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DONINGTON HISTORICS 2012>>GROUP C RULES
Most of the races at the 2012 Donington Historic Festival deliberately looked back in time to overtly historic periods in racing, ones where the aesthetics of the participating cars painted a clear picture of yesteryear. After all, a Jaguar E-Type, Aston Martin DBR1 or Lotus Cortina hark back to an obviously different time when compared with the Group C and IMSA GTP racers they shared the bill with. The late ’80s and early ’90s sports prototypes were a stark counter-point, oozing lightweight materials, modern aerodynamics and technology.
Group C cars emanate a certain spirit – a potent force. They represent the great pinnacle of world sportscar racing: a dozen years between 1982 and 1993 when sportscars reached for and at times overtook Formula 1 as the pre-eminent global motorsport series.
The manufacturers were all there; the top drivers went to sportscars to learn their trade before single-seaters. No longer were the F1 cars unchallenged as the fastest, most technology-laden racers on the planet.
The Group C Racing organisation who oversee the running of GTP and Group C-rules races in Europe constantly manage to find new and rare examples of relevant machinery for their series: it’s not just about Porsches and Jaguars. This year the unique Veskanda was given its European debut: it’s one of only two Australian Group C cars produced. Having dominated the national sportscar scene for three years, the Veskanda got a chance to race at international level in the C1 category when the World Sports Prototype series ran at Sandown in 1988.
There was also an example of the IMSA Nissan NPTi90, which was developed by the North American arm of Nissan in 1990 and helped take the marque to its second consecutive IMSA GTP constructors’ championship.
The Group C Racing series will take in half a dozen events in 2012, with Donington its opening round. The most prestigious event will be in June, when the Group C cars will once again be the opening act before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is the event where everyone brings their car out to play – after all, it’s their natural environment – and usually the turn-out is increased exponentially.
Unfortunately three cars that were present at Donington weren’t able to take part in the race itself, including this Peugeot 905B from 1992. But at least you could still get the chance to see these cars in their carbon-fibre flesh.
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