British Rallycross 2022

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MissClarrpz

And can Bennett finally win an rx event?

In theory I'd say he is the favourite as he seemingly has the best car there... though I am not convinced the Mini is quite the sum of its parts.

Thorne has zero seat time in the C4 but will surely get up to speed quickly, Ollie will be getting to grips with a new car as well. I think Patrick will surprise, Thomas has a quick car and Derek is obviously fast. O'Donovans and Tohill will likely have the Championship in mind though, so Saturday seems a golden opportunity for Bennett.

As you say though, it is a decent entry and tricky to pick podium finishers.

[tbtstt]

Forgive the double post, but entry list now online:

[Anyopenroad]

Does anyone have a timetable for Monday at Lydden Hill please?

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

Does anyone have a timetable for Monday at Lydden Hill please?

First car on track at 09:30, practice starts at 09:45, Q1 due to start at 10:45.

Curfew is 18:00, so will end no later than then. Saturday ran until about 17:55, but there were a few delays. Hopefully Monday will run smoother as I back to work Tuesday so would like to be on the road home sooner rather than later!

[Anyopenroad]

Thanks!

[BertMk2]

I made it down to Lydden on Saturday - all in all a good day of racing. I think the best racing was probably the Minis - they had a good sized grid and the racing was close throughout the day. The retros were also good fun althought the rate of attrition was pretty high - did the Sierra make it back out on Monday after the fire? I was down by the chicane and as it came past I thought there was a small flame visible underneath, as it came of Chessons the small flame became significantly bigger! I was surprised they didn't red flag it given that the marshals were trackside with the extinguishers.

Ollie Bennett certainly had the legs on the other supercars all day but there were some good scraps going on behind - highlight being Patrick O'Donovan beating Ollie using Ollies old car Quite a varied grid of supercars too - a bit of variety certainly helps and with the Astra and Fabia still to come that's only going to improve.

[Anyopenroad]

The Mini was noticeably quicker than the others on Monday, very impressive. Watching OD angrily throw his car around the track in the Q races after not getting off the line was fun! The Supercars are fantastic, just a shame they are on track for such a short time during the day!

Two cars rolled and there was another big shunt in one of the Juniors races. I was right by that and it was nice to see one young driver going to check the other was OK and them embracing. They both looked quite shaken, but were physically unscathed.

An enjoyable day, nice track and people, all very friendly.

[MissClarrpz]

Yeah Bennett was definitely the class of the field. Seemed a bit unfair when that's a world Rx car and the rest have more national level cars.

Tohill was the only person who could challenge him. But it only took a minor issue on Saturday and Patrick could take the win. Ollie's new Proton doesn't seem that good at the moment. I think he was close to the maximum with that setup on it and he was going slower than last year

I counted 4 rolls across the weekend. Rx150 on Saturday rolled but continued and finished the race. On Monday it was 2 minis in fairly soft rolls plus the massive Junior roll. 4 times and ended on the tyre barrier. Plus the other Junior crash that all but destroyed those 2 cars.

Neither Pascoe made it out on Monday. Obviously the fire played its role but not sure why the other didn't go out. I was surprised they didn't red flag it when the car rolled across the track and marshals were chasing after it! Only 11 of the 18 retros raced on Monday and most didn't see the checkered flag. There are some more cars in the works so hopefully the field size can continue throughout the season

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by MissClarrpz

Neither Pascoe made it out on Monday. Obviously the fire played its role but not sure why the other didn't go out.

They had the cam cover off the Escort and were tinkering with the cams/pulleys when I wandered past - so engine damage seems the likely reason.

[tbtstt]

I was there on Saturday and Monday, had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Thought the racing was slightly better on Saturday, as there seemed to be more car issues on Monday.

Agree that there was a very high rate of attrition in Super Retro. That class started the weekend with really strong numbers, but was rather depleted by the Monday final.

Disappointing numbers in Super National, but at least there was some close racing between the Bleasdales and Paige. Shame Bellerby was held up by Darren in the final on Monday, as I thought she was closing down Jason. His new VX220 is a proper weapon though.

