19th-Nov-23, 01:46 PM
Group A Team Race - aka Sierra vs Sierra
Our late-80s Group A team race runs to WHO Muscle Car Mondiale rules and was open this year to Scalextric DPR models of the Ford Sierra RS500 and BMW E30 M3 (the new Holden VL Commodore will be added from 2024). Although billed as Sierra vs BMW, this first running of the race featured six Sierras...
Each team was led by one of our Gold-rated drivers, with 2024 Gold driver Jeremy deputising for Oliver at WHAM! Racing. A second driver was chosen and then a third randomly allocated by Race Control. Each team had at least one Bronze-rated driver for a Pro-Am line-up. Weather was chosen using our new 'even-more-random' system, eventually giving us a three-stage simulation of Wet-Damp-Damp over the 30 minutes of the race - Wet but slowly drying track conditions. After a few car glitches in the warm-up, we scrapped qualifying and lined up as per the car IDs...
From the the start, it looked like a tight race. These Group A cars have a tendency to tip, so need to be treated with respect. Some teams had gone with less grippy tyres to give less tip and more slide. Smooth Ops (Ryan), Écurie Escargot (Andy), DeadNuts (Dean) and WHAM! Racing (Stephen) were locked together in an exciting battle through the first ten minute stint, rarely separated by more than a lap...
Ollie lost a little ground for Fundamentally Barley and Matthew was struggling with the Ardingly Aces B&H liveried car. At the driver change, Ryan handed the Smooth Ops car to Gareth with a two lap lead over DeadNuts, who now had Daniel at the wheel. On the same lap were Rob (WHAM!) and Dylan (Écurie Escargot). Pete took over the Fundamentally Barley car five laps adrift of the chasing pack and Duncan was two laps further back for the Ardingly Aces.
Rob was driving the WHAM! Sierra very nicely, trimming back the lead slightly in the first five minutes of the stint. However, Gareth was defending well and starting to feel more comfortable with the digital format. Both opened a small gap to Daniel in the DeadNuts car. Dylan was doing a great job for Écurie Escargot, learning the pit stop menu and getting to grips with sliding the Sierra through the corners. He sat fourth - six laps behind DeadNuts and just ahead of the Fundamentally Barley car. Duncan was tracking Pete back into contention - a three-way battle for fourth place definitely on the cards...
As the end of the second ten-minute stint neared, Smooth Ops had a one lap lead over WHAM! Racing, with Deadnuts 4 laps off the leading car. In the battle for fourth, Fundamentally Barley were two laps ahead of Ardingly Aces, Écurie Escargot another six laps back - Dylan having tired, but 100% having got the hand of fuel & tyre pits stops! The final stint saw Terry jump in for the Smooth Operators, Jeremy for WHAM! Racing and Alex for DeadNuts. Mike, Simon and Ash would compete for fourth...
It remained incredibly tight at the front, the lead swapping between the three teams during off-sequence pit stops. With five minutes to go, Jeremy had a slight advantage for WHAM! Racing, Alex just getting ahead of Terry on track and on strategy. The track was still wet, but moving into Intermediate tyre territory - most teams jumped onto the Inters, with DeadNuts and Fundamentally Barley sticking with Wets. Mike was leading the battle for fourth, three laps ahead of Simon and seven ahead of Ash...
Two an a half minutes to go and Terry had Smooth Ops back in the lead - but only just... WHAM! Racing and DeadNuts were less than a lap behind. Jeremy was fresh from a pit stop for a full tank and fresh Intermediate tyres - Alex was good on tyres, but might need a splash of fuel before the end. Terry would definitely need to stop for fuel and would be marginal on his half-worn Inters. Both stopped early for fuel, to give them a good run to the line. Alex probably could have gone for less than a full tank, but played it safe. Terry took a risk on not changing tyres. Meanwhile, Jeremy cruised into the lead - Alex on the same lap and Terry one behind. Further back, Simon was right up Mike's exhaust pipe, but would have to splash & dash in the final seconds...
Alex wasn't giving this up, he pushed hard on the Wet tyres - perhaps having more predictable grip than Jeremy's Inters. In any case, he was lapping at least half a second a lap quicker than the others and passed the WHAM! Racing Sierra with just 35 seconds of the race to go. As the chequered flag fell, DeadNuts celebrated a famous last-gasp win. WHAM! Racing were runners-up, Smooth Ops third - a lap down and finishing with just vapours in their fuel tank... the tyres were fine though. That was the podium. Fourth went to Fundamentally Barley after a very late pit stop put paid to Ardingly Aces' hopes. Écurie Escargot were a further five laps back after a solid anchor leg from Ash...
Huge congrats to the winners - Daniel, Alex and Dean - and well done to all six teams and all eighteen racers!
It was a thrillingly close race to debut this new format, so here are the stats to mull over before next month...
Click the image to make it bigger
After that slightly more chilled team race groove, it was back to the cut-and-thrust of BTCC Race Three...
