BRCA Nats Report By RacePrep
The Race prep team headed down to the coastal Portsmouth town of Clanfield for the next round of the BRCA Off Road Nats. On arrival to the track it was very clear that the track layout has changed dramatically (for the better?) we will have to see! The track appeared very bumpy in places everywhere, which some will say is off road racing, but as its the same for everyone, stop talking about it and get racing!
Into Practice and it was very evident that car setup and consistency rather than pure out and out speed would be the way to approach this track, slow means fast is a good way of putting it. Nick Hill suffered straight away in the practice not even doing a fully lap of the track with radio problems. The rest of the teams we dealing with the track…
Most if not all of the team were having to raise up their cars suspension as it was a lot bumpier than expected, Rob Cuss’s car was the first to learn this problem with a low rear ended car that led to him being catapulted up in the air by the back of his car hitting the top of the jump. Sam Taylor had a good run, very fast and very consistent run with only a couple of errors trying to pass slower cars.
Stewart and Nick had mixed fortunes, again Nick wasn’t able to turn a wheel in anger due to his radio problems again, Stewart had a good run but was being caught out by the table top double (TTD) which he made so many mistakes on that the corner marshal i think got bored turning his car over and over onto its wheels. Jamie Armstrong had a superb run attacking the track with speed and consistency he set a very good time in the process. Fresh from his 8th Position in the Euro’s Elliott Boots thriving with confidence hit the dirt with unbelievable pace, even during the warmup you could see Elliotts car was dialed and only possible a few small changes here and there would be needed throughout the day, Elliott made a couple of small mistakes which cost him about 5 10 seconds overall, maybe pushing too hard and trying to over drive the track was to blame;
Callum had a bad start to round 2 with a stone in the wheel causing his engine to cut out and end his run. Rob had a better run with the car looking better over the jump sections, also setting a better time in the process, only a few errors on the dreaded TTD section of the track. Sam had a bad run with tangles with other cars and mistakes taking its toll on his time. Stewart and Nick were out again, this time the latter (having swapped out his whole radio tray) was able to put in some laps, but due to lack of track time nick was on the back foot right away, and it showed by nick making a to many mistakes.
Stewart managed to put his TTD trouble behind him being able to clear them consistently in this round. Jamie’s enthusiasm for the track enabled him to enjoy his drive and set another good time, with only a couple of small errors costing him. Elliott was out again,he was pushing really hard this round and found himself making really good time on the fast bits, but trying to hard to make up time over the slow bits, kept making small mistakes which cost him dearly over all.
Callum finally managed to put in a time which was worthy of his talent, Rob also managed to sort his car and his head out setting his best time of the day, setting good consistent lap times. Sam didn’t have a great run, but found the tyres he was using weren’t the right ones for the conditions and something was needed for the finals, but consistent nevertheless. Stewart put in a superb run, the quickest he had been all day, with a change of rubber was the main reason, as Stewart is usually a quite smooth driver anyway. Nick finally put in a good run to end his qualifying. Jamie tried some old tyres which he hadn’t run for a long time, finding out they worked really well, over a second a lap quicker! Elliott tried a set of tyres which really didn’t work at all. Here is where the team ended up after the 3 rounds of qualifying.
Callum was up first in his final, after a good start and making up quite a few places, just after the fuel stop it was evident something was wrong with the car, half way through the lap the car stopped. That was Callum out which pretty much summed up his weekend. Next we go into the F Final with Rob and Nick, both had problems with traffic in the start of the final, due to the short nature of the lower finals neither were able to progress into the next one.
In the D Final was Jamie starting in third place a good start from Jamie was undone by another car behind him just after the first jump, causing Jamie to end on his roof and putting him down the order, on the same lap trying to make up for lost time Jamie made a mistake on the TTD which put him down to last place. Jamie pushed hard throughout the final but a cut in the pit stop didn’t help his mental state, he then drove over someone in front of him and got a stop and go penalty.
Up next was Stewart, his car looking excellently prepared by the mugen master mechanic Sir Martin Cole. A good start from Stewart only to run wide on the first turn hitting 3 small stones turning onto two wheels, but luckily back down onto all four again, age and experience shining through with that maneuver. Stewart proceeded to run within the top 4 drivers fighting for thrid along the way but also having an epic battle with David Spashett, with Stewart on an aggressive fuel strategy of 10 minutes it was going to be an interesting final. David and Stewart were then joined by Brennan Ralls these three swapping position’s nearly once a lap, each falling to the pressure of being chased down by a very competitive driver.
Stewart then made a small mistake on the TTD tangling with a back marker not giving him space, very near the end of the race Stewart made a mistake on the table top just before the bank corner and the Marshall’s finger stopped the car when he turned the car over. this was a sour end to Stewart’s race, after all the hard work martin and Stewart had put in, it was a Marshall’s fat fingers that ruined his race.
Sam Taylor in the B Final was our next driver to entertin us. This final was like an old A Final, with some very familiar names running in this one. Sam made a good start managing to avoid the carnage up at the top right corner. Sam pushed hard and race superbly and most of the time was out on his own, racing his own race. Sam’s fuel mileage of 2 stopping cost him the biggest time on the track and put him out of the running to put him into the A Final.
A Final where Elliott Boots lined up in 3rd place. as the buzzer went all the cars rushed there way down to the first corner, nose to tail through most of the first lap, it was clear Elliott and Darren were in a class of their own during the first 5 10 minutes of the final, i think everyone thought this is the way it was going to be throughout the final.
With Elliott passing Darren after making a mistake Elliott was able to drive superbly and keep Darren Behind him, both made some silly mistakes, both taking each other out at some point, but being the sportsman they are neither gained from that. Darren was the first to reveal his hand in regards to pit stop strategy and it was going to be the same as Elliott’s around the 7 8 minute mark, bot made faultless pit stops and came out in the order they came in, and begun racing together again. Elliott was racing behind Darren pushing very hard, which caused him to loose his cool and made a few mistakes, this was then coupled to a bad pit stop (Elliott missed his pitman!) cost Elliott another place behind Simon Willetts who had been waiting to pounce. Elliott in the end finshed 3rd.
By RacePrep