VF-Racing @ Castle Combe

[Jonathan F]

Vaughan Fletcher @Castle Combe 30th May 2011
Nippon Challenge “First Line” Japanese Race Day

“Super GT” Subaru Impreza

Pre Race:

It’s been a while since we were last out with the Nippon Challenge series, but following a chat with organiser Steve Vince at the pre-season event at Silverstone, and given the chance to run at one of Vaughan’s favourite tracks, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Since our last outing at Brands Hatch for the series final rounds in October last year, the car has undergone a number of changes to further enhance the handling and in our opinion the looks of the car.

With a wide arch kit giving the car a more aggressive appearance, we’ve increased the track with some new 8x18” wheels, and had new front hubs developed to engineer out the problems associated with the standard hubs, which are notoriously weak.

With a routine fluid change before the trip, everything was ready for the race.

Race Day:

Bank Holiday Monday’s at Castle Combe are something of legend, as the support for the circuit is far reaching and huge crowds flock to watch the racers compete.

With a full compliment of additional races, the paddock was brimming with cars from all of the attending series.

However the biblical rain that was falling from the skies was making the tarmac of Combe take on a more aquatic nature!

Qualifying:
Very Wet

From a possible grid of 42, the Nippon Challenge came up trumps with 34 cars, covering every class from GT150 up to Super GT and the Subaru Cup.

The ever popular Swift of Andy McLennan was out looking to add his wins tally from the opener at Silverstone and the last race at Brands, and with a couple of unknowns in the mix, it would be interesting to see how things played out.

Super GT class was made up of the following:

01. Jonathan Blake Mazda MX150r
16. Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza RA
50. Yaser Almagrhrabi Daihatsu Charade Gti
96. Jason Langan Suzuki Swift Gti
97. Andy McLennan Suzuki Swift Gti


For qualifying it was decided we would try out the Toyo’s R888’s which were mounted on the new Revolution “Millennium 2” alloys. Given the opportunity to see how these faired in the wet, we took the gamble in the hope that we wouldn’t be disappointed. How wrong we were!

All too soon it became apparent that in heavy rain, the 888’s don’t cut the mustard. It wasn’t possible to get any heat in the tyres (as the data after the session showed) and the grip was non existent.

With the Impreza’s “understeer” handling bias magnified in the appalling conditions, and not being able to get the power down coming out of the corners, it wasn’t long before the car neatly pirouetted on track. 6.0 6.0 5.9!

With a sea of red flags, the session was called to an early close, and with only 4 laps carried out, it would be anyone’s guess as to what the grid would look like.

With the results in we had:

Qualified 1st in class
Qualified 1st overall
Fastest lap: 1.34.917sec on lap 4 of 4

Pole Vaughan Fletcher
2nd Yaser Almaghrbi
3rd Eliot Dunmore

Race 1
Very Wet

Following qualifying it was obvious we needed to swap to “full wets” for the race, so the wheels were swapped over and the suspension re-set to get the best possible set up for the conditions, which showed no signs of improving.

Starting from 1st place on the inside of the grid we needed a good start, to out run the chasing pack. The weather and short qualifying session had played into the hands of the GT150 and GT200 cars, and they were right up near the front ready to charge.

With the red lights out, Vaughan took a good start, but the silver Subaru of Kevin Middleton had sliced his way through from the 2nd row to overhaul Eliot Dunmore in his GT200 Celica and 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 3rd and then on to 2nd place by lap 2.

Hutchinson was then in the Impreza’s mirrors for the rest of the race looking for any mistake to use to his advantage, but that wasn’t to be.

Finished 1st in class
Finished 1st overall
Fastest lap: 1.32.231 on lap 8 of 8

1st Vaughan Fletcher
2nd Stewart Hutchinson
3rd Yaser Almagrhrabi


Race 2
Drying

Keeping an eye on the weather, it was decided that we would switch back to the 888’s for race 2, as there was a dry line forming on track. If we were to continue with the full wets, these would pay the price and soon become over heated and start to fall apart.

Starting again from 1st place on the inside of the grid, the drying circuit would be ideal for the rapid FWD cars that were all around.

All things came together for the start of race 2, and Vaughan pulled out a good lead up to Quarry,

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

A lap later Stewart returned the favour and re-took 2nd 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 3rd and close out the top 3.

Behind were some great drives from the likes of Paul Hughes in his DC5 Integra who came through from 11th to finish 4th and 1st in class. Candidate for drive of the day had to be Kevin Middleton in the X-Spec Impreza, who having started from the back of the grid, came through to finish 5th overall and 1st in class, passing both other “Cup” Impreza’s in the process.

With the chequered flag dropped:

Finished 1st in class
Finished 1st overall
Fastest lap: 1.17.047 sec on lap 7 of 9

1st Vaughan Fletcher
2nd Stewart Hutchinson
3rd Yaser Almagrhrabi

Summary

The weather was the ultimate winner, but we were really pleased to come away with overall and class wins in both races.

Thanks go to Steve Vince for organising what will hopefully be an annual event, which will go from strength to strength.

Thanks also go to all of our sponsors, who make this possible, and in particular ScoobyClinic for the car preparation.

Thanks to Simon Cook for the photo's



Jonathan Fletcher Supporter. Subaru SGT #16