Entry now open for the GT12 Tarmac Grand Prix!

Relive some races from past nationals.

Applications are invited from any clubs interested in hosting an LMP national during the 2020/21 season.

Champions of the World. 

Relive some races from past nationals.

Relive some races from past nationals.

The sun shone once again on the MB Models King of Clubs as 100 racers arrived at the West London Racing Centre on Sunday. Temperatures hit 30 degrees by mid-day, but it felt much hotter in the sun and on track for the racers standing on the open rostrum at one of the oldest RC clubs in the country.

Theories bounced around social media on the reasons for Jefferies defeat at the previous round. Was it the continued rise and progress of Harley Eldridge? Was Jefferies having an off day, with his focus elsewhere? Was the camera position on the rostrum bothering him? Had the lack of available testing time in advance of the meeting levelled the playfield more than normal?

Jefferies had bounced back from the disappointment of second place at Colchester, winning the Nationals round there two weeks later, and throughout qualifying here at the penultimate “KOC” it looked like the defeat four weeks ago was a blip. The Adur club star dominated qualifying, winning every round in what appeared to be total comfort. Grainger only just staying in touch, Eldridge further back looking frustrated with her set-up.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a fantastic A-Final”

Introducing the first final race to the live RC:TV audience, commentator Nick Daman commented “I don’t think we’re going to see the fantastic A-Final we saw in Colchester because Olly’s got his act much more together”. 

“Yes, it looks that way,” replied co-commentator James Stewart. “Olly’s been at 98% whereas Chris has been maxed out to stay close”.

From the start, Jefferies again looked comfortable in the lead, Grainger looking lonely in second with the race for third between Damian Giddins, Eldridge and Liam Books. The picture started to change by mid-race, Grainger taking small, then big bites out of the gap to the leader. After 3 minutes the pressure told - the mistake coming from Jefferies in the notorious West London D section - and the lead was gone, Grainger now looking for a way past. Jefferies now looked to be holding on. Into the last lap the two were neck and neck, bit there was no way past for Grainger. The “D” was Jefferies undoing - a tiny mistake tightening his line making a gap for Grainger to dive up the inside onto the straight. A move we’ve seen many times over the years at West London - including the “door to door” contact that followed. As always here, the car getting out of the D section best wins the race to the line - taking the win by 5 hundredths over the line.

It is universally true that winning a race with a last lap pass always feels better than a flag-to-flag domination. Winning on the final corner is even better still. Grainger’s talk was well and truly up.

“The Greatest Touring Car Race of 2021”

Race 1 jumped straight into race two, Jefferies and Granger hurtling into the sweeper as though the hour between rounds had never happened.

Two corners later Grainger was back past Jefferies. Two laps later, Jefferies was looking to take the place back at every corner. A mistake at the halfway point - Grainger taking too much kerb - made the hole for Jefferies to pass back into the lead, kicking off a fantastic ‘cat and mouse’ for the lead. Harley Eldridge had found some pace and was keeping in touch, but all eyes were fixed firmly on the battle for first. Again, it was the West London D section - the far side of the track from his rostrum position -that caught out Jefferies. Grainger sweeping back alongside the two cars shot down the straight and round the sweeper side-by-side, the gloves now well and truly off. Grainger Held the led into the in-field, Jefferies nipping at his heels before contact at the top of the track. Jefferies, showed the Juniors how it’s done, waiting and sportingly giving the place back to his rival. Into the D section, Grainger ran wide, Jefferies through, Gringer passing back. A slide from Grainger made Jefferies brake hard to avoid a crash, then contact a few corners later, requiring Olly to return the place to Chris once more to finally take the win and the overall victory. “We didn’t see that coming!” said commentator Daman. 

Watch the Race Now

Talking to the media after the race, Grainger said:

“It’s been a great day racing. It feels good to get my mojo back and be at the front again - it’s been a while. The next round is at Adur, another track we haven't been to much. It doesn’t make Olly any easier to beat but it’s on again, all to play for.”

