We had what was probably the closest ever racing for all three classes at an FRC event when nine drivers converged on the FRC circuit last Thursday. It was really great to have Boo not only be present after his awful neck-breaking accident, but also racing in the Historic Saloon class in a very competitive manner. It was also good to see the return of Nicholas E ("Spick"), always a competitive racer.
Eight of the nine drivers present ran in the five 20-lap HS races where the first seven qualified three-tenths of a second apart. That's .3 of a SECOND separating pole from seventh fastest! There was only one repeat winner in the class with a total of four drivers sharing the top position. As an example of how close the racing was, in one race I was sure that I would place in the first three since I was just a few seconds off the winner, when in fact I had placed LAST! All six cars had finished on the same lap!
We decided to implement a rule change in Vintage Sports where cars had to race with the standard motor spec as shipped by the manufacturer and this had the desired effect of closing up the gap between the slower and faster cars. Seven drivers went head to head in the five races after another close qualifying session. Three drivers shared the wins but consistent driving by one of these decided the overall class winner.
Our second Group 5 Sports Car race event featured a full grid instead of the three-car races at the inaugural event. Joining Ramesh, Luke B. and myself were Steve, Luke and Spick, the latter two breaking the Alfa Romeo 33/3 grid monopoly with a Ferrari 512S Coda Lunga and Porsche 917. This time the races were dominated by Ramesh-prepared cars, with he and son Luke B sharing all the wins.
In order to examine the winning car after each class we usually use quick math to determine the winner by simply adding up the finishing places for each driver and assuming the one with the lowest number is the winner. Of course when you apply a place-weighted point system to this, things can change and so it was for one class at this event, resulting in a different winner than the one we had calculated.
New Lap Records
- G5SC - 6.246 sec (Luke B., Slot.It Alfa Romeo 33/3)
Congratulations to the winners.
2013 Overall Class Points Update
Next event's classes: Ferrari Team Challenge - 6 races @ 30 laps, Rally Car - 5 five-lap stages per car (1 car at a time). 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 full 2013 Class Points Standings.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon
GG mus be add up father & son points together by mistake yuh know.
hello, I thought it was the other way around. heheheh