THE first car race meeting of the season takes place at Croft Circuit this weekend when the Midlands-based 750 Motor Club kick off proceedings with the first of two visits this season to the North Yorkshire track.

Renowned for their packed grids and quantity of action-packed racing, one of the attractions will be the eclectic range of cars in action as the club celebrates 83 years this year and with it being the opening round of the club’s various championships, more than 250 competitors will be in action in the 18 races over the two days.

With a record-breaking entry which includes reserves, a 40-car grid will contest the PBS Brakes Hot Hatch Championship over a pair of 15-minute races each day whilst 30 cars will take to the start for Saturday’s pair of Tegiwa Type R Trophy races. The opening race of the season on Saturday lunchtime will be the 27-car strong BMWCCC Championship, which also has a race later in the day whereas the Mazda marque features strongly both days with the 5Club Racing MX5 Cup and Yokohama Mazda Championship seeing more than 40 drivers battling it out around the famous and historic track.

Throw in the RLM Racing Sports 1000 Championship, K-Tec Racing Clio Sport Championship on both days as well as Sunday’s two races for the Demon Tweeks/Yokohama Classic Stock Hatch Championship, it’s set to be a thriller. But perhaps the best may be saved until last with the feature Gaz Shocks 116 Trophy endurance race taking place over 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon. There, nearly 60 competitors in 37 cars will round off what is set to be a memorable weekend’s action.

Practice gets underway at 9.30am on Saturday with the first of nine races commencing at 12.30pm whilst Sunday sees track action from 12pm with the remaining nine races starting at 12.35pm. Adult admission is £15 on both days in advance or £17 on the day with accompanied children aged 15 and under admitted free on both days.