The first round of the British national championships took place at the Aldershot circuit in Hampshire. The open and fast track suited the modified class cars well and with the change to the open motor rule for 2005 the cars were looking quicker than ever.
Most of the top runners had been practicing at the track on the weekends leading up to the event, so although the practice day before the event was rained off drivers were already confident of their set-up prior to the event.
The Xray drivers had used the weeks in the lead up to the event to perfect the set-ups of their new FK05â™s and were confident of a good result having been well on the pace in the preceding meetings. Luke Burley and Darren Styles had both found that the new car could be run far softer than the FK04 without scrubbing corner speed, and even with limited running the cars were quick and easy to drive.
Sunday morning started with a damp track, so the drivers were limited to running on wet tyres prior to qualifying, so although most had an idea on tyre and insert combinations no testing on the day was possible. The decision on what tyres to use was made even more crucial by the fact that all driver were limited to only two sets slick tyres for the day.
The first round saw mixed conditions for the racers, and the top Xray runner was Mark Gilliand in 8th. Both Luke and Darren struggled to find a balance on their cars in the first round. For round two Luke changed to harder springs, a spool rather than a one way and moved into the top ten along with Mark, with Darren just outside the A in 13th.
As with most races the pace picked up in the last round with the majority of A final times being set. Luke again made small changes that improved the car, standing the rear shocks up and moving the camber link at the front, and this resulted in an improvement of 8 seconds over his round two time securing him 8th position on the grid, six seconds off the pole position of Glen Doman. Although Xray only got one car into the A, Mark was 11th and Darren was in 20th after a motor problem stopped him from improving in the last round.
Qualifying Postions:
1. Glen Doman 21 Laps 5m 0.41
2. Chris Grainger 21 Laps 5m 1.14
3. Kevin Brunsden 21 Laps 5m 1.46
4. Richard Barton 21 Laps 5m 2.70
5. Craig Drescher 21 Laps 5m 4.79
6. Olly Jefferies 21 Laps 5m 5.38
7. Andy Childs 21 Laps 5m 5.78 8. Luke Burley Xray T1FK05 21 Laps 5m 6.94
9. Ben Cosgrove 21 Laps 5m 7.30
10. Chris Ashton 21 Laps 5m 7.76
The first A Final saw a retirement for Luke after a mistake moved his motor. On older tyres Lukeâ™s car was still nervous, so for the second final the rear roll-centre was moved up to increase roll stability, and immediately the car was better. From 8th on the grid Luke carved his way through the field and finished in 5th position in leg 2, posting his fastest laps of the day on 3rd run tyres. So with the retirement in the first leg Luke finished his first national with the FK05 in 8th place.
Mark Gilliand showed he would have competed well in the A final by winning both B finals with his Xray, with Darren taking 3rd from 10th on the grid.
Finishing Postions:
1. Glen Doman
2. Chris Grainger
3. Richard Barton
4. Chris Ashton
5. Kevin Brunsden
6. Andy Childs
7. Olly Jefferies 8. Luke Burley Xray T1FK05
9. Ben Cosgrove
10. Craig Drescher
With the first national over all the Xray team were happy with their cars and feel confident of a good result in the next round of the championship in 3 weeks at the Stafford track. With each meeting more potential is being unlocked from the new chassis and set-ups are being perfected.
