2022 Club Enduro Clubman Championship winners... Such an accolade in a highly competitive national level endurance racing championship, it still hasn’t quite settled in. If you remember our fiery start to the year, you’ll understand how this achievement was a little unexpected!

We realised we had a chance in July after our overseas round at the iconic Circuit de Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, where we managed to finish second after a brilliant weekends racing. Since then, we’ve managed to keep scoring podiums and gaining championship points.

This season has really proved what club level endurance racing is all about. You haven’t got to be the fastest out there but having a few podium finishes and being able to consistently score points means that championship win can sneak up on you somewhat unexpectedly. Despite its toasty start to the year, the Sunvit-D3 Army Holden has been a fast and reliable platform throughout the season. However, it’s the team and drivers that put in the hours of work and dedication required to keep the car and themselves fighting fit. The team have been taking the Sunvit-D3 vitamin D supplements as part of their daily life, helping to keep them fit and healthy throughout the year and allowing them to concentrate on the task at hand – winning championships!

As well as competing in the Endurance Championship the team were also lucky enough to showcase the Sunvit-D3 Army Holden at the Formula 1 British GP at Silverstone. Over the four-day weekend the team met thousands of fans. The Sunvit-D3 Army Holden gained a lot of attention as usual, with most people trying to work out the brand of the car. Many took guesses, including Mitsubishi Evo, BMW M5, even a Vauxhall!

This season also had the Sunvit-D3 Army Holden on show at the Army Motorsports Day held at MOD Lyneham. An annual event where all disciplines of Army Motorsport come together to showcase their teams to other Army members who had an interest in joining. A short circuit was set up on the airfield to be able to provide passenger rides for the guests and there were some wide-eyes for those who were lucky enough to experience the power of the Sunvit-D3 Army Holden!

After completing rounds at Silverstone in August and Anglesey in September, the season finished up at Oulton Park in October. Here we went into the weekend in joint first place with another team on championship points, so it was all to play for! Fortunately, we were able to test the car at the circuit the weekend before and had a well-tuned setup on the car as we knew our competitor was fast! We managed to qualify second in class, right behind them, so we certainly had our work cut out. With our experience in endurance racing, we knew half the battle was just making it to the end of the race.

The race started and our competitor was able to slowly increase the gap in front of us. Keeping it cool we kept putting in consistent and clean laps while our competitor was stuck in a battle with some back markers which ultimately resulted in them getting pushed off the track and damaging the car. Fortunately the driver was ok, but they were out of the race and we were through, taking the points and finishing the season with a championship win!

The Team was absolutely ecstatic, all the hard work put in this year had paid off and we were able to do our sponsors proud! As always, a massive thanks goes to Sunvit-D3, without their support we wouldn’t be here! And thanks to the team, who volunteer their free time over the weekends to ensure the car crossed the finish line at the end of every race!

With the season done we’re look forward to 2023 and progressing the team even further!

Novice and Intermediate drivers will typically compete within the AFRC against service personnel from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, Veterans and guest entries. The AFRC is organised by a committee of volunteers from all three-Armed Services, some veterans and some civilian guests. The AFRC’s aim is to primarily provide a motor racing community for Service personnel and veterans, but also invites all members of the UK Emergency Services and selected guests to compliment the competition.

The AFRC, operating as an official championship since 2017, has become a firmly established part of 750 Motor Club’s staple of race series’ with over 30 cars regularly filling its own grid. As the official UK Armed Forces race series, it prides itself on offering excellent track time and value for money with its ethos firmly mirroring that of the military. The paddock is renowned for its relaxed but professional atmosphere, with each of the Armed Services and drivers prepared to help each other out in a tight spot. This doesn’t detract from the competitive edge with all races strongly contested. Cars are grouped in 4 categories based upon power to eight with prizes awarded for class positions.

Class A up to 300 hp/ton

Class B up to 240 hp/ton

Class C up to 180 hp/ton

Class D up to 135 hp/ton

The championship has a unique point scoring system, that ensures any driver from any class is in contention to become overall AFRC champion. Parity and the balance of performance between all race cars is brought about by a number of handicap measures, but emphasis and award is based on lap time consistency over “first to the chequered flag”. Points are awarded for consistency in lap times for each round (10 in total) with the best rounds counting towards the overall championship.