Green Goblins - Portsmouth

On Saturday 8th March, eleven daring and intrepid racers ventured onto the naval parade ground at HMS Excellent. They faced stiff completion from 18 other teams to see who would be crowned Portsmouth Green Goblin champions. The Directors of Motorsport (Mr Izzard and Mr Mansfield) had tactical discussions with the teams whilst Adrian Newey (aka Mr Hughes) fettled and fretted over the two cars. With new wheels and bearings the cars were (we thought) in tip-top condition, but due to being on a work bench less than 12 hours previously they were untested.

After a driver briefing, the racing started in earnest. Our most experienced pair showed the other pupils what to do: Toby and Samuel gave a master class in how to push the cars at the start of a race and how to manoeuver gracefully and smoothly around the slalom gates (Toby did one of the fastest times of the day). After this visual training, the rest of the teams took to the track. This was the first time most had raced the car and all did exceptionally well. Highlights of the racing were: Oliver beating The Tornado in a drag race (last year they knocked Oliver off the track!); Ben and Jack did fantastic slalom runs; Antoine and Charlotte both had difficult first races but both persevered and had good second events; excellent push-starts from Lorna and Freddie; Tom and Horatio both did well in their sprint races against two other cars.

At the end of the long days racing we knew we were not in the running for a podium finish, but we were very surprised and proud to be awarded the Spirit of Greenpower award for our perseverance, team moral and good racing spirit! Well done to all the racers and a big thank you to their parents for making the long drive to Portsmouth.

Next event is at Plumpton Agricultural College on Saturday 29th March

RM&BI