2017 News Archive

NOVEMBER 2017 ....

NOVEMBER 26 .... The Rolling Thunder Show racers had their last outing before the 2018 Oval Racing Expo at Arena-Essex, while the Oval Raceway at Angmering had its usual varied programme for round two of the Winter season.

NOVEMBER 19 .... Of our featured tracks, Standlake Arena was the only one running this weekend with a varied entry in the regular classes contending with a very slippery track, while there was a massive turnout of over 100 Bangers to support the F2s, Production As, Juniors, 1600 Productions and Drift rods.

NOVEMBER 12 .... The last official date in the Autograss calendar (although you should keep an eye on what Trent may be planning!) was the final of Nottingham's Winter series, with another big turnout at Oxton. A surprise addition to the calendar was one more day's racing in Northern Ireland, courtesy of Causeway club. On the south-eastern tarmac tracks, Arena-Essex and Angmering both started their Winter season championships. In Ireland Waterford Raceway's championship season came to an end and Tipperary Raceway continued its busy end to the season under the SOHRA banner.

NOVEMBER 5 .... With the Nottingham bonfire meeting sadly now consigned to history, anyone wanting fireworks was well advised to visit Standlake Arena on Sunday, where the usual excellent display was preceded by a very spectacular day's racing, featuring some of the best turnouts of the year from the Oxfordshire track's regular classes. Autograss action was confined to an additional fixture at Scarborough, featuring a fine start and very wet finals.

OCTOBER 2017 ....

OCTOBER 28/29 .... There was just one Autograss fixture this weekend, round two of the Nottingham Winter Series at Oxton on Sunday, which attracted the best part of 200 entries for a very busy day. There were also lots of grassers, together with local dirt Hot Rod racers at Scunthorpe's Eddie Wright Raceway for the traditional end of season stadium bash on Saturday. For the hard surface racers, Arena-Essex hosted the final 2017 points meeting for the Rolling Thunder Show classes on Saturday night. In Ireland the Tipperary Raceway staged its two-day Irish Open Championship, with an excellent turnout of local and travelling racers for the ORCi classes, plus Productions and Juniors. As a club level alternative, Coolronan in Co Meath ran its last event of the year on Sunday.

OCTOBER 21/22 .... The season continued to wind down with the only Autograss events this weekend at Scarborough and Cambridge, who used their reserve date to end the East Anglian season. The proposed meeting at Stoke stadium, replacing the planned Coventry event, was dropped. The hard surface tracks at Angmering and Standlake Arena had meetings on Sunday, while Sunday saw the last scheduled meeting of Ballymurn Hot Rod Club's very successful first full season in Co Wexford.

OCTOBER 14/15 .... The beginning of the end of the season was marked by the first round of the Winter Series at Nottingham, with Gloucester and Spalding having the only other English Autograss fixtures. Although Down and Causeway had clashing dates listed in Northern Ireland, both were rained out. The Rolling Thunder Show staged its British Championship finals at Arena-Essex on Saturday night followed by SEGTO racing at Tongham on Sunday. Waterford Raceway beat the approach of Hurricane Ophelia to run the penultimate round of its 2017 championship at The Pike on Sunday, featuring the Dick Mackey Cup race, while an unfortunate clash with this was an additional date for S.O.H.R.A. at Tipperary Raceway. Ballyshannon and Coolronan offered Irish alternatives further north. Our coverage of Waterford Raceway will be here.

OCTOBER 7/8 .... The two Autograss "Grand Prix" team meetings took place this weekend, the "original" south Somerset event now run by the Southern League at Bearley, with two separate days' racing, and the postponed Irish version at Carlow, on Sunday. Invicta Kent closed their busy season by using their scheduled reserve date to settle their very well supported club championships, while other Autograss fixtures were at Pennine, Trent (the last meeting on their current track) and Scarborough. Once again the non-NASA alternatives include Angmering and Standlake in the UK. Ballymurn Hot Rod club continued its fortnightly schedule of events in Wexford with Carbury catering for the Kildare Hot Rod racers. The biggest story of this weekend though was the re-opening, once more under the S.O.H.R.A. banner, of the Tipperary Raceway at Rosegreen after its two month absence. Good news for all Irish racers - all the regular formulae attracted good turnouts for the Sunday afternoon meeting. We'll have full coverage, when we have time to upload it, of Invicta Kent.

