B.R.C.A. 1/10^th I.C. 200mm Foam National Round 2

Brookland Raceway April 20th

The BRCA 1/10^th IC 200mm Scale Touring Championship round 2 went to Brookland Raceway in Kent, This fast flowing track with its long back straight and fast technical in field was going to be a challenge this weekend with very wet weather forecast.

Saturday

By 9am there were only about 15 drivers at the circuit. but with the overnight rain and soaking wet track everyone was in the pits chatting, cutting new body shells, true-ing foam tyres, indeed everything apart from practice. The first driver to take the gamble at 10:50am was David Gerard, but he was taking it very slowly around the circuit because of all the puddles. A few more drivers tried their luck but by 1:30pm the rain came down and everyone went off to their hotels and caravans.

Sunday

Because of the rain all day on Saturday the committee agreed that there could be a 10 minute practice for all competitors in their designated heats. Drivers briefing was at 9:10am; our Vice Chairman reminded everyone about the rules again this year and said he would be watching for any wrong doing with a strong reminder that  refuelling in the pit lane would incur a penalty. Shane Jackson, the race director, explained that the tyre bollards had been put in the pit lane to reduce the speed of the cars and to take care. With rain forecast later in the day the first heat of practise was on the line at 9:30.

Round 1

With the track still damp, care was the word for the drivers, no lap records were going to be made first round.

Heat 1

Matt Williams set the pace with a 14 laps in 282,  new comer Trevor Villa with 12 laps in 244, and Peter Spratley with 10 laps in 278.

Heat 2

Jon Withington our safety officer put in 17 laps in 313, Roki Read with 16 laps in 302 and Daniel Williams with 15 laps in 303.

Heat 3

Adam Walker Catchpole had 18 laps in 300, and Aaron Wearn was pushing hard with 18 laps in 307, Neal King was doing well with 17 laps in 305.

Heat 4

Darren Johnson put a 19 laps in 306, Robin Hammett also 19 laps just a little slower in 311, young Kyle Branson was not far behind with 19 laps in 314.

Round 2

By now the track had some dry parts most divers went for a harder foam tyre this time

Heat 1

Matt Williams improved with 16 laps in 306, Les Mainwaring got out this time with 15 laps in 301, and the other improver was Peter Spratley with 13 laps in 305.

Heat 2

Roki Read improved with 18 laps in 302, so did Daniel Williams with 18 laps in 311, David Gerard went out this round and got 18 laps in 314, Jon Withington also did 18 laps in 315.

Heat 3

The improvers here were Aaron Wearn 19 laps in 313, Adam Walker Catchpole 19 laps in 314, and Fred Singleton put in a quick run of 18 laps in 308.

Heat 4

Darren Johnson went quicker with 19 laps in 301, Kyle Branson improved 19 laps in 303, and Gareth Bell put in a blistering run of 19 laps in 307.

Round 3

With light wind and the sun shining it felt like summer here at Brookland Raceway

Heat 1

Matt Williams went quicker again with 17 laps in 314, Peter Spratley got 16 laps in 305, and Hayley Baker only in her second national got 16 laps in 316.

Heat 2

Only two improvers in this heat being Daniel Williams a quick 18 laps in 303, and young Joe Kerry put in a great run of 18 laps in 305.

Heat 3

Not much change here in Round 3. The top three the same that being Adam Walker Catchpole, Aaron Wearn both on 19 laps 306 and 310 respectively and Fred Singleton with 18 laps in 298.

Heat 4

Darren Johnson still at the top with 20 laps in 313, Robin Hammett with 20 laps in 314, the only other improver was Steve Brown 19 laps in 308.

Round 4

The track was now dry, time to put the power down, not a drop of rain to been seen. "Ssshh" ok sorry!

Heat 1

Improvers were Matt Williams went quicker again with 17 laps in 305, and Trevor Villa with 13 laps in 249 this is his first national.

Heat 2

Daniel Williams was pulling out the stops he had a 19 laps in 313, Neil Wallace he did well with 18 laps Neil had mechanical problems all weekend.

Heat 3

Adam Walker Catchpole had a quicker run with 19 laps in 306.22; Neal King found more power and did 19 laps in 309, Simon Wood 19 laps in 313.

