BRCA R3 Boughton – 2wd Qualifying Round 1

Drivers arriving at the Boughton Raceway this morning were greeted by warm and sunny conditions which are forcast to prevail for the whole weekend. The track is laid on an elevated site next to a privately owned grass runway and related aircraft hangers and due to that elevation the site is exposed to a strong southerly breeze – so jackets are still on. Track operator Barry Abbott had warned me that the surface was loose and he was not exaggerating – all cars in the first practice session struggling for traction and rear bite.

The track….

The track is a good mix of open fast sections and technical tight sections. A slalom type series of chichanes up the middle of the track dominates the overview – especially one which apexes across a single roller jump – this is catchin many drivers out! At the end of the back straight there is a high speed key-hole section before you join the tabletop. The drivers who can take this at high speed have a massive advantage over those who cannot guage it correctly. Generally the track is loose and it remains to be seen what will happen as the ambient temperature rises during the day.

2022 BRCA 1/10th Offroad National Championships

Round 3 – Boughton – 11/12 June 2022

Practice

Practice provided some unusual timings at the front of the field, especially when considering driver’s fastest laps. In Round 1, Ben Pugh put in the fastest overall time to go top of the table – however his fastest lap of 28.4 was smashed by Neil Cragg in the same heat with 27.01 – also having another 27 to support it. But Neil was not the fastest driver on track in practice 1 that went to Michal Orlowski with a 26.8 – absolutely rapid. Orlowski took it up a notch in round 2 of practice setting the fastest overall time – putting in several 27 second laps as well.

2wd Qualifying Round 1

Qualifying here at Boughton is unusual as we have a potential winner, Michal Orlowski, seeded outside the top 30 in the heats. This is an anomoly due to Orlowski’s F5 grading. The racer all the way from Poland is in heat 9 of 12 and he absolutely obliterated all competition in his heat. Orlowski setting an 11/306.87 in the heat with closest rival Matthew Peters finishing some 18 seconds behind. This is a poor reflection on Peters who went well and kept Yasir Mughal under control in third.

In the first top 30 seeded heat, heat 10, Luke Holdsworth replicated Orlowski’s style by checking out at the front of the heat. Running on a very fast pace he put in a time which was just short of rivalling Orlowski, but going second on 11/310.08. Nathan Ralls went second in heat almost 10 seconds adrift.

Heat 11 was the first time we had someone challenge Orlowski’s time. Josh Holdsworth put in a near perfect run to go top of the table on a 11/304.52 – displacing Orlowski to second and Ben Smith put in a 11/308.36 to displace Luke to fourth.

Now it was time for the top heat – number 12. Neil Cragg went unchallenged for the five minutes to win the heat and take the round TQ with a 11/303.02. Lee Martin in tow put in a 13/307.75 with a few bobbles off the table top to go fourth, displaceing Ben Smith.

2wd Qualifying Round 1 overall top 10