Well it seems that skipping a couple of weeks of racing isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least that appeared to be the case for our last event when we had a total of eleven drivers present. Making up these numbers were several of the FRC regulars as well as Peter on vacation from work in Nigeria, Nicholas (Spick) who last raced in October of last year and two analog Scalextric drivers from Peter de Montbrun's group, Mark and Samuel (Sam). It was great introducing the latter two both to digital racing as well as to the eighteen bends per lap of the FRC circuit and to our way of racing. Both of them competed in our Porsche Cup (PC) races but unfortunately could not stay on to witness the other two classes run, Historic Saloon (HS) and F1. Nevertheless, judging from their enthuiastic response, I'm sure we'll be seeing more from them and othes in their group.
After qualifying the PC cars with initially ten drivers present and just six cars per race, it was clear that the last four places in each race would have to cycle out to make way for the standby drivers. This meant that everyone had to try to finish first or second or they would have to look on for the following race. The races were therefore fast and furious, with those able to avoid de-slotting while keeping up the pace taking the top spots. This actually came down to the same two drivers who shared all first and second place between them, and thus were the only drivers who drove all six races.
Qualifying in HS was also very close with first and second being separated by just 0.011 sec, third and fourth by 0.033. With seven cars qualifying, again someone had to sit out while the first six did battle, however some attrittion precluded this for the second and third races. In the end each of the three races had a different winner, leaving the championship wide open.
In F1 Luke set a blistering time to put his Renault on pole, but the rest of the field were not far behind. In the races however, an unexpected driver came up with all the wins. Yes, Kerwin was able to dominate the class with his Renault, only having to be demoted to last place after he drove through another car late in the last race and did not manage to do the mandatory stop and go penalty before running out of time. Still, with two wins he looked to be the favourite for the class championship.
Once the results were compiled, they revealed several point ties throughout all classes, testament to the level of competition for the event.
The results
Congratulations to the winners. Thanks to Mark and Sam for coming by to check out FRC. You're both now officially FRC drivers and always welcome at our events!
Next event's classes: Restricted GT- 3 races @ 30 laps, Slot.It Challenge - 3 races @ 30 laps, Rally trial - three 5-lap stages per car (1 car at a time). This will be our first Rally event (even though its just a trial). Bring along a rally car if you have one. If not, since only one driver runs at a time, you'll probably get a chance to give it a try.
Don't forget to see the updated fastest times for the FRC classes to know what the benchmarks are for your cars. Also of interest are the updated class average qualifying times.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon
