Normal
0
false
false
false
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
2010
The Story So Far……… Part 3
It appears that predictions were completely duff! My Mystic Meg like skills are dulling, I have lost “the force”. As previously predicted Doug and Rob Heaton taking NASCAR wins have come to nought so far. Just as well I don’t play the lottery!!!!!
With 3 NASCAR rounds gone Andy Abbott has had an extended run of luck that has seen 3 straight wins in this class. Dean has continued pushing and the track has certainly closed up any advantage that was seen earlier in the season. As a matter of fact the track has proved tough on both chassis and drivers nerves alike.
The return of “Sam Hill” (a long story, but basically a very steep custom made ramped section of track) and the high speed banking have taken their toll and tested the mettle of all racers this quarter. Speed is of the essence but a good balance for the infield has made this perhaps the toughest quarter of this years championship so far.
I was also proved wrong when I suggested that maybe a Tomy Super G+ chassis could lose out to another maker, the speed and grip mix needed for a successful lap has negated other makes so far.
The continuous improvement of the clubs “rookies” has put the fear of god into some of the more seasoned racers with Simon and Lewis getting faster and faster meet by meet and Mark picking up tips and putting them to good use. Of the longer serving club members, Matt has shown that when he gets “in the groove” he can turn in the kind of performance that puts him into the A Final with ease. Ken has continued to show blinding pace, at times so blinding he can’t keep up with himself!
The final quarter of the year is for non Super G+ chassis. No doubt Tomy will be in the mix with its SRT and Turbo chassis along with the Tyco and Life-Like chassis that will be getting dusted off. The track has yet to be decided and so has the championship, its going to be close and I refuse to predict who will be lifting the silverware at the end of the year.
One thing I will predict though is that Rob Heaton will complete a whole lap without an off, Doug will be first at the village hall setting up and gallons of tea will be made and as ever, new members will always be welcome to join in the fun.
Other News
November 6th and 7th brings the annual challenge of the HO Le Mans 24 Hours at Rolls Royce in Derby. With 2 teams from the USA joining the 6 from the UK it will be as tense as ever. The 233ft of 8 lane Le Mans circuit replica is a real sight to see and like the real thing a real challenge of endurance for man and machine.
CHORC will be supplying two thirds of the team for Wrun Wragged, (Winners of last years event and named after team captain and CHORC racer Dean Wragg) Dean is joined by Steve Guard and Andy Abbott on the driving strength and Rob Heaton again concentrating his efforts as chassis builder. The 2 other members of the team are multiple event winner Tony Baldock from Shirley and seasoned racer Mike Ovens from Cheshunt. Buy your shares in Red Bull and Pro Plus now!
John Fearn and Bradley Edge will also be competing in their own team "Gixxers". We wish them every luck as the new team at the event.
The Season so
far………………… Part 2
With the 4 rounds of the Formula One mini championship now
run, we are half way through the season.
Andy Abbott took the mini championship after a hard fought
battle with Dean Wragg (with 3 wins and a third to Dean’s 1 win and 3 second
places).
Our sponsor, Peter Baldock, still sits close to the top spot
with some great performances for a “virtual” racer, along with Doug Passell and
Steve Guard their consistent qualifying makes A final positions a regular
feature of their nights racing. Simon Marshall continues to show that it won’t
be long until he is mixing it at the top end of the grid.
My initial prediction of Rob Heaton getting an A Final win
still has to happen, but once he finds his “mojo” his moment of glory won’t be
far behind. Same for Steve Guard, current form suggests Steve will be the first
to get there, but let us not curse him with a Murray Walker prediction just
yet!
Lewis Marshall took the Junior F1 mini title and was, at
times, pushing a good few of the adults in qualifying. Like the old man, Lewis
is improving race by race.
The new quarter brings NASCAR meetings, with roundy round
ground pounding and “rubbin is racing” taking over from the late braking and finesse
of Formula One and Sports Car racing. Dizzying stuff and dizzying decisions,
will a Tyco Pan, Life Like, Tomy Turbo or
SRT
chassis have the legs to push the Super G+ chassis on an oval circuit?
This quarter could provide a real mix up in qualifying both
in who will come out on top and what chassis will be the one to run. Dare I
predict winners, well hopefully this is where Rob, Doug (with his love of
NASCAR) and Steve come into it, ovals aren’t the kindest of tracks, even HO
tracks can cause all manner of hurt and carnage when you lose traction!!!!!!!!
Part 1
The new CHORC season is now
well underway with 5 rounds having taken place so far.
With Dean Wragg on 3 wins
and Andy Abbott taking 2 wins things are looking tight at the top of the table
with Peter Baldock and Doug Passell hot on their heels the title race is very
much on!!! Established racers are now having to battle with ever improving
“newbies” (Mark, Mark, Simon and Lewis) as they get to grips with sorting their
race chassis and with help from existing members their preparation and driving
talents are coming on in leaps and bounds.
Andy Currently leads the
2010 championship by the narrowest of margins and took the first quarters Group
C/GT mini championship from HO Le Mans winning team mate Dean. With the second
quarter F1 mini championship one round in with NASCAR and Non Super G+ to come
the rest of the year could well prove to be a classic.
This season has seen some
remarkably close racing to date and there is no reason to see that changing.
The 2 circuits used so far have caused varying challenges from finding outright
speed on the first track to speed and handling on the second with its varying
radius corners.
Predictions for the coming
months are for Steve Guard and Rob Heaton to get some wins under their belts
and the crop of rookie drivers to seriously start worrying the longer serving
members of the club.
A great meeting with the best attendance of the year. 15 took
to the track, newcomer Lee Miller joining Paul Roach, who is back after a 4 or 5
year absence. It was good to see the occasional visitors Steve Guard, John Fearn
and Brad Edge swelling the ranks too.
Round one
The first heat saw Rob on the red lane, thrashing everyone and
setting the target for the night with a 28.4/6.05 charge to lead Dean,
me and Lewis home in short order.
Heat two saw Andy on red, fighting a close battle with Peter
(Dean) for the lead. 'Peter' was quicker by 4/100ths but Andy took the flag with
a 26.4 to Dean's 25.9. Close stuff. Simon came home third, even though Mark
posted a 7/100th faster lap.
John, at only his fourth meeting this year, showed his
performance hadn't lost its lustre by leading home Steve Guard by a lap.
Matt however, got off to a shaky start to bring up the rear several laps
down.
Finally we had a group of 'newbies'. Well, Brad too was only
at his fourth meeting of the year, whilst Paul was at his first, although he's
no novice, being a lapsed club member from the 'Saddlers Bar' days. Nice not to
stick to the tables and floor, isn't it Paul :-)
Joining them on the grid was total newcomer, Lee Miller.
Normally Ken would have been in this heat too - but arrived just too
late.
Lee showed promise, being on the pace but hampered by a car
that shed its back axle at every opportunity. If not for that he'd certainly
have taken second spot, being quicker than Brad. However Brad's car was more
reliable, being driven to second spot behind Paul. Paul's first heat
and first win of the year. Uh-oh! This could spell trouble
guys!
Round two
Oops - just a minute. We made up an extra heat to fit Ken in,
pitting him against John and putting Lee back on for more track time. Ken had
his work cut out as John pushed him hard, being 26/100ths quicker on lap times -
but this led to more offs for John. Ken didn't buckle under pressure, eventually
taking the win by half a lap.
NOW Round two
Ken was back on again! Rob was racing as Peter and Steve and
Dean as themselves. Green worked well for Dean, helping him to his first
win of the night, just ahead of 'Peter' on red and Steve on yellow, with Ken
struggling on blue.
Like green worked for Dean, red worked for me, giving me the
win over Paul, who was really on a charge, taking second spot just ahead of
Simon.
Rob came close to his own lap record with a 28.0, reducing the
fastest lap to 5.93 in his win over Mark, who took a good second place over Brad
and John.
The last heat before the teabreak saw Lee getting quicker than
his first round, at the same time as Matt was putting in more laps than HIS
first round, so both improved but ended up in that order. Meanwhile, Lewis was
showing why he finished in the 'A' final at the last meeting, driving to a fine
second place behind Andy.
Round three
John was not having a good night, fighting to get his car
to complete three minutes again. A metal back axle clip would help keep things
in place, the same goes for Lee's car too. More time is lost having to keep
putting the axle back in than would be lost through any perceived friction.
Anyway, Steve Guard cranked up the pace, posting three laps more in this heat
than his first two, leading Brad and Lewis home by six laps, with John bringing
up the rear
Rob was on fire, taking his third win of the night, this time
from green. There was a great duel for second spot between Simon and Ken though,
this eventually going the way of Ken an the red lane, as I came home fourth
driving as Peter. Sorry Peter, there's always one, isn't there!
Dean too took his second win, driving very consistently
across all lanes. He was chased hard by Paul, who put in his best lap score of
the evening on green, even though (or maybe because?) he was driving marginally
- very marginally - slower. Lee too was beginning to get the consistency,
posting a very similar score to that of his second run, both for time and
distance.
Not another one! Andy too, took HIS third win of the
night, with yet another good race behind the leader for second spot. This was
between me and Matt, who had finally got to grips with the track to the extent
that he upped his previous best by FIVE laps to snatch second spot from me under
coast, as the power went off. Involved in the chase, Mark also put in a personal
best lap time on red.
