The first event of its kind for this organiser; on the Donington circuit and avoiding the GP loop. With 90 mins qualifying for the race at 9am on Saturday morning, then a race start at 1300 hrs, it was a somewhat compressed schedule compared to the Spa 6hrs.

This was a two day meeting with the usual Equipe Racing series taking over the circuit on the Sunday.

The entry for the 6hrs of Donington comprised 10 Lotus 26Rs, 14 MGBs, 1 Gilbern GT, 2 Austin Healey 3000s, 1 AC Cobra Daytona Coupe and an AC Cobra, 1 Porsche 911, a Morgan Plus 4, a Lotus Mk VI and a Triumph TR4. So variety wasn’t really on the cards.

Of the usual 6hrs machinery, there was a noticeable lack of E Types; and no pre 66 saloon/touring cars, but then again, Equipe doesn’t have a series for these latter cars.

The 90 minutes Qualifying session went without any hitches, no stoppages or any evidence of contact. The Tordoff/Dorlin/Jordan Lotus Elan 26R topped the times with 1:17.795, followed by the similar car of Barker/Butcher/Tinkler with 1:18.939 and in third was the Shapecraft Elan 26R of Flewitt Mike/Flewit Mia/O Brien with 1:19.358.

Possibly the most impressive effort in qualifying was demonstrated by the Angrave/Hodson/Witherington Lotus MK VI. With its spindly wheels and highly exposed cockpit the team set 10th fastest with 1:22.681.

The morning was completed by qualifying for the Equipe Sports Prototypes and, the Equipe MG Cup.

The Race Hours 1 & 2

At the end of the first hour the only cars on the lead lap were the Butcher/Tinkler/Gardner Elan, the Flewitt Mike/Flewit Mia/O Brien Shapecraft Elan and the Sleep/Montgomery AC Cobra all three covered by 33.29 seconds with all the cars still running. The pole sitters had fallen down to 6th due to an emergency stop for a puncture.

At the 2 hour mark, the top two were unchanged with a 12.3 seconds gap, the AC Cobra was now 1 lap down on the leader. We had lost 5 cars; The Cottingham/Stanley Daytona Cobra, the Yates/Pearson/Crewdson MGB, the Savill/Gamble Porsche 911, the Snee/Shepherd Elan 26R and the Ball/Tovey MGB. It’s worth noting that all cars were considered finishers even if they were not running at the end.

The Tordoff/Dorlin/Jordan Elan was moving back up and was now 4th 2 laps down.

The Race 3 hours

Still running like clockwork, the Butcher/Tinkler/Gardner Elan was leading at the three hour mark, but now it was followed by a recovering Tordoff/Dorlin/Jordan Elan, only 33.578 seconds behind. Third place was now the property of another Elan, that of Ridgeway/Fores/Smith T albeit 4 laps down, such was the pace of the leading two cars. By now the Sleep/Montgomery was Cobra 6 laps down in 4th.

The attrition continued with the loss of the Fenn/Wight/Stirling Elan 26R. So 26cars still running.

The Race 4 Hours

Having settled into a rythm the top two cars were running 52.7 seconds apart having completed 162 laps. They were chased by the Sleep/Montgomery AC Cobra which was now just 3 laps down. And we had lost the pretty Shapecraft Elan on lap 101.

^{Out on lap 101}

The Race 5 Hours

The lead gap was up to 1 lap again, but the order of the first two remained unchanged. The Sleep/Montgomery AC Cobra was now lying 4th having been overtaken by the Mooney/Caisley/Kay Elan 26R which although third, was 9 laps down.

In this hour we lost the Lambert/Ward/Rowley TVR Grantura (139 laps) which made a spectacularly fiery entrance to the pits, giving the excellent safety team the opportunity to show off its skills. Safely extinguished the car was wheeled into the pit garage.

Other cars stopped were; the Ridgeway/Fores/Smith T 26R (138 laps); the Reed P/Buckley/Reed W MG B (128 laps); and, the Fell/Nuthall/ Gray 26R (121 laps).

The Race 6 hours

Having consistently run at the front, the Butcher/Tinkler/Gardner Elan ran out a deserved winner. They were followed home by the Tordoff/Dorlin/Jordan version 59.842 seconds behind, clearly unable to make up for that tyre problem.. Third place fell to the Mooney/Caisley/Kay Elan 26R 10 laps down. 4th place and 12 laps behind was the Sleep/Montgomery AC Cobra followed by the Cull/Buggy/Smith 36R (16 laps) and in 6th place Smith A/Smith D/Smith S (24 laps).

The winning car covered 251 laps whilst the Rowley/Bell/Smith Gilbern GT was the slowest, covering 189 laps. This car was originally built by the late Mike Bell and this this was his sister’s (Mary) first visit to Donington and first six hours race. She only started racing in 2021 following Mike’s death.

Another point of interest was the 13th placed MGB of McKenzie J/McKenzie G/Foster MG B Roadster. The McKenzies were having their first race, so to finish 13th overall was a solid achievement.

6 hour races demand concentration. The fact that there were no serious incidents thoughout the race was impressive. Unlike Spa Francorchamps, where the most recognised historic 6hrs event occurs annualy, Donington is quite tight, it has limited space and added to that the need for good suspension, because for around 80% of the lap the car is working its suspension very hard.

The organisers had banned GT40s so the big bangers were limited to Cobras, of which there were two. So, 33 cars may be considered a good grid for a first attempt and one that clashed with the Le Mans Classic, which may explain the lack of E Types.

Although there were to be no professional teams, the organisers took the pragmatic decision to permit them and thus there were “Pro” classes and “AM” classes. Unsurprisingly the top three spots were taken by “Pro 2” teams.

There were six “AM” classes and the top finishers in each were: AM7 – Sleep/Montgomery, AC Cobra (239 laps); AM2 – Cull/Buggy/Smith, Lotus Elan 26R (235 laps); AM 3 -Duckworth/Mason/Hill, MGB Roadster (225 laps); AM4 Mogrige/King Triumph TR4 (218 laps); AM6 Thorne/Todd/Bennett-Baggs, Austin Healey 3000 (225 laps); AM1 Angrave/Witherington/Hodson Lotus MK VI (211 laps).

The clash with the Le Mans Classic also gave that stalwart of historic motorsport the chance to shine and the MGB did not disappoint.

So, an enjoyable race which will hopefully be repeated with a larger entry next year.

A full file of photos is here: https://peter-mallett.smugmug.com/Equipe-Classic-Racing-2025/Donington-6hrs