23rd-Sep-23, 08:06 PM
Race Report - Morning session
Sixteen of us gathered at the Barn on an unusually sunny and bright autumn day. Building of Mike's Goodwood-inspired layout - featuring a single-lane chicane - was finished in short order, extending the practice time nicely...
The Club Car Rotation was also Goodwood-themed, Mike preparing a plethora of Scalextric GT40s, a Ferrari 330 P3 and a out-of-period Chapparal 2F to provide plenty of action and fun way of learning the track. The 2-minute format was tweaked recently because pit stops had become a rare sight when the heat times were trimmed. Now each heat is a gas-guzzling, tyre-eating frenzy, requiring at least one pitstop - and sometimes two. That was certainly the case with the Goodwood club cars - especially the blue GT40, which was an evil first car for most. For racers like Marios and Oliver, who haven't raced for a while, it was a big challenge. Even for those of us who are WHO/digital regulars, it's a case of being 100% dialled-in for every heat...
Mike showed great form from the off, a string of sixes and a seven leaving him only the blue car - but he would have to wait to the final heat of the race for that. In the meantime, Alex put together a potential race-winning sequence of 5, 7, 6, 6, 7 and a 5.75 - the first and last scores being good for those cars. The next driver to nail the rotation was Andy, identical scores to Alex up to the final heat and then a 6.75 to put him one lap ahead. It all came to Mike and that 'challenging' gas-guzzling blue GT40... He needed 6 laps to tie, but fell two laps short...
So our top three were Andy, Alex and Mike - Isaac picking up the junior medal in the absence of Ollie, recovering at home from Covid (get well soon!)...
Next was the first of two individual races - the Richmond Trophy for front engined 2.5-litre Grand Prix cars of the period 1948-60. These were gathered in parc fermé at the start of the day and scrutineered during the rotation. A very fine bunch...
With seven on the grid, there was a 2-minute qualifying session, a four-car B Final and six-car Feature. Alex hit trouble with his Aston DBR4 in qualifying, requiring a quick super-glue remedy. It worked... he blitzed the B Final as the only car to complete ten laps, followed into the Feature by Pete's Vanwall and Simon's Maserati...
Alas, Dean's misfiring Ferrari was eliminated...
Mike was quickest away from the line and led the first lap of the Feature race, but Jeremy, Alex and Terry were in close pursuit - covered by not much more than a second. These 1950s F1 cars are brilliant to watch as the race plays out in slower-motion than other classes. Alex moved his Aston ahead of Jeremy to put pressure on Mike - while the pressure was too much for Terry, who crashed and dropped to the back. By half distance, Mike, Alex, Jeremy and Pete were all on the same lap - the main battle between Alex and Jeremy for second, Mike having a cushion of about a quarter of a lap. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race towards the end, Jeremy couldn't find his was past Alex - and that gave the Aston Martin space to close the gap to the leader. He trimmed Mike's lead a little, but Mike comfortably brought the BRM home. Alex and Jeremy filled the remaining podium places, with Pete scraping fourth after a late splash-and-dash, finishing just ahead of Simon and Terry...
(click the image to make it bigger)
Huge congrats to Mike and his two closest rivals for a highly entertaining race...
That was the end of the morning session, but there was important business over lunch - voting for the Concours d'Élégance competition. Most of the cars were entered by Alex and Mike - Alex in particular having been very busy producing some sensational kit builds and re-paints this year. His Aston Martin DBR1 overwhelmingly won the popular vote...
The car began as a 1990s re-release of the classic Scalextric model, Alex carefully re-painting and detailing it to produce a racer that is both eye-catching and of great sentimental value. Chapeau!
Sixteen of us gathered at the Barn on an unusually sunny and bright autumn day. Building of Mike's Goodwood-inspired layout - featuring a single-lane chicane - was finished in short order, extending the practice time nicely...
The Club Car Rotation was also Goodwood-themed, Mike preparing a plethora of Scalextric GT40s, a Ferrari 330 P3 and a out-of-period Chapparal 2F to provide plenty of action and fun way of learning the track. The 2-minute format was tweaked recently because pit stops had become a rare sight when the heat times were trimmed. Now each heat is a gas-guzzling, tyre-eating frenzy, requiring at least one pitstop - and sometimes two. That was certainly the case with the Goodwood club cars - especially the blue GT40, which was an evil first car for most. For racers like Marios and Oliver, who haven't raced for a while, it was a big challenge. Even for those of us who are WHO/digital regulars, it's a case of being 100% dialled-in for every heat...
Mike showed great form from the off, a string of sixes and a seven leaving him only the blue car - but he would have to wait to the final heat of the race for that. In the meantime, Alex put together a potential race-winning sequence of 5, 7, 6, 6, 7 and a 5.75 - the first and last scores being good for those cars. The next driver to nail the rotation was Andy, identical scores to Alex up to the final heat and then a 6.75 to put him one lap ahead. It all came to Mike and that 'challenging' gas-guzzling blue GT40... He needed 6 laps to tie, but fell two laps short...
So our top three were Andy, Alex and Mike - Isaac picking up the junior medal in the absence of Ollie, recovering at home from Covid (get well soon!)...
Next was the first of two individual races - the Richmond Trophy for front engined 2.5-litre Grand Prix cars of the period 1948-60. These were gathered in parc fermé at the start of the day and scrutineered during the rotation. A very fine bunch...
With seven on the grid, there was a 2-minute qualifying session, a four-car B Final and six-car Feature. Alex hit trouble with his Aston DBR4 in qualifying, requiring a quick super-glue remedy. It worked... he blitzed the B Final as the only car to complete ten laps, followed into the Feature by Pete's Vanwall and Simon's Maserati...
Alas, Dean's misfiring Ferrari was eliminated...
Mike was quickest away from the line and led the first lap of the Feature race, but Jeremy, Alex and Terry were in close pursuit - covered by not much more than a second. These 1950s F1 cars are brilliant to watch as the race plays out in slower-motion than other classes. Alex moved his Aston ahead of Jeremy to put pressure on Mike - while the pressure was too much for Terry, who crashed and dropped to the back. By half distance, Mike, Alex, Jeremy and Pete were all on the same lap - the main battle between Alex and Jeremy for second, Mike having a cushion of about a quarter of a lap. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race towards the end, Jeremy couldn't find his was past Alex - and that gave the Aston Martin space to close the gap to the leader. He trimmed Mike's lead a little, but Mike comfortably brought the BRM home. Alex and Jeremy filled the remaining podium places, with Pete scraping fourth after a late splash-and-dash, finishing just ahead of Simon and Terry...
(click the image to make it bigger)
Huge congrats to Mike and his two closest rivals for a highly entertaining race...
That was the end of the morning session, but there was important business over lunch - voting for the Concours d'Élégance competition. Most of the cars were entered by Alex and Mike - Alex in particular having been very busy producing some sensational kit builds and re-paints this year. His Aston Martin DBR1 overwhelmingly won the popular vote...
The car began as a 1990s re-release of the classic Scalextric model, Alex carefully re-painting and detailing it to produce a racer that is both eye-catching and of great sentimental value. Chapeau!
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