Welcome to my November blog, we are now back from half term and racing towards Christmas.

Some great news first is to announce that Bridgwater College Motorsport Team who were supported this year by Nelson Thornes have won the Castle Combe Sports> Championship for 2013. This is a great result for the college team who have worked hard all year and secured the championship on the last lap with an overtake to win it by just 1 point! The car will now be going through a winter rebuild in a bid to try and win another championship in 2014, the BRSCC Open Sports Series. The winter period is an important time for race teams and preparations need to be underway as soon as the season finishes, not only on the race cars themselves but also on the transportation (vans, lorries, trailers etc) and the equipment that you use at the circuit. Race cars will undergo a refresh of parts and should be largely stripped, inspected and rebuilt for the new year. Upgrades are also important in that if you don’t move forward then others will, reducing your competitiveness into the new season. For students, this is a good time to be offering your help in a work placement capacity.

Back at college we are now starting to arrange trips and visits for the students to give them a better insight into the industry. This will include guest speakers visiting the college and trips to various motorsport and engineering companies around the country.

With the motorsport season nearly finished, there have been some end of year big racing events in the UK including the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch and the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone, both of which had cars supported by Bridgwater College degree students which was great to see.
In more international news, Sebastian Vettel has done it again and won his 4th F1 title, the championship was wrapped up in India and his dominance continued in Abu Dhabi with his 7th consecutive victory. His supremacy over recent years is sure to see him go down as one of the greats alongside Schumacher, Senna, Fangio etc. At the age of just 26, he can potentially go on to break every record in the book including Schumachers record of 7 world titles.

In MotoGP, Marc Marquez has been made to wait in his bid to win the championship as Jorge Lorenzo’s surge of good form along with some unfortunate results for Marquez (including disqualification at Phillip Island in Australia) takes it down to the wire.

See you all next month…..