BRCA 1/8th Circuit Championships Rd1 – Report
The first round of the BRCA 1/8th circuit championships was held at the Cotswolds track. Saturday’s practice started at around 10am when a couple of racers started braving out the track, clearing puddles. Lap times were not great because of the conditions but people were actually happy to be able to be on the track and everyone veered into the afternoon without much drama. The track was now dry and cars looked faster and faster. The big unknown was how cars would react with additive on the tyres and there were mixed opinions, with some deciding not to use any. Did it make a difference? Some say it did, some say there is no point. The usual culprits seemed to be leading the way, Mark Green, Andy Hastings, Neal King, Tim Wood to name but a few. David Spashett, last year’s runner up, was absent but Alex Thurston was back in nitro after two very successful years in 8th electric. It would be rather interesting to see on the Sunday how people would actually get on with their new cars in race conditions. After the sound of blistering lap times – for the conditions – the day was over and it was time to try and warm up for most racers. The afternoon had been dry but the wind chill created quite a cold feeling.
Race day started and another slightly damp morning made way to the first practice round after drivers’ briefing. The electric cars (9 in total, 29 in nitro) were first on. The cars looked good, although a bit twitchy on a still cold track. The meeting unfortunately had to be stopped for a while after the electric heat because of a computer fault, giving drivers some practice time, but could resume around 12. It was decided to drop one round of qualifying not to finish too late. The electric qualifying saw the battle of the Craig’s emerging, with Craig Nutting taking the top spot, followed by Craig Woods and Jamie Paton. In IC a few drivers could aim for FTD but only two managed 21 laps. Mark Green took FTD, followed by Alex Thurston and Neil King. 3rd to 6th place were within the same second, which would make for an intense battle in the A. An extreme blast of warmth (10 degrees…) got the track ready for the finals.
After an intense battle for the win the spectators saw Tim Wood race to victory in the A-final for the Shepherd team on his debut for the manufacturer, very closely followed by Mark Green (Serpent). Andy Hastings took the third step of the podium (Shepherd). Neil and Alex had to retire early with mechanical issues. A few drivers were also using headset for 2-way communication, new for this year, making for a quieter pitlane.
On the electric side of things we did have the battle of the Craigs with Craig Nutting (first 1/8 circuit race) taking the win from Craig Woods (last year’s runner-up) and Jamie Paton taking the remaining step on the podium.
Source: BRCA [brca.org]
