Round 1 of the Semsec Championship held at Lydden Hill where Bill is chief instructor promised to be a challenging race for the team as the clubman would be pitched into battle with much larger engined cars, favourites were to be a Subaru, piloted by veteran racing driver Nigel Craig, Audi S4 and also a Mitsubishi Evo all these cars were in the 300 to 400hp bracket. Undeterred the team prepped the Mini Clubman for qualifying , some sighting laps were achieved to settle the car and the driver into the rythem of qualifying, eventually a complete clear lap was achieved at race speed, resulting in the Mini on pole position for the 1st race. A good achievement considering the opposition.

Race 1 saw the run into Chessons Drift (the 1st corner) overtaken by the fast starting 4 wheel drive Subaru, the power advantage was obvious as he pulled a 100 yards distance on the Mini on the first lap, however things were not to go the Subaru’s way as the Minis tyres soon came to full temperature with maximum grip and on lap 4 a classic manouvering pass was achieved on the exit of the hairpin. The Mini was to dominate the race to the chequered flag. A good result for race 1. Watch the in car footage from the race.

Race 2 was a repeat of race 1 with the Mini being beaten into the first corner again by the Subaru, however this was not to last long as the Mini harried the Subaru into a small mistake at the elbow, he ran wide and we took the opportunity to take the lead, which we held until the flag.

The team can now reflect on their achievements and car set up which dominated round 1 of the Semsec Championship , our thoughts are now with the next round of the DMN Championship to be held at Brands Hatch on the 30th April.