B.R.C.A. 1/10^th I.C. 200mm Foam National Round 4

Snetterton Park Model Car Club 8th June 2008

The BRCA 1/10^th IC 200mm Scale Touring Championship round 4 went to Snetterton Park Norfolk. At this meeting we will be having EFRA Style Bump-Up Finals, something I have never experienced so I was looking forward to the weekend's racing. I arrived Friday night because the British Formula 3 Championship was taking place at the full size circuit the same weekend and the roads were very busy.

View of the Circuit from the Driver's Rostrum

Saturday

It had not stopped raining all night and by 9am it was still pouring down, 10am saw Robin Hammett go out to see how the car handled, every corner it was like a drift car but well controlled. By mid afternoon the rain had got lighter but it was still too wet for practice, so yet again back to the hotels and caravans.

Sunday

Due to the lack of practice on Saturday the committee decided to have 1 hour of practice in heat order starting at 8:30 to give all 30 drivers a chance to set cars up.

Vice Chairman Wayne Lander called a drivers briefing just before 9:45 am. It was very detailed, he told us how the bump-up finals work and reminded everybody about the rules.

There were a few more committee members here to help run the meeting. Bob Harley was on the rostrum to be referee, Max Crossland was the official flagman to start the heats and finals, Malcolm Norwood in race control with Rob Nelson from BBK.

Rob brought along some wireless technology to enable those with Laptops and PDA`s to pick up Wi-Fi signals and see race results and full lap timing in their pits, this proved very popular.

Bob Harley (Referee) keeps an eye on the Racing

Practice

The first practice was more like a rubber meeting most opting for rubber tyres but the track was very greasy

Round 1

Heat 1

Gyan Mahatme, Nigel Philpott and Mark Owen all putting in 17 laps and some with pirouettes this first round was not easy

Heat 2

Matthew Cook put in a very good run with 19 laps, Neil Wallace on 18 laps closely followed by Dave Gerard also on 18 laps.

Heat 3

Pete Watt and Daniel Williams both put in 20 laps, with Joe Kerry close behind on 19 laps. The track was drying out now.

Heat 4

Kyle Branson put in 20 laps with Johnathan Dobney, Mark Green and Robin Hammett also on 20 laps but just a bit slower.

FTD after Round 1 can be seen here.

Devendra and Gyan in the Pits

Start of Heat 3

By now the track had a dry line and with most drivers back on foam tyres laps and times would be better

Heat 1

Adrian Garlick had a far better run with 18 laps compared with his first round

Heat 2

Trevor Villa was the best improver in this heat He has said 'My car just does not like the wet'. Well I think you have found it with 19 laps and looking strong.

Heat 3

Matthew Oke, who did not get out in the first round, put in 18 laps and Simon Wood who had a bad last round also put in 18 laps, but both Pete Watt and Young Joe Kerry both on 21 laps.

Heat 4

Not much changed in this heat, Chris Slater, Johnathan Dobney and Stephen Brown all on 22 laps, Robin Hammett on 21 laps.

If you are wondering where such names as Darren Johnson, Ben Cosgrove, Mark Gilliland and Gareth Bell are, well unfortunately they had other commitments so this prevented them from attending, hope to see them at the next round.

FTD after Round 2 can be seen here.

Round 3

With the Snetterton Sunday market adjoining the track there was always a large crowd looking on as the qualifying continued, so people were interested to know when the finals were on as they were amazed at how fast the cars were going, but they did appreciate how hard they would be to handle.

Heat 1

Adrian Garlick had definitely found a good setup. He improved with 20 laps in the 5 min qualifying heat, and the birthday girl Hayley Baker was on 19 laps, just one off her age with Nigel Philpott on 18 laps.

Heat 2

Mathew Cook put in 21 laps, young Alex Thurston also went quicker with 20 laps in the 5 mins along with Trevor Villa, Matt Williams improved on 19 laps.

Heat 3

Simon Wood set the pace with 21 laps closely followed by Adam Walker-Catchpole and Daniel Williams also on 21 laps.

Adrian Garlick's Car

Heat 4

Mark Green set the pace here with 23 laps, he was going to be hard to beat.

FTD after Round 3 can be seen here.

Pete Watt takes the Sweeper

Heat 1

Another good run from Adrian Garlick with 20 laps. Mark Owen put in 19 laps and Gyan Mahatme with 18 laps.

Heat 2

Young Alex Thurston really went for it here he put in 21 laps, Trevor Villa went better this time with 20 laps closely followed by Neil Wallace also on 20 laps.

Heat 3

Simon Wood and Pete Watt both improved with 22 laps and followed closely by Joe Kerry on 21 laps.

Heat 4

Mark Green, Kyle Branson, Chris Slater and Johnathan Dobney all with 23 Laps. These 4 drivers qualified straight into the main final.

Top Ten after Round 4:

FTD after Round 4 can be seen here.

Finals

The next four finals are all over 20 mins, before all finals there was a warm up time and a 1lap formation (radio check) as per EFRA rules.

