Motorpsort: Sportscars are part of Britain's heritage and on Bank Holiday Monday May 25, it's time to celebrate the best of our once great industry with the British Sportscar Raceday at the Castle Combe Circuit.

The MG Midget challenge brings a variety of Sprites and Midgets, the fastest modified cars phenomenally quick and capable. At their last visit in 2008, William Smallridge and Ed Reeve were up front.

The Midgets bigger brothers and sisters, the MGBs, Cs and V8s have not visited Castle Combe since the end of 2007, when John Wilson and Adrian Beer battled closely with their V8s.

The MG Car Club has another varied championship to entertain the crowds, its Thoroughbred Sportscars allowing other marques to join in the fun. Roy McCarthy was victorious in his V8 MGB the last time the circuit enjoyed their company.

The Powertorque Morgan Challenge is exclusively for these hand built classic British sports cars. Keith Ahlers is the man who usually leads them all home in his mighty V8.

It's not all about cars from this fair isle though. The Alfa Romeo championship caters for a wide variety of these Italian machines, Neil Smith bringing his 156 Veloce to victory when they visited Castle Combe last year.

The Castle Combe Formula Ford 1600 Championship race is likely to be as furious as ever, with a plethora of local talent capable of taking a win.

The more sophisticated Class A cars have the theoretical advantage, but the older class Bs can be every bit as competitive and a surprise result can never be discounted.

Interestingly, three of the latest and most developed cars are based at or around the circuit itself. Bratton's Ben Norton has one of those, his Spectrum 011 honed and perfected by the students at the Wiltshire College, based at the circuit.

Saltford's Steven Jensen has the Swift SC09 which is built from scratch in the Swift Cooper premises located just inside the boundary of Yatton Keynell adjacent to the track, whilst Andrew Jones, also from Castle Combe, has another up to the minute Class A car, the Ray GRS07.

All three of these are front runners, but so are the likes of former double champion Ed Moore from Bradford on Avon, whose evolutionary Van Diemen RF99-01 can be stunningly fast on the day.

Bath's Chris Acton is yet another with the latest toy, his, a Ray GRS08.

In Class B, David Vivian from Bradford on Avon and 2008 Class B champion, Felix Fisher from Bridgwater favour the ubiquitous Swift SC92, a chassis which has been winning since its inception and still has an outright victory left in it. Never to be underestimated is former Bath taxi driver and quadruple Castle Combe champion, Bob Higgins, celebrating his 60th birthday this month and still on the pace in his Van Diemen.

Class C is a little more open, though Cirencester's Tom Margetson is one of the best of the local names in his Reynard FF89.

The Circuit's Saloon Car championship in association with National Mobile Windscreens has its own class battles throughout the field, the smaller classes often where the closest duels are fought.

At the front, the local name to watch is Laurence Kilby in his 'rat look', matt black Evo 9, as fast on the track as it is evil to behold.

Class B for 2 wheel drive cars under 3 litres is full of top local runners, Bristol's Mark Wyatt usually in front of them all in his Astra. Cirencester's Jonathan Wills upholds the spirit of 'no frills' racing by making an MG Maestro faster than it ever dreamed of going, whilst Ditcheat's Kevin Bird has horsepower a plenty in the SEAT Leon.

Yate's Nick Charles and Will Di Claudio from Chippenham have similar Peugeot 106's to fight over Class C, Nick Mizen one of a gang of MG ZRs providing numerical dominance.

Class D is a two car battle between young drivers Jason Cooper, from Yatton Keynell in the Fiesta and Bath's Ollie Lewis in the 106. Cooper's Fiesta has a weight disadvantage, but a few modifications since its winter rebuild should put him on a par with the nimble and powerful Peugeot.

Bath's Guy Woodward should find Class A of the savesometax.co.uk Special GT race relatively easy to conquer in his Nissan engined Jade, but nothing can be taken for granted in the unpredictable world of motorsport.

Andrew Shanley from Trowbridge is a strong performer in Class B for sub 2 litre sports racing cars, his simple but effective Radical Prosport a hot favourite, despite his rookie status.

More experienced is Simon Tilling from Vernham Dean in the SR3 version, whilst Ed Moore relies on the more traditional 2 litre Vauxhall engined Mallock P21, giving him a contrast to his usual Formula Ford engagements.

Always entertaining is Mark Funnell from Trowbridge, making his road going Lotus Exige go far quicker than anyone might imagine despite its useful 2 litre Honda power unit. Melksham's Simon Norris is the man with the most horsepower, courtesy of his Lancer Evo.

Class D is essentially a Caterham battle, with Castle Combe's Keith Sprules taking a different route with his Ferrari 360 Challenge.

Monday's action starts at 8.40 am with qualifying, racing getting under way from 1.00 pm.

Admission prices are £15 for Adults, £7.50 for OAPs, £2.50 for Paddock Transfer, whilst accompanied children under 16 are admitted free.

For further information, visit the Castle Combe Circuit website on www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk