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WHO Nascar & Gen 6 Cup Race Night - Wednesday 2 November - Round 11 of the 2020-22 WHO club championship.

We'll be racing on an AFX version of another defunct Nascar circuit, but this time it's a totally legendary North American racing venue...

   

Wednesday evening is the finale of our 2020-2 WHO Nascar championship, with the standings looking like this...

   

The AFX Mega-G+ Gen6 class has a special winner-takes-all shoot-out at the end of the evening - any drivers who've won the Gen 6 class during the 2020-2 season qualify, with any remaining spaces on the four-car grid filled by the top points scorers. This is how it looks...

   


Our HO regulations can be found here: https://www.whoracing.org.uk/rules.html

Doors open at 6.30pm - please don’t arrive earlier (unless you’re part of the set-up crew, of course). We ask that all racers aged 12 or younger bring a responsible adult with them. Race fees: £3 adults and £2 under-16s.

Club Cars & Controllers: Our AFX Mega-G+ club cars remain available – each of them stays on its coloured lane. We also have a big box of DS, Parma and Ninco loaner controllers to borrow one for the whole evening. There is no extra charge for using either the club cars or the controllers.

Covid precautions: Covid cases are rather high at the moment, so we’ll be keeping our usual common-sense precautions to keep vulnerable members of our WHO family safe. The main thing is to stay away if you feel unwell or think you might have Covid. Inside the Barn, wearing a face mask, practising good hand-hygiene and giving each other space are non-negotiable requirements. We will ensure as good ventilation as possible - and also have hand sanitiser and spare masks available if you forget your own. Any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Results and a race report will follow on Thursday

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Race Report Part 1 - Nascar Qualifying Heats

Eighteen racers ventured out on a very stormy night for an evening of nail-biting championship-deciding Nascar action - plus a brief Annual General Meeting before the start of the heats. Our final Nascar race of the season took place on a true track of champions - our AFX replica of the Riverside International Raceway...

   

The near 90-foot layout proved very fast, but severely punished any errors - high-speed crashes often saw body and chassis part company. In other words, the potential lots of typical WHO Nascar mayhem, just not on an oval. A 26-foot main straight allowed the Nascars to stretch their legs, but the braking points for the corners required precise recalibration as drivers adjusted from one lane to the next...

   

The battle between the two championship contenders - Jerome and Andy - would prove as dramatic in the qualifying heats as the finals themselves. Separated by 50 points, if Andy won and Jerome came third, the pair would share the championship, level on two wins and two thirds apiece. Any other result, and Andy would need a 60 point advantage on the night. It didn't start well for the championship leader, Jerome's car crashing heavily in red lane and needing most of the two minutes to be repaired - he now needed three strong heats and drop his red lane score. Andy began poorly - confused by the clockwise track and watching the car in the wrong gutter lane off the start! He recovered with a pretty average 18.05 laps in yellow.

The two would meet in Heat 6. Many of the early races were crash-fests as racers were guilty of over-driving the circuit and having big smashes. This one was no exception, with Terry, Ollie, Andy and Jerome keeping the marshals busy. Terry's super-quick Super-G+ was the main casualty, but everyone had at least one big, body-popping crash. Jerome managed 18.55 in white, but Andy was left disappointed on 16.4 in blue - probably the best lane. These scores compared with the 21.55 and 20.4 of front-runner Oliver, who led the way at half-time - three laps ahead of Mike D and Pete, then came Duncan's rapid Life Like and Keith's Super-G+. Andy was eighth, but Jerome was second from last - there was huge pressure on him for two more big performances.

   

The vote for our new club charity was counted in time to be announced at the halfway break. Mission Motorsport and Race Against Dementia were almost neck-and-neck on first preference votes. When the votes from the third-placed High Salvington Windmill were re-distributed, Mission Motorsport was the clear winner. We look forward to raising money over the next five years for this national charity which helps rehabilitate injured service personnel through participation in motorsport. Their website is: www.missionmotorsport.org

Then it was on with the racing... Many drivers dialled back their attack a few percent - and as a result we saw fewer crashes and better scores. In the Gen6 Cup race, Ash was the master of consistency, with Ryan and Isaac locked together less than a lap overall behind. Ollie had a great second-half performance with two 17s - which looked more than enough to put him in the Gen6 Shootout at the end of the evening. Rob was also very consistent over all four lanes on his HO racing debut - only a lap per heat off the pace of the Gen6 front-runners.

The battle for the top spots heated up. Oliver was is a class of his own - his Super-G+ really suiting this track. Mike was best of the rest, closing down the gap to just two laps by the end. The third automatic spot in the A final surprisingly went to Andy - a huge 21.55 in white and then a 19.3 in red making up for a mediocre start and leaving him a lap and a half ahead of Pete in fourth. Keith was next, followed by Duncan - the sole Life Like runner. Matthew would top the C finalists, but Jerome had only managed to recover to eleventh - and found himself second seed in the D final. The Nascar championship wasn't decided in the heats, but Jerome had some serious work to do in the finals - to finish eleventh would mean just 40 points - and Andy could clinch the championship with 110 for third.

