Circuit News
New Season, New challenge at Castle Combe
Double Castle Combe Formula Ford 1600 champion, Ed Moore from Bradford on Avon, takes up a new challenge in 2009 as he looks to add the circuit's savesometax.co.uk Special GT Championship to his list of achievements.
Moore, who has an almost unbeatable background of Formula Ford successes to his credit, is making his GT debut at the wheel of a Mallock P21 which another successful West Country driver, Shane Marshall from Westbury, took to Class B victory in 2007.
The 2.0 litre car has been acquired for him by Swindon's John Avery, the man behind savesometax.co.uk and has been unused since Marshall took it to victory.
Moore will also be back behind the wheel of his regular Van Diemen RF99-01 in the Formula Ford championship for the opening meeting of the year on Easter Monday, April 13, but is unsure whether he will contest the whole season.
His opposition is certainly as strong as ever, with a number of local names returning and one or two new ones adding some intrigue.
An interesting addition is Roger Orgee Junior, son of the 1974 Castle Combe Formula Ford champion, Roger. The 20 year old, from Langport, Somerset, was the winner of a Formula BMW scholarship in 2006, but lack of funds prevented his career moving forward. He now intends to follow in his father's footsteps in Class A of the championship in a Van Diemen RF00 and is likely to be one of Moore's strongest opponents.
Nevertheless, a host of other hot shots will be doing their best to muscle in on the action, not the least of which will be 2008 Class B champion, Felix Fisher, who retains his Swift SC92 in the older class. Although his car is theoretically outclassed by the A division machines, his pace was more than a match for them last year, only his brother Josh, standing in the way of his first Castle Combe title.
Returning to the fold is 2007 Class B champion, Steven Jensen from Bath, in the latest iteration from the Castle Combe based Swift stable, with the likes of Bratton's Ben Norton in the Spectrum 011, Chippenham's Adam Higgins in the Van Diemen RF99 and Bath's Chris Acton in a Ray GRS08 all evenly matched.
Such is the size of the entry list, a qualification race is necessary to trim the field, giving spectators a double helping of the best Formula Ford 1600 action in the country.
Also fully subscribed is the circuit's savesometax.co.uk Special GT championship race. This is the final year for the unlimited capacity Class A cars, next year's limit being 2 litres. Consequently, this is the last opportunity for those such as Bath's Guy Woodward to make their marks in a big car. His 3.5 litre Chrysler engined Jade is likely to be the class of the field, but scoring sufficient points to fend off the other class leaders will be tricky.
Class C is where some interesting battles will be fought. Reigning champion Mark Funnell from Trowbridge returns with his ultra quick Lotus Exige and will be challenged by one of, if not the most, powerful cars ever to race at Castle Combe.
Simon Norris from Melksham has moved over from the circuit's Saloon Car Championship with an 800 bhp Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3, the four wheel drive machine likely to be awesomely fast. Even so, the pair will also face a challenge from multiple GT champion, Ian Hall, the Bristol man debuting his 5.3 litre Rover V8 engined Darrian in the class after dominating similar events all over the UK.
Class D see Castle Combe's Keith Sprules back in his Ferrari 360 challenge against 2008 champion, Stuart Dixon.
The Castle Combe Saloon Car Championship in association with National Mobile Windscreens has total Mitsubishi Evo domination in Class A with Cheltenham's Laurence Kilby the most local in his menacing Evo 9 RS.
Class B has Bristol's Mark Wyatt back to defend his title in his 2 litre Astra, Cirencester's Jonathan Wills an unlikely but quick opponent in his venerable MG Maestro.
Overall 2008 champion, Will Di Claudio from Chippenham has moved up from Class D to Class C with his Peugeot 106 GTi and faces opposition from the similar car of Yate's Nick Charles, the man to beat by the end of last year. Bristol's Nick Mizen, the 2008 class title holder is back with his MG ZR, joined by Chippenham's Martin Chivers who has moved over from his Astra. Alex Ferguson from Weston Super Mare and Bristol's David Kift are also ones to watch in their 205 and 106 respectively.
Probably the strongest contender for the overall title though is Jason Cooper, from Yatton Keynell, the youngster showing phenomenal skill in his debut season and often the class of the field in wet weather. His Fiesta has been rebuilt for this season so should have the legs of the class, including the nimble 106 of Bath's Ollie Lewis.
In addition to all the excitement from the opening rounds of the Castle Combe championships, there is a full supporting programme including a packed field of cars for the Demon Tweeks/ Yokohama Stock hatch championship. Three Bath drivers are entered; Amy Barker and Josh Cook in Saxo VTRs and Will Browning in a Fiesta XR2i. Malmesbury sends Edward Cooper in a Nova GSi.
Another packed grid will be that for the combined Intermarque League/Tin Top and Tiger Racing challenges. A diverse mixture of saloon and sports cars includes West Country drivers, David Smitheram from Mere in a Caterham 7 and Keith White in a BMW Z4.
Completing the 11 race programme are two 15 lap races for the Formula 4 championship and a round of the Formula Vee championship.
Spectators have a great opportunity to get close to the drivers and cars from the Castle Combe Circuit based championships with a track walkabout from 11.55am. The cars and drivers from the three championships will be on show at Quarry, Westway and the grid, with spectators able to mingle with them on the circuit.
Monday's action starts at 8.45 am with qualifying, racing getting under way from 12.45 pm.
Admission prices are again held from last year at £15 for Adults, £7.50 for OAPs, £2.50 for Paddock Transfer, whilst accompanied children under 16 are admitted free.