Race Report – Castle Combe 27th May

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Image used with kind permission of InMotionImages

The May Bank Holiday meeting at Castle Combe was thankfully dry for all the Nippon Challenge races. This was the first competitive outing for Karen's newly tuned Impreza WRX. Power was now up to maximum for the GT300 class, and Karen was excited at the prospect of seeing how the car would perform.

Karen had managed to sit herself at the head of the queue for qualifying and so had clear track ahead for most of her session. She qualified 15th overall and 5th in class out of 8 in GT300. It seems that although power is now up to spec a lot of the other cars are much lighter. The advantage of the other cars being coupes and not having rear doors to carry around!


Race 1 saw Karen get a good start but after things settled down she found herself in a race of her own. Karen finished in 12th place overall and 5th in the GT300 class.


Race 2 saw Karen get another great start and at Quarry Corner in lap 2 she watched an incident ahead which saw her husband Richard leaving the circuit in the TenguDo Motorsport #29 car. Richard recovered to chase Karen for the remainder of the race. Karen drove an incredibly defensive race to ensure he couldn't get past! (Video below). Karen finished in 12th place overall again but this time 2nd in the GT300 class.


Karen thoroughly enjoyed her races, but appreciates that improvements are required to be more competitive. Planned changes include stripping out the doors and lightening the boot. Beyond that it may be required to replace the door glass and rear window with lexan to further save weight. Some new tyres and further chassis tuning may also help. "Motorsport", because money doesn't burn itself...


About Karen Phillips

  • Karen races her Impreza WRX in the Classic and Sports Car Club (CSCC) Modern Classics series, with her husband Richard as a 2nd Driver. The races are mini-endurance events involving a driver-swap. Karen has previously raced in the Nippon Challenge, a race series for Japanese and Asian cars. Karen has been racing since 2006, having started in the MR2 Challenge.
  • Please check this site regularly for updates on Karen's progress through the season and developments with her race car.

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