RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

10th March, Snetterton 300.

6th April, Donington Park

18th May, Croft

9th June, Brands Hatch

7/8th July, Spa 25

18th August, Rockingham

29th September, Anglesey

13th October, Oulton Park

For those that have not encountered the VW Fun Cup before I’ll give a brief summary of what it is all about.

Fun Cup cars are purpose built single seater space frame chassis, clad with a fibreglass VW Beetle silhouette bodyshells.   Powered by either a 130bhp petrol engine, or 170bhp turbo diesel, both from the VW/Audi family, the two classes give close racing, even after several hours on the track.

Endurance is the name of the game, with Fun Cup races often being between 4 to 7 hours long, with exceptions – a 45 minute ‘sprint’ race and the 25 hour race at Spa.    Each car has to come in for routine fuel and tyre stops, and during these stops a driver change is also permitted, with some teams running up to 6 drivers.

A 1 hour timed practise session gives all the drivers a chance to familiarise themselves with both car and track, although the grid order is decided by a random ballot which makes for a topsy-turvy grid.

The entry costs and running costs are kept low, made easier by the large entry numbers, and in terms of £ per mile VW Fun Cup must be one of the cheapest forms of circuit racing in the world.

32 cars took part in an hours qualifying, sadly one car didn’t make the race start, but of the remaining 31 cars, 27 cars were classified, after 4 hours of very close racing and 159 laps.   Of those not classified, two were still running, but had lost a lot of laps due to extended repairs.

The race was won by Team Honeywell, driven by Neil Plimmer and Geoff Fawcett.   2nd place was the Happy Racing car, their bright green machine driven by Jason Porter and Max Hunter with the RAM car of Richard Ince and Austin Reynolds 3rd.   As predicted the race was won by the turbo diesel class, their power advantage and economy meaning they can run longer.

The race for petrol honours was taken by the JPR Credit Crunch Racing team of Tim Wheeldon, Nigel Griffiths and Dominic Jackson with the David L Walker car 2nd driven by Paul Calladine and Tom Walker and Scarab Racing’s Bram de Groot and Phill de Groot-King 3rd.

Calladine, who has raced single seaters with Monoposto tells me the two cars are surprisingly similar, both rewarding a smooth and consistent driving style, however the lower cost of Fun Cup and huge amount of tracktime made the decision much easier.

The next round is on the 15th May at Rockingham which is a 7 hour race.

Words: Andrew Cliffe
Photography: Norwich Photo