The BRCA was formed some years ago and the 1/8th rallycross section is an integral part of the association. You will find 1/8th rallycross cars being raced across the country nearly every weekend of the year at BRCA Affiliated clubs
Which you can find elsewhere on the BRCA Website, however since 1983 the rallycross section has run a full season of race meetings from April to September, with 4 championships now in place the National Championship, The Clubman, The Junior and the Over 40s Championships.
All 1/8th rallycross cars are powered by 3.5cc nitro fuel powered engines so you are not only racing your model car against others, but you also get the smell and the noise of full size motor racing. So if that has wetted your appetite for having a go at rallycross, come along to one of the clubs or come to a national event where you can discover more information.
The section prides itself on being friendly and available to answer any questions that you might have.
By Tehannah Cradock Round 5 of BRCA RallyX Nationals was held at Nemo Raceway for the last round of the 2024 national series. Going into the last round, all four of the championships were up for grabs in National, Clubman Junior and 40+.
The multi-surface, high-grip track at Nemo Raceway made for interesting qualifying rounds on Saturday. With the worry of the challenging weather conditions stopping racing on Sunday, qualifying became even more important for the top two national championship contenders, Elliott Boots and Jonny Skidmore. SWORKz’ Elliott Boots took Q1, ahead of AE’s Neil Cragg in 2nd and Agamas Erik Lykke in 3rd. Q2 saw XRAY’s Jonny Skidmore taking TQ, ahead of AE’s Neil Cragg in 2nd and WIRC’s Lewis Jones in 3rd.
Q3 saw a first-ever TQ for one of our junior drivers, Erik Lykke, with his Agama, followed by Elliott Boots in 2nd and Neil Cragg in 3rd. The final round of qualifying on Saturday was sealed with Elliott Boots TQing and Jonny Skidmore in 2nd, separated by only one second! Followed by Neil Cragg in 3rd.
Moving into Sunday, unfortunately, the track was hit heavily with rain overnight, which flooded the track and pitlane. The last round of the BRCA championship for 2024 was decided on from Saturday's qualifying, with two out of four rounds to count.
Below are the top 3 for the meeting results (National, Clubman Junior and 40+ championships).
National
1st Elliott Boots (SWORKz)
2nd Jonny Skidmore (XRAY)
3rd Erik Lykke (Agama)
Junior
1st Erik Lyyke (Agama)
2nd Billy Grindley (WIRC)
3rd Ben Simpson (AE)
40+
1st Neil Cragg (AE)
2nd Graham Alsop (HB)
3rd Simon Willetts (Mugen)
Clubman
1st Reuben Shakespeare (SWORKz)
2nd Jon Spencer (HB)
3rd Adam Hall (HB)
Overall - BRCA RallyX Series Championship Results
National Championship Top 3
1st Elliott Boots (SWORKz)
2nd Jonny Skidmore (XRAY)
3rd Neil Cragg (AE)
Juniors Championship
1st Ben Simpson (AE)
2nd Erik Lykke (Agama)
3rd Billy Grindey (WIRC)
40+
1st Neil Cragg (AE)
2nd Graham Alsop (HB)
3rd Kevin Brunsden (Agama)
Clubman Championship
1st Reuben Shakespeare (SWORKz)
2nd Kyle Boon (Kyosho)
3rd Adam Hall (HB)
Well done to all participants of this year’s National Series across all four Championships! The standard of racing has been extremely high, very competitive, but always friendly, which is what our section is all about – well done to all!
Thank you to all the clubs that hosted events and providing great tracks to race on throughout the year.
Thank you to all the BRCA committee for their hard work behind the scenes and we look forward to welcoming you on track with us next year in 2025.
Next up we look forward to seeing you at the BRCA AGM on the 26th and 27th of October, with further details found on the main BRCA page.
By Tehannah Cradock The fourth Round of the BRCA National Championship was held at NWN, with the track crew working hard throughout the year to create a new technical layout, and a great venue. Saturday qualifying saw domination in the first four rounds from XRAY’s Jonathan Skidmore and cinching overall TQ before all five rounds had concluded. Rain overnight saw a tricky last round of qualifying but in the end Elliott Boots TQ’d round five which gave him a top three overall and a valuable Championship point.