SEPTEMBER 30/OCTOBER 1 .... As we were threatened with the tail end of the earlier transatlantic hurricanes, Autograss fixtures were scheduled at Cambridge, Melton, Radford, STAR, Scunthorpe and York although Radford, Star, Scunthorpe and York all cancelled, and Melton had to cancel on Sunday morning, leaving Cambridge and a rearranged Southern League fixture as the only two meetings going ahead. Both did well, with plenty of visiting drivers Ireland looked forward to two rescheduled two day events; the Ger O'Donovan Memorial at Cork and the King of Down at Down but the expected weather meant Cork was cancelled and Down was reduced to Saturday only. The Rolling Thunder Show meeting at Arena-Essex on Saturday night featured the "World Cup" for Stock Rods among a very full programme.. SEGTO's penultimate date at Tongham on Sunday was another cancellation. In Ireland, Ballyshannon was cancelled but there was a successful day's racing at Coolronan's tarmac track in Co Meath. Our coverage, when we get up to date, will focus on Arena-Essex and Cambridge.

SEPTEMBER 2017 ....

SEPTEMBER 23/24 ...... The NASA Autograss schedule was dominated by three big meetings; the British Autograss Series final at Yorkshire Dales, the UK Autograss Championship Final at Stroud (the last ever meeting at Javelin Park) and the Irish Fastest Person on Grass weekend at West Waterford's Ballysaggart track. Other events in the UK were at Standlake Arena and Angmering on Sunday although in Ireland the scheduled Hot Rod meeting at Ballymurn was cancelled leaving Carbury as the only Hot Rod fixture. Our coverage for the weekend focused on West Waterford - click here for details.

SEPTEMBER 16/17 .... With the club racing season in the UK winding down, several of the planned end of season events were hit by the weather, but only Leewood and Down were forced to cancel. Penhow ran their first two day event since the club's revival and did a good job at Magor despite the rain's efforts to wreck their weekend. Scunthorpe's final round of the "Triple Crown Challenge" was well attended but cut short by the rain. Invicta Kent, not for the first time, performed miracles to transform the flooded Romney Marsh track into a fine racing surface by Sunday, when they had an unusually incident-packed day. Pennine ran the second round of their Autumn Showdown series in mixed conditions, as did Central Scotland. SEGTO racing took place at Tongham. Mallow ran their end of season trophy meeting in fine conditions, with excellent racing despite a reduced turnout. Waterford Raceway also enjoyed a fine day for a very busy event - our full report and photos are here. There was also dirt racing at Ballyshannon and tarmac racing at Coolronan, where Hot Rod numbers showed an encouraging increase with lots of interest now being shown by the "Outlaw" Hot Rod racers.

SEPTEMBER 9/10 .... The British Autograss Series resumed after an enforced summer break at Border Counties and the UK Autograss Championship at North Wales - neither event escaped the weather but both were successfully completed. There was again no Autograss in Ireland as Carlow postponed their Grand Prix meeting until 8 October, but down the road in Wexford there was another successful event for the rapidly growing Ballymurn Hot Rod Club. East Cork Hot Rod Club completed their shortened season with a two-day meeting on their stubble track at Mogeely, although up in Kildate Carbury's meeting had to be cancelled. Arena-Essex saw the latest Rolling Thunder Show event on Saturday night, featuring the "World Cup" for the Euro Rods - report and photos here while Angmering and Standlake ran their usual programmes on Sunday.

SEPTEMBER 2/3 .... The weekend usually reserved for the Ladies' and Juniors' Nationals was freed up for other Autograss events, headed by one of the two surviving League Open meetings, the East Anglian Open, run for the first time at Cambridge's Stretham track. Other Autograss events were run at Trent, Scarborough, York, Evesham and Gloucester, plus the Southern League's "Ladies' Day" event, which proved very popular despite a wet ending. Ireland had no Autograss events after Cork's Ger O'Donovan Cup meeting was postponed to the end of September, but there was a choice of Hot Rod racing on dirt at Ballyshannon or tarmac at Coolronan We eventually opted for Ballyshannon - full report and photos here.

