Trucks Join Great and British Festival at
Thruxon
31 July 2006
The fabulous racing trucks and major categories from the new 'Dunlop
Great and British' series will be in action at Thruxton
over the weekend of 5/6 August as the British Automobile Racing Club
organises a mammoth 18-race weekend.
Organised by the BARC at all major UK circuits in 2006, the new 'Dunlop
Great and British' package of race meetings is being supported by Dunlop
in a move created to bring fans closer to the racing and encourage newcomers
to take a look at the sport in a relaxed environment. The race line-up
comprises some of the best national categories, all of them using Dunlop
racing tyres. At Thruxton, Ginettas, Radicals and Minis will all deliver
great racing as the series makes its debut at the high-speed Hampshire
track.
Meanwhile, the annual visit of racing trucks is another key part of
the weekend and the trucks will deliver a truly unique spectacle as
the giants battle furiously and slide around in style. The annual international
truck meeting, which pits some of the leading French competitors against
their British counterparts, is always a highlight of the Thruxton season
and this year's event will be no different. As well as four qualifying
heats building towards the all-important grand final at the end of Sunday
afternoon, the meeting also includes two rounds of the British Truck
Racing Association Championship.
Leading contenders from the British squad include Ross Garrett (12-litre
Foden), Terry Gibbon (14-litre Volvo) and Steve Fell (12-litre Volvo),
while local hopes rest with Steve Horne (Oxford), David Ball (Winchester)
and Dave Frampton (Weymouth). With over 20 racing trucks entered this
will be one of the biggest fields yet at Thruxton for a truck race meeting.
In all, there will be seven truck races throughout the weekend and if
you’ve never seen truck racing before, prepare to be amazed!
Providing four of the weekend's races will be the fabulous Radical
sports-racing cars, one of the core categories in 'Great and British'.
Top of the Radical racing ladder are the mighty 2.6-litre V8-engined
SR8s that will set the pace in two rounds of the Dunlop Radical Enduro
Championship. The astonishing speed of these purpose-built sports-racers
in a pair of 40-minute races will be a highlight of the weekend. Phil
Quaife and Lee Atkins have had a great season so far to take a firm
grip on the title contest. The major opposition to Quaife/Atkins is
likely to come from the Richard Ince/Austin Kinsella and Nick Padmore/Austin
Reynolds combinations. In the concurrent Radical SR3 class, Ben Devlin
and James Richardson are proving almost unstoppable, although Nigel
Redwood has managed to beat them a couple of times. The Dunlop Radical
Biduro Championship has a brace of 20-minute races for the 1200cc Radical
SR4s. James Saggers and Chris Stoney head the points' battle for RPM
Motorsport, but Guy Hodgkin is chasing hard after a double victory at
Castle Combe at the end of June.
Three races for the AVO Ginetta Championship will maintain the close
and exciting racing as Gavin Mitchell, Julian Barratt, Stewart Linn
and Richard Austin continue to fight tooth and nail for the title. The
layout of Thruxton is perfect for producing close an exciting racing
and the Ginettas will not disappoint! The same applies to the pair of
races for the MINI Challenge, which is a highly successful championship
for the new-style MINI racing in two classes.
On Saturday, qualifying starts at 9am, with the first of four races
at 4.15pm. On Sunday, the first of 12 races is at 8.55am. Admission
is £18, children free, paddock free and grandstands extra.
See 2006 series calendar for Great
and British Festivals
Related Story 14.07.2006 - Great
& British Festival Heads for Silverstone