Round four
Bit of a disaster here for Simon as his pickups and springs
went west. This left Lewis and Paul to slug it out and Lewis, racing as Peter
and miffed because I forgot the 'Peter hat', showed Paul why he's Top junior,
leading him home by four laps.
The next heat all four drivers were racing as themselves. From
blue to green we had Steve Guard, brad, ken and me. It was possibly the closest
race of the night for first to third, with Ken taking the win by half a lap from
Steve, with me another half a lap or so behind, with brad posting his fastest
time of the night in his chase of the group.
In his last heat Dean joined the hat trick club, taking his
third win just ahead of Andy, who matched him to the hundredth on lap times.
John finally got his car working in time to post his second best run of the
night to keep him ahead of Mark.
Rob took the opportunity to post a fourth win, the only person
to do so on the night but he was chased hard by Matt, who posted his best score
of the night to take second ahead of Lewis and lee, the latter posting his best
score of the night too.
At this point qualifying should have finished but there were a
couple of consolation races for John and Simon, whose cars fell to bits under
the pressure of racing. The grids were filled by 'spot racers', in it to make a
real race of it but whose scores wouldn't count. unfortunately for john, Lewis
chose this time to match his first round 25.1, denying john the heat winners
point. Lewis had been itching to be in the same race as his dad Simon, so
he was, in the second re-run. Had they met in the previous one Lewis would
have beaten his dad but as it was, Simon took the flag, hanging on by the
skin of his teeth to beat Paul, with Lewis third and lee fourth.
FINALS
Not had an 'E' final for quite some time!
'E' Mark, Brad and Lee shared the honour of running in the
'E'. Mark was quickest , with Lee very close on pace - but it's not speed that
wins the race - it's distance. Driving just that little bit slower meant Brad
had fewer offs and was able to stack up the laps in his favour. At the right
time he posted his best score of the evening to take the win by three laps over
Mark and four on Lee.
'D' Moving up to the blue Brad joined three adults, Paul, Matt
and John. His 'E' final score would have put him in the middle of this bunch but
he wasn't able to maintain the same pace this time, finishing fourth in the
final and 13th overall. The three adults were very close on lap time, racing
almost side by side for the first two minutes - but the pace and shorter lap
lengths began to tell, with John gradually edging ahead of Matt and Paul, with
the three of them finishing in that order.
'C' This is where the finals have been beginning of late but
two had already happened this time. John moved up to blue, alongside ken on
red, Simon on yellow and Lewis on green. This was a fiercely fought race,
finally taken by Ken, two laps ahead of Lewis and John who both finished on 23.4
laps. John just took second by a very narrow margin but Lewis was
more than happy to lead his Dad Simon home by exactly a lap!
'B' This was the second occasion for Lewis to race as
Peter - still without the 'Peter hat'. The lead changed several times between me
and Steve Guard, with him finally taking the win by a third of a lap, with ken
third and 'Peter' fourth,
'A' This promised great things as Rob had swept everyone
before him to top qualify by two laps ahead of Dean and almost four ahead of
Andy, with Steve on a charge from the 'B'. Good job no bets were laid
though, as Steve's 'A' final bogy bit once again, as he crashed out after barely
seven laps. Rob set the fastest lap of the night but was overdriving,
allowing Andy through to take the lead on green. However, Rob recovered to hang
onto second place overall, despite kicking himself all the way to the
line!
So, we had the usual suspects up there - Andy first adult,
Lewis Top junior and Team Wrun Wragged - again, top team. (Let's hope this is a
portent for the 24hr race next month!
SPRINTS
Mod's were a reversal of the last meeting, dean taking the win
by just 7/100ths from Rob.
Stock was taken by Andy but with Paul Roach taking second spot
at his first attempt at this form of racing, just ahead of Simon and
Matt.
Good to see Mark Draper back, albeit briefly, as his girlfriend had other things in mind when he'd promised her a 'racy night' out, the pair leaving after just two rounds, although Mark promised he'd be back on his own - but not that night!
Steve Guard also made a brief appearance, making his mark with two wins and a fastest time in just three rounds,
Then there were eight. Well, seven and 'Virtual Racer' Peter Baldock.
Andy broke with tradition and set the pace in the first round with an 18.3/9.20 on blue. Dean undercut the time but couldn't keep it on the track to beat the distance. In fact the only one to come close was me, with a 17.4 on red. However, fastest lap in Round One went to Steve Guard, with an 8.77.
In the second round Andy pushed the laps to 18.4 but it was Matt who set the fastest time of the night up to then, with an 8.72, taking himself to a good win. Mark Draper improved on his first heat by half a lap - but Oana managed four fifths of a lap more than her first run - by kneeling on the floor and not looking for most of the lap!
Round three had Dean pick up the mantle for most laps, beating Andy's marker by a tenth - but it was Matt, driving for Peter, who moved the bar for FTD, posting an 8.27 on yellow.
Andy finally got into top gear in the last round, snatching fastest time with an 8.16 and best laps with a 19.8. Matt took his second heat win with a great 18.3 while Ken kept his best run until the last round, to take the win from Mark Webster and me, driving for Peter.
It wasn't Peter's night as he got no wins and ended up with his lowest finish to date, eighth overall. This was mainly down to the decision to have a 'Peter car' to go with the hat. It was a very quick car but each surrogate driver was coming to it new and by the time they'd got used to it the race was over.
Finals
'C' I raced as Peter, against Mark Webber. It was a close fought thing but even at the close, it wasn't Peter's evening. We both finished on 13.5 laps but Mark clung on to take the win.
'B' Rob was another one having a 'rubbish night'. With only one win in the heats and 'nil points' for fastest lap he'd qualified sixth of eleven, leaving him with the choice of the green or blue lane. The way his luck was going he picked the wrong one and Mark made the most of his move up from the 'C' to rub Rob's nose in it. Meanwhile Ken and I were having a very close dice. Just 7/100ths separated us on lap times but red was the lane of choice for the night , carrying me through to the 'A', as Ken finished fifth, Mark 6th, Rob 7th and Peter 8th.
'A' Straight into the 'A' as second top qualifier, Matt's getting used to these heady heights. Andy had picked red, Matt yellow and Dean green so I moved up to blue. Andy shifted up another gear to take the win on 21 laps, a new record for this track. 2nd to 4th was tighter, all three covered by 2.2 laps. Dean was second fastest and took his car through to second spot just over a lap ahead of a hard charging Matt, who led me home in 4th spot by a little under a lap.
Teams
Top team were The Dandies - Again, again, followed by The Katt Men with their third and fifth places overall.
Sprints.
Mods
A pretty close finish. Rob's first run was a disastrous 12.28 but he came back with a wonderful 6.61, although he crashed out on his third pass. It looked, briefly, as if Rob was in with a chance of a win as Dean's first pass was 17/100th's outside Rob's - but his second run saw an almost identical margin shaved off his rival's best time, with Dean also crashing out on his final lap.
Standard
Andy set the target, then lowered it on his second run. However he wasn't quite as quick off the mark on the third pass, leaving his middle lap as best by just 4/100th's of a second. Matt set a good first run but failed to finish his next two, leaving me able to undercut his time by just 2/100ths on my second run. Steve and Mark both set their one and only time on their second run.
Good to see Mark Draper back, albeit briefly, as his girlfriend had other things in mind when he'd promised her a 'racy night' out, the pair leaving after just two rounds, although Mark promised he'd be back on his own - but not that night!
Steve Guard also made a brief appearance, making his mark with two wins and a fastest time in just three rounds,
Then there were eight. Well, seven and 'Virtual Racer' Peter Baldock.
Andy broke with tradition and set the pace in the first round with an 18.3/9.20 on blue. Dean undercut the time but couldn't keep it on the track to beat the distance. In fact the only one to come close was me, with a 17.4 on red. However, fastest lap in Round One went to Steve Guard, with an 8.77.
In the second round Andy pushed the laps to 18.4 but it was Matt who set the fastest time of the night up to then, with an 8.72, taking himself to a good win. Mark Draper improved on his first heat by half a lap - but Oana managed four fifths of a lap more than her first run - by kneeling on the floor and not looking for most of the lap!
Round three had Dean pick up the mantle for most laps, beating Andy's marker by a tenth - but it was Matt, driving for Peter, who moved the bar for FTD, posting an 8.27 on yellow.
Andy finally got into top gear in the last round, snatching fastest time with an 8.16 and best laps with a 19.8. Matt took his second heat win with a great 18.3 while Ken kept his best run until the last round, to take the win from Mark Webster and me, driving for Peter.
It wasn't Peter's night as he got no wins and ended up with his lowest finish to date, eighth overall. This was mainly down to the decision to have a 'Peter car' to go with the hat. It was a very quick car but each surrogate driver was coming to it new and by the time they'd got used to it the race was over.
Finals
'C' I raced as Peter, against Mark Webber. It was a close fought thing but even at the close, it wasn't Peter's evening. We both finished on 13.5 laps but Mark clung on to take the win.
