Ollie Payne swept Mini Sport qualifying and took the A-final on the opening two legs, Wayne Meade recovered from a sixth place to win the first ever Mini Clubman final, and Mini Masters raced somewhere RC cars had never raced before — a school sports hall at ACS International School Egham.
Mini Masters Season 3 Warm-Up — ACS International School, Egham — Saturday 10 October 2026
There’s always something slightly unreal about the first race meeting at a brand new venue. The carpet goes down on a floor that has only ever seen basketball and netball. The pit tables go up where the PE kit usually lives. Keyboard warriors take to Facebook. And by mid-morning a sports hall at one of the country’s leading international schools sounds exactly like an RC race meeting should do: buzzing competition, chargers and transmitters beeping, somebody asking if anyone has a spare this or that.
That was the scene at ACS International School Egham on Saturday, as Mini Masters opened its third season with a warm-up meeting at a venue that had never hosted RC racing before.
It was a day of firsts. The first Mini Masters meeting at ACS. The first race for the new Mini Clubman class. The first outing for the Mini Sport name, which replaces last season’s BL class. And the first event streamed with RC Vision’s new live timing graphics, taking positions, gaps and battles straight from the timing system onto the YouTube stream.
What it wasn’t was a gentle warm-up. A quality field of racers brought their best, and some of them have clearly spent the summer getting quicker.
What happened at ACS
For anyone who just wants the results: Ollie Payne was Top Qualifier in Mini Sport, quickest in all three qualifying rounds, and won the A-final from Chris Kerswell and Mark Barford. Wayne Meade did the same double in Mini Clubman, taking TQ and the A-final ahead of Jimmy Cuthbert and Mercedes H-J. Stephen Hodgson won the Mini Sport B-final and Macauley Kitney won the C-final with three straight leg wins.
Unsurprisingly, Payne hasn’t forgotten how to race Minis
Ollie Payne raced Mini Masters twice in Season 2. He won the first of those meetings outright — TQ and all three A-final legs — and finished second at the next. Then he disappeared off on the international circuit and Matthew Smithson went on to win every remaining round.
If Saturday is any guide, Payne is back, and is going to take some beating this season.
He topped all three rounds of qualifying, and his 23 laps in 5:09.60 in the third round was the best qualifying run of the day. His 13.21 was also the fastest lap anyone set in qualifying. In the A-final he won the first two legs, which, with the best two legs counting, meant the overall was settled. A ninth place in leg three testing some set up changes became his dropped score, and didn’t matter.
“This was great preparation for the season ahead,” Payne said afterwards. “The RC Vision team deliver one of the best organised and best presented series in the UK without a doubt, and I’m looking forward to racing the Mini Masters series this season.”
That last part is the headline for Season 3. Last year Payne beat Matthew Smithson at the opening round, finished second to him at the next, and then the head-to-head stopped. Smithson went on to win the title with a perfect score. If both of them race every round this time, Mini Sport has the title fight it never got. Our upcoming Season 3 preview has more on that — watch this space.
The man who made him work for it was Chris Kerswell. The veteran 1/12 star appeared once in Season 2, a third place at Hednesford from seventh on the grid. Here he was second to Payne in two of the three qualifying rounds, second in both of the opening A-final legs, and then won the third. Three points to Payne’s two — the closest anyone came all day.
Mark Barford, eighth in last season’s BL championship, completed the podium with a third, a sixth and another third. Niall Cochran was in the top three of every qualifying round and finished fourth after taking second in leg three.
Then there’s the subplot that may define this season. Craig Hook and Jen Garrett — last year’s Brushed champion and the driver who missed that title by a single point on tie-break — have moved up to Mini Sport now that Brushed has made way for Mini Clubman. Both made the A-final first time out. Garrett was a model of consistency, finishing fourth in all three legs to end the day fifth. Hook recovered from a ninth in leg one to take a third in leg two and finish sixth. Neither will be at the back of anybody’s mind for long.