Heat 4

Kyle Branson, Mark Gilliland and Gareth Bell all doing 19 laps separated by 301.81, 303.28, 304.48.

With qualifying over at 1.40pm and the threat of rain at 3pm yet again were we staring at wet Finals at Brookland?.

Finals

D Final 15 minutes.

Only three cars in this heat and just as the beeps went for the start Nigel Philpot’s car stalled on the line, Nigel had been having trouble all day with his car. His wife got the car re-started but just over halfway in the final his car had further problems with his shocks. That left Trevor Villa and Les Mainwaring the only runners left, Trevor took first place from lap 2 but had to refuel every 4 minutes which gave Les a chance, but even with Trevor making four fuel stops to Les's 3, Trevor came home in first place with 46 laps his fastest lap being lap 17 and Les in second place on 42 laps his fastest was lap 21.

C Final 15 minutes.

Everyone got away from the start but on the first bend there was a coming together putting Matt Williams on the grass. Matthew Cook took the lead and, after a blown engine earlier, he was going to make this count. Eddy Crump was the first retirement on lap 5, Peter Spratley was the next to drop out on lap 7. Next to retire was Peter Craig on lap 28, then Hayley Baker dropped out with a one way bearing problem while on lap 30 Matt Williams retired with a broken camber link. Alex Brown took first place on lap 35 but lost it back to Matthew Cook on lap 37. At the end the top three were:

B Final 20 minutes

Everyone was on the start line but due to a computer fault everyone had an extra warm up lap. The second time round everyone had a good start. Ben Cosgrove taking the lead. Pete Watt was the first retirement on lap 12 with engine problems, in his first B Final Neal Wallace retired on lap 23 because the alloy middle belt pulley on the rear came off along with the belt rendering the car rear wheel drive. Pit lane repairs were made but the bearing on the lay-shaft slid sideways stripping both first and second spurs. Bad luck Neil. Chris Slater took first place on lap 38, while Joe Kerry was the next to retire on lap 41 pulling out with an overheated engine and blown plug. Daniel Williams retired on lap 42 after stripping his 2^nd gear also his lipo battery slid out and became unplugged causing the car to go in a spin on full throttle. The quick thinking of Martin Thurston (marshal) helped prevent a runaway and self destruction of the engine as he managed to kill the engine. Kevin Brown passed Chris Slater on lap 49 as Chris retired with engine problems, so with Kevin in first place and Roki Read in second and Ben Cosgrove in third this is how it finished.

A Final 30 minutes

This was one of the cleanest finals I have seen in a while, starting with a good clean start for everyone.  Darren Johnson took first from pole and led from start to finish. Jonathan Dobney took a tumble on the back in-field early on and retired on lap 15. The only other retirement was Mark Gilliland on lap 43 with engine problems, from what I saw it kept cutting. Robin Hammett lost his second place on lap 56 to Gareth Bell but Robin fought  hard and got it back on lap 62. Kyle Branson was in third place for a while but on lap 108 Gareth Bell squeezed past and just held on to third place. Robin Hammett in second and Darren Johnson in first. Oh and yes, and the promised rain stayed away.

The Brookland Pits

Drivers Briefing

Joe Kerry's Serpent 720

Dan Williams' Kyosho RRR

Steve Brown's Team Magic G4

Slaving over a hot laptop!

Trophy Collection

D Final Top 3

Les Mainwaring (2) Trevor Vila (1) and Nigel Philpott (3)

C Final Top 3

Jon Withington (2) Matthew Cook (1) and Alex Brown (3)

B Final Top 3

Roki Read (2) Kevin Brown (1) and Ben Cosgrove (3)

A Final Top 3

Robin Hammett (2) Darren Johnson (1) and Gareth Bell (3)

2007 BRCA Champion

Darren Johnson

Many many thanks from the BRCA 1/10^TH IC Section to Brookland Raceway and Shane Jackson, Andy Mollett, John and Muriel Russell and Stuart Craig who all worked hard to keep the meeting going in race control with all the computer and printer problems.

See you all Next Round 3 Mendip 18^th May

Pictures and Text by Grant Williams (Section PRO)

Edited and prepared for the web by Malcolm Norwood (Section Sec and Webmaster)