Whilst the numbers were perhaps slightly lower than expected and some racers that in theory were or should have been racing were missing, we did have a couple of unexpected entrants, that once again made for both an exciting, exhilarating and ofcourse (as always) a Fun and enjoyable evening's racing,.. (although perhaps somewhat disappointing for myself and My 'Performance' or Lack thereof).
With all the recent talk of Lap Totals, both theoretically Possible AND actual,.. as will be seen below,.. the 'Talk' seems to have been turned into Reality,.. well, at least by one Particular person,.. lol and the 'Event' as such, could perhaps have been better described as the 'CODY' Nat's !!,.. LOL
Most of the 'Usual Suspects' were present, along with the more recent return of Both Cody and Wayne Bramble and leading upto the event it became understood that the two 'other' recent Converts to all things Retro, (being Jason and Ben), were also intending to have a 'run' and as the action and 'Preparation' in the Pits got underway, another Long time unseen racer Bob also walked through the door, which was great, as we haven't seen Bob for some time, having been a regular during the era of Raceworld's existence.
Whilst preparing my own cars for the event, I received a 'txt' from Cody asking if I might have a couple of 'Loaners' for the evening for Ben, which I did happen to have available (although I had thought he may have had his own cars after noticing a couple of very Ben specific posts over on SlotBlog !!,.. lol (will be interesting to see how his soon to arrive New Cars perform in the upcoming rounds).
Jason had also borrowed some cars from Gregg Teagle, but also had the choice of a couple of 'typically' Very good cars made available to him by Darryl Toole, so he was in effect somewhat "Spoiled for Choice" lol
Wish I could have said similar of my own cars,... thinking (initially) that I may have cured/improved the somewhat Errant and erratic performance of my New CanAm chassis,.. (sadly as it will be seen, was NOT the case), but was also rather disappointed in my Own Driving and overall speed on the night,.. especially compared to even just a week ago,.. sigh,.. Oh Well,..hopefully things will improve, as I have to say it Is rather disappointing (after all these years), to have built Such a DUD of a car !!,.. lol,.... anyway,.. enough of the Personal depression Moaning,...
After the Previous Week's performances by Cody, Mark, myself and others, we Were actually expecting the evening to provide some pretty Hot action and as practice proceeded, it certainly looked that way and Was made Very Clear to us all during Qualifying !!
CanAm
Qualifying
- Can Am Qual' sheet
- Results.jpg (99.98 KiB) Viewed 7281 times
Strangely perhaps, even Beating Mark Fox who would have to be one of the Best Qualifiers I have ever raced with/against !!,.. Mark proving to be Close but Just Not able to 'Dip' into the 4.7's as Cody had.
His Best time of 4.7534, being the Fastest time ever set around this track in the 10 years we have been running Retro's and we are and have been running at a Lower voltage than we used to when we first started racing them !! So truly an impressive performance.
Surprise of the evening though was perhaps Jason, who now armed with cars provided by Darryl, also managed to turn a Brace of Sub 5 second laps to qualify 3rd !! a Very Impressive performance, to say the least.
I think Ben also did a reasonable Job, using My 'Old Faithful', turning in times virtually identical to mine with my 'Piece Of Shite' New car,.. sigh,.. lol
So with Cody 'suggesting' Such inherent Speed, the Race should (in theory) be a rather interesting one,.. and as can be seen below,.. so proved to be,..
A 'Vote' was taken Prior to the start of racing to decide How the races were to be assigned (Entrants /Qualifying wise) and so, 2 x Races were to be held, with the first race for the Slower Qualifiers and the 2nd race for the faster Qualifiers.
Personally Not So sure this was the Best Idea or methodology, but I guess at least 'avoided' the theoretical possibility of people (who thought they may have had a chance at Winning), having their race ruined by being in the 'Wrong Race' as such and I guess did allow for cars/racers of similar performance on the evening to Race together,.. although, with perhaps reference to my Own performance compared to say Darryl, Our positions could/should have been reversed !!?? as knowing How Darryl races am Sure he would have 'Risen to the occasion', let alone his resultant Lap Totals anyway,.. compared to Mine,... but,.. I digress,...
Race 1
Here we had Darryl, Neil, Ben and Bob lining up to take the Start.
As can be seen from the Results, this race was (in effect) a rather One Sided "Darryl Show" !!,.. lol, although with the recently Much Improved performances of Neil (he setting a New PB of 170 laps in the last Championship round the week before !!), a good race developed between himself and Ben,.. slowly getting to Grips with both My Car and the conditions on the Night on this Always somewhat tricky and difficult track.
