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2007
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Round 5 - Silverstone (6th October)
Race Report
HOTTRAX Junior TAG Endurance Championship – 2 hours
With a mere 5 points separating the teams at the top of the Junior 1000 table; Team Sober (Mark Linscott/Gary Bransgrove/Steve Callahan) were third fastest overall in qualifying and the team’s race strategy was to keep ahead of rivals Moto Developments (Luke Hall/Simon Nash) which they comfortably achieved in the two hour race. Eventual winners were Team RHR (Ryan Hooker/Paul Evans) who finished an incredible 0.84s ahead of C2C Racing (Martin Black/Dave Brooking/James McBride) who took fastest lap with some demon riding by international road race specialist McBride – a man with a number of 120+ mph laps on the Isle of Man as well as successes in Ireland and Macau. Going into the final race of the year, ETA Racing (Ian Courts/Darren Brearley/Phil Muldowney) were already Junior 600 champions and in the race they were to finish third in class behind winners Extreme Bikesportz (Ian Walker/Dave Wardle) and GBMoto Junior (Robert Moon/Samantha Godfrey).
1 Team RHR * 101 laps 2 C2C Racing 101 laps 3 Throttle Monkey Juniors 100 laps 4 Racing Snakes 99 laps 5 Team Throttle Monkey 99 laps 6 Go Fast Racing 98 laps 7 Freaks of Nature Too 98 laps 8 M & P Racing 97 laps 9 Extreme Bikesportz * 97 laps 10 Electric Lemonade 96 laps 11 Radtec Racing 96 laps 12 Team Sober 95 laps Fastest lap – C2C Racing 65.176s 88.486mph * Class winners
HOTTRAX Junior TAG Endurance Championship – 6 hours
A number of the TAG teams had chosen to continue to race on for the full duration of the six hour race, with championship finishing positions standing at the two hour mark. The results indicate it is a relatively small step for HMRC Junior teams to make the transition to National level and the fact that C2C struck the fastest lap of the day show how competitive the Junior teams are; 2008 should see several Junior teams migrate to the National championship.
1 C2C Racing 302 laps (3rd on the road) 2 M & P Racing 294 laps (5th on the road) 3 Team SOBER 292 laps (7th on the road) 4 Black Cat Racing 276 laps (15th on the road) Fastest lap – C2C Racing 64.772s 88.630mph (fastest time of the day)
C2C Racing finish the season in 4th position in the championship overall.
'Le Man's start - where riders run across the track to their bikes on the other side of the track.
Round 4 - Snetterton (26th August)
Race Report
Practice/Qualifying
This meeting went well with only a few minor hiccups. The weather was also good to us, very hot with barely a cloud in the sky. C2C Racing qualified in 16th position with only a transponder problem causing a reduced qualifying session for the team.
Race
At the start rider 1, Dave Brooking, was baulked by slower riders but worked hard to get up to 8th position after the first few laps. A smooth changeover saw rider 2, Martin Black, get back out on track in 14th position, and at the end of his session come in for rider changeover in 12th position. The team lost a vital minute in the pits as the transponder required re-securing, but Dave put his head down and put in a series of blistering laps, probably annoyed by the problems with the transponder! Martin went out in the final session determined to up his pace also and promptly out braked himself at the end of the fast 160mph Revett Straight, taking a detour across some handily placed concrete and grass before rejoining the racetrack! Martin quickly recovered, putting in a string of best laps at the very end, taking the chequered flag in 10th place.
C2C Racing stay in 6th place in the championship and are looking forward to the final 6hr event in October.
Driving out of Sears bend onto the long 160mph Revett Straight
Round 3 - Pembrey (21st July)
Race Report
Practice/Qualifying
With large parts of the country underwater it was no suprise to see a diminished number of starters for this round as many race teams were unable to complete the journey to Pembrey in South Wales. Additionally C2C's closest rivals in the championship Radtec Racing destroyed their racebike with a practice crash in wet conditions with several other teams failing to make the grid after falls. C2C Racing qualified in a lowly 16th position following a decision to run only the required minimum of 3 laps each to preserve the wet tyres for the race itself as nothing would be won or lost in qualifying given such poor conditions.
Race
A dry track but black clouds overhead had everyone praying for the rain to fall before the start of the race, to make tyre selection easier. Luckily, 10 minutes before the start the heavens opened and the tyre choice was made, full wets!. No.1 rider, Martin, stalled on the grid as the chequered flag dropped and arrived at the first corner in second from last position! The next 10 laps saw Martin try to gauge the track conditions and the level of grip whilst picking off slower riders with the remainder of the session spent in a lonely 10th position until a fallen rider brought the safety car out after 25minutes. Learning our lesson from the first round, C2C pitted and changed the rider under safety car conditions, meaning No.2 rider Dave Brooking rejoined the race track without losing any laptime. Dave set about moving through the field as conditions worsened and visibility became a real problem. The rest of the race continued without real event, with both riders putting in consistent quick laps in the heavy rain and Dave putting in his fastest laps of the race right at the end, to just beat Rawlings Racing by only 6seconds for 7th position, which will see C2C Racing move up to 6th in the championship standings. A top 5 finish in our first year is now a real target.