'B' Rob was another one having a 'rubbish night'. With only one win in the heats and 'nil points' for fastest lap he'd qualified sixth of eleven, leaving him with the choice of the green or blue lane. The way his luck was going he picked the wrong one and Mark made the most of his move up from the 'C' to rub Rob's nose in it. Meanwhile Ken and I were having a very close dice. Just 7/100ths separated us on lap times but red was the lane of choice for the night , carrying me through to the 'A', as Ken finished fifth, Mark 6th, Rob 7th and Peter 8th.
'A' Straight into the 'A' as second top qualifier, Matt's getting used to these heady heights. Andy had picked red, Matt yellow and Dean green so I moved up to blue. Andy shifted up another gear to take the win on 21 laps, a new record for this track. 2nd to 4th was tighter, all three covered by 2.2 laps. Dean was second fastest and took his car through to second spot just over a lap ahead of a hard charging Matt, who led me home in 4th spot by a little under a lap.
Teams
Top team were The Dandies - Again, again, followed by The Katt Men with their third and fifth places overall.
Sprints.
Mods
A pretty close finish. Rob's first run was a disastrous 12.28 but he came back with a wonderful 6.61, although he crashed out on his third pass. It looked, briefly, as if Rob was in with a chance of a win as Dean's first pass was 17/100th's outside Rob's - but his second run saw an almost identical margin shaved off his rival's best time, with Dean also crashing out on his final lap.
Standard
Andy set the target, then lowered it on his second run. However he wasn't quite as quick off the mark on the third pass, leaving his middle lap as best by just 4/100th's of a second. Matt set a good first run but failed to finish his next two, leaving me able to undercut his time by just 2/100ths on my second run. Steve and Mark both set their one and only time on their second run.
The first round of this Quarter saw us racing on a mixed banked oval and infield circuit of 117', only 6" shorter than the previous Quarters track. However, although a similar length it was totally different - and tough.
The same track was used for the Saturday Meeting on July 3rd - but extended to 163' and drove beautifully.
Normally once we have a track plan we stick to it but the difference between the two was so significant I decided to go for the rest of this Quarter with the longer track - and it paid off. Although it took much longer to set up racing was more enjoyable and qualifying much closer again.
ROUND ONE
For once Andy broke the mould and won his first heat racing on the blue lane - the high side of the banking. This gave Dean second spot - and me driving for peter in third.
Racing as myself in the second heat I only managed a fifth of a lap more for second spot behind Ken and ahead of Rob.
It was good to see Steve Guard back after another brief absence, during which Matt has come on in leaps and bounds. He took the win from Steve by almost two laps, Steve having to fight hard to keep Mark at bay at the same time.
The last heat saw Simon cock-a-hoop after beating Lewis by a lap, despite being two thirds of a second a lap slower than him.
ROUND TWO
Andy took his second win, beating his first round score by a tenth of a lap to stay ahead of Ken and Steve, in that order.
Not satisfied with that, racing as Peter he beat his own best by another fifth of a lap on red (red always seems to have more power, whatever we do!) Rob managed to beat his first round score by a tenth of a lap to come second, while Lewis struggled to reach double figures on blue.
Dean improved by almost two laps to equal Andy's own best of 18.6 (but Andy as Peter still held the lap record). Another greatly improved driver is Simon, who pushed Dean hard but had to settle for an excellent second place ahead of Mark.
Finally, Matt took his second win of the night, beating me by half a lap.
ROUND THREE
The track finally clicked for Steve in his third heat, his score improving by over three laps to put himself back with the pack. Simon pushed hard again, proving very consistent across all three lanes so far and leading Mark across the line again.
Andy finally secured the lap record in his own right, pushing it to 19.3 in a very clean race against Lewis, who upped his game to post his best of the night with a 15.9.
The last heat of the round saw Matt's luck change as he failed to finish, leaving me to pick up second spot behind Dean, who was driving for Peter.
ROUND FOUR
Matt's getting to be a bit of a devil as in his rerun he picked up his third first place, beating Ken and Rob by a couple of laps - so not an insignificant margin there!
Likewise, Simon is pushing himself and took another win against Steve Guard and Rob, who was racing for Peter.
I think Andy was being kind here as I felt I was in with a chance for a while - but took my fourth second place. At least I was consistent, a was Mark with his placing and lap score.
Matt had to be content with a hat trick of firsts, Dean putting a stop to his chances of a full house, despite Matt being half a second quicker on lap times!
Finally we had a consolation race for Lewis, who'd crashed out of his first fourth heat - if that makes sense? He was matched up with Rob and mark, finishing in the mid-position, Rob posting an excellent 18.6 to take the win - when his score didn't count! Funny what you can do when the pressure's off.
QUALIFYING
Very close. 3.3 laps covered seven qualifiers, thats less than half a lap between each!
FINALS
'C' Mark, Ken, Rob and Lewis lined up for the fight for green in the 'B' - and what a turn up for the books. Lewis drove a steady but race winning pace, beating Ken by half a lap, with Rob third and Mark fourth, so Lewis moved up from - green, to....green!
'B' This group comprised Lewis, Matt, Simon and me - and it was another upset. With just half a lap covering the first three, it was Matt who moved up, Simon who was second and me third, just ahead of Lewis! What a final!
'A' Another closely contested race. Ken was racing as Peter, against Andy and Dean, with Matt in his first 'A' final. Andy won by a couple of laps but wasn't able to beat his earlier best of 19.3. Meanwhile Peter (Ken), Dean and Matt crossed the line, with Matt appearing to have taken second ahead of Dean and Ken. However, controversy ensued when lap times were taken as someone had clearly crossed into Matt's lane to set an impossibly fast lap time for him. Taking a lap off him meant all three were on the same lap - but who had crossed lanes? No-one knew, although Peter (Ken) felt he had not been passed by the other two and was second. If he was given the lap, he would be - by one tenth of a lap - but he couldn't recall going through on green, which would have been difficult as he was racing on blue - about as far away from green as you could get.
In the end, since no-one could say with any certainty who it should go to, the 'mystery lap' was not awarded, leaving Andy first by a couple of laps. Second was Dean, third just four fifths of a lap behind was Matt his best finish ever, with Peter (Ken) bringing up the rear just half a lap behind.
SPRINTS
Dean remembered his modified Sprint Car this time and posted a good set of scores, improving each time. In his anxiety Rob crashed out on his first attempt but steadied himself and came within 0.26 of a second of Deans best.
In Stock sprints Andy came out top, with Matt completing a great night by coming a close second ahead of Steve guard, Simon, Lewis then........me!
TEAMS
The Dandies did it again, with The Katt Men - Ken and Matt - coming a great second, half a point ahead of The Reise Racers (Simon and Lewis), with The Clangers fourth, M&S fifth and First Diesel sixth.
They say 'Rubbin's racin' boy' so there must have
been a great
deal of racing on the new Nascar track, although a lot of the 'Rubbin'
seemed to be with either the barriers and floor, or the roof and track
surface on the middle straight!
Anyway, it was certainly a great leveller, with only
1.6 laps
covering 3rd to 8th in qualifying.
ROUND ONE
As reported before, Andy uses the first heat to find
his feet,
'letting' Dean take the win by exactly a lap. Surprisingly, I was
quickest by
4/100ths of a second - but contrived to come last, two laps
down. :-(
In the second heat, as Peter, Andy improved on his
first heat
score by just over half a lap to take the win from Rob and Mark, taking a
point
for fastest lap for Peter at the same time.
Heat three was really tight with just two thirds of a
lap
covering first to third, Matt doing a great job from the green lane to
pip Ken
to first spot by just a fifth of a lap, Simon being another two fifths
behind
that - and just ahead of Top junior, Lewis.
ROUND TWO
'Peter' didn't do too well in this heat coming a
poor third to
Andy and Ken and barely half a lap ahead of Lewis as he (Doug) struggled
with
lack of practice.
At least I was consistent. As myself I came third in
heat two
as well, a lap and a half behind the battle between Rob and Matt, Rob
just
Keeping ahead on the yellow lane.
Finally, before the break Dean got his second win
ahead of a
tough battle between Simon and Mark. Simon was just 3/100ths quicker.
Not a lot
but it was enough to secure second place.
ROUND THREE
The first heat after the break was a bit of a nail
biter as
Simon and Ken, as peter, slugged it out for first place. Well done to
Simon, who
kept plugging away and although two thirds of a second slower,
eventually took
the lead by just under a lap. Meanwhile Mark and Lewis were racing
fender to
fender right to the last, the marshals having to be called for a
decision when
they finished virtually side by side. Despite being on the outside of
the curve,
Mark managed to snatch third spot.
Racing as himself Andy finally strung together some
good laps
on yellow to set the lap record at 24.1, this standing for the rest of
the
meeting. Neither Dean nor Ken could come close in this heat.
The third heat was another nail biter. There was a
lot of
trading places, until Matt finally emerged triumphant with his second
win of the
night, bating me by 1.2 laps as I struggled to keep ahead of Rob by a
mere tenth
of a lap.
ROUND FOUR
Peter was back on track again, this time looking
remarkably
like me, poor soul! Unfortunately he raced rather like me too, coming a
poor
third to Ken, who picked up the point for fastest lap, while Dean walked
away
with the winners point. It wasn't Peter's night :-(
I did do a bit better as myself but the ying and
yang evened
itself out. Peter was off form, Simon was on, driving to a great second
win of
the night ahead of me, Matt and Lewis. Well done.