Darryl managed to consistently and progressively 'Creep' away from the rest of the field, turning some very good individual Lap Totals across the lanes with his worst being a 31,.. on Black !!
Neil and Ben had a pretty good run really, with Neil slowly getting the upper hand over an ever chasing Ben. The two of them also turning some good totals, although perhaps with a different body, my car may have performed a bit better ??
Bob to be honest, did a pretty good job 'bringing up the rear,.. especially considering the time he has been absent from racing (in general), let alone his overall lack of experience on this track !!
Once again, conditions Were Good (as they invariably always are), if but perhaps a Bit More 'Stuck' than has been the 'Norm' of recent times,.. with arguably the changing weather conditions perhaps adding to the Increased Grip on the night.
- CanAm Race 1.
Ben, Darryl, Neil and Bob - 20180811_181759.jpg (121.56 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- Race 1 start line.
L to R; Bob, Neil, Darryl and Ben - 20180811_181725.jpg (203.25 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- CanAm Race 1 results
- Results 006.jpg (182.93 KiB) Viewed 7269 times
Well,.. What a Race this proved to be !!!
After All the recent talk of 190 laps etc,..
(Missed by only 1 Lap by Cody in the previous week's F1 race),.. it is perhaps interesting to consider his resultant lap totals in Both races this evening !! but More on that later.Here we had Mark, Cody & Wayne, Jason and myself taking the Start.
Discounting my own 'presence and performance' in this race,.. what a "Cracking Pace" it was that was happening all around me for the Whole race !!
From the 'Get Go', Cody was Off like a rocket and basically Never Looked back turning some truly awesome and impressive Lap Times AND Totals on virtually Every Lane !!!
Not only did he manage to set a number of 36's, he also turned in 3 x 37 lap totals, with his worst being (perhaps strangely) on Purple but even that was a very credible 33 !!,.. lol
Lap times were also rather extraordinary, with Sub 5 second laps being turned on Every Lane Other than Purple and Black and in all honesty both the 5.1 and 5.2 set on those lanes is also pretty impressive,.. to say the least !!
Butts Kicked !!??,.. Hmmm,.. well with consideration of My own personal performance on the evening,.. MOST Definitely so !!,.. lol,.. it being I think My Own PB for the Least Number of laps I have Ever done in a Retro race !!,..
,.. sigh,.. lolWhilst Cody was steadily "Colouring himself Gone" up Front both the Pace AND the racing behind was also pretty damn fast and exciting, (excluding myself ofcourse,.. lol), with ALL of the Places (other than 5th / Last) changing on a number of occasions during the race, with Mark, Wayne and the Retro 'New Comer' Jason really slugging it out with each other.
It was in fact Not until after the 5th bracket, that there was realistically More than 1 or 2 laps (at Most), between all 3 of them, with both Mark and Jason finally managing to draw a few laps ahead of Wayne towards the end,.... BUT,... with Mark (having chosen to Start on Yellow,.. as is his want of late), it meant he was going to be finishing on Purple and Black and with Jason Now truly 'In the Groove' and finishing on Red and Green, he managed to go from a 'deficit' of 6 laps to Mark after the 6th bracket, to finishing 1 lap Up at the end !!
Now it Must also be 'Noted' that Neither of them were in Any way,.. merely Hanging around, as Both of them consistently turned laps in the Sub 5 second region, with in fact Jason's time of 5.086 on Purple, being the Best on that lane by anyone on the evening, including Cody !!!,.. Well Done Jason,.. all in all a Pretty Impressive performance,... I guess also proving that Darryl also builds a pretty damn good car as well,.. (Not that We didn't really Already Know that,.. lol).
Wayne drove 'typically' consistently and well, but was just ever so slightly Off the HOT Pace set by those ahead of him,.. Yet Well and truly Miles,... And Light Years Ahead of Myself,.. having (as suggested during the race) performing a Zen Effort in Frustration and Anger management,.. lol,.. merely 'tooling' around by myself trying my Best to keep this Very Unpredictable car Out of every one else's Way whilst trying to turn as many laps as I could Without de-slotting and ruining everyone's race,.. (which whilst Not really enjoying myself,.I think / Hope I Did manage to do,.. as best as I could !!,.. lol).
All in all,.. a VERY Worthy and Extremely Hot, Fast and Incredible Retro CanAm Nat's Race !! ...... AND,.. with reference to the Earlier 'Talk',.. if you "Do the Math's" as they say, can be seen that Cody DID Do the 'Suggested' 190 laps,.. had it been a 2 minute race !!!,.. but,.. more on that to come,..
- Race 1 start line.
L to R; Cody, Wayne, Jason, Mark and Stoo - 20180811_185915.jpg (210.8 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- The Winners.
