Former quadruple Castle Combe Formula Ford Champion, Gavin Wills, is making a surprise return to the Melton Concrete Products Formula Ford 1600 Championship at the Circuit's Ferrari Raceday on Monday 30th August.
Wills has dominated this year's 'Star of the Midlands' series and recently won the Edwina Overend Trophy meeting in his Van Diemen RF00. He will be looking to end the domination of local championship leader, Ed Moore, from Bradford on Avon, who runs an identical new Van Diemen and has won all but one of the circuit's Formula Ford races this year.
Moore's car is considered to be the most sophisticated in the field at Castle Combe, so the arrival of Wills may add a new dimension to the double header event. Chippenham's Tim Reynolds is one of the many drivers still using the faithful Swift SC92 chassis, run by an old rival of Wills, Kevin Mills from Gloucester. A huge amount of rivalry can be expected to be unearthed therefore, not only from Wills and Moore, but between Wills's Westec team and Kevin Mills Racing.
To add to the tension, Formula Ford lap record holder, Matt Rivett, might also return for this event, though this depends on a withdrawal by another competitor as the field is already oversubscribed.
None of this makes things any easier for the likes of Castle Combe's Andrew Jones or Saltford's Steven Jensen in their Swift SC92s, though at least Chepstow's Nick Jones can focus on being the fastest Noveos Pre '90 contender.
Ferraris headline the day's event, with races for the modern Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge and the older Ferrari Formula Classic.
The first sees the return of a well known face to the circuit, namely, Vince Woodman from Chipping Sodbury. Woodman was one of the country's leading saloon car drivers, probably best remembered for his superb GA engined Ford Capri, from the '70's. It's currently undergoing restoration but, in the meantime, Vince is enjoying a season in the Ferrari Challenge, courtesy of the circuit's Formula Ford sponsor, Keith Sprules, who has a pair of F355s. Woodman currently lies second in Class C and will be joined at Castle Combe by Sprules. Woodman secured valuable track time for this event by competing in the last round of the circuit's Special GT Championship, winning class D.
Other significant locals in the championship are the Reeder brothers, Mike and Graham from Pewsey.
The Ferrari Formula Classic has a delicious array of the red cars from 250s to Testarossas and including the 246 GT of Gloucester's Colin Campbell.
The National Mobile Windscreens Saloon Car Championship should see a continuation of the tremendous battle currently being waged between Bristolian Mark Wyatt in his shiny Astra and Gary Prebble in the Rover Turbo. The pair spent the last race as close as Siamese twins, with Wyatt just not quite able to find a way around the big Rover.
Nick Mizen is another Rover Tomcat driver; he picked up 4th overall last time.
Reigning champion, Bridgwater's Tony Dolley, should debut his new Peugeot 206 in Class A, assuming it's ready in time.
Midsomer Norton's David Mears will be looking to make up for his disappointing race last time, when his Class B lead disappeared in favour of Ringwood's Paul Gardner. Mears showed he has the pace to beat the highly developed Citroen Saxo VTS with his relatively standard Peugeot 205 GTi, but lost out after a spin.
Cardiff's Anthony Macwhirter desperately needs some reliability if he is to reclaim the Class C lead with his swift but recalcitrant Corsa.
The Special GT Championship should see Mike Roberts back to his winning ways with the Jade Sports prototype in the Krayem Design Class A although Tetbury's David Krayem, pole man last time out, is getting quicker. After the battle for the lead at the last race, there are a few locals who might wish both would stay away. Chippenham's Russell Spence in his Tile Store Class C Radical and Chris Lake from Devizes in his Nemesis Vauxhall, enjoyed a hammer and tongs battle with eventual winner, Dan Compton, the trio crossing the line separated by just .6 of a second! Lake now leads the Moonraker Forklifts Class B by a useful five points, but Spence has some gap to make up on his second in class, as he missed two rounds earlier in the season.
Doynton's Dave Smith in his Vauxhall engined Mallock took third in class last time whilst Kingswood's Tony Baxter has little competition for his Porsche 968 Club Sport in Class D.
A little known formula, which nevertheless attracts a huge entry, is the MRC Stoneguard Scholar Mono Championship. Intriguingly, the championship has always drawn a disproportionately large number of entries from Gloucestershire and this meeting is no exception. Stroud's Jim Blockley in his Ralt RT3 is in the 2 litre class, whilst Nicholas Catanzaro and Jim Timms, both from Gloucester, are in the 1600's. Bristol sends Andy Uttley in a Dallara F398 and there's also Somerset's Larry Jeram-Croft and Michael Kremzer in a Vauxhall Lotus.
Completing the programme is a diverse field of saloon cars for the Stafford Land Rover Super Coupe Cup, combining a number of redundant championships including Honda CRX, Proton, Rover 216 GTi and 220 Turbo. They will make an interesting comparison with the Circuit's own Saloon Car championship.
The day's action starts at 8.30 am with qualifying, racing getting under way from 1.15pm.
Admission prices are £12 for adults, £6-00 for OAPs, and £2-50 for paddock transfer with accompanied children free.
For further information, visit the Castle Combe Circuit website on www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk
