Post by old23 on May 15, 2017 12:53:16 GMT -5
And so the VRAA 2016 has drawn to a close. It got off to a delayed start, suffered some hiccups along the way and wrapped up a month or two later than scheduled. Nevertheless, the cars were better than ever and the racing was exciting, with interesting season-long battles throughout the field in both classes.
One of the major points of interest in a proxy race series – or points of contention, depending the fate of your car – is the variability of results at the different host tracks during the season. Sometimes it can seem like a bit of a lottery, but if you don’t like that kind of thing you should probably stick to racing your own car on your own track. This year, we had six different race winners across the two classes though the championship in GP1.5 was dominated by one car and in GP2.5 by a titanic struggle between two entrants. Those welcome surprise victories in both classes added some spice and uncertainty to the VRAA this year.
As you will know, an event like this cannot happen without the contributions of many enthusiastic participants. I would like to thank the eight race hosts for volunteering their tracks and many hours of their precious time to race (and sometimes repair) our cars, compile and report the results, take photos or video of the action for our viewing pleasure, and carefully re-pack and ship the cars onwards to the next host. Thanks are also due to the club members, friends, and family members of each race host who served as drivers, marshals and tech support to ensure that each race was completed in an efficient, fair and competitive manner. Finally, and not least, I wish to thank you the entrants of VRAA 2016. Some of you have been part of this proxy for several years. Your support, enthusiasm and scratchbuilding skills have kept alive what was always going to be a “boutique”, specialist proxy series. Congratulations and my thanks to you.
This was the tenth season of the VRAA Proxy for vintage Grand Prix Cars. I have participated in all of them, assisted as scorekeeper and race organizer for several years, and served as series director for the last three seasons. As most of you know, I have created another, one-off, proxy series for 1967 3-litre GP cars to be run this fall in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first Canadian F1 Grand Prix and in celebration Canada’s 150th birthday. Several VRAA entrants have entered a car, which greatly pleases me. For those who don’t know about it, more info can be found here:
f-one-thirty-two.proboards.com/thread/998/1967-gp-du-canada-rules
As that event will be scheduled in the same time frame as the VRAA traditionally runs, I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the required time and energy to do both. Therefore, I will not be organizing a VRAA Proxy in 2017. If my enthusiasm maintains and personal circumstances permit, perhaps I’ll return in 2018 with another proxy race for cars of the 50’s and/or the early 60’s, whether under the title of the VRAA or otherwise.
Finally, I had hoped to have your cars on the way back to you by now, but delays in completing the plaques for the trophies and the printing of the souvenir photos of each of the cars has meant that I will not get them into the mail system until the end of this week. My apologies. I will let you know when the flock of carrier pigeons finally take flight.
Stewart
One of the major points of interest in a proxy race series – or points of contention, depending the fate of your car – is the variability of results at the different host tracks during the season. Sometimes it can seem like a bit of a lottery, but if you don’t like that kind of thing you should probably stick to racing your own car on your own track. This year, we had six different race winners across the two classes though the championship in GP1.5 was dominated by one car and in GP2.5 by a titanic struggle between two entrants. Those welcome surprise victories in both classes added some spice and uncertainty to the VRAA this year.
As you will know, an event like this cannot happen without the contributions of many enthusiastic participants. I would like to thank the eight race hosts for volunteering their tracks and many hours of their precious time to race (and sometimes repair) our cars, compile and report the results, take photos or video of the action for our viewing pleasure, and carefully re-pack and ship the cars onwards to the next host. Thanks are also due to the club members, friends, and family members of each race host who served as drivers, marshals and tech support to ensure that each race was completed in an efficient, fair and competitive manner. Finally, and not least, I wish to thank you the entrants of VRAA 2016. Some of you have been part of this proxy for several years. Your support, enthusiasm and scratchbuilding skills have kept alive what was always going to be a “boutique”, specialist proxy series. Congratulations and my thanks to you.
This was the tenth season of the VRAA Proxy for vintage Grand Prix Cars. I have participated in all of them, assisted as scorekeeper and race organizer for several years, and served as series director for the last three seasons. As most of you know, I have created another, one-off, proxy series for 1967 3-litre GP cars to be run this fall in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first Canadian F1 Grand Prix and in celebration Canada’s 150th birthday. Several VRAA entrants have entered a car, which greatly pleases me. For those who don’t know about it, more info can be found here:
f-one-thirty-two.proboards.com/thread/998/1967-gp-du-canada-rules
As that event will be scheduled in the same time frame as the VRAA traditionally runs, I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the required time and energy to do both. Therefore, I will not be organizing a VRAA Proxy in 2017. If my enthusiasm maintains and personal circumstances permit, perhaps I’ll return in 2018 with another proxy race for cars of the 50’s and/or the early 60’s, whether under the title of the VRAA or otherwise.
Finally, I had hoped to have your cars on the way back to you by now, but delays in completing the plaques for the trophies and the printing of the souvenir photos of each of the cars has meant that I will not get them into the mail system until the end of this week. My apologies. I will let you know when the flock of carrier pigeons finally take flight.
Stewart