Did seem to be a lot of rolls on Monday. Day seemed to run much better though (even if it was nothing like the timetable suggested!) Sensible move with the 4WD Retro class, and adding the demoes seemed to encourage Rob Gibson to bring his car out which was cool to see (and hear!).

Agree about the BMW Mini class. Decent numbers and a lot of good racing... conversely the All4 class was the worst. I hope the promised new cars come soon.

I still have my doubts about the assembly of the Bennett Mini but, in a National field, it seemed to be the superior car. Thought it was a brilliant drive from Tohill though; the only driver to consistently challenge Bennett. Impressive debut from Patrick, such a shame he had issues on Monday as he was absolutely flying when he got going (that Fiesta looks great in those colours as well).

Hopefully more to come from Ollie OD. I was there on the test day and the Proton didn't appear to be behaving itself (was really noticeable on the turn in to Paddock Bend), but that appeared to be resolved on Saturday (presumably addressed by a certain S Eriksson). Iriz looks pretty cool, initially reminded me of the Mirage, but a bit more aggressive looking.

I see Bennett is registered for the Championship so he is now the series leader. Obviously using that car for the Championship is within the rules, but I don't really think it is in the spirit of a National series (but then World cars have been used in other National series). Oliver hasn't confirmed any further appearances yet, so perhaps he is leaving it there.

[Stephen H]

So when did Supercars drop from 3 qualifying heats to 2? Sure they had 3 last May at Lydden, but only 2 for the November Event, but I assumed that was due to a double header and a shorter day on the Sunday. From the program looks like 2 heats is the norm now?

[MissClarrpz]

Yeah, the demos turned out to be really great. Rob hadn't brought the car to demo it so it ran out of fuel on the first run! But what a sound that thing makes when it does run.

I thought the Proton really struggled into Paddock even on Monday. Heard it scrapping the ground a couple times and understeering. Short wheel base should be good in tighter corners

I think they ran 2 heats for Supercars so they break less throughout the year. 11 rounds is a lot. They ran 2 heats at Knockhill and Lydden (November) last year once those were upgraded to double header events. There was confusion throughout Saturday morning if they would run Q3 or not.

I think this could easily turn into Patrick vs Tohill. Those 2 just seemed to have the edge at Lydden. Looks like Tohill will do the full season but Bennett is unlikely. Though he said that competing on Monday was unlikely so I wouldn't be too surprised to see him return

[chasing cars]

Only did the Saturday, had pondered the Monday but rather put off after watching one make race after one make race.

The supercars were great as usual but only two heats for them seemed odd (think we went over 3 hours without a supercar race) but everything else was rather a let down, even the retros who put on some great racing last year were disappointing. The biggest let down were the super nationals which though low on numbers last year, often gave us a good 3 way scrap. With just 3 cars racing at the weekend the formula really needs some looking at, we need a strong 2 wheel drive formula with a good mix of cars.

The one make classes I find are often quite dull to watch. Even in circuit racing the cars aren't great to watch in practice but racing usually sees a closely matched field and plenty of entertainment. Unfortunately with rallycross there seems to be a greater performance spread and also not helped by the field getting split by the Joker. As for the bigger minis my expectations were low but even that proved to be a little over optimistic!

So no doubt I will return to Lydden in November but unless things pick up it's not currently strong enough to tempt me to go further a field as I have done in past seasons.

[tbtstt]

Work has been horrendously busy the last couple of weeks, so I am terribly behind sorting out pictures. Just uploaded a few shots from the British Championship launch/test day last week, few favourites...











...with a few more here:

Flickr - British Rallycross Championship Launch/Rallycross Test Day

Hoping to find some time to get properly stuck in to the pictures from racing next week!

[Stephen H]

Does anybody know if the result/timings provider has changed? The 5 Nations Website takes you to TSL but the results are for 2021 and they have no events showing for 2022? Edited to say found the link from a tweet amd its now Chronomoto.hu and not tsl-timing.

[MissClarrpz]

Originally Posted by Stephen H

Does anybody know if the result/timings provider has changed? The 5 Nations Website takes you to TSL but the results are for 2021 and they have no events showing for 2022?

