Tamiya Gazoo Racing BRCA Endurance Race report Warm up Cotswolds MCC
My outdoor racing season for 2025 will primarily involve competing in the new BRCA endurance events. As part of my preparation, I travelled down to the Cotswolds MCC for the series' warm-up event.
This practice event provided us with three hours of practice in the morning, followed by a qualifying session and a two-hour endurance event in the afternoon. I have participated in a few of these over the years, in fact, I had just completed a four-hour endurance race at a local club the week before. However, this was going to be quite a different experience, as we were racing outdoors, and the weather looked uncertain.
The rules are quite simple: you need a team of four or more drivers. The chassis must be a 1/10 touring car chassis with an LMP-style shell. All cars are required to run 21.5t brushless motors with an ESC set to Blinky mode. Any 2S LiPo battery is allowed (hard pack). For this inaugural season, the tyre choice is open.
The race length is set to four hours for the main racers (This is a warm up so only 2 hours), although some events might feature longer races; however, this has not been confirmed yet.
Endurance racing requires a different mindset compared to the five-minute dashes that characterize conventional race meetings. Drivers must balance speed, strategy, and stamina over extended periods. With that in mind, here are some of the factors we had to consider:
Durability: Any time spent in the pits equates to laps lost. You want to ensure the chassis you use is durable and can handle everything thrown at it. With this in mind, we opted to run the Tamiya TRF420X. This chassis has always been incredibly robust, and, importantly, we have a lot of spares.
Setup: Maintaining a steady pace is more crucial than outright speed. Overdriving can lead to costly mistakes. For endurance racing, it’s better to err on the side of caution and prioritize a car that is easy to drive, rather than pushing it to the limit. Fractions of a second are much less significant than having a predictable car that allows you to navigate the track consistently. Another consideration is that the tyres will degrade significantly over the course of the run, so a setup that accommodates this will help reduce pit times to just swapping batteries, rather than also changing wheels and tyres.
I arrived at a slightly misty Cotswolds and caught up with the team. Although labelled as a warm-up, the weather was cold and damp. Practice started at 9 a.m., and the TRF420X went out as we began acclimating to both the car and the track. It had been a long time since I last raced at the Cotswolds, so I was keen to put in plenty of laps.
Our team consisted of four drivers with varying levels of experience, all eager to put down some rubber.
This presented the first challenge: the track was damp and cold due to the conditions. Fortunately, the team had a selection of tyres to choose from, so we hit the track, testing to find something that worked. As the track dried and the temperature rose (though not by enough for my liking 🥶), we identified a set of tyres that offered sufficient grip.
Once this was achieved, all the drivers took turns to get a feel for the car. It became apparent that the car was still too aggressive and edgy in certain situations. This setup would be fine for drivers familiar with the track and primed for a five-minute sprint, but it was too demanding for extended sessions, especially given the range of driver experience levels.
We adjusted the setup slightly to make the car easier to handle. This instantly boosted all the drivers' confidence, enabling everyone to find a good line and complete laps during practice.
As the track dried further, we experimented with other tyres while maintaining the same setup. By the time qualifying approached, we felt quite relaxed.
That confidence was misplaced. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, with damp air and mist descending again. Our tyre choice was now overly aggressive.
Qualifying consisted of four sessions, with each driver posting a time. The final position would be determined by the aggregate of all four qualifying positions. The changing weather caught us off guard, and we were too slow to adapt, resulting in a disappointing qualifying position at the back of the grid.
As soon as qualifying ended, the weather improved, and we decided to continue with the dry tyres, hoping the conditions would keep improving and that no more rain would appear.
The race began with the usual endurance racing start: we followed the pace car until it pulled away, allowing the leader to charge ahead and begin the race.
The first stint was underway. It was an exhilarating battle, as Tamiya Gazoo Racing began working its way up the field. With a fast and clean approach, the Tamiya TRF420X settled into the track, and as we approached our first pit stop after 24 minutes of racing, we were leading the pack.
The second stint went well; we maintained our lead while steadily logging laps. Our nearest rivals, Team Jagermoose, were close on our tail, but we held onto the lead. This was our longest stint, completing 78 laps and nearly 30 minutes of run time. The car came in just as the low-voltage alarm began to sound.
The third stint proved challenging. Almost immediately after the car went back out, the weather changed again, with damp air reappearing and the track becoming slippery. Our tyre choice began costing us dearly, as grip worsened with each lap. Our driver put in a valiant effort, but we ultimately decided to pit and switch to full wet tyres.
The fourth stint was still difficult. The track remained damp, and teams already on wet tyres had an advantage since their tyres were up to temperature. Although the field was still close, we had dropped to fourth place and began working to regain ground.
The weather didn’t improve, and we made our final pit stop. By this point, we had reclaimed third place but still had considerable ground to cover. The inconsistent level of grip was catching everyone out, and lap times had slowed across all teams. We steadily worked on catching the second-place team, but time wasn’t on our side. The two-hour race ended with us crossing the line in third place.
Congratulations to Team Jagermoose for taking the win!
It was a fantastic day of racing. Despite being chilled to the bone, the racing was thoroughly engaging, and the added dynamic of team strategy brought a new depth to the experience.
The Tamiya TRF420X suffered no mechanical issues and covered the most distance on track throughout the day. This is a testament to the reliability of modern touring cars, with only a few breakages reported during the event.
As a team, we learned a lot. We could have been more conservative at times, and there are some other aspects we need to address to refine our strategy. Importantly, though, we’re all buzzing with excitement for the first round at Stafford on the 13th of April!
