Circuit: Brands Hatch GP
Car: Lola T70 (Ford)
Par: 1:34.189

Introducing the All Star class

Starting this month we’re running two classes, each with its own podium and its own set of prizes — six prizes total.

Any driver who has finished on a challenge podium three times — first, second, or third, in any combination, going all the way back to our Grand Opening — moves into the All Star class. Everyone else runs in the Open class. The prizes are exactly the same as they’ve always been; there are just two of each now.

The reason is simple. A handful of our regulars have been trading the top three spots back and forth for a year, and that’s a tough wall for a newer driver to get over. Now they get a board of their own to fight for, and everyone else gets a real shot at a podium.

The inaugural All Star class is Noah, AJ, Jerry, Michael, and Anthony. If you think you belong on that list, ask a steward and we’ll check the records.

The usual rule still applies inside each class: last month’s podium finishers sit out the next month in their class, though their times still appear on the board. That means Noah, Michael, and Anthony — who took the September podium at Oregon Raceway Park — aren’t eligible for All Star prizes this month.

The combination

A year ago our Grand Opening challenge ran at Brands Hatch Indy in a Cayman GT4. We’re going back to Kent for our anniversary, but this time you get the whole thing. The GP loop keeps the Indy circuit’s opening sequence — the plunge down Paddock Hill Bend, the climb to the Druids hairpin, the drop back through Graham Hill Bend onto Cooper Straight — and then, instead of turning in at Surtees, sends you out into the countryside for Hawthorn, Westfield, Dingle Dell, and Sheene, before Stirling’s Bend feeds you back onto the Indy section for Clearways and the run to the line.

It’s a track with almost no flat ground on it. Corners arrive on a crest or at the bottom of a dip, and several of them are blind on entry. Paddock Hill alone takes most of the month to get right.

The Lola T70 is a mod car, so you won’t find it in the stock Assetto Corsa list — the stewards will have it loaded for you. It’s a mid-engine Group 7 sports racer from the mid-sixties with a Ford V8 behind the driver’s shoulders and not much car around it. Enormous power, period tires, and effectively no aerodynamic help: the grip runs out long before the engine does. John Surtees won the first Can-Am championship in one of these in 1966, which is a tidy coincidence given there’s a corner here named after him.

Par is 1:34.189. That’s the number to beat.

As always, this month we will allow unlimited attempts with a 30% discount on the first attempt. Don’t forget to let the steward know before you pay so we can apply the discount!

---

Prizes are awarded separately in the Open class and the All Star class.

In each class, the first-place winner will receive a one-month Unlimited Membership, which includes unlimited time for the winner only.

Second place receives a gift card for five (5) free hours, and third place receives one (1) free hour. Free hours are valid only during the month of November with no additional discount.

Previous month’s winners are not eligible to win in their class, but everyone’s time will still appear on the leaderboard! That means our September champions can’t win in October but can still compete for bragging rights.