2000 HPI Challenge UK
14 May 2000
Round Four - Stonehaven
Round
4 and off we go to Scotland…Scotland you say?
That’s right, off to Scotland, Stonehaven & District Car Club
on the East Coast of Scotland to be precise.
It’s approx. 400 miles if we start counting the miles from around
the Midlands, more for any of the other, committed drivers deciding to
travel to this round of the HPI Challenge.
Anyway, we were blessed with a prefect weekend and like many people
we arrived late Friday night to enjoy the whole weekend away…and that’s
just what we did…
As
we arrived the first thing anybody saw was the huge….and I mean, huge
Rostrum. I reckon this was
about 3 stories tall but once climbed (!!!) you could see the track perfectly,
in fact it almost made the cars look like you were driving in a computer
game…
 The very, very tall rostrum... |
 Timing and scoring |
 The friendly transponder-keeper... |
 Another view of the huge rostrum! |
The
track though, was fantastic, as were the other facilities.
There were toilets and showers, a BBQ set up for later for those
who camped over night, and with a river running next to the pit area and
the beach only fifteen min walk away the setting was idyllic to say the
least. Life just doesn’t get any better!
The
day started with the concourse competition as none of the cars had been
race damaged (thrashed) and all looked their best. The usual three Semi-finalists
were selected, but there can only be 1 winner and that went to Sam Groves
with an excellent Porsche 911 GT1 painted in the Team CBA colours, but
fortunately with a subtle difference…
 Don't fall! |
 Pointing up to the skies...to the rostrum, no doubt! |
 Top three of the Concours |
 And our winnah! |
Drivers
briefing followed at 9.30ish and then we were on with the day.
Mike Henderson (Stonehaven Race Organiser) ran a tight ship, tight,
but well organised and fair. Due to the size of Stonehaven’s track Mini,
Sport and Stock Nitro classes were to run a shortened layout of the track
with Pro and Nitro Racer classes running the full track.
Qualifying
– Mini
This
saw Mike Rolinson and Kevin Davis battling it out all day for top spot
with Mike taking pole with 15-304.320, ahead of Kevin on a 15-316.500
and Chris Archer just off the pace on thirteen laps.
Qualifying
– Sport
Lee
Groves who was running in sport class today took early lead in 17-315.550.
Round two saw Adam Read take lead with 17-311.180, a time he was unable
to improve on. By round three another name was in the top spot, that of
championship leader Alan Harrington who eventually got it together and
put in a time of 18-314.870 giving him pole and FTD in sport class.
Qualifying
– Pro
Robin
Hammett set the pace with a time of 16-300.120 ahead of Fraser Low and
Jamie Booth, both on sixteen laps. Round two saw Jamie put in a flyer
of 17-318.620 putting him into the lead ahead of Robin. Kristopher Ritchie
put in a 16-300.840 to give him third. In round three Jamie, Robin nor
Kris could improve on there previous times. So they were the top three
for the finals, with Jamie on pole.
Qualifying
– Modified Nitro
Round
one saw Nick Bruty take lead with a time of 15-307.670, not that difficult
considering he was the only one running! Round two and Greg Hill was to
move into the lead with a time of 16-319.840 and James Hart dropping in
to third place. As in pro class the third round saw no changes so the
pecking order was Greg, Nick and James in the final.
Qualifying
– Stock Nitro
Lee
Groves took lead here with a 15-317.00 ahead of Peter Emery and Andy Knowlton.
Round two saw Andy move into the lead ahead of Lee with Pete dropping
to third despite improving on his previous time. In round three we saw
Lee re-take the lead with a run of 16-318.430 ahead of Andy in second
and Pete in third.
 The huge track! |
 Comfy pit area |
 You could land airplanes here! |
 Looks like a busy corner |
Finals
- first leg
Mini
- A
A
good run by Mike (15-314.930) secured him first place, a lap clear of
Kevin. Chris took third place just a few laps behind Kevin.
Sport
– A
Pole
man Alan Harrington held out till the end to come in first on eighteen
laps ahead of Mathew Truelove on seventeen laps and Adam Read in third
position.
