[Kevan]

Race reports - 31st August - Mosler ‘Club Challenge #5’ - club controllers

During practice Andy said he thought the cars lap times were running a little slower than normal, he was right, not only were we running slower than normal times with our own cars but later in the races, the Moslers seemed a little off the pace also.

There were five of us but only three eligible for the Mosler ‘Club Challenge’ championship.  As Brian, Chris & Ed raced in the championship, Kev & Nigel were guest racers. Kev isn’t part of this year's championship as he has previously won it.

Brian has been one to beat since the beginning of this championship last year whilst Chris struggled a little last year his car seems more competitive this year. 
Ed is still trying to find the ‘sweet spot’ with his car, he’s allowed to use his thumb controller but can’t get a suitable setting for it so raced with the club controller for the Round 2 races tonight.

The two rounds of racing were 5 minute heats in Round 1 and 3 minute heats in Round 2.

Round 1 - 5 minute races

Heat #1. Brian vs Chris was a good race until Brian deslotted on lap 5 then spent the rest of the race catching up and eventually winning by just over a second.  This turned out to be the closest race of the night.
Heat #2 was between the two guest racers Nigel & Kev.  Nigel racing a Brian prepared Mosler and Kev racing his ‘Club Challenge’ car.
Heat #3 was Ed vs Brian.  As previously mentioned Ed struggled tonight, initially setting his quickest lap times but lap times drifted off as the races progressed.  Red lane is definitely one he finds hardest to set a race pace and couldn’t keep up with Brian who was managing 6.0 second lap times.
Heat #4. Chris (Yellow lane) vs Nigel (Blue lane) - Chris won this heat comfortably whilst Nigel set his fastest lap in this race.
Heat #7 was Chris (Red) vs Ed (Yellow) vs Kev (Blue).  There was little between Chris and Ed.  As Ed managed a pretty clean race with only one deslot, Chris’s Mosler didn’t like the right/left coming out of the big chicane, numerous deslots meant he finished only a few seconds ahead of Ed. 

Brian’s best race was Heat #6 in Blue setting both his best score and fastest lap of Round 1.
Chris’s best race was Heat #1 in Blue lane setting his best score and fastest lap of Round 1.
Ed’s best race was Heat #7 in Yellow lane setting his best score and fastest lap of Round 1.

Of the guest racers, Kev went best in Blue lane in Heat #7 setting his best score and fastest lap and Nigel went best in Heat #6 in Yellow lane but set his fastest lap in Blue lane in Heat #4.
 
Round 2 - 3 minute heats

The drivers were shuffled around a little…which was a mistake as we saw in the final heat as Kev forgot Ed should always be in the final heat when drivers numbers are low.
Heat #1. Kev (Red) vs Chris (Blue).  Chris was setting quicker lap times this time round, a couple of minor deslots meant Brian could possibly have an easier time as he was in the next heat.
What we’ve found in the past is the tyres on these cars gain traction through the evening which can cause the front end to lift under hard acceleration resulting in inevitable deslots…as Brian found out in Heat #2 in Yellow lane, his Mosler popping a wheelie with four deslots giving Chris a lead of over one lap in this round.  Ed raced with a club controller for this round and seemed quicker but lap times showed he was quicker with his thumb controller finishing only three laps behind Brian.
Heat #3 was again the guest racers Nigel (Red lane) and Kev (Yellow lane).  Kev learned from Brian’s previous race and took it a little easier whilst Nigel was getting the hang of these and improved his best lap time in Red lane by  three tenths of a lap.
Heat #4.  Chris (Yellow lane) vs Ed (Blue lane).  Chris managed an almost clean race to pile pressure on Brian whilst Ed struggled a little with some big deslots.
Heat #5.  Brian (Red lane) vs Nigel (Blue lane).  Brian had to have a clean race…and smashed it, setting the best Red lane score of this round by over half a lap, reducing the gap to Chris for this round of racing to just over half a lap.  Nigel set his fastest lap in this race.
Heat #6.  Ed (Yellow lane) vs Kev (Blue lane).  Both drivers managed their best lane scores and fastest laps in this round.  Ed managed one and a half laps more than in the other two lanes he raced.
Heat #7 was the final race and should have had Ed as one of the racers, this meant him and Kev could possibly be really busy, Kev was kept busy with his running shoes on whilst Ed did well to keep the bridge area marshalled.  This heat was the decider as far as Brian & Chris were concerned for Round 2.  Brian was favourite in Blue lane but Chris always seems to go well in Red lane. Nigel in Yellow lane was going to keep both of them occupied at times. Both Chris and Brian only deslotted twice, it was going to end close and as the final few laps run down Chris was trying his hardest to stay on the track but a deslot with only 6 laps to go meant Brian who was pounding round the track nicked the overall position between these two on the final lap.  Nigel had five deslots which made the race interesting at times. 

   

Current Championship Standing

   

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Next week is Slot Rally

Reminder - The AGM is slowly but surely creeping up on us (end of October) if you have any proposals, take note of them because I’ll be asking for them to be included in the agenda in a week or so’s time.
The race calendar for 2024 will be discussed in the weeks after the AGM as we have plenty of time to tweak it if necessary.