BRCA Nats - Halifax

Running the the super competitive 17.5 blinky class, with a strong 45 entries.

Saturday practice was very hot (for the uk) as we where still coming out of a heat wave here in the uk but was a little cooler than it had been, first couple run learning the track on old tyres as I hadn't been here for a couple years and only once or twice before that. Car was good, but had mega amounts of steering and no confidence to lean on the rear of the car. Made changes though the day that worked every run. Going into run 4 of practice went with new tyres and the car came alive and had great last runs of the day. Giving me confidence heading into race day.

Overnight and early round of open practice before timed practice we had rain and was much cooler. So didn't head out for the 1 round of practice. Heading into qualifying I had wet tyres and dry tyres prepped and ready to go, and luckily the track was dry and looking good so went with the slicks. And from there on it was dry all day.

Again I'm still learning the car alot and was still making changes all day to calm the front end down and get some rear stability. And heading into Q4 I had an outside shot of making the B final but fluffed a corner and ended up in the grass. So its saw me lining up C4. still super happy with that te be in the top half of the field, considering I haven't done Touring Cars outdoors for over 2 years.

Finals time and after having a chat with a fellow racer from my home club, (he runs an awesomatix but you cant have everything) made a major droop change. Final 1, the car was absolutely Mega, taking 0.6s of my lap times seeing me end up finishing 2nd. Final 2 Saw a good start, running 2nd again, before not taking a corner quite as I was expecting losing 10s in the grass, but carried on running 8th, and caught back up to the pack, and they all had a coming together and I still don't know how , managed to weave my way though the mayhem finishing 4th. Which gave me 2nd over all.

Super happy with the progress and learnings with the SP1, and doing post meeting analysis, my times in the final would have seen me very competitive in the B, and even A final worth. But that iffs and butts.

Next meeting for me with the SP1 on tarmac is West London next month for round 4 of the National, then I'm keen to get the alloy chassis on it and start running it at the club on ETS Carpet. As I haven't had a chance to yet.