There was an interesting entry of cars for the fifth running of the Bedford Autodrome Regional Heat with a number of new cars as well as some who were out to improve on there performance in previous regional heats. The day was sunny but a strong wind blew all day helping cars down the main straight but posing severe problems on the back straight. It was clear from the start that battery planning was going to be at a premium.
A long practise session saw the large number of new drivers getting out onto the track and all cars that wanted to had plenty of time to use up their practise batteries.
The start was from the pit straight in threes and all the cars got away safely with nobody forgetting to switch on their power!
It was clear from the start that some of the new teams had serious ideas about winning and ‘ACC Racing’, a new team sponsored by the Air Compressor Centre, headed the first lap. They were chased by ‘’Project Plume Power’ from The Plume School who then took the lead after three laps while the more experienced cars formed up behind with ‘TSR-2’, the experienced team from Trinity School and ‘Brian’ from Sandbach High School pulling the leaders in after cautious starts.
After the first thirty minutes ‘TSR-2’ had made its move and went into the lead with ‘Brian’ and its team mate ‘Carbon QT’ following. ‘Project Plume Power’ started to slow and came in to the pits to find that its motor had badly overheated due to the incorrect use of its gears into the wind. The speedy application of the well-known ‘cure-all’ ‘gaffer tape’ saw the car rejoin the race with its motor brushes taped in and a restriction to first gear only. ‘ACC Racing’ was down to fourth place and the ‘Bushey Bullets’ were in fifth place followed by ‘Twin Cambs’ from Wisbech Grammar School. Both of the all pink Colchester County High School for Girls cars were doing well with ‘Pink Panther’ in seventh place and ‘Greased Lightning’ in twelfth position.
After an hour everyone had come to terms with the wind and some teams had done their first driver changes and a few had changed their batteries. ‘TSR-2’ was three laps up on ‘Carbon QT’ with ‘Bushey Bullets’ very close behind. ‘Brian’ had slipped to fourth and ‘Twin Cambs’ had pushed ‘ACC Racing’ down to sixth place. ‘The Altwood Aztecs’ were going well in ninth place and the remarkable ‘Francunstine’ from The Philip Morant School and College, made from parts of an exercise machine, was in tenth place.
The wind which was blowing hard down the main straight made the issue of gearing really difficult to work out and a number of cars were having to modify their thinking as motors overheated and batteries were running down quicker than anticipated so after ninety minutes a few cars were pulling away whilst the majority were gritting their teeth for the long haul.
‘TSR-2’ was now seven laps up on ‘Carbon QT’ but ‘Bushey Bullets’ were hanging onto their slipstream in third place. ‘Brian’ and ‘Twin Cambs’ were in close company in fourth and fifth places ahead of ‘ACC Racing’ and ‘TSR-1’ whose new drivers were having their first outing in an endurance event. The Colchester County High School cars were having mixed fortunes with ‘Pink Panther’ losing out coming in on the trailer and dropping a number of places whilst the slower but more reliable ‘Greased Lightning’ cruised on around getting up to twelfth place.
At the half way point of the race the qualities of ‘TSR-2’ were obviously going to be hard to overcome as it held an eight lap advantage over ‘Bushey Bullets’ who had moved ahead of ‘Carbon QT’ but ‘Brian’ had pulled away from ‘Twin Cambs’ in fourth place and was now pressing it’s team-mate for third place. ‘Greased Lightning’ had now slipped into the top ten in tenth place with ‘Project Plume Power’, with its motor on borrowed time, in thirteenth place and climbing as other cars had problems. ‘ACC Racing’, ‘TSR-1’, ‘Francunstine’ and ‘JHN Racing’ were scrapping for the lower places in the top ten section.
As the second half of the race started ‘Twin Cambs’ passed ‘Brian’ having taken four laps off them to do so. Down the field ‘Swoosh’ was showing consistency in fourteenth place ahead of ‘Purple Blazer’ that was also consistent but slow, probably a case of taking too cautious a view on gearing for the new no-charging regulations.
After three hours the leaders were holding positions although ‘TSR-2’ had increased its lead and ‘Carbon QT’ was pulling away slightly from ‘Twin Cambs’ who was looking to take third place. ‘Brian’ was slipping back as it came in for a number of pit stops and ‘TSR-1’ was closing after passing ‘ACC Racing’ for sixth place. ‘Greased Lightning’ had climbed further to ninth place and ‘Silver Stallion’ from St. Mark’s Catholic College made it into the top ten.
With half an hour to go the battery situation was becoming the major factor as cars as the pick-up vehicle was out on the track most of the time bringing in exhausted cars. ‘TSR-2’ now had a massive lead of some twenty laps over ‘Bushey Bullets’ who were just five laps up on ‘Carbon QT’. But ‘Twin Cambs’ was just behind on the same lap. ‘Silver Stallion’ enjoyed its brief stay in the top ten but had now dropped to twelfth as ‘JHN Racing’ and ‘Swoosh’ passed it. The ‘Altwood Aztecs’ had to call it a day at this point with flat batteries.
At the flag ‘TSR-2’ was twenty-five laps up on ‘Bushey Bullets’ with ‘Twin Cambs’ a late arrival into the top three some four laps further back. ‘Carbon QT’ had a late setback allowing its teammate ‘Brian’ to get into fourth place. Poor old ‘Greased Lightning’ having been the picture of serene consistency throughout the race and holding a top ten position chose the last half hour to have problems and it slipped to eleventh allowing both ‘JHN Racing’ and ‘Swoosh’ past in the dying moments of the race. ‘Project Plume Power’s motor held together and it came in twelfth. It was a good day for newcomers with ‘ACC Racing ‘gaining a creditable eighth place. Overall some good distances were recorded and many of the cars out of the automatic qualification spots should go forward to the National Finals.
Barry Shears - 19th September
Supplementary Awards:
Fastest Lap - Trinity School, TSR-2, 1 min 14.297 secs on lap 97
Best Presented Team - Air Compressor Centre, ACC Racing
Spirit of Greenpower Award - The Plume School
IoM3 Innovative Use of Materials - Philip Morant School
Best Engineered Car - Air Compressor Centre, ACC Racing
Scalextric Award for Best Pitstop - Colchester County High School for Girls