1/8 Circuit 2024 Opening rounds of the championship
Cotswold Model Car Club hosted the first round of the 2024 BRCA 1/8 circuit championship, over fifty drivers were entered to compete it what might have been the last race at the circuit. (Thankfully it now seems as though the club’s future is secure). DDRC.TV were present on race day and creating some nice video clips available on youtube.
Dashcam on RC car video (Craig Hook) Shepherd - https://youtu.be/sC5KWHa57So?si=8SrldGk7V2S5vKSp
Mark Green’s Electric Serpent 990e - https://youtu.be/BhjaHNe-l9A?si=8Dm8banUHncUHU_Z
Some drivers have moved chassis and classes, Alex Thurston is now running Mugen in nitro and topped the times from Tim Wood Shepherd and Karl Dransfield also Shepherd. The A-final also included John Carr, Andrew Hastings, Craig Hook, Steve Davis, Jason Frost, Richard Hicklin and Matthew Cook took the final spot.
In electric we had a strong field led by Mark Green of nitro fame, 2023 champion James Conolly, Glyn Beal and previous champion Michael Walton all running the Serpent 990e chassis which has definitely took the class by storm. Shepherd also had cars present in electric with front runner Mark Boothman running a prototype new car and there was the odd Capricorn and Xray cars too.
Finals results
Nitro D Final
1st Hayley Baker
2nd Frank Noel
3rd Robin Gearing
Nitro C final
1st Steve Smith
2nd Thomas Burton
3rd Rob Mckenna
Electric B final
1st Steve White
2nd Martin Thorpe
3rd Joe Diacono
Nitro B final
1st Sam Snell
2nd Max Holland
3rd Daniel Ludena
Nitro A-final
The A-final was a 30 minute race, unfortunately on the first laps there was a collision with some cars and pit crew which took Karl out early on, Alex also had some damage but was able to continue and battle it out with Tim at the front. In the end after 30 minutes both finished on the same lap with Alex winning from Tim and John Carr third.
Electric A-final
Mark Green took victory, with James pushing him in leg 1 final, James took second overall and Glyn third. Mark had some issues in the last final but he had already won by this point and clearly was the quickest throughout the weekend with the Serpent 990e. Eight Serpent 990e’s in the final and two Shepherd.
Adur Round 2
Adur hosted round two of the championship near Brighton, a much tighter circuit for 1/8th cars but nonetheless enjoyable to drive. In electric we had a more local drivers present which was good to see and with David Spashett competing in Nitro he was sure to be in the mix at the top.
Qualifying
In the electric class Mark Green continued to dominate and took TQ from local star Greg Fairlie, Dan Leonard third and Mark Boothman. In nitro Alex Thurston took TQ with his Mugen ahead of Tim Wood Shepherd and David Spashettthird. John Carr and Matt Cook rounded out the top 5.
Finals
Nitro C-final
1st Rob Mckenna
2nd Hayley Baker
3rd Vincent Meron
Electric B-final
1st Jake Sheldon
2nd Graham Hurley
3rd Jason Hurley
Nitro B-final
1st Jon Melton
2nd Steve Smith
3rd Thomas Burton
Electric A-final
Again Mark Green dominated the three legs to take another win with the Serpent 990e, Mark Boothman and Greg Fairliebattled for 2nd overall with Mark coming out on top, taking two second places.
1st Mark Green – Serpent 990e
2nd Mark Boothman - Shepherd
3rd Greg Fairlie - Serpent
With the sun out ten 1/8 scale cars competing at this tight circuit was always going to be a race of attrition over the 30 minute with many pit stops taking place. Alex with his Mugenmade a super quick start with Tim behind him, unfortunately Tim lost some time on a track marker. David Spashett was on a charge up the order after a slow getaway. Alex meanwhile continued to pull away, cutting his way through the backmarkers. Also in the mix was John Carr and Craig Hook who were running well also with Shepherd cars. Alex was able to build up a lead of over two laps in the end to take the win for Mugen from David Spashett (Shepherd) and Tim Wood third (Shepherd).
Nitro A-final
[ Published by Nikita Finnigan ]
