|ali.'s blog

The Halifax national was the final round of this year’s BRCA National series. Personally I needed a good result to secure a place for next year’s European Championships so I had been to the Halifax track to test a few times before the national to practice. As for the championship, Chris Grainger, Elliott, Ben and Olly Jefferies were all in contention for the victory, and it all depended on their results at the meeting. To mix things up even more both Alex Hagberg and Niclas Nilsson made the trip over from Sweden with both having the potential to disrupt the points haul.

Despite the bad weather forecast Saturday was completely dry. The three timed practice runs went well for me and I managed to finish 3rd and 2nd in two of them. From practice it seemed apparent that tyres weren’t any slower on their second run than they were on their first run, so tyre strategies weren’t as crucial as they were at West London. Throughout the three qualifying rounds on Saturday, I had some good results, and I got a 7th place, a 4th and an 11th in a run where I made a number of mistakes. My car didn’t feel perfect but it seemed that I had very good runtime compared to others meaning that I didn’t lose valuable seconds on the last lap.

Sunday morning dawned damp and the track was very wet. The two qualifiers on Sunday morning were very inconsistent. The track always seemed to get faster throughout the round, meaning that the top modified heat got the best conditions both times. Fortunately for me I already had some good scores in the bag from Saturday, but for others the inconsistent track meant that they could not get a third good score. This meant that Darren Styles, Stew Noble and Alex Hagberg, who were in the top 10 overnight, were bumped down to the B final, amongst others. In the end I qualified 8th overall, which I was very pleased with, giving me a place in my first BRCA Modified National A Final.

Before the finals I decided to change my motor, along with the gearing and speed control settings, hoping I could push harder and still have good duration. The weather had also cleared up and track was dry. The first A final was fairly uneventful for me, I stayed in 8th place for almost the whole race until the dump factor kicked in, when I managed to pass 3 cars to get 5th place. The second A final was the complete opposite of the first. A number of crashes between the top qualifiers left Ben in the lead with myself in 3rd, and despite a quick shower of rain partway through and a number of overtaking moves, that was the finishing order. The third final saw the sun come out and a clean and relatively steady race take place. I stayed in 8th place for the whole race until the dump factor took place again, and I managed to go around the outside of Elliott and Olly on the last corner to take 6th place. It seemed that my electronic changes before the finals worked a treat as runtime was the deciding factor in the finals. This meant that I finished 4th place overall, a result I am very pleased with and a great reward for many hours of testing and practicing.
The final Top 10 was:

1 Chris Grainger (TQ)
2 Ben Cosgrove
3 Olly Jefferies
4 Alistair Graham
5 Jonny Aird
6 Phil Chambers
7 Elliott Harper
8 Lee Woodhams
9 Glenn Doman
10 Andy Moore

Setup wise, the Xray team generally used a similar setup to our standard UK asphalt settings, but with a few important changes to the shocks that really suited the Halifax bumps and high traction. It seemed that HPI Gold and Pink springs were much better than the softer springs we use normally. Also, Muchmore shock oil seemed to suit the track conditions better.

My pictures from the weekend are here