   

Don't forget, you can make the results tables bigger by clicking on the image.

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Race Report Part 2 - Nascar Finals

   
   

The F Final was a three-way fight, debutant Rob finding himself the only Mega-G+ Gen 6 car in a Super-G sandwich. Both Mike and Gary were hoping to turn around a frustrating evening so far - and neither of them started well, with crashes in the first few seconds. Rob led the first three laps, but then Mike finally got into a rhythm - his car a second a lap quicker than Rob's. Mike got past and pulled away, Rob continuing with a perfect run of consistent lap times and a crash-free two minutes - adding over a lap to his heat score in blue. He would have been perfectly positioned to take advantage of any issues for Mike - and there had been plenty of those during the evening - but the WHO veteran got through with only one further off to win by just over a lap and set his best score of the night. Behind them, Gary beat his heat score in red by 3 laps - and you can't ask more than that.

   
   

Mike stepped up to yellow lane for the E Final. No-one had wanted to go anywhere near this outside gutter lane - in part because of the tricky reverse radius section on the fast side of the circuit, but also because it was the inside of the hairpin. It didn't bother Mike's confidence - he led the first two laps, until a big off on the third dropped him to the back. Ollie, with the only Mega-G+ in the race, took over the lead and gave us a perfect example of fast, consistent driving to hold a very comfortable lead for ten laps. Maybe it was race control announcing he was in the lead or just a bit of nerves, but a big crash dropped him into Daniel's sights. With the Super-G lapping quicker than his Gen6 car, Ollie couldn't fight back - two more offs for Ollie and one for Daniel made it an exciting end to the race, bringing all four drivers into the mix. Daniel kept his nerve, leading the final four laps and ending up a lap ahead of Ollie. Deborah and Mike were less than half a lap back.

   
   

The D Final was a half-and-half Mega-G+ / Super-G+ race. Ryan and Isaac both had an eye on stepping up to challenge Ash for Gen6 Cup honours, but they were up against Daniel and the championship leader Jerome. The Gen6 racers knew that if Jerome had a decent race, they didn't stand a chance. And so it was... the big crashes that had blighted Jerome's evening so far didn't materialise - it was his first clean two-minutes and his best score by far. However, if he wanted to salvage the Nascar championship, Jerome needed to swap over to the other gutter and win the C Final. Behind him, Isaac's motor popped out on the line - instantly losing three laps to his rivals. Ryan had an increasingly lonely race to second place, a late off blotting a near-perfect run. Daniel battled with yellow lane and managed to hold off Isaac for third - helped in no small part by a last-lap off for the junior racer.

   
   

It's unusual for the C Final to have a big impact on the championship, but Jerome desperately needed success - if not a win, just more points to put pressure on Andy. He was up against the top Gen6 runner, Ash, plus a pair of very quick Super-Gs that were also a final or two below where they would normally be. Terry and Matthew had blown hot and cold in qualifying, but both had potential race-winning cars under them. This turned out to be a cracking final, Terry blasting off into the lead, the other four hanging on just behind - Ash's Gen6 car shouldn't have been as quick, but he was wringing every last hundredth of a second out of it. Then things got a bit scrappy - Matthew came off white lane on lap 4, then Terry, Jerome and Ash all had moments the next time round. That re-set things as they were, Terry leading the trio of Super-Gs, Ash dropping back with another crash from red.

Jerome was driving a sensible race in yellow - the only way to drive that lane. Banging in six-second laps, he stayed in the race - although Terry and Matthew were trading mid-to-low five second times to pull away. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain - and as the clock ran down, there was nothing between them, the lead changing hands in the run-in to the chequered flag. Jerome could only hope they over-did things and he'd be ready to pounce... Instead, we were all treated to a nail-biting finish, Matthew through the line first and then finishing one twentieth of a lap - less than six feet - ahead of Terry. What a race!

   
   

Matthew was absolutely buzzing and stepped up to yellow in the B Final. Duncan's Life Life Ford Taurus had enjoyed an excellent evening and certainly had a chance of a first Life Like A Final appearance since May 2016 - the legendary Rainbow Chest 500. He was up against Pete, Keith and Matthew in quicker Super-Gs - but it's not always speed that wins a Nascar final. Pete - the fourth-place qualifier - crashed on the first lap and then was off for long repairs five laps later. We were down to three - Matthew and Keith battled for the lead, with Duncan sitting and waiting for them to mess-up. This was a final punctuated by plenty of crashes - Pete's the most spectacular, but Keith's were enough to keep Matthew in the lead. Matthew was driving yellow lane beautifully - not too cautious, but recovering his pace well after a couple of offs. With Keith's woes, Duncan had made second place his own - despite an off at around half distance - and fancied his chances to grab a famous win. Matthew wobbled with his consistency towards the end as Duncan closed in - but then an off on the penultimate lap made things safe for Matthew and gave an unlikely race win for a car yellow lane! The gap was just under a lap, with Keith not far behind in third.