Andy, Rob and Mark took to the track for their last
qualifiers, where Andy took his third win, being content to leave the
track
record alone though. Behind him, Mark was giving Rob a hard time,
eventually
finishing just four fifths of a lap behind in third. I can't see it
being too
long before Mark's taking points off us for heat wins!
QUALIFYING
Mm? A tough track with lots of incidents but it made
for close
racing and close qualifying. A marshals call for position in one of the
heats
and just 1.6 laps covering six of the qualifiers. Within that, three
people had
just a tenth of a lap between each position! This should make for some
good
finals!
FINALS
'C' Just 28/100ths covered me, Mark and Lewis on lap
times in
the 'C' but matt was on a charge, being 56/100ths quicker than all of
us. It was
very, very tight but matt snatched victory on the last lap, to take the
win by a
fifth of a lap from me, with Mark and Lewis extremely close behind, in
that
order.
'B' Matt moved on to green, joining Ken, peter and
Simon. The
were the three separated by just a fifth of a lap! Matt was keen to mix
it with
them but had a frustrating race, retiring after a series of incidents.
This left
ken to lift the win on blue, ahead of Peter (me) and Simon, with just a
lap's
gap between each of us.
'A' Ken inherited the blue, which was to prove
fortuitous.
Andy was on red, Dean on yellow and a surprised Rob on green. It turned
into two
races, Dean and Rob and Ken and Andy. Ken's run on blue in the 'B' stood
him in
good stead as he did a repeat performance, slotting himself nicely in
between
Andy in the lead and the Dean/Rob battle, driving a nice race to take
his best
finish for some time. Nice one :-) Andy was secure in first but it
wasn't clear
where Dean and Rob were. On the lap counter Dean was last on 19.3 but
he'd been
mis-marshalled (easy on this track) loosing 3/5ths of a lap. When this
was
factored in it put him on 19.9, the same as Rob, but he sportingly
conceded the
place.
SPRINTS
In the modifieds Rob took an easy win, Dean only
managing one
run at half his speed. However, he was obliged to run a standard car,
having left his sprinter at home!
In stock Andy was the only one to post three runs,
getting
quicker every time and setting the target at 6.76. Of course no-one got
close to
that BUT a great single run in the middle of two DNF's gave Lewis an
equal
second spot and nine points, matching my best time. Mark did well to
knock 0.83
off his first run to come fourth ahead of Matt, who looked like he was
going to
have three DNF's but who took it easy on his last run to make sure of
some
points. Simon, buoyed by his race wins, went all out for speed but
failed to
finish - three times!
TEAMS
Unsurprising but the Dandies took it again. Nice to
see The
Katt Men getting into second place though, one point ahead of The
Clangers. The
Reise Racers were the only other complete team, scoring a useful 13
points.
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Although this was the first time Peter failed to
finish in the
top four he has retained third place in the Championship behind Team
mates Andy
and Dean. Ken's second place and my eighth have closed the points up
between
third to sixth places. Simon and Matt also garnered their best set of
points so
far this year, drawing them closer to the top six.
It's going to get interesting when we start dropping
points
after Round Twelve!
Nice to see Trevor again, this time with his lady
friend,
Stacey, the pair delaying their departure to Bristol especially to get
in a
nights racing. Hope you enjoyed yourselves and got home OK? At least the
roads
should have been quiet by the time you left us :-)
It's a shame we never get everyone along at once but
at least
attendance is consistent, even though it's a bit of a pick'n'mix from
the
eighteen on our books.
Bit of a late start on the night but let's get on
with
it.
Round One
Becoming a bit of a tradition now, Dean taking the
first win
of the night from Andy. Not by much, just a lap but Dean really set the
pace on
lap times, being almost two thirds of a second quicker. Peter (Doug) did
well to
be just one lap behind the pair in third spot.
The second heat was a real cracker. Just a third of a
lap
covered all three racers, me, Rob and Ken and it was only the coasting
after the
power went off that took me into the lead by a couple of cars lengths
after a
race-long battle, Rob taking second.
Heat three was almost a mirror of two, with four
fifths of a
lap covering Simon, Lewis and Matt, who finished in that order. Then
Mark had a
chance to show his superiority, being over a second a lap quicker to
lead Trevor
and Stacey home by 1.2 laps, the biggest race-winning margin of the
first
round.
Round Two
Rob and Matt took the race to andy. They didn't stop
him
winning but they hung on well enough not to make it easy for him.
Unusually,
racing as Peter Andy didn't take the accustomed win, having some sort of
problem with his car. Before the problem he was way quicker but I was
able to
claw a win off him for once, as Trevor brought up the rear. Dean had
things all
his own way in heat four, setting the best lap score of the evening to
that
point, with a 25.8 taking the win off Mark and Lewis, Mark doing well to
beat the feisty Lewis by a full lap. Ken and Simon put on a good show
in the final heat before the break. Ken was a good half a second quicker
but
Simon wasn't making it easy for him, harassing ken all the way to the
line, as
Stacey cruised to third spot.
Round Three
Lewis got his revenge on Mark - and Matt - in the
first
heat after the break. He was quarter of a second slower than Mark and
half a
second slower than Matt but he would NOT give in. He kept plugging away,
eventually leading Mark and Matt across the line by a full lap. Well
done.
Rob struggled on blue and was never a contender in
this heat.
However Ken and I had a great race. It was nip and tuck all the way, the
win
eventually coming my way - just!
Andy was having one of those nights as he crashed
out of his
heat, leaving Trevor and Stacey to battle it out. Trevor was in a no-win
situation. He could score Brownie points by letting Stacey through to
the lead,
or he could take Club points by taking a heat win. What do you think he
did?
The last heat saw a classic. Ken was a little off
the pace but
Dean, racing as Peter and Simon were running just three hundredths of a
second apart with a best of 6.96 and 6.99 respectively. As the power
went off
the marshals judged Simon to have snatched first by the narrowest of
margins,
both having finished on 23.5. Well done Simon. It's a tough job beating
Peter/Dean!
Round Four
Another great duel here - between team mates! Trevor
did a
good job on blue but Rob and I were slugging it out on red and green.
Just
seven hundredths separated lap times and as the power went off I was
fractionally in the lead - BUT Rob remembered his defeat under coasting
in the
first round and was running half brakes this time, rolling past me to
take the
win by rolling into the next tenth after the three minutes!
Excellent stuff :-)
Mark is really coming on as he ran just one
hundredth of a
second behind Ken on lap times in this heat - but still ended third
although it
was only by three fifths of a lap behind Matt as Ken (racing for Peter)
took the
win on green.
The penultimate heat was a bit of a non-event,
although that's
unfair to Andy who took a run-away win with a 27.5 leaving Ken and Lewis
6
and 9 laps behind.
The final qualifier had a well spread result too.
Another win
to Andy, two laps head of Dean, who was another two ahead of Simon, with
Stacey
bringing up the rear.
FINALS
'D' Not unexpectedly Mark won the
right to
move up, leaving Trevor and Stacey trailing in his slipstream,
respectively 11th
and 12th overall.
'C' Mark backed this up with his
best score
of the night in the 'C' defeating arch-nemesis Lewis on the way and
giving
Matt some cause for concern too. As it was Matt hung on by just half a
lap to
take 8th overall, leaving Mark and Lewis in 9th and 10th. However,
another two
laps ahead with a decisive win was Simon, who moved up to the 'B'.
'B' Another hotly contested race
here. Three
quarters of a second covered the lap times so Andy, racing as Peter,
didn't win
by such a big margin as usual - but it was still a good win. Ken did
extremely
well to take fifth overall and second in the 'B', holding Rob off to
sixth by
just a fifth of a lap, with Simon picking up a very useful sixth
overall.
'A' Ken took to blue for peter,
against Andy
on red, Dean on yellow and me on green - and with 2 lap gaps that's how
we
finished - Andy first, Dean second, me third and Peter/Ken fourth.
SPRINTS
In the standard class Andy set his only lap time on
his first
run, crashing out of the next two but his 6.66 was enough to take the
win. Simon
is a real threat these days - and showed it in Sprints too - running a
6.78 to
take second spot. I just 'snuck in' under the seven second barrier for
third,
with Lewis taking fourth ahead of Matt.
In the mod's Dean posted a great 4.99 on his last
run, after a
DNF on his second attempt, while Rob overturned tradition by getting his
Sprint
car to post its fastest time on the last run. Usually his car gets
hotter, tighter and consequently slower on each consecutive run. Well
done
Rob :-)
TEAMS
The Dandies took a convincing win - again, with the
Clangers 2
points behind. Third were The Katt Men, then Reise Racers with First
Diesel and
M&S being hampered by only half their teams turning up.
Unexpectedly, a good turn-out as Mark Webster had
warned me he
wouldn't be able to make it. Thanks Mark, it does help with the
organising. I thought Mark Draper may not come if Mark W wasn't - and he
thought Simon and Lewis may not be able to make it either. In the end we
were just short of two Marks, so we managed OK.
Round One
Using the finishing order from the last meeting as
the grid
for this one, first up were Andy on blue, Dean on red and Steve on
yellow.
Throwing the form book out of the window, a couple of laps separated
each of
them as Dean crossed the line first, Steve Guard second and Andy
trailing home
in third. Had the blue lane problems carried over to this
meeting?
