RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

Nippon challenge at DTM 2nd 3rd and 4th Sept 2011

Following the success or the Nippon challenge at the recent FIA F2 meeting on Brands Hatch GP circuit, MSVR have asked Red Dragon race and track club series organiser Steve Vince to put a grid of his successful Nippon challenge series cars on the D.T.M meeting on the 2nd,3rd and 4th of Sept.
The Nippon challenge is open to all makes of Japanese cars of different power, we have classes from 150bhp to 500 bhp and cars ranging from Toyota,Honda,Subaru,Nissan,Mitsubishi and Suzuki to name a few.

for more information on this and any other Red Dragon events please contact Steve Vince on 01646601908 or got to the clubs web site: www.reddragonraceandtrackclub.com

Spaces left to race if you have a Japanese sports car eligible to race in the Red Dragon Nippon Challenge, a fantastic once in a life time chance to race on the full GP circuit at Brands Hatch one practice and two races on this fabulous circuit on the weekend commencing the 22 July please contact Steve Vince for more details on 01646601908 or email Stephenzebra@aol.com.
this is set to be a massive weekend on one of the best circuits our fair Isle has to offer, dont miss out you wont get this chance again!
anything Japanese can enter have a look at the Red Dragon Race and Track clubs site also for details on NIPPON CHALLENGE,SUBARU CUP, FUCH`S TITAN MR2 RACING SERIES,HYUNDAI COUPE CUP, BUDDYCLUB CIVIC CUP……..www.reddragonraceandtrackclub.com

FUCHS TITAN MR2 Racing Series
Castle Combe was the venue for rounds 3 & 4 of the FUCHS TITAN MR2 Racing series on 30th May, 2011.
Qualifying
35 drivers lined up on a wet circuit for qualifying, Jason Jesse and Aaron Pullan found conditions not to their liking and attacked the barriers, Dave Pittard proved to be the wet master or the day from Mat Smith and Richard Avery to 5 were as follows…
1) David Pittard
2) Mat Smith
3) Richard Avery
4) Ralph Budd
5) Charlotte Burridge
6) Steve Hennessy
Race 1
With the circuit still wet and still raining, Dave Pittard lead off the line from Mat Smith and Richard Avery, Richard moved up to 2nd place but lost control and spun backwards into the barrier losing him a few places, so another win for Pittard from Mat Smith and Mark Woods.
Race 2
With a drying track now for this race and almost the last race of the day the grid was formed up ready with Dave Pittard on pole again and true to his form all day he left the start line and pole never to be seen again by the grid, he finished a full 4 seconds ahead of Aaron Pullan who was 5 seconds ahead of 3rd place Jonny White, unfortunately front row starter Matt Smith had a mechanical / car fire after an off the track moment, this also covering part of the circuit in oil, thus causing quite a few cars to spin off.
1) Dave Pittard
2) Aaron Pullan
3) Jonny White
4) Ralph Budd
5) Jon Winter
The Red Dragon Race & Track Club Promoted series next visits the New Snetterton 300 circuit on 26/6/2011
With the Red Dragons NIPPON CHALLENGE also at this event.

“First Line” Japanese Race Day

Preview:

Following the last event at Brands Hatch, the Nippon Challenge road show rolled into Wiltshire and to the circuit which is Castle Combe. Showing no signs of slowing down, this popular race series is bucking the trend of low grid numbers and providing close racing for the club racer.

With a full grid last time out here in 2010, the promise of a “Japanese Race Day” was expected to draw in both the competitors and the crowds, although the torrential rain was out to spoil the fun. With rivers in place of tarmac, the conditions would be challenging for all involved.

Race Day:

With rain looking like being the only weather on the cards for the day, it was going to be an “interesting” days racing.

All classes were well represented and the day looked like providing some close class battles.

Super GT

The ever popular Swift of Andy McLennan was out looking to add his 2011 wins tally from Silverstone and Brands, and with the addition of a second “Hellier Motorsport” Swift, driven by Jason Langan and Yaser Almagrhrabi in his Daihatsu Charade GTi, a close battle could be expected.

However McLennan’s more reliable Swift of late, has seen him busy taking the scalps of the more powerful but heavier machinery. With this in mind we would be likely to see him near the front of the pack nipping at the heels of his rivals.

Vaughan Fletcher was back out to race at one of his favourite circuits, and would be expecting a hard time from the super quick McLennan, Hughes and the Subaru Cup contingency.

GT300

With no GT300’s at Brands, it was a welcome return for the class at Combe.

