2024 BRCA 1/10th Off-Road Round 5 Report

Press Release From RacewayOne:
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Round 5 of the 2024 BRCA 1/10th Offroad Nationals was an intense roller coaster ride where the track bit when least expected. Over the weekend of July 27/28 the series progressed to TORCH at Swanmore College not too far from Southampton. The club really knows how to put on an event – good track, good facilities, great selection of food vendors and a great selection of ladies fashions – if you know, you know. The weather over the weekend was mostly sunny and warm apart from one heavy shower on Saturday which upset things at a crucial moment.

The Saturday morning drivers briefing was held in glorious morning sunshine and in the absence of Section Chairman Martin Owen, Tony Evdoka MC’d proceedings. The briefing was comprehensive as there are several extra restrictions with the track being based in school grounds. The track walk showed that the circuit design was a very welcome progression as UK tracks aim to become more 3D with the addition of the very large 3-way table top which could be used in several ways depending on the lane layout. Another thing that’s new at TORCH is the amount of slump in the soil under the artificial grass. The result is that the track surface has become very undulating, and the bumps would play a key role in the results that unfolded over the two days.

As 2wd practice got underway on a damp but quickly drying track, many of the bystanders were chatting about how the 2wd championship was unfolding. Neither Neil Cragg, Tommy Hall, Ben Smith nor Lee Martin can win the championship at this round, but they can deal themselves out of their chance with a poor performance.

First out of the blocks and fastest in 2wd practice was title contender Ben Smith who managed a time over three laps considerably quicker than second fastest Tommy Hall. The explanation for this is not clear – perhaps just raw early pace. Neil Cragg was third and Lee Martin fourth so from the outset the championship favourites were running fast.

The track was bone dry by the time 2wd qualifying started. Ben Smith could not maintain his damp track relative pace and it was Neil Cragg who came through to take Rounds 1 & 2. His car generating an incredible amount of forward drive even though it didn’t look great on the bumps. The traction advantage allowed him to carry more speed out of the turns where others were over-running the slipper clutch. In Round 3 it was Tommy Hall who put in a similar performance to take the TQ. Tommy’s car looked much more settled over the bumps but there was definitely room for improvement. The final round was wet and taken by Josh Holdsworth with a fast and clean run where others made mistakes. Josh’s car looked very good over the bumpy surface but seemed to step out of line under power out of the corners. Cragg took 2wd Pole Position with Tommy Hall starting in second on a faster time.

Light rain started to for 2wd A Final Leg 1 resulting lower traction levels all round. Neil Cragg led them away, closely followed by Tommy Hall. The field of cars were all running at a similar pace. Cragg at the front looking smooth and in control, Hall behind looking more aggressive with lots of rotation at the apexes. With 90 seconds down, Hall was right on Cragg’s back bumper with Holdsworth, Martin & Pugh very close behind. On the fifth lap, the lead two had slowly separated themselves from the main pack. The two crossed the line running very closely and made their way up to the single before coming back towards the rostrum. Coming off the single, Cragg got a bad landing causing his car to momentarily get out of shape and this was the opportunity Hall was looking for. Hall dived for the gap at the back of Cragg’s out of shape car, but by the time he occupied the gap Cragg was quickly pinching that gap and there was a collision. Cragg was spun around twice whilst being driven on by Hall trying to get through. When Cragg finished spinning around he found himself at the apex of the next corner ahead of Hall! A most unlikely result. The race continued as if no collision had ever occurred – the only evidence being that Holdsworth was now a close third. For the next 4 laps, Cragg and Hall ran nose to tail as they gapped the field. Late in the lap with nearly four minutes down, Cragg in the lead touched off the hose on the entry to the chicane before the straight and put his car into a barrel roll. The incident resolved itself quicky but not before Hall was through. Hall’s lead was short lived as he put his car up on a hose before the single – beaching it briefly and letting Cragg and Martin through. Hall put in a superb performance in the last minute to catch Martin and put him under pressure but there wasn’t enough time and even with a last corner lunge third was the result. Cragg taking the win, Martin second.