B 1/4 Final

Nice clean start for all. Neil Wallace took the lead followed very closely by Peter Craig. At the 1st fuel stop both cars came in together. Neil got out just in front of Peter and held it till lap 27 when Peter Craig took the lead. Mark Owen was 3rd and Haley Baker 4th, David Gerard and Nigel Philpott both jostling for 5th place. At the 3rd fuel stop Nigel was in the pit lane a long time which put David Gerard up to 5th place but unfortunately David retired on lap 56. Peter Craig held 1st and Neil Wallace 2nd and Mark Owen finished 3rd. These three bumped-up to the B Semi

A 1/4 Final

Another good start, especially for Matthew Oke who from 4th on the grid was in 1st place from the start. Devendra Mahatme took 1st place on lap 5 then on lap 14 Alex Brown tookover 1st place and held it till the end. Matt Williams moved up to 2nd place on lap 18, Matt was slowing down at lap 27 and losing places. When he came in to the pits his front drive belt had broken. He went back out but at lap 40 retired. Matthew Oke took 2nd place and with Devendra Mahatme in 3rd this is how it finished. So Alex Brown, Matthew Oke and Devendra Mahatme all bumped-up to the A Semi.

B Semi Final

B Semi-Final Start

With another clean start pole position man Stephen Brown takes the lead with Neal King very close behind. By lap 5 Neal King took over 1st place, little Alex Thurston was in 3rd followed by Fred Singleton in 4th. On lap 21 Stephen Brown went into the back of Neal King and was given a stop and go penalty. Neal was now down in 6th place but he pushed hard and by lap 29 he was back in 3rd place. Adam Walker Catchpole had moved up to 2nd place.

Adrian Garlick was the first retirement on lap 27 followed closely by Fred Singleton. On Stephen Brown's second fuel stop he hit the pit wall on the way in and broke a front linkage, this put him out of the race. By now we had Adam in 1st place, Neil 2nd and Alex in 3rd place. Lap 56 saw Neal King retire; Peter Craig who was 8th on the grid was now in 2nd place, so they finished with Adam Walker Catchpole in 1st Peter Craig 2nd and little Alex Thurston in 3rd. All bumped-up to the A Final, a second time for Peter. Neil Wallace just missed out coming in 4th.

A Semi Final

With only 3 places left in the A Final the last semi got under way. Another good clean start with Simon Wood in 1st, Pete Watt 2nd and Robin Hammett in 3rd from 5th on the grid. By lap 17 Robin was now in 2nd and all over the back of Simon. Simon responded with a lap of 13.16 on lap 28 but could not shake Robin off. Pete Watt was now in 3rd with Daniel Williams in 4th place. On lap 38 as Trevor Villa came in for fuel to use his words “The pit wall swerved out in front of me and damaged my wishbone” so he retired. Robin took the lead on lap 42, Simon and Robin changed places many times, Pete Watt was lying third, but fell down to 5th place with a wheel coming off then got back to 3rd when rear shock came off he carried on regardless. On lap 54 Robin did a fast lap of 13:27 I think they were playing with everyone with the crowds cheering them on. By lap 61 Robin was back in 1st but was having trouble keeping his place, by lap 68 Simon was back in 1st. Aaron Wearn was having his own race with Daniel for 3rd place. Pete Watt now had his front shock come off on lap 72 and he finally retired. At the end Robin Hammett was 1st, Simon in 2nd and Aaron was 3rd and these three all bumped-up to the Main Final.

Robin Hammett's Car

Main Final (45 minutes)

This was going to be the final of finals, excellent start for all apart from Johnathan Dobney who had a clutch problem during the main final warm up, sending him to the back of the grid.

Mark Green led the field followed by Kyle Branson in 2nd and Chris Slater in 3rd but by lap 9 Kyle took 1st place Mark in 2nd and Robin Hammett in 3rd, Chris was in 4th place and slowing down as he had a problem, by lap 24 he was down in 5th. Adam Walker Catchpole had moved to 4th.

As the first cars came in for fuel the positions were Kyle in 1st, Mark 2nd and Robin 3rd.

Before the second pit stop on lap 41 Chris Slater’s clutch came undone and resulted in a fly weight breaking off and cracking the fuel tank, better luck next time Chris.

At the second fuel stop both Kyle and Mark came in together so it was down to the pitmen. Kyle just pulled away with Mark right on his bumper, a good fuel stop for Robin still keeping him in 3rd place and Adam Walker Catchpole now in 4th. This is how it was for much of the race. Mark and Kyle were changing places they kept us all transfixed as it was a really close thing. On lap 95 Mark Green put in a 12:94 lap.

On lap 109 Aaron Wearn`s pitman put a foot in the pit lane so he had a stop go penalty.

On lap142 Kyle slowed and lost 3 places, slipping down to 4th he came into the pits where his pitman (father Andy) had to change both 1st and 2nd gears (they had stripped). He went back out still in 4th place.

Mark was still 1st, Robin 2nd and Johnathan Dobney was now up to 3rd place. But then Johnathan's front right shock absorber snapped. He stayed out as there was just 10 minutes of the race to survive on three dampers. Kyle Branson was called in for a stop as another pitman put his foot in the pitlane.

Peter Craig made a last minute dash with disastrous consequence, he snapped his conrod in his new STS engine on lap 172.

With the last few minutes left Mark was still in 1st Robin in 2nd and Kyle had fought back to 3rd place. Johnathan in 4th with his broken shock, this was the finishing order. Alex Thurston had a great days racing going straight from qualifying to the B Semi and straight to the A Final were he finished 9th due to his battery failing.

Mark and Kyle, it was that close!

Robin Hammett, Mark Green and Kyle Branson

Many thanks from the BRCA 1/10TH IC Section to Rob Nelson from BBK and Snetterton Club and John Guest for a very smooth run meeting.

See you all Next Round 5 Wrexham 6th July

Pictures and Text by Grant Williams (Section PRO)

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