After a fantastically successful year, Chipping Sodbury School have managed to top all their achievements by becoming National Champions with three podium finishes at the National final.
This was a fantastic final for the four school cars that qualified this year, we started the day with the following positions:
Y-Pod?! joint third in the F24+ championship.
R-PodS SSC & Rotary Racer qualified second & third on the F24 Grid with Wacky Racer in a respectable 30th place. The schools fifth car, Team Fusion was only completed for the last hour of the last heat so were unfortunately unable to be there.
The cars lined up on the grid with Seaford College's SCO7 and Zebedee from Sandbach High School keen to re-assert their grip on the championship. At 1pm the start flag was lowered and by the first corner Zebedee was first with Rotary Racer and R-PodS SSC not far behind. Around 3 hours into the race Zebedee suffered a puncture after a racing incident this gave them a small delay allowing Rotary Racer and R-PodS SSC to move into 1st and 2nd places. Towards the end of the race all the cars were slowing, and the nervous energy was growing, but our cars managed to get the balance of speed and energy just about right. Rotary Racer managed to achieve 1st place, with a millage of 120 miles in 4 hours. R-PodS SSC couldn’t achieve the pace they had set earlier in the season so had to settle for 3rd place, only just missing out on a 2nd place to SCO7. Wacky Racer was running well in about 10th place, but failing batteries lead them to a still respectable 41th place. An excellent race and a fine end to the F24 season.
The F24+ races are for the older students and are held alongside the F24 races. To add extra spice, there is a manufacturers championship with the points from the best two heats added to those from the final. Our car "Y-Pod?!" was upholding the school honours and as the final approached, there were only two points separating the top four cars. The race started promptly at 10:30 and all eyes were on the "Shell" corner to see who would come around first. As expected, the championship leader "Zebedee" from Sandbach High School came into view first with the other three championship contenders, including our "Y-Pod?!" close behind. After a few laps the race had settled down & we were holding a secure third place, only to loose it at the half way mark when we pitted to change drivers. As the race drew to a close, the top runners all started to struggle with expiring batteries but "Y-Pod?!" was continuing at almost the same pace. On the last lap we managed to overtake the race leader & un-lap ourselves, finally taking a very respectable third place.
