British Rallycross 2022

[MissClarrpz]

Yeah, of the 10 starters on Saturday only 4 saw the flag on Monday. It must be hard running those cars so I shouldn't be too surprised at the reliability.

Boak could enter a round once he get's new suspension. Go watch the BTRDA Pembrey coverage. I thought (and so did Boak) that the car would roll because of how soft the suspension was

The Supercar class has those sitting 2nd-8th in points so the quick guys are running.

[BertMk2]

Did anybody catch any coverage from Pembrey? I saw a few snippets online over the weekend but not enough to get a real picture of what was going on.

[MissClarrpz]

I was in the paddock so saw a fair amount of it

The coverage has been patchy this weekend... it should be better for the rest of the year.

Ignoring the disappointing number of cars the racing was alright and the championship is wide open now. Tohill had a pretty miserable weekend, somewhat his fault, somewhat bad luck but now Patrick leads the series after winning every session. Ollie was involved in a few incidents, only 1 penalty which is probably the right call. Ollie was using the Focus on Sunday as the Proton had electrical issues... when turning left . He's in Hungary this weekend so hopefully that can be fixed for EuroRX.

Tohill caused more stuff but it seemed to only affect himself apart from the round 4 final. What a final that was. Everyone was hitting everyone. The start was insane as tyres got hit and stuck under 2 cars. Then even more chaos the rest of the race so definitely worth watching till the end.


Super Retro had 3 new cars including a TR7 V8 which wanted to go anywhere but the track. All the other classes were pretty standard fights. New winners in Mini both days, Junior, RX150 & Supercar. Swift title is a 3 way fight, Junior 4 way and Mini 9 way!

No red flags either across both days, though the round 3 final should have been when Hill got out of his car while dust prevented the drivers seeing him or his parked car. Track maintenance was non-existent which didn't help.

[BertMk2]

BTRDA rallycross at Lydden tomorrow - entry list online:

https://clubmansrallycross.weebly.co...dden-hill.html

Pretty good entry - nice variety of cars in super modified.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

BTRDA rallycross at Lydden tomorrow - entry list online:

https://clubmansrallycross.weebly.co...dden-hill.html

Pretty good entry - nice variety of cars in super modified.

Classic category was my favourite last year and I think it'll be the same this time around; the Swayland Escort looked good on the test day and I have a bit of a car crush on the Chevette, so sure I'll take way too many pictures of that again.

[chasing cars]

Will be interesting to see the new banked CHESSONS (in capitals because of the name change) and no Joker. Should see the cars running closer together at all times and more on track overtaking.
Hopefully it will be good enough to convince people that for British rallycross at least there will be no need to use the new Joker section which is to be at the bottom of the hill.

[chasing cars]

Well to answer my own post the new (almost back to old) Chessons is fantastic, with drivers trying different lines, 2 and 3 abreast racing and showed exactly what I hoped for that a Joker is totally unnecessary if the track layout is right. Unfortunately that will probably be the only meeting where this happens. Of course there were a couple of issues like a lot of dust and a return to cars losing it on the exit where Gollop and others and their big accidents all those years ago but nothing that can't be put right.

All in all it was a great days racing, annoyed I missed first runs because of the M20 debacle, with good mixed grids and even the smaller grids were close something that wouldn't have happened if there had been a Joker.

It was the kind of day that reminded me why I first fell in love with rallycross. Too many times recently I've come away from British rounds feeling a little disillusioned with the sport, too many 1 make races and Joker infused spread out races but this was how it used to be.

So thanks to the drivers, officials, Marshalls and Dan in the commentary box who sometimes used the new Chessons name (not the easiest name to say quickly) but also called it "the corner that was known as Chessons" which I guess is a compromise!

[BertMk2]

Interesting - I'd missed the news about changes at Chessons - do you have any photos of how it looks now? Whereabouts is the new joker section? Struggling to think where there's space for it.

[chasing cars]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Interesting - I'd missed the news about changes at Chessons - do you have any photos of how it looks now? Whereabouts is the new joker section? Struggling to think where there's space for it.

Sorry no photos, hopefully someone will put some up. Basically it's back as it was and yes it's chalk but also has been banked. The only down side is that it's been renamed Talladega but it will always be Chessons.

