[Graham]

Congratulations to all the podium builders and Graham, thank you for running rounds 1 and 2 quickly.  Regarding the #3 Corvette, fun fact the wheelbase is that of a Fly Alfa! There’s just more front and rear overhang.

thats surprising, it appeared to be longer on the night, but I  just checked it against ALS Alfa and your right 77mm for both. My Revoslot version is shorter at ~73mm. At the back of my mind I was trying to associate the "apparent long wheelbase" with the problem that both the C3 Corvettes had on my 90 degree bends (Hairpin), but actually ALS Alfa had no problem at all with that.

[Graham]

Targa Florio Road Race Classic Report - Day 1 Harlequin Hillclimb
It was a mid afternoon start for the Classic 50's cars, mostly all went well. Ruscillo suffered an early rear misalighned rear axle problem which was fixed, a few like the Corvette of Brumos and Ferrari 166 of Bangers Racing had isssues with the hairpin bends. For the Maserati A6GCS of BAracers it was a disaster all round....I think they were in the road race by accident, probably on a Saturday afternoon drive around 
In the end it was the Jaguar works team of ModSports which showed the way, with the home team Mercedes SL a disgreet distance behind and thee Privateer ModSport Jaguar XK120 too close for comfort (for referance Works Team - ProCar class & Privateer -Modified Standard)
1st ModSport - Jaguar XK120 #39
2nd-Roadrunners - Mercedes Benz 300SL #722
3rd - ModSports - Jaguar XK120 #58

   

Day 2 Spen Brook
The cars having moved on were made ready to run the Spen Brook Stage. Again issues with the rear axle of Ruscillo's Privateer Ferrari (but this time I had glued it in place), most cars had a resonable run, the grip was different on this stage, so it caught out some cars like the Lancia D24 of Equipe Trelawney or the Mercedes 300SLworks team. Batmanx works team Jaguar skidded off on the S-Bend on the hill. Bangers Racing Works team Ferrari 166 ran very well, as did Brumos Corvette. And if yesterday was not bad enough for BAracer's Maserati, this day was even worse ....
1st -ModSports- Jaguar XK120 #39
2nd - ModSports- Jaguar XK120 #58
3rd - Bangers Racing - Ferrari 166 #22

   


Taking a break, then Gran Turismo

[Kevan]

I love the scenic backdrop, very fitting for a Targa Florio

[Graham]

I love the scenic backdrop, very fitting for a Targa Florio

Yes it was just by chance that I looked on the Magnetic Sot Car website a few weeks ago and saw these buildings had been added, some frantic assembly and painting carried out over the last 2 weeks.   They also have a bridge and a larger TF famous corner shop and house. But dimensionally they just would not work on the layout as is........so I might change the layout   for some future Targa Florio perhaps ??

[Kevan]

I just popped over to their site and yes there's some wonderful products.

[Graham]

Targa Florio Road Race Gran Turismo - Day 1 Harlequin Hillclimb
Some issues were expected and some wern't !
Groundhogs MGB struggled around the Hillclimb, and so did the Porsche 906, perhaps lacking enough ballast or brakes. And Oxo Cubes Maserati Tipo was prone to shooting off in an uncontrolled manner ( problem of the same driver as for the earlier period Maserati perhaps ?). The Bizzarini of Makem haad too much ground effect, causing it to make contact with the road. Equipe T Ferrari 250P suffered for grip with those thin tyres. And the Capri of BAracer had some weird issue with electrical contact around the hairpin curves. The Corvettes were quick around almost all the sections, except both cars finding some unidentified "pothole" on one track connection on the last hairpin curve ? 

Of course the Roadrunners home team Alfa GTA ran flawlessly around the home track with Bangers Racing Cobra hot on my tail, and the "bigger" Alfa GTA of ALS also ran quite well.
1st - Roadrunners - Alfa Romeo GTA
2nd - Bangers Racing - Cobra Roadster
3rd - Brumos RSR - Corvette Coupe

   

