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SCOR 2026 Round 1 - Manston : Race Report

 

Pre race...

Despite it being almost 4 months since the last event of the 2025 season, 48 hours before the first event of the 2026 season the Rav was still in pieces in the workshop.

 

The welding repairs to the front struts had taken much longer than expected, and on the Wednesday morning thanks to Royal Mail I was still waiting for a pair of new front bumpstops to arrive from Demon Tweeks (posted a week earlier) so I could reassemble and reinstall the front struts. They eventually arrived late Wednesday and by midday on Thursday the car was back in one piece and a test drive was under way.

 

I'd planned to buy a trailer over the winter break, but having looked at a couple I'd run out of time, so would need to rent. After much ringing around I managed to rent a trailer from basingstokehire.com. I collected it in the pouring rain on Friday afternoon, and loaded up the Rav ready for a early start on Saturday. With both my usual co-drivers unavailable I'd be flying solo at an event for the first time in a very long time, the last being Horham, back in August 2006). So after an 07:30 start and a straight through drive I was on site and unloading. 

 

 

The format for the weekend would be the same at October. The event would be run as a Safari+, with a 12:00 race start. There would be a maximum of 8 laps on the Saturday (finish by 5) and the remaining (hopefully only) 6 laps on the Sunday, starting at 10:00 with the final run start at 15:00. Any laps missed on Saturday could be 'caught up' on Sunday if needed. Start would be at 60 second interval to begin with and 'bed in' and would then be reduced to 30 seconds giving at least 500 possible starts on Saturday.

 

The Course

I wasn't sure what to expect returning to Manston. The last race back in October was mostly sunny, and on the back of a summer of months without rain and hosepipe bans. Since the beginning of 2026 it felt like it had rained almost every day (and in some places it had) so I was expecting it to get muddy.

 

 

The course layout was broadly similar to the October event, and a similar length at 8.5 miles. There were a few notable changes. The short grass section off the start had been extended by a loop to the west before crossing the runway, and then the first complex of corners on the north side of the runway behind the pits had been reduced. 

 

Beyond this, the path across the 'up and over' earth mound had been moved to the left hand 'track', and the gravel rally stage section in the centre of the site was laid out slightly differently. The length of the blast along the tarmac of the runway had been reduced by a chicane on the grass on the south side of the runway. There were a few other minor changes to corners but overall the course followed the same route.

 

Strategy

Driving to the event I decided I needed a strategy, and I decided that strategy would be to get my laps in as early as possible on Saturday. The forecast was for sharp showers later in the day and this along with the fact that the ground was damp and was going to cut up quickly led me to the conclusion I just needed to get the laps under my belt. Again for Sunday, get the runs done. There was a chance the course would dry and improve as the day went on, but I really wanted to be back home early as possible as I didn't want to be reversing the trailer into the farm and unloading it in the dark.

 

I targeted a minimum of 2 laps per hour in my mind to set some cadence. This would give me a change to complete my runs for the day on a better surface on the Saturday before the predicted rain arrived, and check the car over and tighten bolts between runs.

 

Day 1

After unloading I signed-on at the timing van and then headed to scrutineering, where the car failed!  Despite fiddling with it for ages during the winter break, the emergency cutoff was stuck. I headed back to the van to re-route the cable (again) and got it working pretty well. Whilst at the timing van I received my personal trophy and the cup for winning the class A in 2025. I took the trophy for a photo opportunity later in the day, but returned it to the club for safe keeping!

 

 

On the day a number of 60 drivers had dropped out so the event started with 50 cars. A few days before I checked and I'm sure there were at least 1/2 a dozen entries in class A, but on the day there were only 2 of us, myself and a freelander 1 diesel.

 

At the briefing they said we would start with a 1 min interval to settle in and then reduce to 30 seconds. For Saturday there were 300 laps to be driven and 500 to 600 possible starting slots so there was plenty of time. We set off in the sunshine for the look-see lap. Unfortunately the forecast was for the weather to deteriorate as the day went on.

