College clinches double rallycross title

A crack team from Loughborough College has clinched two national rallycross class championship titles after an exceptional first season.

Motorsport lecturer Alex Fletcher raced to victory in the College-built Honda Civic Type R, supported by BTEC motorsport students as his pit crew, as he won the BTRDA Clubmans Modified Rallycross Championship at Knockhill, Scotland, at the weekend.

In addition, fellow Motorsport lecturer Gary Cook, also claimed the championship title in the Super Modified category, driving his own car which is maintained by students.

Alex’s car was built by college students as part of their studies who transformed it from a road car to a race car, meeting specific regulations to compete in the BTRDA Rallycross. It was a year-long project that really put the students in the driving seat of the project - from ordering and sourcing parts, to budget management and full-on engineering skills.

Alex, who only returned to work this year after a five-year battle against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, never failed to finish below second place throughout the eight-race season and won his final race on Sunday to bring the title back to Loughborough.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted. It has been an amazing team effort and is such a brilliant experience for our students to get authentic experience of being a real-life race mechanic.

“The students come away with us on race days and are responsible for maintaining the vehicle whilst developing their on-trend skills, so it’s a genuinely enriching experience that will help them throughout their studies and beyond.

“Personally, I’m so happy to have won. This is the first year I have driven the car for the full season and I’m really pleased to have not finished lower than second throughout the season. The car has been impeccably reliable and that is a true credit to the students as they are responsible for its preparation and set up.

“This is also my first full year back at work after undergoing extensive cancer treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which was finally cured after five years of treatment and an anonymous donor stem-cell transplant through the Antony Nolan Charity.”

Student Ewan Johnstone, a second year Motorsport Student, said: “We learn so much more being at the track and having hands on experience, also as it’s not just a test day it’s a full race day, the pressure is really on. It’s very exciting and the experience is incredibly valuable for my progression towards a career in Motorsport Engineering that no other college offers. It’s the icing on the cake that I was part of the team on the day we clinched the championship!”

Classmate Raul Bahra, said: “Knockhill was an amazing experience. It’s brilliant to go away properly to get a real taste of what being a motorsport technician is all about. We were all really proud of Alex, our Lecturer. He drove really well and did some fantastic moves out on track! It gives us such a buzz seeing our car out in the lead and to see him take the championship in the car we have built and maintained is really something special to us!”

Meanwhile, Gary piloted his car to an impressive BTRDA Super Modified 2000cc Class Championship win in the first full season of competition with his new self-built Fiesta. Gary is also a previous overall BTRDA Rallycross Champion, winning the title in 2012.

Farhaan Sumra, a second year Motorsport student who worked on Gary’s car, said: “It’s a privilege to work on such a modified race car. Gary’s car is an out-and-out, full spec rallycross monster, so it’s really interesting to work on and help Gary at races. There is so much to learn from working on an advanced race car with more motorsport specific systems on. It also helps develop our car as we can compare systems and look for areas to modify within the regulations’

Ewan added: “It makes a massive difference having lecturers that actually do what they are teaching and are very good at it! Their experience really shows through within the lessons. Being taught by two champions is really awesome!”