After 2wd A Final Leg 1 there was a torrential downpour. The rain came down hard for 5 minutes non stop before completely ceasing and returning to blue skies. 2wd A Final Leg 2 got off to a slippery start with some drivers reverting back to their wet setup cars. Neil Cragg led the field away but his lead was very short lived when he caught the hose at the apex just before they come across the start/finish line. His rolled over onto its roof and the whole field passed through. Tommy Hall now leading, Cragg relegated to last. The grip levels were low and the next to prove it was new leader Tommy Hall when he fishtailed before the double in the middle of the track and came up short on the jump. Josh Holsworth travelling at speed in second jumped well, but landed on a recovering Hall causing his car to roll over. Hall got away in the lead, Lee Martin in second, and a recovering Holdsworth in third. Over the proceeding couple of laps Hall and Martin propelled themselves at speed away from the rest of the field. Hall with a 1 second lead meant that the battle wasn’t on, but the chase and pressure was. By the midway point a rapid performance had given Tommy Hall a very healthy lead. A few bobbles and errors from Lee Martin left hi trailing in second with Luke Holdsworth at a very safe distance behind in third. The main battle on track was for third between Luke Holdsworth and Neil Cragg who trailed Lee Martin by about 4 seconds. Daniel Pole another few seconds behind in fifth. The finishing tone rang out as Tommy Hall made his way down the straight to take the Leg win. Lee Martin was second to cross the line, so it was all eyes on the Holdsworth/Cragg battle for third. The two were now running very close with Cragg applying bucket loads of pressure. The two came off the straight at high speed only half a meter apart with only one chicane to go before the line. Holdsworth made his car a wide as possible by rolling the jump before the last corner and Cragg hit it with more speed meaning his car left the ground and on landing collided with Holdsworth. The two cars intertwined and needed to be marshalled. Whilst that was being sorted out, Daniel Pole skipped by from fifth to third. Cragg and Holdsworth go going again, and Cragg was across the line first only for the referee to reverse his position in the interest of fairness. Final Leg 2 order: T Hall, Martin, Pole.

All that action made 2wd A final Leg 3 the decider. Tommy, Lee, Neil & Daniel could win it and based on Leg 2, Tommy Hall was surely the favourite. The race started and the field made its way round by race control with out incident. The first issue from Josh Holdsworth as he made his was towards the rostrum shortly after – clipping a hose and barrel rolling the car allowing Ben Smith though. There was immediately further drama when Holdsworth collected Smith over the tabletop dropping both down the order. Back at the front of the field the battle for the lead was between Cragg and Hall who were nose to tail. On the second lap the two jumped the table top very closely, then again almost inseparable through the right angle table top and proceeding double jump. On landing off the double, Cragg went wide – only a car’s width – which was enough for Tommy Hall to push through into the lead. Cragg applied pressure straight away and the battle continued through the next few corners and down the straight. Coming through the roller before race control Hall made an unforced errors and tipped the apex rolling his car over. Cragg with nowhere to go, collected him and cane to a dead stop as the marshal sprinted towards them. Taking full advantage, Lee Martin from third went around the outside of the incident and assumed the lead. Over the next couple of laps, Lee Martin looked smooth and in control. Various mistakes from Hall and Cragg left them trailing by five or six seconds. That nice lead was being eaten by Hall – grip was improving, and he was flying – but his attach was too heavy and crashed giving second back to Cragg. That change of order determined the final result. Although the Leg finishing order was Martin, Cragg, Hall – the second place position for Cragg propelled him to the overall win.

Once again, the Sunday morning driver’s briefing was held in glorious sunshine and once again it was Tony Evdoka who led proceedings as Section Chairman Martin Owen was away in the USA. Temperatures were predicted to climb into the mid-twenties over the day and not a drop of rain was forecast.