Jefferies said:

"It was a quirky race because we haven’t been here to practice. Obviously I’m disappointed but it was a good set of finals to race, I got beaten fair and square. No doubt it was better for the fans watching than it was for us. With the heat it was just like driving in the rain, so we were all hanging on a bit.”

Completing the podium, Harley Eldgridge reflected on her day, saying:

“Where I used to be 5th, I'm now getting podiums pretty much every weekend, so I’m pumped and looking forward to the next one. Bring it on.”

In the 13.5 Blinky Touring Car class, Eastbourne's Billy Fletcher piled the pressure on championship leader Marcus Askell with an exciting victory. After qualifying in second behind West London’s own Ash Wiffen, Fletcher pushed Wiffen back to second in both finals to take a double win. With Askell completing the podium in third place, Fletcher closed the gap at the top of the championship to just 9 points. This one is going down to the wire.

In the Tamiya GT-E class, Martin Reeder upended the form book beating run away championship leader Tim Harrop into second. Steve Adams had to settle for third. 

Aldershot’s Michael Lee continued his domination of the Monitex Formula One class, with a TQ and double final win ahead of West London’s Paul Ellis and Andy Murray.

Full results from RD4.

The fifth and final round is on 15th August at Adur Model Car Club.

Entries are available.

RC racings hot new under 12’s on-road championship, the Tamiya Junior-E crowned Eastbourne's Archie Matthews its first champion on Sunday at a sunbaked West London Racing Centre.

Matthews started round four of the five-race series knowing second place to arch-rival Finley Lanaway was enough to secure the championship. The racing between the two young drivers has been extremely close all year, needing tie-breakers to separate them at every round so far. Matthews was the clear favourite in championship points, but the bragging rights were far from settled. Matthew's Dad explained, “I’ve been telling him all week second will do it, but he just wants to win the race”. So, as qualifying started Archie made clear his intent setting off as fast as he could from the first beep.

Too fast, in fact. A grip roll halfway around the first lap put his car on its roof. Lanaway knew he needed to win and have Matthews finish third or worse, took over at the front. Every race and every qualifying heat in the series so far has been nip and tuck between the two and this was no different, Lanaway coming out on top by just two seconds.

The result was reversed in round two, this time Lanaway was unable to catch Matthews, having to deal with the newly found pace of Aldershot’s Keny Hyde starting to mix it with the front two with Ethan Webb never far behind. The development of these Tamiya Junior-E drivers is as fast as it is a joy to observe for everyone involved.

Round three and it was Matthews having to deal with Hyde pushing towards the front of the race. After three minutes all eyes were on the battle for second, Matthews and Hyde swapping places once or twice a lap. Heading into the West London sweeper side-by-side Matthews came out of the contact worse, losing ground before a few crashes as he pushed hard to close the gap decided the end result. Lanaway from Hyde from Matthews - suddenly the title wasn’t a foregone conclusion and the championship leader couldn't hide his disappointment. Lanaway went on to TQ with a strong win in the final qualifier from Matthews and Hyde. The race was less dramatic but all the more impressive as the top three drivers showed a level of consistency that belied their age and experience, and Matthews bounced back to relieve the pressure from Hyde’s challenge.

The performance boosted both Matthews' confidence and his start in the first final race. After a clean start, the schoolboy demonstrated a textbook inside pass to take the lead from Lanaway before some sudden oversteer entering turn 10 gave the place back to the fastest qualifier. Two more half spins for Matthews suggesting grip was disappearing for the yellow and orange TT02, and a tumble roll from taking too much kerb onto the main straight at the end of lap five allowed Lanaway’s silver arrow to open a gap. 

Compliment after compliment flowed from the RC Racing TV broadcaster at the racecraft as Lanaway dealt with backmarkers - the young drivers unable to resist scrapping with the leader as he came through - to take the win by 5 seconds.