Paul Hughes was returning to more familiar territory by putting his DC5 Integra through its paces. In the GT300 class, he would be leading the charge for the Buddy Club brigade, and fellow Honda driver Anthony Allit rounded off the class with his CTR.

GT250

Stewart Hutchinson in his impressive JDM DC2 Honda Integra and Lee Bennett-Neil in his similarly matched UK spec DC2 would be aiming to be the N/A “thorn” in the sides of the turbo’d Toyota’s and Nissan Pulsar in the GT250 class.

Lee Bennett-Neal with his green Integra has been having a good season to date, but not having raced at Combe before, and up against some worthy opponents he would have to pedal hard.

Following his early retirement at Silverstone, the now repaired Nissan Pulsar of Adam Lockwood has found a new home in GT250, and will be hopeful of better results.

GT200

With an almost even mix of Celica’s and Civics in GT200, it would be a Honda v Toyota battle for class spoils, and it would no doubt create one of the biggest battles of the day with such closely matched competition. With a good turn out again for the BCCC, front runner Paul Cowland would be looking to add to his silverware collection, whilst fending off the chasing pack.

GT150

The MR2’s in GT150 were taking advantage of running in both the “Nippon Challenge” and the “Fuchs Titan Race MR2 Racing Series” at Combe. A case of double your pleasure, double your fun! The only non MR2 in class was the Hyundai Coupe of Steve Harman.

Subaru Cup

Following a stint in the “Tengudo Motorsport” Impreza, Karen Philips was back racing in her own Impreza, and having spent some time familiarising herself with the circuit during the recent “Japfest” event she would be fighting for the top step in the SC.

Joining in the fun for Combe, would be Richard Senter, (Karen’s partner) in the “Tengudo Motorsport” Impreza. Team principal Martin White secured a 3^rd in class at Brands Hatch and 4^th overall with the Subaru, so the #29 Subaru is capable of producing the goods. Hopefully there would be no team orders between drivers!

Kevin Middleton rounded off the class, and was out again in the X-Spec Impreza, having taken the step to move from his GT150 MX5 earlier this year.

Qualifying:

With only 4 laps possible due to the appalling weather and number of on track incidents, the grid was probably going to be one of the most mixed up of recent times.

Any more waved red flags, and it was in danger of being mistaken for a Spanish bull fight instead of a motor race!

Richard in car #29 paid a visit to the tyre wall, but thankfully any damage incurred was soon rectified by the team at “Tengudo”. Another driver thankful of a good team to back him up was Paul Hughes, who was in the worst possible situation when he collided with one of his teams Civic Cup racers and damaged the radiator of his Integra. Thankfully for him he was able to be repaired and out for race 1.

The conditions had played into the hands of the lower power classes, with GT150 cars placed much higher than we have come to expect, with 3 MR2’s in the top 10.

Pole: Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza SGT

2^nd: Yaser Almagrhrabi Daihatsu Charade GTi SGT

3^rd: Eliot Dunmore Toyota Celica GT200

4^th: Kevin Middleton Subaru Impreza SC

5^th: Paul Cowland Honda Civic GT200

6^th: Charlotte Burridge Toyota MR2 Mk1 GT150

7^th: Dave Hemingway Toyota MR2 Mk1 GT150

8^th: Stewart Hutchinson JDM Honda Integra DC2 GT250

9^th: Richard Avery Toyota MR2 Mk1 GT150

10^th: Ross Stoner Toyota Celica GT200

Race 1

With both the turbo’d GT250 class Toyota’s of Nick Reed and Rob Jefferies out, the grid numbers were back up to 34 with the additions of Anthony Allit in the GT300 Civic Type R and Alok B Iyengar in his GT200 Celica, who had both missed qualifying.

With the red lights out, Fletcher held position to hold onto his lead from pole position. The silver Subaru of Kevin Middleton used his 4wd to great effect and sliced his way through from the 2^nd row to overhaul 3^rd placed Dunmore in his GT200 Celica and 2^nd placed Yaser in his SGT Daihatsu.

Stewart “Viper” Hutchinson also capitalised with a great start and followed the Impreza of Middleton through the pack to hold 3^rd.

By lap 2 Hutchinson and Yaser had dispatched the Impreza of Middleton and sat in 2^nd and 3^rd respectively until the chequered flag dropped.

Despite the text book start Middleton began to drop back down the field until on lap 4 a visit to the gravel at “Quarry” signalled the end of his race.

