Race Report #184 - Thurs 22nd January 2015 (MC, RC)

[gordon]

RACE REPORT #184 - January 22nd 2015 (MC, RC)



The results

















Congratulations to the winners.

Next event's classes: Class grouping D: Modified Production - 3 races @ 30 laps, F1 - 5 races @ 30 laps (240 laps total). 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 2015.

See you on the circuit...
Gordon

[steveaca]

Great night of racing as usual at FRC. Nice to see a good driver turnout (and hence the presence of marshals which meant that 'track call' system was not invoked). The new system for races in the event of more than six drivers being present is really working well.
The Mini racing was lots of fun as usual, and I am pleased and honoured to share the winner's rostrum with Ramesh. That there was also a tie for third was amazing.
Rally cars are one of my favourite classes and this event was no different. The Team Bhola car/driver combinations proved unbeatable, the Fiat Punto Abarth of Ramesh really coming on strongly and Luke B's Peugeot 406 running as amazingly as ever. Gordon's two cars performed beautifully as well with their various drivers. My Peugeot 406 worked well but was slightly off the pace of the leading cars. A cramp in my right (driving) hand in the last stage did me no favours and I was quite impressed with myself for not de-slotting and still doing a 48.3 sec. run using my left hand ! Jonathan's Citroen Xsara also worked well and he had some very good runs with it.
Congrats to Luke B. on winning Rally car Champion Driver of the night.
Looking forward to the next event.

[steveaca]

That should be Rally car and Champion Driver of the night.
Steve

[Luke]

Gordon and all present,

Sure all will agree that the IROC racing events are turning out (more and more) to be an EXTRAVAGANZA ... @ FRC

I'm sorry those regular guys (like Alex, Paul, Boo and Nicholas E. to name a few) are missing out on the entertainment. Maybe for the next IROC (NSS class) event in about 4 weeks time, we should get a bigger turnout for this new kind of racing.

Also, thanks for the grand support/use of your brand new Rally Car/Peugeot 205 T16 ...

Yes, I didn't do all that well in RC class but enjoyed the high quality drive all the same.

The times (3 stage x 5 laps) shown/set - show how I improved big-time on the 2nd stage but didn't on the 3rd - 67.1, 49.8 & 51.3 seconds.

However, you on the other hand with your next Rally Car/Alpine A310 ... did great times + improved with every stage - 47.3, 46.7 & 46.0 seconds.

Its a tremendous effort on your part reaching for the top and hope the times (Gary also) set, helps with what needs to be done with your Peugeot.

Luke

[gordon]

Glad you enjoyed driving the car Luke. It was my pleasure to make it available for both you and Gary to take part in the rally stages. It's always nice when the rally event comes around since it adds variety to the racing at FRC.

I already know what my major change will be for the next time we run the rally cars and in fact have already acted on it

[Luke]

BTW Fellas - 2 more things ...

Firstly:

We must remember the Mini Challenge class 6 Minis are now fitted with Silicone tyres and doing (tested) lap times of 7.5 seconds compared to the 8.5's with stock (rubber) tyres.

Straight away, its whole 1 second off the original pace - so you could imagine how the racing will intensify next time around

But sorry to say - remember this event/grouping is now going to take much longer (12-14 weeks depending) to come back around

Providing it isn't (randomly) organized on a Saturday evening ... before.

Right GG - of course remembering the call is yours

Secondly:

By this next event/grouping, I will have my own new car set up for Rally Car class - to try and contend with the big contenders.

Right Ramesh - and a light reminder, how you allowed me to have a personal look at one of your cars

Thanks,

Luke

[RameshB]

Hi guys , lots of fun as you can see from the very close results , a very encouraging start for the season as i see the north boys were doing some homework over the holidays, their cars are doing well , this will lead into a very nice mod prod next race day since there was a significant rule change, the entire car set up is different which i like , so i had to rebuild 3 new chassis, i have no idea how they would compare , especially with the new upside rule , i do hope my upside gauge is calibrated the same as the competition dept, see you guys soon , keep on sloting, bye Ramesh