Youngster Darelle Ready for VW Racing Cup Action

17 June 2005

The Volkswagen Racing Cup is about to receive its second teenage entrant in the shape of 16-year-old Darelle Wilson, who will make his circuit racing debut in the championship's seventh and eighth rounds next weekend (25/26 June) at the Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire. Darelle will be joining Dan Thackeray - three months his senior - on the grid.

Though new to the track, Solihull-based Wilson is no stranger to the Volkswagen Racing Cup paddock. In fact, he's attended nearly every round held since the championship's inception in 2000 with his father Les' PT Motorsport team.

'Darelle has been team "gofer" since he was a little lad,' said Les, 'and I can hardly believe that he's going to be racing with us. He's looking forward to it and he's taken a lot of instruction from our regular driver Mark Smith.'

Darelle, who is shortly to start a career as an apprentice vehicle technician, will race a Vento VR6 with backing from VolksWizard and Becra. Smith will be at the wheel of his front-running Bora Turbo.

The championship enters the second half of its season at Castle Combe, a circuit it has never before visited… Kent driver Shaun Hollamby leads the championship runners to Wiltshire thanks to four wins from six starts at the wheel of his four-wheel-drive Golf R32.

But Hollamby is likely to face renewed pressure from the season's other race-winners, Craig Inskip (Northiam) and Joe Fulbrook (Maidenhead), both of whom will be running with considerably less success ballast. Inskip's Golf GTI was the second-round victor, at Donington, while relative novice Fulbrook and his turbocharged Bora won last month at Knockhill in Scotland.

The sweeping fast curves of Castle Combe should suit the Corrado drivers - veteran race-winner Ken Lark and his Hertfordshire neighbour Thackeray, and Exeter's Alex Dziurzynski, whose hitherto troublesome machine showed promise at Knockhill. Reigning champion Philip House (Ripley) is sure to be a threat, as will Basingstoke Vento driver Martyn Culley.

There will be a strong local showing at Combe, headed by the Gloucestershire-based ATMR squad comprising Dave Turner, Lloyd Allard, Claire Tippet and Dan Lade. Cheltenham's Allard found his form in Scotland, racing to third in his turbodiesel Golf, and will be keen to repeat the feat on home ground.

Also in action will be Brislington's Grant Woodhatch and his new Beetle RSi, Weston-super-Mare's Stuart Bliss and his impressively quick Mk I Golf GTI, and the Saxon Motorsport pairing of Steve Wood (Golf VR6) and Michael Kurton (Vento VR6), both of whom are from Gloucestershire.

Following its superb sixth-place finish at Knockhill in the hands of Car magazine road test editor Chris Chilton, the all-new Golf GTI will be in action once more, with Chilton hoping to make it to the podium at a circuit which should suit the GTI's enhanced handling characteristics.

There will be two Caddy vans on the grid also - a new model for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles director Peter Wyhinny and an older version which Surrey driver Giles Lock snapped up from eBay for £200.

Print company MD Lock, 37, spotted the Caddy TDI on the auction website and decided it would make the ideal vehicle for his racing comeback. 'I run a fleet of Caddy vans for my business,' said Giles, 'so I thought it would make sense to buy another with which to go racing. There was a bargain to be had on eBay and the rest is history.'

Lock may have spent the absolute minimum when he bought the Caddy, but he has since spent many times more on turning it into a potent track weapon. 'It's cost a lot of money to get it just right, but I'm very pleased with the result.'

A capacity field is expected at Castle Combe for the twin Volkswagen races, which support rounds of the British GT Championship and British Formula 3 Championship.

See 2005 series calendar for VW Racing Cup

Related Story 23.05.2005 - Fulbrook and Hollamby the VW Cup Victors in Scotland