Hodgson takes the B-final at the last
The Mini Sport B-final went to the final leg. Paul Godden won leg two and was leading the early stages of leg three, on course to take the overall win. But Stephen Hodgson, second in each of the first two legs, won leg three and the B-final with it, by a single point. Bryce Little took third.
In the C-final, Macauley Kitney won every leg and was never really troubled. Ryan Webber and Seb Holloway tied on five points, with Webber taking second on the tie-break. Worth a mention too: Trevor Little set the second-fastest qualifying lap of the whole Mini Sport field, a 13.28, quicker than all but Ollie Payne. There is pace in that C-final, and it won’t stay there.
Meade wins the first Mini Clubman final — eventually
Mini Clubman is the newest class in Mini Masters, replacing Brushed and running 30.5 brushless motors. The first outing of the class demonstrated exactly why the class was introduced — 2 seconds a lap slower than Mini Sport, and a nice reliable consistent pace between cars without needing to know all the dark arts of brushed motor prep. Its first ever meeting had a clear favourite: Wayne Meade topped all three rounds of qualifying and set the class’s fastest lap, a 15.34.
The A-final didn’t read the script, at least to begin with. Mercedes H-J started from sixth on the grid and won leg one, while Meade finished sixth. From there, Meade did what fast drivers do. He won legs two and three, which was enough to take the final on two points. Jimmy Cuthbert was second overall with three steady second places, and Mercedes H-J held on for third.
A new venue — and a lot more than a race meeting
ACS International School Egham is an IB World School set in the Surrey countryside near Windsor Great Park. It is collaborating with RC Vision on developing STEM provision for schools and young people, and RC cars are a natural fit for that. Every one of these Minis is an exercise in engineering, electronics, data and problem-solving, wrapped up in something young people genuinely want to get their hands on.
The racers noticed. “The partnership with ACS is an exciting development for RC,” said Ollie Payne. “State of the art facilities for us to race in, and projects to bring more young people into racing is something we should all get behind.”
RC Vision has further events planned with ACS, starting with a 1/12 Christmas meeting at ACS Cobham’s sports centre on Saturday 19 December.
What it tells us about Season 3
Warm-ups don’t award points, so it’s best not to read too much into one Saturday in Surrey. But a few things look clear.
Ollie Payne is a favourite to win Mini Sport, and he says he’s going for the championship. Chris Kerswell is a serious contender. And the arrival of Craig Hook and Jen Garrett means the Mini Sport A-final is even deeper than it was.
Season 3 starts for real on Saturday 24 October at Robertsbridge, hosted by Eastbourne Electric Car Club.
Results: https://rc-results.com/Viewer/Main/MeetingSummary?meetingId=21542
Watch the replay: https://www.youtube.com/live/JT3lwFKntLc
Results at a glance
Mini Sport — A-final (best 2 of 3 legs)
- Ollie Payne — 2 pts (1, 1, 9)
- Chris Kerswell — 3 pts (2, 2, 1)
- Mark Barford — 6 pts (3, 6, 3)
- Niall Cochran — 7 pts
- Jen Garrett — 8 pts
- Craig Hook — 10 pts
Mini Sport — B-final: 1. Stephen Hodgson, 2. Paul Godden, 3. Bryce Little
Mini Sport — C-final: 1. Macauley Kitney, 2. Ryan Webber, 3. Seb Holloway
Mini Sport TQ: Ollie Payne — 23 laps / 5:09.60
Mini Clubman — A-final
- Wayne Meade — 2 pts (6, 1, 1)
- Jimmy Cuthbert — 4 pts (2, 2, 2)
- Mercedes H-J — 5 pts (1, 4, 4)
Mini Clubman TQ: Wayne Meade — 19 laps / 5:02.24
Fastest qualifying laps: Ollie Payne 13.21 (Mini Sport) · Wayne Meade 15.34 (Mini Clubman)
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