THE RACE (at last!)The race was run in a series of 3 car heats commencing with the slowest qualifiers and working forward to the front row of the grid. The Series Rules call for a minimum running time of 12 minutes per car, which meant 4 minutes on each of the 3 lanes at Canfield Green. In deference to the seniority of the drivers, it was decided that we would race 2 minute heats of all run groups and then, after a short break, repeat the process.
I took my place at the driver station, sandwiched between Lloyd and Kevin. Bob manned the race control and kept the lap chart. As there were only the four of us present, all de-slots were handled with power-off and time-suspended “track calls” with Bob hitting the big red button.
A word on the subject of “track calls”: While this practise has the advantage of reducing the likelihood of damages caused by one car hitting another as it sits stranded across its lane, there are also some negative implications. If one car is particularly difficult to drive, say it wants to tip out of the slot or it lacks grip resulting in a few minor offs, the lap counts of the other two cars will also suffer from the loss of rhythm and flow caused by the stops and starts. So there’s an element of chance at work here.
Race Group 1 consisted of David’s Ferrari, Peter’s Lotus and my Brabham.
The back of the grid trio all suffered from some limitations in cornering speed. None of these cars has the grip of the front line competitors. The Lotus suffered some instability due to a twist in the front axle mount. The Ferrari popped out of the slot at least once due to its restricted guide rotation. The Brabham was stable but ponderous, probably due to its excess weight. The drivers were more successful in coming to terms with the latter two cars, especially the Brabham, in the second set of heats. Perhaps the grip improved just enough to give some confidence at the controls?
Race Group 2 included Dale’s Eagle, Andi’s Eagle and Richard’s Cooper.
The #6 Eagle, with its mild motor, lacked some speed on the two straights here. Otherwise it was stable and a pleasure to drive. The other two cars didn’t have any particular vices, in my memory, but seemed to lack the acceleration exiting the corners of some of the faster cars. The Cooper was the only car that failed to improve on its Qualy time during the Race Heats.
Race Group 3 was Thomas’s Lola, Brian’s BRM and Val’s McLaren.
The BRM is a momentum car. Though a bit lacking in top speed, it was stable, smooth and inspired confidence. The McLaren was a revelation for a Scalextric chassis car, far better than the other two in the race. It sits a bit high but handles well. The Lola really came into its own at Canfield Green. The 25K motor powered it down the straights yet the brakes were there to haul it in before the corners. Despite their differences, we had a great battle in one of the heats that ended with all three cars on the same tenth of a lap.
Race Group 4 consisted of Martini’s Eagle, Marc’s McLaren and Terry’s Honda.
The McLaren was a very different drive than the other two. While the Eagle and Honda were solid, predictable and easy to drive near the limit, the McLaren was constantly on edge in the corners and explosive on the throttle. The lightest car in the field, which may explain the dynamic, it logged the fastest race lap of these three while making you work hard for it.
Race Group 5 was the local favourite Honda from Bob, Chris Walker’s Lotus and the pole-sitter Ferrari from Marek.
The story of this group was the red-rocket-without-brakes Ferrari, which caught out all three drivers at some point of the proceedings. We managed to launch it over the wall and onto the floor twice at the hairpin, fortunately with no damage to the car. It was able to achieve the second fastest overall race lap and log one of the very few 14-plus heat lap counts, but the dynamics of the car were just not conducive to consistent good results. Bob’s Honda was fast enough but suffered one bad heat that sent it down the final order. Chris’s Lotus was easy to drive and very quick, a potent combination that resulted in the fastest race lap and a dominant win.
Here are the Final Race Results:
The Podium Ceremony:
Congratulations to Chris, Terry and Thomas for their podium-winning results!
While the #4 Lotus finished confortably ahead, the rest of the order was very tight indeed with less than a lap separating Terry’s Honda in 2nd from Martini’s Eagle in 5th place.
Close racing, a beautiful track, good companions, and lots of laughs – what more can one ask for? My heartfelt thanks to Bob and his buddies, Lloyd and Kevin, for making this round a success and my visit to Canfield Green such a great pleasure!
Stewart