Both the F24 & F24+ finals were held at the Goodwood circuit on Sunday 19th October. The school had only managed to get two cars qualified for the main race but to show there were no hard feelings, several members from these teams came down to help with marshalling etc… All the school cars were scrutineered on the Saturday as this left us free to enjoy ourselves at the hog roast & camping on the Saturday night.
Sunday morning saw us all troop down to the circuit to prepare the cars & get the new drivers out for a few laps practice. The F24+ race started slightly early so a couple of cars had to start from the pit lane. From the start, we could see that Y-Pod? had a problem as it was lapping over a minute slower than it had been going earlier in the year. TSR-4+ was in the lead with Brain and Bentley following closely behind as a three car snake. At the half way mark, we swapped drivers and managed to sort the car so it was now back on the form it had displayed earlier in the year. Unfortunately, by this time we had lost nearly two laps on the leaders and despite being equal or faster on every lap after the change, we only managed to pull back half a lap and so finished a lap & a half behind in fourth place. This disappointing result dropped us from joint first in the championship to third place - disappointing because we could have done better, but then pretty good for the car’s first season.
An amazing 80 cars were wheeled out for the main F24 race - we managed to get Y-Pod? beside R-PodS for the parade, so with Rotary Racer, the school was represented by three cars! The race started on time with most cars getting away cleanly and we were amazed to see R-PodS up near the front, dicing with the leaders. Rotary Racer was not far behind and at the half way mark we were all ecstatic to see the two school cars up there in second & third place. This was with 80 cars on the circuit, not to mention the greater number that had failed to qualify. As the race progressed Rotary Racer & R-PodS swapped places several times, usually during pit stops and the tension was building. As the race drew to a close, Rotary Racer was going faster than ever thanks to their electronic control system, whilst R-PodS had slowed slightly. As the wining car came through the line, there was less than a lap separating the cars in second to seventh place. Rotary Racer had held on to it's pace & managed a fabulous second place, whilst R-PodS, despite being only half a lap behind, had dropped to 5th.
Overall it is an amazing result for the school. 3rd place in the F24+ championship, with two cars in the top 5 of the F24 final. We have lots of plans to improve the cars further … bring on the 2009 series!
The school took four cars to compete at the Greater London heat at the Top Gear circuit on the Dunsfold aerodrome. Y-Pod? was competing in the last heat of the F24+ series and we had three cars in the F24 race; Rotary Racer, R-PodS & Team Fusion.
The journey down on Sunday morning was unsettling as we woke up to dense fog. It was patchy all the way down but soon cleared to give a fantastic sunny warm day. All the cars were quickly through scrutineering and out for practice as with several new drivers, this was an important part of the day.
The F24+ race started without the team from Bentley as we heard that they had damaged their car a few days before and hadn’t made the race. Our main competition was from Woosh, who were just behind us in the championship. As we had two drivers, it was Important that we pulled out a lead to allow for the delay of a pit stop. At the half way point, all was going to plan as we lapped Woosh for the second time, just before having to pit for the driver change. We started to watch our lead slip away but rejoined the race with almost a lap lead and were feeling quite happy until we were pulled in to the pits with the drivers helmet above the roll bar. After squashing him down, we re-joined with our lead cut to a few metres. There then followed a few tense laps before Woosh started to drop back down with batteries failing and we managed a clear victory, putting Y-Pod? in joint first place in the F24+ championship.
The Pod Movement (R-PodS's team) were the first to start queuing for the F24 race & started on pole position. The first lap was fantastic with R-PodS in the lead from the start, Rotary racer soon caught up & the next 45 minutes were nail biting as the two Chipping Sodbury cars diced for the lead on a crowded track. TSR4 briefly overtook them both but soon dropped back out of the battle. R-PodS came in to pit first having held onto the lead for much of the first session, and at this point the race positions became confusing as all the cars started pitting. Rotary Racer managed to keep going at the same pace throughout the race and won the event outright. R-PodS had some troubles and stopped on the circuit at one point, dropping them to 5th place at the end. Team Fusion had carried out some extensive modifications to their car, removing the hub gear & fitting a single gear drive, like the other school F24 cars. They enjoyed their best race for some time, finishing with over 70 miles and only just failing to qualify for the final. The Wacky Racer team had hoped to compete but the entry list was closed before they entered, so it was disappointing that some teams, having gained a entry to the race, failed to turn up.
At the prize giving R-PodS was awarded the best presented team award, so we came home with a good stash of trophies for our new trophy cabinet. All in all, it was a great day out & good practice for the final in a few weeks time.
This was the first Greenpower event at Aintree and with it being on a week day and a long journey, the school was only represented by 'Y-Pod?' in the F24+ event. The venue was great with the circuit being fairly smooth & very level with only the strengthening wind to worry about.
