The return to regular racing after the endurance races of out 100th event saw drivers competing in our quickest classes - American Muscle, GT and LMP. With a turnout of seven drivers as well as Steve who came by to help with the marshalling since he had no cars for these fast classes, we knew that the racing would be competitive and hectic. One of the seven included Ray visiting from Florida and as always, it was great to have him present.
We opened the event by presenting the medals for our 100th event and although not everyone who competed was there, we still managed to hand out awards to five of the thirteen who drove those long races. Here are some pics:
Aaron & Steve are all smiles
Victorious gestures from Alex and Luke
Boo shows off the hardware with a shocked look on his face
Steve all medalled out
Back to the event, as it turned out just four AM and five LMP cars competed, however GT was where the main action was, with all seven drivers striving for a place on the six-car grid. Not long ago, a time of 5.045 sec would pretty much get a GT car on the front row, but on this particularly competitive night that time had me qualifying fifth! Pole was taken by Kyle in his newly-revamped Scaley Porsche 911R with a blistering 4.520 sec time - a new class lap record. The next three qualifiers were all in the sub-5 sec bracket, making this possibly the fastest qualifying grid in FRC's history.
The AM races started off with three very quick cars competing at the front - my Scaley Boss Mustang, Kyle's similar car and Luke's Scaley Camaro. Despite my winning the first race things quickly moved in a different direction. Unfortunately, because of our late start Kyle only drove in the first two races and his car was taken over by Aaron for the final. Regardless, this changed nothing for the very quick Luke Camaro in the end.
Luke had put the writing on the wall in practice with his new Scaley Lambo Gallardo and immediately fulfilled this promise by winning the first race, with Kyle running a close second. Driving his Scaley Porsche 997, Alex took over from Luke in the second race during which my Scaley Ferrari F430 retired with transmission problems. To throw a spanner in the works the third and final class race saw yet another winner in Aaron who had somehow managed to get his underpowered Scaley Corvette to run with - and ahead of - the best. With Kyle's early departure, I took over his Porsche for the final to try to keep in the overall championship points race and managed a third place. Both Alex and Luke were looking really good for the class championship in the end.
The LMP races started off looking like a race between my Scaley Lola Aston-Martin, Boo's Slot.It Sauber Mercedes and Luke's Slot.It Porsche 962. After the first race however, things changed dramatically when Luke retired the Porsche and Alex, driving his Slot.It McLaren F1 GTR, found the speed he did not have in race one. Ray too managed to get his similar McLaren handling far better with a little help from me and was suddenly quicker than Boo's Sauber. The result of all this was an almost complete change in the final standings for the class.
As can be imagined, this set of very mixed results left the results of the champion driver of the event a very open race which was only determined when all the results were compiled. Despite the late start (come on fellas, get your cars ready BEFORE race day please), the event turned out just fine with the usual competitiveness, fun and boisterous explosions of shouting that accompany an FRC race night.
New lap records
As mentioned before there was one new lap record set during the event:
- GT - 4.520 sec (Kyle, Porsche 911R)
Congratulations to the winners.
Next event's classes: Ferrari Team Challenge - 6 races @ 30 laps, Modified Production - 3 races @ 30 laps (270 total laps for all classes). Finally, don't forget to see the updated fastest times for the FRC classes to know what the benchmarks are for your cars. Also of interest are the updated class average qualifying times.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon