Thought I'd share a look back at the very earliest roots of FRC, along with some highlights, right up to the present with the following pics:
The building of the table in August 2008:
Early lifting test:
The fencing goes on:
The very first track layout when some of the track pieces arrived. We used this layout for the first family races at FRC on Zoë's 6th birthday:
Zoë at the yet-to-be-painted driving station. Notice the power supply and four controllers:
The full track is finally laid out. I remember being quite excited doing this, seeing all the pieces fitting into place just like in the Track Power software diagram:
The driver station gets painted. Notice the 4-car PowerBase and the electronic lap recorder, with the wall-wart power supply between them. Some infield signage has also appeared:
A low outer wall is added to the outside of the front straight (with Agip advertising):
Team O'Brien arrives with a garage-full of cars. By this time the 6-car PowerBase is in place and additional advertising banners overhang the table border. Zoë can still hardly see over the table's edge:
The Dunlop bridge is added and the Armco barriers are replaced by low walls in some sections of the infield:
The infield walls get advertising:
Grandstands and officials' buildings appear:
My car collection to this point:
Around this time, my Ferrari gets the Bruno Senna paint job:
The outer front straight wall is strengthened and catch-fencing is added:
Luke and O'Brie's first drive together:
A crowded paddock for the first time:
The Speedway parts corner is christened:
The track sprouts trees and the Island Hobbies corner is named (now Fosters corner):
A Saturday afternoon event. At this point FRC was becoming more organised, with regular events and enthusiastic attendance:
A drivers' meeting before one of our large Thursday night events in mid-July, 2009:
We'd get a range of different drivers and facial expressions for some of these events:
There's always a lot of fun and pranks at race events:
For our inaugural endurance event in December 2009, Peter brought along this magnificent collection of cars all the way from Nigeria:
This landmark event also saw the first use of our race management system:
The track's first major overhaul and clean-up took place in March 2010, leaving a table with walls and other glued-down elements:
From time to time we've held special races for kids:
To celebrate my 57th birthday in 2010, we had a special Formula Libre (time bracket) event where we qualified 54 cars, the following being the finalists:
In September 2010, FRC was closed for almost three months to undergo the most extensive renovation since the track was built - the addition of a sloping hill emanating from the northwest corner of the table. This added elevations and realistic scenery, making the track come alive after two years of racing on a flat, green-painted surface:
We've come a long way over the past five years.
Gordon