Day 2 Spen Brook
Closer results for these cars in this group overall. Having not run my entry cars around this track before, I was in for some nasty surprises. The Alfa GTA struggled for grip, The Krapspeed Porsche 906 & Groundhogs MGB were prone to slipping off over the back straight. Makem's Bizzarrini had more scrapping of the road. Which I believe now after the event was a loose front screw. I will check this out on the track again before sending thee cars off. Oxo Cubes Maserati Tipo wanted to take another route.
Bangers Racing Cobra was astonishingly fast, a new all time track record I think. And the Corvettes running much better although Brumos RSR Coupe was better for this stage, Demon Tweeks Roadster version was lighter and had to be restrained on the accelerator in fear of it taking off.
1st - Bangers Racing - Cobra Roadster
2nd - Brumos RSR - Corvette Coupe
3rd - Demon Tweeks - Corvette Roadster
   

[Graham]

Targa Florio Road Racee Prototypes - Day 1 Harlequin Hillclimb
RS Slot Racing Ferrari 512S lacked grip on this stage, looks like there was little prep done on them ? Oxo Cubes Ford GT40 suffered on the Hillclimb with little weight in the front and very shallow guide I think this was not a good place to be for this car. Makem Chaparral tyres seemed to have aged since the car arrived, veery slippery at 1st, had a lot of taping to recover any performance. Equipe Porsche 908/03, ALS Lola T280, BAracer & Oxo Alfa 33/3 all were prone to de-slotting as they seemed to be light on the front. Krapspeed Alfa 33/3 was much better. I found Demon Tweeks Elva & Bangers Racing Porsche 911 felt a little fierce on aacceleration and too hard on braking for this stage. Brumos De Tomaso was a pleasure to drive, very consistent. For some obscure reason the last cars run, seemed the best, I expected Roadrunneers Ferrari 412P to run well but the basic Slot it GT40 of Ruscillo Racing was running unexpectedly well.
1st - Roadrunners - Ferrari 412P
2nd - Ruscillo Racing - GT40
3rd - Krapspeed - Alfa 33/3
   

Day 2 Spen Brook
Makems Chapparal cruised around at aa happy pace, Bangers Porsche and Demon Tweeks Elva basically needed a better driver to get the best from them here, a little too unpredictable on the back straight. Equipe T Porsche 908/03 was a too light for the stage, and Batmanx Porsche 908/02 just did not want to run around the S bend during the run, although on practise had seemed ok. Good runs by Brumos De Tomaso, Ruscillo GT40 again and all 3 Alfas. The best run was the Lola T280 from ALS. Roadrunners Ferrari 412P, well let me down really just seemed a little slower than usual.
1st - ALS - Lola T280
2nd - Ruscillo Racing - Ford GT40
3rd - Roadrunners - Ferrari 412P
   

NOTIFICATION
Having seen the fruits or otherwise of running this Round, I am going to revise the 2nd Round Recording of results, which will now be the positions of the actual Stage 2 ( and not the combined times from Stage 1 & 2). And the points will be allocated for each stage, not the combined times from S1 & S2.

As it has worked out in practise I think that the intended initial method is appearing confusing (to my eyes) and might have more unintentional bias for the series results than intended. I will ammend the Stage 2 Results & Podium posts for my Round 1 accordingly.

[Kevan]

Combined positions could theoretically lessen the blow of a good round followed by a really bad one.

It will also give an advantage to a car with a bigger combined time than a car with the same combined place score but a faster combined time.
i.e. 2nd & 3rd with a faster combined time vs 3rd & 2nd with a slower combined time.  In some ways that doesn't seem fair to the car with the faster combined times.

[Graham]

Combined positions could theoretically lessen the blow of a good round followed by a really bad one.

It will also give an advantage to a car with a bigger combined time than a car with the same combined place score but a faster combined time.
i.e. 2nd & 3rd with a faster combined time vs 3rd & 2nd with a slower combined time.  In some ways that doesn't seem fair to the car with the faster combined times.

I have realised during this Round that for Rally type stages, if a car has a really bad result due to say "type of guide fitted, braids, or controller settings, or some other obscure unexplainable reason" the time loss can be unproportionately excessive so that on the 2nd round there is little chance of recovery to get a balanced combination result. With a "live" Rally type meeting the owner or driver can do much more to offset or resolve those issues on the day, to mitigate the effects of a poor running car on one stage or another. 

I have spent this afternoon comparing the points allocation to both scenario's based on these actual Round results, and by allocating the points  to both stages seperately had a real "buffering effect" against the diverse effects if combined.

[Kevan]

As you say, points keeps it dead simple and at the end of the day it's a friendly proxy not a world championship.