The end of the summer season ends with a bang!
Posted by Jules exall on
This last weekend was a busy one for the RCPB team with lots of racing going on.
Over in Croatia we had Steve Shakespeare and his MP9 TKI4 representing the team and GB in the Over 40 Rallycross European championships. Milan Dragojlovic went to pit for him and Gary Gregory was GB Team manager!
Steve was on fire, he TQ'd practice and after qualifying he managed to be very high up in the semi finals. After a fantastic start in the semis and a great race with some very fast drivers he went on to win and take pole in the main event.
His pace was amazing but unfortunately a servo gave up and he had to retire from the main, but what a great weekend, as one of the fastest guys at the event, next year its yours Shakey!!!
So gutted for Steve! But that's racing hey!
Down at Nene Valley for the annual charity, the “Astro Attack” event we had Alex Page and his Mugen car taking part. This fantastic 2 day event is a combination of good fun and competitive racing combined with some great fund raising for Charity.
After day 1 Alex was 2nd in the buggy class, he was fast and after the final two rounds of qualifying on day 2 he sat 3rd overall. He would start 3rd on the grid in the A final and after a tough and competitive final Alex came home a brilliant 9th. He also put in one of the fastest laps of the day.
A good day for him and the Charity as the event raised over £1000 for Macmillan. Well done to all the Nene Crew for organising another successful event.
Up at NDOR a few more of the guys were compeating in another Charity event, The NDORance – a 6 hour endurance race, Team RCPB had two teams representing.
In the Stick boys team we had Matt Box, Chris Ely, Ashley Evans, Chris Lovell, and “guest” team member Liam Galvin.
In the Wheel Boys team we had Andy Prosser, Ben Billing, Rich Price, Elliot Jones, Si Davies and “guest” team member James Harrold.
The Race was started Le Mans style, a team member running a section of the track, then grabbing a supplied engine combo, with 2 gals of fuel. The Engine had to be bolted into the car, and then started. As the first car was started marshals were called to the track and the racing was begun, It was done in 15min stints so driver and marshals could swap over but the engine did not stop. RCPB managed to have the first car on track with the stick boys (car below), and the others all followed.
The Stick boys had a few laps lead on the rest of the teams after a few hours, an issue with some clutch bell bearings and a big crash moving the engine meant they were back down the field. The Wheel boys (car below) were hot on their tails, they to having to change clutch bell bearings also slipped down the leader board, but they both ploughed on.
Both teams were using Kyosho MP9 cars and they were both fantastic, not a single part failed on either car for the duration of the 6h race.
After 5h the Stick Boys (pictured above) engine was starting to show a sign of something being wrong, with 30 mins to go it was getting slower and slower until it finally stopped and no matter what the guys did it would go again. The Stick boys the 1st to also blow the engine! And even though they didn’t finish the 6h racing, they didn’t come last due to their great pace and ability to get the car on track first.
The wheel boys (pictured below)drove the rest of the race at great pace, getting the fastest lap of the day (thanks to James Harrold) they finished in style coming home 4th!
A great race event and something new for the team, the proceeds of the event also going to a local charity! And the Stick boys got two trophies – First on track and first engine blown. Thanks to the NDOR team on a brilliant event.
So that’s the summer season over, now it’s time for the winter series to begin. Thanks to the whole team – we had a great season!
EAT-SLEEP-RACE-REPEAT – stay tuned for more racing from the RCPB team next week and keep in touch by following the facebook page for all our product information, competitions and offers.