The Kent Showground at Detling was kindly made available again to us to hold the Formula 24 Kent Regional Heat. The track was the same undulating road circuit in the grounds with the ‘difficult’ right-angled third bend. Eighteen cars were entered with a number making the trip overnight from the Essex heat the previous day. Chatham House have the best record from the Kent Schools but as in 2006 they were challenged by the ‘Bexley Three’ – ‘AON‘, ’Deep Purple’ and ‘Jewson’. Colchester County High School for Girls missed their Essex heat to come to the Kent event.
Despite heavy overnight rain giving the organisers a bit of a headache as to where to park all of the vehicles the track itself dried out in between showers and racing was not affected.
Unfortunately Chatham House’s chances went up in smoke as both of their cars suffered bad ‘offs’ in practise leaving both ‘Aluuuuuminium’ and ‘I’ve Lost My Tractor’ with damage that ruined their chances. Their third car ‘Spew’, an upgraded Eagle kit car therefore had to shoulder the burden of their expectations.
From the start it was apparent that there was going to be no quarter and the three Bexley cars set out straight away to repeat their feat of 2006 when they took the first three places. No other cars except ‘Francunstine’ from Philip Morant School and College from Essex were able to match their pace. The wide go-kart tyres of ‘Francunstine’, although not the best for battery consumption certainly made them fastest through the notorious Bend Three. Immediately up in the reckoning was ‘The Flying Cow’, desperate to qualify for the final and racing the day after coming so close at Dunton. They had a ‘cunning plan’!
It was clear from just the first thirty minutes that both of the Chatham House top cars were in trouble with ‘Aluuuuuminium completing eight laps before withdrawing and ‘I’ve Lost My Tractor’ managing only seven in the first section of the race.
As the race settled into the first hour Business Academy Bexley’s cars working without any ‘team rules’ were racing each other hard and the three pulled out a lead of some ten laps over ‘Francunstine’ in fourth. At the hour the race was on for the minor places with fourth to eighth places all covered by one lap car number One ‘The Boars’ from Judd School, one of the newcomers to F24 racing doing well amongst more experienced teams from Colchester County High School for Girls and Westcliff High School for Girls. Another newcomer showing a good turn of speed mixed with some electrical problems was ‘Upendix’ from Axton Chase School. ‘Spew’ in eighth place was the top Chatham House car!
After ninety minutes the ever reliable old Seagull kit car of Westcliff High School for Girls, ‘The Flying Cow’ was up to fourth place and ‘I’ve Lost My Tractor’ had suddenly repaired itself and was burning up the track to reach sixth place its twenty-one laps in the previous thirty minutes making it one of the fastest cars on the track. Steyning Racing from Sussex were struggling to keep their car out on the track but their sixteen laps placed them ahead of the stationary ‘Aluuuuuminium’.
At the halfway point teams were beginning to get the feel of the battery usage of the track and it was not looking good. Again, with a tight right-angled bend cars were not treating it with enough respect and by hammering into it and then braking hard and losing all their energy amps were being thrown away. Each of the Bexley cars had now led for a spell with ‘AON’ now out in front by four laps from ‘Jewson’ and then ‘Deep Purple’. ‘I’ve Lost My Tractor’ was now up to fourth place and had set the Fastest Lap of the day on its forty-sixth lap at one minute eight seconds. ‘The Flying Cow’ was doggedly hanging on in fifth place while ‘The Boars’ got up to seventh. ‘Greased Lightning’, the older of the two pink Colchester County High School for Girls’ cars suffered the indignity of a roll at Bend Three which put it back a bit as it had to be checked over and re-scrutineered for safety.
Half an hour passed as the top five cars remained the same with the top three all doing twenty laps in the time, two more than the best of the rest that was ‘ILMT’. ‘Francunstine’ was dropping back now and ‘Spew’ was off the track with a broken drive belt (and no spare!).
Three hours gone and ‘Deep Purple’ had swapped places with ‘Jewson for second place. ‘The Flying Cow’ retook fourth place as ‘ILMT’ faltered with a puncture caused by a tyre rubbing on the bodywork (a result of the practise incident). ‘Upendix’ had put in a very good thirty minutes with nineteen laps and gone up a place to seventh chasing ‘The Boars’ who only managed seventeen laps. ‘Greased Lightning’ had restarted and quickly overtook the fast failing ‘Francunstine’ and was now only two laps behind her sister car ‘Pink Panther’ in eighth place.
With half an hour to go the leading three cars were still metronomic in their lapping, each recording twenty laps in the previous thirty minutes. The same consistency had resulted in ‘Upendix’ now gaining fifth place. A new belt had been found for ‘Spew’ after a repair involving cable ties had not succeeded! IT got back out onto the track with half an hour to go. ‘Steyning Racing’ had called it a day and ‘Francunstine’ was stuck with a major puncture problem.
As the finish approached the fastest car on the track was ‘Pink Panther’ as it overtook its teammate ‘Greased Lightning’ to take seventh place. At the flag the clear winners were ‘AON’ from the Business Academy Bexley some fourteen laps ahead of ‘Deep Purple’ and ‘another seventeen laps ahead of ‘Jewson’. In fourth place was the ‘Flying Cow’ and fifth ‘Upendix’.
As ‘Deep Purple’ and ‘AON’ had already qualified at Dunton the previous day ‘The Flying Cow’ and ‘Upendix’ got automatic qualification for the Final. Was this the ‘Cunning Plan’ of Westcliff High School for Girls we have to ask?
Best Presented Team - Colchester County High School for Girls
Spirit of Greenpower Award - Chatham House Grammar School
IoM3 Innovative Use of Materials - Steyning Grammar School
Best Engineered Car - The Judd School
Scalextric Award for Best Pitstop - The Business Academy Bexley