After having had some very mysterious and strange things happening with the SSDC computer software over the past several weeks where very unrealistic lap times suddenly kept showing up, we were able to finally sort it out, a Powerbase firmware update finally solving the problem. We therefore couldn't wait to do some racing again and decided to run our scheduled Rally event, adding a three race Kitbash session directly after the rally stages.
As always for our rally events, Ram was in attendance and we were pleasantly surprised when Luke also turned up, having not seen him at FRC for a few months. He took part in all the rally stages before leaving. We ran the usual three of these stages, each of with some close action as well as the unwanted car de-slots for some drivers, myself included. Following the rally, the three thirty lap Kitbash races provided a lot of racing excitement for all drivers present. One of these was Liam, who had very recently suffered a bad sport cycling accident and it was quite amazing to have him present and driving in two of the three Kitbash races. In circumstances like this, it certainly helps to have youth on your side!
We ended with a final boardroom meting before packing up and heading to our respective abodes.
Some great pics from Luke along with one of Liam from me:
Peter does some practice as Steve and I look on:
O'Brie at work bench as Ram looks on:
Our dedicated marshall Merryl:
Ram's fast cars:
Checking the downforce of my Peugeot rally car:
Steve working on a car:
Peter driving a rally stage as Steve records each lap:
Ram about to start a stage as Steve waits for me to clear the previous stage computer result:
Boardroom meeting:
A determined Liam racing just ten days after having major surgery because of a downhill sport cycling accident, resulting in multiple bone fractures, a punctured lung and more. Kudos to him!:
FRC's unique curved starting grid:
The Results
Rally
The orange highlights below indicate who did the best time for each lap of each stage, the driver who did the fastest lap for the stage and the driver with the lowest variation in times driving the stage.
The fastest rally stage lap time was sub eight seconds, at 7.993 sec.
The rally cars:
Sorry... no pictures.
Kitbash
Kitbash race 1 grid - Peter (Ford Escort); Gordon (VW Golf); Ramesh (Mazda RX7); Liam (Peugeot 205); O'Brie (BMW M3):
Computer Kitbash race 1 results:
Podium - 1st: Gordon (VW Golf); 2nd: Steve (Mazda RX7); 3rd: Peter (Ford Escort):
Kitbash race 2 grid - Gordon (VW Golf); Steve (BMW 320i); Peter (Ford Escort); Ramesh (Honda Accord); Liam (Peugeot 205); O'Brie (BMW M3):
Computer Kitbash race 2 results:
Podium - 1st: Ramesh (Honda Accord); 2nd: Gordon (VW Golf); 3rd: O'Brie (Mercedes Benz):
Kitbash race 3 grid - Ramesh (Honda Accord); Gordon (VW Golf); O'Brie (BMW M3); Peter (Ford Escort); Steve (Mustang GT350):
Computer Kitbash race 3 results:
Podium - 1st: Ramesh (Honda Accord); 2nd: Gordon (VW Golf); 3rd: Steve (Mustang GT350):
Kitbash Race Action:
Overall Results
(How this is computed: https://frcforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=393)
Diversity Award
Steve and O'Brie tie for the diversity award for driving the most cars.
Congratulations to the winners!
Total Championship Points for 2026:
Next event's classes: To be determined.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon
