The SCHORC 2014 Season kicked off with 9 racers on the grid in the Yelling for F1 Tyco and Modified classes. With both classes reduced from 12 to 6 rounds this season for the first time, it was time to get out on track and start bagging points.
The Track
Tony had laid out a long and fast track to start the season with a couple of very long straights and a nice mixture of bends in between.
F1
Qualifying
Paul Rose took the first F1 pole of the season by 1.6 laps from John. John’s car had monster straight line speed but looked a bit of handful in the bends. Nick lined up third just half a lap ahead of Roy who was a lap ahead of Al. Paul Homewood was just 0.2 laps behind Al but 0.9 laps ahead of Tony. Craig lined up 8th ahead of Steve who completed the grid.
C Final
Craig held the early lead from the red lane, following offs for Tony in white and Steve in blue. Finding himself last and unsatisfied with his car Tony retired before hunting out another car to complete the race. Craig went on to take the win from Steve by just over a lap.
B Final
A good start by Paul Homewood in red saw him hold the early lead from Al in white. Roy in Blue was keeping pace with them early on until an off dropped him back a bit. However a crash on lap 11 sent Paul down to second and left him back with Roy and only just ahead of Craig who had been lagging behind following an early off from the yellow lane. Al held the lead to the end and was surprised to find Roy just a single tenth behind him after a concerted charge through the second half of the race. Paul finished a lap and half behind Roy and a few laps ahead of Craig.
A Final
The tricky hop up yellow lane quickly got the better of Al and left him trailing in fourth. Up front there wasn’t much separating Paul Rose in blue, Nick in red and John in white. John undoubtedly had the fastest car and set the fastest F1 lap of the evening by nearly a quarter of a second. However a series of off track excursions saw him drop steadily back. An off for Nick then left Paul with a good cushion that he was able to manage for the remainder of the race. Behind him the mid-race threeway squabble for second was won by Nick who then nibbled away at Paul’s lead but ended up finishing just over a lap down. Al looked pleased with the bottom step on the podium and John seemed happy enough with fourth, his highest F1 finish to date.
Mod
Qualifying
With the Tycos safely back in the boxes, it was time to break out the Mods. Al didn’t seem very happy with his driving and seemed to be throwing the car off the track more than usual. Despite this he just managed to pip a more composed looking Nick to pole position by three tenths of a lap. Paul Homewood lined up third on the grid followed by John and his Lifelike T. Roy and his SRT took fifth ahead of Craig, Tony and Steve. Paul Rose found himself at the back of the grid after enduring a pretty miserable qualifying session. He suffered throughout with reliability issues that were only traced to a failing controller wire as he made his way to the grid for the C final.
C Final
With a borrowed controller, Paul Rose took a pretty straightforward victory in the C Final. Steve finished behind him and ahead of his brother Tony who wasn’t feeling quite himself or racing with his usual flair.
B Final
John seemed very comfortable with his Lifelike in the blue lane and drove a perfect race to take the B final win by 3 laps. An early off from yellow for Paul Rose left him with it all to do but he managed to fight his way back up to claim second. Craig in white kept pace with John early on before a series of crashes put him right back. Towards the end of the race he pulled back some time on Paul and finished third half a lap behind him. Roy also kept with John early on from the red lane before dropping back and eventually finishing fourth.
A Final
Based on qualifying it looked the A final was going to be a two way fight between Al in blue and Nick in white. Indeed the start of the race saw very little separating their cars as they pulled away from Paul Homewood in red and John in yellow. Al breathed a visible sigh of relief when Nick came off 40 seconds in to the race. Al had probably been fearing a repeat of the previous month’s A final when they were neck and neck for almost the entire final with Nick coming out on top in the final seconds… A couple more offs for Nick gave John in third the sight of second place, and a couple of offs for Al kept Nick within striking distance for the lead, but in the end the running order didn’t change again. Al took the win by just over a lap from Nick, with John third taking his best mod result to date. Paul Homewood rolled in fourth not looking massively pleased and puzzling over the problem of revitalising his slightly off the boil mod.
Thanks to Tony for setting up and thanks to all who attended.
Next month Micro Scalextric Club Class and Super F1…