VTEC Challenge: Mallory Park

[Jonathan F]

Mallory Park: May 1st 2011 (Rounds 3 & 4 of VTEC Challenge)

With the freshly laid tarmac of the Leicestershire based circuit beckoning, the BARC’s latest race series rolled into town over the Bank Holiday weekend, and the VTEC kicked in!

While William and Kate were recovering from their hangovers, the drivers and teams at Mallory were getting ready for a great days racing.

Mallory Park would provide a different challenge to that of Silverstone, and would play into the hands of the less powerful class C and D class cars. With only a few of the drivers having raced here before, anything was possible.

With the long sweeping bend of “Gerrards”, and the tight hairpin of “Shaws” interlinked with two fast paced straights, meant the East Midlands circuit would provide all competitors with some great racing.

With glorious weather greeting the racers and fans, the day had all the ingredients needed for a great event.

Following on from his brace of wins last time out at Silverstone, Richard Voaden in his “Performance Autoworks” H22 Integra was going to be the one to beat out of the blocks.

With the trio of “RedBrick Racing” Civic’s and Rick Rowles late model Type R absent from the grid, the numbers were bolstered by the arrival of Andy Smith in his class A “VTEC Direct.Com” Accord Type R, Richard Chilton in his class C Honda Integra and “Tin Top” regular and seasoned racer Nigel Ainge in his DC5 Integra.

Following his issues at Silverstone, Mark Chese was back at Mallory in his EP3 Civic Type R with a freshly installed cage that now meets the latest regulations. With his first race in his own car ahead of him, Mark would be looking to get some race miles under his belt.

New comers Andy Smith and Richard Chilton had a battle on their hands to get on the grid, but the great camaraderie within the VTEC camp meant that help was at hand.

With a last minute engine swap for the ATR, the car was buttoned up a matter of hours before race day, and the Integra of Chilton was finished off in the paddock in the run up to qualifying!

The lightweight Class D Civic EG from R-Motion has been fitted with a set of Jenvey ITB’s in the search for some more grunt to enable driver Kris Dunlop to nip at the heels of the front running Class A runners.

Stewart Hutchinson and his Class C JDM DC2 Integra was also one of the entrants cutting it fine with race preparation. The B18 bottom end was fitted with a fully ported head, which lead to being mapped in the early hours of Friday morning.

Gareth Broadbent was out in his CRX with its freshly installed B18 engine, having dropped it off at R-Motion for the swap to be carried out less than a week prior to the race weekend!

Qualifying

As with any race meet, the day started with driver sign on and the cars were given the once over by the scrutineers. With no issues identified, the race day proper could get underway.

With the time to qualify upon them, everyone rolled out onto the circuit to set their best time.

With the reliability we are becoming to expect from these Honda’s it was mainly a trouble free session.

However for the “R-Motion” Civic of Kris Dunlop, it was less than a great start to the day, as the pairing were black flagged after 12 laps due to oil spraying from a failing sump gasket.

With the exception of the aforementioned Civic, the rest of the grid came home without any further problems.

With the times in, the DC5 Integra of Nigel Ainge had secured the pole slot, by over half a second from previous winner Voaden.

With a reduced qualifying session, the “R-Motion” Civic had still posted a quick enough time to place 3rd in the VTEC Challenge. With this incentive the team were quick to get to work on the Civic in an attempt to rectify their oil leak. With all hands to the pump, the sump was removed and a new gasket added to get the car ready to race.


Race Day:
Race 1:

With the DC5 of Ainge on pole, he was all lined up for the run into “Gerrards” and a quick getaway, however Voaden would be alongside looking to challenge from the off, and the lightweight EG Civic piloted by Dunlop would be snapping at both of them.

With lights out, it was Ainge who capitalised and took off like the proverbial scalded cat, leaving the rest of the grid to give chase. Rich Voaden in the “Performance Autoworks” Integra initially lost some ground to the race leader, but was up there should anything go awry with the leader.

From the off, the pre-race fix on the Civic of Dunlop looked not to have worked, and oil soon began leaking onto the front wheel, making the race entertaining to say the least! With sense prevailing, Kris decided his race was run and retired on lap 5.

Promoted to 3rd, the red CRX of Gareth Broadbent sat comfortably in position for the remainder of the race, as did 4th place Hutchinson in his DC2 ITR. Although unchallenged, it’s often when in this position complacency can slip in, so focussed driving was still called for.

