Bedworth RCCC Summer Series Review
FTD Models' Bob Burr reports back from the hugely successful and popular Bedworth Summer Series where the Carisma 1/14th scale cars proved to be a popular budget busting class.
For 2009 Bedworth Car Club decided to review its racing and where the club would be going, with a big recession and drivers looking to cut costs but still wanting to race we decided to extend our summer series to 10 rounds and cut out some of the national meeting which are usually held at Bedworth thereby saving drivers on travelling costs and hopefully race costs.
Our first move was to introduce the 1/14th scale Carisma class of cars. These little beauties had been raced the year before as they work well outdoors on a big tarmac track. With the popularity of this class and more backing on the spares front we thought this would make a great low cost class for beginners and the more experienced alike. Along with the usual 1/10th classes and the 1/14th Carisma we also, at the request of Radio Race car editor Dez Chand, added the 1/8th Venom motorbikes and the new GT10 class (a rework of the old Pro 10 cars.) This was now starting to look like the old time Radio Race car series with cars and bikes of all descriptions.
An aerial view Bedworth RCCC.
The big question was would it all work? Would people actually want to embrace the changes we had made or would they stick with what they know?
Round 1 at the beginning of April brought a very pleasant surprise. Along with the usual 1/10th touring cars we had 23 1/14th Carisma?s (wow) and a good few Venom bikes split between Stock and Open. A total of 10 heats saw some great racing in all classes. Early leaders in the series at the end of the first day were 'Mr Carisma' himself Bob Burr, Steve Newey in Stock bikes, Colin Mccabe in Open Bikes, Andy Sawyer in GT10, Connor Danes in 27t Stock and Liam Brooks in 10.5.
Round 2 was greeted by beautiful sunny weather which stayed with us all summer and a even bigger turnout of GT10's Venom bikes and now even the sidecar boys joined us making 11 heats in total. Some great racing and friendly banter with Dez running round trying to race 2 classes and sort out all the bike guys (remember when he used to race 4 classes at a time!) Talk in the pits was about the number of different classes and how many Carisma?s there were. People were now starting to take a lot of notice of this class realising it could be a good alternative to 1/10th touring cars.
At the end of the day Bob had kept his lead at the top of the Carisma class with Arran Smith and Anthony Shipton chasing him down hard. In Bikes Alan Leighton now lead the Stock class with Colin McCabe keeping his lead in Open bikes just in front of Dez Chand. Andy Sawyer topped the list in GT10 with Conner Danes in 27t and Liam Brooksin 10.5 leading their respective championships.
Touring cars at the final round of the Bedworth Summer Series.
Rather than bore you all with a round by round account of the whole championship I thought I would give you a quick rundown of the series. Unfortunately the bike lads and lasses could not make the whole series with some national meets clashing with Bedworth, but they made as many as they could and had a great summers racing. Hopefully they will be back in the winter or for the next Summer Series.
The Carisma GT14 class grew as the series went on with a total of 47 separate drivers taking part in this class just to show how popular it was. Cheap racing and great fun seemed to be the answer when you asked anyone why they were racing this class. That is not to say it wasn?t fiercely competitive! I personally have had some of the best battles for years, and cheap? Well 2 sets of foam tyres and 1 new rear diff for a summers racing isn?t bad (about ?45).
In GT10 the numbers tended to be a little up and down but I am sure once they get their rules all sorted numbers will grow.
In the 1/14th Carisma Class, 'Mr Carisma' Bob Burr kept his very slim lead in the championship till the very last round, being beaten into 3rd place by Anthony Shipton in 2nd and Luke Burr taking the championship at the very end. Only 3 points seperated the top 3 drivers!
Stock Venom bikes was won by Alan Leighton from Dave Richards and Ken Dineen. Open Venom Bikes saw the championship go to Colin McCabe from Dez Chand and Ian Mclarney.
Touring cars at the final round of the Bedworth Summer Series.
1/10th stock was won by Connor Danes from Steve Cole and Mark Knight. Super stock was won by Liam Brooks from Mark Handford and Cliff Peplow.
