Great and British Festival at Brands Hatch

[kate@dunlop]

Hi,

Kate from Dunlop here :-)

Are you looking for something to do this Bank Holiday Monday?

The battle of the Hot Hatches is taking place this weekend at the Dunlop Great & British Festival at Brands Hatch.

Some of the best up and coming race drivers will be competing in the Sport Maxx Cup including special guest driver Shane Lynch from Boyzone.

Don’t miss out on the action, with tickets at an online price of only £10 each (£12 on the door) and Children under 12 going free it is guaranteed an exciting day out at a great price!!

Do something different this Bank Holiday and join Dunlop for one of the best Great & British festivals of the season.

Visit www.brandshatch.co.uk for tickets and more information.

[anonymous-user]

Dont forget the Radical club cup! always full grids

[micron750]

I'll be staying well clear of this event kate after what went on at castle combe 2 very poor and tiresome 50 min radical races and the sport maxx was even worse,its down to the lack of cars on the grid,maybe us regulars at castle combe are too used to full grids and close racing neither of which were provded by the radicals or sport maxx!!!

If it wasn't for the Mini's and the Combe Races i'd have gone home early.

[Redlake27]

There were strong grids at the last round and the Brands Hatch programme looks to be a vey full Bank Holiday Monday. With everything from sportscars to Minis to Classic Touring Cars it's well worth a tenner!

Brands Hatch Indy Circuit has the best viewing in the UK; from the top of the Paddock stand you can see the whole circuit

DUNLOP RADICAL UK CUP 50mins 09:50
IBIS PACKAGING SOLUTIONS POST HISTORIC TOURING CAR C'SHIP i.a.w. DUNLOP 15mins 10:55
MINI CHALLENGE 20mins 11:30
BARC WESTFIELD SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP 20mins 12:05
HAMMERITE RACING CLASSIC GROUP 1 TOURING CAR C'SHIP i.a.w. DUNLOP 15mins 12:40

LUNCH BREAK 13:00 - 13:45

DUNLOP PUBLIC PITLANE / GRID WALK 13:10 - 13:40

DUNLOP RADICAL UK CUP 50mins 14:00
DUNLOP MINI SE7EN CHAMPIONSHIP 14 15:05
TRACK & RACE CAR PRE '93 TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP 15mins 15:40
BARC DUNLOP SPORT MAXX CUP 45mins 16:15
MINI CHALLENGE 20mins 17:15
DUNLOP MINI MIGLIA CHAMPIONSHIP 14 17:40

[Redlake27]

EPIC BATTLE EXPECTED FOR INAUGURAL DUNLOP SPORT MAXX CUP

The first championship season for the BARC Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup, the new series that has reintroduced production car racing to UK circuits, is heading for a thrilling climax with just four rounds left.

Just five points cover the top four drivers, and there are seven drivers in contention for overall honours. To add a further twist to the battle, the next round at Brands Hatch on Bank Holiday Monday will run to a 45 minute ‘endurance’ format rather than the Cup’s usual double header series.

“Nearly fifty laps of the Brands Hatch circuit will reward consistency and reliability as well as outright pace, and may produce an unexpected winner” stated James Bailey of Dunlop, who supply the Dunlop Sport Maxx TT road tyres to all the competitors in the Cup.

The rear-wheel drive Nissan 350Zs and BMW M3s are tipped to shine at Brands Hatch and take on the might of the front wheel drive turbo cars such as the Renault Megane R26, Seat Leon and Astra VXR that are dominating Class A.

However, it is the Class B battlers that are heading the overall table. Two-time Westfield Champion Quentin Laithwaite (Clio) and 17-year old former junior SaxMax champion Leyton Clarke (Corsa) are just a point apart in their battle for class honours and overall supremacy. Their chances of maximum points may be hindered by the return of former British GT race winner Shane Lynch, who returned from Boyzone tour duties, at Donington to take a Class B win. The Irish singer aims to do the same at Brands Hatch in his Seat Leon FR.

In Class A, Martin Wallbank (Vauxhall Astra VXR) and Simon Gusterson (Renault Megane) are tied on points, but are closely chased by Simon Shaw (Astra) and Shaun Hollamby (Leon) who have both also taken wins this year.


Top Ten Championship Positions


LAITHWAITE Quentin Renault Clio 182 B 94
CLARKE Leyton Vauxhall Corsa SRI B 93
GUSTERSON Simon Renault Megane R26 A 89
WALLBANK Martin Vauxhall Astra VXR A 89
HOLLAMBY Shaun Seat Leon Cupra R A 78
SHAW Simon Vauxhall Astra VXR A 75
ALLISON John Vauxhall Astra VXR A 71
WEIDNER Mark MG ZR160 B 45
WEIDNER Michael Ford Focus ST A 33
MILLER Adrian Renault Clio 182 B 29

[FWDRacer]

The most exciting race of the day will bookend the meeeting. Shame most of the punters will be stuck on the M20/M25.