Chronomoto took over this year.

Rd1: https://chronomoto.hu/livetiming/pdf...brx_lyddenhill
Rd2: https://chronomoto.hu/livetiming/pdf...brx_lyddenhill

[HoleInTheHedge]

Supercars could be interesting as the season goes on.
Derek is quick again this year.
Pod could be a contender
Ood has potential in the proton when he fine tunes it, I believe it was running 50hp less at Lydden
Julian is Julian, never count him out
Roger Thomas just needs some luck.
Personally I’d like to see Bennett compete in the fiesta, see how quick he really

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by HoleInTheHedge

Derek is quick again this year.

Derek was my driver of the weekend in Supercar. Only driver to look like a threat to Bennett (and get close to his lap times), plus he did well to hang on with a problem on Saturday.

Hope that he can make a full 5 Nations campaign work with his other plans for 2022.

Originally Posted by HoleInTheHedge

Pod could be a contender

Definitely. Good result on Saturday and, even though he had problems on Monday, his single lap pace was very high. Shame that his final was cut short as another podium looked achievable.

Originally Posted by HoleInTheHedge

Ood has potential in the proton when he fine tunes it, I believe it was running 50hp less at Lydden

Interesting if he had that much of a power deficit. Was surprised how aggressive Ollie was with the Iriz from the get-go on Saturday (though I appreciate that wasn't his first time in the car). Sure there is more to come from it though.

Originally Posted by HoleInTheHedge

Julian is Julian, never count him out

Had a nose round the car on Monday: that Fiesta is looking pretty tired now! Not a bad weekend for him though and he is definitely smart enough to still be a threat.

Originally Posted by HoleInTheHedge

Roger Thomas just needs some luck.

Perhaps it isn't true at this point but, with the possible exception of Bennett, I think that is the best car in the Championship. Roger made a couple of blinding starts over the two days, he just didn't seem able to follow them with consistent laps.

Originally Posted by HoleInTheHedge

Personally I’d like to see Bennett compete in the fiesta, see how quick he really

I wonder how the Xite Fiesta compares to the Tohill car? Would be good to see if he can put a win on that car, he looked on course to do it at Silverstone before the car caught fire.

[MissClarrpz]

I'd say watch out for Ovenden as well. Already got a couple of podiums on merit so wouldn't be surprised to see him challenging right towards the front. Though he does need to make the toe arms stronger. 3 times they've been quite easily bent out of line

[tbtstt]

Few pictures from the racing...











...and, as ever, more here:

Flickr - 5 Nations 2022 Rounds 1 & 2

If you are interested!

[Anyopenroad]

Here's my large album of less good pictures from Lydden Hill ! https://bit.ly/38POQes

These are all of the Supercars. I'll add a few of the Retros soon. I left after the Semis so there's 4 sets here: Practice from the hairpin at the top then the two Q races and the Semis from three vantage points around the dirt end of the track, which is by far the most photographically interesting .

Enjoy!

[tbtstt]

Nice sequence of Joe Booth going cross country there!

[tbtstt]

Entry list for Pembrey up:



Looks like some of the breakages from Lydden haven't been fixed as some classes seem to have low numbers?

[MissClarrpz]

Shame most classes are much smaller than Lydden. Supercars still has the quickest guys fortunately so should be a good fight. In fact pretty much ever class still has the people who can fight for wins, except Super Retro. What happened there? Only 4 (well 5 because McBain should be in S.Retro) is a big drop from the past few years.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MissClarrpz

What happened there? Only 4 (well 5 because McBain should be in S.Retro) is a big drop from the past few years.

The rate of attrition in that class at Lydden was very high. They started round one with enough cars for semi-finals and were down to single figures before the end of qualifying.

Would like to see Boak, Anson and Sellar out in Supercar but, in the least disrespectful way to those guys, the likely title challengers are all there.

Good to see Vince Bristow and Ray Morgan have both got their cars fixed. Shame no Sterkens, was hoping to see Dan Swayland entered as well as his Mk.1 Escort looked good on the test day.