A great summers racing helped I am sure by the weather. 10 rounds and everyone warm (sometimes very warm) and dry. After every round there were FTD Models vouchers up for grabs in all finals, end of series trophies, and best of all a brand new Carisma Pro courtesy of CML (won by Ian Pinks) who have supported the club and especially the Carisma class all year. Also donating prizes for Bedworth?s Wednesday evening series which is another success story thanks to these lovely little cars.
All results and pictures from the summer series can be found on Bedworth?s website at www.bedworthrc.com
An aerial view Bedworth RCCC.
The big question was would it all work? Would people actually want to embrace the changes we had made or would they stick with what they know?
Round 1 at the beginning of April brought a very pleasant surprise. Along with the usual 1/10th touring cars we had 23 1/14th Carisma?s (wow) and a good few Venom bikes split between Stock and Open. A total of 10 heats saw some great racing in all classes. Early leaders in the series at the end of the first day were 'Mr Carisma' himself Bob Burr, Steve Newey in Stock bikes, Colin Mccabe in Open Bikes, Andy Sawyer in GT10, Connor Danes in 27t Stock and Liam Brooks in 10.5.
Round 2 was greeted by beautiful sunny weather which stayed with us all summer and a even bigger turnout of GT10's Venom bikes and now even the sidecar boys joined us making 11 heats in total. Some great racing and friendly banter with Dez running round trying to race 2 classes and sort out all the bike guys (remember when he used to race 4 classes at a time!) Talk in the pits was about the number of different classes and how many Carisma?s there were. People were now starting to take a lot of notice of this class realising it could be a good alternative to 1/10th touring cars.
At the end of the day Bob had kept his lead at the top of the Carisma class with Arran Smith and Anthony Shipton chasing him down hard. In Bikes Alan Leighton now lead the Stock class with Colin McCabe keeping his lead in Open bikes just in front of Dez Chand. Andy Sawyer topped the list in GT10 with Conner Danes in 27t and Liam Brooksin 10.5 leading their respective championships.
Touring cars at the final round of the Bedworth Summer Series.
Rather than bore you all with a round by round account of the whole championship I thought I would give you a quick rundown of the series. Unfortunately the bike lads and lasses could not make the whole series with some national meets clashing with Bedworth, but they made as many as they could and had a great summers racing. Hopefully they will be back in the winter or for the next Summer Series.
The Carisma GT14 class grew as the series went on with a total of 47 separate drivers taking part in this class just to show how popular it was. Cheap racing and great fun seemed to be the answer when you asked anyone why they were racing this class. That is not to say it wasn?t fiercely competitive! I personally have had some of the best battles for years, and cheap? Well 2 sets of foam tyres and 1 new rear diff for a summers racing isn?t bad (about ?45).
In GT10 the numbers tended to be a little up and down but I am sure once they get their rules all sorted numbers will grow.
In the 1/14th Carisma Class, 'Mr Carisma' Bob Burr kept his very slim lead in the championship till the very last round, being beaten into 3rd place by Anthony Shipton in 2nd and Luke Burr taking the championship at the very end. Only 3 points seperated the top 3 drivers!
Stock Venom bikes was won by Alan Leighton from Dave Richards and Ken Dineen. Open Venom Bikes saw the championship go to Colin McCabe from Dez Chand and Ian Mclarney.
Touring cars at the final round of the Bedworth Summer Series.
1/10th stock was won by Connor Danes from Steve Cole and Mark Knight. Super stock was won by Liam Brooks from Mark Handford and Cliff Peplow.
A great summers racing helped I am sure by the weather. 10 rounds and everyone warm (sometimes very warm) and dry. After every round there were FTD Models vouchers up for grabs in all finals, end of series trophies, and best of all a brand new Carisma Pro courtesy of CML (won by Ian Pinks) who have supported the club and especially the Carisma class all year. Also donating prizes for Bedworth?s Wednesday evening series which is another success story thanks to these lovely little cars.
All results and pictures from the summer series can be found on Bedworth?s website at www.bedworthrc.com
