Better Late Than Never

After an unprecedented 10-month sabbatical, the BMW Car Club’s Racing Championship got underway for 2020 at Brands Hatch.

Words and photography by Andrew Coles

This year is undoubtedly one that we’ll all remember for a long time to come. Our lives have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic in a variety of ways, and not since wartime have domestic and international sporting calendars been so comprehensively scrambled. Here it is mid-August and our Club’s Racing Championship has only just now got its first round completed, some four months later than originally planned.

But after months of dreaming and careful preparation for that green light to finally show, didn’t we make up for lost time? A fully subscribed field of 34 raceprepared BMWs took to the tight 1.2- mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit, putting on a display of fine racing in honour of BMW Car Club Racing stalwart and motorsport legend Russ Cockburn, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Russ was part of the furniture at Club racing events, always willing to share his knowledge and experience that was

hard-fought for at the highest levels of rallying, hill climbing and circuit racing. Most drivers on the grid would have benefitted from Russ’ help in ways big or small over the years, and the field carried special stickers in his honour.

Russ would have been grinning as the field stormed around Paddock Hill Bend in Race One in the pouring rain, down Pilgrim’s Rise and up into Druids with thick rooster tails of spray reducing visibility to nothing for those not fortunate to be at the head of the field. This was the first BMW Car Club Racing Championship race since 2019’s final round at Silverstone in October, and many drivers hadn’t been behind the wheel competitively in the 10 months since. What a way to get things underway!

The blow-by-blow race reports will be detailed elsewhere, but Graham Crowhurst capitalised on the tricky conditions to take the outright Race One win in his class M2 specification E46 M3, showing how the weather was a great equaliser.

“It’s a blur, it’s good to be back after all the time in lockdown, I thought I’d be a bit rusty but I surprised myself to be honest.”

“Wherever I wanted to put the car it gripped, and I managed to pick people off one at a time. But on the second to last lap I had a ten second lead and heading into Clearways I spun the car, I was saying some obscenities to myself but I got it going and still somehow won, the relief seeing the chequered flag was special.”

Crowhurst had done track days pre and post-lockdown, but says that his last actual race was in November last year, here at Brands Hatch for the MSV Supercup, where he finished third overall in the dry. He notes that some time spent during lockdown may have assisted with his victory.

“I did buy a steering wheel for my Xbox and I have been doing a bit of SIM racing, so it may well have paid off!”

Conditions were notably drier for Race Two, with the rain holding off long enough to create a dry line but with damp patches off-line ready to catch the

unwary. The increased grip on offer saw the faster M1 specification cars rise to the top, with the victory going to Garrie Whittaker in his E36 M3. He managed to thread through the M2 cars cleanly and drove into the distance to the chequered flag, while the rest of his M1 competitors had a tougher time clearing the traffic.

Unlike Crowhurst, Whittaker had no preparation and not only had he not sat in his car since October, he hadn’t travelled faster than 60mph.

“I’m a long-distance lorry driver, and I’m limited to 56mph. My personal vehicle is an ex-Water Board Ford Transit, which is also limited to 56mph. So, from October last year until yesterday, I hadn’t been faster than 56mph. I was looking forward to going over 56mph and it lived up to expectations!”

Whittaker says that in the days leading up to the event he just wasn’t feeling it and was even beginning to reconsider his need to race. That quickly changed when qualifying started, however.

“I’ve come from the Kumho BMW Championship where I dominated for the past two years which kind of took the edge off the whole experience, and on the Wednesday prior to this event I was loading the car and I thought, I’m not sure if I really want to do this, I’d lost my mojo. And now with all the social distancing, you used to come across all the old faces and shake hands, now

that’s gone. But I’d paid for it all so I came anyway, I did the test day but they aren’t my thing, I did a couple of laps but I just got bored. I don’t see the point of driving around if you aren’t racing.”

“But then today I came out of pit lane for qualifying and as soon as I crossed the line to say I was on track, it was just awesome. It was if someone had switched the Christmas lights on and I was suddenly up for it! And I’ve been up for it all weekend, as soon as I got onto the track and it meant something. And that first race in the wet was just incredible, I was so tired I could barely stand up at the end of it!”

It was a feeling echoed across the paddock, and even trackside in the spectator areas. Despite the weather keeping the crowds away which was undeniably good for social distancing reasons, around the track you could see motorsport fans gradually rediscovering the lost joy of live motorsport. There’s only so much 1990s DTM racing you can watch on YouTube before you begin to crave the real thing, and in our new normal, Club racing such as that provided by race organisers the 750 Motor Club are an ideal and responsible way of getting back into it.

By their nature, race circuits are wide open spaces in parkland and without the tens of thousands who flock to major international championships to deal with,

November 21: Donington Park National

club racing provides ample opportunity to either spectate from within your car or to spread out around the track. Entry is by pre-bought ticket (cut-off is usually by the Friday afternoon before the race) which allows the organisers to easily monitor attendance numbers and comply with track and trace rules. 2020 is the year when what’s old is suddenly in vogue again. For example,

with easy international travel largely off the menu people are rediscovering the joys of holidaying locally, and with more time on their hands, they’re now doing jobs on their cars and homes that they otherwise would have paid someone else to do. Club racing used to be huge and in the 1960s, taking your road car and a picnic to the track was just what you did. Now, in 2020, bringing your BMW out for a drive to watch a round of the Club’s racing championship may well be the only motorsport you get in this year.

With the field now back into the swing of things and making up for lost time, 2020 is the year to discover or rediscover the BMW Car Club Racing Championship.

Revised 2020 Calendar:

September 5: Oulton Park International September 20: Castle Combe October 18: Snetterton 300