Race reports - 23rd March - Mosler ‘Club Challenge’ #2
With Gav and Mike H not able to get down tonight there was a good turnout of seven ‘Club Challenge’ Moslers.
The cars were handed out, tyres were cleaned, one or two tweaks were seen to be underway then we were allowed half a dozen test laps.
Andy announced we would be running 5 lap qually, the timer was set up with driver listings sorted at random by the computer program. All qually times and predicted scores are shown in the results table.
Racing was to be two rounds of four minute heats with the heats randomised for round #2.
Round #1
Heat #1 - Chris, Geoff & Mike B.
Geoff’s car has been a bit problematic since the start for some reason, the previous round of the challenges was the last straw for Geoff as he took the car off the track because it wasn’t really raceable…so this time round it has a new motor and chassis. It was quickly tested by Andy & Kev a couple of weeks ago with a 6.0 lap now attainable, Geoff’s qually times showed tonight he was ‘racing’ at last and proved it by winning the first race by over a lap ahead of Mike with Chris just over a lap further back. This was Geoff’s best heat score of the evening.
Heat #2 - Geoff vs Andy vs Ed
With Geoff going so well we were expecting this to be a good close race but Andy just wasn’t ‘on it’ tonight, his car was off track more times than normal and with Geoff now with his racing head on Andy couldn’t catch him. Ed set his fastest lap of the night in this race, his results all night were very consistent and his hot lap times were the most improved over everyone compared to their qually lap times.
Heat #3 - Mike B, Kev & Geoff
Would Geoff get a hat-trick of wins with his new found pace…not to be as Kev’s Mosler was the first car to go under 6 seconds and with only one deslot wasn’t going to get caught at that pace and won the heat by a few laps. Mike B went well in Blue in Heat #1 but struggled in Red this race and ultimately lost a few laps to Geoff. Geoff obviously getting carried away with his cars new found performance found the limit too many times in this heat.
Heat #4 - Brian, Kev & Ed
Despite Brian’s reserved qually laps (ok who said sandbagging just then?) he was going to be one of the quick guys tonight, he was in Red but Kev was in Blue…if Ed could just keep it in the slot (which he did manage to do in his first race) this could be a quick one. Brian was only beaten in Red by Kev and Geoff tonight but couldn’t keep up with Kev in this race who was in his favoured lane. Ed did well, a couple of deslots but quickly cleared by the marshals but he was quicker in this heat.
Heat #5 - Ed, Mike B & Chris
Chris was flying in Blue, a clean run at the pace he was setting and the other two guys didn’t stand a chance. This was Chris’s best heat all night with Ed & Mike having their worst race all night in this heat.
Heat #6 - Kev, Brian & Andy
On paper this was going to be the heat with the most laps so far…and it was, Kev & Brian finishing on the same lap whilst doing 6.0 lap times, Kev & Andy having one deslot each but Andy as mentioned earlier just wasn’t ‘on it’ tonight and finished over two laps behind. Brian set his best hot lap for this round and his best score in Yellow all night, Kev set his best Red lane score with Andy managing his best overall lane score of the night.
Heat #7 - Andy, Chris & Brian
Andy missed the start DUE TO THE MARSHALS TALKING! but quickly set the pace, taking yards out of the leader Brian. Chris had a couple of early deslots dropping back to 3rd…Andy & Brian managing 6.0 lap times but with Brian having a clean race could he be caught…not after five deslots by Andy who was passed by both Chris & Brian with Brian finishing a couple of laps clear of Chris. Chris managed his best Yellow lane score and Brian managed his best single race score of the night.
Round #2
Tyres cleaned, drivers shuffled randomly for a different mix of heats and we were off again.
Kev, Andy, Mike & Ed all managed to improve on their Round #1 scores, Kev & Andy by one lap, Ed by two laps but Mike made a dramatic improvement this round to go seven laps better.
Ed was much more consistent with only three deslots and definitely goes best in Blue lane.
Mike’s biggest improvement was in Red lane, those extra five laps helped him finish third overall in this round and managed to get in the 6.0 lap times (in Blue lane).
Andy also in the 6.0 lap times, although the scores were consistent said his car just wasn’t right tonight.
Geoff, well what a difference a chassis, motor, setup and tweak make (i.e. total rebuild), couldn’t match any of his first round scores but 4th overall on combined scores must be very satisfying and only about one deslot behind Chris…
Chris, 3rd overall on combined scores, not quite as quick as Geoff on one lap pace but laps mean prizes! His car is going well this year and will surely feature in the top half of the results regularly.
Brian aka Captain Sandbag…a couple of 38 lappers and 6.0 second laps in both rounds, with Andy & Kev out of this years ‘Club Challenge’ overall championship has to be one of the favourites…(his cup cakes tonight are definitely favourites).
Kev’s car was quick all night and got quicker when he ‘slowed down’ (yeah right pull the other one), that 5.7 lap was a bit of a shock, these cars go alright don’t they!
…and so to the best qually lap handicap.
What I’ve done in the past is use the best qually lap to get a predicted overall result. Strangely even with the sandbagging, nobody managed a better score than their predicted score but the closest was Brian. The nearest scores were as follows:
Brian -1.75 laps
Kev -3.1 laps
Ed -6.39 laps
Chris -13.67 laps
Andy -15.16 laps
Geoff -17.84 laps
Mike B -22.4 laps
The tyres we all have on these cars now are supposedly the same as on the original kits, 12mm Evo Supergrips. Only glued & trued then cleaned with tape, no tyre treatment whatsoever, they seem to be balling-up a little more than the original tyres, but they true just as easily as the original Evo Supers. When the bobbles are cleaned off these give superb grip but once you start pushing them too hard in corners they start balling-up. Maybe the trick is to ease back in corners so the rear of the car isn’t sliding round.
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Next week sees the return of the open wheelers as pre-war meets modern day