Bank Holiday Monday the 28th of August would see 2ltr Stock Cars, Ministox and Ninja Karts return to Arena Essex headlined by the big van bangers! For once, the weather was absolutely perfect on Bank Holiday; 27-30 degrees with nice clear blue sky but not overly humid. The masses turned out to Arena to make the most of the glorious weather. I don’t think I’ve seen Arena so busy since Firecracker last year!
The first race of the day would be the Ministox. These are 850-998cc Minis with an armoured steel skirt running around the outside of the car. They are raced by young people aged between 11 and 16 and always make for very close, door to door racing.
Heat 1 was particularly notable for the Minis. The winner: car 564 driven by David Shearing and second place: car 356 driven by Harry Overy were trading places all the way around. David looked super proud of himself holding his trophy up in the back of the pace car on his parade lap which was really nice to see! I wish him the best of luck in his future racing career!
The 2ltr stock cars were next. The 2ltrs are somewhat like Ministox but, obviously, bigger and better armoured. Rather than having external armouring and then a separate cage inside like the Ministox the 2ltrs have a sort of space frame/ladder chassis running through them that provides rigidity. The rules are a little more flexible with regards to contact in the 2ltrs, they are allowed to nudge and spin which you will see does happen from the photos of the cars below.
Traditionally these cars are based on Ford Sierras but since they are getting harder and harder to come across E36 BMWs are also allowed. This was a lovely example of a E36, the sign writing looked great!
There were plenty of Ford Sierras present however. All looking smart!
The Ninja Karts were the third supporting heat. These are based off of go karts and are driven by 8-10 year olds. They run counter clock-wise as well like NASCARs. Again, another fun class that provides a lot of close racing.
The vans were to be the stars of the show though. 15 vans were booked in which I honestly couldn’t tell you if that’s a good or a bad amount as I’ve never been to a vans meet before. Long and short wheel based vans, minibuses an ambulance and a small regular bus.
The star of the show was this little Ford Galaxy. They actually don’t sound terrible with the exhausts cut off and this one flew around the track.
Ginge was on tour.
He wasn’t on tour for very long though…
Here’s a few other shots from the bangers:
Since most of the vans involved were Transits I felt it right to give a special mention to one of my sponsors Essex Transit Specialists. They sell vans and trucks, do servicing and maintenance work as well as more serious repairs. Check them out at www.essextransitspecialists.co.uk
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