Race report #177 - Thurs 25th September, 2014 (MC, RC)
Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:05 pm
RACE REPORT #177 - September 25th 2014 (MC, RC)
Another fine turnout of ten drivers plus the "Bad Granny" TV show host Jason Reece and film crew graced FRC's 177th event. Jason came to get some slot racing footage and a motor racing interview with yours truly for an upcoming show. Scheduled classes were two of our most popular - Mini Challenge and Rally and having done magnet downforce equalising on all the Minis, I was looking forward to some close Mini racing.
Qualifying was close, the first seven Minis separated by just over 0.5 sec. Best of all for me was managing to get pole and break the lap record in the process. The class was split into two subgroups of five (A) and four (B) drivers. Once the lights went out for the first MGT(A) race, we immediately saw the positive impact of the magnet-equalising when all but one of the Minis proved to be very competitive. The exception (car no 1) had an oversteering problem that after the racing was determined to be caused by badly laminated tyres. This car placed last in every race it ran, even when Luke B - the acknowledged master - drove it. Aside from that the races were very close, there being four different winners in the five races run. For MC(B), car no 1 was put aside and the races proved to be a battle between friendly arch-rivals, Jon and Marlon. In the end the results couldn't have been closer.
The rally stages are always interesting to drivers as they can watch their competitors set their times and they have the whole track to themselves when its their turn. Once again Luke B set the pace with Steve, Ramesh and myself in chase. Luke went faster in each stage, finally setting an amazing sub-8 sec time in his final run. A superb drive by young Jonathan in the final stage made him the second-fastest driver of the night when he set a single lap time of 8.931 sec driving dad Steve's Peugeot. This drive placed him second overall in the stage.
The results
Congratulations to the winners.
2014 Overall Class Points Update
Next event's classes: Class grouping D: Modified Production - 5 races @ 30 laps, F1 - 5 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 2014 Class Points Standings.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon
Another fine turnout of ten drivers plus the "Bad Granny" TV show host Jason Reece and film crew graced FRC's 177th event. Jason came to get some slot racing footage and a motor racing interview with yours truly for an upcoming show. Scheduled classes were two of our most popular - Mini Challenge and Rally and having done magnet downforce equalising on all the Minis, I was looking forward to some close Mini racing.
Qualifying was close, the first seven Minis separated by just over 0.5 sec. Best of all for me was managing to get pole and break the lap record in the process. The class was split into two subgroups of five (A) and four (B) drivers. Once the lights went out for the first MGT(A) race, we immediately saw the positive impact of the magnet-equalising when all but one of the Minis proved to be very competitive. The exception (car no 1) had an oversteering problem that after the racing was determined to be caused by badly laminated tyres. This car placed last in every race it ran, even when Luke B - the acknowledged master - drove it. Aside from that the races were very close, there being four different winners in the five races run. For MC(B), car no 1 was put aside and the races proved to be a battle between friendly arch-rivals, Jon and Marlon. In the end the results couldn't have been closer.
The rally stages are always interesting to drivers as they can watch their competitors set their times and they have the whole track to themselves when its their turn. Once again Luke B set the pace with Steve, Ramesh and myself in chase. Luke went faster in each stage, finally setting an amazing sub-8 sec time in his final run. A superb drive by young Jonathan in the final stage made him the second-fastest driver of the night when he set a single lap time of 8.931 sec driving dad Steve's Peugeot. This drive placed him second overall in the stage.
The results
Congratulations to the winners.
2014 Overall Class Points Update
Next event's classes: Class grouping D: Modified Production - 5 races @ 30 laps, F1 - 5 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 2014 Class Points Standings.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon