JohnP
Masten Gregory
Posts: 14
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Post by JohnP on Oct 16, 2014 5:10:58 GMT -5
Well, the festivities are off to a flying start at the Valley Raceway! Following a little TLC, the cars went out on track for the pre-qualifying warm up: Having established that all the cars were running smoothly, practice got under way. Cars ran in Round 2 reverse finishing order and were timed over a one minute run, the fastest single lap counting as the qualifying time. A special thanks must go to Bryan King here for prepping the braids and tyres before each car went out on track. This is how they line up for Sunday's race: So, as was the case last year we will have a Matra and a BRM on the front row. Taffy's Matra was the class of the field shaving 0.03s off last year's pole time. Bryan's car wasn't far off the pace but seemed to lose power a couple of times under acceleration down the main straight. A concern come race day perhaps... Next up was Phil's very well mannered Shannon... ...joined on row 2 by Tony's Lotus running much more smoothly than last year. The lap times are very close amongst the pursuing pack with some cars separated by just thousandths of a second. A big winner on the day was Stewart's Ferrari which following a 15th place finish at Pendle demonstrated a return to form by qualifying in 7th slot. However, top honours amongst the scarlet cars went to Mark, pictured below having the body checked over before taking to the track. So, it looks like we will be in for some close racing this Sunday. The models all look wonderful and as a further testament to just how much standards have risen even the slowest car on the grid would have qualified in 4th place just a year ago! Roll on race day, things are looking very good for that man on pole...
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Post by David Lawson on Oct 16, 2014 9:58:24 GMT -5
Thanks John for the practice report and excellent photographs.
What a close set of times and this weekend's race should be very interesting, the cars will be in good hands with you and Bryan.
David
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Post by Mark Huber on Oct 16, 2014 10:21:06 GMT -5
This is how they line up for Sunday's race: Wow! There is only .22 of a second separating the number two through number fifteen. So quite a bit could happen to change the finishing order. On the other hand, Taffy's Matra looks quite formidable--yet again. Those are gorgeous pictures of your raceway, John. Many thanks.
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Post by Taffy on Oct 16, 2014 11:31:24 GMT -5
Hello, John, thank you for the nice pictures and for the qualifying results! Taffy's Matra was the class of the field shaving 0.03s off last year's pole time. I would be a liar, if I would say, that this makes me unhappy.... Again a very close field. This promises to become a hard competition. Gentlemen, have lots of fun racing theses cars!
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Post by Mark Huber on Oct 16, 2014 12:45:32 GMT -5
FYI here are the qualifying times for last year's grid (just ten cars) at Valley Raceway As John noted, the cars are certainly quicker this year.
1. Matra-Ford #6 3.097 Chris Walker's car 2. BRM #1 3.262 Taffy Ulrich's car 3. Eagle-Weslake #36 3.374 Alan Schwartz's car 4. Cooper-BRM #7 3.551 David Lawson's car 5. Cooper-Maserati#8 3.564 Charles Lawrence's car 6. Brabham-Repco #19 3.580 Mel Ault's car 7. Lotus-Ford #9 3.593 Tony Condon's car 8. Lotus-BRM #14 3.690 Mark Huber's car 9. Ferrari #20 3.705 Nigel McKeone's car 10. BRM #17 3.795 Dave Jones' car
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Post by old23 on Oct 16, 2014 21:34:24 GMT -5
Lovely picture of my Ferrari #20. Thanks! Might we have some wider photos of the circuit as well?
It's good to see my car qualify in the top 10 again, though the times are so close that it could as easily finish the race in 18th as on the podium. I hope on race day the drivers find it a forgiving car to drive.
Stewart
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Post by Dave Wisdom on Oct 17, 2014 1:49:13 GMT -5
Marvellous photos John. The track and cars look superb and the race will be fascinating with such close practice times.
Dave
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JohnP
Masten Gregory
Posts: 14
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Post by JohnP on Oct 19, 2014 14:07:52 GMT -5
I know some of you will be keen to know how the race went today so this is a quick post with the provisional results: Reliability was very good and there were no failures amongst the cars. However, there were a few upsets. In particular, a loss of grip affected most of the cars running in the later heats (essentially the top 10 cars on the grid) with some losing out more than others, Marks 5th place qualifying Ferrari for example. Full report to follow but, in the meantime, a special thanks to visiting drivers Dave Jones, Paul Cash and Bryan King for helping out on the day. And of course, congratulations to Taffy on taking the win, also posting a fastest lap of 3.090s.
