More changes for club racing calendar

The Castle Combe Racing Club has decided to press on with plans to run its season opener on Easter Monday, and this is therefore set to be one of the first club events to take place this year.

The 6 April meeting falls a week after Motorsport UK has said club motorsport can restart in England. The event was due to also feature races from the Historic Racing Drivers Club, but these have now been postponed until August to avoid the need for competitors to travel to the Wiltshire venue from across the country.

Instead, double-headers will be held for the CCRC’S four categories – Formula Ford 1600, Saloons,

GTS and the Hot Hatch Challenge – and this not only reduces the number of competitors, but also avoids the need for them to stay overnight, as many live in close proximity to the circuit.

“We were faced with a dilemma over what do we do,” said CCRC chairman Ken Davies. “We’d lost three headline [HRDC] races but everyone was unanimous, ‘Let’s go ahead and start’. We’ve got our own races and will have double-headers for them all and have an eight-race programme. That will enable us to start at 0930 and, all being well, finish about 1630/1700.

“Most of our competitors are indigenous to the area, but those people with further to travel have got a shorter day to make it easier. The paddock is going to be a lot less congested and there will be plenty of room for social distancing.

“We built up a bit of momentum last year and we want to hit the ground running and get on with what our core business is, which is running race meetings. We’ve had lots of enthusiastic emails and people enquiring [about the season opener].”