A bright, warm and crucially dry day greeted us at The Ring – well the Ring Road actually – and a pretty full house of BARC Connaught Speed Championship competitors were ready to go!
In Class SA, Road-Going Standard Series Production Cars up to 1400cc, Gordon Peters in the Fiat 500 Sport failed on his first run, but then took class honours on 90.05 seconds.
In Class SB, Road-Going Standard Series Production Cars 1401cc up to & including 2000cc, Steve Riddle, former BARC Connaught Speed Champion, only got his Renault Clio Cup 172 back from the garage on the morning of the event, but did enough to take the class on 83.99 seconds. Now that’s what I call just in time Motorsport!
Class 1A, Road-Going Series Production Cars up to & including 1400cc, saw Andrew Rollason in the Ford Ka take third place on 93.20 seconds against a host of Mini Cooper S’s.
Class 1B, Road-Going Series Production Cars 1401cc up to & including 2000cc, saw the Martorana Brothers out in the Alfa MiTo, Leo taking a good second place on 85.33 seconds and Adriano fourth on 88.48 seconds.
Class 1C, Road-Going Series Production Cars 2001cc & above, saw James Hunt‘s BMW E30 storm away with the class, winning on 78.73 seconds. Third was Cedric Abboud’s BMW M3 CSL on 82.76 seconds, with Patrick Tucker and the Camaro somehow squeezing between the chicanes for fourth on 83.89 seconds.
Class 1E, Road-Going Series Production Cars Four Wheel Drive of any Capacity, had David Skittles in the Subaru Impreza taking second on 91.81 seconds.
Class 2A, Road Going Specialist Production Cars up to 1700 cc, had Anthony Shearman in the Caterham 310R grabbing second on 78.10 seconds.
Class 3B, Modified Series Production Cars 1401cc up to & including 2000cc, saw Taras Andrusin in his unmistakable Renault Clio 172 Cup take second on 85.03 seconds, ahead of Paul Boscott in the Elan +2 on third with 88.38 seconds.
Class 3C, Modified Series Production Cars 2001cc & above, saw BARC Connaught Speed Championship newcomer Chris Edwards set some astonishing times in the Mazda 323 GTX, winning on 71.06 seconds and taking second fastest overall – a great result! It left Mike Stark in the Alfa 156 GTA a little breathless on 79.11 seconds for fourth and Geoff Kershaw in the Ford Focus fifth on 89 .81 seconds.
Class 4C, Sports Libre Cars up to & including 1700cc, had only two runners with Clive Wooster‘s Radical SR4 setting a 68.93 seconds for the class and FTD, which he was pleased with.
Class 6, Road-Going Lotus Series Production Cars, had a full house with Duncan Fraser and the Elise taking honours on 75.74 seconds. Second was Richard Hardwicke in the Elise S1 on 76.98 seconds. Fourth was Nick Emery in his S1 on 80.59 seconds, with Martin Roberts in the Elise S2 Sport 190 fifth on 81.48 seconds and Russell Whitworth sixth on 85.66 seconds.
In Class 9, Northampton Motorsport Lotus 7 Club Speed Championship, John Clarke took twelfth in a massive class on 84.64 seconds.
