The short version
- Our first ever season of racing, in the Mod Sports championship at Knockhill, and we finished it 3rd overall.
- 12 podiums: 3 wins, 5 second places and 4 third places.
- Two days before the final race, the car had no engine. The day before, the engine was still being built.
- It made the grid. It didn't make the flag: our one DNF of the year came, annoyingly, on the very last race.
A first season, and a podium habit
This was RD Motorsport's first ever season of racing. We spend every week building, fixing and setting up BMWs for customers, so taking our own car racing in the Mod Sports championship at Knockhill felt like the natural next step. We didn't expect to make quite such a habit of the podium.
Across the year, car 85, our E36 with Rob behind the wheel, came home first three times, second five times and third four times. That's twelve trips to the podium and 3rd in the championship at the end of our first year. For a team that had never done a season before, we'll take that.
The final round: some assembly required
Two days before the last race of the season, the car had four wheels, a seat, a full set of stickers and no engine. Lots of things on a race car are optional. The engine isn't one of them.
The day before, the engine was still being built. Most teams spend the night before a race checking tyre pressures and going through the setup sheet. We spent it building the thing that makes the car go. If you've ever wondered whether a race weekend can start with the engine still in bits, these photos confirm that it can. We wouldn't recommend it.
Getting it there took dedication, skill and a lot of speed, and none of it was luck. It was the same knowledge that goes into customer cars every day: knowing exactly how an engine goes together, doing it right the first time, and working quickly without cutting corners. The car rolled out on time, with an engine in it, which by that point felt like a result in itself.
For the record, customer cars don't get this treatment. Yours will have its engine back well before the weekend.
The DNF
After all that, the final race ended in a DNF. It was our only retirement of the entire season, and of course it came on the very last race of the year. “Annoying” is putting it politely.
But 3rd overall still stood, and finishing your first ever season in the top three is a result we're very proud of. If anything, the build before that last race showed what this team can do when the pressure is on.
Want to see what that last race looked like from the driver's seat? Here's Rob's onboard.
Plays from YouTube. Watch on YouTube
The season in numbers
- 3rd in the Mod Sports championship at Knockhill, in our first ever season.
- 3 wins.
- 5 second places.
- 4 third places.
- 12 podiums in total.
- 1 DNF, saved for the last race.
- 0 engines in the car two days before the final round.
Thank you
A season like this doesn't happen without help. Thank you to Gas Glasgow and BM Autodesign, whose names are on the bonnet, to everyone who gave up evenings and weekends to get the car to every round (and especially to the last one), and to @jonathan_josh09 for the photos.
What's next
We're already thinking about next year. If your business would like to be part of it, our 2027 sponsorship is open now. You can see more photos from the season in the gallery, and if you want to wear the colours, the RDM merch is on pre-sale.
The same people who build and run car 85 look after customer cars every day. If yours needs engine work or setting up properly, get in touch.
