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Race report #221 - Thurs October 20th 2016 (AM, GT, LMP)

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 2:46 pm
by gordon
RACE REPORT #221 - October 20th 2016 (AM, GT, LMP)

Last night saw the final series of races for one of our long-standing and fastest classes, American Muscle (AM). Our first AM race was run on 17th September 2009 and funny enough, it had the same number of entries as our last - just three. The initial grid comprised Alex (Boss Mustang), Paul (Camaro) and myself (Mustang GT350) and two races were run. In the ensuing weeks, months and years a total of 212 more AM races were run, making it the third highest number of races for any class after LMP (296 races) and GT (361 races). AM will now be replaced by the new American Pony Car (APC) class, a toned down but more accurately scaled and realistic class for the same type of cars, but requiring a bit more driving skill. The king is dead, long live the king.

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Results

Luke qualifying the only car he raced, one of Ramesh's quick GT TVRs:
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The last and one of the smallest ever FRC American Muscle starting grids. Luke had a Camaro entered
but withdrew it after problems in practice. O'Brie had a Boss Mustang which he also had to park because
of a blown chip in practice:
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LMP starting grid - not a full grid either, but lots of action anyway. Absent drivers don't know the fun
they're missing:
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I was one of the first casualties in LMP, my Lola-Aston hitting the Armco on the outside of the Caiman
Pond hairpin and ricocheting into the pond:
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Here's another view. The crocodile hunter almost got hit:
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Then there was a series of simultaneous crashes that took out the whole field in three different areas of
the circuit:
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Congratulations to the winners.

Next event's classes: Group A - Mixed GT IROC - 6 races @ 20 laps, Restricted GT - 3 races @ 30 laps.

As usual, don't forget to see the updated fastest times for the FRC classes to know what the benchmarks are for your cars, the updated class average qualifying times and the updated fastest times for 2016.

See you on the circuit...
Gordon

Re: Race report #221 - Thurs October 6th 2016 (AM, GT, LMP)

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:28 pm
by steveaca
Lots of fun as usual at FRC. Really enjoyed doing some testing of cars for the upcoming American Ponycar class. The scheduled classes were fun but some early electrical problems meant that both O'Brie and Luke had cars which showed good pace in running earlier but weren't able to be raced.
Congrats to Ramesh on taking all available pole positions and winning all classes raced and, obviously, taking the overall win. Congrats also to Luke on winning the Index of Performance accolade.
Farewell American Muscle class. Maybe the cars will get to race at FRC one last time (see my other post today !).
Looking forward to the next event.
Steve

Re: Race report #221 - Thurs October 6th 2016 (AM, GT, LMP)

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 10:57 am
by Luke
Hello Gordon,

Lots of great racing and not forgetting the (jokes) laughs ...

Thanks for your concerns with my AM car and sorry I gave up so fast not racing in the class. Also appreciating how Ram lent me 2 GT cars.

Anyway - I kept remembering the last thing you mentioned to me (after racing) Thursday, me being the last person to leave ...
  • "That I should concentrate on tuning one car at a time ..."
So, went looking over my FRC classes strengths and weaknesses early this morning to see where I'm at with your suggestion.

At a glance it's noticable there's no ifs, buts or maybes racing in all 4 IROC and with 2 other non-IROC classes for sure ...

Here's a checklist with (~ Yes / 6 - Maybe / 5 - No / 3 ~) FRC's 14 classes.
  • 1. RGT .......................... Yes
    2. MGT IROC .................. Yes
    3. SGTC IROC ................. Yes
    4. MC IROC .................... Yes
    5. NSS IROC ................... Yes
    6. GT ............................. Yes
    7. MP ............................. Maybe
    8. F1 ............................. Maybe
    9. LMP ........................... Maybe
    10. APC .......................... Maybe
    11. SC ........................... Maybe
    12. HS ........................... No
    13. VS6075 .................... No
    14. RC ........................... No
In a sense - I am already at that point (tuning one car) and maybe moving on to another but the question that came to mind - when would that move happen to the MP class ..?

Just thought I could share :-)

Luke

Re: Race report #221 - Thurs October 6th 2016 (AM, GT, LMP)

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 1:10 pm
by Luke
gordon wrote:Next event's classes: Group A - Mixed GT IROC - 6 races @ 20 laps, Restricted GT - 3 races @ 30 laps.
All present at this Hit It Big event ~ will be seeing me for sure :)

God willing of course.

Luke