Favourable Final

The Last race of the season was the F24 and F35 National Final at Goodwood Motor Circuit, Chichester on Sunday 14 Oct. We started with R-PodS is in 8th position, Rotary Racer at 9th, and Team Fusion at 54th. 
We persuaded the organizers to let us take C-Pod to show off in the display so once again we had four cars present at the final.
The F35/Streamliner race was well supported & team R-Pod had made a ‘bubble’ for R-PodS (using Rotary Racer’s broken canopy from last year). Despite a slow start, R-PodS was in third place when it failed to appear on the pit straight as expected. We heard over the marshals’ radios that there had been a collision on the far side of the circuit. It turned out that Ruby had clipped the front of R-PodS when overtaking & spun in front of the car, Ruby was out of the race but to our amazement, R-PodS was totally unscathed. We were expecting to have to straighten the car out but it continued & held onto an exciting second place.
The main F24 race was uneventful, R-Pods was lying in a steady 6th place with Rotary Racer not far behind. Team Fusion had overheating motor problems & despite a frantic motor change with R-PodS spare motor they were forced to retire and accept last place. Rotary Racer were struggling with intermittent power switch problems but managed to keep going & move up to 8th place. R-PodS was going well until one of the pit crew spotted that the car had been moved to top gear, dramatically increasing the current draw. It took several laps before we could bring the car in & sort out the problem, by which time we had used far too much energy & had to conserve all we could, coasting as much as possible. We struggled on & managed to keep hold of 10th place which was remarkable considering how slow we were going at the end. 

Top Trouble

The top gear circuit was the venue for the Surrey Regional Heat, where team R-Pod took two cars, R-PodS and the all new C-Pod. We were competing in the F24 race with R-PodS, while C-Pod was built to compete in Formula Catapult - a 200m drag race in a car built with a car battery & standard car starter motor. 
C-Pod had been built over the summer using parts from the old S-Factor car and had been entirely designed & built by Alex & Joe, with help & support from Sam. There hadn't been time to fully test C-Pod, so it was not surprising that it didn't perform flawlessly - it managed 3rd place but most disappointingly, the parachute failed to open, so it is back to the drawing board. 
The main F24 race started well but R-Pods had yet another puncture after the second driver change. The remaining race was fairly uneventful but there just isn’t time to catch up in a four hour race so we came a disappointing 9th. Again it was good experience for the new drivers and we managed to improve their driving considerably.

Trials & Tribulations

Our favorite Greenpower circuit is the Darley Moor motor bike track in Derbyshire with its narrow track & exciting bends. This is the setting for the North West Heat where both team R-Pod & the Team Fusion made the trip north for the race. 
As the new school term had started, team R-Pod had two new drivers to gain experience & hopefully drive in the final. The day started badly for R-PodS with a rubbing tyre that cut short practice with the new drivers (later traced to a missing bolt). As the cars waited to go out & form
the grid, the drivers noticed that R-PodS had developed a flat tyre. A frantic tyre change followed and the car managed to get out on the grid in pole position. 
It proved to be a disappointing day as Team Fusion had a binding brake leading to a burnt out motor. Despite help from Sandbach School & the loan of a replacement motor, they had to sit out most of the race. R-PodS faded towards the end with serious battery trouble (in later testing it was found that the batteries were 40% under capacity). The new R-Pod drivers had experienced a race but R-PodS only managed 6th place (but was on the same lap as the fourth place car), wile Team Fusion in 21st.

Sussex Success

The Sussex Heat was held at Goodwood and the only school team to attend was team R-Pod. Our new car, R-PodS, wasn't eligible for the streamliner race so we only competed in the main F24 category. 
It was an uneventful race, but our batteries were failing towards the end - we managed to achieve 5th place, but more importantly, we managed to push our mileage up & qualify as the highest placed Chipping Sodbury car for the final.

Castle Combe Challenge

The Castle Combe Heat was the first full race of the year & was nearly called off when the heavens opened during race preparation. All three Chipping Sodbury cars were present, with the all-new R-PodS making its first appearance. The race was fairly uneventful with two cars in the top 4 for most of the race. Towards the end, one of R-PodS drivers thought he could manage one more lap before pitting to change batteries but unfortunately, he stopped half way around. The car wasn't recovered until after the race, but despite this, R-PodS managed 6th place, Rotary Racer finished in 3rd & Team Fusion in 16th. 
Rotary Racer won the top placed Gloucestershire car award & R-PodS won the prize for the best presented team- all in all a very successful race for the school.

Need for Speed

While R-PodS was making its debut at Castle Combe, R-Pod was on display at the Goodwood festival of speed. As we had raided the car for most of the useful items to fit to R-PodS, we had to make some dummy wheels for display purposes. The Greenpower stand looked great with a good selection of cars and it attracted a lot of interest.

4th Noel

To pass the time when not racing, we took R-Pod to the Bath & West Show and entered a competition for alternative fuel vehicles. We were up against all manner of vehicles including a solar power boat that had crossed the Channel. We were very pleased to take 4th place and had photos taken with Noel Edmonds.

Four Hour Fortunes

The official 2007 season opener was held at Goodwood and was to be the last outing of R-Pod as the new open cockpit car had to be ready for the race at Castle Combe. 
The racing started in the morning with a 1.5 hour F35/streamliner race. There was a disappointing field and several cars either failed to make (or leave) the start line. It was an uneventful race and R-Pod came home in an un-challenged first place. 
The main F24 race was to the now shortened 4 hour format. The side window had to be removed for R-Pod to be eligible, and they joined the grid with Team Fusion. This was the first race to the new rules without charging & most teams coped well. Some teams enjoyed the reduced race time & lack of panic in the pit lane towards the need of the race but we thought that the racing had lost an important element. The race was doubly disappointing for the school; R-Pod suffered a tyre blow-out near the start, and with no time to recover, had to settle for 13th place. Likewise, Team Fusion had a disappointing outing & came 21st.

Concord Collision

Our first race this year was an F24 sprint & Goblin race organised at Airbus, in a car park next to Concorde. 
Airbus had sponsored a number of schools to build Seagull 'kit' based F24 cars, this race was to give them their first run and to see how they performed against the more established cars. 
The sprint races were separated by several Goblin driving tests with Goblins from local primary schools. The Goblins included cars from Old Sodbury & Raysfield that had been built at Chipping Sodbury School. The Goblin Races culminated in a 5 lap race on the full spring circuit where Old Sodbury triumphed.
All three F24 teams entered, with Rotary Racer & R-Pod dominating the proceedings. Team Fusion had some gear problems but came 2nd in one race beating most of the kit cars.
The final was a close and exciting between Rotary Racer & R-Pod with the competitive Seagull cars fighting for third. Whilst trying to overtake on the narrow track, Rotary Racer collided with R-Pod, spinning R-Pod into the centre of the circuit. R-Pod miraculously managed to rejoin the race in the lead but Rotary Racer suffered bent steering in the incident. This left R-Pod to carry on to a clear win and despite the bent steering Rotary Racer managed to hold on to a well deserved 2ndplace.