Mini Festival Snetterton 2018

Snetterton staged their second Mini Festival in 2018 following the success of their first last year. The two-day event would see Mini Clubs and enthusiasts converge on the Norfolk race circuit to display their cars and celebrate all things Mini. Alongside club displays during the weekend there was live music, a fun fir, trader’s village and the Valet Pro Mini Top 20 competition. On Saturday night an outdoor cinema showed the original Italian Job film while Sunday saw a grand parade on-track, pit-walk and F1 demonstration.

On-track during the weekend there was full programme of racing over the two days with Mini’s featuring heavily. For the traditional Mini fan there was racing from the Mini 7 Club with the Mini Miglia & Dunlop Mini 7 Championships while those that favour the modern BMW Mini had the Mini Challenge races. Joining them were the Radical SR1 Cup, Two Monoposto Championships, the MSV Trackday Trophy and MSV Trackday Championship.

Mini Racing

The Dunlop Mini Miglia Championship had a race on both days of the festival for the 1300cc engine Mini’s that provide some of the closest and most competitive racing in motorsport. Making a guest appearance in the Championship driving Mini legend Peter Baldwin’s car would be current Honda Civic Champion Lee Deegan from Cambridge. Driving the car that brother Shayne drove to become Champion in 2016 Lee is no stranger to the car having driven in and won the prestigious ‘0 Plate’ meeting at Brands Hatch last November. Qualifying saw Alconbury driver and current Champion Rupert Deeth on pole with Cambridge driver and former Champion Kane Astin second with Deegan third. Problems saw current Championship leader Aaron Smith starting 26th on the grid. Saturday’s race was held in wet conditions, despite a poor start at the end of the first lap it was Deegan who held a lead he wasn’t too loose. At the end of the race Deegan was seven seconds clear of second placed Astin with Deeth completing an all-Cambridgeshire podium in third. Sunday’s race was back in dry conditions with Deegan starting on pole but this time it was Deeth who made the start to lead at the end of lap one. Close behind was Deegan and it wasn’t long before he took the lead, this time however he wasn’t to get away and a race-long lead battle developed between the pair. In third and joining the lead battle was Dave Drew, taking the lead briefly for a lap ant mid distance. As the trio battled on the final lap it looked like Deeth was on for a win but Deegan hadn’t given up. At Murray’s for the final time Deegan made his move and got ahead holding the lead in the run to the chequered flag and taking a second win, with Deeth second and Drew third. The results were enough for defending champion Deeth to move level at the top of the points table with Smith.

The smaller 1000cc Dunlop Mini 7’s also had a race on both days. This meeting saw the debut of young Morgan Lewis at her home circuit in her Mad-Croc backed car run by her Father, Mini racer Jonathan Lewis, Snetterton Speed Shop concern. Pole position was taken by Darren Thomas joined on the front row by Joe Thompson. A fast-starting Max Hunter lead at the end of lap one having started in ninth, chased by Thompson and Daniel Rudd. Lap five and Rudd took the lead as behind Andrew Deviny had made up ground moving into fourth. With Rudd unable to open a lead Deviny was into second on the penultimate lap making his challenge and taking the lead on the last lap. With Rudd busy holding off Hunter Deviny he opened a small lead as at the line Hunter just got Rudd for second place. Sunday’s race saw Deviny start from pole and take an immediate lead going on to win by ten seconds. In second it was Spencer Wanstall who had a race long battle with Tom Sanderson and Darren Thomas for the podium places.

The Mini Challenge had three races for its Cooper S class and Cooper Pro/Am classes over the weekend. In the Cooper S races race one saw Andy Langley start from pole and take an easy win 13 seconds clear of Jono Davis. Race two on Sunday morning saw Davis take the win narrowly from Rob Austin and Will Fairclogh. The third race on Sunday afternoon saw a non-finish for Davis as Austin took the win from Fairclough with Andy Montgomery narrowly behind in third. In the Cooper Pro/Am it was three wins from three starts for Pro class runner Kyle Reid. In the Am class it was also three wins for Alex Nevill from three starts over the weekend.

