10 racers braved the cold of the Wellingborough club room on Valentine’s day. A good job had been done by certain members of the club to ensure we had power to race on the Sunday, after reports of a dodgy Scalextric motor had completely fused the whole club room on the Thursday night! With no power and therefore no light on the Thursday, Mick was unable to goop the track and run it in after a clean, so that was left to Paul Harwood, with his Riverside Raceway experience. Practice was little unpredictable with the grip not becoming consistent in all parts of the track.
Production
Newcomers to the Area Rounds this year, but long time racers, David Buddle, Mick Thompson and Mick Kerr were in attendance which gave us a race for the Novice points, between Gavin Wills and David Buddle. True to form, Gavin put in a fantastic performance with a newly rebuilt falcon production car and set an amazing time that would only be beaten by three people in overall saloon! David had a very bad run on Red lane due to mechanical issues and was unable to challenge Gavin for outright pace. A good couple of runs for David, were right up with his best club night runs, so the track was starting to run in nicely.
Production
Newcomers to the Area Rounds this year, but long time racers, David Buddle, Mick Thompson and Mick Kerr were in attendance which gave us a race for the Novice points, between Gavin Wills and David Buddle. True to form, Gavin put in a fantastic performance with a newly rebuilt falcon production car and set an amazing time that would only be beaten by three people in overall saloon! David had a very bad run on Red lane due to mechanical issues and was unable to challenge Gavin for outright pace. A good couple of runs for David, were right up with his best club night runs, so the track was starting to run in nicely.
Formula One
The format was again adjusted to suit the 6 lane track, with drivers getting 3 heats, on the opposite set of lanes from Saloon with the fastes run to count towards lane choice for 2 semi finals of 4 drivers each. This meant that 2 drivers would miss out at the semis stage. A very closely fought battle in the heats saw 5 out of the 10 drivers separated by less than a lap! Gavin had borrowed a car from Ian in the morning practice session and After the first couple of heats, Ian was probably wishing he had not leant out his spare car! Gavin out qualified Ian in 4th and 6th place respectively, with Greg separating them. Mark Harwood TQ’d for the second class in a row and opted for Blue lane in the first Semi Final. James was half a lap down and chose the other Blue lane. Paul H and Gavin chose the two White lanes which left Greg and Ian with the two Green lanes and the other 2 lucky drivers were Mick T and Franz who both opted for the Yellow lanes, leaving Black and Red vacant in both Semis. So with the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th qualifiers in the first Semi and the even numbered qualifiers in the second, they could have been seeded automatically.
In the first, 5 minute, Semi, it was actually Mark and Ian who had the closest battle at the end. Paul was in the hunt for most of the race, but a little off near the end, gave the other two a break. Mark eventually taking the victory by half a lap from Ian then Paul about three quarters of a lap further back.
The second Semi was just on the pace of the first at half time, but James managed to squeeze a little more speed out the car in the second half and beat Mark’s time by over 2 laps. Again, it was White lane who would miss out and Greg beat Gavin from Green lane to just edge his oldest brother out of the A-Final.
The Final was a very close race. Greg opted for Red lane, over Yellow and Black but never really featured on the pace. James and Mark completed the whole 75 laps with only a moment where there was more than a lap between them. A couple of silly offs each kept things close and Mark was closing in on James at the end, but ended up second, giving James his second class win of the day. Ian took an easy third, making the Formula One Area Championship very interesting and open, with one round to go.
The format was again adjusted to suit the 6 lane track, with drivers getting 3 heats, on the opposite set of lanes from Saloon with the fastes run to count towards lane choice for 2 semi finals of 4 drivers each. This meant that 2 drivers would miss out at the semis stage. A very closely fought battle in the heats saw 5 out of the 10 drivers separated by less than a lap! Gavin had borrowed a car from Ian in the morning practice session and After the first couple of heats, Ian was probably wishing he had not leant out his spare car! Gavin out qualified Ian in 4th and 6th place respectively, with Greg separating them. Mark Harwood TQ’d for the second class in a row and opted for Blue lane in the first Semi Final. James was half a lap down and chose the other Blue lane. Paul H and Gavin chose the two White lanes which left Greg and Ian with the two Green lanes and the other 2 lucky drivers were Mick T and Franz who both opted for the Yellow lanes, leaving Black and Red vacant in both Semis. So with the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th qualifiers in the first Semi and the even numbered qualifiers in the second, they could have been seeded automatically.