We were soon to find out as Andy was back on blue as
Peter,
racing against me on red and Rob on yellow. Andy beat his first run on
blue by
over four laps to give Peter a good start to the meeting. Only 13/100ths
separated all three of us on lap times but Peter (Andy) won by almost
two
laps, with exactly a lap between me in second spot and Rob third.
The third heat was running with a full grid of Ken on blue, through Simon and Lewis, to Matt on green.
There was a
much wider spread on lap times - 1.12 seconds between the fastest and
least fast
but it was a hotly contested race nevertheless. Simon made full use of
the red
lane to take a good win on 23.6 - beating longer established drivers Ken
and
Matt into second and third places, just a fifth of a lap separating the
pair, as
Lewis brought up the rear.
Round Two
Lewis was the only one to pick up the pace in this
heat,
putting the pressure on both Dean (racing as Peter) and me. Although
neither of
us did better than our first heat scores we did hang on to avoid the
ignominy of
defeat by the top Junior!
It did spur Dean on to a recovery in heat two. He
exactly
matched his fastest lap from round one but scored over a lap less,
whilst
still managing to beat Rob and Ken.
The last heat before the break was quite something
though.
Once again a full grid, this time, from blue to green were Matt, Steve,
Simon
and Andy. Matt was almost a second a lap slower than the other three but
he
was relentless. He just kept piling on the laps whilst
the others almost out-drove themselves. There wasn't a miracle. Although
matt
kept the pressure on he didn't win - but he got into the twenties again,
just
over a lap behind Simon in third spot. Steve was quickest but couldn't
convert
speed into a win, that going to Andy by just over a lap.
SPRINTS
Everyone bar Dean beat their previous best times in
the
Sprints.
Although Rob beat his own previous best and closed
the
gap on Dean as a result, Dean still took the Modified win by
41/100ths.
In the stock class Steve, Andy, Simon and Matt all
showed how
it should be done. Three full runs, each getting quicker. The first
three shaved
around half a second off their first run, while Matt took over a second
off
his. Although I only posted two full runs I still took a fifth of a
second off
my previous best, as did Lewis, despite two dnf's.
So..........Dean got straight on the pace at the
start of this
Quarter, while the rest of us left a margin for improvement :-)
Round Three
Lewis did NOT like blue! However, although his lap
times
dropped he still posted a total score very close to his run on yellow,
which
(probably) shows you don't HAVE to be quick. The distance is made up
by more on-track time! There was a fierce battle going on for the lead
though. Only 15/100ths separated Dean and Andy on lap times but
this gradually built into exactly a lap lead for Andy after the three
minutes.
Heat two was a full grid, with Steve driving for
Peter,
against Matt on red and me and Rob on the two outer
lanes. Rob and I were virtually matched on lap
times -
just 1/100th separating us - but it was Steve and I locked in a battle
for the
lead, which eventually went to Steve by just a fifth of a lap. A great
race,
really enjoyable.
In heat three Steve showed he hadn't held back as
'Peter'. He
was just 3/100ths quicker and posted just a third of a lap more for
himself -
but this was just as Ken came on song. With Simon pushing hard too, Ken
was
driven to a 24.1/6.66 win just ahead of Steve and Simon. A stonking race
- and
as in any close run thing you could see all three really enjoyed
it.
Round Four
Ken was on a roll and although marginally slower
(12/100ths!)
picked up his second win with a 24.4 to Steve's 23.1. Dread of the blue
seemed
to run in the family as Simon posted his lowest score of the night on it
- but
it was still a respectable 21.1.
Lewis found a lane he liked here - green. It wasn't
his
quickest run but he did beat his previous best by 2.2 laps. (Seems to be
a
recurring message here. Speed doesn't necessarily mean distance - and
it's
distance that counts in the end!) Having said that, there was only
1/100th of a
second between me (as Peter) and Dean on lap times but I had the more
forgiving
red lane while Dean was having to contend with blue, which gifted
'Peter' the
win.
Last - but not quite least - was a cracking race
between me as
myself on blue, Andy, Matt and Rob on green. Andy
did
his last qualifying round sprint and disappeared into the distance,
leaving the
rest of us to fight over the remaining three places. Just a lap covered
the
three of us, with me on 23.1, Rob on 22.1 (although he was the fastest
of us
'runner-ups') and Matt fought his way into the middle on 22.5. a great
race.
Not quite least as we had a couple of re-runs for
Ken and Rob,
then we were into the finals.
Finals
'C' Qualifying last Lewis ended up
on his 'I
do NOT like blue' lane - but made a better go of it in the finals,
improving his
previous score on blue by a fifth of a lap and undercutting his time by
more
than half a second. Well done! Several laps ahead of him were Matt and
Simon, chasing Rob who was another three and a half laps ahead of them.
The
race finished in that order and the same as qualifying, with Rob moving
up to
the 'B'.
'B' This was going to be close.
Just 1.3 laps
covered Steve, me, Ken and Rob in that qualifying order. Rob was all
fired
up from his win in the 'C'. Would that carry him through to the next
final?
Steve set the benchmark for lap times with a 6.78, the rest of us being
within
33/100ths of that but Steve's bad luck in the finals seemed to rear its
head
again. He was pipped to seventh overall by just a tenth of a lap by Rob
on the
green lane. Hanging on to fifth a full lap ahead of this duo was Ken but
it all
came together for me in this race, with a winning 24.4/6.84.
'A' Andy had top qualified - but by
a smaller
margin than usual, having got off to a bad start on blue but making up
for it in
his last heat on red. He naturally took that as an omen and went for
red. Dean
wisely went for yellow and we'd assumed Peter would have preferred green
over
blue, Steve taking to the line on his behalf. This left me with the
Lewis lane
;-)
To cut a 3 minute race short, I did no better in the
final
than I did in qualifying on blue, bringing up the rear with a 22.8.
Steve did a
great job for Peter on green, improving on his own score by a lap to
give Peter third spot with a 24.1. Two to three laps ahead Dean and Andy
were slugging it out. Dean really made Andy work hard for the win. Just
6/100ths
separated them on lap times, Andy eventually taking the top spot by just
over a
lap.
A great nights racing.
I hope to see you all on Thursday 3rd June for the
last F1
round and the last race night on this track.
Great to have a good turnout and nice to see Matt
back after a
one-meeting absence.
After some first round track problems a number of
re-runs
were fitted into the second round for those who'd suffered on blue. It
did make
for a rather crowded four heats but once that was over things settled
down to
the usual heats/rounds routine, punctuated by Sprints at half time.
Peter declined to run in this class but for once the
majority entered, ten of the twelve racers having a go and everyone
successfully posting a time.
Fortunately the second half was drama free so we
soon got back
on track time-wise.
Finals
3M - sorry, the 'D'
Matthew, Mark and.............Mark took to the track
first,
the race finishing in the qualifying order, so Matt moved up to the 'C'
while
Mark Draper took 12th and Mark Webster 11th.
'C'
Everyone was steering clear of blue, despite the
problem being
fixed, so Matt inherited it, alongside Simon on Red, Rob on yellow and
Lewis on
green. Simon was way quicker than anyone else,
knocking
nearly 2/3rds of a second off his previous fastest lap - but was maybe
over-driving as this didn't lead to his best lap score of the night.
However, it did take him to eighth overall, ahead of Lewis and Matt,
while
Rob moved up to the 'B'.
'B'
Qualifying for this was very close, with Ken on
69.9, Steve
Guard on 70.4 and me on 71.0. Then Rob joined us with his 69.7. This
made for an
exciting 'B' final. Ken was quickest by 3/100ths, ahead of Steve Guard.
Then
there was Rob, 1/100th ahead of me on lap times. However, it was Steve
Guard who drove the best race to take the win by 1.1 laps from me. Rob
and Ken
ended up side-by -side on 22.7 with the marshals giving Rob third spot
and 6th
overall.
'A'
Steve moved up to.............blue, of course, while
Rob moved
up to green to drive for Peter, who had qualified third behind Andy and
Steve.
It was a cracking finale to the nights racing, with Andy and Dean
slugging it
out for the full three minutes, Andy just hanging on to first by 7/10ths
of a
lap. Steve came a good third, taking the opportunity to keep plugging
the gap in
his points score caused by some missed meetings earlier in the year,
while Rob
brought Peter home in fourth spot.
Nice to see Mark Draper joining us at last - but a
shame that
Matt Ashmore was unable to make it for the first time this year. Hope
to
see you in three weeks Matt - unless you can make Saturday?
Before I start the race report proper,
some
clarification.
We have a '75% rule' for all except the Team
Championship,
where every round counts. The idea here was to encourage regular
attendance
and to get team members to help each other out with their cars,
controllers and
race technique where possible.
For everything else the best 75% of scores count.
There
are four rounds in a Quarterly Class Championship so the best three
results
count, same with the Sprint. For the Annual Championship there
are sixteen
rounds so the best twelve count, etc.
Hope that's clear? This leads me on to the next
point
:-)
At the April 1st race night Steve Guard pointed out
an error
in his Quarterly points in the spreadsheet. As a result, I revisited ALL
the
calculations.