AUGUST 2017 ....

AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY .... The UK's Bank Holiday weekend was of course dominated by the big traditional Bank Holiday fixtures, the Fastest Man on Grass at Sturton & Stow's Caenby Corner track and the three-day Border Counties Festival at Monkland. The only other UK Autograss meeting was the now well established two-dayer at Invicta Kent. This weekend has also now become the regular date for the All Ireland Autograss Series, hosted this year by Mallow in conjunction with the Donal O'Brien Memorial meeting - full report and photos coming soon here. Elsewhere in Ireland Waterford Raceway had a good attendance for  round 8 of their Driver of the Year Championship, rescheduled from the previous week, with the prestigious Maura Walsh and Tony Dunphy cups on offer (won by Jamie Condon's Class 1 Micra and Brian Whelan's Outlaw-type Peugeot). Ballymurn Hot Rod Club had another good day's grass racing in Wexford, as did Carbury Hot Rod Track in Kildare, while East Cork Hot Rod Club had a successful day's racing on stubble at Mogeely. Most of the independent UK tracks took advantage of the Bank Holiday with Tongham's two day meeting including the final round of the SEGTO Championship. The other SEGTO-affiliated tracks of Arena-Essex, Angmering and Standlake were also in action over the holiday weekend.

19/20 AUGUST .... the departure from the traditional date for the Ladies' and Juniors' Nationals for 2017 (and 2018) meant that there was just the one Autograss fixture this weekend. It will take us a while to sort our masses of photos and notes but when our coverage eventually appears, it will be here. The Cwmdu and NASA teams deed a great job of hurrying the meeting through so that the approaching storms arrived just as the trophy presentation finished, but the storms had already helped to wipe out Ireland's racing schedule. Waterford Raceway postponed their meeting to the following week as low cloud descended on the track. Ballyshannon sensibly cancelled in anticipation of the weather while Coolronan had to call off their meeting when only a handful of cars arrived - thankfully it seems only a temporary blip in the Meath track's rising profile. Back in the UK Standlake Arena managed to beat the weather.

12/13 AUGUST .... Effectively the only chance for most clubs to put on the meeting in August meant a busy Autograss schedule. Pennine's annual Keith Kent Memorial two-dayer was also nominated as the East Midland Open - our full report and coverage will be uploaded as soon as we can here. Whiterose club joined forces with Scunthorpe to stage their two-day Rosebowl meeting at Scunny's Blyton track. Other events were at Invicta Kent and Central Scotland. In Ireland West Waterford staged their annual "Super Sunday" with the club's major perpetual trophiy races drawing a strong attendance. The clash of dates in the north was resolved when Causeway cancelled while Down ran both days, albeit with the postponement of the "King of Down" and other trophy races to their next meeting. Arena-Essex hosted the latest SEGTO Championship round alongside the Rolling Thunder Show meeting on Saturday night, and Angmering raced on Sunday. Irish grass Hot Rod racing took place at Ballymurn.

AUGUST 4/5 .... Already it was National Autograss Championship time and the Autograss world headed en masse to Cwmdu club's long established venue at Lyonshall, Herefordshire, where the club had done a superb job of tranforming the oldest continually used club venue into a country into a Nationals site that worked perfectly! We're still working on all our photos and reports but full coverage, when we get there, will be found here. Oval racing fans were torn between the NASA Nationals and the National Hot Rod Nationals at Hednesford so it was a quiet weekend for other events; in the UK there was SEGTO racing at Tongham and Irish Hot Rod racing at Coolronan and on Bank Holiday Monday at Carbury.

JULY 2017 ....