The new Joker is going to be at pits bend with the merge on the exit of the chicane. I would assume they'll use the tarmac and add a temporary chicane to slow them down but the merge could be dodgy.

The racing on Saturday showed that the Joker is not necessary and with the new positioning though we won't now see the field divided at the first corner it will probably mean the leader taking it on the last lap meaning no final lap on track battles to the flag.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by chasing cars

Sorry no photos, hopefully someone will put some up.

I got pictures of the racing and took a few of just the corner as well. Got a mad week at work lined up so not sure how much time I will have in the evenings, but I'll try and get some up as soon as possible.

Originally Posted by chasing cars

The only down side is that it's been renamed Talladega but it will always be Chessons.

Yeah, I am refusing to acknowledge the new name too! To be fair, I think the renaming might just be for Nitro.

Originally Posted by chasing cars

The new Joker is going to be at pits bend with the merge on the exit of the chicane. I would assume they'll use the tarmac and add a temporary chicane to slow them down but the merge could be dodgy.

Yeah, that is what I am thinking as well. As long as the exit from the joker is over to the left than there shouldn't be an issue with the merge.

I thought the racing was decent on Saturday. No turn one split for the pack, plenty of room for multiple lines and door-to-door racing round Chessons and a much more tricky transition off the loose and back onto the Dover Slope. Really keen to see the Supercars taking that, as I think the fastest line through there is going to take some proper commitment.

[HoleInTheHedge]

Mondello Entry List

https://www.irx.ie/wp-content/upload...-June-2022.pdf

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Interesting - I'd missed the news about changes at Chessons - do you have any photos of how it looks now?

Here you go...



...far as I could tell the corner entry was unchanged, but from where the barrier has now been cut to (just visible on the left of the shot) the whole corner has been pushed back and widened. Note a lot more loose material pushed out onto the tarmac.



This was the change I didn't notice immediately. Transition back to Hairy Hill is much sharper than before, much better to watch, though there were a few drivers who had a code brown moment!



Some cars in shot to give you an idea of scale. Way more room in the corner than before the change, enough space for different lines and door-to-door (to-door) racing.

Few more BTRDA shots:









Album here if anyone is wants to see more:

Flickr - BTRDA Rallycross Round 4, Lydden Hill

[BertMk2]

Nice shots The BTRDA championship looks to be in pretty good health - nice varied grids too. I noticed at the weekend that Supernational in the British championship only had 2 entries - really sad to see.

Thanks for the Chessons photos too - looks like quite a big change, hopefully it'll encourage good racing.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Nice shots The BTRDA championship looks to be in pretty good health - nice varied grids too. I noticed at the weekend that Supernational in the British championship only had 2 entries - really sad to see.

I think the Classic class might have been missing a couple of cars after the opening 5 Nations round, but pretty good numbers in most of the classes.

Modified had just four and there were two Crosscars. Wasn't too sure on the latter; like the RX150 I think buggies are cool, but I am not sure how appropriate a £25K buggy is for a Clubman Championship.

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Thanks for the Chessons photos too - looks like quite a big change, hopefully it'll encourage good racing.

Early days, but it seemed a positive change. No turn one split and plenty of space for everyone to make it round the corner.

The sharper transition back onto the tarmac at Hairy Hill reminded me of how that corner looks in 80's footage of the circuit.

[MissClarrpz]

Pembrey today and tomorrow. Really good entry list so it should be some good racing all weekend. 11 Supercars and almost all of them could score a podium. 60 cars overall, much better than in May. New livery for Roger Thomas looks great so fingers crossed it can go well for him.

[tbtstt]

Went to France for the final round of the French Championship (with added 5 Nations Supercars).

Wasn't too sure about the Dreux circuit before getting there, but I really took to it once the racing got going. Great drive from Patrick O'Donovan and a real shame that Derek Tohill didn't get a chance to progress to the semi-final stage, as he looked competitive. Few pictures of the 5 Nations guys...







...and a few more of the French:











More pictures from the weekend here if anyone is interested:

Flickr - French Rallycross Championship Roun 8 2022

Last round of 5 Nations this weekend. Looks like a few more cars in Super National than we have seen throughout the year. Really hope they manage to convince a few European Supercar drivers to come over as well.

