We spent the entire week refreshing the met office weather website in the hope that something might change, it didn’t. Sunday was extremely wet and on a circuit known for incidents in the MR2 racing calendar a drivers briefing attempted to ask us all to “take it easy”, not an easy thing to try and request racing drivers to do!

We headed out for 15 minutes of qualifying where the fastest two laps determined our grid positions for the afternoon pair of races. Qualifying was hairy with a lot of water on track causing an awful lot of understeer and aquaplaning, we do not have “wet” tyres allowed in the MR2 Championship regulations so its a case of making the best out of our semi-slick Toyo R888′s. At the end of qualifying it resulted in Matt Wallis (Car #72) being placed 14th on the grid for both race 1 and race 2, and Simon Wallis (Car #73) placed 26th and 27th, not bad for his second ever race, and out of 33 cars.

Race 1

From the 7th row of the grid Matt had an average start, with lots of wheel spin in the wet conditions, a couple of places were made up and then it was time to settle in for a good battle with Rob Wells for the majority of the race. Unfortunately a couple of laps from the end Matt and Rob came together on Druids hairpin while lapping a back runner, both cars continued but it was an unwelcomed interruption which saw Matt finish 15th having been so strong. Simon managed to complete his second ever race and bring the car home in 27th without issue.

Matt’s In-Car Video Footage of Race 1

Race 2

Again from the 7th row of the grid, but this time with a much better start, Matt pushed through several positions in the early stages of the race and at one point made ground up to 9th place and was going well. Fantastic racing was pushing the car to its limits in drying track conditions until unfortunately Matt’s gearbox decided to fail. While struggling to find gears, and often missing 3rd, Matt’s pace slowed and dropped 7 places in 2 laps with the car not able to compete or find full speed. Matt still managed to finish the race and come home in 16th position. Considering the mechanical problem it was great to see the car classified as finished and earning points, the car was pulled up soon after crossing the line and towed back to the pits. Simon put in another consistent performance bringing the car home in 26th and lapping 4 seconds faster than in race 1 showing just how much difference track time and learning a circuit makes even in such a short space of time.

Matt’s In-Car Video Footage of Race 2

Toyota MR2 Championship Positions

Matt currently sits 6th in the Championship after 4 rounds.
Simon sits 27th and currently ranked as the highest placed Novice.

George from http://www.gfwilliams.net was invited to the race meet by the HotBadger team to take some official photographs and video, these will be shared within the next week, so please remember to add us your favorites, subscribe, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date with our MR2 Race season!

The HotBadger team is preparing for what promises to be an action packed Sunday of racing at Brands Hatch this weekend. We will also be with a film crew following us for the day as part of a documentary and we have a photographer at the race to capture some cool shots of the cars in action.

If you are following the team we’d love to see you there, Brands Hatch is fantastic for spectators as it allows for viewing of most of the circuit from one grandstand.

Wish us luck!

Yesterday saw the opening round of the Toyota MR2 Championship at Silverstone where both Hotbadger cars were entered. The weather was perfect and the race cars looked fantastic with the new livery and sponsors in place, fresh and ripe for battle!

36 Cars made up the grid and after qualifying in the morning we had Matt in car #72 in 10th spot on the grid (his best ever qualifying position) and Simon in his first ever race (car #73) in 28th spot on the grid.

Race 1

Simon had a solid start to his racing experience, completing the race without incident and gaining 5 places finishing in 23rd place.

Matt made a fantastic start, making up some places and running with the lead pack of cars. Solid and consistant lapping saw him up to 5th place and despite an accident on the last corner of the last lap of the race he managed to limp the car home with some serious damage in 6th place, crossing the line sideways in an uncontrollable car, fantastic stuff!

Here is the incar video from Matt’s car #72:

Race 2

Despite the damage from race 1, the Race-tek support team got Matt’s car back into shape thanks to a large hammer and some heavy duct tape..

Starting again from 10th on the grid Matt had a clean race gaining some positions from another fantastic start, then spending the entire 15 minutes scrapping it out with Lee Gambell (Car #99) and Rob Barnett (Car #36) for 5th, 6th and 7th places. It was a photo finish that saw Matt just pipped to the post by Lee for 5th on the line, Matt getting 6th place and Rob taking 7th in a very close battle indeed. The race footage this time has a rear view camera as well to show just how close Toyota MR2 racing is..

Simon had another steady performance, gaining 1 position and finishing in 27th place, out of 36 cars this is a very respectable finish for his first ever race!

The Hotbadger Motorsport Toyota MR2 team would like to thank our sponsors, without whom our team could not compete, the cars went well, looked fantastic and we very much look forward to continuing the fun while promoting these fantastic companies..

Daily Mirror article featuring the Toyota MR2 Championship…

“MOTOR racing is not a cheap hobby even at the other end of the scale from Formula One, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be…”

Daily Mirror: How to Get Started in Motor Racing

Just over a week to go, the cars have gone off for their livery and sponsor logos to be applied and we hope to see some of you next week at Silverstone!