Brookland Scale Rubber National March 20th 2005

The BRCA 1/10th IC On Road section has a lot on it's plate this year.  As well as two series of 8 Nationals, including major changes to one class, we have the privilege of hosting the  European Championships for 200mm Scale Saloons at Halifax in August.  Because of this the 1/10th Nationals have been organised so as to leave the month of August free of other events, so those that are entered for the Euro's can concentrate on that event, while the rest of us can enjoy our summer holidays(!).

Scheduling 16 race meetings at 8 different tracks throughout the UK, with a break in August, meant that the season had to be extended into the early spring and late summer.  So the 235/200mm foam series started at Ashby on March the 6th, and the 'Rubber' series will not finish until the middle of October at Mendip.  Let's hope that Max Crossland, who set the Calendar, has been giving many sacrifices to the weather gods!

If he has, it certainly worked for round 1 of the Rubber series at Brookland.  Saturday practice was held on probably the warmest day so far in 2005, with air temperatures around 20 to 21 degrees, and, even on the cloudier Sunday, I saw track temperatures as high as 25 degrees C.  We could hardly have asked for more!

With the change in format (and name) of the 200mm 'Foam' class to Saloon bodies and 3 Port engines, many former 'Rubber' regulars were at the opening round of that series at Ashby, with the 'A' final being fought out between the 2003 and 2004 Rubber Champions, Andy Wallis and Darren Johnson.  This led to much speculation that entries would be well down for the Rubber Series, in fact some even doubted it's viability as a stand alone series.  Well the doubting Thomas's out there were proved wrong.  46 Drivers made the long trek to the new venue of Brookland near the south coast of Kent to open their accounts for 2005.

A new year always brings new car/driver combinations, so we saw Kevin Stevens and new Vice Chairman Mark Christopher running the Serpent 710 and Simon Woods has swapped his R12 for a Team Magic G4.  The big loser seems to have been the Mugen MTX3, maybe this is due to the non-appearance of the MTX4, or maybe the fact that it is a 2 year old design, but it was a surprise to see that my oh so reliable and tough MTX3 was one of only 3 of these cars at the meeting.  Many cars were sporting new motors, the new Picco based JP's were to be seen in many, as were the, similarly Picco based, new Serpent Mega motors.

The Brookland track is quite compact, with good use made of the available space.  There are excellent fences and well protected marshal points around the track.  There is a natural in dip the middle of the track area, with the left and right ends being slightly higher, especially the left hand end as seen from the rostrum.  There are excellent covered pits with lots of bench space (and lighting and power) in two areas, to the left and right of the rostrum. The pit lane exit leads you across the transponder loop into turn 1, a 90 right next to the race control 'shed' that blends into turn 2, another 90 right,  the two turns forming a fast sweeper at the left hand end of the track.  The exit from 2 leads you downhill onto the main straight.  The inside line from 2 drops behind the boards and a 1/10th Saloon briefly disappears from the view of spectators, though the drivers can clearly see the cars from the high rostrum.

So you're on the straight, the motor clears out rapidly and gets on the pipe in second as the car runs downhill,  but you are already setting up for some serious braking into turn 3, a slow right hand 270+ hairpin into the infield.  Turn 4 is a little more open, turning left into a right kink at turn 5 back onto the straight, leading rapidly onto a second banked sweeper that turns 180 degrees right to lead you back up the track from the far right hand end of the track area. Turns 7, 8 and 9 come up in quick succession as you thread left, right and right again  to find yourself heading across the track from right to left, inside of the track in front of the rostrum.  Turn 10 is a sharp left hander that has a very rigid board on the outside to catch out the unwary, and then most cars grab second briefly before turning hard left into turn 11, a third 180 degree sweeper inside turns 1 and 2.  The car gets back into second, then immediately back on the brakes for turn 12, the final 180 degree corner under the rostrum leading back into the pits straight.  Get it right and it's into second as you head back up the gradient into turn 1 for another lap.  So lots of acceleration, lots of braking and the left front tyre gets a good workout!

The track is regularly used by 1/5th scale racers, so the curbs are quite large and unforgiving.  It's not the widest track we have visited, more Aldershot than Mendip in width, so quite where the 1/5th cars find the space to overtake I don't know!  Certainly these cars will have less trouble with the bumps.

