A Damp Day at Dunsfold

We all had high hopes for a good showing at the famous Top Gear circuit. The Pod Movement were hoping to improve Y-Pod?!'s standing in the F24+ championship, Team Fusion were hoping to improve their chances of qualifying for the final while Rotary Racer & R-PodS ssc were there to enjoy the day. The day dawned dry, but very cold - we had to clear ice off the car before leaving home so it must have been one of the coldest nights so far this autumn. The sun shone briefly as the cars were scruiteneerd & went out for practice but there was a strong cold wind.

After a successful practice to test the new headrest fairing, we managed to get Y-Pod?! on the front of the F24+ grid, ready for the race. As the carts left the grid, Y-Pod?! was left stranded with no drive & had to be pushed back to the paddock. We quickly managed to re-attach the chain, but by then we were a lap & a half down on the leaders. Y-Pod?! started putting in some fast laps to catch up lost ground & very quickly managed to un-lap him self & revitalize hopes for a win. Our hopes were fulfilled when at the half way mark, Y-Pod?! overtook the leading Jaguar-Landrover car & claimed the lead. At this point we all expected Y-Pod?! to slow down & conserve the batteries but the lap times stayed amazingly consistent & it wasn't long before we were a lap ahead. There was a fairly frightening incident when the recovery truck pulled out, just as Y-Pod?! was overtaking a slower car, thankfully the recovery truck held it's line & the two cars passed on opposite sides with horns blaring. Y-Pod?!'s driver must have been enjoying himself when he lapped Jaguar-Landrover for the second time but the track marshals didn't agree & he was black flagged for over-aggressive driving - you can judge the validity for yourself as the event was captured on film - see our Picasa album. Luckily we managed to rejoin the race in the lead & after that, didn’t put a step wrong as Y-Pod?! powered to a three lap lead & joint first place in the championship.

As the F24 grid formed, the sky was darkening & people were watching the sky for rain - thankfully it held of for a time & the race started with a dry track. Rotary Racer took an early lead but R-PodS ssc was challenging & managed to overtake a few times on the back straight. Team Fusion were running well and holding a good position, mid field. The race had started well with R-PodS ssc now leading, but there then followed a series of unfortunate black flag incidents due to overtaking under a yellow flag - I am still not sure if it was driver over-exuberance or inexperienced marshalling but both Rotary Racer & R-PodS ssc were pulled in several times. During all this confusion, the lead changed numerous times & we were all resigned to just enjoy the race & get more driver experience. As the afternoon wore on, the rain started - at first it was intermittent, but as the last hour started, it had settled down to rain steadily. All this time, Team Fusion had been putting in steady laps, Rotary Racer had avoided any further incidents & were now leading the race, & R-PodS ssc was just out of the top ten due to suffering more black flags & then having a tyre bead fail, requiring a trip to the paddock. The rain poured & the race carried on, with & R-PodS ssc now the fastest car on the rapidly thinning track, near the end of the race, R-PodS ssc was barged out of the way into one of the cones, but after a brief stop to check all was well, was back on the circuit. As the flag came down, Rotary Racer had just been beaten to first place but amazingly R-PodS ssc had managed to climb back up to take third. Team Fusion achieved their best mileage this year with 73 miles in a very respectable 18th place & we now have all three teams qualified for the final.

Traditional Taunton

The Somerset heat was held at a new venue this year (RNAS Merrifield) and attracted a strong field of cars. The circuit was a well laid out triangle, similar to Dunsfold but the main straight was slightly uphill and into a strengthening headwind so it was all set to be a challenging race. There wasn’t an F24+ event so the school was represented by “Team Fusion” (with the Wacky Racer’s old car), “Rotary Racer” & “R-PodS SSC”.

The day was bright & breezy as we arrived and queued up for scrutineering. Pretty soon, all the cars were scrutineered & out for practice prior to a very civilised 12:00 race start. We managed to get all the cars to the start in record time so it was a Chipping Sodbury lock-out on the front row of the grid, with all three cars lined up together.

As the race started, Taunton School pulled out an early lead but were soon to fall foul of the max lap limit, “Rotary Racer” was in second with “R-PodS SSC” in close attendance. The second & third places changed a few times as the slower cars were lapped until the telemetry on Rotary Racer showed a battery fault, resulting in a dramatic throttle back to conserve power. With Taunton suffering a time penalty & “Rotary Racer’s” battery problems, “R-PodS SSC” took the lead. We had a worrying pit stop when it appeared that one of “R-PodS SSC’s” tyres had a puncture, but this was pumped back up & stayed up for the remainder of the race. “Team Fusion” were lapping well at first but suffered the perennial battery problems and had to sit out part of the race in the hope of some battery recovery. They were not alone in this as the headwind caused many cars to suffer & the field dramatically thinned in the last half hour of the race. As the race drew to a close, “Rotary Racer” was wound back up & was lapping well but the Taunton car had broken, so was unable to challenge the leaders, “R-PodS SSC” was in a comfortable position, 7 laps ahead of the field. “Rotary Racer” managed to pull up to second place so it was a Chipping Sodbury 1,2.

This circuit was a great new venue, there was a very friendly atmosphere, the marshals were excellent very good - it was a traditional Greenpower race near Taunton. The pit lane was fairly quiet, so some teams were allowed to do some maintenance in the pits, very much like when we were first involved…. when races were less hectic… & there was more time … all 6 hours of it…!

London Calling

An Eco Car Spectacular was held at the Mall in London last Sunday & The Pod Movement we’re asked to represent Chipping Sodbury School at the event. This is the first time such an event has been held & was supported by Prince Charles's environmental charity initiative Start.

The Mall was closed to traffic & an interesting array of cars were on display all day with various celebrities milling around and having a drive. Greenpower had been invited to display and had gathered 8 cars from various schools around the country, so had a most impressive collection. We were able to round up 4 team members, and took Y-Pod?! along instead of R-PodS SSC, to avoid the hassle of finding somewhere to park a trailer in central London. The cars on display included the TELSA roadster, the first public viewing of the Citroen Survolt, along with various runabout electric cars by THINK, Mitsubishi, Smart, and Mini. There were loads of electric motorbikes, scooters & a few Segways. One of the more impressive exhibits was a Krieger electric car from 1904, brought along by the science museum - if was pretty slow (up to 20mph), but had front wheel drive and a range of up to 50 miles…!

Most of the morning was taken up with the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace, but this certainly attracted the crowds…! After lunch all the cars drove the length of the Mall & back as a demonstration run before setting up as a static display again. The public were separated by low barriers so were able to talk to the team & discuss the cars & their performance. We managed to attract a fair number of celebrities for photos, including Sir Stirling Moss, Robert Llewellyn, Ellen McArther and Gaby Roslin. The day wrapped up with a final demonstration run, more questions from the crowd & finally, some excellent cupcakes from the VIP tent.