans and Coppice. At the end of lap seven, the red Lola was up to second, ahead of Colin and Oliver, whose dice was to end abruptly on lap nine. Opinions differ as to the cause, but suffice it to say that they both retired, Colin with left front suspension damage.

The order was now Tom, Russell, and Peter Denham. A grassy moment by Russell saw Peter take second on the tenth lap, only to be repassed by Russell six laps later. Nigel Grant had a good run to make up for his relatively poor qualifying performance to finish fourth, followed by Trevor Arkell. Iain regretted changing his setup after qualifying, and was followed by Roger Price. Poor Eric Hoult got stranded on the line, and had a lonely race, playing catch up. He ended up 0.8s behind John de Ritter. The only other retirement was Lou Watts, with a nosecone covered in tyre marks, and seemingly out of fuel.

So, Tom ran out a worthy winner, having had a lot of bad luck this season. Hopefully he’ll return next year, along with the other proven frontrunners. Let’s hope that, despite the economic situation, the many cars being prepared for next year will make it to the grids, and that the HSCC can give us a decent selection of races. All the competitors received TRS tie-down straps as an unusual, and very welcome award - thanks again, James.