There were plenty of drivers at the track on Saturday for practice.  Paul Knapton was clearly well on the pace, with Nigel Moss and Mark Christopher snapping at his heels.  Andy Wallis arrived part way through the afternoon to give moral support to team mates Eugene Galley and Dave Thorns.  Andy is clearly concentrating on the EFRA style 200mm Touring class for 2005, but did the 500 mile plus round trip to help the team.  By the time 4:30 had arrived the air temperature had dropped and you could see your breath as little clouds.  The track was loosing it's heat and many retired for the day as there was little more to be learnt.  By 5 the track was empty and I can never remember that happening in the previous 4 season's I've taken part in this series.

Round 1

It soon became clear that local knowledge would be a factor, with Brookland track owner Shane Jackson setting a very quick time in heat 2.  Shane has no record in our series so was placed in this early heat, but this was clearly no handicap as he made a very fast time of 14 laps in 304.7 seconds, a time that was to be good enough for 3rd in the round.  The grip was still coming up though, and the later drivers in the round looked to have an advantage.  Paul Knapton took FTD with the only 15 lapper in the first round, with Nigel Moss 2nd fastest, missing out on a 15 by just 0.681 seconds.  Paul's engine was really screaming down the short straights, and it was only after the run that Joann Knapton told me he had no second gear.  That new Serpent Motor obviously has plenty of revs!

The top ten after round 1 looked like this:

Notable absentees from the top ten were Mark Christopher, who was down in unlucky 13th and Eugene Galley, who had yet to set a time. 

Round 2

Paul had 2nd gear this time round, but it improved his time only by three seconds.  Bruce Thompson joined Paul in the 15 lap club to take second overall and Michael Ball got things right in this round to take fourth, just under a second behind Nigel Moss who failed to improve on his first round time.

Shane Jackson had a DNS and so dropped from 3rd to 6th, while lurking near the bottom of the list was Eugene Galley, who had still only clocked 2 laps.

The top ten now looked like this:

Round 3

Round 3 and the 15 lappers came up thick and fast.  Heat 2 saw Shane Jackson get it all together for a very fast run to set a new FTQ at 15 laps, 307.6 seconds.  With the other 'A' final prospects mostly in heats 5 and 6, would it be beaten?

Michael Ball looked a prospect in heat 5, but in the end finished 9 seconds short with a 15 /316.772, then in heat 6 we saw 15 lap runs from Eugene Galley (finally!), Paul Knapton (again), Bruce Thompson (again) and Nigel Moss.  Neither Paul nor Bruce could beat their 2nd round times, in Bruce's case he was slower by just 67 hundredths of a second!  So Shane had held on to FTQ and the new top ten was:

So a 15 lap run would get you in the top half of the A, but was the track still improving?  New Vice Chairman Mark Christopher must have been hoping so, since he was still languishing in the 'B'.

Round 4

A fast, if not very pretty, run from Mark found him joining the 15 lap club, Nigel Moss knocked a few of seconds off his previous best to move up a couple of slots, and Paul Knapton was able to trim a couple of seconds and hold onto 3rd place.  Biggest looser from all this was young Ian Kerry, who not been out since his first run, and finally dropped out of the A to take top spot in the 'B'.

So that was how it ended.  Local hero Shane had held onto his FTD from round 3, and there were a few new faces making their first appearance in a Scale Rubber 'A' Final, though it was no surprise to see Eugene, Paul, Bruce and Mark in there.  The full FTD list after round 4 can be found here.

Tech Chart for the 'A' Finalists in FTD Order

Finals

The qualifying was all over and done by 1:15.  We had plenty of time so the Race Director suggested that the 'D' and 'E' finals should run for 15 minutes, instead of the usual 10, and no-one seemed to object.  There was a break for 'lunch' and the 'E' final was called to the line around 2:00 p.m.

E Final

Just 5 cars lined up for the 'E', with Chris Take non starting.  The race turned out to be a three way fight between Martin Kowalski, Brain Adams and, bottom qualifier, Ian Coates.  Martin led for most of the race but had a long lap, presumably due to a cut at his second pit stop.  He then hunted down Brian, finally getting in front with just a minute to go.  Ian, who had qualified in 6th place, must have been very pleased to overcome his problems all day and complete a 15 minute race at the end and go home with a trophy.