Kenny Hyde led leg 2 at the end of the opening lap, coming out on top in a 4-way dice through the opening corners. Hyde, Lanaway, Matthews, Webb entered the infield section on lap 2 - a result that would keep the championship alive into the final round at Adur in 4 weeks time. Lanaway and Hyde swapped places through the infamous West London D section at the end of the lap. Lanaway then won the drag race back into turn one. Matthews made another textbook pass into the hairpin, relegating Hyde to third, then passed Lanaway to lead. Contract during the pass left the leg 1 winner with work to do to catch back up and keep the championship alive. The 5-second gap had closed to 2 seconds with 90 seconds left on the clock. 1.8 seconds a lap later. Matthews feeling the heat as he came round to lap traffic. Two contacts in two corners left Matthews on his roof and Lanaway in the lead he would hold to the finish. A TQ and double win was a great result for Lanaway, while Matthews had the consolation of securing the title with a round to spare to make up for the second place in leg 2 that really should have been a first.

Commenting after the race, Lanaway said:

 “This is how I would want every race meeting to go - a perfect round for me. The weather was good and the track was hot so you had a lot of grip. Each round I feel like I am getting to know my new Tamiya TT-02 more and more. The finals at West London were really good. I was sad for Archie when he got caught out by a back-marker whilst leading the second leg. It’s a shame that the championship couldn’t have gone down to the final round, but congratulations Archie!” 

The new Junior category champion, Matthews commented:

“I am super excited that I managed to win the Tamiya Junior-E championship on Sunday at West London. I was a bit disappointed to come second on the day because every time I race I want to win. I am happy for Finlay as we have become friends since racing together and he deserved the win as we have been super close each round. I can’t wait for the next round at Adur so we can do it again.

I have really enjoyed the king of clubs series as well as my races I get to watch the top drivers in modified. They are so so fast its amazing. My favourite is Harley as she races for Eastbourne. I hope one day I can race modified, maybe even for the world championship as I’d like to race in different countries. That would be fun. “

My dream would be to race in Formula 1 for McLaren like my favourite driver Lando Norris 😀”

A double win for Tyler Standing takes the Rookie class championship into a final round decider.

The Rookie section within Tamiya Junior-E is for drivers with less than ten races experience. Tyler Standing joined the series with his cousin, Harry, and the two boys' journey has captured the attention of the whole racing community.

Tyler is a young boy with a rare condition called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and has not been able to participate in competitive sport before because of this disability.  His family chose RC racing as an accessible hobby and activity for the boys to enjoy together. Totally new to the sport, Tyler finished 6th in the opening round at Aldershot. Impressive in the wetter than wet conditions. In the warm weather at Eastbourne, he edged it over cousin Harry to take 4th place. Harry repaid the compliment, winning at round 3, with Tyler in second place. And now, this last Sunday Tyler won the applause from the fans with a double race victory. A fantastic achievement for our sunshine champ. We’re all proud of you.

At the start of the day it looked like Adlershot’s Top Gun Maverick Adams was the driver to beat, taking a hard-fought (dog fight surely–Ed) first round. Tyler, DNF’d with a technical problem.

Round 2 became a two way battle between Tyler, back at the front and the other Admas family Rookie, Emilia. The 9 year old delighted to win the round from Tyler with debutants Elliott Smith (age 6), Frankie Fletcher (4) and James Binnie (6) not far behind at all. Tyler upped the pace in round 3, setting the fastest time of the day so far - an impressive 11/322. Only Adams (M) being able to stay in touch, just 2 seconds back.

As the tyres started to struggle with the hot track, the fourth round was an untidy affair - Adams (M) coming out on top from Adams (E), Tyler and then Binnie setting his personal best time so far.

Cousin Harry had been running with the more experienced jnr section to even up the heat numbers, TQ’d from Adams (M), Tyler, Adams (E), Poppy Hyde, Fletcher, Binnie and Smith.

A mistake from Harry early in the first final upset the order, Tyler coming through to lead from Poppy Hyde after one lap. The following laps were a textbook display of RC racing; on the subject of Brownian motion. As the race settled it was Tyler leading from Maverick Adams. By mid-race Harry had worked his way back through the field into second, but Tyler’s consistently over the final two minutes was a lesson for all in how to win. Tyler hit the front of Leg 2 within a couple of corners with Adams (M) in hot pursuit. Too hot - as the Aldershot driver continued to write cheques his tyres couldn't cash. Cool as a cucumber in the scorching heat, Tyler led all the way to the end to win from Maverick, Poppy, Emilia, Harry, Frankie and James.

