THE 2023 CHRISTMAS CRACKER 4 hour endurance team race 16 racers in 5 teams contested our Christmas Cracker 4 Hour Endurance race on Thursday December 28th. The cars for this event were the club's Modified G.T. class vehicles. The race started right on 11 o'clock and heat 1 set the pattern for the race. Paul topped the leader board followed by David half a lap behind. As the race progressed, two teams, English American Racing and the Yellow Bok Racers started to edge head of the rest of the field, trading 1st and 2nd places in alternate heats up until the break for lunch. At the midway point English American Racing were 1 lap ahead of the Yellow Bok Racers in 2nd, followed by Scuderia Italia in 3rd. At this stage the lap scores are a bit skewed because two teams, SSRC and the Maltesers had sat out two heats each but would be able to gain ground in the second half of the race. After the break SSRC moved up into 3rd spot with a masterful drive by Alan topping 111 laps but that was where they stayed despite Alan achieving 112 laps in heat 11. The superb standard of driving by all continued culmination in heat 14 when all 4 racers achieved over 100 laps. Amazing !! English American Racing grabbed the lead in heat 11 and slowly edged away from the Yellow Bok Racers to take a well earned victory by only 16 laps after 4 hours of racing. SSRC were a further 14 laps behind in 3rd to complete the podium. Driver of the day, has to be Eleanor, who achieved 106 laps and her fastest lap of 8.396 sec. Wow!!! It should be noted that Alan put in one lap in the tremendous time of 7.657 seconds, which is, as far as this writer knows, the fastest lap ever achieved in any competition around the Pound Lane circuit. Many thanks to Andy, Conal, Jim and Zenon for joining us and I hope we will see them next time we hold an endurance race, and congratulations to Colin (Sparky) for making it across the Thames to join in the fun. Many thanks for all your support and hopefully we can hold another endurance race in 2024. Here is the overall result of the event: Position Team Name Drivers Laps completed 1st ENGLISH AMERICAN RACING Paul, Eleanor & John 1251.12 laps 2nd YELLOW BOK RACERS Brendon, Roy & Zenon/Graham 1235.11 laps 3rd SOUTHEND SLOT CLUB Jim, Sparky & Alan 1221.33 laps 4th SCUDERIA ITALIA David, Mark & Keith 1181.34 laps 5th THE MALTESERS Andy, Vic & Conal 1156.10 laps F.L. Alan 7.657 seconds