The club laid a new track design for 4wd. The design was good however more than a few people commented that the 2wd and 4wd layouts should have been swapped and that jumping the full length of the big tabletop would have been more suited to 4wd. There was also an issue with the disbursement of marshals on Sunday with a common occurrence of marshals running and leaping over lanes of traffic to get to accident black spots instead of being posted close to them. Track design is a compromise everywhere and I think the club did a solid job in providing a layout that wasn’t already familiar to the regulars.

4wd practice got underway on a damp track which dried very quickly. Tommy Hall’s car looked similar to his 2wd. Tons of grunt and very good corner speed but a little unsettled over the many bumps. On his second attempt he went fastest over three consecutive laps with Ben Smith in second. Ben’s car was the flipside in performance to Tommy’s. It was excellent through the bumps but lacked initial grunt out of the corners. Ben was having to try and carry more corner speed to compensate which caused its own issues. Neil Cragg went third. With the championship settled in Tommy Hall’s favour all efforts on this day would be in an attempt to settle the remaining podium positions.

Round 1 of qualifying got underway on a track that was now bone dry. Niel Cragg looked fully fired up and he put in a staggering time to go fastest considering he did have a tumble mid run. That run was Neil’s peak performance of the day, and it was Ben Smith who went fastest in round 2. Smith’s car again looking very good over the bumps. In round 3, we have out third TQ driver – Lee Martin. Martin’s car looking very good indeed and you could see his confidence growing over the run. And finally in round 4 it was Tommy Hall’s turn to claim a TQ also with a very smooth and fast exhibition of driving. With four winners from four rounds the points situation was complete. Hall, Martin & Smith all with a TQ and a second in round. Cragg with a TQ and a third. It's very rare that a total points haul of 3 would leave you fourth on the A Final grid! Once again, we saw Thomas Phipps in the A Final – he is becoming a regular.

4wd A Final Leg 1 started at pace under blue skies and pleasant sunshine. Tommy Hall fired out of the box and pushed on from the word go. Lee Martin in second looked far less fired up but was matching Hall’s pace without any fuss. Smith, Cragg and Phipps making up the lead pack. Towards the end of the first lap, Hall got a bad bounce which resulted in him clipping the hose at the apex of the 90° left before the hairpin onto the straight. Martin attempted to go around the outside of Hall as he recovered, but as Hall moved across to cover Martin, the cars became entangled, and Smith passed to take the lead. The accident was quick to rectify itself and Hall rejoined in second with Cragg third, Phipps fourth and Martin fifth – all 10 cars now tightly grouped. With only two laps down, Smith was leading with Tommy Hall second. The former being very fast through the jumps and the latter being very fast out of the corners – the distance between them was very variable. There were sections where Hall would reel in Smith and then other sections where Smith would break away at pace. An obvious place to see this was through the second half of the lap there the bumps were less concentrated. Hall caught Smith by a couple of metres over a few corners and was very fast through the second 90° tabletop. Unfortunately, on the third and more severe 90° tabletop he carried too much speed and rolled on the landing allowing Smith away and nine of the ten cars through – with three and half minutes remaining. With Hall out of the equation, a combination of a couple of great laps from Cragg and a couple of not so great ones from Smith meant the battle for the lead was on. The two dragged down the straight for the fifth time and rounded the tightening corner at its end. Switching back over the single jump, Smith touched the inside hose and was forced wide letting Cragg through. Smith did not look comfortable with the changes he had made to the car as he had a couple of bad landings and grazes with hoses – Lee Martin having to back out of a couple of overtaking opportunities for the safety of both cars. When Smith was settled, he was probably the fastest driver on track but the performance window leading up to the limit was very narrow. A couple of laps later after reeling in Neil Cragg and then falling behind again he grazed a hose a bit too hard under the driver’s stand and put the car onto its roof letting Lee Martin through. And then Martin did the same on the next corner which a recovering Smith couldn’t avoid. When the dust settled Cragg had a massive lead out front, with Smith leading the chasing pack of Luke Holdsworth, Lee Martin & Josh Holdsworth. Martin’s car was like a caged animal back in fourth – he had tons more pace than the cars around him and he was having to be very patient at every corner. Over the double before the hairpin in the middle of the track the inevitable happened. Luke Holdsworth jumped short on the double and chassis slapped his car resulting in a double bounce. Martin, already committed to the landing, had nowhere to go apart from into the back of the recovering Holdsworth and the two became entangled allowing most of the field through. Very frustrating for both drivers but especially for Martin who had potentially meeting winning pace but too many mistakes and slower cars to deal with. With thirty seconds to go Cragg remained out in front with a massive lead, Ben Smith second and Thomas Phipps holding back Tommy Hall in third. This remained the race order to the finish of this eventful A final.