Tyler's dad, David summed up everyone's feelings, saying:

“It's fantastic to see Tyler be able to enjoy a hobby that he can excel at and enjoy with his cousin Harry. It is such a great opportunity for Tyler and all the other kids to relax and have fun but also to understand what it is to be successful and to compete.”

And so say all of us.

Full results from round 4

The final round of Tamiya Junior-E is on 15th August at Adur Model Car Club.

Contact us for entries

Click here to see what went on at the third round at Colchester

Eldridge, still just 19 years of age, won the first two rounds of qualifying with her Yokomo BD10. In Round 3, Jefferies bounced back, showing his psychological strength to deal with the few spots of 'mental rain' and the third run tyres better than the rest. Heading into Round 4, the on-site commentators from RC:TV wondered if Jefferies would break the seal on his second set of tyres and push for TQ, needing to win the round and better Eldridge's best time from RD2. Those who know Jefferies already knew the answer - he is not a driver who settles for second place. The X-ray man was forced to accept being out-qualified; however, after the first few laps of the final qualifying run were enough to understand the changes made in the hope of bettering Eldridge weren't working.

Eldridge got off to a blistering start in the first leg of the two-legged final races pulling a small gap on Jefferies with Capricorn's Kyle Branson in third. Jefferies, however, responded mid-race to close the gap and pile the pressure on the leader in impressive style, under mounting pressure himself from Branson behind. But, again, Eldridge showed class and steely determination, changing lines through the tight infield section to thwart any potential pass from the drivers behind to take a stellar win.

Leg two started similarly, Eldridge getting away, Jefferies closing and nipping at her heels from mid-race. This time, Jefferies made contact with the rear end of Eldridge's Yokomo. Eldridge emerged from the mele still leading, but not unscathed, with a tucked body shell fouling a rear tyre generating erratic handling. Unable to maintain her previous pace, Branson swiftly moved past to lead. The fight for second was suddenly a four-way battle with Matthew White and Zak Smith catching Jefferies and Eldridge. Smith tagged White soon after to end the challenge, and Jefferies finally made a pass stick through the infield, the shell tuck leaving Eldridge unable to hold a line. Frustration then told, Eldridge took too much kerb into the final sweeper, launching her Yokomo into the side fence. A thrilling race finished with Branson P1 from Jefferies, White, Smith and Eldridge.

After the two finals, Branson took the overall win on countback from Jefferies and Eldridge. The crowd (and promoter) wished for a third final to resolve matters.

Commenting on his victory, Branson said, "We all need a little bit of luck sometimes, and I certainly had some today. Still, I was really pleased with how my car responded to changes throughout the day. I'm happy to take the win".

Responding, Eldridge commented, "That's racing, and that's close racing. But, breaking Olly's dominance in the series is a great feeling, and I'm looking forward to the next one".

Jefferies said, "You can't win them all, even though that's the aim. Harley had the pace today and really deserved to win overall. But this race is done, and I'll be back next time, trying even harder". Magnanimous. And still, the man to beat.

Aldershots Glenn Westwood returned to form with a fine TQ and double victory in 17.5 blinky. West London's Ash Wiffen and Colchester's Ricky Copsey took a win apiece in an extremely close 13.5 blinky class, but Adur's Marcus Askell won overall with two solid podium drives.

The Monitex Formula One class proved itself again as another home for thrilling RC racing. Aldershot's Dan Robins took victory from Eastbourne's Aidan Gale and West London's Paul Ellis in an exceptionally close-fought set of races.

Fourteen young drivers, all under 12 years old, took to the track in the Tamiya Junior-E, one of the highlights of the day. Split into 'rookies' and 'juniors' depending on experience and driving stock Tamiya TT02's championship leader Archie Matthews once again came out on top in the Junior's after battling his now established rival Finlay Lanaway. But it was 'Team Standing' that left the podium with the biggest smiles as cousins Harry and Tyler Standing finished first and second in the rookies class.

