CML Racers At The Union Square GP
Stars grounded by ash gives junior team members chance to shine at the Union Square GP.
Last week CML team drivers Tom Jefferies, Kyle Gardner and Cam McDonald made the long trip north to the Union Square shopping centre in Aberdeen for the Union Square GP held over the weekend of 17th/18th April. Olly Jefferies, Juho Levanen and Alan Bickerstaff fell victim to the cancelled flights caused by the Icelandic volcano and were sadly unable to make the race.
Set up in the main entrance of the very impressive Union Square atrium was a small yet extremely well designed track which made the most out of the space available to the organisers. This track layout was to be used for the main race as well as the public ‘have a go’ sessions. This was designed to generate public interest in the sport by not only letting them watch some close racing but also allowing them to ‘have a go’ after with the Carisma 1:10 scale RTR range of touring cars to try and set a lap fast enough to come back on the Sunday for the final shootout.
The track in the Union Square shopping centre.
The race itself was a standard TQ format with 2 rounds of practice on Saturday morning, followed by 4 rounds of qualifying plus one more on the Sunday, ending with 3 leg finals in the afternoon. The classes available were for touring car and 12th scale racers.
Although the event was about gaining public interest the racers attending were not forgotten about and enjoyed pitting in the air conditioned conference rooms in the hotel which was situated inside the shopping centre. They were also treated to a banquet with games and awards on Saturday and one of the biggest pizza deliveries pizza hut have ever done straight to the pits!
Saturday morning practice saw Tom Jefferies on the pace straight away, setting top ten times both classes, with Cameron not far behind. It became apparent that although drivers were always courteous the key to weekend would be getting a clean run though the traffic as the 1:12 scale cars were dropping under the 7 second lap mark by the end of the day. With only 8 cars making the A final it was a little tougher than usual.
Tom Jefferies, Cam McDonald and Kyle Gardner.
After qualifying had ended on Saturday Andy Moore had topped the time sheets followed by Phil Chambers and Jonny Aird. Tom had dropped to 11th overall so needed a fast run on the Sunday morning to make the A final. In 1:12 Tom was sitting 4th overall but with enough pace to challenge some of the best 12th drivers in the country. Cam had struggled during the day to get a clean run but still had Sunday morning to put a clean run in.
During qualifying on Saturday the racers and public were treated to a visit by The Stig of Top Gear fame who nearly caused a riot when the public rushed to get there photos taken with him. BRCA commenter Kris Kennedy then took him on a tour of the centre including a hilarious trip to Costa Coffee and then onto a demo lap in his white suit where he showed he should probably just stick to Veyrons and Lamborghinis and leave the serious stuff to the RC drivers!
The Stig enjoyed his day out with a quick race and a visit to Costa Coffee.
Sunday morning came and a few sets of bleary eyes entered the pits after an evening sampling the Aberdeen bars and nightclubs. Tom and Cam were of course back in there rooms at 9pm with a hot chocolate and were not involved in any of the previous nights partying!
The last round of qualifying saw Tom improve his time just narrowly missing out on the A final and ending up 9th in TC with Cameron coming 8th in the C final. 1:12 scale was very close as Tom, Andy Sawyer and Chris Clarke were all competing for second, third and fourth. Eventually an overheated motor kept Tom in 4th place. Cameron was pleased to qualify 7th in the A as he has very little experience with a pan car.
The finals were a bit of a lottery as traffic would play a major part especially with the larger touring cars. Tom finished 4th in the B in the TC finals with Cam staying 8th in the C final. Andy Moore would take the overall win in TC in front of Phil Chambers and Jonny Aird.
The 1:12 scale finals had some very close racing especially the last A final where Tom, Mark Stiles, Andy Sawyer and Chris Clarke all led at some point. Although Tom was disappointed to have issues with back markers which killed any chance of a podium finish he was very pleased to have been on the pace of 12th scale experts Mark Stiles and Andy Sawyer and was able to keep a hard charging Mark Stiles behind him for two minutes and then sit on his boot for another two until a back marker collision forced him to retire.
A good turn out meant it was a quality event enjoyed by all.
The weekend was resounding success and hopefully will open the floodgates as it has shown what races in the UK can be. The race from start to finish had the feel of a large international race and the facilities made the race certainly something special. A big thanks to Union Square and the BRCA-TC organisers for a splendid weekend.
The official BRCA race report can be found HERE
CLICK HERE for a full gallery of the event.
For more info on the UK touring car scene visit the official site at www.brca-tc.co.uk
Source: CML Distribution