In the first, 5 minute, Semi, it was actually Mark and Ian who had the closest battle at the end. Paul was in the hunt for most of the race, but a little off near the end, gave the other two a break. Mark eventually taking the victory by half a lap from Ian then Paul about three quarters of a lap further back.
The second Semi was just on the pace of the first at half time, but James managed to squeeze a little more speed out the car in the second half and beat Mark’s time by over 2 laps. Again, it was White lane who would miss out and Greg beat Gavin from Green lane to just edge his oldest brother out of the A-
The Final was a very close race. Greg opted for Red lane, over Yellow and Black but never really featured on the pace. James and Mark completed the whole 75 laps with only a moment where there was more than a lap between them. A couple of silly offs each kept things close and Mark was closing in on James at the end, but ended up second, giving James his second class win of the day. Ian took an easy third, making the Formula One Area Championship very interesting and open, with one round to go.
Sports
Two classes down, one to go. With time marching on, it was decided to keep the format the same as usual and give give drivers four heats with the best one to count towards finals. The outside lanes would not be used.
Gavin won the first heat with 40.75. Quite a bit faster than the Saloon times. In the second heat, James smashed this total with a 45.18, averaging under 4 seconds per lap. At last year’s Area round, the fastest recorded lap in Sports was in the 3.9’s, this year it was going to be much quicker! He didn’t bother running that car again, until the final! None of the other drivers beat Gavin’s time, but came very close. Ian moved Gavin down to third in heat 3 by posting a time of 41.42. In heat 4, Paul and Mark finished on identical parts, both in the the 43’s. See where they finished (under the bridge) in the Gallery section. That was to be Mark’s best run, but Paul would go on to a 44.20 in his third heat and not run in his last heat. Ian was very consistent with a couple of 41’s but could have been faster with less collisions with Franz and the Marshal’s hands! David B was using a Saloon car with a Sports body and was a little off the pace of the open motored cars around him. Mick T was also suffering from ancient motor technology and was able to take most of the lap flat out due to the lack of top speed! Franz equalled his best result qualifying result of the meeting, with a 7th place, ahead of Mick K, who was also a little slow down the straights. Using a borrowed car, from Mark, Greg qualified 6th only 15/100ths behind Ian, to make up the B-Finalists. In case you hadn’t noticed yet, Gavin pulled out a 42.44 in his last heat, to sneak into his first A-Final! Mark, Paul and James joined him.
Both Mick T and David B decided not to run in the C-Final and fought it out over a cuppa! Greg and Ian were on the inside lanes for the B-Final and were the clear pace setters. Mick K retired after a bad start and Franz ran his own race from Yellow lane. After about 4 minutes of hard fought racing there was little bit of contact between the three cars still running. Greg cam off best and got about half a lap lead on Ian. In the remaining seconds Ian was closing him down fast, but just ran out of time and Greg took the win by one part! See the finishing photo in the Gallery. So, after the B-Final, some of the qualifying positions were reversed. Greg would finish 5th with Ian 6th. Franz had his best overall result of the meeting with 7th.
With the two fastest qualifiers, again on the middle lanes, this was poised to be the fastest race of the day, and didn’t disappoint. Mark had taken Green lane and left Gavin with Yellow. Mark got off to a terrible start and was never on the pace he set earlier in the heats. Gavin ran a very steady race and took 3rd place overall with the chassis James had used at the worlds in 2008 and had also used to win the Area Round in 2009, but who would get victory? Would it be the favourite James, or the underdog, Paul? James got off to a flying start. He steadily pulled away from Paul and with the help of a silly off from Paul, was soon, a lap up. Then James just lost it under the bridge and hit the barrier, just out of reach of Greg, the marshal. With cries of “TRACK” being dismissed by an extending armed Greg, Paul was busily making up time. As James’s car was returned to the slot, he tried too hard and drove straight off the track at the next corner. Maybe he was too involved with shouting at Greg to concentrate on his driving! All this gave Paul the lead. James had to chase him down and passed him with about just under a minute to go, but James’s tyres were now quite small and he started losing time again. Luckily for him, time ran out and Paul finished just over half a lap down, but at the end of the race in a last ditch attempt to catch James, Paul set the fastest lap of the whole meeting with a 3.793 second lap, just 2/1000ths faster than James!
