13 racers turned out for the 10th round of the series at Wellingborough Scalextric Club on the raceway track. The grip was good and there was just enough racers to use all 6 lanes. This meant plenty of racing and lots of action. Thanks must go to Mick Kerr for organising and running the races all day with a little help from other club members when he was racing. The Yellow curtains provided by David Farrow complimented the new decor of the club room and made it much easier to see the track.
Production
Furthest travelled of the day must go to Simon and Scott Francis from the Bournemouth club. They were there early and made sure they got as much practice as they could, commenting on how different the track seemed to when it was in its original home at the Tomacher Raceway. It was also good to see a turnout of local racers who were racing in the S32 for the first time.
After everyone had completed one heat, local ace, David Farrow, was top of the charts with a 33.74. Ian Fisher smashed this time in his second heat and pushed the TQ time up to 35.54, but this would not last long because Ian Barker was now moving onto a good lane and extended the top time by over a lap to 36.85. So at the halfway point in the heats the pace was extremely quick. The Falcon battle was just as hotly contested with 4 drivers now on 33 laps. James Cleave managed a 34.97 with his falcon car, but it clearly wasn’t going to cut it amongst the Super Production runners. When the Super Production cars are flat out round the big sweep, falcon motors loose out! Adam LeMaistre put in an awesome performance in the 4th round of heats with his falcon car (PARMA Chassis) and edged close to being within a lap of Ian Barker’s best time so far with a 35.47. See pictures of this car in the gallery page. The 4th round of heats also saw the battle for the top spot step up a level. James brought out his Super Production car and in a very close race with Stan Alton, they both annihilated Ian Barker’s top time and finished with a 38.11 and 37.09 respectively. These would be the top 2 at the end of the heats. Ian Fisher also came within 3/10ths of Ian Barker to round out the top 4 times. The Falcon positions were not settled until the very end when both Gavin Wills and David Farrow improved to take the top 2 spots.
It was decided that the Novice Falcon final should have all 6 drivers competing and turned out to be the closest race of the day. Simon Francis had now got into the swing of the track and was lapping very consistently on yellow lane. Kevin Coleman had also shown excellent speed in the heats and was now keeping the car in the slot! Gavin Wills was just as quick but the occasional off was costing him time and eventually damaged his car slightly, reducing his pace in the final stages of the race. Les May, Scott Francis and Sarah Holmes would be battling it out for 4th. The race was extremely close throughout with Kevin, Gavin and Simon all taking turns in the lead, but it was the outright pace of Kevin with his new found consistency that took him to the win. After fettling his car, Gavin was able to pick up the pace and was closing down on Simon in the last 30 seconds of the race. As the power went off, Gavin coasted to halt alongside Simon and it was decided to award 2nd place as a dead heat. Due to the radial marking of the hundredths, Gavin had travelled a further distance as a proportion of the hundredth, but Simon was closer to the next hundredth. A picture of the finish can be seen in the gallery page.
The C-Final was also very close with the local skill of Mick Kerr with an extremely slow falcon, somehow managing to get victory over Simon.
The B-Final was a totally Falcon Masters affair and Gavin got his own back with an extremely fast drive to take victory over David Farrow. A video of the B-Final can be see on the LiveVideo page of this site.
The A-Final was a bit of a tortoise and hare race. James set off in the lead but a number of offs dropped him back and he had to chase down Stan for a Luton, one, two finish. The two Ians also finished on the same lap with the area 6 Ian just getting the advantage for third!
Production
Furthest travelled of the day must go to Simon and Scott Francis from the Bournemouth club. They were there early and made sure they got as much practice as they could, commenting on how different the track seemed to when it was in its original home at the Tomacher Raceway. It was also good to see a turnout of local racers who were racing in the S32 for the first time.
After everyone had completed one heat, local ace, David Farrow, was top of the charts with a 33.74. Ian Fisher smashed this time in his second heat and pushed the TQ time up to 35.54, but this would not last long because Ian Barker was now moving onto a good lane and extended the top time by over a lap to 36.85. So at the halfway point in the heats the pace was extremely quick. The Falcon battle was just as hotly contested with 4 drivers now on 33 laps. James Cleave managed a 34.97 with his falcon car, but it clearly wasn’t going to cut it amongst the Super Production runners. When the Super Production cars are flat out round the big sweep, falcon motors loose out! Adam LeMaistre put in an awesome performance in the 4th round of heats with his falcon car (PARMA Chassis) and edged close to being within a lap of Ian Barker’s best time so far with a 35.47. See pictures of this car in the gallery page. The 4th round of heats also saw the battle for the top spot step up a level. James brought out his Super Production car and in a very close race with Stan Alton, they both annihilated Ian Barker’s top time and finished with a 38.11 and 37.09 respectively. These would be the top 2 at the end of the heats. Ian Fisher also came within 3/10ths of Ian Barker to round out the top 4 times. The Falcon positions were not settled until the very end when both Gavin Wills and David Farrow improved to take the top 2 spots.