JULY 29/30 .... The pre-Nationals weekend is often a quiet one for Autograss but this year there was a busy schedule with  meetings at Gloucester, North Wales, Melton, Sturton & Stow and Scarborough, although York's meeting was cancelled. Central Scotland had their annual Jock Rankin Trophy event to honour the man who did so much to bring Autograss to Scotland. Carlow held their annual trophy meeting. The Rolling Thunder Show raced at Arena Essex on Saturday night. There was no shortage of Hot Rod action in Ireland; Tipperary Raceway had an extra fixture for their domestic classes on Saturday - report and photos here. Ballymurn Hot Rod Club, nearly a year old now, staged their first trophy meeting in Wexford - report and photos here. Racing also returned to the Araglen Carnival, courtesy of East Cork Hot Rod Club.

JULY 22/23 .... The All Ireland Autograss Series reached its fourth round at Cork - full report and photos here. The Southern League's "Ladies' Day" meeting had to be postponed to 3 September after heavy rain. Other Autograss meetings were Invicta Kent, Trent, Nottingham, Yorkshire Dales and South Wales. Spalding was cancelled while the latest round of the Stock Hatch tour series was switched at short notice from South Wales to Nottingham. Standlake Arena drew a good attendance for its annual F2/Outlaw Stock Car Open and Angmering was also in action although Tongham's meeting was rained off. Waterford Raceway held round 7 of their championship at the Pike, with an encouraging growth in entries in the quicker Hot Rod classes, while Ballyshannon and Coolronan both had meetings.

JULY 15/16 .... Another championship weekend for UK Autograss saw the British Autograss Series' third round hosted by Stoud & District club at Javelin Park, while the Ludlow club enjoyed great success with their first major meeting for many years when they hosted the UK Autograss Championship at Pencombe. The only alternative events were in Ireland where West Waterford Autograss were racing along with dirt Hot Rod events at East Cork and Ballymurn.

JULY 8/9 .... A relatively quiet Autograss weekend with meetings at Invicta Kent, Scunthorpe, York and Central Scotland, plus Carlow. There was plenty of Hot Rod action; the Rolling Thunder Show had their English Championship event for their regular classes at Arena Essex - report and photos here. Angmering staged the second leg of the Scott West Memorial Hot Rod Open - full report and photos here. Tongham ran the Celia Rumary Memorial event at Four Marks. Standlake Arena had an event while the Irish Hot Rod racing was provided by Ballyshannon and Coolronan.

JULY 1/2 .... One of the highlights of the Autograss calendar, the annual Stock Hatch Nationals, now combined with the F600 Nationals, was held this year by Yorkshire Dales club as part of the Yorkshire Open weekend - full report and photos well be here. MAP staged an interesting double-header with the Worcestershire Championship at Radford on Saturday before the Alf Cope Memorial at Evesham on Sunday. Other Autograss meetings were at Cambridge, Melton and Mallow. East Cork Hot Rod Club finally started their delayed season at their Midleton track, Ballymurn Hot Rod Club had another well supported day in Wexford and Carbury Hot Rod Track provided the action in Kildare.

JUNE 2017 .....

JUNE 24/25 .... It was a big day for Hot Rod racers in Ireland with meetings on Sunday on tarmac and dirt. Waterford Raceway held round 6 of the Driver of the Year Championship at the Pike, while Ballyshannon Hot Rod Club in Kildare celebrated its 30th birthday with what was described as a "make or break" event which saw an excellent turnout - full report and photos from Ballyshannon should appear here. Both unfortunately clashed with West Waterford Autograss and Coolronan Raceway also had a meeting. There was a unique double event at Scarborough; on Saturday the Outlaw Stock Cars took over the Hunmanby Raceway for a full programme of open-wheel Stock Car action, supported by dirt Hot Rods. Scarborough Autograss then resumed control of the track on Sunday for their Junior Challenge meeting. The other major British Autograss event was at Sturton & Stow, with the British F600 Championship visiting the Caenby Corner track. There were also meetings at Invicta, Penhow, Pennine and Spalding.

