2022 King of clubs GT Class Season Review

For 2022, I embarked on a fresh challenge. I had previously competed in the Iconic cup for the last 5 seasons with great success

I looked at the King of clubs with great interest as a new event to try. Although there were a few classes available, I like the idea of the GT class due to the realistic focus on bodyshells.

The rules for the GT class suited the TC-01 I had previously built, so made the changes to make it ready for racing

This article covers my championship campaign across all 5 rounds. There were some highs & some lows, but was a lot of fun!

Round 1: Aldershot

The opening round gave us a fast track that was always trying to catch you out & lose lots of time. With this in mind I came up a few weeks earlier for some testing, albeit with the weather being very cold. A base setup was found & I entered the race meeting feeling optimistic. The race meeting was dry with little chance of rain, just cloudy

The TC-01 was prepared and I was looking forward to qualifying. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan. I started off badly when I binned it about 3 seconds into the first run!  

I knew that I had to really make the next three rounds count. So I didn't let the disaster of the first qualifier event get me down. I stuck it out & managed to take TQ with 3 round wins.

The finals were great! I managed to stay out of trouble for final 1 to seal the win. The tyres were starting to go off for final 2 which made the car very susceptible to sliding. None the less, I stayed ahead of my rivals for another win

Round 2: Adur

A track that I haven't driven since 2011. Back then I only drove the short layout with a Tamiya mini, so I had no basis for a set-up

I had the TC-01 all prepped and ready to race.

Unfortunately the overcast weather soon got darker and the clouds broke with rain cascading down for the rest of the day.


I had a wet car prepared, so I swapped to that before the first qualifying run. Although treaded, the Ride tyres weren't generating any sort of grip and everyone in the GT class was struggling to even keep their cars on the track. A drivers briefing was called & we voted to use the BRCA wet tyre.

The track was greasy but a lot easier to drive with those tyres. I took a round win when we had a dry run, but had to settle for 2nd on the grid due to the varying levels of grip

A great set of finals ensued. I unfortunately tagged car 1 in final 1, but pushed him back over to carry on racing, but now in 4th. We managed to get back to the front where I was able to make a pass for the lead. On the last lap, car 2 spun me round, but waited and I held on for the win. It was a very hard, yet fair.

Final 2 started well. I was looking for a place to pass. I took too much kerb at the end of the straight & spun out. I then pushed like mad to catch up & took the lead with a few laps to go. 2 wins was a welcome result. Check out the videos of the action above. 

Round 3: West London

The track I would consider my home circuit in this championship. I have raced here many times, but still likes to throw a few surprises if you're not paying attention

I was struggling with the car as I couldn't find a rhythm. I managed to take 1 round win, but was lacking in steering so put a lot of strain on my tyres & lined up 2nd on the grid.

Final 1 went ok. I maintained my place to finish 2nd. Final 2 went bad as my tyres gave up & was caught by cars behind me to finish 4th in that run. Not the best of meetings, but I was still leading the championship. 

Round 4: Colchester

At this point, I was looking forward towards the championship. I had built a healthy lead & see what I needed to do to win the overall title. I worked out that if I finished 3rd in both finals, I would take the title

Colchester was another track that I last drove in 2011 with the mini. I went to a club day 1 week prior to see if I could gain some track time & aim to get a setup. This proved valuable as I gained loads of time over the day & got a good base setup.

On race day we were now into the UK summer heatwave so the temperatures were really high.

I felt like I had a great pace & managed to take 2nd in qualifying. I couldn't catch car 1, but had a nice gap from car 3

The finals ended up very well in my favour. I drove a conservative race to finish 2nd in final 1. Final 2, the car was faster & I was catching the leader, but ran out of time.

With the second place in the bag I had managed to managed to accumulate enough points to win the championship! Yet there was still one more race to go.

Round 5: Eastbourne

This is a club that I had never visited before. Due to time constraints, I wasn't in a position where I could practice beforehand, so had no experience.

The kerbs didn't look too aggressive, but some had drop kerbs that would throw the car off the circuit if you caught the inner wheel

The practice session was spent trying to learn the circuit. I was not fast by any stretch, so just tried to see how it flowed. In qualifying, I felt like I struggled. I know if I was able to have had a test beforehand, I may of done better but that's how it goes

I managed to qualify 4th overall. Final 1, I finished 4th. 

Final 2 was a bit messy & I finished 7th. Not the greatest result, but these were my dropped scores for the championship

With a total points scored of 795 out of a possible 800, that gave me the overall championship victory. I wasn't the fastest at every circuit, but rarely championships are won with perfect scores.

I was very happy with the Tamiya TC-01. The car took a little time to get in its stride, but very happy with how it performed against the field of TT-02's

Next, I will do a review of the championship winning car, stay tuned!

Thanks to 

Moodyfools 

Zen Racing 
RPRC Distribution 

King of Clubs for a great series