A day watching motor racing is always exciting, and it was good to smell the racing fuel in the air once more, as we settled down for a few hours of four-wheeled thrills and spills at the British F3/GT Festival at Snetterton, Norfolk.
It certainly made us forego our Sunday morning lie-in and get up, the first race of Sunday morning starting at just after nine. Wearing my Polo Register hat, I was keen to see the two rounds of the VW Racing Cup, which is but one of the supporting championships on a British F3/GT Festival race day.
As motorsport versions of the Polo are rare things in the UK, and with a pair of them battling it out with the Boras, Golfs, and New Beetles in the highly competitive series backed by Volkswagen UK, the 38-mile trip to the near-Norwich track seemed worthwhile. With a sprinkling of sun expected after Saturday’s downpours, the prospects for an enjoyable day looked promising.
Jamie Perry led in the second VW Cup race until a driveshaft failed
The full programme of ten other races ensured there was much to watch trackside. Alongside the VW series, the Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship, Caterham Superlight Challenge, British Formula Ford Championship, and Ginetta G50 Championship were all supporting acts to the British F3 International Series and Avon Tyres British GT Championship headliners.
Caterham Superlight Challenge racers fast and light, like the road cars
There was action from the off, as the assorted Volkswagens took to the track. A series where just about any VW can take part, the innovative regulations put all competitors into a single class based on power to weight ratios, ensuring close racing. Numerous Polos have competed in the series since its introduction in 2000, and 2008 sees Sam Maher-Loughnan and Doug Ross waving the Polo flags.
Series 5 Golfs a popular choice of car in the 2008 VW Racing Cup
The mix of cars is one of the main draws of the VW series, and it certainly makes for a sight on the track. Standing at Russell Bend the cars screamed down from Coram Curve into the tight left-right and back onto the Senna Straight towards the start/finish line. Modern Volkswagens of all colours blurred past us, and kept our cameras clicking. I only just managed to keep pace with them as they tracked past, and with many pictures only capturing parts of cars in the frame, more practice was needed.
Doug Ross scored his best-ever result, taking ninth from last place
The day was a good one for Bora driver Joe Fulbrook as he took victory in both of the day’s rounds. Starting from the back of the grid, Doug Ross in the Milestones Motorsport-backed 2.0 Polo scored his best-ever result, finishing ninth in the first race. Maher-Loughnan meanwhile, was sadly not classified in the first race, and didn’t start the second. We Polo drivers do like to prop up the back markers you see…
Ginetta G20s make up the Texaco Halvoline Ginetta Championship
The Ginetta, F3 and GT Championships were all much faster races, and by the end of the day I’d finally got the hang of tracking cars through the bends and onto the straights, resulting in a victory of my own – much better pictures. For the second half of the day we moved to The Esses on the far side of the track – a much speedier corner – and we doubt that many of the media-bib-wearing snappers would have gotten any better photos.
Powerful supercars spit flames in the 2008 British GT Championship
As the clouds parted and the sun shone, my head got as hot as the flame-spitting GT cars, and was soon as red as the team of three racing Ferraris. An unwelcome sore and sunburnt face is always a sign of a good day (and something of an early summer motoring event tradition for me), but it’s really one that I could really do without next time. It didn’t spoil our few hours in Norfolk though, and we had what could be called a victorious day out.
Tags: Cars, Volkswagen
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Hi there,
Just came across this page and thought I would drop you a line. My name is Doug and I race the (good looking) Polo.
Snetterton was a good result, finally. We got the car last year from South Africa where it was used as the press car in their one-make series. (Sam’s Polo is the sister car but now with new panels to give it a facelift). We had a terrible season last year with numerous problems, mainly engine; you name it we had it. It’s a 2-litre (non-Turbo) engine, developing 207bhp. It has a 1.8T bottom end with a 20v Golf head. At Snetterton it had a 6-speed Lupo gearbox, which due to the problems has now been swapped for a 5-speed Seat Ibiza Cupra one.
The car is finally starting to work as could be seen at Snet, where it was flying. It started at the back due to a mis-fire in qualifying which we couldn’t fix. Sadly halfway through Race 1 the gearbox started playing up, which became worse for Race 2 (12th place).
Anyway, currently getting ready for my ‘home’ race (I’m an instructor at Silverstone) plus live just up the road. So if anyone reads this and wants to come and say ‘hello’ in the paddock then feel free.
All the best,
Doug Ross