Spashett TQ’s And Wins On One-Off 1:8 On-Road Return

• Meeting: BRCA Round 3, 1:8 IC Circuit
• Date: 6th June 2010
• Location: Brooklands Raceway, Kent

The third round of this years championships was held at the Brooklands Raceway in Kent and with a turn out of over 40 drivers, it was looking like a strong weekends racing but the weather forecast for Sunday was for rain, but thankfully, the drivers were treated to sunshine.

David Spashett decided to come out of retirement for a one-off appearance with a standard spec JP powered Velox V8 chassis and even after five years of not racing 1:8 scale, he was soon back in the groove with some very consistent lap times and apexing every track corner to perfection.

The track was very dusty on Saturday but after an hour of free practice, it soon became apparent that the traction was good but due to the high temperatures, the lap times would be slower than last year.

As per usual this season, the Saturday afternoon was set aside for controlled practice in heat order. This then allowed drivers of same ability to race against each other and continue to find a quicker set up if still not happy. The fastest drivers at this stage were Daniel Bancroft and David Spashett with a group of top drivers close behind.

Sunday morning was damp from a rain shower during the night. The track however soon dried out and it was ready for a dry qualifying session to begin. In round one it was Daniel Bancroft who took TQ with a 21 lap run in 300 secs without a fuel stop. It was in this heat that Andy North and Neil Diver both blew up engines at the end of the main straight. In round two, it was David Spashett who advanced to the top of the leader board with a 22 lap run in 311 secs. At this stage, the Serpent drivers Richard Hicklin and Tim Wood had both cemented a place in the main final with quick consistent runs and Andy North made it into the top 10 with a 20 laps in 283 due to running out of fuel 17 seconds short. In Round three, there were no noticeable improvements at the front, but in Round 4, the Chairman, Pete Hastings managed to finally put a run together and qualify fourth but it could have been second  if not for a tangle on the last couple of laps. The grid order were as follows:

• 1 David Spashett  – Shepherd – JP
• 2 Daniel Bancroft – Motonica – Max
• 3 Richard Hicklin – Serpent – Mega
• 4 Pete Hastings – Shepherd – IDM
• 5 Tim Wood – Serpent – Mega
• 6 Neil Diver – Shepherd – IDM
• 7 John  Carr – Serpent – Mega
• 8 Ashley Gouveia – Serpent – Novarossi
• 9 Jack Garrett-Lines – Serpent
• 10 Andy Hastings – Shepherd – IDM

The A final started with pole sitter David Spashett losing the lead due to the engine being a little rich on the bottom end and dropped to second position behind Daniel Bancroft’s Max powered Motonica who was starting to stretch out a comfortable lead. Behind David were the Serpents of Richard Hicklin and Tim Wood. At this point, David decided to let them overtake and follow them, knowing that he may have a strategy advantage. The first casualty was Pete Hastings, who snapped the Velox brake cable in the warm up. He then rejoined and posted the fastest lap of the final which proves he now has a very fast car and is somebody to watch for the remainder of the season.

Up front, Daniel Bancroft made some driving errors and dropped out of contention. Richard Hicklin also dropped back making it a two-horse race between the current race leader Tim Wood and David Spashett. With half distance looming, and Tim on four minute fuel stops, allowed David into the lead of which he held to eventually take a comfortable win by just short of a lap from Tim Wood and John Carr a respectable third after an altercation with Andy Hastings in the early stages which unfortunately put Andy out. Congratulations also go to Jack Garrett-Lines for making his first A final. The final results were as follows:

• 1 David Spashett  – Shepherd – JP – 123 Laps 1804 secs
• 2 Tim Wood – Serpent – Mega – 122 Laps 1803 secs
• 3 John  Carr – Serpent – Mega – 118 Laps 1812 secs
• 4 Richard Hicklin – Serpent – Mega – 98 Laps 1453 secs
• 5 Daniel Bancroft – Motonica – Max – 94 Laps 1646 secs
• 6 Jack Garrett-Lines – Serpent – 61 Laps 1122 secs
• 7 Pete Hastings – Shepherd – IDM – 49 Laps 1044 secs
• 8 Neil Diver – Shepherd – IDM – 32 Laps 670 secs
• 9 Andy Hastings – Shepherd – IDM – 8 Laps 123 secs
• 10 Ashley Gouveia – Serpent – Novarossi – 5 Laps 67 secs