This year’s regional event at Rockingham saw one of our largest entries for a qualifying heat with forty seven cars arriving to race. All the garages were alive with activity as the teams ensured their cars had their cooling systems working efficiently to deal with the excessive heat of the day.
After the first hour Zebedee from Sandbach High School had gained an impressive lead over the rest of the field. However, the rest of the field were all quite closely packed which would mean pit strategy would be very important during the race to hold onto position. Several of the teams had already decided to make early pit stops to change drivers and double check motor temperatures.
By the half way mark in the race there was little change at the top of the table. A real battle was developing for third place between TSR-4 from Trinity School and Fireblade from the Philip Morant School. At the other end of the field it was great to see the Dragon Slayer from St George’s College and Buzz from Ipswich High School joining the race after experiencing some technical difficulties at the beginning.
As the race entered the final hour the conditions were starting to take their toll on the teams. Some teams seemed to be thriving such as KHALE.CC from West Haddon Village whose steady racing had moved them up to fifth place. Others however were falling back as they battled with keeping both motors and drivers cool.
When the flag dropped, after four hours, it was Zebedee from Sandbach High School who took first place, no teams able to catch them after their impressive early lead, also adding an impressive 15 miles to the four hour mileage record. TSR-4 from Trinity School took second place and the consistently paced racing of Prometheus from Two Rivers School paid off as they crossed the line in third.