A scintillating line up of some of the country's leading Formula Ford pilots rounds off the 2004 season at the Castle Combe Circuit, with the Melton Concrete Products Formula Ford Carnival in association with MotorSport News.
The traditional end of season event, this Saturday October 2, attracts Formula Ford 1600 pilots from as far a field as Ireland to battle it out over two heats and a final for a £6,000+ prize & bonus fund.
On a roll from winning his first Castle Combe title is Ed Moore from Bradford on Avon, who's new style Van Diemen RF00 has been the car to beat in Formula Ford 1600.
Moore's principal rivals are likely to be Chippenham's Tim Reynolds in his Swift SC92 and Formula Ford lap record holder, Matt Rivett, in a Ray B97.
With some tremendous action between Reynolds and Moore already this year, the addition of Rivett can only mean more fireworks. Let's hope there's no repeat of last year's 'coming togethers' which eliminated Moore and almost a third of the field.
Joining Reynolds in the Kevin Mills Racing team from Gloucester is Paul Barnes, another highly competitive racer, whilst many drivers will quake at the thought of multiple former champion, Bob Higgins from Bath, making another comeback in his RF91 Van Diemen.
Yet another quick local returnee is Cirencester's Alex Ames who was runner up last year in his Swift SC93K, whilst other young West Country chargers include Saltford's Steven Jensen in his Swift SC92 and Wick's Al Khateeb in the Team Edison Vector MG93.
Five drivers can win this year's National Mobile Windscreens Saloon Car Championship title, with just six points separating the highest and lowest scorers.
Gary Prebble has the mathematical and psychological advantage of a two point lead over both his fellow class A rival Mark Wyatt from Bristol and class C leader Tony Macwhirter from Cardiff.
In theory, 'Mad' Macwhirter has the best chance of stealing the crown from Prebble as he has no real opposition in the small class. His biggest obstacle is his amusing determination to jeopardise class wins by dicing with the big boys, which has often resulted in his little Corsa wearing itself out and shedding valuable points.
Wyatt took his first straight win from Prebble at the last meeting in the immaculate Astra, but even a repeat this time would not be enough if the Rover Turbo comes home runner up.
Paul Gardner already has class B in the bag, but will need the aforementioned to hit problems to grab the outright honours and cannot be guaranteed to win the class anyway as Midsomer Norton's David Mears is now right on his pace.
Bridgwater's Tony Dolley, the reigning champion and erstwhile Class B leader, should debut his new Peugeot 206 after a couple of false starts. Bristol's Nick Mizen is another competitive Rover Tomcat driver, whilst Atworth's Rob Ballard has started flying recently in the ex Keith MacAskill Astra.
Louis Davidson already has his feet up and a drink in hand for the Castle Combe Special GT championship, having wound up the overall title and Tile Store class C with relative ease, what seems like months ago.
The accent is on classes A and B. The big Krayem Design class sees the tightest battle with Dodington's Derek Gore in his LM3000 Prosport having scored consistently to put him a slender point ahead of Mike Roberts. The latter has missed the last few rounds, so given a reliable run today should easily regain his previous lead in the magnificent Jade Sports Prototype.
Chris Lake from Devizes in the Moonraker Forklift Class C has had a dream debut season in his Nemesis Vauxhall, mastering the circuit and his car to superb effect, engaging in some of the best dices of the championship in the last couple of rounds.
Doug Setters in the 2 litre Jade Trackstar could mathematically pinch the title from Lake, but it would mean the local man non finishing and Setters winning the class and taking fastest lap. With some added spice from the Chirons of Somerset's Chris Buncombe and Peter Hobday and Doynton's Dave Smith in his Vauxhall engined Mallock, class B's race is worth keeping an eye on.
Completing the packed programme are two races for both Porsches and Sports 2000. The latter features a huge entry for both the SRCC Sports 2000 and TMS Duratec championships, with 2003 Class A champion and overall runner up Jonathan Loader from Chippenham now in a Crossle 42S in the Historic class. Paul Stevenson, also from Chippenham, is in a Lola T492.
The Porsche Club and Open Championships feature a variety of 911s, 968s, 964s and a few GT3 Cup cars too. Yeovil's Ian White is the West Country representative.
The day's action starts at 8.35 am with qualifying, racing getting under way from 1.00pm.
Admission prices are £10 for adults, £5-00 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 built by Racecar
