We had a full grid of exactly six drivers for each of last evening's three scheduled FRC classes, Modified Production (MP), Restricted GT (RGT) and Restricted LMP (RLMP). We stuck to our 2019 race structure of a single longer race for each of the three classes, running 60 laps in MP and RGT and 75 laps in RLMP. This new format allows cars that have accidents the opportunity to make back lost time and all who participated prefer it to the old three short races per class format. Early in the night during the practice session, Richard had an accident with his personal Opel Calibra which resulted in this unusual ending:
He ended up retiring the car and raced a few loaners instead.
Qualifying showed that the cars are very closely matched, particularly in RLMP where the top five were within 0.386 sec, fastest to slowest. In all the races, places were traded continuously throughout the field and drivers had to concentrate hard with the quick speeds of the cars over these longer races.
Once again we couldn't rely on the old rule that "the Powerbase is always right", this being the only negative aspect of having driver kill switches which sometimes cause a car to coast across the start line after power is shut down, thereby sometimes losing the lap. Let's put our collective thinking caps on and try to figure out a foolproof solution.
The results
Modified Production starting grid - Ramesh's Opel Calibra on pole followed by my Zakspeed Capri, Ramesh's second Calibra driven by Richard, Steve's Zakspeed Escort, Ramesh's Alfa 156 driven by Luke and O'Brie's BMW 320i:
Ramesh's Calibra lies on its roof in Fosters Corner as my Capri approaches:
Ramesh's Calibra and Steve's Zakspeed Escort about to enter the final turn while O'Brie's BMW 320i flips in the background:
Richard spins the second of Ramesh's Calibras as he enters the main straight:
Restricted GT starting grid - Pole-sitter is Ramesh's TVR Speed 12 followed by Peter's beautiful Ford GTE making its debut at the hands of Steve, Ramesh's BMW Z4 driven by Luke, my Viper, my Porsche 911R driven by Richard and O'Brie's similar Porsche:
Richard's 911R spins entering the Carousel while Steve's Ford GTE lies on its roof in the background:
A closer view of Steve's Ford GTE accident:
Restricted LMP starting grid - My Toyota 88C is on pole followed by Ramesh's Mazda 787, Steve's Lola B09/60, Luke's MG Lola, Ramesh's Ford Daytona Prototype driven by Richard and O'Brie's Porsche 956:
Ramesh's Mazda streaks past Richard's upside-down Daytona Prototype:
Steve's Lola goes off into the infield and ploughs into Kyle's Boss Mustang monument:
Luke's MG Lola rear wing lies in the vegetation amongst the wildlife:
(How this is computed: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=393)
Congratulations to the winners.
Next event's classes: Class grouping A: Historic Saloon (HS), American Pony Car (APC), Vintage Sports '60-'75 (VS6075).
Don't forget to see the updated overall fastest times and the fastest times by driver and class for 2019 to know what the benchmarks are for your cars, the updated class average qualifying times and the updated fastest times for 2019. Older stats can be found in the Archive area of the forum.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon
Next time Ram!