L to R; Jason 2nd (Darryl 'Loaner'), Cody 1st and Mark 3rd - 20180811_194012.jpg (266.69 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- Jason's 'Darryl Loaner', Cody's Custom Modified Warmack and Mark's Chassis
- 20180811_194031.jpg (195.38 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- Mark's 3rd place CanAm chassis
- 20180811_194159.jpg (149.43 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- Jason's 2nd place chassis, built by Darryl
- 20180811_194250.jpg (171.68 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- Cody's Winning chassis, a Modified Warmack, built by Cody
- 20180811_194131.jpg (151.97 KiB) Viewed 7279 times
- CanAm Race 2 results
- Results 007.jpg (206.8 KiB) Viewed 7269 times
1st Cody 285 laps 2nd Jason 273 laps 3rd Mark 272 laps 4th Darryl 268 laps 5th Wayne 265 laps 6th Neil 253 laps 7th Ben 247 laps 8th Stoo 241 laps 9th Bob 219 lapsF1's
Qualifying
Once again we were able to observe and be entertained by another Mark v Cody 'tussle' for TQ, with once again, Cody managing to come out on top of a Hard trying Mark.
Whilst perhaps Not showing the Outright Speed & times exhibited in practice the week before, Cody's Brace of 4.8 second laps were pretty impressive none the less,.. with both Mark and Wayne B also managing to run Under the 5 second mark, ahead of myself and a Very Close Jason,.. once again showing not only His Skill as a driver, but also (as evidenced by the many close races Darryl and I have had in the past), the similarity of performance We have both enjoyed previously, thus showing once again that Darryl's cars are pretty damn good !!
Similarly to his CanAm performance, Darryl seemed perhaps strangely Off his usual pace and performance on the night, with Ben doing a pretty credible job getting his head around these F1's for the first time, with Both Bob and Neil simply turning a small number of laps to complete their qualifying 'obligations' as it were.
- F1 Qual' sheet
- Results 003.jpg (98.6 KiB) Viewed 7281 times
Similarly to the CanAm race, we had Darryl, Ben, Neil and Bob lining up for this race.
Whilst perhaps Not the Greatest F1 retro race ever held,.. lol,.. this Was at times a rather Close and interesting race between both Ben and Darryl, as with them both starting their races on the Harder / slower lanes, it proved to be a Very Close first few brackets, with Darryl holding only a slight 1 lap advantage over Ben, until the 3rd bracket, where Ben managed to advance to the Lead (if but a very slender one), with both himself and Darryl being on the Same laps until the end of the 5th bracket, when Darryl managed to get ahead by a lap and then slowly eeked out a couple more laps in the closing stages to finally end up Only 3 laps ahead of Ben at the end.
It was interesting as well to observe Ben getting his Act together with my Older F1 (which was always a rather good car) and managing to keep Darryl Very Honest for the whole race !! With a bit more practice and tuning (perhaps with the centre weight re-fitted), it may have been even closer !!
Neil and Bob were sort of having their own race, a number of laps down on the front two, although not really at the same pace, but I think it must be said that Bob did a pretty good job, having so little experience with both this track and especially F1's and I think with comparison to his CanAm cars, Neil perhaps just needs to Sort out and get his F1 working a bit better,...
- F1 Race 2 Podium cars L to R;
Ben's (Stoo Loaner), Darryl and Neil - 20180811_204837.jpg (181.55 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- F1 Race 2 Chassis L to R;
Ben's (Stoo Loaner), Darryl and Neil - 20180811_204905.jpg (166.64 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- F1 Race 1 Results
- Results 008.jpg (179.48 KiB) Viewed 7269 times
Also, as before, here we had Mark, Cody & Wayne, Jason and myself taking the start.
In a performance all too similar to his "Colour me Gone" style exhibited in the CanAm race, this was once again another All singing all dancing Cody show and in fact was perhaps even More impressive, as the winning 'Margin' over Mark, was 16 laps !! compared to only the 12 achieved in the CanAm race !!!!
Cody, once again set an absolutely Cracking pace and (as can be seen from the race sheets and resultant lap totals and times managed an almost Identical performance in Both of his Dominant and Winning races,.. managing to turn Exactly the Same number of laps in F1 as in CanAm and thus Again managing, to turn the suggested 190 laps had it also been a 2 minute race !!