[mark69sheer]

Looks like fun thanks for the heads up Kate..

[micron750]

mark69sheer said:

Looks like fun thanks for the heads up Kate..

Fun more like a bore fest not only the 2 50 min radical races but also 'the exciting Sport Maxx'HA you having a flippen laugh and 45 mins long OMG YAWN!!!!

Dunlop and Barc you've got it very wrong i'm afraid, maybe you want to listen to your spectators 3 long races on one day will just drive punters away or send them to sleep which is exactly what it did at Castle Combe in future and i hate to say it but if you come back to combe next year i'll go elsewhere and that would be a first unless there is some sort of change that is and it'll have to be BIG

[Redlake27]

Well, we know that Micron won't be there

Anyone else coming? Last year we had a sizeable contingent of Minis filling the South Bank.

[Muz_Wez]

Should be there, might even turn up at Rockingham too!

[7/11]

Hi Kate

A great plug but you know this series has had seriuosly bad press which may or may not be true, so here is a challenge for you.
Please publish the number of entries for each race.

I eagerly await your reponse as i have to choose between Lydden Rallycross and Brands.
Dont delay post today!

[micron750]

You'll be lucky and its not supprising its had bad press!

I'd stick with the rallycross if i was you far far more entertaining

[mark69sheer]

micron750 said:

You'll be lucky and its not supprising its had bad press!

I'd stick with the rallycross if i was you far far more entertaining

Micron I can't understand your poor attitude.
Motor racing always clings by it's fingertips particularly during a reccession. James is doing a great job to try to escalate this championship. I think your comments are distinctly unfair.
The Dunlop Great and British Travels the country throughout the year. The Castle Combe Saloon series is undoubtedly a success , however one would have to ask just how many cars would turn up if the meets travelled all around the country during the year instead of taking place at one track.
One would have to ask how many people would turn up to watch a load of blokes from Wiltshire none of whom were professionals or known names racing their toys round Croft?
I have raced karts where meets for a particular class were strong at the home track but the national championship allways struggled to get commitment from drivers willing to travel round the country for a title.
The Combe series is great fun and no doubt good to watch but its not really a serious event as its regulation allows basically the most tuned up car to win.
If you really want exiting racing go watch some Kart racing at your local MSA kart track. Seriously.
If you really are a true motorsport fan then you should be aware of the damage your remarks could make on a public forum.

[Redlake27]

At Brands Hatch on Monday we have the best grids of the year for the Radical, Mini Cooper and Mini Miglia/Seven Championships. The Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup has had new cars join the series since Castle combe and at Brands Hatch its first diesel car will join - the BMW 120d of Gareth Downing.

Dunlop are delighted with the quality of the cars and drivers in the Sport Maxx Cup. I admit, Castle Combe was our least spectacular race of the year, but the following round at Donington was a thriller with four different makes of car in contention for victory.

More than half the drivers on the Dunlop Sport Maxx grid are former National racing champions. Martin Wallbank (Mini and Formula Renault), Shaun Hollamby (VW Cup and multisports - remember those!?), Quentin Laithwaite (Double Westfield Champion), Jim Edwards Jnr (ex-BTCC driver and Renault Champion), Adrian Miller (Fiat Champion), Shane Lynch (British GT race winner), Leyton Clarke (SaxMax Champion last year at 16 yrs old) and Gareth Downing (Ford Fiesta Champion)

That's one of the reasons why we choose to put our Dunlop Race Academy Winners and Vauxhall VXR Driver of the Year winners into the Sport Maxx Cup. For drivers like Simon Shaw (former Race Academy Winner) to score three wins this year and John Allison (VXR driver in his debut year) challenging the front runners at every round, the quality of competition in Sport Maxx Cup gives them a true benchmark for their talents, comparable to the professional one-make series such as Clios, Minis and Leons.


We also have decent grids of classic touring cars at Brands Hatch. These are real crowd pleasers with Jaguar XJs, Dolomite Sprints, BMW 2002s and Capris giving a flashback to the days when all BTCC cars were rear wheel drive!

The weather forecast for Bank Holiday Monday is 21 degrees and sunny, so why not join us. Spend a tenner by booking an online ticket at brandshatch.co.uk, sit high up on the Paddock Hill grandstand and watch a great mixture of some of Britain's most entertaining championships on arguably the country's best circuit for viewing. I think that's a great value day out!