The main changes were Dean winning the Modified
Sprint
for the First Quarter. (See above. I took all four scores for the
Quarter,
which erroneously gave Rob the Mod' class win) and Dean was also second
in the
Quarters GpC Championship. This was as a result of the same error in
calculation that effected Steve Guard. It also made minor changes to
other points but no positional changes except for Steve.
This means two certificates to be awarded to Dean at
the next
Club Night.
Thanks to Steve Guard for checking things and
catching
the error early in the year.
April 1st - New class - F1/Indy, new track - 'Saddlers
Bar'
At 117.5' this was just 1.5' shorter than the
previous track
'Longelles'. However, it was of a totally different nature. The first
track was
intentionally easy to help the new joiners get to grips with car
control,
marshalling, race night procedures, etc. Now we've got generally shorter
straights and the bendy bits are more 'twisted', thanks to Steve Bryan
:-).
Welcome to 'Saddlers Bar', named by Steve Guard as
it recalls
some of the more compact tracks we used to run at 'Duckie Lodge'
R.I.P :-)
Round One
An ultra-competitive first heat saw Dean take the
win for
Peter by just a third of a lap on 23.2 from Steve Guard, who at just his
third meeting this year is already making a big impact. Andy posted the
fastest
lap at 6.74 - but starting on the blue lane with the wicked 6" hairpin,
had to
be content with third place. However, the bench marks were set.
Heat two was a walkover for Dean, racing as himself,
well
ahead of me and Ken. Heat three was missing Matt Ashmore, the first
meeting he's
not been able to make this year. This left Rob and Lewis to slug it out
in the
middle two lanes. Lewis made a good race of it but inevitably,
experience won
out.
The last heat saw Mark Draper taking to the track
for the
first - and hopefully not the last time this year. He was up against
friends
Mark Webster and Simon Marshall - but no mercy was shown. Mark Webster
led
namesake Mark home by a good two laps, while Simon clocked up a good win
a
further two laps up on him.
Round Two
Andy went from one gutter lane (blue) to the other
(green) but
still bettered his previous score, taking the win by a little over a lap
from a
hard charging Rob, while Ken struggled with red and third place.
Racing as Peter, Andy posted warning of what was to
come as he
set the marker at 25.3 with a 6.55 win on red, ahead of Dean and Mark
Webster,
who improved his first round score by almost two laps.
Lewis clearly didn't like red as his score
plummeted,
allowing Dad Simon to romp away to second, exactly five laps ahead.
However, Steve Guard DID like yellow, securing the win with a 24.2.
Before the half time tea break we ran the last heat,
where I
managed to do worse but win. A hollow victory though, against Mark
Draper
in just his second race of the year.
Round Three
Lewis came back with a vengeance on (surprisingly) -
blue! -
posting his best score of the night both on speed and distance. By a
quirk of
fate he was up against Dad Simon again, who also posted his best scores
to take
second behind Rob. Rob upped his game to take the win on green, although
he was
marginally slower than his previous best lap time.
Times were extremely close in the second heat, six
hundredths
of a second covering Ken, Dean and Steve. Dean's was the fastest,
translating
into a seven tenths of a lap win over Steve. Ken matched Steve's lap
times but
was hampered by the hairpin, coming home third.
Mark Webster continued to improve, coming second to
Andy who
set a new distance record of 25.6, while Mark Draper posted his best lap
time of the night to come third.
Steve then took to the track for Peter, against me
and Ken,
Ken making up the grid. It was at this point Ken decided to FLY! posting
a
24.5/6.78. Unfortunately it didn't count :-( Steve took the official win
leaving
me in third.
Round Four
Ken had a relapse in the opening heat, although he
did conjure
up his fastest lap of the night in his chase after Dean but to no avail.
Dean
took his third win of the night, leading home Ken and Mark Webster.
Probably THE closest race of the night came up next.
However, it'll never be clear HOW close as a 'rider' wiped out Simon's
fastest lap and it wasn't clear who the rider was. The only thing we
could say
for certain is (possibly!) Simon was robbed of a good win and even his
second
place was under threat. The lap counter stopped at 22.1 for him, which
looked
like a race winning score, as Rob stopped the clocks with a 21.8 while I
(racing
as Peter) finished on 20.8. However, one lap had
to come off
Simon's score taking him to 21.1. Who was the rider though? There was a
view
that, when my car attempted to leap from Turn 6 to Turn 8 that I wasn't
in
control of it - much to everyone's mirth - and therefore my car was the
rider.
If true and the lap went on to my score then both Rob and I were on
21.8,
leaving Simon third. However sensible the idea seemed, I wasn't
convinced I was
ahead of Simon so declined the award of an extra lap. Scant compensation
for Simon but he held on to his second place, which I think was well
deserved.
(Sorry Peter.) Ultimately that unassigned lap made no difference to the
qualifying anyway.
Just to underline the justice of this I scored 20.8
again
racing as myself in the penultimate qualifier, where Andy raised the lap
record
to 26.2 with a fastest lap of 6.49. This drew Lewis's best performance
of the
night from him, with an 18.9/8.66 score. Well done.
Finally Steve posted his fastest lap of 6.94 on the
way to
defeating both Marks.
FINALS
'D'
Both Marks met for the D final run-off. Surprisingly
Mark
Draper went for the green gutter lane rather than vacant red, leaving
himself a
lot to do to catch Mark Webster, who'd averaged 3.4 more laps per heat
in
qualifying. The final mirrored this difference, with Mark Webster moving
up to
the 'C'. However, it sounded like Mark Draper had still enjoyed himself
and
would be back for the next Club meeting - and maybe even the Saturday
event.
'C'
Mark moved onto green to face Lewis (b), Ken (r) and
Simon (y). Fired up from his 'D' win he drove a great race, improving
his
fastest time by a third of a second to break into the sevens with a
7.99. It was
enough to put him ahead of Lewis, who had done well to outqualify him
straight
into the 'C' - but the race for the 'B' was between Ken and Simon, three
laps
ahead of these two. My money would have been on Ken but Simon drove a
blinder.
Like Mark, he knocked a third of a second off his previous fastest lap
on the
way to his best distance of 22.3 - a full lap more than his best
qualifier. He
didn't have it all his own way though. ken was right on his heels,
ending just
two fifths of a lap down to take eighth overall.
'B'
The paper order, Steve, Rob, me and Simon predicted
the
outcome of this race. Simon was TOO fired up for this one and
over-drove,
spending a lot of the time off-track. Unlike him, I had no laurels to
rest on
though. My qualifying trend - getting slower and posting fewer laps
- continued here, to the point where I set the worst of both to
close my nights racing on a low. This left Rob and Steve to make a
race of it - and they did. Both posted their best laps scores by some
margin -
but Rob couldn't buck the qualifying trend, taking a good fifth overall
behind
'man on a mission, Steve Guard.
'A'
Top qualifier Andy was on red, Dean on yellow, me
racing for
Peter on green and Steve picked up the empty blue lane. Fortunately for
my pride
I did drive better as Peter - most of us do somehow - posting three more
laps
than the miserable score in the 'B'. However, that was one to one and a
half
seconds a lap off the pace! It was nip and tuck between the top three.
Andy was
by far the quickest - half a second a lap - but the yellow lane was
proving the
better choice - JUST! Dean edged ahead, stopping the counters with a
25.5. Andy
was less than a lap behind on 24.7 - but squeezing the best score of the
whole
night out of the blue lane, right when he needed, was Steve guard, who
scraped
through to second with a 24.9.
A glorious final to herald the start of the new
Quarter's
racing.
SPRINTS
Standard
EVERY competitor posted faster times at each
attempt, the
shaker here being Simon Marshall, who planted himself firmly mid-field
with a
great 7.20 last run. Look out guys, he's picked up the gauntlet!
Mod'
Rob stepped up to the plate and although his car is
quick he
still hasn't got over the problem that it runs slower at each pass. Must
be heat
build-up causing binding, or something? He set the mark for Dean, who
was only
able to shave 6/100th's off it on his first run. However, he knocked
three and
then five tenths off overall to take the mod' win.
TEAMS
In anticipation of Mark Draper coming to more
meetings, he has
been slotted in alongside Peter Baldock in the First Diesel Injection
team.
Top team was The Dandies - again, with a tie for
second
between The Clangers and the newly named M & S team. They're not
just any
team, they're the M & S team..
Good attendance although we could do with starting much earlier. Nevertheless - 12 racers and some extremely close racing.
It was good to see Steve Guard, John Fearn and Brad Edge back on track - none of them having lost their edge. In fact in his first meeting this year Steve slotted straight into second place!
Only one track record was broken, Brad setting the most Junior laps, Lewis hanging on to fastest Junior lap.
The first round was run in reverse order, to accommodate late arrivals, ending with the first heat! This turned out to be so close it required a marshals decision. Ken, racing for Peter, took the win from me by - just a little tiny bit!
The second heat in round two was another very closely run thing, with John winning it with a 25.0 to Matt's 24.8 and Rob's 24.6.
This was the them for the whole night - although it might not have felt like that at times.
The proof was in the qualifying, where ken was surprised to have four heat wins under his belt, 'only' to qualify in 6th spot. However he was only half a lap behind John - and top and second qualifiers were separated by just a tenth of a lap!
Teamwise The Clangers increased their lead with their second win of the season.
