Once again,..this little group of Regular hardened Retro racers, had Another evening of really Great Racing.
I guess I was expecting there to be a few more 'runners' this evening, especially as Dale Was at the track when I arrived, but was apparently Not running !! ???? I thought from a conversation earlier in the week I had also expected Cody to be running, along with perhaps Daniel, who had mentioned at the ADC he was considering running in Retro again and ofcourse Mark Fox, who was still Not really feeling up to running, which was a shame,..but atleast we had a Full field of 8 cars in each class, (although young Stephanie decided eventually Not to run in F1).
CanAm
No Qualifying, just a 'Random' lane choice and Off we Went into the CanAm Race.
This was a Really Great and Very enjoyable race.
At times Very close and a race long fought battle for pretty much All the final positions,..Especially the Top Spot !!!
It has to be said, that Darryl Toole, apart from actually building his Own cars, has slowly, steadily and surely started to become a Very fast and Good racer! Of late, his performances have regularly earned him the odd place on the Podium and Last Night,..looked for Most of the race, to be possibly his first Win.
Although eventually Not to be,..it was,..especially for myself, a Very Enjoyable race and at times a Very Close fought thing.
For my part,..I Was feeling pretty good going into this race.
My regular, "old Faithful" CanAm chassis, IS handling Very Well and having done some Body and Tyre testing/Prep prior to the event, was feeling Well prepared, with an arguably Fast. Smooth and Stealthily Silent and Excellent handling car.
Starting on Black was I knew, going to be a bit Tricky and whilst I didn't end up with a Startling Lap total, I did OK with a 30, which left me in 6th at the end of the bracket.
Up Front, the aforementioned Darryl, had taken command of the Lead, with a very fine 33 on White, followed by 'Chuckie', James, Troy and Jake All on 31.
I managed to turn a 33 on Yellow in the 2nd bracket, moving me into 4th, along with James' 34 on blue moving into 2nd behind Darryl who was seemingly capably holding the lead. I managed to move into 2nd place in the 3rd bracket with 95 laps, Just ever so slightly ahead of James also on 95 with Charles 3rd on 94, with Darryl edging ahead on 98 laps.
At the end of the 4th bracket, most of the final placings had apparently sorted themselves out, but was eventually a question of Who and By How Much !!!,..lol
My 34 on White had certainly helped get a bit closer to Darryl, who was still Forgeing ahead on 131 against my 129 laps. James was holding 3rd, with Charles breathing down his neck both on 124, with Jake and Troy not Far behind on 122 laps, with Brad on 120 and Steph, perhaps let down by less than perfect runs on red and purple with 117.
Darryl continued to hold his 2 x lap lead over us until the end of the 6th bracket. he managed to turn a 31 on black, which was good and allowed him to stay well clear of James and Charles who were following along close behind in 3rd and 4th. I had an almost 'Dream Run' on Green, allowing me to turn a Very 'pleasing' 35, which put me in the lead, Just 2 laps up on Darryl.
The Gap slightly widened in the 7th bracket with (as I could tell from Darryl's frantic calls to have his car marshalled, was Not his Best bracket),..lol, but the tables were slightly reversed in the last bracket slightly, with a good 33 on Orange to finish, whilst I only managed a 31 on Purple. James and Charles, remained merely 2 laps apart for virtually the whole race and ended in the positions they had acquired early on.
Troy managing to pull a few laps up on Brad who was followed home by Jake and Steph who was Not having the Best of her driving evenings.
Overall, this was a Very enjoyable Race and a rather 'tough' chase to even Catch Darryl, let alone get ahead of him.
I was rather pleased with my driving on the night and would have been even happier with some better, perhaps less 'cautious' totals on Black and Purple.
Final Outcome;
1st Stoo 259 laps
2nd Darryl 255 laps
3rd James 252 laps
4th Charles 250 laps
5th Troy 246 laps
6th Brad 241 laps
7th Jake 240 laps
8th Steph' 229 laps
F1
After the CanAm race we were I guess probably expecting to have a good F1 race, but Boy was this a Close and fast one !!
I must say I'm a bit annoyed with myself, for Not turning a decent lap total on Black, to have allowed myself to finish Higher up the order, but probably like everyone else, thoroughly enjoyed the event anyway.
As a slight 'Aside', I have been contemplating making a couple of New chassis and in that regard, had been looking at my current and past cars and had taken the opportunity to add some lead to my First F1 chassis, to aid it's handling, (It was already a Good car, but felt it could be better) and so took it along to try.
As it turned out, Troy was Not completely Happy 'On the Night' with his other chassis (which I had built), which is considerably Lighter than My version, (I had Already suggested to him that it needed to be adjusted like My Own version of the same chassis) and after announcing that I had a Spare F1 if anyone Needed or Wanted to run it, they could.
So Troy 'took up the Offer' and decided he would run with My Older Car and eventually decided he really Liked it !!,..in Fact as will be seen below, he ended up doing quite well with it !!!! (driving it after the race I Too was pleased with it's Obvious Improved Handling Now that it had some good True Rear Tyres).
I think virtually everyone held almost Every position, (well Almost), possible during this event. Three different people held 1st place with the places from 2nd to 7th changing almost bracket by bracket.
Darryl looked initially to be attempting to repeat his previous CanAm performance and lead the first two brackets, but there was Only Two Laps across the Whole field.
By the end of the 4th bracket, Charles had Just managed to grab the lead (with what turned out to be Very Consistent Lap Totals in Every bracket) with 126 laps.
James, after having had 1st at the end of the previous bracket was now in 2nd Also on 126 laps.
Brad was in 3rd with 123 laps, with Troy, Darryl and Jake, ALL on 122 laps, with myself bringing up the rear after my Lousy run on Black, with 121 laps.
As the race progressed, the various places changed even more, with the exception of 1st, which was now being held Very steadily by Charles, who was having a very quiet and obviously Fast race and eventually putting a number of laps between himself and 'The Rest of Us',..lol
I was in 4th after the 5th bracket, then was Pleased to have made it to 2nd by the 6th bracket, only to drop to 5th in the 7th bracket, then back to 4th at the end !!!,..It was the Same for Most of the rest of the runners,..in fact, James, Darryl, Brad, Troy and myself, were either ON the Same lap as each other or merely a Lap apart for every bracket from the 4th onwards,..It was Intense !!!,...
Charles Obviously both Maintained his 'Cool' and avoided what little melee there was to end Victorious,..leaving the rest of us Vainly Flailing at each other in an attempt to finish ahead of each other,..lol
Darryl, showed his performance in the CanAm race was No 'Fluke', running a competitive race and eventually finishing on the Podium once again, with a Fine 3rd place.
With this and the previous CanAm race as Pre-Cursors of the Season ahead,..it looks like we should have some Great Retro racing this year once again !!
The Final Outcome;
1st Charles 256 laps
2nd Troy 251 laps
3rd Darryl 251 laps
4th Stoo 250 laps
5th James 250 laps
6th Brad 245 laps
7th Jake 242 laps
Once again,..a thoroughly enjoyable Saturday evening's Racing at a great Raceway, with a great bunch of Racers.
Thanks Guys and Gal !!!,..
Cheers
