CTG Soap Box racer - Best of the rest at Brooklands

Tue 30th, Aug 2005


Brooklands Museum played host to the 'Soap Box' gravity race on Sunday 28th August. On this hot bank holiday weekend in surrey 14 teams comprising of entries from CTG, Porsche, Audi, QinetiQ and Lola to name a few competed for the coveted title of 'soap box' champion.

Brooklands Gravity race is inspired by the fundamental principles of a soap box - a bare minimum racer. In reality today's entrants are highly sophisticated creations, acting as a forum for global automotive companies to showcase their prowess in engineering disciplines such as aerodynamics, chassis development, manufacture and off course safety.

The challenging course begins at summit of Test Hill where the cars manoeuvre onto the steep banked section of the original Brooklands race track ,a land mark in motor racing history that has seen many greats race around it over the past century. From the banked section the drivers fight to conserve momentum as the track takes a sharp left hand turn, onto the final bumpy down hill section where they will reach speeds in excess of 42mph passing the Wellington hangar and over the finish line.

The CTG car driven by Darren Wandless topped the morning time sheets with a time of 72.6 seconds, a full 2 seconds quicker than the next car. CTG buoyed by this strong performance now had to ensure that the advantage was maintained for the afternoon session. Beginning at 14.00 hrs the CTG car began the campaign in anger setting the fastest time on its first run. However the session was dogged with controversy as the CTG team experienced both left and right rear punctures, and on its final run a complete wheel failure. This however did not deter the fearless Darren as he set CTG's fastest time of 71.9 seconds on this final run.

As the day's events drew to a close a mere tenth of a second separated CTG and the quickest time set by the 'streamline' entry from Lola. This gave CTG an impressive 2nd place overall.

CTG's visibly disappointed driver Darren Wandless was philosophical in his views afterwards, considering what might have been if not for the cruel succession of wheel failures.

'No doubt about it, next year we will be the quickest' was his defiant response.

With this rallying cry CTG now look forward to plan its attack on the 2006 competition where an all new challenger will be launched…………watch this space.

Final Results
1. Lola
2. CTG Ltd.
3. QinetiQ
4. Ford
5. Porsche Club
6. Nemesis Racing
7. GRRC
8. Hereford Audi
9. The Old Bicycle Co
10.Vauxhall VX Racing
11.Honda
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