PANDEMIC CONTINUES TO CAUSE CALENDAR CHANGES
A number of tweaks have been made to the club racing calendar following the announcement of the English government’s roadmap out of lockdown and Motorsport UK’S confirmation that the sport can resume from 29 March – but more changes could be afoot.
Three English circuit racing clubs – the MG Car Club, the Classic Sports Car Club and the British Automobile Racing Club – had events planned in March that now cannot be run. The MGCC and CSCC are in talks over rescheduling those events, while the BARC has moved its Silverstone season opener to 24-25 April.
MGCC competitions secretary Mark Baulch says it is
understandable that no club motorsport can take place in March, and the club is now focusing on preparations for its next event at Brands Hatch at the end of April.
“It’s disappointing, understandable and partly expected,” he said of not being able to run the club’s opener. “It’s disappointing because we had a strong entry for that meeting, we were going to have some pretty full grids, both ourselves at MGCC and our guests Equipe Classic Racing. It shows there’s some pent-up demand. We were disappointed but understand there’s still a pandemic, and we do still have people being taken to hospital every day.”
The Historic Racing Drivers Club has gone a step further by not appearing at its Castle Combe opener (see below), and is reviewing the rest of its calendar. “We had a full calendar mapped out, which was a great one,” said club boss Julius Thurgood, who believes it is wrong to organise meetings in the near future.
“The only confirmed race date is 30 August at Castle Combe.
We’ve got a number of ongoing conversations with circuits and I’ve suspended our membership because we haven’t got anything tangible to give our racers.”
Autosport understands that a number of leading clubs are evaluating whether or not to run meetings during the first two weeks in April, a period for which Motorsport UK has given the green light but when overnight stays are still not permitted.
Clubs have a range of options on the table, from progressing with their original plans, adapting timetables to make two-day events effectively two single-day meetings, or not running these fixtures at all. As Autosport went to press, decisions were imminent, with guidance being sought from Motorsport UK and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.