Also in a similar way to the previous CanAm race, this was also Not a boring race by Any means, as even My performance was somewhat better (although also Sadly Not managing to do as well as I had the previous week) but after having my Head 'done in' in the CanAm race, at least allowed me to feel Slightly better than I had up to that point !!,.. lol
Once again, Jason showed his 'Mettle' by continuing to challenge and give Mark a Very Hard Time for the Whole race and whilst always being a Only a Few laps behind Mark,.. the choice of once again starting on Yellow, meant Mark also Needed to maintain at least a Few laps advantage going into the last 2 x brackets to be able to stay ahead of a Very fast and consistent Jason, who was keeping Mark Very honest right up to the Final Lap !!,.. Mark eventually finishing Only 1 lap up on a Very Fast charging Jason, coming from 5 laps behind at the end of the 6th bracket !!
In reality, whilst actually doing quite good (Normal laps and totals), neither Wayne or I were really in Any way,.. 'In the Hunt' as such, with my own less than fantastic lap totals on Both Purple and Black letting me down (compared to Wayne), else We might actually have had a Much better / closer race with each other, as otherwise Our collective performances on the night, were very similar and from being at one stage 7 laps adrift of Wayne at the end of the 4th bracket, I managed to Claw my way back up to Only 3 laps behinds at the End, managing to turn some good totals in the last 3 brackets, with Both of us doing 35's on Orange (Wayne) and Green (Myself) in the last bracket.
So,.. once again an absolutely fantastic Race and performance By (Nearly All of us !!,.. lol) but especially Cody, along with Mark AND Jason, all doing Great times and totals in Both Classes !!
- F1 Race 2 Start line L to R;
Wayne, Cody, Stoo, Mark and Jason - 20180811_205242.jpg (183.6 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- F1 Podium Cars L to R;
Mark 2nd, Cody 1st and Jason 3rd - 20180811_213220.jpg (171.8 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- F1 Podium Chassis L to R;
Mark's, Cody's (built by Tommy Flythe) and Jason's (built by Darryl) - 20180811_213246.jpg (200.05 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- Jason's 3rd place chassis, built by Darryl Toole
- 20180811_213336.jpg (155.33 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- Mark Fox's 2nd place chassis built by himself
- 20180811_213841.jpg (160.98 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- Cody's Winning F1 Chassis, built by Tommy Flythe
- 20180811_213931.jpg (159.4 KiB) Viewed 7278 times
- F1 Race 2 Results
- Results 009.jpg (205.11 KiB) Viewed 7269 times
1st Cody 285 laps 2nd Mark 269 laps 3rd Jason 268 laps 4th Wayne 260 laps 5th Stoo 257 laps 6th Darryl 242 laps 7th Ben 239 laps 8th Neil 218 laps 9th Bob 207 laps2018 Retro Nat's Winners and Trophy's,.....
Concours in CanAm this time around went to Darryl, with This lovely 'Beastie'
- Darryl's Concours Winning CanAm car
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- Darryl Toole, with Concours Car & Trophy
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- Cody Bramble TQ in CanAm
- 20180811_213405.jpg (225.92 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- Mark Fox. 3rd Place CanAm
- 20180811_213455.jpg (235.71 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- An 'Apparently' Extremely Happy Jason Brooks 2nd CanAm
- 20180811_213515.jpg (155.5 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- Cody Bramble 2018 Retro CanAm Nat's Winner
- 20180811_213535.jpg (186.97 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- Neil Bolton's Concours Winning F1
- 20180811_204918.jpg (207.79 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- A very Happy Neil accepting his F1 Concours trophy
- 20180811_213601.jpg (226.17 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- Cody Bramble TQ in Retro F1
- 20180811_213615.jpg (193.43 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- Jason Brooks 3rd Retro F1
- 20180811_213632.jpg (186.66 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- Mark Fox 2nd Retro F1
- 20180811_213646.jpg (199.43 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
- Cody Bramble 2018 Retro F1 Winner
- 20180811_213731.jpg (191.22 KiB) Viewed 7272 times
Thanks to All those that turned up for what was as is So often the case just Another fantastic Retro Race and Arguably Very worthy of the title of "Retro Nat's",.. even if everyone was from NSW !!,.. lol
As suggested earlier, the Track was Once again very well prepared, although as also suggested may have been slightly More 'Stuck' than the previous week, to the point where one wonders had it been similar,.. what the overall outcome Might have been,.. ah but then other and different factors may have produced a Very Different race !!,..
Was also great to see both Ben and Jason seemingly enjoying themselves (although I'd Venture Jason possibly More so than Ben on this evening !!,.. lol See the Pics,.. )
Thanks also once again to James for his Ongoing Support for this wonderful and enjoyable Class of racing and for the Venue and track Prep by both himself and Joe as always and to Our Long time Old and good friend Greg for his assistance with Marshalling,.. I think once again,.. a Great time was had by All !!
