Our second regional heat took us to Dunsfold Aerodrome on a grey Sunday morning. The team were up early to get to the venue and once the driver briefing was complete had a successful practice morning with all drivers getting a good feel for the track.

Both our cars were entered into this heat – Number 59 (our older car) and number 101 (our newer car). Both cars lined up on the 46-car grid for the first race at 11.00am. Under a gloomy Surrey sky, the starting flag went and both cars began working their way through the field. After lap one, car 101 was in third place and flying and car 59 had moved into a top twenty-five position. Car 101 continued to speed round the track and by lap two was in first place and already moving up on the back markers. This success continued for 40 minutes before technical difficulties hit us again and 101 started to lose power and speed. During this time the car clocked up the fastest lap and briefly gave us hopes of a top three finish and the associated trophies – sadly once again not to be. Meanwhile car 53 continued to work its way past others and steadily worked its way up to a sixth-place finish. As ever the car remained reliable and the drivers’ building confidence saw ever-improving lap times.

After a short break and a couple of driver changes, we lined up for race two. Under even darker skies, the race began and followed a very similar pattern to the previous. Car 101 storming ahead and lapping the majority of the field. The ever-steady car 59 continued its excellent form and again worked its way up the leader board. 101 managed to make it to 45 minutes before power issues again ended its race early – another case of what could have been. During this time the rain started to pour and made for less than ideal conditions for the racers (and the spectators!). The weather saw a number of cars retire early but car 59 went one place better to give us an overall finish of 5th place – our highest position to date.

We now wait to see if we make the finals with both cars or just the one. We have already completed some modifications to car 101 so are excited to see if we can keep it running for longer in the next race.

As ever, our pupil team did themselves and the College proud and a big thankyou goes out to the staff and parents who support the team and allow us to take part in this competition.

We’ll see you next at Goodwood Racing Circuit for the International finals.

Mr Turnham