The fourth round of the 2024 season was held on the weekend of 27th/28th July
at the tight and technical circuit at Colchester. There were insufficient entries to run the GT8 electric class with some driver changeover to the 1/10 nitro. The Colchester club had kindly arranged to run an electric 1/10 class to make it a better day with more drivers and more variety .
The forecast was for a sunny dry weekend. As per usual the local members had made the track very presentable with newly painted lines and a different layout from last year designed to make it a little smoother for the nitro drivers. Saturday practice was spent trying to find a working set up for the circuit and to assess the tyre wear which was previously high . With the track available all day some drivers ran in engines.
After a hot Saturday the temperature rose even higher for Sunday’s racing. A session of open practice for drivers arriving on the day, was followed by driver’s briefing. Once the qualifying got under way it was clear the local drivers knew how to dial in their set up and drive rapidly around the circuit. Standing out were Adam Southgate , Franck Dambrine and Byron Russell.
At the end of qualifying the positions were as follows:
200mm Touring
TQ - Byron Russell
2nd - Ollie King
3rd - Ollie Williams
220mm
TQ - Adam Southgate
2nd - Matthew Cook
3rd - Franck Dambrine
GT Wide Touring
TQ - Neal Wallace
2nd - Paul Dewsnap
3rd - Devendra Mehatme
Electric
TQ - Richard King
2nd - Craig Woods
3rd - Mark Russell
Finals
Electric
1st - Richard King
2nd - Craig Woods
3rd - Mark Russell
B Final 1/10
Top qualifier Adrian Dew retired early stripping a gear. Neal Wallace took the lead and maintained a fast pace throughout eventually pulling away from Ollie Williams to win by 4 laps. Paul Dewsnap was set in third for most of the race but a couple of tangles with other drivers allowed Dev to overhaul him by 2 laps to complete the podium.
1st - Neal Wallace (Shepherd)
2nd - Ollie Williams (Capricorn)
3rd - Devendra Mahatme (Capricorn )
A Final 1/10
This ended up a local driver tussle with TQ Adam Southgate leading off with Franck Dambrine in close pursuit. Both weaved through the rest of the field and after 30 minutes both were still on the same lap ! with Adam taking the win. Most of the rest of the field had various issues apart from Mark Boothman who took a deserved 3rd four laps adrift.
1st - Adam Southgate (X-Ray)
2nd - Franck Dambrine (Serpent)
3rd - Mark Boothman (Shepherd)
An very enjoyable weekend’s racing in the sun with some close racing and lots of overtakes. Thanks to the Colchester Club who made it an enjoyable friendly meeting as per usual. Particular mention to Craig Woods who ran race control. The next round is back up north at Halifax on the 24th/25th August.