[woodcote]

   

Our September AFX Formula One Championship race was the final instalment of a non-stop summer at the Barn. Seven Wednesdays and a Saturday since the start of July have certainly kept us all entertained.

   

We've seen some cross-over tracks at our HO races this season and this month a classic WHO Mod layout dropped into F1. Never an easy build, this one is guaranteed to provide drama for the fastest class, but how would the F1 cars manage with the challenging layout and the bus stop chicane?

Over to Gareth for the race report...

[Gareth]

Race Report

Round 3 of F1 coincided with the return to school and the start of some rather dreary autumn weather.  20 drivers showed up to race with Phil and my daughter Izzy making their debuts on the grid.  Great to see Ryan making one of his rare appearances while off from university.  


The track was an absolute blast with super fast sweeping corners but an oh so slow and tricky bus stop chicane that would be the undoing of so many drivers.  

   

As was so often the case this season it was Oliver setting the pace with his Super G+ and he led Ryan by nearly 4 laps at the halfway point with Matthew and Andy in close contention behind.  

   


After qualifying, Oliver was on pole from Ryan and Matthew while James had lit up the timing screens with his Bulldog to leap to 4th place.

   

Isaac led the way in the juniors comfortably ahead of Dylan and Izzy.  

   

[Gareth]

F Final

   

Newcomer Phil (blue) was on pole for this race taking on Kevin (red), Ollie (white) and Izzy in yellow.  Kevin was pleased with his newly rebuilt rocketship but a new chassis is definitely needed to hold all the parts in place! 

It had been a challenging set of heats for Ollie but he delivered a measured race with just the one crash as he led from start to finish.  

   

Phil had a string of crashes to fall to the back which left Kevin and Izzy in 2nd and 3rd respectively despite both crashing on lap 1.  Both their races would devolve into a crash fest while Phil’s driving stabilised allowing him to recover to 3rd and finish on the same lap as Kevin, both a lap clear of Izzy. 

   

[Gareth]

E Final

   

Ollie moved from white to yellow to do battle with pole sitter Gary (white), Chas (red) and Dylan in blue.  

   

Ollie streaked into the lead but a crash on lap 2 allowed Chas through to the lead.  Behind him we had a great fight between Ollie, Dylan and Gary who was recovering from a pair of crashes on the opening laps.  Ollie was the faster driver but his crashes left him off the track for longer which meant the positions were changing thick and fast.   But then disaster for Ollie as he crashed 4 laps in a row and crashed out for good on lap 10.  This promoted Dylan to 3rd, Gary in 2nd and Chas picked up the win having stayed out front from lap 2.

   

[Gareth]

D Final

   

Rob (yellow) was on pole for this race with Tracy (red), myself in white and Chas stepping up into blue.  Rob proceeded to deliver a master class of a race with a flawless run to the chequered flag.  This must have been agonising for Chas who also drove a flawless race but couldn’t match Rob’s pace finishing a lap behind him in p2.  Still a great run!  

   

Tracy was the fastest driver in the race but a crash on the first 2 laps left her right at the back but she was able to capitalise on my miserable performance to get back to 3rd.  A string of fast laps even saw her pass Chas for p2 but 2 slow laps at the end saw her back in 3rd.  

   

[Gareth]

C Final

   

Rob received the C final blue lane as his reward for his win where he would find Ash (yellow), Isaac (red) and Mike in white.  

   

Isaac led them away before a crash on lap 3 let Mike into the lead before he crashed on laps 4 and 5 to plunge to 4th allowing Isaac back into 1st.  Isaac’s lead was short lived however as a lengthy crashes on laps 6 and 7 (don’t say it!) allowed Ash through to the front.  But he could only hold the lead for 3 laps before crashing which allowed Mike to sweep back through after 8 clean laps to grab the win with Ash in 2nd and Rob in 3rd who had found blue lane much less to his liking than yellow.  Isaac finished 4th but at least he had another junior medal to add to his collection.

   

[Gareth]

B Final 

   

James (white) was eyeing up his first ever A final after his blistering performance in the heats.  But to do that he would have to do battle with Andy (red), Terry (yellow) and Mike who was stepping up into the unpopular blue lane. 


It was an absolute catastrophe for James though as he crashed on lap 1 and then lost a spring on lap 4 which forced him into retirement.  Promising pace for December though!  

   

Of the others it was Andy who got off the line in first with Terry in 2nd.  Andy eased away to put daylight between the two cars before Terry crashed on lap 7.  Disaster for Andy though as he then crashed on lap 8 but he managed to rejoin in 1st after a couple of slowish laps from Terry.  A final off for Terry on lap 13 (unlucky for 1) and Andy was home free.  

   
Behind these two it was a torrid race for Mike who also struggled massively to get to grips with blue.  What is it with that lane this season!  

[Gareth]

A Final 

   

Oliver had picked red lane for his pole position unsurprisingly with Ryan (yellow), Matthew in white and Andy stepping up into blue.  Ryan led them away before crashing on lap 2 which allowed Oliver to serenely move into the lead and stomp the living crap out of everyone.  Dipping into the 6.9s was absolutely astonishing as he romped to 16.65 laps, slightly less than he managed in qualifying but still an unreal score.  Ryan had fallen behind Andy with his early crash but he eased back into 2nd when Andy crashed on lap 7.  It was an impressive drive from the chairman of the board with some very good laptimes showing that blue was perhaps just misunderstood after all!  Or he’s the Lane Whisperer.  

   

It was a disappointing race for Matthew who showed pace when he was on the track but spent more laps crashing than being on the road.  

   

So Oliver marches ever onwards to the club championship and now has the F1 trophy to boot unless he gets disqualified.  Let’s all enjoy Andy scrutineering the heck out of his SG+ in December!  It really is a glittering season for him.  Isaac is well on his way to finishing his junior career with the title as well.  Chas has won rookies in all 6 rounds he has competed in while Izzy as the first junior rookie of the season might be bagging a title of her own!  

   

Thanks as always to the set up crew, take down and race control.  3 races to go to wrap up 2026!