9th-Jan-25, 07:38 AM
Race Report - Qualifying Heats
Having escaped the arctic conditions that have swept the UK over the past week or so, snow unexpectedly hit the South Coast just as it was time to set up the first track of the WHO season. Snow is a rare sight in these parts, so chaos ensued. Thankfully a bit of slush on the roads and pavements was all we had to deal with in West Sussex, but parts of Brighton were cut off, sadly depriving us of Gareth's involvement.
Once inside the Barn, the weather was forgotten - a big new track design was built and ready just in time for practice at 6.15. We welcomed James for a first taste of racing - he only popped in to see what it was all about, but stayed for three heats. Kay likewise came to say hello and ended up racing James' fourth heat and the final. That worked perfectly.
This season sees a final hurrah for the Level-10 Viper cars - and this was a track which was ideal for them, but took time to master fully. Mike, Isaac and Kev all had Bulldogs, which had a mixed night on debut in Mod and Tuners - Mike's Tuners-spec version running more smoothly than the other two. Plus we had a gaggle of Mega-G+ runners, for which the track looked a lot of fun.
At the front, a good score seemed to be 26 laps - and a lot of drivers were hitting that mark, making the standings very close after everyone had completed two heats. The top six - Andy, Pete, Terry, Ryan, Oliver & Rob - were separated by four laps. The next five - Ash, Matthew, Ollie, Stephen & Daniel - covered by just two laps. Isaac was first of the Bulldog runners in thirteenth and rookie James was doing great in fifteenth with the club cars...
As racers got more heats under their belts, the track started to give up its secrets. Lap times started to tumble and scores crept up. The highlight of qualifying - and possibly the night - was Heat 14, which saw four drivers push each other to break the 28-lap mark for the first time. They did so in style, Andy finishing on 29.1 laps, Ryan 28.2, Terry 28.15 and Rob 26.1. That one heat pretty much set the A Final line-up, but Ryan had a chance in the penultimate race to grab pole. Another 28 lap run left him just a quarter of a lap short of beating Andy to top spot...
Some great heats left us with six mouth-watering finals to finish the night.
Having escaped the arctic conditions that have swept the UK over the past week or so, snow unexpectedly hit the South Coast just as it was time to set up the first track of the WHO season. Snow is a rare sight in these parts, so chaos ensued. Thankfully a bit of slush on the roads and pavements was all we had to deal with in West Sussex, but parts of Brighton were cut off, sadly depriving us of Gareth's involvement.
Once inside the Barn, the weather was forgotten - a big new track design was built and ready just in time for practice at 6.15. We welcomed James for a first taste of racing - he only popped in to see what it was all about, but stayed for three heats. Kay likewise came to say hello and ended up racing James' fourth heat and the final. That worked perfectly.
This season sees a final hurrah for the Level-10 Viper cars - and this was a track which was ideal for them, but took time to master fully. Mike, Isaac and Kev all had Bulldogs, which had a mixed night on debut in Mod and Tuners - Mike's Tuners-spec version running more smoothly than the other two. Plus we had a gaggle of Mega-G+ runners, for which the track looked a lot of fun.
At the front, a good score seemed to be 26 laps - and a lot of drivers were hitting that mark, making the standings very close after everyone had completed two heats. The top six - Andy, Pete, Terry, Ryan, Oliver & Rob - were separated by four laps. The next five - Ash, Matthew, Ollie, Stephen & Daniel - covered by just two laps. Isaac was first of the Bulldog runners in thirteenth and rookie James was doing great in fifteenth with the club cars...
As racers got more heats under their belts, the track started to give up its secrets. Lap times started to tumble and scores crept up. The highlight of qualifying - and possibly the night - was Heat 14, which saw four drivers push each other to break the 28-lap mark for the first time. They did so in style, Andy finishing on 29.1 laps, Ryan 28.2, Terry 28.15 and Rob 26.1. That one heat pretty much set the A Final line-up, but Ryan had a chance in the penultimate race to grab pole. Another 28 lap run left him just a quarter of a lap short of beating Andy to top spot...
Some great heats left us with six mouth-watering finals to finish the night.
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