Rockingham 24hr & 3hr – C1 Racing Club

The first race of the season is nearly upon us, and it certainly feels like that at C1 Towers, where we are working feverishly to get everything ready for a great weekend at Rockingham. This newsletter will focus mostly on the upcoming 24hr and 3hr races. See the promo video above and also available on our website, facebook and youtube.

Citroen UK have provided us with a safety car; and in order to involve as many people as possible, we are asking for up to eight volunteers to drive the safety car for two-hour stints. Neither previous experience, nor a race licence is needed; all you would have to do is follow the instructions of the marshalls in the car with you. As usual, it’s going to be first-come, first-served. Please email meyrick@c1racing.club to volunteer.

BARC have now published the full weekend timetable, which can be found on:
https://barc.blob.core.windows.net/barcnet/2018-hq08-rk-v1-e9ni8.pdf . We will not have access to the paddock until 1900hrs on Thursday night; and need to clear the paddock completely by 1000hrs Monday morning. Rockingham has very kindly agreed to open the Diner on Monday morning so you can have a bacon buttie to speed you on your way.

We are going to add a group photograph of all the C1 Race Cars at the weekend. This will take place immediately after the warm up for the 24hr race on the Saturday morning: please would the 3hr cars line up in the hot pitlane during the 24hr warm up; we will then guide all the 24hr cars to join them, rather than going back to the pits; and hopefully it will be as bright and sunny as on the test day for the photographs. We will take pictures with and without drivers, so we would be grateful if all drivers (both 3hr and 24hr) could be in their race suits with their helmets for the photo shoot. We will aim to clear all the cars from the hot pitlane by 1120hrs, so that it is clear again for the Pickup race, which starts at 1135hrs.

The paddock will be extremely busy for the weekend, not only with competitors cars, but also with the food arena and trade stands including: Citroen UK, TradeTeam and Evans Halshaw, the local Citroen dealer; Safety Devices; Nankang; SmallcarsRUs (who will bring a cornucopia of spares including engines, gearboxes, front headlights, rear lights, bonnets, wings, front and rear bumpers, door glass, doors, tailgates, starters, alternators, exhausts, cats, wheels and various nuts and bolts); and hopefully Demon Tweaks all coming for the weekend. If there is enough interest, we can also organize tyre changing facilities. Please email meyrick@c1racing.club if you would like tyre changing and let him know how many tyres you expect to need mounting / changing by Sunday 29^th April.

Each 24hr car will be allocated two vehicle paddock passes and 16 access passes for team members. Drivers should park their cars in the outer paddock. If you are sharing a garage, please be considerate of the other team; and don’t, for example, grab all the parking spaces just behind the garage. The paddock police will not be accommodating and may remove passes from those being inconsiderate…

Club headquarters will be in garages 35 and 36 for the entire weekend, which is where breathalysing and signing-on will be; and where all drivers will need to collect their Hutags (£10 deposit each), which they will need to wear all weekend, and teams will need to collect their pitlane bibs (£40 deposit). The Clerk of the Course will be in Race Control, which is located on Level 2, Stairwell 6; which can be accessed from the paddock via the tunnel next to garage 36, there is a lift next to the Diner; although we hope none of you will be summoned to visit. There will be two drivers briefings, which will take in the Rockingham Welcome Centre at 0900hrs on Saturday morning. The first part will be for all drivers and team managers in both the 3hr and 24hr races; the second will be for those drivers that are starting both the 3hr and 24hr races and will follow immediately after the first briefing. Entrance to and exit from the briefings will be recorded by means of the Hutags, so there will be no getting out of attending the briefings. If a team manager does not attend, the team’s drivers will not be allowed on circuit; if a driver does not attend, they will not be allowed on circuit.

We will only be using the small pit lane directly in front of the garages for the whole weekend, there will be a pit lane speed limit of 30 kmh, which corresponds to a little under 4,000rpm in first gear, and will be rigorously enforced with the Club’s radar gun. First transgression will result in a one-lap penalty; second, five laps; a third immediate disqualification. All team members on the pit wall will have to wear a C1 Racing high visibility bib at all times, four of which will be available for each car. No pit wall shelters will be allowed, as it would hinder the visibility of teams further down the pit lane; nor may any pit boards be attached to the pit wall. LED pit boards are not allowed.

A brief reminder on car numbers: all 24hr cars must display reflective race numbers as required by Section Q 11.4 of the MSA Yearbook. Touring car style and high visibility race numbers are not permitted.

Finally, the 3hr teams will not have a pit allocation, unless their team is also running cars in the 24hr race. They will be based in the outer paddock, along with the Pickup truck teams; and will only be able to bring fuel, tyres and a working tool box to the pit lane. We suggest that the remaining 3hr teams pair up with a 24hr team, to be located in front of their garage. We would be very grateful if those 24hr teams would help out those 3hr teams with tools and by providing some space if possible.

Finally, please make sure that you have read the SSRs for the 24hr race, which will be published on the BARC website shortly, and any other bulletins that come out. All the Club directors have been published as DSOs and Judges of Fact for the event; and you will see us, especially at the first corner, sporting our identifying DSO bibs.

We will be arriving on the Thursday night and will be staying at Rockingham for the whole weekend, so please come and join us for a drink the night before – although bear in mind that the club breathalyzer will be in action again for drivers and team managers throughout the weekend. See you then.

The C1 Racing Team