BTCC Round 3 Report - 'Wet' London - 16 / 05 / 06

Alright I admit I stole the headline from Wayne, I thought I might as well seeing I stole the following report from Sean! On we go then...

Early start again for the journey east towards London and the superb venue of West London Race Track. This is my favourite track on the circuit which I have raced 3 times before in the shape of the KO Grand Prix. Meeting the Dude and his wife at Exeter services we headed towards a darkened horizon with a not to good weather forecast looking more accurate by the minute. Managing to get to the camp site in dry conditions and putting up tents and air beds we thought we would head towards the track as our luck was holding with the weather.

An hour later the gazebo which didn’t get to badly burnt on re-entry to earth was up and batteries were being charged and we were all ready for the off. Being a regular to this venue I offered assistance with the steps to the rostrum and was pleased to be recognised by Steve Cann from WLRC who welcomed us back for this event. I think it was at this moment that Justin actually realised that I am indeed the "LEGEND" he refers to me as. I then commented what a great bit of kit their new electronic timing board was with all pretty numbers and pretty lights and told them to be careful wiring it up in case they blew it up.......................They wired it up wrong and it went "POP".

'Wet London'

The track soon opened and so did the heavens. Knowing tomorrow was definitely going to be wet, we all went out to try and find grip and more importantly a line around the track which didn’t have standing water. Myself and Justin again were first out together and finding good grip and also good speed and were putting in faster lap times then any other car out there. After a couple of collisions with what I thought were fools not knowing their way around this track I realised that I had led the Dude the wrong way around a couple of corners and were cutting 1 complete corner out and this was the reason we were quicker than everybody else. Yeh, Yeh when the rostrum stopped laughing at me we continued practise but this time the right way around. 2 laps later on of the people who were laughing at me still didn’t realise which way round to go and took me out. "DOH" Who's stupid now?

Les took his 1/8th scale monster out and now with bearings instead of bushings and a much better brushless motor bolted to this beast he looked Very fast and held good lines and promised to put it up the sharp end of the grid on race day , all the smart money was with him.
Jason took his car out and after 3 laps parked in lake Michigan on the infield then packed up and went shopping with his girlfriend, can’t say I blame him as he didn’t look great and didn’t want to smoke his electrics. Mike was surprise of the day and after putting my spool into his Evo 4 actually got oversteer which he got used to quickly and started to look quick through a couple of tricky corners.

Out went the 19t boys and with the extra power made things look difficult and struggled to put consistent laps in. Paul Rose looked the most stable with speed with Wayne now driving safely and starting to pick up the pace. Paul Hopkins is starting to make under achieving a habit on big race days which I feel sure will be frustrating him and likened his MI2 to the Barracuda which he had great success with at this venue in previous years. Unfortunately the similarities were on a negative and I believe "NASA" are now tracking a mission which got launched at 1300 hrs from WLRC space centre. James was out there aswell and looked his usual self with marshals diving for cover. Thanks have got to go to Justin for wrenching on my car Saturday night , Dude "You done good"

The only time Hopkins' Mi2 will ever fly.... (i'm going to pay for that arn't I? Oh well, it was worth it Paul ;-)

Race Day - After a drivers briefing from Tim Walden (Schumacher Team Manager) I reluctantly declined his kind offer of any of his team drivers advise on set-ups and help getting any problems sorted. Racing was soon underway with Les putting his 1/8th into 4th spot which was a huge improvement on recent results. Mike was 1st 27t out and after a shakey start came through and put a good performance in. Adrian had driven up on the Sunday and was the 2nd of our 27t out and put in a safe but untidy start in. Jason, Justin and myself were in the same heat and were out in round 4. Guess when the rain started, Yes that’s right ROUND 4!! Jason retired with diff problems just after the start; Justin was very fast out the blocks with what I was told "amazing grip" on this now very damp track. I was pleased with the time I put in which was eventually going to be our only run. I have to say with the touch of the apprentice "BL" then my car felt great.

By the time 19t hit the track it was not damp but wet and shiney. James was unable to put in a time anything like what he is capable of. Wayne put in a few tidy laps on his qualifier which gave him a respectable overall time. Paul and Paul were out together and firstly Paul Hopkins got bad luck from a poor driver which wiped out any chance he had of putting in a tidy run, then retired due to breakage. Paul Rose got revenge on the poor driver by putting him in the barrier whilst completing a very good wet run.

Sometimes a picture tells a thousand words..

Unfortunately Les and James were the only ones to go out again with the rain getting heavier and heavier which eventually resulted in a drivers meeting to discuss further proceedings. After a Drivers vote the current Qualifier standings were to be final standings....The following then were the actual results.

1/8th
4th place Les Bell

Stocks
6th Justin Landau
13th Sean Guy
23rd Adrian Webb
36th Mike Belcher
44th Jason Guy

19t
4th Paul Rose
21st Wayne belcher
40th James Matthews
45th Paul Hopkins

Great results by Justin and Paul to make the top 10. Very pleased with my result. Well done Wayne. Better luck next time to the rest. Thanks to WLRC for great organization and a fantastic venue and thanks again to Justin who doesn’t know it , but actually stopped me going home Sunday morning when I was pretty down and tired waking up to rain in a cold tent.

Good luck all at the next round.

Thanks for another great report Sean. It seems it was bad weather all across England too as I watched the World Touring Car Championship from Brands Hatch resemble a boat race and i'm told the Southern Touring Car Championship suffered under the worst weather conditions they've ever encountered at Bashley. (Must have been bad to outdo the dreadful conditions we had at Barham last year) Happily they managed to still get through the days racing and i'm very pleased to announce that Mark Turner took his first win in 27T Stock, fantastic effort and a deserving winner!

I hope you get better weather next time folks!

See ya

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