MOTORSPORT: ARENA Essex raceway hosted a very special banger meeting.

The all Ford Granada meeting was in memory of Maya Ford and Olly Moran, the former a 21-month-old girl who lost her life to a form of meningitis and the latter a popular ex-racer. The event raised much needed funds for the Meningitis Research Foundation, a cause close the hearts of Maya’s family, who have been involved in banger racing for many years. The 2012 track champion, Paul Whiteman, a cousin of Maya’s mother, Louise, had done much of the behind the scenes work to make the meeting a success and there was a heart-warming round of applause for him and the families, followed by a minute’s silence for Maya and Olly.

The pre-meeting hype surrounded the high profile return to the venue of the ‘The Suicide Squad’, many of whom hadn’t raced for more than a decade. They were joined by sparring partners ‘The Kent Condoms’ as well as many other racers tempted back by the good cause. Such was the demand for places during Sunday’s main event, Saturday evening saw an extra meeting scheduled for those unable to get a booking. Lee Turner won the final, which earned him the last place on the grid for Sunday’s event.

Six heats were required to split the entry with the first heat giving us a taste of what was to come with the first salvos in the Suicide Squad/Condom war being sounded. Tony Wade using his Mk1 Granada Coupe to follow in Brian Orriss. Chris Worthington took the win. Heat two saw Deane Mayes take the race win.

A blocked track on the exit of turn four in heat three resulted in some huge impacts Garry Evans found himself in the lead and Phil Wise was pretty much the only other car left in the race. Evans took the win, his first in more than 20 years racing.

The heavens opened for heat four but Matt Fuller motored to the win and collected his trophy from former BDO World Professional Darts champion Andy Fordham, a friend of Maya’s family.

Heat five saw perhaps the biggest set of crashes of the day as the very rare Granada Mk2 Minster estate of Dutchman Pieter Leistra was destroyed by Kieron Fry. Richard Ahern took the win.

The final set of unraced Granadas were turned out on track for the final heat with Callum Reed following Simon Fixter into the parked car of Jamie Batchelor. Jason Jackson made sure of his qualifiers spot for the final by winning the first consolation, another event that featured its fair share of pit bend shenanigans. The explosive second consolation saw Kieron Fry dish out a big crash to Bauke Walda, but he took a bigger one from Alfie Lee, who had already impressed by burying the hearse of Mark Cassidy. Jack Foster Jnr got through the wreckage for the win. With no let up in the action the meeting final saw a scrapyard develop on the exit of turn four. Steve Carter was on a mission in this one and he took several cars with him, including track veteran, Roy Rawlins. Jason Jackson took the win from Mark Welland and Harry Rawlins in third.

A non qualifiers allcomers heat followed. Former Firecracker champion, Steve Anscombe, made up for the disappointment of missing out on qualification for the final by taking the win in this one.

And finally at the end of a long, historic day, in fact weekend, the Destruction Derby raised an incredible total of 57 cars! Next up is the annual Firecracker on November 3 with a big entry expected of Unlimited Bangers and the popular Reliant Robins.