The last round of the British 1.10th IC national championship took place this weekend (28th/29th September) at Cotswolds model car club based at the Kemble Air Field in Cirencester.
This track is technical yet fast and flowing and provides a real challenge to all drivers.
We had 4 rounds of qualification on the Sunday following a day of free practice the day before. The weather held up for the whole weekend despite the forecast being bad from the previous week. The conditions became almost perfect for the finals, the track had excellent traction and tyre wear was good. The facilities were excellent and thanks go to all involved at the club for this.
Many XRAY drivers attended the final meeting including Simon Wood, Pete Spratley, Jon Withington, Nigel Philpotts and Mark Owen in the 200mm touring class and Ryk Pryke, Dave Gerard and Ben Lungley competing in the 220 Sports GT class. Most drivers appeared happy with their set ups by the Saturday afternoon, XRAY drivers found that the NT1 2013 particularly suited this fast circuit.
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Qualification went well for Simon Wood who after the fourth round was to start the main final from 3rd position in the touring car class. At times he had the pace to take top spot but was running so close on fuel that this had an overall affect on his qualification times. Ryk Pryke was also running well in the Sports GT class had good support, close behind him were his XRAY team mates Dave Gerard and Ben Lungley.
After completion of the lower finals the Main âśaâť finals started, the sun was beating down on the drivers as they stood on the rostrum and most decided to wear some sort form of eye protection!
Sports GT was up first, Ryk Pryke continued his recent excellent form by taking his NT1 to the win. This caps an excellent year for him completing the whole series in 2nd place overall. Todayâ™s race proved an excellent testing ground for the converted NT1's, all XRAYs finishing the 30 minute final.
The 200mm touring class was up next, Simons Wood built up a nice initial start and went straight into 2nd place, the tyres were all important now and Simon kept a nice pace knowing that this was a long final, he had a plan and was sticking to it hoping others may have some technical issues. Despite this Simons pace was excellent throughout. XRAY driver Peter Spratley also had a good start from the back of the field and was just happy to be taking his Nt1 2013 for the 30 minute race.
The team were delighted by the progress made by all involved and it left all XRAY drivers enthusiastic for the 2014 season ahead.
Race results:
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220 GT
1. Ryk Pryke - XRAY NT1
2. Adam Crossland
3. Glyn Beal 4. David Gerrard - XRAY NT1
5. Devendra Mahatme 6. Ben Lungley - XRAY NT1
7. Andrew Gregory
8. Peter Hellawell
9. Jason Thompson
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Touring 200mm
1. Joe Kerry 2. Simon Wood - XRAY NT1
3. Alex Thurston
4. James Conolly
5. Andrew Hastings
6. Matthew Cook
7. John Zottl
8. Dominic Carter
9. Peter Hastings 10. Peter Spratley - XRAY NT1