Top three after qualifying were:
1 st Jonathan Skidmore (Xray)
2 nd Neil Cragg (AE)
3 rd Elliott Boots (Sworkz)
Lower Finals
1/64B
1st Will Turlin (Sworkz)
2nd Carson Guppy (Sworkz)
3rd Brynn Hall (Agama)
4th Tom Gilroy (Mugen)
1/64A
1st Nick Simmerson (Agama)
2nd William Paul (XRAY)
3rd Andy Pierce (Agama)
4th Lewis Trafford (Agama)
1/32B
1st Andrew Rennick (Mayako)
2nd Adam Buckholt (Sworkz)
3rd Gareth Davies
4th Connor Hamblett (HB)
1/32A
1st Peter Van Tonder (AE)
2nd Andy Beaumont (Tekno)
3rd Ben Kennett (Agama)
4th Craig Russell (XRAY)
1/16 B
1st Allan Ward (Mugen)
2nd Andrew Rennick (Mayako)
3rd Kev Jones (Agama)
4th Kieran Wayman (HB)
1/16 A
1st Mike Daniels (Agama)
2nd Steve Guppy (Sworkz)
3rd Mark Milward (HB)
4th Craig Russell (XRAY)
1/8B
1st Ashley Pattison (Sworkz)
2nd Holger Lykke (Agama)
3rd Oilver Nattress (Kyosho)
4th Mick Butler (Schumacher)
1/8A
1st Daniel Thorne (Sworkz)
2nd Ashlee Owen (Agama)
3rd Cayden Stenhouse (Mugen)
4th Josh Bougourd (Sworkz)
1/4B
1st Simon Willetts (Mugen)
2nd Kevin Brunsden (Agama)
3rd Joe Chew (WIRC)
4th Jon Hazelwood (Agama)
1/4A
1st Luke Holdsworth (XRAY)
2nd Max O’Donnell (AE)
3rd Taro Cradock (Kyosho)
4th Daniel Thorne (Sworkz)
Semi-Finals
Semi-final B was led by Neil Cragg throughout, quickly pulling away from 2 nd place of Mayako’s Mike Lewis. However, around the five-minute mark, Mike Lewis had a runaway, which removed him from the top seven and forced early retirement. HB’s Graham Alsop then took 2nd place. There were intense battles for the remaining five transfer spots into the main throughout the final. The top seven were 1 st Neil Cragg (AE), 2 nd Graham Alsop (HB), 3rd Bradley Baird (Mugen), 4 th Ben Simpson (AE), 5 th Maxim Cooke, 6 th James Le Pavoux (Sworks), and 7 th Simon Willetts.
Semi A saw our two national championship title contenders, Jonathan Skidmore and Elliott Boots, race together. Throughout the entire 20 minutes, it was a close battle for first and
second! Alike to the first semi final, Semi A saw us lose two more drivers in direct transfer spots with Josh Holdsworth (XRAY) and William Skidmore (XRAY) both exiting the race early
on. This left for another close battle for the remaining drivers for their place in the main final, with only 23 seconds separating from 3 rd to 8 th place! The top seven from semi A were 1 st Jonathan Skidmore (XRAY), 2 nd Elliott Boots (Sworkz), 3 rd Paul Crompton (XRAY), 4 th Lee Martin (Agama), 5 th Erik Lykke (Agama), 6 th Jack Willetts (WIRC) and 7 th Luke Holdsworth (XRAY).
Main Final
The main final kicked off with the top 3 of Skidmore, Boots and Cragg pulling away from the main pack, with Jonathan Skidmore (XRAY) beginning to extend a decent lead over the two in the first five minutes. As the final progressed, the rain clouds that loomed around the track at the start of the main gave way to a big rain downpour. With parts of the track with oil becoming slippery this bunched up the pack of 15 cars and mixed up the pack! Notably from Bradley Baird (Mugen), who used the rain to his advantage to climb up to 3 rd place and attempt a battle for 2 nd place. As the track proceeded to dry out, Elliott Boots (SWORKZ) began to climb his way back up the pack to begin his chase to catch up with Skidmore and Cragg, after a few costly errors in the middle of the race.