Edited by Redlake27 on Sunday 24th August 06:42

[Ipelm]

I cant decide between Brands or a longer drive to Castle Combe. The AMOC races look a bit suspect at the Castle, whilst even a sports car fan like me is a bit worried that the Radical races will turn into a procession, just cant decide?

[mark69sheer]

Ipelm said:

I cant decide between Brands or a longer drive to Castle Combe. The AMOC races look a bit suspect at the Castle, whilst even a sports car fan like me is a bit worried that the Radical races will turn into a procession, just cant decide?

I actually like the Radicals. I watch the start of the race and then I go into the paddock to chat and take pictures (eat dodgy burgers )go to the toilet etc and then return out to track for the finish.
They enable the day to be more varied than just sitting in a grandstand all day and so compement the experience.
They are good to watch for their own sake if you marvel at the outright speed they go.

[7/11]

Well Kate from Dunlop chose not to reply to my earlier question asking her to publish the number of entries
She plugged the Sport Maxx Cup,either she lives in a dream world or is too ashamed to see what she was promoting, according to the programme there are 11 cars racing over 20 minutes. However it gets worse as the programme is wrong its actually over 45 minutes!
Just why Kate would start a thread to promote something so duff is beyond me. With luck hopefully there will be a number of additional entries.

[mark69sheer]

7/11 said:

Well Kate from Dunlop chose not to reply to my earlier question asking her to publish the number of entries
She plugged the Sport Maxx Cup,either she lives in a dream world or is too ashamed to see what she was promoting, according to the programme there are 11 cars racing over 20 minutes. However it gets worse as the programme is wrong its actually over 45 minutes!
Just why Kate would start a thread to promote something so duff is beyond me. With luck hopefully there will be a number of additional entries.

previous comments from 7/11

Expect to pay over the odds at Thruxton, they seem to inflate everything for less.

A fool and his money are easily parted

Did anybody really think that he would do anything in GP?
Apart from Frank that is!

Thanks for the inside news on this one, i had read the blurb on the MSV site and was feeling somewhat underwhelmed by the whole event. I shall judge for myself at the weekend, despite the Great and British title sounding like an advert for some sort of cheap sausage!

A good 2 day meeting, although i thought the promotion was ineffective- even enthusiasts do not know what some of the races were!
International Formula Masters!
International GT Open! - Bill as a duel between Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Dodge Vipers and Joe Public might just get their wallets outs out and book on line.

Biggest lost opportunity of the meeting was no big screen TV, poor for a world class event.

7/11 you are Victor Meldrew and I claim my five pound note... or maybe you are just a troll.

Seems laying on a national race series with a full days programme for only ten pounds just can't please some people.

[micron750]

7/11 you are Victor Meldrew and I claim my five pound note... or maybe you are just a troll.

Seems laying on a national race series with a full days programme for only ten pounds just can't please some people.
[/quote]

Mark you're just not listening 7/11 is just so right the entry was appaling at combe too the first race just a test session the 2nd race was killed off by pitstops and now there's a 45 min race flippen eck who in there right mind would find 11 cars racing around brands for 45 mins entertaining? the answer is nobody.
Sorry mate three long races on day just don't work it'll more than likely be down to the supporting cast to hold up what are supposed to be top class national motorsport which at the moment its far from it and yes its not worth ten quid.
I am a true motorsort fanatic and support many forms of racing not only at Combe but small grids long races with the leaders flying into the distance does absolutly nothing for me,Castle Combe Monday has everything bigs grids in all the races apart from 1, races no longer than 20 mins that's the sort of meeting appeals to joe public.
If you don't belive me i suggest you ask fellow drivers and spectators which they'd rather watch and the answer won't be Radical enduro or Sport Maxx with small grids fact!

[Redlake27]

We had a great day at Brands Hatch with entertaining Mini races and action-packed Radical races. The Dunlop/MN South East Saloons (very similar to Castle Combe's allcomers series) was a real diverse thriller.

I tend to agree that the Dunlop Sport Maxx needs a different race format for 2009. The short races have been thrilling this year (watch the TV footage of Snetterton and Donington). The long races were an experiment for the first championship season, but we will listen to spectator and competitor feedback! I personally believe that a championship that aims to be 'junior BTCC' needs to run to a similar format: 3 x 15 minute races.

A decent crowd too at Brands. It was good to see so many Minis out in force. I spoke to a few of the Mini crowd and a large proportion were first timers at a race track.

As sponsors of the BTCC, we decided to put some of our lessons learned and resources into these BARC national level race meetings to try and promote motorsport as a good value day out for new audiences. There was a lot of radio coverage in the build up to Brands, and we reward drivers who engage in local PR activity.

Next year will be even better.......

Next stop Rockingham..... Sept 28th.