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Race Report 
Fireblade scoops award for Best Engineered Car
The team were back at school at 5.30am on a Sunday morning, ready to head off
to Bedford. They were bright, cheerful and very confident, after their success
in their last three races. For the start of the race we managed to get our cars
lined up in the front row with a clear goal of getting Fireblade away in front.
This worked to our advantage, as Fireblade was first to the corner. Fireblade
was in the lead and was clear of second by about 15 metres after the first lap.
We had also already lapped the Girls High by the second lap. After 6 laps we had
slipped to 3rd as Aluuuuminium had gone flying past chasing Carbon QT. The main
battle was between Fireblade and Brian. Fireblade was trying everything, but
could not shake the girls in Brian. Fireblade was faster down the straight so
kept right behind Brian to slipstream them. Positions kept on changing between
3rd and 4th, it was very close with some great driving. After about forty
minutes we found a small gap between two cars that were being lapped by Brian,
which meant that Brian went too wide on the tight corner.
Meanwhile Franc was in its own race, it was quicker than both the Girl's High
cars and was lapping about the same pace as the Grammar School in 20th place.
After thirty minutes Franc came in for the first driver change of the day. The
pit team worked well on the driver change to make it smooth and fast in just
twenty seconds. Just before the hour mark Fireblade was in trouble. A white line
had started to show on the front right tyre, meaning the rubber was gone and we
were on to the thread. This meant we would have to change it but the car was not
due to come in yet. So the team sorted out their pit area and laid out the tools
ready. Each member was assigned a specific job. As we only had four wheels, this
meant taking the wheel off then the tyre and then replacing the tyre. We lost in
the whole process only eight minutes, which meant that when we came out of the
pits with a new driver we only dropped to 7th. Now with a new driver at the
wheel they really attacked the race. The driver was not afraid to take the car
out wide then bring the car in for the apex of the corner, and then fade out
wide, running close to the white line. FireBlade was climbing its way back up
the table to fourth. FireBlade came into the pits for its third driver change.
The pit crew worked like a well oiled machine and went out retaining their 4th
place position.
Meanwhile Franc was still contesting and continuing his battle with the Girls
High. The positions kept changing between 15th and 20th. There was some brave
driving in Franc, with the drivers finding some small gaps and not letting other
cars push them off their line. Coming up to the two hour mark the team got ready
to make a battery change on Fireblade, but at the same time, the timing and pit
board team had notice a dramatic loss of speed in Franc and changed the pit
board to signal Franc in first. It was all going well until one of the new
battery clips got stuck, the lack of practice on this costing us time. Also, to
add to the panic Fireblade was coming into the pits as well, but just as
Fireblade rounded the pit corner Franc was being pushed out with a new driver.
We were now looking forward to some fast laps with fresh batteries. Aluuuuminium
was still in 1st position, now six laps in front. FireBlade was reeling in the
front four all the time, over the next hour.
Just as FireBlade had got us back into 2nd position, we had our second
problem of the day. The rear drive tyre was on its way out. The team made the
call to get the pits ready just like before. When the car came in to the garage
the team went to work! The drive wheel was a little harder to do, as we had
three more bolts to un-do. So it took ten minutes to complete. In this time we
had slipped down to 4th position, with fifty minutes to go. Aluuuuuminium
capitalised on our problems to extend their lead by fourteen laps, meaning
unless they had a problem we could not catch them.
The good news was both Electric Blue and Khale were only 6 laps in front, and
they still had to make driver changes. Franc was now in 18th position and was
starting to slip back from the Grammar school. With 10 minutes to go we were
still in fourth position, on the same lap as Electric Blue and Khale. We then
over took Electric Blue on the next lap. As we went into three laps from the
end, Khale got caught in traffic on the out side and we managed to find the gap
to secure 2nd position. Aluminiuuuuum finished 1st, 13 laps in front of 2nd, 3rd
and 4th who all finished on the same lap. The team where thrilled that they
finished in 2nd position for the 2nd time in so many races. Especially as they
had a few problems to over come! When doing the maths, and looking at the data,
we lost fifteen minutes of racing which would of equated to ten laps at a lap
time of ninety seconds. Our average was less than this so we could have been
first! Franc managed to finish the race with no problems unlike the Essex race.
They beat last year's mileage and finished 18th which with the very strong field
was a great performance and they will be looking to beat it at the final.
Read the official race report and see final standings on the Greenpower
website:
Race Pictures
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