FUN CUP AND CMMC READY TO TEAM UP FOR BRSCC SUMMER SCORCHER AT SNETTERTON

With the weather this weekend set to see temperatures once again in the high 20s or even low 30s as the summer season rolls on, it’ll be up to the competitors on track to ensure the action is just as hot as the BRSCC’s East Anglian Centre welcomes endurance and sprint racing to the Snetterton 300 circuit in Norfolk for a one-day thrash under clear blue skies.

The main event will be a pair of races to kick off the delayed start to the 2020 season for the Fun Cup Championship, a long-standing endurance championship that always produces incredibly close competition and non-stop racing action from start to finish. Last year’s champions Uvio with the brilliant named pairing of “Farquini” and Fabio Randaccio will be looking to start the season by picking up where they left off and taking victory, although they’ll have to start from the back of the grid due to the regulations forcing the defending champs to start the opening race of the following season from last place, and then subsequent race winners taking up the same spot for the following encounter. The competition looks strong as ever with many familiar names and teams ready to mix it with some brand new ones.

Another former champion pairing returns in the form of Chris Hart and Henry Dawes, still under the 2 Rent Domino’s banner but now forming part of a new three-car team called Make Happen Racing. They share the garage with the pairings of Harry Mailer and Chris Walton, plus Greg Evans and Stephen Walton and will be keen to share their collective knowledge to ensure all three cars are running as strong as possible. Marcus Clutton and Andy Bicknell are back for DespatchBay Express, with Marcus fresh from racing at Oulton Park in British GT last weekend and ready to swap a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for the FunCup car he’s become so familiar with over the years. Also set to be in the mix will be Axiametrics, with Kristian Rose, Riley Phillips and Chris Dovell wishing to mount a championship charge this season and keen to impress from the outset. Riley, in particular, will have had plenty of track time thanks to the successful Virtual FunCup series that have taken place during the lockdown and with Riley being a front runner in both the UK and Europe variants, he should feel pretty good about getting back behind the wheel for real.

The highly experienced Nigel Greensall brings his Team Greensall car back to the grid to share with Ryan and Paul Lewis, while another stalwart Graham Butterworth again is ready to race his GCI Racing machine with sibling Craig and Ian Wood. PLR Racing, a team born from what was Team Honeywell, has Neil Plimmer alongside Ben Pitch and Neil will have also shaken off the race rust from lockdown after he contested the Northern Formula Ford races at Oulton Park a few weeks ago, albeit in different weather conditions that are sure to greet him this weekend. Jay Shepherd’s Team 7 outfit has three cars including two decked out in their new company logo WASPP, with Jay sharing his car alongside Ed Worthington while there are definite family affairs in the other two, with Alan, Rory and Sam Brown co-driving one car, and James and Jake Little piloting the other. 

Other notable cars will be the duo from RAW Motorsports with one car featuring Clio Cup UK legend Paul Rivett, the return of the Trumans team with Colin Kingsnorth and Richard Webb and of course Team Viking who have been championship contenders on more than one occasion, with Mark Holme and Nick Nunn back to have another crack this year. The first FunCup race of the day will be a 1-hour sprint, followed later in the day by a 4-hour race to give the drivers, teams and cars their first truly long-distance test of the 2020 season.

Also racing on the same day are a host of series from our friends at the Classic & Modern Motorsport Club’s Southern division. A combined grid is set to see just over 40 cars line up, with a sensational variety across all of them, including a guest appearance from cars featuring in the Modified Ford Series.

The Super Saloons feature regular racer and UK club racing legend Rod Birley, who has won hundreds of races in his career and still enjoys making regular appearances season after season. His evergreen Ford Escort Cosworth WRC leads the line, but he’s set to be put under pressure by a host of BMWs from Classes B and C, plus a pair of very special and striking cars in Class G. Marcus Bicknell and Lee Maddox bring a pair of NASCAR-style stock cars with Bicknell’s machine listed as a Ford Mustang, while Maddox is set to supply a Pontiac Grand Prix. Both appear to be refugees from the old ASCAR/ SCSA Stock Cars/ Days of Thunder series from several years ago and seeing them back on track driven in anger will be a sight and sound for all to experience!

The Intermarques, not too far removed from the kind of cars you’d see racing in National Hot Rod circles, are super silhouette machines representing a variety of different marques and models. Cars expected to be seen here include a Mercedes SLK, a Mitsubishi Colt, a VW Corrado, two Vauxhall Tigras, and even a Ginetta GT5 thrown into the mix for good measure! If driven quickly enough, these cars could even give some of the Super Saloons a run for their money.

Over on the Tin Tops portion of the grid, it’s a real battleground for hot hatches with Perry Darling’s SEAT Ibiza Cupra and Dave Charlton’s SEAT Leon ready to take on Dave Bevan’s Honda Integra DC5 and Ken Angell’s BMW E36 328i Coupe in Class T1. Hondas dominate Class T2 with a DC2 Integra and two Civic Type Rs ready to match up against another BMW, while T3 will feature a couple of Ford Fiestas, another Civic and a Peugeot 205 GTi. Ian Seale also makes up the final TinTop runner in his Supatune entered Renault Clio 172.

Finally, the Modified Ford Series brings some rather tasty machinery itself, with two more Escort Cosworths in the hands of Malcolm Wise and Paul Eve, followed by a whole host of Escort Mk1s and Mk2 including a Zakspeed example from Malcolm Harding! There are also two Fiestas in the mix with Dave Barrett and Chris Baker sharing on and Demetris Neophytou in the other.

Scott Woodwiss