Other Racing

The Radical SR1 Cup is for identical Radical SR1 sport cars with Suzuki motorcycle engines and aims to provide a start in motorsport for those drivers wanting to move on from Trackdays. They had two races on Saturday where qualifying saw Ryan Harper-Ellam take pole by over a second. The first twenty-minute race saw Harper-Ellam take the lead from the start that he wasn’t too loose going on to win by just short of five seconds from James Pinkerton with Fangio class winner Chris Preen in third. The second race was in wet conditions but that didn’t change the outcome as Harper-Emman was again the winner from pole. This time it was Preen in second with Pinkerton in third.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ever popular Monoposto single-seater Championship was divided into two sections with three races for each during the weekend. The first section saw cars from the Moto1000, Classic, 1800 and 1600 classes combined. It was the Moto1000 runners filling the top end of qualifying with Tom Rawlings taking pole driving his Speads car. From the off it was Rawlings who took up the lead but his only lasted two laps before he retired from the race handing the lead to Dax Ward in the Jedi Mk6. Ward held the lead to take a win with Mark Reade second in his Moto1000 Leastone while Classic runner Ian Hughes was third in his Van Dieman RF88. Finishing eighth overall to win the 1800 class was Chris Lord in a Van Dieman RF82 while 16th saw Geoff Fern win the 1600 class in his Van Dieman RF89. Their second race was first up on Sunday morning, this time in damp conditions with Ward starting from pole. At the lights it was Ward into a race-long lead while behind it was Rawlings making the progress. Starting 13th on the grid he made very good progress to finish second, just two and half seconds behind Ward while Reade came home third. In sixth it was Ewen Sergison taking Classic honours in his Ralt RT3 with Ward and Fern again taking the 1800 and 1600 classes. Their final race was back in dry conditions with Ward and Rawlings on the front row. As Ward took the lead Rawlings was again forced to retire on the opening lap leaving Ward to take a dominant win by 13 seconds. Behind it was Ross Boorman in second and Peter Lague third, both driving Jedi’s. In fourth place it was Peter Venn winning the Classic class in his Anson SA4 with Ward and Fern both making it triple class wins on 1800 and 1600 classes.

 

 

 

 

 

The second section of Monoposto saw the F3, 2000, FR2000 and Moto1400 classes combined. It was the F3 class cars that filled the top spots in qualifying with Ben Cater in his Dallara F306 taking pole. A wet race one saw Cater dominate winning the six lap race by 38.6 seconds from Neil Harrison in a Dallara F302 with Russ Giles third in his Dallara F396. Fifth overall saw Terry Clark take 2000 class in his Van Dieman RF00 while in seventh was Moto1400 winner Geoff Fern with his Dallara. Sunday’s race two was in the dry and it was Cater who again took the lead from pole initially opening a lead. Behind it was Tony Bishop who took up the challenge taking the lead on lap four and holding on to win by half a second from Cater with James Drew-Williams third in his Lola. Fourth was 2000 winner Kevin Ottway in his Van Dieman F4 holding off FR2000 winner James Densley with his Tatuus. Fern was again the victor in Moto1400 in eighth overall. The third race in dry conditions saw another dominant win from pole for Cater by 31 seconds from Harrison and Drew-Williams. Taking class honours again were Ottway, Densley and Fern.

Rounding out the action on day one was the MSV Trackday Trophy for production saloon and sports cars which is intended as an introduction to motorsport for beginners. Topping the timesheet after qualifying for the 45-minute race was the Mini Cooper S of Kevin Fulbrook and Keith Issatt from the large 47 car entry. The BMW E36 of John Lynn took an early lead from the Fullbrook / Issatt Mini before the Toyota Celica of Matt Shawyer and David Traviss took up the running on lap four. The Mini took the lead on lap eight but the next lap saw the BMW of Lynn again take up top spot, that was until lap eleven when the Celica re-took the lead looking good for the win. Behind Tim Evans in a Honda Civic had been making progress up the order and in the closing stages was challenging for the win. With four laps to go Evans took the lead holding on to win by three seconds from the Celica with Dean Hyde third in the Tylah Motorsport BMW. Sunday saw two races for the MSV Trackday Championship, again for production saloon and sports cars but for more experienced drivers. Race one was for classes A and S and saw Ben Simonds take pole for the 45-minute race by almost two seconds in his Caterham Superlight. From the start it was Simonds into a lead that he held for nine laps before having to pit, handing the lead to the BMW E46 M3 of David Gardner and Chris Mills. Their lead lasted a lap before they too had to make their mandatory pit-stop, the lead now being taken up by Darren Goes in his Seat Cupra. Three laps later Goes was in the pits as the lead was re-taken by Simonds. Having built up a large lead Simonds looked to have the race in the bag but on lap 18 he was forced to retire handing the lead to the RJ BMW M3 of Jamie and Ryan Gibbs. For the final three laps they just managed to hold off the challenge from the Gardner and Mills M3 to take the overall win and Class S. The win in Class A went to eighth overall Martyn Culley in his Seat Curpa. Later in the day the second race for classes B, C and D saw Gary Burstow go from pole in his BMW 328i Coupe. From the green light it was Burstow all the way building up such a lead that having made his mandatory pit-stop he re-joined in the lead to win overall and take class B. behind in fourth overall Lewis Denslow in a Ford Fiesta claimed Class C while 19th overall Phil Burden took Class D in another Fiesta.

Having been a success despite poor weather it is hoped that the Mini Festival returns next season.

Gary Malkin

Photo album – Mini racing;  https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2132748036992677

Photo album – Other racing; https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2137461046521376