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Post by Mark Huber on Oct 19, 2014 14:51:53 GMT -5
John, Many thanks to you and your crew of drivers, Dave, Paul and Bryan. We appreciate all you did to make Race 3 at the Valley Raceway a great success. Thank you for posting the results so promptly. Congratulations to Taffy, Alan/Stu and Bryan for Gold, Silver and Bronze. Taffy's lead in the series is impressive, and barring some racing misfortune, Herr Dr. Ulrich looks to have the best chance of sporting #1 yet again next season. Running later in the heats certainly didn't adversely affect the green Matra. Byran has a solid overall second placing in the series with another podium finish. Phil is in third with his consistent Shannon. By virtue of their second place finish at Valley Raceway, Alan and Stu's Brabham BT19 moved up to tie Tony's Lotus 49B for fourth place in the overall standings. The final race will be at Pete Shepherd's Cuckoo Pines track after which Concours results will also be tabulated. I must admit my spirits sank as I went further and further down the chart before I saw where my Ferrari finished. I was suffering from euphoria after qualifying, but my red car returned more to the form of Race One. (sadly for me). We will look forward to the full race report when you have the time. Thank you again!
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Post by Stubbo on Oct 19, 2014 18:27:05 GMT -5
Now this is a very pleasing result.
Thanks to John and the gang for running the round.
Congrats to Taffy and Bryan.
That Matra sure seems to be one quick car.
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Post by slo on Oct 20, 2014 5:55:48 GMT -5
Thanks John, all the drivers and all involved in the running of the round. Chuffed to see our Team Brabham do so well, Thanks guys. Jackies' Matra is in a league of its own, congratulations Taffy and Bryan.
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Post by Taffy on Oct 20, 2014 11:03:52 GMT -5
John, by posting the results yesterday evening, you have saved my weekend! I did read it, but sorry, I was too tired to response (even if the 1rst place did electricise me!)... So let me say thank you to you for all your efforts, and thank you to the drivers crew, too! Congratulations to Alan and Bryan, it feels good to be on the podium, eh? I´m looking forward to seeing the pictures of the event and reading the race report... ..and... I like the MAN-tractor
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Post by Taffy on Oct 20, 2014 11:07:24 GMT -5
..and... I like the MAN-tractor The fastest lap of the Matra wasn´t done on this trailer, I suppose...
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JohnP
Masten Gregory
Posts: 14
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Post by JohnP on Oct 20, 2014 11:29:28 GMT -5
Round 3. The Valley Raceway - Race Report
With twice as many runners as last year we found ourselves with 40 heats and a busy day's schedule ahead of us. Each of the four drivers: Dave Jones, Paul Cash, Bryan King and myself drove every car once with the slower qualifiers going out on track first. The main event got underway with Matt's beautifully modelled Honda and Ross' nippy Lotus 49 taking to the grid. The Honda was very stable but was outpaced by the red, white and gold Lotus punching well above its qualifying weight in the heats. Next on track were Ric's Eagle and Marc's Lotus. Both cars had a fair turn of speed but were overgeared for the track and consequently a little twitchy to drive. Nigel's balsa bodied Honda and Chris' Eagle both drove well and provided some very close racing - one of the heats ending in a dead heat. Great stuff! Charles' Cooper and Mel's Brabham faired well improving on their qualifying times to finish 8th and 7th overall respectively. Next up, another Cooper and Brabham pairing this time David's no.19 and Thomas' no.8. Again, both cars ran well. With the first ten cars having run, attention turned to the top ten qualifiers. The first round of heats for these cars seemed to go pretty much to plan with Taffy turning in fastest lap of the race (as we suspected he might!) with 3.090s and Bryan close on his tail with lap times just a few hundredths off. However, on it's second outing my own BRM lost all grip. Needless to say, being on my own tyres on my own car on my own track this was slightly embarrassing! Oh well. Not much more was thought of this until two heats later when Mark's Ferrari came out on track (on the other lane I would add) and did pretty much the same slithery thing! Clearly the grip had deteriorated and although some cars were affected more than others most struggled to improve their times in subsequent runs. Even Taffy's Matra couldn't get close to his opening time. So, there were winners and losers partly as a result of the changing track conditions but of course that's all part of the spice of racing! Here are some more images to round off the report. Dave's lovely McLaren exits the esses: Stewart's Ferrari crests the hill on the main straight: David's Cooper-BRM just keeps on going; after two years racing it doesn't have a scratch on it! Runner up Alan and Stu's Brabham was smooth and described by Paul Cash as a "joy to drive": Great build guys! Phil's Shannon ran like a train - albeit a fast one! Tony's Lotus was very quick but a bit of a handful on the twisty track: Well, that's it then! Congrats to the podium finishers... ...a big thanks to the drivers, organisors and entrants (you know who you are!) and we can now all look forward to the Championship finale at Pete's Cuckoo Pines track... Kind regards, John
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JohnP
Masten Gregory
Posts: 14
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Post by JohnP on Oct 20, 2014 11:56:21 GMT -5
The fastest lap of the Matra wasn´t done on this trailer, I suppose... Yes it was Taffy Perhaps it was tractor oil that caused the track to become slippery
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