Practice was delayed some time as the marshals were not very quick to get on the circuit but we managed a few laps to check the car over before stocking up on a well deserved bacon roll. At the start, Y-Pod? was quick off the line but was overhauled by Brian (who had won the last F24+ event) before the second lap. The Bentley car was fairly soon out of contention with electrical problems that delayed them on & off for most of the race. It was good to see some new teams in F24+ but most had done little testing so were not up with the top cars. After an hour or so, Bentley was seriously motoring & they had put in the fastest lap of the race, Brian had held this honour until then, so they were signalled to speed up & take it back. They managed to re-take the fastest lap within a couple of laps, but paid the price, as their batteries soon started to die, this allowed Y-Pod? to reel back the two lap deficit and take the lead. At the end, Brian had to be recovered and Y-Pod? managed a relatively easy victory, despite swapping places with Bentley several times on the last few laps.
The second 'kit kar kapers' event was held just before the summer break in the filton carpark by Concorde. Chipping Sodbury School had four cars up against numerous seagull based kits that had been built by other local schools. The event consisted of a series of 3 lap heats with 4 cars in each heat, leading to a runners up final & the main final.
While all this was going on, there were events for goblins in the centre of the circuit, so there was constant activity.
As with last years event, the circuit was very tight so overtaking would be tricky, but after a 1-2 finish last year, the school had high hopes for the event. It was the first time R-PodS had competed in a sprint & we knew the wide car was not suited to this type of circuit.
Team Fusion were hoping to have sorted their gear problems and the Wacky
Racer team were ready for their first experience of a sprint.
The tension mounted through the heats with Rotary Racer & R-PodS winning most of their heats. The Wacky Racer was doing well & managed one heat win, while Team Fusion were holding their own against stiff competition. The Wacky Racer made it to the runners up final, whilst both Rotary Racer & R-PodS were in the main final. As we expected, the final race came down to overtaking, both our cars had a poor start & were faced with two cars ahead of them. After some time they both made it past the second place car but couldn't find a way around the eventual winner, having to settle for second & third place.
Was is a good event? An unqualified yes. Very different to the usual racing and requiring very different driving skills. It was a bonus to get a best presented team award for team R-Pod, to go with their second place.
The Rockingham race was held on a weekday & as the school teams are mostly run by parents, this race was solely supported by Y-Pod? and a lone team member.
The car was virtually un-touched since the last race (only two days previous), apart from modifying the offending sprocket to make sure it didn't come detached again. We started well with a brief spell in the lead before being quickly overhauled by TSR-4+, there then followed a tedious plod around the oval in full sun, getting hotter & hotter. The Bentley team managed to overhaul us & we dropped to third place, but were hoping that they had pushed things too far & would suffer from battery fade at the end of the race.
As the laps ticked by & the heat increased it all became a tedious slog with no corners to think about or require any arm movement... at the end, the Bentley team were hardly moving but managed to creep across the line with a pit straight length of lead, so we had to settle for third. As in all racing there are loads of "if only" stories, but despite the tedium, we would have loved to have one more lap & a second place!
Unusually for this particular heat, the school was only represented by team R-Pod, with the cars "Y-Pod?" and "R-PodS" competing in F24+ & F24 respectively. The only change to "Y-Pod?" was to fit a 'Watts-up' device to the car so we now knew what current we were drawing, "R-PodS" was virtually untouched since Castle Combe.
We passed through scrutineering with no problems & quickly ran "Y-Pod?" up & down to make sure the 'Watts-up' meter was working properly - all was well & we were confident of a good result. Our confidence was soon shattered as the cars pulled away for the F24+ race - "Y-Pod?" was left trailing well behind with no power. We pulled the car to one side & all seemed well so we started off again, only to grind to a halt a bit further down the track. After recovering the car, we found that a set-screw had come loose & a sprocket on the lay shaft was just free-spinning.... it was easily fixed but the recovery had cost us 30 minutes of the 1.5hr race & put us into last place. Once the car was back on the track, Alex set about catching up but despite consistently putting in fastest lap times, & overhauling 3 cars, we only managed to pull back to 6th place. If we had managed to fix the car only slightly earlier, we would have managed another lap & 3rd would have been possible.... if only......
The F24 race was quickly underway & soon settled down to a text-box event with pit-stops flowing smoothly and drivers settling into a steady rhythm. We were half way into the last hour & about to change to a new set of batteries that would easily get us to the end of the race when it all went wrong. The car pulled into the pits too close to the wall so the battery trolleys couldn't be used - in the confusion, the battery connector wasn't fully pushed home - the car started off well but stopped at the bottom of the pit straight. The recovery crew did an excellent job in getting the car back quickly (thanks guys) and we were soon back on the track for the remaining few minutes of the race. After this drama, we were staggered to have equalled our corporate challenge mileage and qualified as the top Chipping Sodbury school car in 8th place.