In the Sprints five people beat their personal bests, including Lewis, who posted the perfect trio of lap scores, each run improving on the previous. Brad set the new Junior Sprint lap record though, on his first visit to the track.
Thanks to everyone for the great marshalling - it's a chore I know - but a necessary one - and to help with running the races too. It's nice to get a few minutes break.
See a lot of you tomorrow - including second place man in our Championships - the Ghost Racer himself, Peter Baldock.
It was a bit disappointing to drop from 12 at the first round, including virtual racer and sponsor Peter Baldock, to 9 at this one.
However, the racing was still fiercely competitive and the marshalling very good.
I think at this point, on behalf of the long standing members I need to say a quick thank you to Mark, Simon and Lewis, who have very quickly entered into the spirit of the club, doing plenty of good marshalling, throwing themselves into the track dis-assembly at the end and already taking an interest in helping out on race control. Without your willing help, last night just wouldn't have worked.
I'm sure we'll get the same level of commitment from Dave Muxton and Mark Draper when they are able to attend too - and of course, thanks to ALL the club members, past and present. No members, no club - and I'd be back to running little tracks at home, once in a blue moon :-)
Anyway.............
Round one - based on finishing order from the previous meeting
Heat one
Andy, myself and Matt racing as Peter, was pretty fiercesome. Less than half a second covered us on lap times but Andy was off like a rocket, leaving me and Peter (Matt) trailing in his wake. Nevertheless a good start as it showed the track and power to be smooth and even across all lanes.
Heat two
Matt, racing as himself, met up with Rob and Ken. Having one heat under his belt helped Matt up his score as Peter by 3.5 laps but Rob was the first to break into the 5's at this meeting, with a 5.99, taking him to the win by a lap over Matt as Ken brought up the rear on yellow.
Heat three
How long do we call them newbies? The three musketeers took to the track to give as a demonstration of very close racing. It was nip and tuck all the way but Lewis eventually took the win by just half a lap over Dad Simon, with Mark chasing them hard in third place.
Round two - At this point we changed the start/finish straight as we had a ghost racer running on green in Round one, who perfectly matched the yellow lane score and fastest lap in each race. Bizarre!
Heat one
Andy pushed the envelope on green, showing the timer/lap counter to be working perfectly, clocking up a 28.8/6.02 win ahead of Ken on red and Simon on yellow.
Heat two
Andy was back on track as Peter, beating his own best of the night in the process, to take another win. Behind him there was a terrific scrap between Rob and Matt. Matching each other on times, both running 6.42 fastest laps. It was all down to who could keep it on track the longest - and one more off from Matt gave a hard-earned second place to Rob.
Heat three
All racing as ourselves, there was me, with Mark and Lewis. This was Mark's best qualifying run of the night. He had a great race with Lewis, undercutting his fastest lap by a 55/100ths to snatch second spot by just half a lap. No mean feat as Lewis has quickly got to grips with this racing lark :-)
TEABREAK
We'd already run most of the sprints whilst waiting for everyone to turn up, so for once I got a real teabreak, with one or two taking the opportunity to practice ,while others got some tuition or spent time sorting their cars.
Round three
Heat one
Mark, Lewis and Simon ended up racing together again, with Lewis 'Ham-ming' it up a bit as he showed the adults the way home, once again beating Simon and getting his own back on Mark by holding him to third place.
Heat two
Ken, Matt and I met up in this heat, Ken harassing Matt all the way to the line but never quite being able to get ahead, as I posted my fastest lap time so far, on the way to the win.
Heat three
I was back on as Peter, racing against Andy and Rob. I came very close to my best score but Andy hung on to take the win by just over a lap, with Rob just a third of a second down on lap times, coming home third.
Round four
Heat one
A stonking heat here, with all three drivers posting their fastest times and best laps of the night. Difficult to comment on as I was in it and concentrating on my own car but the three minutes seemed to last three times as long, as Matt and Ken kept up the pressure throughout. I was lucky to hold on to the lead ahead of them both though. A great race.
Heat two
Another cracker here as Simon and Rob (as Peter) met up with Lewis. Although the lanes seemed pretty even, the red always manages to have the edge on power and smoothness, which I think did for Lewis, as he crashed from his best of 21.9 to a lowly 12.8 here. This helped Simon to a crushing ten lap lead over his nemesis and drawing out his fastest lap of 6.58, 18/100th's quicker than Rob. However, Rob hung on to give Peter his second winners point of the night.
Heat three
Finally we had Rob, Andy and Mark racing as themselves. Andy took this last opportunity to crank up the pace and post his fastest/most score of qualifying, with a 29.3/5.66. This drew out Mark's best performance in qualifying too, improving on his previous high score by 1.6 laps and shaving 2/100th's from his best time. Although quicker than Rob on lap times, Rob held it all together to take second spot by a good three laps.
QUALIFYING
No real surprises here, although Matt has upped his game considerably and slotted in to fifth spot, just 4/5ths of a lap behind Rob - and much to Simon's chagrin, Lewis pipped him by just a fifth of a lap to take 7th.
FINALS
'C'
Mark, Simon and Lewis met up for their last race of the night together. Unfortunately, although Mark improved his pace he posted his worst score of the night just when he needed his best. This left Simon and Lewis to battle it out, with Simon once again letting Lewis win, although to be fair it was Lewis's best lap score of the day.
'B'
This was going to be interesting. Lewis stayed on green, with Ken on yellow as Rob and Matt, separated by just 4/5ths of a lap in qualifying, took to blue and red. Lewis pit in a great effort, running his fastest lap of the night but it was to no avail, as Ken's experience powered him through to 6th place overall, three laps ahead. Meanwhile, Rob and Matt carried their qualifying battle into the finals, racing neck and neck for nearly two and a half minutes. However, nearing the end the pressure told and Rob snatched the win from Matt. Great racing!
Luckily Ken was able to sort out who got what lane choice for the 'A', as Rob moved up in his own right and Matt represented Peter, who qualified third through his proxy racers. Matt went for yellow, leaving Rob to take green, with Andy on red and me on blue.
'A'
After an aborted start when one lap counter timed out after just 30 seconds, the second run was all Andy's, dragging me round to my best lap time of the night as he set a new distance record for this track with a 30.2. Rob and Matt, racing as Peter, continued their feud right through to the 'A', circling the track just 5/100ths apart. Matt had the very marginal advantage that saw him take third spot for Peter by just 7/10ths of a lap. Another great race.
TEAMS
We had representatives from all six teams racing, although some teams were incomplete. The Clangers (me and Rob) took top spot with 18 points, with The Katt Men second on 15.5. Reise Racers were third on 13.5, the Dandies fourth, First Diesel (Peter) fifth and Mad! sixth.
For YTD positions overall, please see the attached results.
POINTS
Just to explain quickly.
Championship
Points run from 1st to 17th thus - 20,18,16,14,13,12, etc. down to 1
An additional point is given for each heat and finals win and for the fastest lap in each round. (This cannot be won twice. E.G. if someone sets the fastest heat in Rounds one and two, they get a point for Round one. The second fastest person gets the point in Round two.)
There is a further point for the fastest lap in the finals.
75%, or 12 of the 16 rounds score, the worst in each quarter being dropped.
Sprints
10 down to 1 in each class
75%, or 12 of the 16 rounds score, the worst in each quarter being dropped.
Teams
20 down to 1. The average is then taken for the team. So driver one gets 20 points, driver two gets 14 points, the team score is 17.
All 16 rounds score.
This is to encourage individuals in the team to attend, If only one member turns up, their points will be halved.
If anyone needs an explanation of the stats attached, please ask via email or at the next meeting as I try to bring a copy with me.
After much weather-enforced delay it was great to finally start the 2010 season on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who made it and to Steve Guard who passed on his apologies for not being able to get along, at the last minute. It does help with timing of the meeting and race organisation. Finally, apologies to Mark Draper, who booked tickets to another event, not knowing when the rescheduled meeting would be, so missed out on the racing. Hope you can make meeting 2, 28/1/2010.
Although much missed, Steve Bryan is still supporting the club, preparing the track plans, pre-ground SG+ back axles, club car preparation, race-winners certificates and other 'logistics'. A good job he wasn't there when we were trying to build the first track and fit it in the hall though!
Deliberately designed to be a simple 'starter-track' for driving and marshalling - we now have FIVE new members thanks to Steve Guard - it was straightforward to put together but getting it suitably positioned in the hall proved a great challenge and meant hardly a table or chair didn't have to be moved more than once. I don't swear often but.......... However, once it was sorted it proved to be ideal - and should be a lot easier to do - NEXT WEEK!
With a third of the racers new to the club I did ask for feedback after the meeting and thought this particularly pertinent 'the track was great...just what we needed to get some much needed race time without flying off all the time............anytime we have needed (technical) help you have all been only too happy to oblige - thanks.' Now if someone can show me how to knock four tenths of a second off my lap times............!
Anyway - on with the race report.
As has become the norm the race order for the first round reflects the previous meetings results, or in this case, the Championship placings.
Round 1
Heat one
Andy, Dean and Rob had won the right to be in the first heat, the fourth lane being left empty in John Fearn's absence, racing clashing with his night shift roster. (Let's hope he and Brad can get along to some meetings though.) Dean set the pace from the red lane - always best, I don't know why, with Andy chasing him hard right down to the finish as Rob used this qualifier to get the measure of the track and his car. So - Dean set the bar with a 6.04/27.9!
