Round 1 - Pinewood Raceway - Sept 2016
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You can find more pictures of the event in our Facebook photo album CLICKING HERE.
Race report - By Marc Townsend
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Formula HO
Season Two of The HO Racing league began at the familiar Berkshire venue of Pinewood, however track builder Andy Whorton served up a twist on the usual four and six lane layouts, well known from the six hour and Grand Prix events over the years. Still atop the awesome 1/24 raceway of the hosts but more faithful to the actual raceway itself, the track drove and particularly raced really well. There were to be new formats and classes in the afternoon but the morning kicked off with the regular Open Wheel format now renamed Formula HO. In an 18 car field devoid of both the reigning overall and junior champions there were surprises aplenty as qualifying saw great speed and consistency from the likes of Beth Whorton and Alan Twiddy. Both ripping up the form book as top junior and A final qualifier respectively, HONK supremo James Saunders must have been pleased with out qualifying Clive Harland by one place too, the former champion making the full time switch to an MG+ and taking the pain at the start of the development curve. Others well out of place were Nick and Ash, the duo from club champions Larkfield not looking themselves at all, leaving summer signing Deane Walpole as their top qualifier in fourth. One place back was SCHORC racer Alan Wood in a very competitive 5th while FLBT's Alan Twiddy finally reaped deserved reward for his meticulous car preparation by straight qualifying for the A as his clubs top representative. On top of the nationwide social media buzz regarding the successful move to Sunday club races HONK were making waves at the top of the time sheets too. Tony Baldock, mightily impressive as ever, had to give way to Tony Mills starting the season with an incredible display netting fastest lap and two top heat scores. With the other Tony acing the other two lanes and posting a best attempt just 1/10th later across the stripe the A final was likely to be one to savour. |
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It was a great day for the ladies with Beth not only vanquishing her elder brother but twice her age Louis too and Carol providing certainly the photo of the day as she unashamedly and deservedly celebrated beating son Callum in a final that included a previous A final winner. Others to improve on qualifying included birthday boy and regular top ten fixture Dave Hannington in 7th, Al Wood in 5th and after a couple of years free from the burden of administrating a championship a seriously back on form Deane Walpole. At the top Tony M managed to take another two tenths off an already incredible fastest lap time and despite getting lane selection strategy spot on and producing a score that would have beaten anybody else on any other lane it was Tony B who set a best lap just Eight hundredths down and the best score of the day at precisely the right time. It was a privilege to watch from race control, congratulations to both.
AFX Le Mans Renamed to reflect the eligibility of cars from multiple eras the only other toy class saw a pleasingly eclectic grid of all four eligible chassis and four of the five eligible bodies, only the AFX Toyota missing on this occasion. The times when it was just a matter of putting an LMP body on your Champ Car chassis long gone, both in the name of competitiveness and in one unfortunate case actually getting round the track, an open wheel optimised ride height proving too much of a liberty for the increased front overhang of the Peugeot 908. With Tony B having to withdraw for the above reason and such as Tony M and Al Twiddy suffering from the change in dynamics it was time for others to shine. Beth in 12th again proving the highlight of the bottom half of the results sheet. Mark Bailey finished an impressive 6th, quite fitting for a man whose incredible 1/1 racing CV includes World Sportscar Championship class pole sitting constructor as well as F3 championship winning driver then team principle in three different decades, oh and did I mention Formula E race winning gearbox manufacturer!! One exceptional heat score each saw Clive Harland and Nick O'Gorman claim much more familiar positions of 5th and 4th while the increasingly impressive Alan Wood comfortably taking best of the rest. |