 

Lap 1

Following the look see lap most people headed back to the pits in their cars. I already had my kit in the car so looped round to the start. I put on my helmet and HANS, buckled up and was 3rd out on the course. I set off quickly, but immediately felt how draggy the Rav felt in the mud of the ruts. It felt very different to the dry grass of October. I slowed down for the bumps and bad ruts to protect the car. The plan was to get to the end!

 

The lap was going well, but at the point the course joined the runway I had a bit of brain fart. In last year's race the course then ran straight down the runway (the section where I hit 104 mph back in October) but this time it crossed the runway, with a section on the grass on the opposite side before then rejoining the tarmac of the runway. As I joined the runway I got momentarily 'lost' and wasn't sure which way to go, stopping before remembering the loop on the grass and rejoining the course! This is what happens when you don't have a navigator onboard!

 

Lap 2

After a quick look over the car I headed back out in the sunshine for run 2. Over the first section from the start I could quickly tell that the bumpstops had parted company. Within a couple fo minutes of the start I was passed by car 509 and I hung back to avoid getting covered, but then through the next few corners I was surprised that I managed to 'hang on' and not lose too much ground, until the bumps started and I slowed down.

 

In the rubbush dump I was passed and the screen was covered, which I topped up in the puddle at the end of the rally stage section. I went to clean the screen and was immediately blind. I missed the corner and when straight on almost driving through the course marking tapes. I stopped cleaned the screen properly with a few good squirts, backed up and carried on.

 

The corners on the grass at the far end of the course were now a massive swathe of cut up grass and mud and the Rav really struggled to make good progress through it. Although the 3SGE makes reasonable power, the lack of torque was very apparent.

 

Lap 3

From lap 2 I headed straight back out again. It was only 12:45, so I was ahead of my made up schedule. Even by lap 3 the ruts at the start line were getting deep. I headed off and after a few hundred metres saw car 93 stopped by the side of the course. Unfortunately they didnt have a good day, looking at the score sheet I think this is as far as they got.

 

I started to pick some more interesting lines around the course to try to avoid the worse of the ruts and holes and avoid hearing the sickening metal on metal noise of the front suspension bottoming out. In the area I was affectionately calling the rally stage section, I started to try to drift the Rav into some of the corners and promptly ran very wide on one corner and kissed a marker cone, but I didn't knock it over!

 

As I headed down the tarmac airstrip section , just as I was braking hard to transition back onto the grass car 65 did a very close overtake on my right. Travelling at speed I didnt even hear the horn until they were alongside me!

 

Lap 4

I was on a roll, but I could see the ground deteriorating so I decided to get straight back out for run 4. By the end of it this definitely felt like it was a bad idea, and the front suspension was running very hot and providing almost no damping at all and I felt battered. Weirdly, looking at the timing sheet I actually set a fairly good time, but physically 3 in a row was too much! Most of the way around the lap I caught and passed car 530, another one that wouldn't make it to the end of the event.

 

Lap 5

After a break and some lunch I headed back out for run 5. It was a good clean run, until car 196 passed my on the inside and showered me with chunks of earth, most of which came in through the open passenger side window!

 

 

Lap 6

Part way round the previous run the fuel light had come on so I took a break to fuel up. I emptied the cans of super unleaded in that I had brought with me into the Rav, and then had a run out to the local ASDA petrol station. As last event, there was no super unleaded available, so I topped off with unleaded and refilled the cans.

 

Back on site and back out on the course, I found of the corners were now quite deeply rutted, so as the Rav is narrower track than many of the other cars running I had to 'pick a side' to run in to avoid being bounced from rut to rut. On the runway blast I had to limit my speed due to some serious vibration. This was caused by the build up of mud in the wheels over the previous laps. The rest of the lap passed without issue, picking my way around the worst of the bumps and ruts.