All of the Chipping Sodbury teams had high hopes for the castle combe heat, Rotary Racer had made improvements to their car and were hoping to improve on their season opener mileage, Team R-Pod would be debuting their new F24+ car (the school’s first) called Y-Pod?, while at the same time hoping to re-live the success they had with R-PodS at the season opener, Team Fusion had got the bodywork finished on their new car, so were hoping for a good race, and the brand new team, Wacky Racers, were looking forward to their first race, and hoping they would do well.
After scrutineering, most of the sodbury cars went out onto track for practise. Team R-Pod sent out the new Y-Pod?, as it had only been finished at 10:20pm the night before there hadn’t been a chance to test it, so they were very relieved to see it speed back into view after managing it’s first lap.
At 11:00am the first ever F24+ championship round commenced, and as the cars left the start line, Y-Pod? managed to pull into first place and hold it for most of the first lap until TSR-4+ over took it on the main straight. Y-Pod? and TSR-4+ then swapped between 1st and 2nd place for most of the race until the clot driving Y-Pod? messed it all up. The driver changed up a gear going down the main straight and heard a painful crunching noise from the back, so slid off the track, looked inside, only to find that it was all fine and that the chain hadn’t come off. After managing to get going again, Y-Pod? ended up with second place – not bad for car that two weeks before the race was a bare steel chassis! Bring on the next round!
After the marshals had had a half hour tea break, the F24 race could start. The four top spots were swapped around between four cars for most of the race, Rotary Racer, R-PodS, Turbo Tortoise, and Brian. At one point, nearing the end of the race, Rotary Racer was in 1st with R-PodS in 2nd, so it looked like chipping sodbury might be on to a 1,2 finish, unfortunately it was not to be. R-PodS’s batteries died at the end of the race dropping it down to 4th place. Rotary Racer kept hold of their 1st place though, and pulled through to win with a two lap lead over 2nd and 3rd place. This win also meant that they could keep hold of the ‘Renishaw Best Gloucestershire Car Award’ for the third year running.
Despite spending some time in the paddock, Wacky Racer did well in their first race and achieved 16th place and 53 miles. Team Fusion got 23rd place and, coincidently, the same mileage as Y-Pod?
After already getting three ‘position based’ awards, all the teams were delighted when the four teams were awarded, jointly, the best presented team award, and team R-Pod was awarded the best engineered car for R-PodS. All in all a very successful day!
The 2008 season started with two events at Goodwood, a 1.5hr handicap race in the morning, followed by a 4hr ‘corporate challenge’ in the afternoon.
The handicap race was open to all with additional laps being credited to teams depending on their performance last year, with all the new teams starting with the maximum 7 lap lead (equivalent to over half an hour head start).
Chipping Sodbury School was represented by team Fusion who had just finished building their new car in time for the race. After lapping well at the start, gear problems lead to a seriously burnt out motor and a spell in the paddock. They were not alone in suffering this fate as most of the time throughout this race, the smell of burnt out motor was drifting around the paddock! After some frantic work, Fusion was fitted with a new motor and was back on the circuit, where it remained for the remainder of the race finishing in 20th place.
The main race was the inaugural ‘corporate challenge’ where companies were invited to compete with the top 15 school cars. As we had two cars in the top 10 at last years final, Chipping Sodbury School was represented by team Rotary Racer & team R-Pod. The Rotary Racer team had finally finished their all new car with added electronics but retaining the tried & tested single speed drive. R-PodS had been re-painted black to suit our new sponsor (David Reid Homes) and was looking fabulous with the chequered flag graphics. As the gears in R-PodS had given trouble throughout last season & lost us a few places in the final, the car had been converted to a single speed drive for this race.
There were around 15 corporate entries & these ranged from ‘badged’ school cars (such as GR Racers) to complete new builds (such as the local Renishaw team). The two big names were Bentley (competing with a team of apprentices) & the BBC’s Blue Peter (competing with the West Somerset Community College). Our school had Renishaw team with advice & a school visit to see our cars in construction, so we were hoping they would do well.
The race had an uneventful start and settled down with R-PodS lapping slightly quicker than last year, while the Rotary Racer was slightly slower as it was a new car & had been geared to finish rather than to be ambitious. As the race progressed, the Renishaw car suffered a broken battery isolator at the first pit stop & the Blue Peter team was recovered & spent some time in the paddock. The Rotary Racer suffered a puncture late on in the race & this pushed them down the order but they managed to hold on to 9th place. R-PodS had a fault free race to finish a magnificent 5th and achieve the schools first 4hr gold certificate for mileage, they also managed an interview with Blue Peter – a great start to the season.
There were two new drivers, Ben was in his first race with the Rotary Racer & Issy had her first race in R-PodS, the only down side was that Matthew had spent half the recent holiday sanding & painting R-PodS but was ill on the day of the race so had to stay at home…. What bad luck!