JUNE 17/18 .... As a contrast to the fifteen Autograss meetings held the previoust weekend, this week there were only three; the BAS round hosted by South Wales League at Red Roses, round two of the UKAC staged by the Gloucestershire League on Bredon Hill's Hilltop Raceway, Tirley, and a one day meeting for Leewood at Castle Hill Farm, Ashley. The Rolling Thunder Show's proposed "away weekend" at Swaffham Raceway in Norfolk was unfortunately cancelled, although although a few of the RTS regulars joined in with Swaffham's own two-day event run in its place. Angmering's Sunday meeting was Banger-orientated this time with a "World Final" for 1400cc Micro Bangers although all Hot Rod classes were also on the programme.  The Ballymurn club in Wexford provided the Irish Hot Rod action.

JUNE 10/11 .....  Down Autograss staged one of their regular double-header events on Saturday and Sunday Full report and photos here. Sunday's meeting at Down's nearest neighbours south of the border, at Carlow, was cancelled  due to waterlogged access to the track. There was a very long list of Sunday Autograss events, with some leagues holding their final qualifiers and others having completed qualifying. Meetings took place at  Invicta, Gloucester, Ludlow,  North Wales, Radford, Scarborough, Southern League, STAR, Trent and York. Cambridge's meeting was the first this week to get rained out and Central Scotland also succumbed to the weather. There was a Rolling Thunder Show meeting at Arena-Essex on Saturday night, where the Sprint Cars ran for the first time in wingless form, while the main Irish Hot Rod event was on Saturday night at Tipperary Raceway, Rosegreen, with the local Production, 1400 Hot Rods, International Hot Rods, Premier Rods and Juniors on the bill as well as ORCi classes. Ballyshannon's scheduled Hot Rod event was cancelled but Coolronan in Co Meath ran on Sunday.

JUNE BANK HOLIDAY ..... It was Ireland's turn for a Bank Holiday weekend although for many UK racers it was also another long weekend with the annual MAP Open, still one of the best attended events of the year, if no longer invariably the biggest, attracting 539 entries. The only English club to run against MAP was Yorkshire Dales which also attracted a good turnout. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the All Ireland Autograss Series' annual trip over the border. With Causeway hosting this year's Northern round just 40 cars showed up at Bond's Glen. Full report and photos here. Despite torrential non-stop rain on the Bank Holiday Monday a much better supported day was had at Waterford Raceway for the Ian O'Leary Cup meeting - report and photos can be found here. The Irish dirt Hot Rodders had a good day's racing at Ballymurn in Wexford and Carbury Hot Rod Track had its first championship round in Kildare..

MAY 2017 .....

LATE MAY BANK HOLIDAY ..... Another Bank Holiday (in the UK - the Irish holiday was the following week) saw the start of the traditional 2-day Open meetings, although York's North of England Championship on Sunday and Monday was preceded by the stand-alone "Cock o'the North" meeting on Saturday. STAR club ran their smaller scale but still popular Middle of England Championship at Crudgington while Hereford staged an additional two-dayer to replace their cancelled Easter fixture. South Wales and Trent ran single day meetings and West Waterford held a well supported meeting on Sunday. Other events included a highlight of the year for independent Hot Rod racers with the first leg of the Scott West Memorial at Angmering giving all the Hot Rod classes almost unlimited racing. Full report and photos here. You can also find coverage of the latest Rolling Thunder Show Saturday night meeting at Arena-Essex here. Angmering and Standlake Arena were also running on Monday. Sunday saw Irish Hot Rod racing on dirt at Ballyshannon and on tarmac at Coolronan.

20/21 MAY ..... After several weeks of fine weather, there was another spate of cancelled Autograss meetings, with rain-outs at Invicta Kent, Southern League and Scunthorpe, while Cork cancelled their meeting as a mark of respect for Donal O'Brien. The meetings that survived enjoyed fine conditions; our choice to attend was Penhow (report and photo galleries here). Andrea's camera went to the inevitably fraught final West Midland qualifier at Cwmdu (see www.absnapshots.co.uk), Nottingham and Yorkshire Dales both had busy qualifiers and Abram ran their annual qualifier on the North Wales track. Down ran the second NI league qualifier on Sunday after cancelling Saturday's racing.

