Darlington and District Motor Club 23rd & 24th April 2011

You know you’re in safe hands when someone like Birthday Boy Tony Sugden is carrying out pace car duties. How many birthdays ? Polite people don’t ask.

Saturday began with the Porsche GT3 challenge. More cars would have been nice but there was certainly no lack of attack.

Then to the NSSCC where right from lap 1, Jeff Wilson gave a consummate display in the Lotus

Disaster for Mark Campbell brought out the pace car but on the resumption of racing this is the view the rest of the field were shown.

One of the great things about the single race format within the NSSCC is that there are groups of cars racing all the way through the field.

Then on to the Porsche Club event.

More cars than their siblings and some spectacular wheel waving made for good entertainment.

And then the feature race. 4 hours of the Fun Cup.

Pit stops and driver changes kept the teams fully involved and the deployment of the pace car confirmed that there was no lack of commitment by the drivers.

However some experimental aerodynamic aids turned out to be a mixed blessing .

Sunday saw a repeat of the four races but this time with the Fun Cup starting the afternoon’s entertainment.

Some overnight rain had literally cleared the air and the distant North Yorkshire hills were an added attraction if you could tear your gaze from the track for a couple of minutes.

Next the GT3 cars reappeared in the glorious sunshine.

The same efforts as yesterday livened up the race with Nigel Rice of Beverley claiming victory.

Then came the NSSCC cohorts with the customary action,

being continued in much the same vein as Saturday, with interesting combinations of cars competing together.

The day ended with the Porsche Club Championship where things got pretty heated at times with a number of bumps and scrapes

and some visits well into the agriculture.

Hectic as it might have seemed at times, this local resident remained totally oblivious and simply carried on with its own life.

And that my friends is what we should all do on such a glorious weekend.