CSCC Special Saloons & Modsports Donington Park 13th April 2025
MORRIS AND CAREY SPLIT THE SEASON-OPENING SPECIAL SALOON SPOILS
The Classic Sports Car Club’s JMC Racing Special Saloons and Modsports series season got underway at Donington Park on Sunday the 13th of April. The series started life with a revival race for the categories at Mallory Park in 2011 before embarking on a full season the following year and a respectable entry of 22 cars was received for the pair of races on the full Grand Prix circuit.
The class layout has been revised for 2025, with the fastest weaponry having their own home in Class HC and the rest were split as follows:
Over 3600cc/4500cc if steel-bodied in Class A
2501cc-3600cc/3101cc-4500cc if steel-bodied in Class B
1901cc-2500cc/2301cc-3100-cc if steel-bodied in Class C
1401cc-1900cc/1601cc-2300cc if steel-bodied in Class D
Up to 1400cc/1600cc if steel-bodied in Class E.
Another addition for this year is the Ultimate Mini competition for spaceframe and steel-bodied Minis, giving the extreme machines found in August's 'Fastest Mini in the World' races somewhere else to come out and play.
Qualifying: The stunning weather in the weeks ahead of the CSCC's 'Donington Derby' promotion typically broke on the morning of qualifying. Cool, overcast conditions prevailed and there was a threat of rain in the air but it remained dry for the 20-minute session. The reworked Class HC Peugeot 309 Thundersaloon of Danny Morris stormed to pole position by 0.720 seconds from Andy Southcott's Vauxhall-engined MG Lenham Midget clone but the sportscar contracted an oil leak at the rear of the car which forced the rapid machine's withdrawal. Tom Carey felt his brake pedal getting longer throughout the session but the Ford-engined Honda still set the third fastest time, some 2.459 seconds from the polesitter. Fourth fastest was the wide-arched Mk1 VW Golf Turbo of Ross Irvine from Class C, another 2.609 seconds back from the CRX silhouette. Andrew Willis' self-built Class A Austin 'A302' V8 went around the Leicestershire venue in the fifth quickest time, ahead of Paul Dolan’s pretty Lotus Elan and the Modsports car was 1.287 seconds away from classmate Irvine despite being another to struggle with a lengthening brake pedal during the session. The shared spaceframe Peugeot 205 of Jonathan Gill and Mike Seabourne was seventh fastest and was just 0.063 seconds quicker than the Mk1 VW Golf of Donald Dewar in eighth as the pair set the top two times in Class D, with Melvin Hooker's thundering Class A Jaguar XJS V8 and the far smaller Class E MG Midget of Tim Cairns completing the top ten times. Expected front-runner Sam Wilson suffered a broken diff on the big Rikki Cann-developed Aston Martin V8 before setting a time and would be a non-starter, whilst Ultimate Mini competitor Jim Lyons' Mini Clubman Turbo caught fire due to an oil leak. Luckily, the conflagration didn't appear to have caused any major damage to its engine but the Mini missed the races pending a proper examination in the workshop.
The Classic Sports Car Club’s JMC Racing Special Saloons and Modsports series season got underway at Donington Park on Sunday the 13th of April. The series started life with a revival race for the categories at Mallory Park in 2011 before embarking on a full season the following year and a respectable entry of 22 cars was received for the pair of races on the full Grand Prix circuit.
The class layout has been revised for 2025, with the fastest weaponry having their own home in Class HC and the rest were split as follows:
Over 3600cc/4500cc if steel-bodied in Class A
2501cc-3600cc/3101cc-4500cc if steel-bodied in Class B
1901cc-2500cc/2301cc-3100-cc if steel-bodied in Class C
1401cc-1900cc/1601cc-2300cc if steel-bodied in Class D
Up to 1400cc/1600cc if steel-bodied in Class E.
Another addition for this year is the Ultimate Mini competition for spaceframe and steel-bodied Minis, giving the extreme machines found in August's 'Fastest Mini in the World' races somewhere else to come out and play.
