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.