Two classes down, one to go. With time marching on, it was decided to keep the format the same as usual and give give drivers four heats with the best one to count towards finals. The outside lanes would not be used.
Gavin won the first heat with 40.75. Quite a bit faster than the Saloon times. In the second heat, James smashed this total with a 45.18, averaging under 4 seconds per lap. At last year’s Area round, the fastest recorded lap in Sports was in the 3.9’s, this year it was going to be much quicker! He didn’t bother running that car again, until the final! None of the other drivers beat Gavin’s time, but came very close. Ian moved Gavin down to third in heat 3 by posting a time of 41.42. In heat 4, Paul and Mark finished on identical parts, both in the the 43’s. See where they finished (under the bridge) in the Gallery section. That was to be Mark’s best run, but Paul would go on to a 44.20 in his third heat and not run in his last heat. Ian was very consistent with a couple of 41’s but could have been faster with less collisions with Franz and the Marshal’s hands! David B was using a Saloon car with a Sports body and was a little off the pace of the open motored cars around him. Mick T was also suffering from ancient motor technology and was able to take most of the lap flat out due to the lack of top speed! Franz equalled his best result qualifying result of the meeting, with a 7th place, ahead of Mick K, who was also a little slow down the straights. Using a borrowed car, from Mark, Greg qualified 6th only 15/100ths behind Ian, to make up the B-
Both Mick T and David B decided not to run in the C-
With the two fastest qualifiers, again on the middle lanes, this was poised to be the fastest race of the day, and didn’t disappoint. Mark had taken Green lane and left Gavin with Yellow. Mark got off to a terrible start and was never on the pace he set earlier in the heats. Gavin ran a very steady race and took 3rd place overall with the chassis James had used at the worlds in 2008 and had also used to win the Area Round in 2009, but who would get victory? Would it be the favourite James, or the underdog, Paul? James got off to a flying start. He steadily pulled away from Paul and with the help of a silly off from Paul, was soon, a lap up. Then James just lost it under the bridge and hit the barrier, just out of reach of Greg, the marshal. With cries of “TRACK” being dismissed by an extending armed Greg, Paul was busily making up time. As James’s car was returned to the slot, he tried too hard and drove straight off the track at the next corner. Maybe he was too involved with shouting at Greg to concentrate on his driving! All this gave Paul the lead. James had to chase him down and passed him with about just under a minute to go, but James’s tyres were now quite small and he started losing time again. Luckily for him, time ran out and Paul finished just over half a lap down, but at the end of the race in a last ditch attempt to catch James, Paul set the fastest lap of the whole meeting with a 3.793 second lap, just 2/1000ths faster than James!
Championship Round Up
Gavin is now the undisputed Novice champion of Area 6. Well done Gavin for a convincing performance and showing the visitors to way round at Wellingborough!
James has now taken the overall Saloon Championship and cannot be beaten. Ian needs to win at NLSME with Greg third or worse, to take second place. Gavin is now 4th overall, but has both Paul and Mark very close behind with their home round to come! Michael would need a third place to overtake Gavin in the championship.
Formula One is still all to play for. James, Mark and Ian could still take the championship. Ian would need a win, but Mark would need second or better with James fourth or lower. If Ian wins, there is nothing James or Mark can do. James must make the Final to be safe, and hope Ian or Mark doesn’t win.
Sports is still a mathematical possibility for Paul, but he must win, with James sixth or worse. Mark, Ian or Greg could possibly take second in the championship if Paul and the others have a very bad result.