As Skidmore sat a comfortable 7 seconds ahead of Cragg and Boots the second rain downpour hit with ten minutes of the race left to go. This again bunched up the pack with Elliott Boots catching Jonathan Skidmore with five minutes to go, an intense battle for the lead occurred with the additional lack of grip with both drivers swapping places. Boots managed to pass Skidmore and make it stick with four corners to go and take the win in a fantastic race! Neil Cragg and Ben Simpson (both Associated) also had a strong end to the race to finish 3 rd and 4 th and all of the top four ended within 9 seconds after 45 minutes of racing!!
A big thank you to the NWN crew for a great track, to all the drivers in attendance, and to the BRCA team.
The next and final round of the BRCA championship is at Nemo Raceway on September 21st and 22nd, with the overall National Championship still to be decided!
National:
1st Place Finish - Elliott Boots (SWORKZ)
2nd Place Finish - Joni Skidmore (XRAY)
3rd Place Finish - Neil Cragg (AE)
40+:
1st Place Finish - Neil Cragg (AE)
2nd Place Finish - Graham Alsop (HB)
3rd Place Finish - Simon Willetts (MUGEN)
Junior:
1st Place Finish - Ben Simpson (AE)
2nd Place Finish - Maxim Cook (WIRC)
3rd Place Finish - Erik Lykke (AGAMA)
Clubman
1st Place Finish - Luke Holdsworth (XRAY)
2nd Place Finish - Joe Chew (WIRC)
3rd Place Finish - Josh Holdsworth (XRAY)
By Tehannah Cradock Round 3 of BRCA Nationals at Brookthorpe. The team prepared a great track for us, with the periodic rain showers throughout the day on Saturday making it even more challenging!
Due to the heavy rain and time taken from rain breaks, qualifying was cut down to 4 rounds, with best 3 to count. Overall TQ was to be decided on Sunday morning, after another delayed start due to rain overnight - the top 3 overall was:
TQ Jonny Skidmore (XRAY)
2nd Elliott Boots (SWORKz)
3rd Lewis Jones (WIRC)
The finals gave us some brilliant action as a number of drivers were “out of position” compared to their expected final due to the “mixed up” qualifying (as a result of the weather!) That didn’t matter one bit come Sunday and it was great to see so many tight battles, with a number of drivers progressing through more than one “bump up” – notably Simon Reeves (HB) who progressed from 1/32 to the semis!!.
Here are the top 4 bump ups from each final:
1/64B
1st Cayden Stenhouse (Mugen)
2nd Gavin Powell (HB)
3rd Matty Box (WIRC)
4th Bruce Lee (AE)
1/64A
1st Connor Hamblett (HB)
2nd Dennis Holding (Mugen)
3rd Craig Russell (XRAY)
4th Lewis Trafford (Agama)
1/32B
1st Simon Reeves (SWORKz)
2nd Cayden Stenhouse (Mugen)
3rd Gavin Powell (HB)
4th Daniel Troughton (Agama)
1/32A
1st Connor Hamblett (HB)
2nd Jonathon Wolfe (Agama)
3rd Dennis Holding (Mugen)
4th Daniel Andrews (HB)
1/16B
1st David Gibson (CPX)
2nd Simon Reeves (HB)
3rd Maxim Cook (WIRC)
4th Cayden Stenhouse (Mugen)
1/16A
1st Dom Nunn (HB)
2nd Liam Brocklehurst (XRAY)
3rd Jonathon Wolfe (Agama)
4th Josh Holdsworth (XRAY)
1/8 B
1st Simon Reeves (HB)
2nd David Gibson (CPX)
3rd Max McDonnell (AE)
4th Maxim Cook (WIRC)
1/8 A
1st Jack Willetts (WIRC)
2nd Josh Holdsworth (XRAY)
3rd Darren Hayden Ball (SWORKz)
4th Dom Nunn (HB)
1/4B
1st Mike Lewis (Mayako)
2nd Jon Hazlewood (Agama)
3rd Simon Reeves (HB)
4th Simon Willetts (Mugen)
1/4A
1st Billy Grindley (SWORKz)
2nd Dom Nunn (HB)
3rd Bradley Baird (Mayako)
4th Josh Holdsworth (XRAY)
Semi-finals:
Semi B started with Elliott Boots (Sworkz) leading the pack ahead of Graham Alsop (HB). As the final progressed a few mistakes made by Graham Alsop allowed William Skidmore (XRAY) to pass and take 2nd . After passing Graham Alsop, William Skidmore caught up to Elliott Boots and passed to take the lead and eventually win the semi-final. A well-driven race from 7 th on the grid! The top 7 to bump from semi- final B was 1 st William Skidmore (XRAY), 2 nd Elliott Boots (SWORKz), 3 rd Kevin Brunsden (Agama), Graham Alsop (HB), Mike Lewis (Mayako), Jon Hazelwood (Agama) and Simon Willets (Mugen) in 7 th .