13/14 MAY .... After a busy schedule of Autograss and other events, the weekend was dominated for most of us by the tragic news of the death of Donal O'Brien in a cycling accident. The major event on the Autograss calendar was the Scottish Open Championship, incorporating a double-header round of the British F600 Championship. We'd hoped to be there but unfortunately other commitments saw us running out of time for the trip, so it was local events for us. National qualifiers were held at Cambridge, Causeway, Evesham, Ludlow, Pennine, Scarborough, South Wales, Sturton & Stow and York, while North Shropshire sadly staged the last ever meeting at their Hinton Hall track, which over the last 22 years had proved a worthy replacement for the iconic Black Park. Just one Autograss meeting was cancelled, at Gloucester. The Rolling Thunder Show had another Saturday night event at Arena-Essex, a highlight being the return of the UK Sprint Cars (click here for coverage) while on Sunday the fourth round of the SEGTO Championship saw the series hit the dirt for the first time at Tongham - coverage here. This clashed with a meeting featuring the Prod As and Hot Rods at Standlake, while the only Irish Hot Rod event we know of was at Ballyshannon.

DONAL O'BRIEN

We were shocked to hear of the tragic death of Donal O'Brien on Sunday 14 May, following a cycling accident. Just two weeks earlier Donal had played a major part in the team that delivered probably Ireland's biggest ever motorsport event at Mallow and the previous weekend he'd been catching up again with all his Autograss friends at Carlow, while daughter Nicole raced her Class 8. Donal was already a successful rally driver when he entered Autograss in the early 2000s, establishing himself as a top Class 8 driver before switching later to Class 7. Donal raced with Cork club before being part of the group that successfully established the new club at Mallow. He was one of the first Irish drivers to travel regularly to all the major UK meetings and became a firm favourite with fellow racers and supporters on both sides of the water. More recently Donal returned to Rallying with every Irish driver's dream car, a 2.5 Millington-powered Mk2 Escort, but he, together with Sandra and Nicole, remained committed to helping his club and other members in the Autograss scene. Donal was also one of the key organisers of the annual New Year "Fun Sprint" event at Watergrasshill, which brings together drivers from all Irish motorsport disciplines. Manning the entrance gate at the crack of dawn at Watergrasshill, Donal was the first person to greet us at the start of each new motorsport season. The last time we saw him behind the wheel was this year at Watergrasshill; impressed with the amazing speed of the Autocross Buggies, Donal typically couldn't close the track until he'd had a go in one! This is just one of the many events that will never seem the same again in Donal's absence. Our sincere condolences to Sandra, Nicole and all Donal's many, many friends in both Ireland and the UK.

6/7 MAY ..... Just a week after the biggest ever Autograss event on Irish soil, the all Ireland Autograss Series kicked off with round one at Carlow (full report and photos should be here. Yorkshire Dales ran the annual Stu Nicholls Memorial event, while Melton hosted round two of the Stock Hatch Tour series. Elsewhere, National qualifying was in full swing with events at Hereford, Invicta, Leewood, Radford, Southern League, and STAR. On Sunday there was also the fourth round of the Waterford Raceway Championship at The Pike and more dirt Hot Rod racing at Ballymurn in Wexford. Carbury Hot Rod Track opened its season in Kildare, but the planned opening grass meeting for the East Cork Hot Rod Club at Midleton had to be cancelled.

MAY DAY HOLIDAY .... After the damp and chilly conditions at Mallow, the Irish weather turned to blazing hot sunshine for the Monday event at the Tipperary Raceway, Rosegreen. Our full report and photo galleries are here. In the UK, the usual northern bank holiday event took place at York. On the independent oval scene, racing action thankfully returned to Grimley Raceway in Worcestershire, while Standlake Arena ran on Monday featuring F2 Stox, Prod As, 1600 Productions, Juniors and Drift Rods while Angmering held their usual popular bank holiday meeting.

APRIL 2017 ...

SUNDAY 2 APRIL .... Autograss clubs in action were  Melton,  Trent and Yorkshire Dales, while the scheduled meetings at Central Scotland, Leewood and South Wales were cancelled. In Ireland, Waterford Raceway staged round two of their 2017 "Driver of the Year Championship" plus the rescheduled annual Demolition Derby. Other Irish Hot Rod events took place at Ballyshannon and Coolronan. In the UK, the Oval Raceway at Angmering in Sussex re-opens after its winter improvements, while Tongham hold the first SEGTO dirt meeting of the year. Our featured meeting this week was the Angmering opener - click here.