Our late-80s Group A team race runs to WHO Muscle Car Mondiale rules and was open this year to Scalextric DPR models of the Ford Sierra RS500 and BMW E30 M3 (the new Holden VL Commodore will be added from 2024). Although billed as Sierra vs BMW, this first running of the race featured six Sierras...
Each team was led by one of our Gold-rated drivers, with 2024 Gold driver Jeremy deputising for Oliver at WHAM! Racing. A second driver was chosen and then a third randomly allocated by Race Control. Each team had at least one Bronze-rated driver for a Pro-Am line-up. Weather was chosen using our new 'even-more-random' system, eventually giving us a three-stage simulation of Wet-Damp-Damp over the 30 minutes of the race - Wet but slowly drying track conditions. After a few car glitches in the warm-up, we scrapped qualifying and lined up as per the car IDs...
From the the start, it looked like a tight race. These Group A cars have a tendency to tip, so need to be treated with respect. Some teams had gone with less grippy tyres to give less tip and more slide. Smooth Ops (Ryan), Écurie Escargot (Andy), DeadNuts (Dean) and WHAM! Racing (Stephen) were locked together in an exciting battle through the first ten minute stint, rarely separated by more than a lap...
Ollie lost a little ground for Fundamentally Barley and Matthew was struggling with the Ardingly Aces B&H liveried car. At the driver change, Ryan handed the Smooth Ops car to Gareth with a two lap lead over DeadNuts, who now had Daniel at the wheel. On the same lap were Rob (WHAM!) and Dylan (Écurie Escargot). Pete took over the Fundamentally Barley car five laps adrift of the chasing pack and Duncan was two laps further back for the Ardingly Aces.
Rob was driving the WHAM! Sierra very nicely, trimming back the lead slightly in the first five minutes of the stint. However, Gareth was defending well and starting to feel more comfortable with the digital format. Both opened a small gap to Daniel in the DeadNuts car. Dylan was doing a great job for Écurie Escargot, learning the pit stop menu and getting to grips with sliding the Sierra through the corners. He sat fourth - six laps behind DeadNuts and just ahead of the Fundamentally Barley car. Duncan was tracking Pete back into contention - a three-way battle for fourth place definitely on the cards...
As the end of the second ten-minute stint neared, Smooth Ops had a one lap lead over WHAM! Racing, with Deadnuts 4 laps off the leading car. In the battle for fourth, Fundamentally Barley were two laps ahead of Ardingly Aces, Écurie Escargot another six laps back - Dylan having tired, but 100% having got the hand of fuel & tyre pits stops! The final stint saw Terry jump in for the Smooth Operators, Jeremy for WHAM! Racing and Alex for DeadNuts. Mike, Simon and Ash would compete for fourth...
It remained incredibly tight at the front, the lead swapping between the three teams during off-sequence pit stops. With five minutes to go, Jeremy had a slight advantage for WHAM! Racing, Alex just getting ahead of Terry on track and on strategy. The track was still wet, but moving into Intermediate tyre territory - most teams jumped onto the Inters, with DeadNuts and Fundamentally Barley sticking with Wets. Mike was leading the battle for fourth, three laps ahead of Simon and seven ahead of Ash...
Two an a half minutes to go and Terry had Smooth Ops back in the lead - but only just... WHAM! Racing and DeadNuts were less than a lap behind. Jeremy was fresh from a pit stop for a full tank and fresh Intermediate tyres - Alex was good on tyres, but might need a splash of fuel before the end. Terry would definitely need to stop for fuel and would be marginal on his half-worn Inters. Both stopped early for fuel, to give them a good run to the line. Alex probably could have gone for less than a full tank, but played it safe. Terry took a risk on not changing tyres. Meanwhile, Jeremy cruised into the lead - Alex on the same lap and Terry one behind. Further back, Simon was right up Mike's exhaust pipe, but would have to splash & dash in the final seconds...
Alex wasn't giving this up, he pushed hard on the Wet tyres - perhaps having more predictable grip than Jeremy's Inters. In any case, he was lapping at least half a second a lap quicker than the others and passed the WHAM! Racing Sierra with just 35 seconds of the race to go. As the chequered flag fell, DeadNuts celebrated a famous last-gasp win. WHAM! Racing were runners-up, Smooth Ops third - a lap down and finishing with just vapours in their fuel tank... the tyres were fine though. That was the podium. Fourth went to Fundamentally Barley after a very late pit stop put paid to Ardingly Aces' hopes. Écurie Escargot were a further five laps back after a solid anchor leg from Ash...
Huge congrats to the winners - Daniel, Alex and Dean - and well done to all six teams and all eighteen racers!
It was a thrillingly close race to debut this new format, so here are the stats to mull over before next month...
Click the image to make it bigger
After that slightly more chilled team race groove, it was back to the cut-and-thrust of BTCC Race Three...
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