So the top 3 was:

D Final

The D Final was next, and I was in this one so saw very little of it.  I had a steady run from 3rd on the grid, dropping to the back very quickly as I usually do, and then fought back past pole man Jack Garret-Lines a couple of times to come home in 6th, thanks in no small part to a few retirements and the sterling pit work of Nigel Pearce.

Meanwhile up at the front Adrian Garlick, Barny Willard and Andy Greenwood had set of at a spanking pace, with Mike Nash joining in after half distance to take 3rd.  The top 3:

C Final

Since I was in the 'D' I was a marshal in the 'C' and hoped to see Sara Woodhams get a good run at last, since she had not been quite on her usual pace all day.  Well I must have been very busy at my marshal post on the back straight, 'cause I hardly saw any of the racing and was amazed when proud father Steve told me she had won it!  

Mind you she was back to 6th on lap two, rose to second by lap 16 and then took the lead on lap 21.  It was still a close run thing though, with second place Pat Piesley coming home just 2 seconds behind, and Jon Withington another couple of seconds back in 3rd.  Bruce Seaton came home fourth, still on the same lap as Sara, so all in all this was a very evenly matched final.

B Final

I was Pit Man for Steve Woodhams in the 'B' (no chance of a sit down for me!) but unfortunately Steve's NTC3 lost it's front Diff after his first pit stop, so that was game over for Steve.

The early leader was unlucky 11th overall Joe Kerry, but his luck was not to last, as after leading for 8 laps he struck problems and retired soon after.  This let Aldershot member Roki Read into a lead which he never lost, apart from at the pit stops.  Behind him was a battle between Kevin Stevens, Neil Wallace and Simon Wood.  In the end Neil fell back before ultimately retiring, leaving Kevin to beat Simon home by half a lap, just 12 seconds behind Roki.

A Final

I was to finish the day as Pit Man for Nigel Pearce in his first ever 'A' Final.  I just hoped he would have better luck with his run than Steve did in the 'B'.  Unusually the 'A' turned out to be a bit of a race of attrition.  Shane's excellent qualifying performance did not have a fairytale ending as he was out almost as soon as the race had started with radio problems.  Further down Lee Chapman never got off the line and Mark Christopher seemed to be more off than on the track with two long gaps for repairs.  Unluckiest of all was Eugene Galley, who inherited the lead from Paul Knapton at the first fuel stop, then led from lap 16 to lap 58, only to retire.

Paul Knapton was off the track for a while at lap 16, this allowed Nigel Moss up to second behind Eugene, but he struck car trouble around half distance allowing early third place runner Michael Ball through to second.  When Eugene retired that left Michael in the lead, from Bruce Thompson with the recovering Paul Knapton in 3rd.  Behind Paul in 4th place was my man Nigel Pearce with his Thunder Tiger, who was circulating reliably and steadily gaining places to finish 2 laps clear of 5th placed Jason Fox.  Nigel Moss soldiered on with a very difficult car to finish 6th with three wheel drive and a very loose wheel on his Kyosho FW-05.  Mark came back out for enough laps to finish 7th.

This is how the result looked in the end:

1  Michael Ball  2  Bruce Thompson  3  Paul Knapton  4  Nigel Pearce  5  Jason Fox  6  Nigel Moss  7   Mark Christopher  8  Eugene Galley  9  Shane Jackson  10  Lee Chapman (DNS)
	Bruce, Michael and Paul with their Trophies

The full finals listing can be seen here.

There was still a surprise to come, as Race Director Didier gave a short summary of each final at the prize-giving, and star re-fueler Joann Knapton presented the trophies to the winners.  Didier made great fun of the 'C' finalists having been beaten by our Lady Driver, Sara Woodhams, and we all got a laugh when Paul collected his trophy from Joann!  In the end all was done and dusted, photo's taken and pits cleared, and we left the track before 5 p.m.

Thanks very much to Brookland and the Kent IC club for running a very well organised and very friendly meeting to start our series in 2005.  Now we all look forward to round 2 at another new track for most of us, Crystal Palace in South London.