Race of Remembrance proved to be bigger and better than ever before this past weekend (November 9/10/11) as Anglesey Circuit played host to a memorable three days of racing and commemoration.
Run by the Forces’ charity Mission Motorsport and the BARC, Race of Remembrance has established itself as one of the marquee events on the UK motorsport calendar – with this past year being the fifth edition of the meeting.
With all manner of machinery going wheel-to-wheel around the picturesque Welsh track, the event itself has always been about much more than just racing, and 2018 was a prime example of that.
Commemorating the sacrifices made by all service personnel and their families, the event again provided the perfect backdrop for a social gathering like no other, with a ‘Heroes Dinner’ serving as a reminder of what the weekend is all about.
This year’s Race of Remembrance took on added significance too as it fell on the 100th Anniversary of the First World War coming to an end.
At 10:45 on the Sunday morning of the event, racing was paused and Anglesey Circuit fell silent as a very special service of remembrance took place in the pit lane, with all drivers, teams, officials, marshals, service personnel and families in attendance.
The battle for victory in the 2018 Race of Remembrance was hard-fought however as 50 teams duked it out in the coveted 12-hour endurance race. Racing into the night and then throughout the next day, the action was fast and frenetic as the laps ticked by.
In the end reigning champions Sofa King Fast made it back-to-back victories at Race of Remembrance as the quartet of Carolie Everett, Jay McCormack, Russ Olivant and James Beardwell took the chequered flag in their Caterham 310R.
Completing a staggering 348 laps around the Welsh circuit, the race winners not only led the way overall but also emerged as the team to beat in Class E too, picking up an impressive haul of Heroes Trophies.
Elsewhere, Class A honours went the way of TrackScotland1 whilst Team Slowa did the same in Class B, home to the popular Citroen 1 contingent.
There was glory for Datum Motorsport who were the winners in Class C. Since the inception of Race of Remembrance half a decade ago the Lotus Elise trio of Lee Brooks, Ben Brooks and Phil Grayson has made the annual pilgrimage to Anglesey every year to compete, with a class victory proving to be a fitting reward.
In Class D, British Touring Car Championship race winner Rob Austin joined forces with former BTCC racer Dan Welch and Max5 Racing title winner Paul Roddison to clinch victory. The trio missed out on overall victory by just four laps in Roddison’s trust MX5 but did enough to see off the competition in their own category.
Claire Smith’s 360 MRC Absolute Dogs Danglies squad underlined what the event was all about as they competed a storybook comeback to win Class F. At the 2017 event the team were forced to watch on and unable to make the finish following a mechanical failure.
Twelve months on and armed with their BMW Mini R56, Smith along with Duncan Rogers and Chris Knox put on a near-perfect performance to triumph by seven laps.
Rounding out the list of winners was GPW Racing as Peter Reynolds, Geoff Price and Pete Walters that walked away as the victors of Class R in their Caterham 7 X3.
For the full classification of results, click here.