4wd A Final Leg 2 had the potential to be a classic. Neil Cragg had taken leg 1, but didn’t look particularly delighted with the car. Hall had loads of pace as he was continually running on the ragged edge – if harnessed he could win it. Ben Smith would be better in Leg 2 after undoing the setup changes he made for Leg 1 – another potential winner, and Lee Martin would surely feature as he knows he has race winning pace if he can avoid other people errors in traffic and even Thomas Phipps was a potential shoe-in for the win.

All the drivers remained calm at the start of the race and a procession lead by Tommy Hall worked its way around the track. On the third 90° tabletop in the latter half of the lap, Hall touched the apex and slowed. Martin went for the opportunity but had to check up to avoid hitting Hall at the apex of the proceeding hairpin. Hall got away as Martin ended up in the valley of the double and Smith got through to second. Ben Smith’s car looked completely different this time – sure footed and pin point accurate. He quickly reeled in Tommy Hall and sat on his back bumper looking for his chance. With two minutes down, Smith’s opportunity was presented to him. Tommy Hall came off the single jump after coming off the straight and on landing the car got all out of shape. Smith was able to go around the outside and overtake on the short straight down to race control. Smith advantage was increased when Lee Martin glanced off Hall’s left back wheel at proceeding hairpin and narrowly avoiding a pile up. Smith continued to build his lead and was now out in from by a couple of seconds – the main battle being between Hall and Martin for second. Then with only two minutes left on the clock, Hall had a replica crash from Leg 1 rolling on the landing of the more severe third tabletop – Lee Martin, Thomas Phipps and Neil Cragg all getting through. With a bit of breathing room, Lee Martin could really show the pace of his car. He left Phipps in his dust and started to make inroads into Smith’s lead – managing to get the gap down to one second. But as he got close the finishing tone rang out – final order: Smith, Martin, Phipps.

Going into 4wd A Final Leg 3, Tommy Hall did not have a mathematical chance of being able to take the win. The top spot would go to either Ben Smith, Neil Cragg or Lee Martin. Hall led the field away in a slightly frantic style with the remainder of the field looking relaxed. After a couple of laps, Hall & Martin had broken away from the field. There was less than a second between the two which could be evaporated by a bobble or a double bounce. It was a minute and a half in before the first cracks showed in this epic duel. Tommy Hall coming across the line, oversteered under power up onto the track marking and rolled across the lane, allowing Martin and eventually Cragg through. For the next three minutes Lee Martin settle into a smooth fast pace out at the front on his own. Cragg & Hall slowly gained on him, but there was no pressure on the lead. Martin continued to take the Leg win and draw on points with Ben Smith for the overall 4wd victory. His time turned out to be 2 seconds faster which secured the win.

It was an excellent finish to a tough day’s racing. Lee Martin has hopefully broken the back of the period of terrible luck he had and we see him return to championship dominating form. Another winner this weekend was the Titchfield Offroad Racing Club Hants themselves as they have taken the controversial move of adding some big 3D features – something that is not always greeted with open arms. The UK must move towards more 3D tracks if the countries best drivers are to dominate and European and World level.

The 2wd Championship still has not clear leader. Hall and Cragg have potentially a 128 point score to improve on whist Ben Smith has a 127 point score to improve on. TQ at Boughton will be crucial.

Tommy Hall has already secured the title but the battle for the podium positions is between Martin, Phipps and Cragg. Martin with a 125 to drop!