Class Podiums Continue for RP-X™-Equipped Fiesta Clubracer Team

Round 2 – Cadwell Park

“Round 2 took us to the north of the country, to Lincolnshire’s Cadwell Park. An extremely popular venue for some, however not for half of Fiesta Clubracer’s driver line-up! Kev is something of a specialist here, while Henry loathes the place…

“At least the weather was behaving itself, as no matter if it’s your favourite circuit or worst nightmare, I can guarantee rain makes this place 10 times as challenging!

“Qualifying was, as always, an extremely close fought battle in class D, with the difference between the top three cars and drivers being less than three tenths of a second! Despite being Henry’s worse track on the calendar, he found it within himself to put that hate to one side and deliver a late but solid pole time – 0.003s in front of other Fiesta driver, Ronan Quinn. The Z3 of Jamie Jeffrey’s completed the top 3. A good start bagging that all important extra point for pole.

“In between qualifying and the race, we opted to bleed the brakes for good measure as always and inspect the RP-X™ pads up front, still showing their characteristic very little wear, and even wear pattern with no wedging. The Bluestuff pads in the rear have proven to be the single most resilient pad we’ve ever used in a race car, with no adverse effect to performance!

“Race time, and a change to the normal running order of Henry starting, as Kev took to the grid in his first race start in three years. And what a start it was too – not only maintaining the first place Class D starting position, but putting lots of daylight between himself and second place Jamie Jeffrey.

“Kev was battling throughout the whole stint with cars of the two higher classes comfortably before handing over to Henry, remarking afterwards about how good the brakes were from cold all the way through the stint.

“Having now changed over, the first few laps were fairly straightforward, getting up to speed and settling into finishing the job, however a combination of backmarkers and a hard charging Ronan Quinn behind would make it a lot less easy!

“Having missed a gear into the hairpin, the car took a glancing blow into the tyre wall but not too serious as to not carry on, re-joining just behind Ronan and another higher class car with two laps to go! My despair was short-lived as Ronan then repeated my exact incident the very next lap, however beaching himself on the entry of Barn in the process, allowing us to capture the lead back, and take the victory. Not the way we like to win, but we’ll take it!

“A pole and win at our bogey circuit! Yes thanks.”

Round 3 – Anglesey

“Round 3 was a mere two weeks after Round 2, which left us very little time to turn around a slightly scratched-up and bruised Fiesta! Luckily no hardware damage as such, just a lot of rubber mark removal and a new wing mirror added on one side.

“The mechanical check-up between rounds showed that the front RP-X™ pads wore a grand total of 1mm per pad uniformly over the 45-min race and 25-min qually session! So with a quick clean before reinstallation, they were good to go! The rear Bluestuff pads have lasted the whole of last season, and a half of this one so probably best measured in microns! They both perform perfectly for our needs.

“Qualifying was an interesting affair with very little running time for either driver on the circuit. Just a few laps from the previous evening in a 24hr-entered KA that we’d be racing later in the weekend as experience. The top five were separated by five tenths. Our Fiesta slotting into a reasonable second place, behind the well-tested, Boreham Motorsport-run Mazda MX-5 of Recce Warrick. The BMW Z3 of championship challenger Jamie Jeffrey’s lined up 4^th.

“Back to the regular driver order here, as Henry started the race from P15 on the grid climbing up to an impressive 9^th on lap 1 with some late braking antics down the inside into The Banking, and round the outside into Rocket-In, such was the confidence on the pedal in the opening laps.

“With some measured and calculated laps either side of an early safety car, 8^th place overall and P1 in class was how it looked before another safety car prompted the pit stop and handover to Kev, who had diligently made the call to stay out for one more lap to allow one more fast lap catching the safety car!

“Once out, Kev was straight up to the same pace once the safety car pulled in, and hanging onto and getting involved with the higher class battles just in front. With a substantial lead from P2 in class D it was a case of managing the race and bringing it home! The all-important win, and fastest lap for the extra point! A late penalty for another driver meant we finished 6^th overall – a great points haul!

“Back-to-back wins in 2 weeks! And another standout performance from the car in the braking department. The advantage is real with this pad and disc combo. The car is in ‘the window’ instantly and stays consistent throughout the whole race.

“Onto Round 4 – Snetterton 300!”