[FIRE]

Probably you know but the French Championship is available on Youtube, it even had live streaming this season. IMO currently the #1 RX championship in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/user/rallycrossfrance/videos

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Probably you know but the French Championship is available on Youtube, it even had live streaming this season. IMO currently the #1 RX championship in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/user/rallycrossfrance/videos

Yeah, the coverage has been decent this year (even though I have no idea what the commentators are saying!).

It is close between RallyX Nordic and the French Championship for me; little bit more variety in RallyX, but the French Championship has great numbers, some decent tracks and really good racing.

[tbtstt]

Entry for the last round at Lydden up...



...had been hoping that a few more European Supercar drivers might have been tempted over, but thirteen is still a decent number.

Best the Super National class has looked for ages and some good numbers in a lot of the other classes as well.

[BertMk2]

Well that's certainly a better entry than I was expecting (especially in Supernational).

Interesting to see Ollie back in the Focus? Also the addition of the Beetle in supercar is good to see - adds a bit more variety. Surprised to see Colin Anson out in the Ka as well - that's been advertised for sale for a while.

The class that seems to be suffering most there is the Swifts - where have they all gone?

[schanche]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

The class that seems to be suffering most there is the Swifts - where have they all gone?

Didn’t realise they were still going or just about.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by schanche

Didn’t realise they were still going or just about.

Swifts seemed so well established a few years ago, but I guess the BMW Minis offer more bang for buck so the balance has swung back in favour of that class at the moment.

Rather damp finish to the season, but I still enjoyed Saturday. I thought the revised layout worked well and it was great to see a full pack of cars head into Chessons at the start of every race. The jump didn't appear to be trashing cars which was good.

Hugely impressive drive from Patrick O'Donovan, I don't think his car is vastly superior to the other Supercars, but he drove away from everyone. His semi-final drive after stalling was probably the highlight of Saturday for me. I had been hoping to see the Beetle a bit closer to the sharp end, but despite the issues it was still the best sounding car of the day for me.

Obviously disappointed by the cancellation on Sunday (especially as they cancelled it after I had done the drive there!) but given the quantity of standing water and the forecast for the rest of the day I can see why they did. Haven't read a complaint from any of the drivers about the cancellation either, so I guess they agreed it was the right call.

[Stephen H]

Regarding the cancellation, has anyone had the advance spectator credit note certificate to be used for an event next year, yet. I had an email saying they hoped to get them all sent out by the 14th November. Don't want to pester Lydden if its just taking time to process, so was just wondered if anyone else had received one yet. Thanks

[MissClarrpz]

Patrick was just on another level last weekend. Showed why he deserved to be the champ this year with win 7 out of 10 (would have been 8 if not for Bennett's WRX Mini).

Saturday was some good racing but the schedule was messed up. Started 45 minutes late for no reason then got later and later as the day went on. Hopefully they fix this for next year. Then Sunday was just flooded, right decision was made to cancel the event.

The jump is a good addition to the track. All classes suited it well. When it's dry hopefully the slower classes would get more air.

And important to share this. Planning application for the jump and track changes. So much local opposition which all seems BS reasons like "dust" and "extra noise" from the electric cars . Add your views to balance it all out https://publicaccess.dover.gov.uk/on...5dw8tRVtR54uds

[chasing cars]

Thought the conditions spoiled the racing on the Saturday, after years of wanting back proper 'dirt' the weather gave us the old issue of mud filled windscreens therefore splitting the field, but no way I'd want to go back to the rough tarmac.
I'm not convinced by the jump, only the supercars got any real air and once youve seen it a couple of times the wow was gone plus it has taken away the moves into Devils. Also the stretch up to the jump is all a bit messy but I will reserve full judgement until I see it in dry conditions.

Moving the joker is the best thing that has happened, proper first corner, chessons back to its 2 or even 3 line corner and my fear the leader would always take it on the last lap not realised because you'd lose the advantage of the extra speed from the chicane to Chessons.

Again over 2 hours to get out of the circuit but the dreadful conditions contributed to that and a well done to the circuit guys who helped out those who got stuck either with tow trucks or by hand.