Race of Remembrance 2021

The Mission Motorsport charities ‘Race of Remembrance’ is a special event. Part race, part remembrance service, part running into the freezing Irish sea in November!

The racing? Well its close. Very close. Multi class clubman endurance racing day and night at its very finest.

The RABsport team was competing in this event for the second time. Having won the event in 2019 we were hoping for a similar result this year. After a busy reprep in the workshop, the little C1 was ready to race by the Tuesday before, and once loaded up and ready we set off from a calm and dry Cumbria to Anglesey Circuit. On arrival we noticed the rain appeared to be coming from the side, and with apparently a small hurricane on the go! Needless to say with 5 cars to a garage the parking was cramped, so late in the evening we managed to get the truck parked away from the garage but within easy reach. To bed.

Friday came oh so early but thankfully to a much clearer day. The wind was still blowing but we can deal with that! With the team opting out of the pre event test, our goal was to get set for qualifying. Split into 2 sessions, 2hrs 30mins in the daytime (which counted for grid position) and 2hrs in the dark. All drivers had to complete 3 laps in each session.

So our driver line up consisted of the Focus Cup race winner Gary Mitchell, an ever steady member of the RABsport team, Lucas Hutchings and Jack Hillier, who were along to compete in their second race of remembrance and push for a good result.

Qualifying was complete, with the team qualifying 5th in class for the start, but receiving a 5 place grid penalty dropping us to the back of the grid.

Saturday – Race day! Warm up in the morning and more familiarisation laps for Lucas and Jack, followed by an event surely unique to the Race of Remembrance the ‘Biathlon of Foolishness’. Its a fun event ran by the Mission Motorsport charity. A simple matter of a 1 mile run, then down a cliff, onto the beach into the sea until the water goes over your head, then out and run back to the pit lane…… Team boss rich represented the RABsport team, and reported that it wasn't as cold as it looked and we hope we raised some much needed funds for a great cause!

Now on to business…..

Race Part one.

14:30 – The grid assembled on the Anglesey start finish straight, all 55 cars. 30 mins to go, all systems checked and good… then the radio fails! No time to fix, back onto pitboards for the first stint until we can swap it at stop 1.
15:00 – Green flag, Race is go! Gary Mitchell headed the team into the race, and with a 2hr20m stint planned carved through the field from 11th into 4th place. The call to box was made, and in he came for a fuel and driver change with Jack Hillier taking the wheel. The stop was all going well, until just as we were about to release the car team manager Rich called for Jack the mechanic to get out, so we could push back. Now this is usually not a problem, a simple call made to speed the stop up. However with a driver also called jack this did cause an issue! As Rich closed the bootlid, looked to see Jack the mechanic ready to push, and also saw Jack the driver looking somewhat bemused as to why he’d been told to get out!!! A panicked call “get back in that car driver” (or words to similar effect!) was made, the driver re-belted up and the car sent on its way having annoyingly lost about 50 seconds and second place in the process!

Jack went onto his stint, doing a long double stint of 3hrs in the car, which bar a stop for fuel went all fine. Scheduled stop 2 came, and a full service with driver change saw Lucas in for the final stint of the night, battling with some fuel surge issues that would come to hurt us later, but ultimately ending up in 4th at the 6hr point and overnight halt.

With no parc ferme the crew set to work reprepping the car, replacing all 4 wheel bearings (Curse of the C1’s!) and finding out the fuel surge issue being caused by a damaged fuel pump. This was repaired and the car ready to go again for part 2.

Sunday 09:00 – Race part 2 goes green!

Lucas Hutchings starts the day at the wheel and has a good steady stint for the first 1hr15m, stopping for driver change to Gary at around 10:18. Gary gets in, with some fresh tyres now, and runs the car until 10:45 when the whole race is stopped. The cars form up in running order on the grid under parc ferme.

What happens next is surely the most moving part of the weekend, everyone, and I mean everyone heads down the pitlane, where surrounded by the veteran beneficiaries of Mission Motorsport the chaplain from RAF Valley take the remembrance parade, service and a minutes silence. A time to reflect and remember those who gave their lives so we can live free.

Then the cry goes out ‘Lets go racing!’

And its back to it! Another green flag lap and the race is on, now a 5hr stint left to the end!

But for us the next 45mins would be tough. After the previous nights fuelling issues were fixed they reappeared again, and seemed terminal. At 12:00 Gary pulls the car into the garage, and our mechanics scramble to repair the issue. This time though its terminal, and with intermittent fuel cut simply too dangerous to continue for risk of a shunt.

Still classified as a finisher having completed sufficient distance, we finished 44th. Not quite the class win we had in 2019!

So rebuild, reprep and on to winter testing now ready for the 2022 season!

Thanks for reading,

Rich

Team Manager

RABsport Racing