Caterham Cars marked its Golden Anniversary in spectacular style this past weekend (September 2/3) as the iconic British sports car manufacturer staged its 50th Festival at Donington Park.
Celebrating five decades of the world-famous marque at the Leicestershire venue, the two-day event was packed with blockbuster racing, parades and paddock displays; which included the latest Caterham Cars range of UK models and its very own heritage timeline.
Ahead of its eagerly-anticipated appearance on the British Touring Car Championship support bill at Silverstone later this month, the Avon Tyres Caterham Seven UK Championship had everyone captivated as they served up three frenetic races on the National layout.
Aaron Head proved to be the cream of the crop as he charged to a hat-trick of victories; all of them coming by the slender margin of less than one second as Stephen Lyall and Lewis Thompson kept him within touching distance throughout.
Hugo Bush snared a brace of race wins in the Motul Caterham Seven 310R Championship however his chances of clinching a hat-trick like Head were thwarted as Taylor O’Flanagan reigned supreme in race two.
The Mission Motorsport Caterham 270R Championship saw Freddie Chiddicks bring the curtain down on what has been a mesmerising campaign for himself by adding to more wins to his season tally.
Chiddicks utilised all of his pace and experience to hold off the chasing pack in races one and three to emerge victorious. Marc Jones came out on top of a pulsating battle with Ben Timmons to triumph in an entertaining second contest.
In the Vertex Caterham Roadsport Championship, Rob Kennerley clinched a pair of wins whilst Henry Speeks and Nick Highton each claimed victory in the respective White and Green races of the Adrian Flux Insurance Caterham Academy.
The Caterham Academy also held an additional bout – its coveted Autumn Trophy – which saw Jonathan Emery triumph, leading home Henry Morris and Arif Hanif to take the chequered flag.
Joining in on the celebrations under the flight path of East Midlands airport was the Morphmy Caterham Graduates Championship; which staged the penultimate rounds of its season.
Ben Wheatley continued what has been a year to remember by bagging two more wins in the Sigma 135 class whilst Will Stillwell and James McCall snared a win apiece in the amalgamated Sigma 150 and Sigmax bouts.
Concluding the weekend’s track action were two races from the CSCC Gold Arts Magnificent Sevens, which saw Stephen Nuttall and Christian Pittard lead a bumper grid to score one victory each.
To view the full classification of results from Caterham’s 50th Festival, CLICK HERE.