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Pembrey stages action weekend of racing
publication date: Jun 23, 2010
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author/source: Peter Hughes
Pembrey plays host to one of the major events in its
20th anniversary celebrations this weekend as the prestigious Dunlop
Great and British Festival visits the Carmarthenshire circuit.
The Great and British package brings together some of the best saloon,
sports car and single seater racing in the UK and is regarded as second
only in status to the British Touring Car Championship.
Feature series in the package is the Dunlop Sport Maxx Production Cup,
aimed at saloon car racers who aspire to racing in the Touring Car
series.
|  | The series attracts a healthy variety of cars including
Vauxhall
Astras, Nissan 370Zs, Seat Leon Cupras and BMWs with the championship
standings currently headed by Adrian Churchill in his Vauxhall Astra
VXR.
Like Touring Cars, drivers are required to carry success ballast
depending on their previous results, ensuring close racing and, like
Touring Cars, they will compete in a total of three races during the
weekend.
With 23 races scheduled for the weekend, there will be plenty more to
keep spectators entertained. The CSL Cup is a championship dedicated to
the fabulous BMW M3 saloon cars all running on slick racing tyres. They
should produce some of the fastest and closest racing of the weekend.
There are no fewer than three championships dedicated to Minis. Two of
these are for the classic version of the iconic car. Now in its 45th
season, the Mini Se7en is the longest running one make race series in
the UK yet continues to produce some of the most exciting racing in the
country. While the Se7ens run 1000cc engines, Mini Miglias are powered
by 1300cc versions and the series has run for a mere 40 years.
Nevertheless, they maintain the tradition for edge of the seat action.
The MINI Challenge features the new MINI in both Cooper and Cooper S
guises. The S Class car is based on the MINI Cooper S 210bhp John Cooper
Works car. With Dunlop slick racing tyres, adjustable suspension, rear
wing and big brakes these are seriously quick MINI’s.
The weekend is not all about saloons however. The Radical Clubmans Cup
is for open sports racing cars resembling many of those that were racing
at Le Mans just a couple of weeks ago. Powered by 1300cc Suzuki
motorcycle engines and producing over 200 brake horsepower these
lightweight racers should record some of the fastest lap times of the
weekend.
Also powered by motorcycle engines are the single seater racing cars in
the Autosport Young Guns series. This is a championship for drivers aged
16 to 19 at the start of their careers. When you recall that drivers
such as Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Pedro De La Rosa and Indianapolis
winner Dario Franchitti all raced at Pembrey in the early days of their
careers you could be watching the Grand Prix stars of tomorrow this
weekend.
The weekend will also feature rounds of the Welsh Sports and Saloon Car
Championship. After 8 rounds the Championship is led by Neil Watts in
his Westfield sports car ahead of the Striker sports car of 2009
champion Russell Haggerty.
Third place is held by last year’s
championship runner-up, Cardiff racer Nick Jones (above) in his Renault Clio. | | | |
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