Bank Holiday Monday Rallycross at Lydden Hill

Dear All,

I wondered who from here I might bump into next Monday at Lydden Hill? It's Round 5 of the British Rallycross Championship. There's a healthy entry list here: http://www.britishrallycross.co.uk/assets/img/uploads/BRX_RND_5_LATEST.pdf

Worth notice there are 11 Supercars entered so far and of those, Pat Doran will be competing in 'Rosie', his Ford RS200 (rebuilt after it's impression of a mobile BBQ last time out!) and his regular Citroen DS3 is being raced by Mark Flaherty, who was Lydden Winter Champion in the early 90s, racing his blue metallic MG Metro 6R4.

Mark's 21 year-old son, Mitchell, is making his rallycross debut in the Suzuki Swift series along with Martin Hawkes, who has moved across from the Supermodifieds.

Unlike previous years, the event is happening on Monday ONLY! The past few years' the event has been 'enhanced' with 'Mayhem' events such as drifting, motorbike and BMX jumps etc. These made it a two-day event with ample opportunities to catch up with rallycross drivers and crews without missing any of the on-track excitement whilst a load of tattooed folk hooned around on the track making a lot of noise and smoke. Better, in my opinion, to have a busy single day's activities than diluting the racing with boring novelties. (Sorry, I know some people actually enjoy drifting and jumps, but it beats me why! What a waste of tyres and fuel!)

The track opens for business at 9.00am (the gates open at 7.00am) and the fun goes on till 5pm, after which there will be the usual presenting of cups and fizzing of alcohol!!

Anyone else going? If you are, send me a PM with your mobile and we'll meet up.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks for posting the piccie, Mark.

I've been back long enough to have dried out after a VERY wet rallycross meeting at Lydden Hill. There was a strong and broad entry list across all the categories though to be fair, the very wet and muddy conditions did have the affect of stringing some of the fields out more than normal. That said, there was a lot of great racing and some heroic car control, particularly, it must be said, from the Retro Rallycross boys! Lance Foster in his Green and White Mini Spares Mini deserves particular mention - awesome car control!

I saw mark Flaherty several times during the day, which started slowly for him as there was a problem with the Citroen DS3's head gasket first thing, meaning he had to sit out the free practice.

The heats were a bit uppy-downy for him thereafter, as he learnt the foibles of Pat Doran's supercar in a very public way. There were problems with the launch control, which left him on the grid watching the others disappear rapidly in a cloud of muddy spray for two of the heats. He even went backwards on one start. The third round of Supercar heats saw all sorts of starting issues, with five (yes, FIVE) restarts due to jump starts etc! Bizarre and frustrating inn equal measure!

The Supercar final had a restart too, but not before Mark had cut through the field from the back row of the grid to be second behind Julian Godfrey within the first lap. All the work was for nought, as poleman Ollie O'Donovan had failed to start, almost collecting Dutchman Teurlings I his Volvo S40 in the process. On the restart, O'Donovan hooked up well and powered away followed by Godfrey onto Chesson's Drift, from which he didn't look back and took an emphatic win. Flaherty finished fifth, but I didn't get to catch up with him at the end to find out if he'll be making a habit of rallycross next season. If he does, it would be likely he would look elsewhere for a vehicle - at least, I would be in his shoes/ racing boots!

I only had my phone with me so couldn't take any actions shots - those photos I have taken are specifically to help making some of the Ripla Retro Rallycross cars in 1/43.

Sorry no-one else from here was there, to my knowledge. You missed some great action and an awful lot of rain and puddles. Thanks go to Shirley and Rob Gibson for their warm hospitality and commiserations go to the marshalls on the inside of Paddock Bend who kept getting soaked as cars raced through the puddles alongside them and to the consessions folk who had a smaller, wetter and colder crowd than usual to keep filled with burgers and ice creams! At least there was no drifting going on!!!!!

Cheers, Steve