 

And that was day 1. It was just after 15:30 and I had my runs in. I'd managed to get them done before the rain came, and without any issues with the car at all.

 

Day 2

I arrived at site and unloaded the Rav. I left it running to warm up and got chatting to one of the other competitors about the car. As we were chatting I noticed a drip from the drivers side of the bash guard. I turned it off and investigated and found coolant was weeping from the lower rad hose so nipped it up. I checked the coolant and no significant amount had been lost. Whilst it was off I topped up the oil and suited up for the first run of the day.

 

Lap 1

Started in the rain. I joined the queue and was out on my first run at 10:09. The plan again for today was just to keep the runs going and be home before it was dark!  The course was really wet and slippery following overnight rain. The tarmac sections of the course were already covered in slippery wet mud from the first few cars out on the course. It was quite heavy going, but I tried to stay 'on it' and keep up a good pace.

 

Lap 2

After a quick break to check over the car, I was out again. As the lap progressed I could hear a rattle from the rear somewhere. When I got back to the pits a took a spin around to see what I could hear and decided everything was fine and just to keep going.

 

Lap 3 & 4

It was straight back out for a couple of steady but uneventful laps. I spent the laps trying to find a bit of green at the edge of the brown for a bit less muddy drag, whilst avoiding the worst of the suspension bottoming holes and dips.

 

Lap 5

By lap 5 the course surface was starting to dry out a bit and I was tempted to go a bit faster in places but the brutal  sound of the bottoming of the front shocks soon slowed me down again!

 

Lap 6

As I was doing OK for time, I decided to try some different camera angles in the car. I'm so glad I did, as I got some great footage of dicing with car 171. Through the series of corners at the far end of the course he was on and off my tail. He had more torque, but I had more grip. Eventually I slowed down and moved over as I knew I would just get in the way on the rougher sections ahead.

 

 

Lap 7

The following lap, more or less the same thing happened the same location, so I decided to really go for it. I only had 1 more lap to do and if the car broke I could take a maximum! I kept them (I think it was car 107) at bay for 2 or 3 miles before moving over and slowing down to let them pass. After the lap I went back to the pits to check the car over and the driver of the car wandered over to me. I thought he might want 'words', maybe I didn't move over soon enough, but instead he complimented me on my driving and said how impressed he was with how the Rav had performed over the weekend!

 

Lap 8

Now with the finish in sight, I decided to push a bit harder on the final lap. I set a time a minute and a half faster than the previous lap, even slowing down for the rough parts. Unfortunately there is no footage from the last lap as the cameras were both flat so I can't see what I did differently!

 

Retrospective...

The Manston event had a very high attrition rate. 10 applicants didn't make the event and then 16 of the 50 starters retired. Quite a few others took maximums but still got a finish, so less than 1/2 of the cars that entered actually managed the full 120 mile race distance. The other class A driver went out on the first lap with clutch failure, so the podium was mine to lose! Fortunately the Rav went the distance and we have our first event of 2026 under our belt and a trophy for the cabinet. The new camera positions were fun and have resulted in some good footage to edit in the coming weeks. 

 

This is the first fast event with deep mud I've driven the Rav and it did struggle. The drag from the mud was really noticeable. Every bit of momentum counted and constantly slowing down to protect the car resulted in lost time. In fact, my fastest lap was a full 2 minutes slower than a 'dry' lap on more or less the same course back in October. That said, the Rav didn't really miss a beat all weekend. The exhaust blow has got slightly worse I think, but that hopefully is just the manifold to downpipe interface.

 

The repairs and modifications to the front strut towers worked well, but the main problem was (once again) the front shocks. After Manston back in October of 2025 I wasn't sure I could survive another race on the suspension as it stood. Knowing the course I felt that if I was sensible I could get a finish. I will say it again, I'm not sure I can do another event on the existing front shocks. But, with only 5 weeks to Waddon, I'm not sure the new front struts will be ready...