Semi-final A was led by Jonny Skidmore (XRAY) followed by Lewis Jones (WIRC), after a short battle between the top two a few errors allowed Skidmore to pull away. The top 7 completing the A final line up were, 1 st Jonny Skidmore (XRAY), Lewis Jones (WIRC), 3 rd Erik Lykke (Agama), 4 th Neil Cragg (AE), 5 th Ben Simpson (AE), 6 th Billy Grindley (SWORKz) and in 7 th James Le Pavoux (SWORKz).
Main Final
The A main started with William Skidmore leading from Elliott Boots and Jonny Skidmore. An early error from Jonny dropped him down the running order and gave way to a three way battle for 3 rd from Graham Alsop, Erik Lykke and Lewis Jones. As the raced progressed a few small errors grom Graham Alsop and Lewis Jones allowed Erik Lykke to pass. At the 30 minute mark the battle for the top 2 spots was raging on between Elliott and William until unfortunately William had an issue forcing him to stop in the center of the track. Elliott then took the lead for the remainder of the final and went on to win round 3 of the championship. Erik Lykke finished in 2 nd place with his first ever top 3 at a national (!) followed by Graham Alsop in 3 rd .
National:
1st Place Finish - Elliott Boots (SWORKz)
2nd Place Finish - Erik Lykke (AGAMA)
3rd Place Finish - Graham Alsop (HB)
Junior:
1st Place Finish - Erik Lykke (AGAMA)
2nd Place Finish - Ben Simpson (AE)
3rd Place Finish - Billy Grindley (WIRC)
40+:
1st Place Finish - Graham Alsop (HB)
2nd Place Finish - Kevin Brunsden (AGAMA)
3rd Place Finish - Jon Hazlewood (AGAMA)
Clubman:
1st Place Finish - Josh Holdsworth (XRAY)
2nd Place Finish - Joe Chew (WIRC)
3rd Place Finish - Callum McLoughlin (KYOSHO)
Thank you to the Brookthorpe Team for putting on a spectacular track and to the BRCA for running the meeting.
All Results are online now, and we will see you in August for Round 4 at North West Nitro.
By Tehannah Cradock Round 2 of the British RallyX National Championship was held at East Shrewsbury BRC club. Over the winter break a lot of work went into the track, and it proved to be a great weekend of racing with a fast layout creating some exciting races!
During qualifying, alike to the first round at HNMC, overall TQ was decided during round 5 on Sunday morning between Elliott Boots and Jonny Skidmore who were both tied on points by the end of round 4. Jonny Skidmore (Xray) clinched the overall TQ in the final round by just 1.3 seconds (!), followed by Elliott Boots (SWORKz) in 2nd & Neil Cragg (Associated) in 3rd.
