Rotary Racer

On the 22nd of April the Rotary Racer greenpower team attended the Greenpower season opener of the 2024 season at Goodwood motor circuit. RR9 and RRX have been prepared and modified over the winter hoping to improve upon our positions from the final last year. For the first time, the team was running 2 cars in the F24+ category so this would provide even more challenge for the team with 2 brand new drivers completing their first 2 races on the day. Practice ran smoothly, our cars and drivers completed a good number of laps and at a promising pace, RRX putting in the 5th fastest time out of all of the 82 other cars. After some post practice adjustments, the team sent the cars out to the grid for the first F24 race of the year. Our 2 starters got away well and the cars climbed to 4th and 7th from the mid pack and started to tick off the laps. A red flag just 4 laps in shook up the strategy and meant for a very busy pitlane. The team did a great job with the pit stops, the cars only losing a bit of time from the busy pit exit. The rest of the race ran smoothly and both cars crossed the line running well with 7th place for RRX and a great 4th place for RR9. Both cars would then undergo the quick changeover for the F24+ category, running shortly after the first race. The cars started parallel to each other on the grid and both started well after some delays. Both cars ran a very impressive 5th and 6th place for most of the race against some very strong competition. In the closing laps, some of the cars ahead dropped out and the team came home for an assured 4th and 5th place for RRX and RR9 respectively. A great lot of points for our cars to start out the season beating some very stiff competition. The team were hoping to continue the success from the first two races into the 2nd F24 race of the day. Our drivers started nearer the back of the grid for this race and quickly found their way through the pack chasing some of the faster cars. After around 40 minutes, the cars were running strongly in good positions once again. Unfortunately RRX had a minor collision with another car out on track. Our driver was completely fine, however the car had acquired some cosmetic damage which was speedily repaired by the team as soon as it came back. We would like to thank the marshalls and scrutineers for helping us get the car back on track safely with 10 minutes to go. Meanwhile, RR9 was running very well in 6th place where it would eventually finish the race. RRX completed a few laps at the end and finished in 59th place out of 80 cars. Overall, the team did very well to start putting right our results from last year's final. The changes the team made over the winter seem resoundingly positive for both cars. RR9 will travel to Mallory Park on the 29th of April for the next race in the 2024 Greenpower season.

Photos courtesy of Jeff Gendall