It was decided that the Novice Falcon final should have all 6 drivers competing and turned out to be the closest race of the day. Simon Francis had now got into the swing of the track and was lapping very consistently on yellow lane. Kevin Coleman had also shown excellent speed in the heats and was now keeping the car in the slot! Gavin Wills was just as quick but the occasional off was costing him time and eventually damaged his car slightly, reducing his pace in the final stages of the race. Les May, Scott Francis and Sarah Holmes would be battling it out for 4th. The race was extremely close throughout with Kevin, Gavin and Simon all taking turns in the lead, but it was the outright pace of Kevin with his new found consistency that took him to the win. After fettling his car, Gavin was able to pick up the pace and was closing down on Simon in the last 30 seconds of the race. As the power went off, Gavin coasted to halt alongside Simon and it was decided to award 2nd place as a dead heat. Due to the radial marking of the hundredths, Gavin had travelled a further distance as a proportion of the hundredth, but Simon was closer to the next hundredth. A picture of the finish can be seen in the gallery page.
The C-
The B-
The A-
Team Race
Simon, Scott and David Farrow had to leave early, so that only left 5 teams to compete and marshal. A full 10 minutes on each lane gave an hour of running time.
In the first segment, Sarah turned the tables and put team AS in the lead, just ahead of LSCC. Unfortunately this was to be their best segment as they ran out of tyres during the second segment and the car never ran the same again on the new set. Adam eventually retired the car in the final segment leaving Sarah as the team’s fastest driver. ‘I squared’ got going in the second segment and pulled 5 laps out over LSCC who were on an outside lane. West Tec were lying third at this point, one lap up on team AS. Coulsdon were struggling with a Falcon powered car and were just not able to run the same pace as the Gp12 powered cars. At the halfway point there was only 7 laps separating ‘I squared’ and LSCC for top spot, but in the 4th segment, James managed to get 11 laps past ‘I squared’ and turned the 7 lap deficit into a 4 lap lead. This was to be put under threat in the next segment when LSCC moved to black and ‘I squared’ moved to white. Ian Barker put in the fastest segment of the race with a 129 and closed the gap, leaving only 1 lap between the 2 teams with 10 minutes to go. Coulsdon had now moved into 3rd place after a retirement from West Tec with a very worn out Gp12 motor. Team AS had also moved past West Tec into 4th. The last section started very well for ‘I squared’. Ian Fisher pulled a lap back on James within the first minute and actually took the lead for the first 3 minutes, but his chassis now had more grip than his tyres and James had settled down into a rhythm, taking back the lead and pulling out a further 5 laps before the end of the race.
So that was it. A good day’s racing and no track issues. Thanks to all attendees and the team race championship is still up for grabs! Can Stan Alton overtake Ian Fisher for second in the individual championship? Can LSCC snatch the team championship from ‘I Squared’? With 2 rounds to go, who knows?
Simon, Scott and David Farrow had to leave early, so that only left 5 teams to compete and marshal. A full 10 minutes on each lane gave an hour of running time.
In the first segment, Sarah turned the tables and put team AS in the lead, just ahead of LSCC. Unfortunately this was to be their best segment as they ran out of tyres during the second segment and the car never ran the same again on the new set. Adam eventually retired the car in the final segment leaving Sarah as the team’s fastest driver. ‘I squared’ got going in the second segment and pulled 5 laps out over LSCC who were on an outside lane. West Tec were lying third at this point, one lap up on team AS. Coulsdon were struggling with a Falcon powered car and were just not able to run the same pace as the Gp12 powered cars. At the halfway point there was only 7 laps separating ‘I squared’ and LSCC for top spot, but in the 4th segment, James managed to get 11 laps past ‘I squared’ and turned the 7 lap deficit into a 4 lap lead. This was to be put under threat in the next segment when LSCC moved to black and ‘I squared’ moved to white. Ian Barker put in the fastest segment of the race with a 129 and closed the gap, leaving only 1 lap between the 2 teams with 10 minutes to go. Coulsdon had now moved into 3rd place after a retirement from West Tec with a very worn out Gp12 motor. Team AS had also moved past West Tec into 4th. The last section started very well for ‘I squared’. Ian Fisher pulled a lap back on James within the first minute and actually took the lead for the first 3 minutes, but his chassis now had more grip than his tyres and James had settled down into a rhythm, taking back the lead and pulling out a further 5 laps before the end of the race.
So that was it. A good day’s racing and no track issues. Thanks to all attendees and the team race championship is still up for grabs! Can Stan Alton overtake Ian Fisher for second in the individual championship? Can LSCC snatch the team championship from ‘I Squared’? With 2 rounds to go, who knows?
