Six champions crowned, new winners and lap records fall at Castle Combe
by Marcus Pye · AutosportCastle Combe Racing Club overcomes Saloon/GT shunt to complete busy timetable at its eventful season finale
At the culmination of a challenging season for the Castle Combe Racing Club, some fine sport at Saturday’s Champions’ Coronation meeting was punctuated by a three-car incident at the start of the morning session’s GT/Saloon round.
While drivers Keith Butcher (Lamborghini Huracan), Will Di Claudio (Peugeot 106) and Jack Boulton (Honda CRX K24) were not seriously injured in big impacts before Folly, the circuit maintenance crew did brilliantly to repair the Recticel-fronted barriers and the pragmatic organisational team reshuffled the programme - which finished on time!
Dave Scaramanga’s unassailable points lead enabled the GT conqueror and his Ferrari 488 to miss this event, and ‘death rattles’ in the Chevrolet V8 engine of outgoing champion Dylan Popovic’s Ginetta G50 ruled him out, leaving Butcher favourite to repeat August’s fine victory. Will Self had other ideas, however. He scorched his self-developed supercharged 360bhp Honda Civic EG K24 ahead at the rolling start thus missed the drama as red flags flew.
Self scarpered again when the afternoon race was called and cut a superb 1m07.276s (98.99mph) best in beating Jordan Billinton (Lamborghini Huracan) and Saloon winner Stewart Cheesman (Civic EG K24). With long-time points leader Bill Brockbank’s SEAT Leon Cupra blunted by electrical issues, Boulton landed the Saloon title with his car’s shell, like Di Claudio’s, sadly totalled.
Matt Highcock, Simon Walker-Hansell and Jake Paice arrived at the final MX-5 Cup triple-header with title aspirations, but Highcock’s ninth win of the season, over Walker-Hansell, clinched it in race one. Walker-Hansell won the second, in which Highcock nibbled back Mazda maestro Ben Short’s 2021 lap record. SW-H then expunged it in the finale, trumping Paice and Highcock with a landmark 1m19.879s best.
Luke Cooper joined Bob Higgins and Gavin Wills as a four-time Castle Combe Formula Ford champion, two more wins over Swift Cooper team-mate Sam Skellett making it eight from 11 rounds. As chasers found rivals to battle with, Tom Hawkins - one of two other winners this term - narrowly beat seven-in-a-row Class B champ Nathan Ward for third both times.
Club stalwart Trevor Gregory was in two minds over entering the 750 Motor Club Hot Hatch event as he’d not competed here before. But, with unbeaten champion Lewis Barker absent, the Honda Civic Type-R driver worked his way diligently from fifth to win the opener from circuit race debutant Lee Buckley in another EP3.
Gregory was helped off at Quarry on lap one of the sequel, whereupon a safety car was deployed. Grass track convert Buckley won the single-lap dash to the chequer. The concurrent Classic Stock Hatch bouts were frenetic, runner-up Jason Wood pipped champion son Jake both times, albeit behind Ted Cooper in race two as Vauxhall Novas ruled.
Hyland Motorsport’s Corey Webber won the first seven Combe Hot Hatch rounds, but engine dramas in qualifying last time out ended his season. The Honda Civic EP3 ace attended but was powerless to stop Sam Williams from defending his 2025 title, albeit a division up against tough opposition, with two class D victories in the Wiltshire College EF.
Julian Fisher (Ford Fiesta ST150) was overjoyed to win both races outright, but Todd Carter’s fastest lap points gave Webber a consolation class championship. Justin Holloway was a strong second in the opener, but grazed his Renault Clio against the padding at Gooch’s following “brake pad failure” in race two.
Danny Hobson and team-mates Trafford King and Jon Labella’s 750MC Type R Trophy title dispute was decided by Hobson’s win in the opener, a lap record the icing on his cake. Labella won the second from Warrington teenager Jackson Carden, despite Labella being cannoned up the Esses escape road into the lead by another competitor. Ten seconds covered all 11 starters at the chequered flag!
Reigning triple Monoposto champion George Line blitzed the Tiedeman Trophy winter series races, the Dallara-VW/Spiess F308 pilot’s 60.96s (109.72mph) lap record the best at Combe this season. Will Cox (Ralt-Vauxhall RT3/84) disentangled himself from Dallara duo Simon Tate and Tom Hill for fine seconds, resetting the Classic class target.
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