   
   

The A Final had suddenly turned very tasty - a winner in yellow lane just stepped up into yellow... Add to that pole-sitter Oliver going for his first HO A Final victory, Mike fancying another win to add to his record-breaking tally and Andy needing third or better to retain his Nascar title - this two-minutes had all the ingredients for a classic. It began with first-lap adrenaline-fuelled carnage... Who had thrown it all away before the race had even got going? Oliver? Andy? No, it was Mike - a WHO legend with 15 championships and 36 wins under his belt! Matthew was full of confidence in yellow, leading the first three laps - but then a massive off put him out of the race. That left Oliver and Andy out front, a small gap between the two that gradually lengthened as Andy realised there were only three cars left. Mike had a couple more offs and the race settled into a pattern - everyone happy with their situation. As the chequered flag signalled the end of the race, Oliver had reached the massive milestone of his first A Final victory, Andy was going home with the Nascar trophy and Mike wrapped up an enjoyable evening with a podium position.

   

Huge congrats to Oliver on his win and a near-perfect set of five races. Congrats also to Ash for victory on the night in Gen6 and to Isaac for his junior medal win...

   

Ash and Isaac would be joined by Ryan and Ollie in the winner-takes-all Gen6 Championship shoot-out, but the overall Nascar championship table looked like this...

   

Next... the Gen6 shoot-out.

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Nice report 

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Race Report Part 3 - Gen6 Cup Shoot-Out

When we introduced the Gen6 Cup class in 2016 - to celebrate the release of AFX's Mega-G+ Gen-6 Nascars - we made the bold decision to give the contenders an end-of-season, winner-takes-all race - an homage to the Nascar Chase for the Cup, or the Championship-4 race as it's now known. The four racers to qualify are winners of Gen6 races during the season, with any gaps filled by the top points scorers. Obviously, you have to turn up in November to be in the race!

   

Like in the real thing, the season points leader doesn't always win the title. I have painful memories of 2017, when after four wins and a comfortable early lead in the shoot-out, Keith unleashed one of the greatest come-back drives we've ever seen at the Barn to take the win by a couple of feet and grab the first of his three Gen6 Cup titles. Of our four 2022 shoot-out competitors, Ryan and Ash were at the Barn that day, but for Ollie and Isaac, this was their first experience of the shoot-out...

   

Ash had won two races, Ryan and Isaac one each, with Ollie finishing sixth in points, filling the final shoot-out place as Kevin and Laurence couldn't make it. Ash chose blue lane, Ryan white, Isaac red and Ollie was left with that dreaded yellow lane. The opening laps were very tense and exciting - Ash and Isaac swapping the lead. Ollie dropped back after a crash on lap 3, the others continuing on in close formation. Ryan crashed on lap 5, Ash following him two laps later - and that gave Isaac the advantage, the others with the task to hunt him down and win that Gen6 Cup title...

Ollie's challenge ended with mechanical issues, so it was a three-way battle to the line... Isaac was driving a mature race, not over-doing things in the tricky red lane. Ash and Ryan were half a second a lap quicker, Ryan closing in, but Ash dropped away with a crash in the closing stages. A healthy lead had evaporated - the gap less than a second through the line at the start of the last lap, but Isaac still had control of the race...

   

Then disaster struck for Isaac - a crash letting Ryan through for a famous last-ditch victory... But no! Ryan crashed at the last corner... Isaac's car cruised past, stopping about six feet ahead on the main straight!

   
   

That was quite a race - a first final win of the night for red lane - and a dramatic end to the 2020-22 Gen6 Cup competition...

   

Huge congratulations to our 2020-22 Nascar & Gen6 Cup champions...

   

And tough luck to both Jerome and Ryan - they were so close to adding their names again to  the WHO Hall of Fame.

And with that... a very big thank you to everyone who came along and made our Nascar finale so much fun. Special thanks go to the set-up crew, the race control team and to everyone who stayed behind to pack away.

There's one more HO race this year - on Wednesday 7 December - and we have a rather stunning track in store for our F1 championship decider. To give you a clue, it's an Italian seaside circuit used for the 1957 Formula One season, a race won by Stirling Moss.

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We have a new club champion!

   

Although Jerome missed out on the Nascar title - as he did WHO Mod last month - his amazing form over the 2020-22 season has tied up the Club Championship with one race still to go...

   

That makes Jerome our youngest WHO club champion by a few decades! Behind him is a fabulous four-way battle for runner-up spot - so that'll be the championship interest in December, as Pete has pretty much wrapped up the F1 championship already.

The 2020-22 Rookie of the Year title will go down to the final race...

   

If Laurence is able to make it, he's got to be favourite and Isaac will need to make to do with Junior Rookie of the Year. Otherwise, Isaac could add both titles to his Gen6 Cup crown - all at the end of his first nine months of club racing.

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Finally, here are the video highlights - including the Gen6 Championship shoot-out...