STROKE ASSOCIATION DAY – CASTLE COMBE 1 st OCTOBER 2005
The event is now in its11th year and is gaining increasing popularity as more and more people get to know about it. The format is very simple and all money raised goes to The Stroke Association. A little known fact is that more people in the UK die of heart attacks & strokes every year than anything else. With those statistics the chances are that someone reading this will need the support of this charity one day so it is a very worthy cause. It is also a great opportunity for Motor Racing to put something back into society for the benefit of others.

After the drivers briefing the cars line up in the pit lane for members of the public to pay between £20 and £40 for 5 laps at full racing speed of the famous Castle Combe Motor Racing Circuit. The event was promoted by The Stroke Association with the help of Chris Bradley a volunteer and IT specialist who put together the promotional poster below.

The gates opened at 10am and soon rides were being taken thick and fast. Naturally some cars had more showroom appeal than others so the Porches, Ultimas, Westfields and Marlins were in great demand. Driver of the day though was Nick Davies in his Radical who literally did not stop all day and at one point had customers waiting over 2 hours for a ride.

For those who wanted to try a different avenue of Motorsport a professional Autotest team set up in the paddock to show everyone what this is all about and entertain the crowds. The public were welcome to try and beat the professionals in their cars around the course and win a prize – some chance. To see the professionals going around the course demonstrating their superb car control skills really is a sight to behold and great fun for those who had a go.

At lunchtime the public have a chance to drive their own cars on this famous circuit for a donation to charity while the drivers have a well earned break. During the lunchtime break Kate and Chloe from STAR107.2FM arrived to drive on the track in their VW Beetle STARBUG. Track tuition was provided by David Cooper of Track Developments a former F3 racer and qualified race engineer. They then experienced the action first hand in the super fast Radical followed by a race spec Porsche 911. They were both taken by the retro look of the Marlin Sportster and had a ride in Mike Coombes car with it’s Rover V8 power. Then it was back to the studio with a big smile on their faces to broadcast their experience over the airwaves and encourage more people to enjoy the experience in the afternoon. It certainly worked as it was very busy in the afternoon until the closing time of 4pm.

The close of the day came all to soon and it was time to work out how successful the event had been. Total takings on the day and generous donations for the event totalled around £8000. When the circuit hire and operating expenses are taken out this netted down to a figure of around £4000.00 raised for charity on the day.