The inaugural Slough GP was held over the Bank Holiday weekend in glorious weather. The 3 day race format allowed for a relaxed timetable with plenty of track time for all. The recently revised layout was employed, along with some slightly altered features with the aim of making the track better for racing. Saturday was practice day, and we started with overcast skies and a very dusty track. In fact after the first practice round it was decided to sweep the track in order to hasten the laying of a blue groove and make everything much easier for everyone. All the top guys were showing good speed at various times during the practice runs, without any one driver really making a claim to be the fastest. The Agama team were all pretty happy with their cars, Jon Hazlewood using his recent base set up and just using the track time to evaluate tyres.
Tony Truman was steadily improving his set up as the day went on, and gradually migrated to settings similar to that of team mate Jon. Drivers were starting to feel the grip levels increasing as the rounds progressed, and the guys were even starting to think about the Medium Soft compound, which is very rare in the UK.
On to Sunday and the Qualifying sessions got underway with warm sunshine bathing the track. It was Bullitt driver Graham Alsop who took the opening round with his B-219 powered car. Jon Hazlewood made good start with 3rd in round, although a marshall mistake cost him dear, it was clear Jon and the car had the speed to be right at the top. In round 2 Jon really put the hammer down and took the round win with a very fast time, and with a 4 second mistake on lap 2. Tony Truman was easing his way in, and was 4th in round 2. Round 3 was an Agama dominated round, with Tony Truman taking the round win with Jon 0.5 of a second behind, but these 2 guys were 6 seconds up the road from anybody else. Tyre wise it was the Freeride that was starting to emerge as the favourite tyre for the majority of BETA drivers, as at the national a few weeks ago. As the traction comes up in the track, the free ride just gives the driver the confidence to push hard without the fear of being caught out by traction roll.
In the final 2 rounds of qualifying, Jon decided to experiment with different set ups having 3 good scores in the bag. Unfortunately these experiments didn’t amount to a better car on the day, but certainly there was enough in the results to re-visit the ideas on a different day with lower grip conditions.
Young Ollie Currie was slowly getting himself into the rhythm after missing the practice day and as a result being seeded in the lowest heat. He went 7th in the final round to secure a semi final place.
These results meant that there was a 3 way tie for the top of the qualifying list between Graham Alsop, Tommy Chung and Jon Hazlewood. The result was decided in the this order by count back scores. There were 12 BETA runners in the top 20 in qualifying once again proving the most popular choice at the top of the leader board.
Finals day was hotter again, and felt more like a late summers day rather than spring. There was plenty of good racing throughout the finals as drivers tried to make up for poor qualifying performances. The track was getting grippier by the race as the blue groove increased and the sun baked it in. Jon and Tony were both out in the 1st semi final, and it was Jon who set off in dominant fashion easily opening up a half lap lead in the early stages until after a bout half distance a few mistakes started to creep in and Tony Truman caught and passed his team leader, until unfortunately he started to lose electrical power until his car would steer no more. A post race inquest would find a Lipo battery that had failed and caused the retirement. Surely his luck will change soon. Jon had recovered to keep his lead and comfortably win the semi to book his place. Ollie Currie also made it through in 3rd, and would join Jon in the hour long main final. Adrian Svensson, a recent returnee to the Agama stable, also made it through but would remove himself from the final to ensure the smooth running of the meeting.
The main final saw Jon suffer the worst possible start, with a mistake of his own on lap 1 that dropped him to the back, he spent the next 15 minutes trying to battle his way through and would find himself in a crash several times along the way. Such was the time loss that after about 10 minutes he found himself a lap down on the leaders. This was the spark for him however to stage a fantastic come back that saw him take about half a lap off Graham Alsop and Kevin Brunsden out front as he dragged himself up to 3rd. When running in clean air, he was usually the fastest on track until the last 10 minutes of the hour when he realised he would not be able to get the other half lap back. He then relaxed and consolidated 3rd and cruised to the flag.
Finally after a great battle with Kevin Brunsden it was pole man, Graham Alsop who took his Bullitt powered car to the victory after the hour long final. Using his new B-219 and its fantastic fuel mileage to keep ahead of the pack. Ollie Currie came home in 10th after his 1st ever 1 hour race, another super result for this young man.
BETA tyres numerical domination continued in the main final with 9 of the 14 contenders using BETA rubber. The abrasive track took its toll, as most of the drivers who completed the full hour were running on mostly slick tyres by the end, which provided you stayed on the line were still absolutely fine.
See: www.NemoRacing.com