TC6 on the Podium at West London
Four TC6?s in the mod A final at first BRCA national proves the car and the team are set for a great season.
Round one of this seasons BRCA national 1:10 on road championship took place over the weekend at the West London track at Hillingdon. It was the first national for the new bigger Associated on-road team and it proved a major success.
In the Super Touring class Olly Jefferies qualified 2nd behind Chris Grainger and was looking to take the fight to the reigning champion in the finals. Joining Olly in the A final was Alan Bickerstaff, Jo Aird and Chris Kerswell. Shades of the old TC3 days with Associated providing more cars than any other single manufacture for the A main.
In the Pro Stock class Novak powered Chris Slater and Zak Smith both made the A, Zak having to recover from a massive shunt which required an over night re-build of his TC6 on Saturday night. Some great work by Kenny had the car back together for the Sunday runs.
Down the field the rest of the team were performing well and there was a real buzz around the place as drivers got the very best from the TC6.
In finals and Olly was dogged by a mysterious problem that was causing his car to dig in on the sweeper and flip on the exit of the corner. This was highly frustrating for Olly as despite investigation by the team the reason could not be found. This hampered Olly?s finals but he still managed to finish on the podium in third.
?This is a good result for us on a track where the bumps made the TC6 a little hard to drive flat through the sweeper, the intermittent problem on the sweeper only effected my car and only in the finals which is strange but points to something in my build or set up rather a characteristic with the car, we now have our weakest track behind us, we are in very good shape and we are all looking forward to the rest of the season, so third for me is not a great disaster, the rest of the team performed extremely well and the help given to the juniors is really starting to show benefits? Olly said.
In Pro Stock consistency over the three legs rewarded Chris Slater with fourth. Three good finals including a second in leg three was a good result for Chris on a track he still is very new to. Zak?s bad luck continued and resulted in another big rebuild after Zak was punted off in the final leg of the final, he finished eight.
Fastrax/CML driver Tom Jefferies narrowly missed out on the Pro-stock A final qualifying 2nd in the B final but taking the overall win after some great racing.
Kyle Gardner was another driver going well and making the 10.5 C final with his TC6, Andy Murray had a very frustrating qualifying but recovered toward the end of the weekend to secure a second in the 10.5 stock C final.
In the 10.5 D final it was a 1-2-3 for Associated with a win Mark Hancock with Ben Putt and Chris Gunter completing the podium. A third for Academy driver Ross Walker in the 10.5 D final was a real highlight for the team, the youngster enjoying his first taste of national tarmac racing. Shane Walker won the 10.5 J final.
The weekend before this meeting long time team driver Steve Lander tied the knot. To celebrate Alan Bickerstaff filled in as the blushing bride as Steve once again cut the cake for the benefit of the Associated team. It was a welcome distraction to a busy and full Saturday. Congratulations to Steve and Diane.
This was the first BRCA tarmac national for the Junior Academy and this interesting incentive is already turning heads and showing benefits. Great runs from Ross Walker, Ben Putt, Kyle Gardener and Judy Walker capped a good weekend where all fours drivers benefited from the close co-operation of the more experienced team drivers.
A good start to the season for the team and a result they can build on through the year
The team focus now turns to the Cotswold track, the whole team are planning to test prior to the national and they will also compete in the BTCC round in two weeks time.
In finals and Olly was dogged by a mysterious problem that was causing his car to dig in on the sweeper and flip on the exit of the corner. This was highly frustrating for Olly as despite investigation by the team the reason could not be found. This hampered Olly?s finals but he still managed to finish on the podium in third.
?This is a good result for us on a track where the bumps made the TC6 a little hard to drive flat through the sweeper, the intermittent problem on the sweeper only effected my car and only in the finals which is strange but points to something in my build or set up rather a characteristic with the car, we now have our weakest track behind us, we are in very good shape and we are all looking forward to the rest of the season, so third for me is not a great disaster, the rest of the team performed extremely well and the help given to the juniors is really starting to show benefits? Olly said.
In Pro Stock consistency over the three legs rewarded Chris Slater with fourth. Three good finals including a second in leg three was a good result for Chris on a track he still is very new to. Zak?s bad luck continued and resulted in another big rebuild after Zak was punted off in the final leg of the final, he finished eight.
Fastrax/CML driver Tom Jefferies narrowly missed out on the Pro-stock A final qualifying 2nd in the B final but taking the overall win after some great racing.
Kyle Gardner was another driver going well and making the 10.5 C final with his TC6, Andy Murray had a very frustrating qualifying but recovered toward the end of the weekend to secure a second in the 10.5 stock C final.
In the 10.5 D final it was a 1-2-3 for Associated with a win Mark Hancock with Ben Putt and Chris Gunter completing the podium. A third for Academy driver Ross Walker in the 10.5 D final was a real highlight for the team, the youngster enjoying his first taste of national tarmac racing. Shane Walker won the 10.5 J final.
The weekend before this meeting long time team driver Steve Lander tied the knot. To celebrate Alan Bickerstaff filled in as the blushing bride as Steve once again cut the cake for the benefit of the Associated team. It was a welcome distraction to a busy and full Saturday. Congratulations to Steve and Diane.
This was the first BRCA tarmac national for the Junior Academy and this interesting incentive is already turning heads and showing benefits. Great runs from Ross Walker, Ben Putt, Kyle Gardener and Judy Walker capped a good weekend where all fours drivers benefited from the close co-operation of the more experienced team drivers.
A good start to the season for the team and a result they can build on through the year
The team focus now turns to the Cotswold track, the whole team are planning to test prior to the national and they will also compete in the BTCC round in two weeks time.