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Deane Walpole, back to his best, testing the rule makers and troubling the top of the time sheets matched the top scores in two lanes and scoring a lane and class best in Red it was the white lane that was to decide the outcome with an incredibly fast Andy Whorton setting a different class score to go with his fastest lap award which paired with devastating speed in all four lanes led to a much deserved victory. Sports Prototype The first of the new for this season hobby classes saw lexan bodied VSR V1's with Pro 4 magnets take on grandfathered Super G's also running lexan shells competing in a breathtaking rapid fire segmented format. Whether inspired or motivated by his sisters performance earlier in the day Josh Whorton finished an incredible 9th. With single lap pace that indicated a top five was possible Callum Norris was unfortunately hit hardest with new class blues, troubled runs in three lanes and a disastrous in segmented racing no score in white. Callum I’m sure will be a contender in a class with similar speeds to the Mod and GT classes at which he has excelled. Clive Harland also set a decent best lap but former Wizzard er Wizzard could only manage 8th. Ash Melvile began to turn his day around with a solid 7th and but for a troubled run in Blue looked set to finish as high as fourth. Tony Mills was again fast particularly in Yellow while former EAHORC Pro Mod champion Marc Townsend was revelling in the pace of the similarly quick Vipers finishing just Six tenths of a lap up in 3rd. Dave Hannington continued his birthday celebrations with an excellent 2nd. It was Tony Baldock at the front however setting a score a massive SIX laps ahead of his nearest rival. To put that in perspective, it was the same as the difference between 2nd and 12th! |
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GT Jet Rounding off the day was the much anticipated debut of the V-Jets. Using brass weights instead of traction magnets and topped with the UK made Razorlight modern GT bodies. There was as much anticipation of how the cars might look as how they would perform. This time it was Louis turn to take junior honours, his cautious approach prevailing with these very different cars. Moving in the opposite direction were Andy W, Dave H and Alan T. Callum came home 11th again setting promising lap times, Mark Bailey 10th after a tough run on yellow despite front running pace on the other lanes. Jim 9th and Ash 8th were rewarded for consistent runs. Clive was top of the steady runners in 5th. Marc in 4th was the opposite, race winning pace in red and white but inexplicably matched or beaten by his 15th place finishing son in blue and yellow. Al Wood set the fastest lap on his way to 3rd just 1/100th down on Deane. Tony B set 8 lap heats in two lanes, one of only four drivers to do so and his other two lanes were in the sevens so the combination of maxing the good runs and minimising the losses in the others saw the driver of the day take the win by three laps. Concours New for this year and aimed at encouraging some nice lexans a concours competition was a fun addition to proceedings. It was no surprise that three of Alan Twiddys beautiful creations took the honour, his beautiful AFX Jaguar probably the best HO repaint I’ve ever seen. Clive and Louis tied in the Sports Prototype category. |
The Winners for the day were:
Formula HO: Tony Baldock
AFX Le Mans: Andy Whorton
Sports Prototype: Tony Baldock
GT Jet: Tony Baldock
Top Junior: Bethany W
Concours Winners: Alan Twiddy, Clive and Louis.
Many thanks to Pinewood Raceway for letting use their fabulous facilities again.
Thanks also go to Barry at Slot Cars Direct for sorting out a group deal on the new Viper Cars for the 2 new classes.
Many thanks to Pinewood Raceway for letting use their fabulous facilities again.
Thanks also go to Barry at Slot Cars Direct for sorting out a group deal on the new Viper Cars for the 2 new classes.
RESULTS:
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Formula HO (F1 / Champ Car type cars)
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Open Wheel race results. Click to get a bigger image. Excel Spreadsheet Below.
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Tony Baldock - Formula HO, Sports Prototype and GT Jet
Winner
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AFX Le Mans (AFX Mega G Chassis - LMP and Grp C Bodies)
PM Results. Click to get a bigger image. Excel Spreadsheet Below
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Andy Whorton - AFX Le Mans Winner
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Sports Prototype (VSR Viper / Super G+)
PRO-MOD Results. Click to get a bigger image. Excel Spreadsheet Below.
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Al Twiddy - Concours Winner
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GT Jet (VSR Viper Jet with Brass weights)
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Downloads and Finals Charts
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