ASCAR Racing Series

The ASCAR Racing Series, was a stock car racing series that raced at circuits around the United Kingdom and Europe from 2001 until 2008. The series went through many guises during its seven year period and was known as the Mintex ASCAR Series (ASCAR Mintex Cup) from 2001 to 2004, later known as the Days of Thunder Racing Series (2004) and the Stock Car Speed Association (2005 to 2007) before its final season as the MAC Tools VSR V8 Trophy. Although going through these varying identities the series was commonly referred to and known by its original name of ASCAR. The series predominantly raced the oval tracks at the Rockingham Motor Speedway and the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in the early years but in its final season in 2008 was solely road racing series that would visit various tracks in the UK most notably Brands Hatch and in France at Croix en Ternois. The series folded in 2008 and merged into part of the European Late Model Series in 2009, racing in Belgium and the UK. Constructor cars consisted of NASCAR style Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac racers with a field that peaked at 37 cars during the 2002 season.

ASCAR Racing Series
VSR V8 Trophy (Series final logo)
CategoryStock cars
CountryUnited Kingdom (2001–2008)
Germany (2001–2003)
France (2008)
Inaugural season2001
Folded2008
ConstructorsChevrolet, Ford, Pontiac
Last Drivers' championDuncan Jones

History

The Mintex ASCAR Series made its debut in 2001 racing the entire series at the Rockingham Motor Speedway, with other race events in Germany and the Republic of Ireland cancelled, over the next three seasons the Series ran entirely from Rockingham and Germany's Oval circuit the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. The 2002 season saw the peak number of drivers racing in the series with 37 taking part during the year, representing a total of 13 teams. Each race event would partner the BRSCC Pickup Truck Racing series accompany it.

From 2001 to 2003 the series was known as ASCAR. In 2003 the series took on the additional name of "Days of Thunder" after the film of the same name. This was done as a marketing tool as starting in this year they promoted the series as a day out for all the family and had appearances from bands such as Busted and The Darkness. In 2004 the ASCAR label was dropped completely and the series was labelled as the "Days of Thunder Racing Series". 2005 saw the series renamed "Stock Car Speed Association" (SCSA) after a link-up with the American Speed Association and incorporated the Pickup Truck Racing Series under the same banner, which had accompanied the races since 2003.

In 2006 the SCSA and Pickup Truck Racing ran at Rockingham as part of the Thunder Sundays package organised by the BRSCC. The SCSA name remained for 2007; as part of a new sponsorship deal competitors competed for the 'SCSA MAC Tools V8 Trophy'. On Wednesday 5 September, British motorsport publication Motorsport News reported that the SCSA would come to an end after the final race of this season. However, the teams, and the organisers of the Mac Tools V8 Trophy vowed to continue in 2008, whether as a MSA Sanctioned championship, or just as a "series".

2008 heralded a new direction for the series with a focus on road courses due to a lack of dates offered by the oval tracks. The cars ran as part of the VSR Series, with the stock cars known as the VSR V8 Trophy. In 2009 the series joined with CAMSO V8 to form the new European Late Model Series.

Tracks

Aerial of Rockingham Motor Speedway

Between 2004 and 2007 all of the ASCAR races were held at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in England. The circuit was overlooked by the 6280 seat Rockingham Building, a steel-framed, glass-fronted grandstand building containing suites, offices, bars and kitchens, and by four grandstands. Together the building and grandstands offered a total seating capacity of 52,000. The inner pit and paddock complex was accessed from the Rockingham Building via two pedestrian tunnels and there was a further spectator viewing area on top of the pit garages. The 1.48 mile American-style banked oval circuit was 18.3 metres (60.0 ft) wide and had a maximum bank angle of seven degrees and comprised four very distinct corners. Rockingham's oval was unique in the UK and one of only two speedways in Europe (the other is Lausitzring). The oval circuit could also be converted to a road course layout for events by positioning temporary chicanes and curves both on the main area and apron of the circuit.

In 2002 and 2003 the series also raced in Germany at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz but the venue was eventually dropped due to the costs involved and the projected grid numbers of cars willing to make the journey. The entire 2008 season was a road racing based series as opposed to the Oval circuits. This incorporated trips to Snetterton, Cadwell Park, Lydden Race Circuit, Brands Hatch, Pembrey Circuit, Mallory Park and the French race track at Croix en Ternois.

Past champions

Ben Collins on his way to winning the 2003 ASCAR championship
Year # Driver Points Team
2008 Duncan Jones
2007 78 Colin White 1940 CWS Racing
2006 88 Oli Playle 1985 Team West-Tec
2005 28 Michael Vergers 2245 Team West-Tec
2004 24 Stevie Hodgson 2010 TorqueSpeed
2003 84 Ben Collins 2299 RML
2002 8 Nicolas Minassian 2535 RML
2001 24 John Mickel 860 TorqueSpeed

List of race winners

Wins Driver Seasons competed
13 Colin White 2001–2007
10 Oli Playle 2003–2006
9 Ian McKellar Jr. 2002–2005
Michael Vergers 2001, 2003–2005
7 Ben Collins 2002–2004
6 Darren Turner 2002
5 John Mickel 2001–2005
3 Kelvin Burt 2002
Stevie Hodgson 2002–2005
2 Kevin McGarrity 2002
Roland Rehfeld 2002–2003
Hunter Abbott 2005–2007
1 John Steward 2001–2007
Rob Speak 2001–2004
Nicolas Minassian 2002
Darren Manning 2002
Lee O'Keefe 2002, 2006–2007
Mark Willis 2004, 2006–2007

Notable Drivers

Season Driver Team(s)
2001 Amanda Stretton Team West-Tec
2001–2004 Rob Speak Team West-Tec, Colin Blower Motorsport, Team Turn Four
2001 John Cleland Cleland SpeedSport
2001–2005 Mark Proctor Oughtred & Harrison, Fast Tec Motorsport
2001–2005 John Mickel TorqueSpeed
2001–2007 Colin White CWS Racing
2001 Aaron Slight TJ Motorsport
2002 Kevin McGarrity Hodgson Motorsport
2002 Kelvin Burt RML Group
2002 Nicolas Minassian RML Group
2002–2004 Ben Collins Fast Tec Motorsport, RML Group, Team Turn Four
2002 Paula Cook Fast Tec Motorsport
2002 Randy Tolsma Deuce Racing
2002 Brandon Whitt Deuce Racing
2002 Toby Scheckter Deuce Racing
2002–2003 Derek Hayes Deuce Racing, Team West-Tec, Team HTML
2002 Colin McRae Xcel Motorsport
2002 Darren Manning Xcel Motorsport
2002 Matt Neal Xcel Motorsport
2002 Jason Plato Xcel Motorsport
2002 Darren Turner Team HTML
2003 Steve Grissom RML Group
2003– Andrew Kirkaldy Xcel Motorsport
2003 Kieran Dynes Scott Racing Services
2003 Max Papis Team HTML
2004, 2006 Steve Dance TorqueSpeed, Team Catchpole Racing
2004 Chris Harris TorqueSpeed
2005 Gavin Seager Kidd Richardson Racing
2005–2006 Hunter Abbott TorqueSpeed, Steward Racing
2006–2007 Pete Wilkinson Team Ranger Racing
2006 Paul Poulter Steward Racing
2007–2008 Carl Boardley CB Racing

See also

A panorama of Rockingham Motor Speedway
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.