TORCH Summer Series Finale

As the summer season winds down I made the now familiar journey to TORCH for the final round of their popular summer series.

This series has been consistently well attended all year and Sunday was no exception, 72 drivers booked in for what promised to be a good days racing under a late summer sun.

There were some nice trophies to fight over for 1st 2nd & 3rd in the A, B & C finals.
Bring it on!

I have been pleased with my performance at these events this season. The previous 3 rounds I've attended have seen me squeeze into the 'A' final. A glance at the impressive entry list made it clear that I would have to drive at somewhere near my best to do the same today.

As I have mentioned before a TORCH meeting is value for money with 4 qualifiers and 3 legged finals for all. The entry list was a fairly even split between 4 and 2wd. 8 heats meant a full, long day lay ahead but the TORCH guys are an efficient crew so I didn't expect any problems.

The apex was less familiar to me today than it should have been.

Alas I was unable to perform at the level I had hoped. The car was handling well and my small changes only made it better. My single lap pace was acceptable but too many mistakes meant I was unable to put in the consistent runs that would get me to the sharp end.

After qualifying had shaken out I found myself in B3 and was to start behind familiar adversaries Cameron Taylor and Rob Elms. I think that despite my average driving throughout the day I wasn't far from where I would have expected.

The burger van was popular, they do serve up some tasty nosh!

I can see Rob planning his tactics for 'B' final glory and Matt Butcher wondering where it all went wrong. Not quite sure what Alex is doing that's making Ben hide his face though, best not to ask!

The finals were fun. I got clean starts in legs 1 & 2 and although I battled near the front the pace of Rob and Cam kept me from improving on my starting position. Leg 3 was a messy affair with Cam crashing out after a marshalling incident. Rob took the overall win, Cameron was 2nd and yours truly in 3rd.
At least I was going home with a pot, a decent end to the day.

The 'A' final was good to watch with  Mark Townsend coming out on top from Rob Rasey & Dan Brown.
The 2wd guys also put on a great show with Steve Brown emerging victorious from Tony Evdoka and Kev Lee.
Full results can be seen HERE.

So a great end to a great series, congrats to Steve Brown who ended up 2wd and 4wd champ.
I had set myself the goal of finishing in the top 10 and am pleased with my eventual 8th place in what is my first (half) season racing buggies.
It gives me something to improve on next year, although Steve B will have no immediate need to look in his rear view mirror.
Championship results can be seen here: 2wd and 4wd.

Most people will now be putting a carpet set up on their car and heading indoors. For the hardy racers among us however TORCH will continue to run club meetings and even host a winter series.
I will be breaking out my tranny muff (ooh err!) and heading for Titchfield.

See you there.