Round 4 of the King of Clubs is at West London Racing Centre on 18th July.

Eastbourne's Archie Matthews and Finlay Lanaway continued their battle for the championship at round 3 of the Tamiya Junior-E. In the rookies section, it was Harry and Tyler Standing that left everyone smiling as the cousins took the honours in the second heat.

The tight and twisty Colchester Model Car Club track hosted fourteen young drivers, all under 12 years old, in the Tamiya Junior-E on Sunday, one of the highlights of the MB Models King of Clubs race series. Split into 'rookies' and 'juniors' depending on experience and driving stock Tamiya TT02's the drivers were racing alongside a packed entry of touring car drivers including two world champions in Andy Murray and Marcus Askell, and the reigning national touring car champion Olly jefferies.

Championship leader Archie Matthews once again came out on top in the Junior's after battling rival Finlay Lanaway throughout qualifying. Both drivers won two legs apiece, but it was Matthews in pole position for the two legged final races on the tie-break.

The two drivers swapped places 4 times in the first four corners of leg 1 before a fifth pass ended with Matthews TT02 flipping onto its roof in the in-field section. Having to battle back from last position, Matthews showed impressive pace and some fine overtaking to pile pressure on Lanaway, who cracked in the final third of the race, grip rolling in his effort to up the pace. Matthews back into a lead he would then hold to the flag, Lanaway recovering to second in front of newly promoted Oliver Woodall.

Lanaway again took the lead from Matthews early in leg 2, a clever clean pass up the inside at turn 3. This time however Lanaway’s silver and black TT02 stayed in P1. As they crossed the line to start the last lap Matthews was just half a second behind. This time the racing Gods were with the leader. Lanaway was forced wide during a pass on a backmarker, letting Matthews through to lead. Archie must have thought he had the win in the bag as an uncharacteristic mistake saw his car hit the kerbing and flip over, allowing Lanaway back through to win the race.

A win apiece left the drivers tied yet again, Matthews taking the overall win thanks to his faster time in qualifying.  With four qualifying heats and two finals unable to separate the two rivals, a third final to settle the battle on track is surely needed!

The rookies section - for drivers with less than ten races experience - saw Poppy Hyde as top qualifier with two impressive qualifying wins. It was Harry Standing however that took the first final win ahead of Hyde, with cousin Tyler Standing in third. The three drivers put on a fantastic race ahead of the field. Team Standing repeated the feat in the second leg, but Hyde had one crash too many, dropping to fifth. Local debutant Emily Southgate took full advantage to complete the podium.

Round 4 of the Tamiya Junior-E is at West London Racing Centre on 18th July.

Finals 1: https://youtu.be/RPsVpJYsvV0?t=8461

Finals 2: https://youtu.be/RPsVpJYsvV0?t=13593 

The 2nd British National of the 2021 season took place at the highly technical Cotswold circuit on the 19th and 20th June. An entry of 45 drivers  included a a return of many familiar faces , including former National Champion Joe Kerry, who were welcomed by blazing sunshine on the Saturday.

Rd4 takes place 24/25th July at Wombwell model car club famously attached to the go-kart circuit with a fast flowing in-field. 

With England entering the final phase of its “return to normal” on 19thJuly the BRCA RallyCross committee and the Club have reviewed our position on the wearing of face coverings and after much consideration we bring in the following guidelines for the national at Shrewsbury:-

Thurston back to winning ways and Walton takes Electric class

Elliot Boots dominates the forth round at Brookthorpe in both classes. (Main image. New invention: The Hover Truggy)

Thurston and Fletcher take BRCA 1/8 Rd1 opening wins

Rd3 10th - 11th July 2021 at Halifax (Yorkshire Radio Control Model Car Racing Club)

The newly resurfaced Halifax track will play host to rd3 of the BRCA 1/8 Circuit series.