The finals provided some exciting races throughout, with close racing the “bump up positions” – with the following drivers moving up: -
1/64B
1st Matty Box (WIRC)
2nd James Boulton (HB)
3rd Gareth Davies (Mugen)
4th Micheal Riviere (SWORKz)
1/64A
1st William Paul (Xray)
2nd Bruce Lee (AE)
3rd Ben Kennett (Agama)
4th Daniel Lewington (Agama)
1/32B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Chris Carlisle (Tekno)
3rd Dave Williams (Agama)
4th Rob Cockcroft (Mayako)
1/32A
1st Jake Dell (Agama)
2nd William Paul (Xray)
3rd Ben Kennett (Agama)
4th Clive Maland (AE)
1/16B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Jonathan Wolfe (Agama)
3rd Connor Hamblett (HB)
4th Allan Ward (Kyosho)
1/16A
1st Daniel Austin (Tekno)
2nd Darren Warburton (AE)
3rd Lee Bunker (WIRC)
4th Jake Dell (Agama)
1/8 B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Scott Walker (Mayako)
3rd Mick Butler (Schumacher)
4th David Shedd (WIRC)
1/8 A
1st Cayden Stenhouse (Mugen)
2nd Oliver Nattress (Kyosho)
3rd Jon Spencer (HB)
4th Michael Shorey (Agama)
1/4B
1st Joshua Graham (Xray)
2nd Jack Willetts (Mugen)
3rd Simon Reeves (HB)
4th Dave Bailey (AE)
1/4A
1st Luke Holdsworth (Xray)
2nd Max Mcdonnell (AE)
3rd Simon Willetts (Mugen)
4th Callum Mcloughlin (Kyosho)
A specific mention to Joshua Graham, who after a qualifying session beset with many problems, drive brilliantly in the finals – winning four finals in a row from 1/32 to 1/4 - an engine cut in the semis finally ending his great run!
Semi B:
Semi B was led by Boots from start to finish, however, at the 13-minute mark of the semi unfortunately a crash on the back step up saw William Skidmore retire from the race whilst running in 2nd place. Ben Simpson (AE) finally finished 2nd, Kev Brunsden (Agama) in 3rd, James Le Pavoux (SWORKz) in 4th, Jack Willetts (WIRC) in 5th, - making his first A Final at National level! Simon Reeves (HB) was 6th, and the last transfer out of Semi B was Taro Cradock (Kyosho) in 7th after a long and closely fought battle with Dom Nunn (HB).
Semi A
Semi A started with Jonny Skidmore leading the pack, however just 5 laps in Jonny made a mistake over the back of the track causing an early retirement. The remainder of the race saw a furious battle between Lewis Jones and Neil Cragg. Lewis Jones (WIRC) ended 1st, followed by Neil Cragg (AE), Michael Lewis (Mayako) 3rd, Josh Holdsworth (Xray) 4th, Graham Alsop (HB) 5th. Paul Crompton (Xray) qualified in 6th and Erik Lyke (Agama) securing the final spot in the A main in 7th place.
Grand Final
The A Final Started just after 4 PM, with an earlier start to avoid the forecasted heavy rain and was a race for the history books! The final started with Elliott leading and in race order, then the biggest shock of the race with Elliott Boots flaming out on lap 1, putting him a lap down.
A three way battle proceeded between Josh Holdsworth (Xray), Neil Cragg (AE) and Lewis Jones (WIRC). The lead was changing every few laps whilst Elliott slowly unlapped himself. Elliott had unlapped himself to 5th place by the 15-minute mark.
Sadly, at the 30 to 35 minute mark, Lewis Jones (WIRC) experienced a technical issue whilst in the lead causing him to retire from the race, with Josh Holdsworth then taking the lead. Shortly after this Josh had to retire with a technical issue with Cragg taking the lead. However, Elliott Boots had not only unlapped himself but charged all the way back to 2nd place! With 6 minutes of the final remaining Boots had caught up and passed Cragg, we then saw Cragg flame out, but he was also that far ahead of the rest of the pack he retained his second place.
Whilst the battle for the lead had been won, another battle for the final podium spot was raging on. Graham Alsop (HB) and James Le Pavoux (SWORKz) were closely fighting until the final lap, with both sending it full speed over the loop for 3rd. Graham Alsop came out on top and secured 3rd for the final podium spot and James Le Pavoux in 4th.
September 27, 2024
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