Qualifying: The stunning weather in the weeks ahead of the CSCC's 'Donington Derby' promotion typically broke on the morning of qualifying. Cool, overcast conditions prevailed and there was a threat of rain in the air but it remained dry for the 20-minute session. The reworked Class HC Peugeot 309 Thundersaloon of Danny Morris stormed to pole position by 0.720 seconds from Andy Southcott's Vauxhall-engined MG Lenham Midget clone but the sportscar contracted an oil leak at the rear of the car which forced the rapid machine's withdrawal. Tom Carey felt his brake pedal getting longer throughout the session but the Ford-engined Honda still set the third fastest time, some 2.459 seconds from the polesitter. Fourth fastest was the wide-arched Mk1 VW Golf Turbo of Ross Irvine from Class C, another 2.609 seconds back from the CRX silhouette. Andrew Willis' self-built Class A Austin 'A302' V8 went around the Leicestershire venue in the fifth quickest time, ahead of Paul Dolan’s pretty Lotus Elan and the Modsports car was 1.287 seconds away from classmate Irvine despite being another to struggle with a lengthening brake pedal during the session. The shared spaceframe Peugeot 205 of Jonathan Gill and Mike Seabourne was seventh fastest and was just 0.063 seconds quicker than the Mk1 VW Golf of Donald Dewar in eighth as the pair set the top two times in Class D, with Melvin Hooker's thundering Class A Jaguar XJS V8 and the far smaller Class E MG Midget of Tim Cairns completing the top ten times. Expected front-runner Sam Wilson suffered a broken diff on the big Rikki Cann-developed Aston Martin V8 before setting a time and would be a non-starter, whilst Ultimate Mini competitor Jim Lyons' Mini Clubman Turbo caught fire due to an oil leak. Luckily, the conflagration didn't appear to have caused any major damage to its engine but the Mini missed the races pending a proper examination in the workshop.
Race One: The Special Saloons and Modsports shared the grid with the Morgan Challenge cars but the Specials went first on the combined 42-car grid. There would be no Andy Southcott Lenham Midget after its qualifying trouble so everyone who'd qualified lower than second moved up one position, elevating Tom Carey to the front row for the start of the twenty minutes of racing. The weather was sunny for the start but there was a dark cloud looming, which luckily didn't drop any rainwater. Poleman Danny Morris held the lead from Carey at lights out as Andrew Willis used his V8's grunt to grab an early third. Morris narrowly led throughout the early stages with Carey giving chase, with the Honda CRX silhouette lapping within a second of the 309 Turbo for the first five laps until its brake pedal went long, just as it had done during qualifying, and Carey suddenly fell away. After holding third from the start, Willis' wild A30 was overhauled by Ross Irvine's Golf through Hollywood on lap four and the Volkswagen also took second from the fading Carey on lap eight. The fast-starting Jonathan Gill Peugeot 205 got up to fourth place around the outside of Irvine's Golf at Redgate on lap one but had slipped back to sixth by the end of the lap after the VW and Paul Dolan's Lotus Elan both demoted the spaceframed machine. Melvin Hooker's mighty supercharged Jaguar XJS slotted into seventh on lap one but the Big Cat was passed by Steve Wells' MGB GT V8 heading on to lap two. Donald Dewar also passed Hooker during the second lap, with the Group 44 car coming under fire from Paul Turner's tiny Suzuki, Josh Evans' Mini Clubman and Robert Frost's Dax Tojeiro. The 8.3-litre Cobra replica of Frost thundered past Evans' Mini on the third tour, just as the group were caught by the leading Morgan runners. Turner passed Hooker on lap five at Redgate after Frost had bagged the pair of them, with Evans also taking the Jag later in the lap. The Safety Car came out with seven minutes left after Gill's 205 was left stranded in the Coppice gravel trap, having tangled with Keith Ahlers' front-running Morgan. Only thirty seconds remained when the field was released, leaving just enough time for a one-lap dash to the flag. Leader Morris made a very steady restart and was surrounded by lapped Morgans as he slowly picked up speed but the turbocharged Peugeot 309 brought home the victory by 5.513 seconds. Carey had been pumping the brakes of his Honda for some pedal pressure before the interruption and had enough stopping power to get down the inside of Irvine into Redgate and take back second place. Irvine crossed the line third despite a failing gearbox mount repair, after the original part failed in Saturday's Slicks Series race, but he was hit with a thirty-second penalty after passing John Pugsley's lapped Davrian before the start/finish line at the resumption and was reclassified twelfth as a result. Willis' A30 V8 took the VW's place on the podium after attacking it unsuccessfully at the Old Hairpin for the last time. The Elan of Dolan finished on its own in fourth, whilst Wells' Rover V8-engined MGB GT completed the top five from Dewar's Mk1 Golf in sixth. Turner's ex-Ben Bowlby Suzuki SC100 had passed Frost just before the interruption but the Cobra struck back for seventh place during the final lap. Evans claimed second in Class E with his Mini in ninth, ahead of Martin Reynolds' debuting Ford Capri. Those who failed to reach the finish other than Gill included Colin Claxton's Mk1 Escort with a misfire, Tim Moll's Mk1 Golf with a broken Clutch and Tim Cairns' Hexagon MG Midget snapped a halfshaft on lap one.