MARCH 2017 ...

SUNDAY 19 MARCH .... The entire weekend's grass racing schedule was wiped out by wet weather. NASA Autograss racing had been scheduled at North Shropshire, Pennine, Radford, Scarborough, South Wales and Spalding. The SEGTO season opener at Tongham also had to be cancelled. In Ireland Carbury Hot Rod Track's opening meeting was cancelled but the Coolronan Raceway in Co Meath opened its season with a good turnout at the tarmac track including visitors from as far afield as Cork and Donegal.

SUNDAY 12 MARCH ..... Nottingham Autograss Club held the first race meeting of the NASA season at Oxton Raceway, with over 160 drivers signed on to enjoy dry track conditions. Standlake Arena was in action again, this time featuring the Hot Rods. Waterford Raceway (The Pike) held its first championship round of the year - click here for full coverage of The Pike. The planned dirt Hot Rod event at Ballymitty (Wexford) was cancelled.

SATURDAY 11 MARCH ..... The first Saturday night meeting of the season for the Rolling Thunder Show took place at Arena-Essex Raceway. We had clashing commitments but full video coverage is available from Barry Eaton - www.emvideos.co.uk

SUNDAY 5 MARCH ..... Scarborough Autograss club were forced to cancel the first scheduled race meeting of the NASA Autograss season. The rescheduled Scunthorpe Practice Day was also cancelled.

FEBRUARY 2017 ...

The Waterford Raceway staged a very special season opening event on 19 February. Click on the photo below for our full report and photo galleries.

February proved relatively quiet for racing action in the UK. Standlake Arena was, as usual, the first of our featured venues to open for the season, with events featuring Hot Rods on 12 February and Superstox/F2s on 26 February. The other track we'd normally expect to be running at this time of year, Angmering, was closed for resurfacing and refurbishment, with the scheduled re-opening being on 2 April.

NASA Autograss was planned to kick off with the Scunthorpe club's practice day on 26 February but this was rained out.  

JANUARY 2017 ...

January was dominated by two of our biggest events of the year; the Autosport International show at the NEC, Birmingham (click here for our report and photo galleries). Just a week later was the Oval Racing Expo at Arena-Essex Raceway - our coverage of this packed event has had to be split into three pages, so follow the links for SEGTO and NASA classes, RTS and visiting oval formulae, and the Ninja Sprint World Cup.

NEW YEAR 2017 ...

Our motorsport season started, as is becoming our tradition, at Watergrasshill, Cork, for the McNamara Motorsport/Mallow Autograss hosted Fun Sprint. Click here for our full report and photo galleries.

CHRISTMAS 2016 ...

We received the worst possible news just after Christmas when an accident during a Ladies' race at the St Stephen's Day meeting at the Waterford Raceway claimed the life of the club's devoted and universally loved secretary, Mairéad D'Arcy.

Mairéad was rightly regarded as the heart and soul of the Waterford Raceway (better known to Irish racers as "The Pike") and her personality and dedication to her local racers played a major part in making The Pike such a special and enjoyable place to go racing. When we paid an unannounced visit to The Pike in the summer we experienced at first hand how Mairéad's smiling, welcoming and helpful presence made such a difference to every racer's and visitor's day at this historic track.

Having been brought up in a family who had all made a massive contribution over the years to the Waterford Raceway, Mairéad loved her racing and was known for her ability to get into a great variety of cars and get the best out of them, whether in ladies' races or competing against the men. In November she'd raced for the first time at the Tipperary Raceway (Rosegreen) and came away a winner.

However, it's not just the racing world that will feel Mairéad's loss. As a devoted early years teacher, she'd recently realised a dream with the very successful opening of her own school, "Maud's Little Learners" in her home village of Stradbally, Co Waterford.

To the D'Arcy family, the racers and supporters at Waterford Raceway, to everyone on the Irish racing scene who'd been touched by Mairéad's influence, and to all in her local community, we offer our heartfelt condolences.

RIP Mairéad