Rotorstock 8 - Saturday 20th August 2011 in association with the Mazda Rotary Club

Read the Rotorstock 8 report below and view more photos on the Rotorstock 8 Gallery page.

Rain was predicted but as is often the case Santa Pod escaped relatively unscathed as Rotorstock, now in its 8th year returned for a day of rotary powered action that saw some of the finest Japanese machines take to the track alongside some fantastic racing from the 4th round of the Jap Drag Series as well as the JDS Academy. Action was not only limited to the quarter mile as away from the strip a constant stream of cars made their way around  Santa Pod’s largest sprint circuit giving drivers the chance to see what their cars could do when faced with a few corners.

Over on the track the RWYB action was soon underway with some superb runs being laid down right from the word go. This year’s RWYB competition was divided into 4 classes, class A for front wheel drive cars, class B for rear wheel drive cars, class C for 4 wheel drive cars and class X for all non road legal cars. In the end it was the following drivers who rose to the top in each of their respective classes to take home the honours;

Class A – Front Wheel Drive Stuart Vale Nissan Pulsar 13.2017 @ 108.77mph

Class B – Rear Wheel Drive Ian Griffin Mazda RX-7 11.6539 @ 118.53mph

Class C – Four Wheel Drive Malcolm Lowe Nissan Skyline GTR 11.1946 @ 124.91mph

Class X – Non Road Legal Lee Walker Honda Civic 11.5429 @ 127.37mph

The JDS academy returned to Santa Pod Raceway for the first time this year and provided amateur racers with the chance to race competitively against one another and gain a real sense of what it’s like to race and compete in a heads up, first to the finish line environment.  In qualifying it was Tim White in his Mazda RX7 who led the way with a time of 11.49 at 128.44mph closely followed by Darren Haywood with a 11.58 and Eric Banner with a 11.67. In the end it was Tim White and Eric Banner who surged through the field to square off for the event win in what was a closely contested final and it was Tim White’s 11.52 that saw him take home the honours beating Eric’s 12.02.

HKS Drag Series HKS Academy class: Winner: Tim White Runner Up: Eric Banner

The Jap Drag Series was also in attendance for the fourth round of their championship and as usual put on a fantastic display with some superb times being recorded by all the classes including the fastest time by a front wheel drive car in the UK in from Guy Chamberlain in his Honda Civic who recorded a 9.76 at 151mph during qualifying but was disqualified due to a technicality.

The following drivers qualified at number one in their individual classes:

JDS PRO – John Bradshaw 6.8438/203.32mph
JDS FAC MOD – Stuart Williams 8.5483/157.42mph
JDS STREET – Rob Blackshaw 9.7553/143.94mph
JDS FWD – Adam Buckley 10.0119/145.30mph

It was then down to the serious business of eliminations where the winners would be decided, it was the following racers that rose to the top of each of their classes and fought their way through eliminations to take home their respective event wins.

Jap Drag Series FWD class: Winner: Karl Hart Runner Up: Adam Buckley

Jap Drag Series Street class: Winner: Johnny Mckeon Runner Up: Rob Blackshaw

Jap Drag Series Pro class: Winner: John Bradshaw Runner Up: Chris Impey

Jap Drag Series Factory Modified class: Winner: Stuart Williams Runner Up: Mark Moseley

A full report on the days racing can be found at www.JapDragSeries.co.uk.

Away from the drag strip the action continued as Santa Pod’s largest and fastest sprint circuit was soon up and running. A whole variety of cars took a shot at posting a top time, including Mazda RX8’s , Lotus Elise’s, Subaru Impreza’s and Golf GTI’s as well as a homebuilt kit car who all took advantage of this fantastic opportunity to get some free track time. The sprint track saw notable improvements on last year’s circuit and was a mix of fast sweeping corners, tight hairpin bends as well as tricky chicanes with the majority of participants finding their way despite a few cone related mishaps.

This year’s top time went to Mark Nash in his Lotus Elise who despite a sticky starter motor managed a fantastic time of 52.92 seconds, however it was decided that as Lotus Elise’s aren’t especially Japanese that the trophy should be awarded to Darren whose Subaru Impreza Type R recorded a very impressive time of 53.58 with some seriously hard launches.

Another notable entry was Robbie Kazandjian whose Mazda RX8 was consistently quick putting in a total of fifteen laps recording numerous times in the low 55’s before finally breaking through into the 54’s with a 54.90. Below are the final standings from the sprint track:

We would like to thank everyone who supported and attended the event, especially those who got involved in both our RWYB and Sprint Circuit competitions. We hope that you all had a fantastic day and we look forward to welcoming you back for Japshow Finale on September 18th and next year for Rotorstock 9 on August 18th 2012.

More photos on the Rotorstock 8 Gallery page.