Old Dogs & New Records: Did everything just change at Aldershot?
KOC26 RD2 - Aldershot Model Car Club - 14 June 2026
Something changed at Aldershot on Sunday. Nobody noticed at first, but suddenly, everyone knew it.
There is a quiet anxiety that travels through the background of RC touring car racing. The cars are too fast and the tyres are no good. They don’t look like “real race cars”. Locally racers worry about the numbers, the facilities, the future of historic clubs like Aldershot.
Anyone who races the King of Clubs series knows this background noise. But by 2pm on Sunday afternoon, that had gone
It wasn't because the big, structural questions facing the sport were magically resolved. One exceptional Sunday doesn't reshape a national landscape for Touring Cars. Instead, the noise died because of what happened when the racing started—and because of what Aldershot looks like right now.
THE WORK OF A FEW IMPACTing US ALL
A track bump that had been there long enough to feel like the oldest member of the club was gone. A new timing loop, completely renovated curbs, cleared tree lines that completely opened up the venue. Add a new trackside pitting space totally changing the vibe. The whole facility looked like a club that had collectively decided the future was worth investing in.
The Aldershot crew have been hard at work over many months to make improvements
And then there’s the track surface. For a couple of years the gossip about Aldershot was worry about grip combined with the usual control tyre woes.
That old worry was completely obliterated during the 17.5 Blinky qualifying sessions. Ben Cane and Glenn Westwood both broke the existing circuit lap record. Not by a few tenths, but by four full seconds each. Westwood claimed the absolute benchmark, with Cane just 0.5 seconds behind him. And countless racers set personal best times. The grip conversation didn’t just end; it was decisively evicted from the premises (the Demon was slain…? —Ed).
Cane was debuting a freshly minted Schumacher Mi10. Whatever chemistry is baked into that chassis, it functions right out of the box. Slicing four seconds off a lap record on a debut outing—while simultaneously trading blows with a rival rewriting the exact same history. Ross Luffingham, piloting the same car, joined what Cane later dubbed the "21-lap club" in the finals. It was a clear sign of what happens when a top-tier field meets a track and tyre combo that works.
This 17.5 field made up just one slice of the 40 stock touring car drivers who descended on the track. Combined with the Talent Cup and Masters categories—all running the stock touring cars—they formed the heaviest competitive block of the weekend. Add Frontie, Rookies, F1, and the revival of the retro Tamiya class, and you get a race day reminding us why we love Touring Cars.
A Tale of Two Westwoods
Glenn is the one on the left, right?
The afternoon quickly evolved into a study in narrative symmetry and inverted fortunes.
Glenn Westwood, having set the new track record, looked entirely untouchable as he led the 17.5 A1 main. Then, the famous Aldershot chicane intervened a mistake left Glenn on the grass. No contact, no excuses. A marshal rushed to rescue the car but inadvertently dropped him directly into oncoming traffic. P3 Ross Luffingham absorbed the unavoidable T-bone, limping on with a body tuck, while Glenn’s newly acquired Awesomatix car was cooked in just seven laps.
If A1 was a disaster movie for Glenn Westwood, A2 was the high-stakes chess match that earned the weekend its reputation.
Glenn was back, his car repaired, leading cleanly from the front. Cane shadowed him from second—but lapping a fraction faster. Speed and passing aren’t the same thing tho. Everyone could see Ben setting up a passing sequences and working out where to make a move. On lap six Cane executed a surgical, razor-thin inside line at the bottom hairpin to take the lead.
The drama, however, wasn't done.
The chicane again intervened: Cane clipped a curb, sending his car into a heart-stopping half-spin. Westwood squeezed back through to lead again.
The decider arrived a few laps later back at the high-speed, double-apex banked sweeper. A maximum-commitment inside pass —the kind of high-speed dance that requires two elite racers drivers to react well. Both did. Cane slipped through, asserted control, and led the remaining distance to seal the overall with two wins.
The defending KOC25 champion had successfully launched his title defense. The wide-open question of who takes the 17.5 crown now moves to Eastbourne exactly how it should: tied at the top. It’s anyones guess which of these two racers has the advantage at Eastbourne. As BBC Stu likes to say - it’s going to be spicy.
In stark contrast, the other Westwood. The Round 1 Masters winner won A1. Won A2. Job done, no dramas. He didn't start A3.
Talent Cup: The Future is Female
Since its inception, the Talent Cup has served as a launchpad for some very fast women in RC. Drivers like Ellie Smith and Hannah Nascimento paved the way, two time series runner up Chloe Snashall perhaps the fastest of all. At Aldershot, that legacy continued, with girls making up half the Talent Cup grid.