Heat two
Andy took to the track and the blue lane again, this time racing as Peter Baldock against Matt Ashmore. With one run under his belt already, Andy (as Peter) managed to beat his previous lap score by 1.1 laps, although he was 7/100ths of a second slower! Meanwhile, Matt posted an extremely respectable 24.9/6.43. Certainly Matt was the most improved racer in 2009 and is now a 'B' final contender and one to watch out for.
Heat three
A full grid - I should have moved one of them to H2. John Chell was the seasoned racer here, running a red Lifelike Porsche. Not unexpectedly he showed Mark, Simon and Dave the way home BUT - the newbie (Dave) and two not-so-quite newbies, Mark and Simon, enjoyed a very competitive race. Mark was marginally quicker on lap times but held it together well to finish two and a half laps up on Dave, who was just a third of a lap ahead of Simon, as he struggled with a Ferrari Testarossa. (Too narrow, too high, too heavy, too much tail!)
Heat four
Ever-excited Lewis was up against Ken and me - Ken late arrival as normal - and me dropping down to make up the grid after running the first three heats. Lewis drove a good, controlled race that would have had him second behind John in the previous heat. However, Ken set a cracking time of 6.41 with his VERY orange Ford Capri, although I managed to take the win.
Round 2
Heat one
Matt, John Chell and Andy stepped up to the plate this time, Andy taking the lap record from Dean by 1/100th of a second, with a 6.03. This helped him to a win over a hard-charging John Chell who, in his own words ' isn't very competitive'! He still managed to improve a good first round score by 1.5 laps though! (Not competitive, hah!) This was at Matt's expense, with him dropping slightly back from his first round score to end this heat third.
Heat two
This was a bit cruel - Dave in only his second race, against Rob and Dean (racing as Peter). Dave was still trying to 'get his eye in'. I.E. knowing where his car was and trying to keep track of it. (That's why my cars are generally pink Dave. I know which one it is in the hurly burly of racing!) Rob and Peter (Dean) were only 4/100ths of a second apart on lap times, this translating to a 1.5 lap lead to Peter (Dean) after 3 minutes.
Heat three
Dean was back on track - as himself this time, racing against Simon and Lewis. Dean managed to - very discretely - beat the score he posted as Peter, by just a tenth of a lap, whilst still getting down to 'almost lap record' times with a 6.07. Meanwhile, Simon and Lewis were having a great battle of their own. Simon did well, knocking seven tenths of a second off his previous best lap time running a more racer-friendly Jaguar. This saw his lap score rocket by 4.3 laps. Just goes to show how important body choice is. (The car - not the driver!) However, Lewis too was improving, eventually beating his Dad here by just a third of a lap.
Heat four
Mark was up against Ken and me. I drove a very consistent race (translated as 'I didn't improve over Round one!') but luckily it was enough to give me the win, although ken improved by 3.2 laps! Mark too, showed a significant improvement, bettering his first round score by exactly two laps.
TEABREAK!
Sprints were run at the same time as a lot of tea-quaffing, earnest chatting, divulging of speed secrets and tweaking of cars for the new guys. Sprint report later............
Round three
Heat one
John Chell and I posted identical fastest laps in this heat - and for this round - with a 6.35 each. We were both consistent with our first round lap scores though, giving me the win by a couple of laps. Lewis too dropped back to first round performance with a 17.1 - but where was Simon? Eleven point something? No-o-o-o! He was at least level pegging with or ahead of Lewis - probably even a contender for first spot, eh ;-) No, there was something wrong. His car was tried through the lap counter manually and appeared OK so he was scheduled into the next race.
Heat two
This was me as Peter (sorry Pete - this is where your qualifying position started going backwards. You were first at half time!) and Dean as himself, plus Simon. However, his car was quickly pulled as it was clear it still wasn't triggering the lap timers, although it had done in the first two rounds! Dean posted a new lap record of 28.3 while I struggled to keep my car on the track through the loop on yellow.
SHORT BREAK while the start/finish straight was swapped out and Simon was loaned a club chassis.
Heat three
Andy, Ken, Simon and Dave. Dave was racing with a Minolta Toyota, which was easier to follow than the Shell Porsche he'd been using - and re-equipped Simon was doing much better too. Both posted their best scored so far, Simon getting within one lap of ken, who took second spot behind Andy.
Heat four
While Andy ran the race I took a look at Simon's chassis. Meantime, Rob, Matt and Mark took to the track. Just 2/100ths of a second quicker, Rob was tenaciously hanging on to the lead, JUST ahead of Matt. It was just enough to give him the win as Mark ran into trouble again. A rerun was scheduled for him in the next round.
Round four
Heat one
At last Simon got a good run on blue, with his own chassis. (All I'd done was scrape the black coating off the traction magnets.) Rob was running as Peter, taking the win over Simon, by just seven tenths of a lap as I brought up the rear another third of a lap down. (All that chassis work took it out of me! That's my excuse anyway. No, really Simon drove the better race with his chassis sorted and a decent body on it.)
Heat two
Rob was himself this time, discreetly NOT beating the score he set for Peter - by a tenth of a lap. However, it was still enough to take the win by a lap and a half from John as Mark almost doubled his problem run on yellow.
Heat three
Everyone here was racing as themselves - and it was extremely competitive. Andy set a new fastest lap time of 5.64, although Dean's 28.3 stood. Ken was extremely consistent, notching up his fourth second place after a great duel with team mate Matt as Simon - much happier with his car, brought up the rear with his second 20+ lap run.
Heat four
The final hear saw another win for Dean but a great battle between Mark and Dave - both having found their pace and posting times and scores consist with their third run, Mark's extra couple of meetings telling, as he led Mark home by 1.2 laps.
QUALIFYING
Dean and Andy were top, with Peter third at his first club meeting. Well done Peter! Peter, me, Rob, Matt, John and Matt were covered by just over six laps, so pretty close! Then we had Simon, Lewis, Mark and Dave fairly closely grouped. All newcomers who will quickly close that qualifying gap, I'm sure.
'D'
Mark was top qualifier in this group but Lewis had been building up to the finals and posted an almost three lap improvement in the 'D', over Mark and Dave, to win the right to move up to the 'C'.
'C'
Staying on green he met up with Dad Simon, Ken and John. Simon certainly seemed to be getting quicker now his body/chassis was sorted but unfortunately a 'rider' (someone on the wrong lane) cancelled his fastest time. (Like the one that got away, I'm sure it was a new lap record Simon!) However, Lewis was on a roll from the D that carried him to a one lap lead over his Dad. Up ahead john maintained his qualifying advantage to beat Ken , despite ken posting faster lap times. So-o-o......john moved up to blue in the B.
'B'
This was going to be a tight group. Just four tenths of a lap difference between Matt and Rob in qualifying, John carrying his adrenaline rush through from the 'C' and me with lap times in between all three. Unfortunately, although both John and I were running Lifelike cars they rarely make an appearance and it's even rarer for them to shed a body, so when John piled it up between turns 4 & 5, shedding the body, it took a long time to re-assemble, putting him out of contention. My move to the Lifelike Porsche paid off in this final, really hooking up with the red lane and giving me my fastest lap time of the night with a 6.20, on the way to a win. Meanwhile Rob and Matt were locked in combat, trading places lap after lap, Matt eventually stringing together a few killer laps that took him to second in the final and fifth overall, his best placing ever. Well done Matt!
'A'
Not expecting this situation a brief debate followed about who should race for Peter in the 'A'. Dean, Andy and I couldn't, we were in it. Matt was fifth and Rob sixth. Should Matt, or Rob? Someone made the sensible suggestion, Ken I think? that for consistency the fourth member of the group who had been racing for Peter should do so, so Rob moved up to yellow as Peter. It was a cracking run to the flag between Dean and Andy. Andy set the fastest lap record at 5.68 both breaking the previous best lap set by Dean at 27.9 but Dean set the new mark at 29.6, just a fifth of a lap ahead of Andy. Rob, as Peter, was 9/100ths quicker than me but I was able to hang on to third overall as the power went off.
SPRINTS
Standard
Andy set the target for the standard class posting the perfect trio of runs, providing the first run of 6.27, then reducing it to 6.05 and finally 5.94. Simon followed with a 7.91, then John undercut this with his second run of 7.37, shaving another half a second off with a 6.86 on his third. I followed with a 6.62, trimmed to a 6.29, followed by a DNF. Lewis also reduced his time on his third run and Matt was another who posted the perfect scenario - three full runs, each better than the one before.
Modified
Rob did this in reverse, posting his best time first, then getting slower as his car heated up. 5.43 was a good time though. Half a second quicker than the standard cars and a tough target for Dean. However he was taking no prisoners.. With a 4.99 first run and improving on each sprint he set a modified best time of 4.52.
Ironically, Rob got his car running quicker after the event, by changing from a balanced to a standard armature - so what will happen next week?
Results:
First Adult - Dean Wragg
First Junior - Lewis Marshall
Top Team - The Dandies - again (Dean and Andy)
Sprint Mod. - Dean Wragg
Sprint Std. - Andy Abbott
Results
28/10/10
Round 15
