After 2 years away, Richard Lander Racing came back with full throttle this weekend as a new Greenpower racing season kicked off with the ‘Goodwood Heat’. This was a qualification race for the Finals to be held at the end of the racing season in October. We are competing with our two race winning scratch built cars – RLR 3 and RLR 4 (RLR – Richard Lander Racing) but as we were unable to defend our World Championship title (champions 2017, 2018 and 2019) in 2021 due to the Pandemic, we lost our winning streak and also our coveted car numbers 1 and 2 and started each race near the back of the grid under numbers 70 (RLR 3) and 80 (RLR 4).
We looked great on practice, with both RLR3 and RLR4 running smoothly, and new drivers taking it in their stride. We were starting further back on the grid than we are used to, but the drivers navigated to the front beautifully.
RLR3 and RLR4 were through the majority of Race 1 in positions 1 and 2 respectively, but a crash on the track red flagged the race and they were unable to finish with 2 minutes to go! This meant there was question as to whether this race would be discounted.
We were back in the race for the 2nd round, but unfortunately due to a connection error, RLR4 lost power after the first few laps. Instead of being devasted, we took the positives and made the RLR4 race another practice for new drivers ‐ with everyone gettng a decent drive.
RLR3 held its nerve, even though it was doggedly tailed by APEX in position 2 most of the race. However, always, our ability to understand battery longevity and gearing, RLR3 started to pull away in the last 10 minutes, to finish way ahead of the pack in position 1.
Well done to all drivers, pit crew and managers. A great sunny day at beautiful Goodwood.