Race Report - Geoghegan Trophy 2018 (incoporating HSC Retro Series 2018 Rnd #5)

[Mark Fox]

Hi All

The 5th Round of HSC Retro Series for CanAm and F1 was held this past Saturday and incorporated the 2018 running of the Geoghegan Trophy race.

As defending champion I was keen to have a good crack at it and set off to the track early for some quick testing. I found that the track was in immaculate condition as James had cleaned and prepped the track earlier in the day and the hire car traffic had run the spray goo around perfectly.

My practice was spot on and I turned some of the quickest laps I have had for some time with best of 4.852 for the CanAm and 4.943 for the F1. Given that I had not seen a 4.8 for a long time and that the F1 time was the fastest lap ever recorded I was very happy and looked forward to the race with much optimism.

The pretty cars competition (AKA ‘Concours d’Elegance’) was won by Darryl for CanAm and Neil for F1 – both of these gents can paint up a real good looker.

CanAm

Qualifying

01-CA Qual.jpg (39.68 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

I easily TQ’d but had to struggle hard to just scrape under the 5 seconds as the track was just a little slower that a couple of hours previously – go figure but it does happen. Stoo just pipped Darryl for 2nd spot but some 2 tenths slower than TQ.

Racing

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I led all the way followed by Gregg T. Neil held down 3rd for most of the race but Darryl just slowly reeled him in to complete the podium. Stoo was also coming up on Neil in a classic pincer movement but Neil prevailed over a fast finishing Stoo to be some 7 seconds ahead on the Bell Lap.

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Podium Pose

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Cars in Finishing Order

Mark

05-IMG_1140.jpg (63.32 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

06-IMG_1141.jpg (75.72 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Gregg T

07-IMG_1150.jpg (69.99 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

08-IMG_1151.jpg (83.39 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Darryl
Winner ‘Concours d’Elegance’

09-IMG_1158.jpg (87.18 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

10-IMG_1159.jpg (73.18 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Neil
(for some reason I did not get shots of Neil’s car but I am sure this is the chassis he used)

11-IMG_1044.jpg (64.32 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Stoo

12-IMG_1146.jpg (70 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

13-IMG_1147.jpg (65.63 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

F1

Qualifying

14-F1 Qual.jpg (39.81 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Again TQ for me by 3 tenths (over Stoo in second again) but could not get under 5 secs so my dream of besting my track record by a considerable margin was but a pipe dream.

Racing

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Stoo took off fast and led by a few feet at the end of the first but then I pulled away to lead all the way and beat Stoo into 2nd by 6 laps.

Gregg was not far off Stoo and actually held 2nd for a couple of the middle brackets but Stoo finished over the top in the last three.

Both Darryl and Neil finished down the order and below their best on the day.

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My lap total of 268 equalled the record 3 min lap total which I have now done 3 times – so close to a new laps record as my bell lap was only 1.081 secs so if I had been just that little bit further ahead at the bell I would have got the extra lap.

Podium Pose

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Cars in Finishing Order

Mark

18-IMG_1154.jpg (62.77 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

19-IMG_1155.jpg (68.37 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Stoo

20-IMG_1148.jpg (75.42 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

21-IMG_1149.jpg (69.67 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Gregg T

22-IMG_1152.jpg (70.4 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

23-IMG_1153.jpg (78.15 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Darryl

24-IMG_1162.jpg (80.06 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

25-IMG_1163.jpg (65.65 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Neil
Winner ‘Concours d’Elegance’

26-IMG_1144.jpg (68.09 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

27-IMG_1145.jpg (65.17 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Winners are Grinners

Mark
TQ CanAm and F1
Winner CanAm and F1

28-IMG_1177.jpg (113.67 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Gregg T
Second CanAm
Third F1

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Darryl
Third CanAm
Winner ‘Concours d’Elegance’ CanAm

30-IMG_1173.jpg (103.84 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Stoo
Second F1

31-IMG_1181.jpg (113.14 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Neil
Winner ‘Concours d’Elegance’ F1

32-IMG_1178.jpg (106.28 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

Winner of the Geoghegan Trophy 2018

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Special thanks to James for the fabulous track preparation and for sponsoring the race which is one of the oldest Trophy Races in Australia going back to the 1960’s.

More special thanks to Gregg Erskine who volunteered as marshal and along with James and his track call clicker allowed us to have a meaningful race with limited entries.

Reminder that the round at HSC is on the Big Track and will be for Coupes and F1.

[neiljb]

Thanks Mark,
Yes for a time I thought I might make the podium, but only just hung onto 4th in CanAm. F1, well I will just block out the memory.
I have two Warmack chassis. One I purchased from Wayne as a complete car and Peter Daniels rebuilt for me. The other I built myself. I usually run Wayne more often. But he was a little bent out of shape after the Luddenham 4 hour. So my version got a run. The picture is of Wayne, but for the report, from the bottom they are virtually the same. Only a father can spot the differences (even though Wayne is adopted)
I suffer from the frustration of building new chassis only to discover they are not faster than the aging Warmacks. I notice Daryl seems to run a favourite chassis and Stoo refers to 'old faithful', so is just me?
Neil