Further down the field, cars were still struggling for grip, and both remaining Impreza Cup cars found themselves in difficulty.

Anthony Allitt paid a visit to the pit wall on lap 3 which meant the driver from Neath was back in the paddock sooner than expected.

The GT150 and GT200 cars showed that they could have their day, with places throughout the top ten.

1^st: Vaughan Fletcher SGT

2^nd: Stewart Hutchinson GT250

3^rd: Yaser Almagrhrabi SGT

4^th: Eliot Dunmore GT200

5^th: David Hemingway GT150

6^th: Richard Avery GT150

Fastest lap: Vaughan Fletcher 1:32.231 on lap 8 of 8

DNF

07 Kevin Middleton

25 Anthony Allitt

Class Wins:

SGT Vaughan Fletcher

GT300 Paul Hughes

GT250 Stewart Hutchinson

GT200 Eliot Dunmore

GT150 David Hemingway

SC Karen Philips

Race 2

The drying circuit for race 2 would be ideal for the rapid FWD cars that were at the head of the field.

Both Allitt and Middleton had got their respective cars out for the start for Race 2, although the grid was down 6 of the MR2’s.

With lights out, it was a clean get a way, with Fletcher leading the way up “Avon Rise”.

Eliot Dunmore in his Celica came through from the 2^nd row of the grid to tuck in behind Fletcher in his Subaru and take 2^nd place off Hutchinson in his JDM DC2 Integra.

A lap later Stewart returned the favour and re-took 2^nd place to hold position until the end of the race, and Yaser in the 3 cylinder Daihatsu put in a great performance to claw back his lost positions to claim 3^rd and close out the top 3.

McLennan was on a storming drive to drive from up from 10^th to 4^th by lap 6, but a tussle with Yaser for 3^rd resulted in the Swift paying a visit to the grass and dropping him back to 7^th overall.

Paul Hughes in his GT300 DC5 Integra came up through the field from 11^th to finish 4^th overall and 1^st in class.

Candidate for drive of the day however had to be Kevin Middleton in the X-Spec Impreza, who having started from the back of the grid, came through to finish 5^th overall and 1^st in class, passing both other “Cup” Impreza’s in the process and leaving them in his wake.

1^st: Vaughan Fletcher SGT

2^nd: Stewart Hutchinson GT250

3^rd: Yaser Almagrhrabi SGT

4^th: Paul Hughes GT300

5^th: Kevin Middleton SC

6^th: Eliot Dunmore GT200

Fastest lap: Vaughan Fletcher 1:17.047 on lap 7 of 9

DNF

11 Adam Lockwood

94 Andy Howell

Class Wins:

SGT Vaughan Fletcher

GT300 Paul Hughes

GT250 Stewart Hutchinson

GT200 Eliot Dunmore

GT150 David Hemingway

SC Kevin Middleton

Despite the weather, the racing was honest, with some great battles throughout the field.

Words: Jonathan Fletcher
Pictures: Lance Wittenberg

Organised by The Red Dragon Race and Track club, the series promoter Steve Vince set up the NIPPON CHALLENGE to run along side his successful MR2 Racing series.
Set up in 2008, it is the only MSA affiliated club dedicated to Japanese and Asian racing cars such as Honda, Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Nissan ,Hyundai and Proton, so what ever the car, what ever the performance there will be a place to race it in the NIPPON CHALLENGE!
The class structure is based on weight and BHP to allow a multitude of cars of varying types to compete on track together.
We have seen Integras , Civics ,MR2 turbos, 350zs, 200sx, Swifts, Evos and Impretzas to name a few, with Honda 2000s and 300bhp Nissan Pulsars on the way for 2011, and to add to the mix Asian brands are being allowed in 2011 such as Hyundai and Proton.

Two new competitions are being introduced for this season, the “Hyundai Coupe Cup”.

and the” Buddy Club Civic Club”.

Both offering affordable options to start out racing with cars costing as little as £3900 ready to race!
So the club looks forward to many more years of exiting motor sport with the cars from the far east at its core.

for contacts and information please visit:

www.reddragonraceandtrackclub.com
www.nipponchallenge.co.uk
www.subarucup.com

tel Steve Vince: 01646 601908

race dates for 2011

March 14th (meet & greet)…Silverstone

May 1st………………………….Brands Hatch

May 30th………………………..Castle Combe

June 26th………………………..Snetterton 300

July 17th…………………………Cadwell Park

Aug 29th………………………….Rockingham

Sept 18th………………………….Mallory Park

Oct 16th……………………………Donnington Park