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| Greenpower 2008 Avon & West Country Regional Heat Race Report Castle Combe Motor Circuit - 22nd June 2008 |
| Renishaw Western Regional Heat � Castle Coombe Sun 22 June 2008 Following on from the first race of the day, Round 1 of the new Formula 24+ series for 16-21 year olds, 31 Formula 24 cars lined up on the grid at Castle Combe for the 4th Renishaw Western Regional Heat. Strong gusting winds provided testing conditions for all the cars, and those with gears were expected to prevail in these conditions. At the end of the first lap, three veteran cars appeared first on the horizon - Chipping Sodbury School's Rotary Racer, Sandbach High School's Brian, and Furze Platt School's Turbo Tortoise. The first hour saw many cars already requiring collection by the busy recovery vehicles, with batteries fading, electrical cut outs tripping, and motors overheating into the strong headwind out the back of the circuit. A top contender, Starlight from Abbotsholme School was spotted by marshals struggling to keep a straight line, and upon inspection in the paddock was discovered to have cracked a steering column and sadly became the first car to retire from the race. Whilst the top four positions kept changing, with Chipping Sodbury School's R-PodS now in the mix, there were many battles going on down the field. Halfway through the race Sandbach High School's veteran Carbon QT in 5th was on the same lap as 3rd and 4th places, and just two laps covered the next six positions - top Welsh team Daniel James Community School in Danny Boyo Bach, West Somerset Community College's Splinter and Blue Peter, Park Community School's standard Seagull kit car Team Spirit, Super Snail the sister car to Turbo Tortoise, and Abbotsholme School's Electric Blue. Just outside this group, Ansford School's Avalon Science, the two cars from The Plume School, and two of the entries from Marlwood School were still showing great promise and minor delays in pitstops were making all the difference to these mid field positions. The only newcomers in the field, Kind Edmund's Community School with two Seagull kit cars were struggling with the conditions, being brought in repeatedly by recovery vehicles, but were certainly on for the Best Newcomer Award! As the race due to a close, in still dry but blustery conditions, fewer and fewer cars remained on circuit for any length of time, but right at the front the positions were yet to be decided. Chipping Sodbury School's Rotary Racer had eventually worked up a small lead after 3.5 hours of hard racing, maintaining it right to the chequred flag. Behind, a flagging Brian in second place was overtaken on the final corner of the final lap by 2004/2005 Greenpower Champions Furze Platt Senior School in Turbo Tortoise. Behind, R-PodS, Carbon QT, Splinter, Blue Peter, Electric Blue and Danny Boyo Bach were still separated by just two laps (3.6 miles), and all showed great promise for the remainder of the season. Supplementary Awards: Fastest Lap: Sandbach High School, Brian, 3 mins 44 seconds Learning Grid Spirit of Greenpower Award: Daniel James Community School Best Presented Team Award: Chipping Sodbury School IMechE Best Engineered Car: Chipping Sodbury School, R-PodS IoM3 Innovative Use of Materials: The Plume School Best Newcomer: King Edmund Community School |
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| Our Mk4 takes the chequred flag at Castle Coombe 2005, where we finished a strong third. |
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