Stuttering Start for Olly
Olly Jefferies was on the podium at round one of the BRCA 1/12th Nationals at Crewe at the weekend with his Team Associated 12R5.
CML and Associated team driver Olly Jefferies described his first 1/12th race of the season as a bit of a mixed bag. Having not driven a 1/12th car for a few years Olly had only a handful of laps preparation prior to the meeting but was soon on the pace.
On Saturday in the Pro Class Olly qualified second and was pleased with his pace. In the finals the top three swapped places and after five minutes of close racing the win went to Mark Styles from Chris Kerswell, with Olly completing the top three.
On Sunday the national format switched over to modified motors with an option to run in the Sportsman Class for drivers who don?t desire for the extra performance and speed the modified motors offer. Olly looked more at home with higher speed of the modified car and he battled it out with V-Design driver Andy Griffiths for pole position, after four rounds of qualifying Olly ended second, two tenths of a second behind pole man Griffiths, in second place.
It was only one leg finals for 1/12th Nationals and Olly made a good start shadowing race leader Andy Griffiths in the early stages. Olly forced Andy into an error and took lead at the four minute mark, at five minutes Olly had built up a comfortable buffer but things were not as good as they seemed for Olly;
"I felt the car slow slightly at five minutes so, coming onto the straight, I nailed the throttle hard and there was no punch there at all. I knew from that point I was in trouble! I drove like an old woman for the next two and half minutes trying to hang to the lead without stretching the car too much. Then on the last lap the car died and I got passed by everyone as the car slowed to a crawl. I found out later that I had a dead cell in the four pack I was using, I was pretty gutted to be robbed of the win by my kit as I felt I had driven reasonably well all weekend."
Olly eventually finished sixth but was pleased he had gained some valuable track time over the weekend;
"I felt I got the car going well. Driving a 1/12th is a lot different to what I am used to with a touring car, but the 12R5 felt really good and I was driving it with a set up that was almost straight out of the box. At the next national Andy Moore and current champ Elliott Harper will be back so the that means raising my game even more. Hopefully after some positive running this weekend I can hit the ground running at the next national at Newbury next month."
Olly?s fellow CML/Associated team mate Keith Robertson also went well. A consistent run from Keith using Novak power in his 12R5 saw him finish fourth on both days and make a good solid start to this years campaign, in the final on Sunday a Associated 1-2 was on the cards until misfortune befell both Olly and Keith.
Olly would like to thank Keith for his help at the weekend and his contribution to getting Olly quickly back in to the grove.
Both drivers used Jaco tyres and ran similar set ups, these will be posted later in the week.
On Sunday the national format switched over to modified motors with an option to run in the Sportsman Class for drivers who don?t desire for the extra performance and speed the modified motors offer. Olly looked more at home with higher speed of the modified car and he battled it out with V-Design driver Andy Griffiths for pole position, after four rounds of qualifying Olly ended second, two tenths of a second behind pole man Griffiths, in second place.
It was only one leg finals for 1/12th Nationals and Olly made a good start shadowing race leader Andy Griffiths in the early stages. Olly forced Andy into an error and took lead at the four minute mark, at five minutes Olly had built up a comfortable buffer but things were not as good as they seemed for Olly;
"I felt the car slow slightly at five minutes so, coming onto the straight, I nailed the throttle hard and there was no punch there at all. I knew from that point I was in trouble! I drove like an old woman for the next two and half minutes trying to hang to the lead without stretching the car too much. Then on the last lap the car died and I got passed by everyone as the car slowed to a crawl. I found out later that I had a dead cell in the four pack I was using, I was pretty gutted to be robbed of the win by my kit as I felt I had driven reasonably well all weekend."
Olly eventually finished sixth but was pleased he had gained some valuable track time over the weekend;
"I felt I got the car going well. Driving a 1/12th is a lot different to what I am used to with a touring car, but the 12R5 felt really good and I was driving it with a set up that was almost straight out of the box. At the next national Andy Moore and current champ Elliott Harper will be back so the that means raising my game even more. Hopefully after some positive running this weekend I can hit the ground running at the next national at Newbury next month."
Olly?s fellow CML/Associated team mate Keith Robertson also went well. A consistent run from Keith using Novak power in his 12R5 saw him finish fourth on both days and make a good solid start to this years campaign, in the final on Sunday a Associated 1-2 was on the cards until misfortune befell both Olly and Keith.
Olly would like to thank Keith for his help at the weekend and his contribution to getting Olly quickly back in to the grove.
Both drivers used Jaco tyres and ran similar set ups, these will be posted later in the week.