Racing in the heavy rain at Pembrey. After 2 hours racing C2C Racing took 7th place by just 6 seconds.
Round 2 - Knockhill
Race Report
Practice/Qualifying
Having been unable to do the Friday practice day we went into Saturday mornings 20minute practice session a bit green, as neither Dave or Martin had ever seen Knockhill before. Luckily for them, Mark Linscott (ex-BSB and Phase 1 Endurance racer) offered to show them round whilst he was scrubbing in new race tyres. This meant a short cut to learning the best lines through the twisty, up-and-down and technically demanding Knockhill circuit. Qualifying saw C2C racing placed 19th on the grid. A bit disappointing, but both riders knew they could find more time in the race as they improved track knowledge and made a few tweaks to bike set-up. Martins previous suspension problems on the Fireblade had been cured by the fitting and set-up of new rear Ohlins suspension and the bikes desire to wheelie over the length of the start finish straight was resolved by backing off the rear suspension compression damping a few clicks.
Race
Another good start saw C2C Racing rider 1, Martin, make up a few places into the first bend and then set about putting in some good laps. After the first few laps of jockeying for position Martin settled down and put in laps better than his morning qualifying time. A change of strategy to ‘long fuel’ the bikes for the maximum session time of 30minutes and minimise time lost in the pits. At the first pitstop C2C Racing came in to change rider in approximately 10th position. A smooth changeover saw Dave leave pit lane and put in a series of quick laps, again equalling or bettering his times in qualifying. This session saw C2C Racing take another 2 places, up to 7th position. One hour into the race saw Dave come into the pits for our second changeover. Again, another smooth stop saw Martin rejoin the race for his second 30minute session. With only fatigue and the warm Scottish sun(!) to concern him and with a clear(ish) track ahead Martin put in his best laps of the race, 60 seconds, to retain race position. Third and final changeover saw Dave rejoin the track and put in his fastest laps yet of 59 seconds, but after only a few laps the safety car came out onto the track, following a coming together of two bikes at the Hairpin that had left a rider unconscious at the side of the track. Marshalls obviously took all precautions to remove the injured rider as safely and as quickly as possible into the waiting ambulance. With riders all filed behind the safety car any chance of making up further time on other teams diminished. The safety car pulled in 5 laps from the end with Dave seeing the chequered flag in 7th place.
C2C Racings 7th place is an improvement on previous rounds 10th position, and the 9 championship points now put C2C Racing into joint 8th in the championship standings. We look forward to continued improvements at the next round!
Racing at a sunny Knockhill. C2C Racing came home in 7th place.
Round 1 - Snetterton
Race Report
Practice/Qualifying
With a new race format, new team and and new bikes, practice and qualifying were approached steadily - especially as C2C rider Martin Black had never even seen the Snetterton circuit before. The other C2C rider Dave Brooking had raced there previously but had almost zero track time on the new bike. Lap times were a few seconds down on what was hoped for but the bikes weren’t missing a beat, although handling and gearing issues had raised their ugly heads. Rear sprocket size was increased to make the bikes gearing suit the circuit and to improve drive out of the slower corners but this led to wheelbase issues –the most serious being the rear tyre catching the swing arm, so it was back to square one. Suspension settings were left as no time to make any adjustments, so we erred on the side of caution. Braking was good and stable, especially on Snettertons long back straight where bikes brake from over 160mph down to 60mph in 200yds for the tight Esses bends. Dave posted the best qualifying time of 1m 17s which saw C2C Racing start its first endurance race from 11th on the grid. All in all it was a reasonable start.
Race
A cracking start saw C2C Racing rider 1, Dave, hit the first bend in 5th position and after 25 minutes we were lying in 7th position. A faller brought out the safety car and our inexperience told as the team delayed the decision to pit to change rider until after the safety car had left the circuit. This mistake had undone all of Daves good work as slower bikes pitted, changed rider and rejoined the race. As soon as the safety car came in Dave pitted and changed to rider 2, Martin. Rejoining the race in approximately 19th position Martin proceeded to put in a series of quick, if not blistering laps. The bike set-up was not suiting Martins extra size and a front end slide exiting the notorious ‘Bombhole’ bend concreted the decision to ‘bring it home’ as fast as possible, without taking too many risks. Martins first session saw C2C Racing pull back some places and pit in 16th position. A quick and efficient pit change and Dave was back out for his second session’ taking up where he left off, putting in a series of fast laps and closing the gap on those in front, making up places steadily. However, a fuel miscalculation led to Dave ending his second session early, in 14th place with almost no fuel left in the tank. This enforced early stop again cost us dear as any places gained were lost in pit lane. Martins’ second stint was uneventful and saw C2C racing gain one more place. The previous early stop meant an additional pit stop was required for Dave to go out to do the last 10 minutes of the race, again putting in repeated fast laps to cross the line in 16th position on track, 13th in class.
C2C Racing crossed the line 10 laps down on the winning team and but for some errors with pit-stop strategy, costing us an estimated 4-5 laps, we would have seen a better result. But as it’s a series that we are new to, we will hopefully learn our lessons and apply them to the next round!
C2C Racing would like to thank the following sponsors for there support for the 2007 season:
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