Thanks to the Wellingborough club for hosting the area round and a huge thanks to Mick K for running nearly all the races he wasn’t in! The final round of the championship is at the North London Club on March 14th. Can the Harwoods take victory on their own track? Can Ian put a cat amongst the pigeons? Can James win all three, like he did last year? Let battle commence!
James Cleave (Area 6 Coordinator)
Gavin is now the undisputed Novice champion of Area 6. Well done Gavin for a convincing performance and showing the visitors to way round at Wellingborough!
James has now taken the overall Saloon Championship and cannot be beaten. Ian needs to win at NLSME with Greg third or worse, to take second place. Gavin is now 4th overall, but has both Paul and Mark very close behind with their home round to come! Michael would need a third place to overtake Gavin in the championship.
Formula One is still all to play for. James, Mark and Ian could still take the championship. Ian would need a win, but Mark would need second or better with James fourth or lower. If Ian wins, there is nothing James or Mark can do. James must make the Final to be safe, and hope Ian or Mark doesn’t win.
Sports is still a mathematical possibility for Paul, but he must win, with James sixth or worse. Mark, Ian or Greg could possibly take second in the championship if Paul and the others have a very bad result.
Thanks to the Wellingborough club for hosting the area round and a huge thanks to Mick K for running nearly all the races he wasn’t in! The final round of the championship is at the North London Club on March 14th. Can the Harwoods take victory on their own track? Can Ian put a cat amongst the pigeons? Can James win all three, like he did last year? Let battle commence!
James Cleave (Area 6 Coordinator)
Saloon
Standard 1/32 BOC format for Saloon was slightly modified for the six lane track. Drivers would get 3 heats of 3 minutes each on one set of lanes (Black, Blue, Green or Yellow, White, Red). The best run would seed drivers into a 6 x 3 minute final. With 10 racers it was decided to give the advantage to the top qualifiers so there would be 3 finals with 4 drivers in the C-Final and 3 drivers in the B and A-Finals.
The heats got underway with Mick Thompson (Mick T) setting the pace on the hated Black lane with 32 laps, just beating Ian by 3/100ths. In heat 2, Gavin showed that he was very capable of upsetting the Area’s premiere drivers by clocking a 35.30. After getting very nearly beaten in Saloon, by Gavin, on a previous club night, James was out to prove that he could do better, and promptly set a new top time of 37.16 in heat 3. Mark Harwood was gradually improving and in heat 5 he just beat Gavin’s time to knock him down to 3rd qualifier. Ian would wait till his last heat to show what he was capable of and knocked Gavin out of the A-Final and put himself into second spot. With a middle lane still to come, Mark Harwood would still be a threat. In heat 7 he upped the pace and easily took TQ with a clean run of 37.73. A lot of drivers were around the 34/35 lap mark which left Greg Harwood, struggling for any sort of cornering speed, down in the C-Final. What could he do from there?
Joined by Mick Kerr (Mick K), Franz and David B, the C-Final could be a close race. After the first 3 minutes, it most certainly was. Greg, Mick K and Franz all on 32 laps. With Greg now moving off Black lane to an inside lane, he managed to pull out a 2 lap lead on Mick K, who was getting Yellow and Black out of the way. A mechanical disaster for Franz on Red lane put him behind David B. In segment 3, Mick K held on to Greg and they both managed 35’s. On his return to the track, Franz also put in his best run of final with 35 laps! Segment 4 was also very close, Mick K still only 2 laps behind Greg and Franz now catching David B. Segment 5 was the race decider. Mick K had a bad run on Red lane, while Greg had his best run on White lane and pulled 5 laps clear. Meanwhile, Franz would have another bad run on Black lane, which would put David B out of reach. After all six runs Greg would finish on 207.67, an average of 34.61 per lane. This was slower than many drivers had done in qualifying, so Greg did not look too hopeful of an assault on the Championship!
