BEN RUSHWORTH
From: West Chiltington Car: Honda Integra Position: 13/1242 in the rankings (as of May 23)
British club racing is the envy of the world, nobody does it better than us, more competitively or more professionally.
I used to do a lot of trackdays, and could often put in a lap that raised eyebrows. That was until 2012 when my best mate decided I needed to get out competitively in his FIA MGB and see just how I would get on.
I got my licence, bought all the gear, sat in his car at the inaugural MGB50 celebration race at Castle Combe and stuck it on pole, among arguably the fastest MGB racers in the UK. The race didn’t go so well and I aquaplaned off at Quarry when Poseidon decided I needed an extra challenge. We were running on semi-bald Dunlop CR65S as our budget just didn’t stretch to new tyres for the race.
From that point forward, I was determined to win anything I entered, and we did just that. When I say ‘we’ I mean family, friends and sponsors that allow me to do what I’ve gone to bed dreaming about since I was five. Club racing is almost always a family affair, and it’s amazing to see how it brings families together.
I ran my first full season in the MG Metro Cup in 2014, and in 2016 I was champion after coming second two years in a row.
For 2017 I moved onto the newly relaunched 750MC Hot Hatch Championship. It ticked all the boxes with freedom to build a car to basic power-to-weight rules. This meant I could build a competitive car on a small budget.
I chose the Honda Integra DC2 as it is a well-known platform for handling, a wealth of parts are available and it’s light. Regulations allowed me to cram in the later K20 Honda engine which is unbeatable for bhp/£ in stock trim. I ran a basic stock engine up to 240bhp, worked closely on the gear ratios, weight and the chassis. It was a tough year with a big oversteer bias that I had to fight through, but we got a few wins, stayed on the podium and the title came down to the final race – and I almost won it.
Now the grids are at capacity for this year. We have a slightly upgraded K24 engine, revised rear suspension, a rear wing and a new tyre sponsor. Honing the fine details of brake balance, rear roll stiffness and kinematics has worked wonders.
At the first race at Brands Hatch we knocked 1.9 seconds off our previous year’s lap record in qualifying with a 51.9s lap, and took pole by 1.7 seconds. The race was going amazingly and we had a seven-second lead by lap five when the red flags came out. On the restart, an earthing issue prevented the starter from working and we had to get a bump from pitlane. Despite the rough start, the car is in a perfect state to mount a super-strong challenge and I’m full of confidence for the season ahead.