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Race Two: Danny Morris took a ten-place grid drop success penalty after his opening race triumph, which promoted Tom Carey's Honda CRX onto pole position for the second twenty-minute bout from Andrew Willis' V8 Austin. A pair of classic British sportscars made up row two, with Paul Dolan's Lotus joined by the MG of Steve Wells. The third row comprised Donald Dewar's VW Golf Mk1 and Robert Frost's musclebound Dax Tojeiro. Row four was home to Paul Turner's diminutive Suzuki SC100 'Whizzkid' and Melvin Hooker's Group 44 'Big Cat' V8. Ross Irvine had beefed up his gearbox mount repair since the earlier race and started beside Race One victor Morris' 309 Cosworth Turbo on the fifth row. Regular Jaguar pilot Mike Seabourne got another race in Jonathan Gill's lightweight Peugeot 205 after his Classic Thunder heroics at the Leicestershire venue a few weeks beforehand and started fifteenth. Tim Cairns' Hexagon MG Midget started from the back row but wasn't joined by Tim Moll's clutchless Golf. The front row came to the rolling start abreast but the following rows had held back after the Lotus of Dolan became jammed in fourth gear, leading to quite a strung-out start. Carey fairly streaked away from Willis and the third-placed Dolan on lap one, the Honda crossing the line 9.033 seconds up the road from the A30 V8 and Dolan's hamstrung Elan was another 3.588 seconds back in third. Steve Wells sat in an initial fourth from a charging Morris but the opening race winner’s ‘Spirit of RPM’ Peugeot was already over sixteen-and-a-half seconds from the leading Honda. Morris had followed Irvine's VW past Hooker's Jaguar into Redgate for the first time before picking off the Golf at the Old Hairpin. The Thundersaloon soon breezed past Turner's Suzuki down the Exhibition Straight before backing out of a move on Frost's Cobra replica into the Fogarty's chicane but the ‘fake snake’ had been dispensed with before the end of lap one. The Wells MGB GT V8 was next on the hit list and was promptly passed into Redgate for the second time before the Peugeot sliced ahead of Dolan into Coppice. The 309 took second off Willis on lap three into Redgate but was now north of seventeen seconds behind the leading CRX clone with sixteen minutes left to try and chase it down. The brake issues didn’t affect the leading Honda nearly as much as earlier and Carey stroked the silhouette home to win by 8.120 seconds, his lead having neared twenty seconds mid-race. Eighth-row starter Seabourne had followed Morris through the pack and grabbed third from Willis' Ford V8-powered A30 down the Craner Curves a lap after the eventual runner-up. The Carl Boardley Motorsport-built hatchback took Turner, Irvine and Frost on the closing section of the opening lap to be sixth heading onto lap two. Seabourne then drove around the outside of Wells' MG through the left-handed element of the Craner Curves to take fifth and Dolan's troubled Lotus was removed from fourth on the Melbourne loop, before the Peugeot quickly homed in on Willis. The 205 had a late scare when it slowed during the last lap with suspected fuel surge on right-handers but the car spluttered home in third. Willis crossed the line 6.068 seconds behind the Peugeot in fourth, the 'A302' was also caught by Irvine's VW at mid-distance but the turbocharged Golf's pace slackened with multiple issues as it took fifth. Dolan's Elan had slipped back to ninth early on with its gearbox issues, just behind the little Suzuki of Paul Turner, but Dolan eventually forced it free and clawed his way back up to sixth overall at McCleans on lap nine after chasing down Wells’ gruff MGB GT V8. Frost's Cobra replica took eighth ahead of Turner's Class E-winning Suzuki in ninth and Hooker's XJS was tenth. After replacing its broken halfshaft from Race One, the Hexagon MG Midget of Tim Cairns lasted three laps before its gearbox broke. The highly original Modsport was joined on the retirements list by Colin Claxton's Mk1 Escort for the second time and Donald Dewar's Volkswagen Golf lost fuel pressure, with Martin Reynolds' Cologne Capri recreation put away before the start.
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Martin Reynolds' Mk1 Ford Capri
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Martin Reynolds’ ever-expanding collection of Fords now includes a fabulous Cyclone V6-powered Group 2 Cologne Capri replica. The car was an Austrian-sourced project that was built in 2011 and last raced in 2015. Reynolds purchased the machine after it had lain dormant for six years and it took until late last year for the car to be transported back to his workshop to start the process of bringing the coupe up to the condition it’s in now. Prior to its Donington Park debut, Reynolds had only driven the Capri for a couple of laps of Snetterton so was on a voyage of discovery throughout the day. Reynolds was unhappy with the suspension and brakes after qualifying the car fifteenth, plus he also reported a vibration from the diff which made the car feel not very nice to drive. After attempting to improve its behaviour during the lunch break, Reynolds felt the car hadn’t changed much after bringing the machine home in tenth of the Special Saloons and Modsports so decided to miss Race Two. Reynolds left Donington with plenty of development work to be done before its next airing but the charismatic Capri will surely draw a lot of attention wherever it races.
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The JMC Racing Special Saloons and Modsports are scheduled to be in action next on the 14th of June using the National version of Silverstone.