The B-Final contained Gavin Wills, Paul Harwood and Mick T. It started well with all 3 drivers on the pace of Greg. Gavin was one lap up on 33 and both Paul and Mick T were on 32’s. The second segment saw Gavin move to Black (on the same rotation as Mick K in the C-Final), Paul move to Red and Mick T onto White. Mick T took full advantage of the better lane and moved a lap clear of Gavin, with Paul a further 2 laps down. At this stage, Mick T was a lap off of Greg’s pace and Gavin was 2 laps behind Greg, but with the worst lanes over. Segment 3 was a turning point in the race. Gavin put in a 37 lap segment and overtook Mick T. Paul fell a further 5 laps back! This brought Gavin back level with Greg’s score and the other drivers well still behind. In segment 4, Gavin further extended his lead and moved a lap clear of Greg, at this stage, but was now moving to Red lane. A cautious run on Red for Gavin meant that he dropped off the pace slightly and finished the section level with Greg’s time. With only one segment left, he would have to up his pace if he wanted a chance of a good finish. Greg’s last segment was on Yellow, where as Gavin would be finishing on White. With White lane running much faster than Yellow, Gavin managed another 37 lap segment to make sure he was two and a half laps clear of Greg. Both Mick T and Paul were well behind Gavin at the end and failed to beat Mick K’s time from the C-Final. Gavin’s time of 210.18 averaged out at 35.03 per segment, only half a lap per segment, better than Greg.
The 3 man A-Final would have more marshals and less crashes! TQ man and Fast Bro, Mark, would start from Black. James opted to start from Green to get his least favourite lanes out of the way first. Ian started on Yellow, which had worked very well for Gavin in the B-Final. In the first segment, Mark had a terrible run, by his standards, on Black lane and was in third place, 4 laps down on James and 2 laps down on Ian. 36 laps from James was well up on the pace set by Gavin so far. Mark moved on to Blue lane for the second segment and James on to Red. Ian would be getting Black lane out of the way. Mark managed 5 laps more on Blue, than he did on Black, and Ian went 5 laps slower on Black than he did on Yellow! James scored another 36 laps on Red lane which put him 3 laps up on Mark and 5 laps up on Greg, who was the leader at this point overall. With Mark now on Green, Ian on the favoured Blue lane and James on White, the pace should improve further. James did another 36 laps, Ian nearly 36 laps, but Mark dropped off the pace again, with only 33. Mark was now falling back into the clutches of Greg and Gavin, and Ian was still trying to make up for the bad run on Black. James clocked another 36 laps in segment 4 and Mark slipped further behind on Red lane and Ian was now within 2 laps of him. James was 6 laps up on Gavin at this point, but both Mark and Ian were well behind. They finally got back to form in segment 5, but it was a little too late. Another 36 laps from James on Black lane would surely give him victory and the overall Area Saloon championship. 37 laps on Blue and a 4.57 second lap would secure victory and fastest single lap record for James. Ian was now finishing on a middle lane, with Mark on Yellow, and this porved to be the deciding factor in the overall positions for these two drivers. Ian was now on the pace and just beat Mark by 2/100ths to take 5th position overall.
So an interesting and long Saloon event, resulted in another Victory for James, giving him 3 wins out of 3 and therefore, an unassailable score in the championship. Gavin Wills showed what he is capable of by taking 2nd place overall and moving up to 4th in the Saloon championship! Greg stole 3rd overall from the C-Final and Mick K finished 4th. James’ winning car and Greg’s 3rd place car can be see in the Gallery section. An 8th place for Paul H was not one of his best results and he needs to improve at NLSME if he is to avoid the crown of ‘SLO Saloon BRO!’
Standard 1/32 BOC format for Saloon was slightly modified for the six lane track. Drivers would get 3 heats of 3 minutes each on one set of lanes (Black, Blue, Green or Yellow, White, Red). The best run would seed drivers into a 6 x 3 minute final. With 10 racers it was decided to give the advantage to the top qualifiers so there would be 3 finals with 4 drivers in the C-
Joined by Mick Kerr (Mick K), Franz and David B, the C-
The B-
The 3 man A-
So an interesting and long Saloon event, resulted in another Victory for James, giving him 3 wins out of 3 and therefore, an unassailable score in the championship. Gavin Wills showed what he is capable of by taking 2nd place overall and moving up to 4th in the Saloon championship! Greg stole 3rd overall from the C-
Production Results
Saloon Heats
Saloon Finals
Formula One Results
Sports Heats
Sports Finals