Poppy Allcock-Green and Poppy Hyde are quietly going about their business, but both have cemented themselves as must-watch prospects for the future, while Aliza Hussain is just getting her competitive journey underway.
The results spoke volumes. Poppy Allcock-Green delivered an incredibly polished performance to secure P2 overall, keeping local hero Daniel Saunders honest across the mains.
Poppy Allcock-Green - P2 in Talent Cup
Meanwhile, Poppy Hyde spent her Sunday locked in a relentless wrestling match with adversity. After enduring three consecutive mechanical failures across qualifying—including a drive belt fail, pinion fail and a rogue, loose servo, a classic bit of trackside triage worked in the end. Right before the A3 final, a simple piece of Blu-Tack to wedge the loose wire into her receiver. It held. Hyde went out and rattled off 18 brilliant laps to secure a highly creditable fourth place.
Daniel Saunders might be stealing the limelight and the trophies in the Talent Cup right now, but the class of 26 is sending a clear message: the future of the class could very well be female.
Aldershot Back It Up in the Teams Championship
After winning Round 1 away from home, Aldershot arrived at their own track with the slightly awkward pressure of expectation. They’ve won rounds in previous years, but then fallen apart and failed to capitalise. But across the day, the Aldershot team delivered.
West London took a highly respectable second place, keeping the defending home heroes honest and underlining the strength of a club that continues to produce depth as well as outright pace. Reigning champions Eastbourne came away third — not the day they would have wanted, but hardly a disaster after P2 in RD1. Adur completed the order, bringing up the rear on the day but their day in the sun will come (Factor 50, Matt)
Two rounds in, Aldershot have put themselves exactly where every club wants to be: out front, under pressure, and with everyone else now aiming at the target on their back. Eastbourne is next and just 2 rounds to go. That should focus a few minds.
Bulletins from TRACKSIDE
The Saunders Come Back: Lost in the shadow of the Talent Cup's shifting dynamics was the fact that Daniel Saunders was actually stripped of his Q2 qualifying performance due to a technical infringement regarding his Final Drive Ratio (FDR). To his credit, the penalty ultimate changed nothing; his pace was high enough that he swept all three A-Mains anyway to secure back-to-back round wins and lead the championship.
The FWD Hairs Breadth: In a class where the gap from first to fifth is measured in microscopic fractions, James Snashall’s data reads less like club racing and more like an industrial simulation. He sat out A3 with the overall win already in his pocket. With Round 1 runner-up Mark Trinder absent, Snashall's championship lead grew effortlessly.
The Grassroots Pipeline: Aariz Hussain clinched the Rookies Cup victory on countback. Aariz is a graduate of RC Vision's school holiday camps at West London—a brilliant grassroots programme designed to introduce kids to the paddock who otherwise might never find it. Piloting a spec FTX Banzai, Hussain proved that when the fastest qualifiers crash out, unblinking consistency is what matters.
Masters Return to Form: Dave Ringsell returned to form with second, Vassallo third after winning A3 following an afternoon of self-imposed obstacles — Q1 early exit, A2 crash, then finally clean air and a win when it was too late to matter for anyone else. John Williams (seed 6) finished a creditable fourth.
Family Ties & Support Classes: Mick Hendy fought his way to sixth in Masters, while his son Liam was busy mixing it up in the frantic 17.5 A-Main. Jordan McKlusey BQ’d and won the 17.5 B while dad Marlon took 11th in the Masters (4 places above Palace mate - and look what they did in Europe!). Kevin Sturt — father of Oscar Sturt from the Talent Cup — had a Dibble Day in Masters. Meanwhile, Formula 1 made a welcome return alongside the retro Tamiya class. The F1 grid transitioned to foam tires, a technical pivot that fundamentally alters the handling and opens up an intriguing setup window for the rest of the summer.
KOC26 RD3 is Eastbourne Electric Car Club on July 19th.
See you trackside!
Keywords:
King of Clubs Race Series, KOC26, KOC26 Round 2, KOC26 RD2, Aldershot Model Car Club, RC touring car racing, radio control car racing, RC racing UK, 1/10 touring car racing, BRCA touring cars, 17.5 Blinky, Ben Cane, Glenn Westwood, Schumacher Mi10, Awesomatix, Talent Cup, Rookies Cup, RC Vision, Aldershot RC racing, West London Racing Centre, Eastbourne Electric Car Club, Adur Model Car Club, FWD RC racing, Masters RC racing, Tamiya racing, grassroots motorsport, RC motorsport
