The BRCA 1/10th IC 200mm Scale Touring Championship Round 8 went to Cotswolds Club in Cirencester for the last round of the series. This circuit is one of the best with its fast flowing sweeps and bends and the long back straight then into the double S bends and back to the start line. And with the championship so tight, and with wall to wall sunshine forecast it was building for a great weekend.

Saturday
After a very cold night it was 9.30am before we saw the first cars on the track but by 10.am the rostrum was full with 10 drivers and that was very much the same all day. Now you would think that only F1 drivers fly into the circuits for racing, well no the 200mm foam also had a driver flying in for the weekend, Trevor Villa (Biggles) took 2 hours 5 mins to get to Kemble from Norwich in his Skyranger powered by a 912 Rotax engine 80 horse `power. Because of weight restrictions he only brought, lightweight starter box, Kyosho car, and transmitter, one spare set of tyres, wheel spanner, small screwdriver, a small temp sensor and a glow plug, litre of fuel and a tent.

Sunday
With sunshine forecast for today it was the first meeting we have had with sunshine both Saturday and Sunday, drivers briefing was at 9:15am, with 40 drivers and the championship being very close, we were reminded about the rules, and Doug Tanner race director got the meeting under way at 9:30am.

Qualifying
All drivers favoured the 35/37 shore tyre for round one the track was slightly damp, by round two the sun was shining the track was warming up a few drivers opted for 40 shore tyres but the majority stayed with 37 shore tyres.
By round three the sun was very strong and it was getting hotter, out came the sun glasses the grip on the track was coming up it was now that we started to see 18 and 19 laps. Mark Sellars, Dave Forsythe and Trevor Villa (Biggles) all on 17 laps and only seconds between them. By the time round four started the talk in the pits was how lucky we are to have such great weather for the last round of the championship, and the top drivers all looking forward to the finals Mark Gilliland put in a good run with 19 laps in 312, Kyle Branson pulled out all the stops with 19 laps in 309 with his fastest lap of the day 16.04 giving him a slight edge for the championship.

A good start for all more so for Matt Williams who went from P5 to 2nd behind Chris Daft and both opened up a gap between 3rd place Stephen Coyle, by the second lap Matt took first place and opened up a slight gap on 2nd place Chris Daft, as the first fuel stop approached Matt came in for fuel clipping the pitlane board ripping out his left steering knuckle so he retired, Chris took back 1st place and never looked back with his new Kyosho Evo 2. Barry Smith was now in 2nd place and Mark Owen 3rd this is how the positions remained but with 2 minutes to go Mark Owen made a mistake and Peter Spratley took 3rd place with Barry Smith still 2nd and Chris Daft took 1st place.

All got away and round the first hairpin were Mark Sellars held 1st place Matthew Cook went from 4th place on the grid to 2nd place, and Neil Wallace in 3rd place and Adrian Garlick in 4th place, Matthew kept the pressure on and took 1st place on lap 12, by the half way point Adrian retired with mechanical problems Fred Singleton was working his way up the field and was now in 5th place and all over David Gerard who was in 4th place. At the second fuel stop everything changed, Matthew Cook still in 1st place Fred Singleton was now in 2nd place after a very quick fuel stop, 3rd was David Gerard, Mark Sellars in 4th place and now Trevor Villa (Biggles) in 5th place. Neil Wallace fuel stop was a disaster, as he came in the car stalled the pitman got him going but he had an electrical fault which put him out of the race. With 2 and a half minutes left disaster for Matthew Cook he lost 1st place to Fred Singleton, David Gerard in 2nd place and Mark Sellars in 3rd place this was the finishing order.

Everyone got away to a good start Jonathan Dobney lead the pack with Joe Kerry in 2nd place John Zotti in 3rd followed closely by 4TH man Kevin Taylor, by lap 4 Adam Walker Catchpole who was 7th on the grid was now in 6th place not much changed till the first fuel stop when Joe Kerry`s pitman got the tie wrap on the fuel cap caught on the engine so that as Joe took the first corner most of his fuel came out, this then put him down in 10th place. By now Jonathan Dobney was still in 1st place Kevin Taylor in 2nd and 3rd was John Zotti and Adam Walker Catchpole in 4th place, these were also the finishing positions.

Well this was the final everyone was waiting for this would decide the championship. Right from the start Mark Green took the lead from pole position but Kyle Branson was right on his bumper and they both started to pull away from the main pack. Mark Gilliland was in 3rd place followed by team mate Robin Hammett in 4th place, just under the halfway point Chris Slater who was in 5th place thought he could fly (yes yes right up to the sky) and on lap 48 he retired with a broken rear shock tower. Mark Green and Kyle Branson had slight coming together which gave 1st place to Mark Gilliland, Mark Green was now in 2nd and Kyle in 3rd I have to say the driving standard was excellent, but with a costly mistake by Mark Gilliland`s pitman left Mark with an empty fuel tank, by now Mark Green and Kyle back into 1st and 2nd places and Robin Hammett in 3rd place. Kyle`s mum could hardly watch as she was crouched down just looking over the fence and was heard to shout GO GO as Kyle passed the pitlane, as the last fuel stop came round they both Mark and Kyle pitted together with the quick refuel by Kyle`s dad (Andy) Kyle just got out in front of Mark Green and he was not going to give up, he slowly pulled away from Mark just as we thought it was Kyle`s race Mark was closing the gap Kyle was unfazed kept his cool and crossed the finish line 0.4 secs ahead of Mark Green. The first person to congratulate Kyle was last year’s champion Darren Johnson.

looking over the fence and was heard to shout GO GO as Kyle passed the pitlane, as the last fuel stop came round they both Mark and Kyle pitted together with the quick refuel by Kyle`s dad (Andy) Kyle just got out in front of Mark Green and he was not going to give up, he slowly pulled away from Mark just as we thought it was Kyle`s race Mark was closing the gap Kyle was unfazed kept his cool and crossed the finish line 0.4 secs ahead of Mark Green. The first person to congratulate Kyle was last year’s champion Darren Johnson.