Pro
– D
James
Hart was to take the lead here ahead of Ryan Ritchie with Mike Rolinson
getting third after a neck and neck race with Angus Ross, seeing Mike
pull ahead on the last lap.
Pro
– C
This
was a close final with the top four drivers separated by only three seconds
but in the end Peter Emery took first place (well done ed.). Phillip Rogers
grabbed second ahead of team mate David Lippiatt in third.
Pro
– B
The
top three here were the only ones to put in sixteen laps, but Alan Martin
was to cross the line first with HPI’s own Syd Evans taking second spot.
Paul Truelove was third unable to match the pace, but just a couple of
seconds behind Syd.
Pro
– A
HPI’s
own Jamie Booth took the honours here with Robin Hammett just three seconds
behind him to take second place, both putting in seventeen lap times.
Darren Styles took the third place position after moving up from fifth
on the grid.
 Wide lanes |
 This corner stayed busy |
 Even more comfortable pitting! |
 Tight racing! |
Finals
– Second leg
Mini
– A
Mike
Rolinson took the win here putting in fourteen laps, ahead of Chris Archer
two laps down. Kevin Davis failed to make the final due to a breakage
on the layshaft (this happened just as he’d put his car down to test it
on the grid)
Sport
– A
What
started out as a one, two, three ended up the same, Alan Harrington put
in eighteen laps to take the lead over Lee Groves who took second just
a matter of seconds behind Alan. Matthew Truelove was unable to improve
on his third place grid position and held off a challenge by Darren Griffiths
to finish in third place.
Pro
– D
Ryan
Ritchie took the points here with a 14-321.00 win, ahead of Mike Rolinson
just a lap behind. Steven Butler did well to take third after moving up
from number eight on the grid.
Pro
– C
David
Lippiatt moved from third to take the win here, ahead of our very own
Peter E. Peter held on to his second place grid position to stay ahead
of David Hall who was just seven tenths of a second behind, giving him
third place.
Pro
– B
Steven
Hales had a fantastic run here moving up from tenth to take the win in
a time that would of given him a win in the A-final. Alan Martin and Syd
Evans were left to battle it out for second with Alan just beating Syd
by a couple of seconds, leaving Syd no choice but to take third.
Pro
– A
Jamie
Booth stole the show again here with a great seventeen lap run. Giving
him first place, with a lead of more than a lap over Darren Styles who
took second. However Darren had other things on his mind with third place
Robin Hammett just four tenths of a second behind him and closing.
Stock
Nitro – A
Andy
Knowlton took the win here with an almost faultless run. Peter Emery took
second place who, despite some interference, ran a good race (watch out
for the tyres next time Pete!). Lee Groves had trouble starting on the
line and this put him some way back. With some help Lee managed to get
running and had the race been a little longer may even have caught Pete,
however Lee had to make do with third for this round.
Nitro
Modified – A
Despite
spinning off on more than one occasion and have to play catch up, Greg
Hill took the win. Nick Bruty was just as fast as Greg down the straight
but just couldn’t shake him off round the in-field and was forced to take
second place. James Hart who couldn’t quite match the pace of the other
two took a well-earned third place.
So
that was another day at the ‘HPI Challenge’, a day, or should I say weekend
enjoyed by all. Many thanks
to Mike Henderson for his efforts and for those of his team up at the
Stonehaven club. They really
did try to make the weekend special for the guys that come all that way
to race.
Thanks
also to Mike Martin from Tay Racers (the ‘on-sight’ shop for the weekend)
for providing the most comprehensive spares we’ve seen at a HPI race this
year. If Mike didn’t have
it, you probably didn’t need it!
And
finally, special thanks to Greg for organising the event and to Jamie
and Syd who were seen during the weekend helping each and every racer
that needed it!
Ah well that’s it, the half way stage is complete. The points tables are starting to show who’s running well and who’s got to pull their fingers out to qualify for the European Championships Finals in September… so, until Bedworth see you later…
Click
here for the current points standings!