Smith and Chese were found wanting the same piece of track, and eventually a momentary lapse of concentration on Smith’s part at the hairpin saw the black and green EP3 CTR of Chese slip through to take and hold onto 5th place overall.

Dave Roberts in his 1600cc CRX was battling with the new UK spec ITR of Richard Chilton throughout the race, with Dave holding 7th to Richard’s 8th place overall.

As the race unfolded it was apparent that Rich was eating away at the distance that separated him from the lead car of Nigel Ainge. As the laps rolled off, both of the white Integra’s grew closer and closer until Rich was close enough to contemplate a challenge for the lead.

Running into Gerrards, Ainge took an unexpected move to the outside of the circuit, which invited Rich to take the inside line. On the dirty part of the track, the race leader was unable to bring the car around and ended up leaving the circuit in a ball of dust.

With a clear track ahead, Rich continued to push and extend his lead over the recovered Integra (now back in 2nd place) and held on to take the win by 6.5 seconds

1st: Rich Voaden
2nd: Nigel Ainge
3rd: Gareth Broadbent

Class wins for Voaden, Chese, Hutchinson and Broadbent

Fastest lap: Rich Voaden 52.583 sec on lap 9 of 23


Race 2:

It was a last minute scramble for Andy Smith and his team, as the “VTECDirect.COM” ATR was still on axle stands as the last call was made for the drivers to make their way to the assembly point.

As a result of race 1, the tyres were low on tread, and considered by the scrutineers to be too much like a slick. With only a short period of time between races, it was a rush to get new tyres fitted and back on the car. Due to being late, Andy had to start from the back of the grid, instead of from 6th place.

The Civic of “R-Motion” was considered to be beyond reasonable repair, and so was absent from the grid. The team will be back at Oulton in a couple of week’s time with a fresh engine to challenge for the race win.

With the DC5 of Ainge notably absent from the grid, Voaden was left to lead the charge on lap one, and with the race underway he did just that.

Coming up from the back of the grid, Smith in his ATR shot through from last to make up 4 places by the JC Esses on lap 1.

Very quickly the winner of race 1 extended his lead from the CRX of Broadbent and the Integra of Hutchinson. The top three soon pulled away from the rest of the field and continued to the end of the race without any challenges to their positions.

Smith showed signs early on of closing in on 3rd place Hutchinson in his JDM DC2 Integra, but later dropped back and was passed by Chese, dropping him back to 5th. An issue with fuel supply was later identified as the cause of Andy’s slowing pace.

Richard Chilton went one better and now getting to grips with both car and circuit finished ahead of Dave Roberts in race 2.

With the flag dropped, Richard Voaden notched up 4 wins from 4 starts, and cemented his dominance in the VTEC Challenge.

1st: Rich Voaden
2nd: Gareth Broadbent
3rd: Stewart Hutchinson

Class wins for Voaden, Chese, Hutchinson and Broadbent

Fastest lap: Rich Voaden 52.825 sec on lap 22 of 23


Summary:

With fantastic racing accompanied by glorious weather and huge support from the fans, rounds 3 & 4 at Mallory Park were another resounding success.

This fledgling race series is continuing to gather pace and with some great circuits still to come on the calendar, things can only get better.

With Oulton Park the next venue, and home track to the likes of Hutchinson and Smith, the racing is bound to be anything but predictable.

Credit again goes to Mike, Kris and their respective families, for creating yet another great weekends racing.



So, who’ll be victorious at rounds 5 & 6?

Will anyone stop the winning streak of Rich Voaden?

With the VTEC Challenge moving to Oulton Park in Cheshire for the next round(s) on the 28th of May, stay tuned for more exciting races.

Stop Press!!

It is now even easier to come and try out the VTEC challenge to see what a great series this is.

For all racers looking to sample the VTEC Challenge, listen up!

For your first entry only, the BARC and VTEC Racing Club will waive their joining/registration fee. All that needs to be paid is the regular race entry fee.

Any subsequent rounds will require full BARC membership although the VTEC Racing club will be offering one off “round” based fee structure.

New competitors will also be allowed to run ANY list 1B tyre (888’s, Federals, Silverstone’s etc, but no slicks) for two rounds of the VTEC Challenge.

If you wish to continue in the series after the second round then you must use the specified Yokohama A048 tyre.

All competitors taking up the above will be required to run in the “Tuner Class” of the VTEC Challenge which is the most open class of the series. Please check the technical regulations for full details.

Come on, what are you waiting for!