Newcastle - Round 1 - 20th April

 

 

Round one report by Graham Thomas. Please note that the opinions expressed below are not necessarily those of the series organiser. Should anyone have any comments please email them to Chris via the BSL website.

 Once again the first round was held at Newcastle. It was disappointing that the attendance was down by 4 on last year. This could be down to increased petrol/diesel costs and could well effect future rounds in the series. Dave’s Diesel guzzling Isuzu got through £110 of fuel for our trip and it maybe cheaper for us to fly to the Scotland rounds! Only six of the 23 entries were racing super production cars. To keep the classes separate we had two groups of four and five groups of three racers. This gave a total of 21 heats and with four in a race we would have only needed two more races for everyone to have four heats each. In fact the time wasted asking for volunteer marshals after the 3 driver heats was probably more than the extra 2 races would have taken! Lets hope that at future rounds the entry fits better into groups of 4. With separate finals for Falcons there are now two completely separate championships so I will report on the more popular Falcon championship first.

 The Falcon heats driver by driver.
Katy Fawcett, making her Newcastle debut, had three steady runs of 20 laps each.
Matthew Siddall was again fast on some laps but too many off’s left him with a best of 21.64 laps. Christopher Green, as he had done last year, just beat his brother Matthew with them both having 23 lap runs. Keith Charles had moved to Falcon but he also was having too many off’s in the heats. However his score of 24.80 was still better than he had done with a super production car last year. Dave Homer had a terrible first run but after the addition of some lead to the front of the pans his car handled much better and he had a best run of almost 25 laps. Next up was myself with three 25-lap runs the best of which 25.68 was just better than I had achieved with a Demon on my Newcastle debut two years ago. Just three parts of a lap better than my score was Ernest Danyi but his was the most improved score compared with last year. Another 10 feet better was local driver Mike Ogden. Also new to Falcon’s was Norman Fawcett who had his best score of 26.31 laps in his first run. Local driver Pete Sedgwick had a good last run to move from 2 feet behind Norman to 13 feet in front. Stephen Siddall had been just 1 foot behind Norman but improved in his last run to go ahead of both Norman and Pete. Alan Lucas was another to move to Falcon and had his best run first time out. This was just beaten by four feet by Martin Jackson’s second heat score which secured Martin a place in the A final. Martin drove well on his second time at Newcastle to recorded three 26-lap scores and added over three laps to his previous visit best. Chris Thomas was another who had moved to Falcon and he also improved on his Super production score of last year. Second top qualifier was Andy Brown Searle who had three runs of 27 laps and was just beaten by 20 feet by Mike Harrison who had two 27 lap runs and then had problems in his third heat.

 

Super Production.

The six drivers raced in two groups of three. Chas Keeling had made a late decision to race in super production. He improved with each run to record a best of 24.70 laps. David Sargent, last years Falcon champion, changed to super production. His best run of 25.37 was actually lower than he has achieved on either of the previous two years when using a Falcon. Martin Ellis had gear trouble in his first run and managed only one lap. He then borrowed a car from Paul and recorded 26.57 laps in his second run. Home driver Chris Cowan made it into A final by recording 27.60 in his second run. Both Steve Sargent and Paul Shepherd also had their best scores in their second runs. These were the only two drivers to record runs of 28 laps.

 1/32nd Heat Results

 

DRIVERS NAMES BEST HEAT GAP TO 1st BEHIND NEXT RACE POSITION 
Mike Harrison 27.88 0.00 0.00 1st
Andy Brown Searle 27.66 0.22 0.22 2nd
Chris Thomas 27.31 0.57 0.35 3rd
Martin Jackson 26.96 0.92 0.35 4th
Alan Lucas 26.92 0.96 0.04 5th
Stephen Siddall 26.63 1.25 0.29 6th
Pete Sedgwick 26.44 1.44 0.19 7th
Norman Fawcett 26.31 1.57 0.13 8th
Mike Ogden 25.81 2.07 0.50 9th
Ernest Danyi 25.71 2.17 0.10 10th
Graham Thomas 25.68 2.20 0.03 11th
Dave Homer 24.97 2.91 0.71 12th
Keith Charles 24.80 3.08 0.17 13th
Christopher Green 23.96 3.92 0.84 14th
Matthew Green 23.44 4.44 0.52 15th
Matthew Siddall 21.64 6.24 1.80 16th
Katy Fawcett 20.74 7.14 0.90 17th

 

 

DRIVERS NAMES BEST HEAT GAP TO 1st BEHIND NEXT RACE POSITION 
Paul Shepherd 28.79 0.00 0.00 1st
Steve Sargent 28.23 0.56 0.56 2nd
Chris Cowan 27.60 1.19 0.63 3rd
Martin Ellis 26.57 2.22 1.03 4th
David Sargent 25.37 3.42 1.20 5th
Chas Keeling 24.70 4.09 0.67 6th

 

Falcon A Final

Andy's Winning Car

 

Finals  

In the E final Mathew Siddall had a few less off’s and his pace was enough to beat Matthew Green by exactly one lap. Keith Charles who having qualified with 24.80 managed 26laps in the first three minutes won the D final. Second was Christopher Green who also improved on his pace in the heats. Top qualifier for the D final Dave Homer had a bad run to finish two laps behind Christopher Green. Ernest, Mike Ogden and myself contested the C final. There was only 12 feet between all three in qualifying and the final proved to be just as close. Both Ernest and Mike had early off’s and I led for about the first 2 minutes. Ernest closed the gap and I had to speed up but he then had another off. Mike then took up the chase and I could not match his pace and he took the lead. He must have backed off slightly because I kept up close and with 30 seconds to go decided to go for it. I then had an off which allowed Ernest into second. I was just three feet short of catching him and only 14 feet behind Mike. I may have finished third but this was a very enjoyable race. All three of us improved on the pace of our heats. Onto the B final which was won by over a lap by Alan Lucas who was the only person to beat any of the three C final scores. The battle for second was just as close as the C final with Norman beating Pete by just 1 foot and Steve only another 20 feet behind. The A final was between two Newcastle drivers and two Dudley drivers. Martin Jackson took an early lead when the other three got into a first lap tangle. Mike Harrison caught up with Martin who had an off and took Mike out. The result of the crash was a motor out for Mike. This left Chris leading from Andy and the lead changed hands a couple of times with both having off’s. For the last two minutes Andy drove steady to keep the lead. Chris chased hard but was 14 feet behind at the end. Martin was a lap back but was very happy with third place overall.

Super Production Finals

The B final was a close affair with David beating Chas by just 31 feet. Martin was not happy with the car that he had borrowed and was some five laps back. The A final was won by Paul who led from start to finish to win by two laps. The battle for second place was very close with Steve beating Chris by just 23 feet. 

 With the JK chassis now allowed for Falcon motors it will be interesting to see how they perform compared to the super production car. On this occasion the top two scores in the heats were both super production cars but only Paul had a better run in the finals than the top 3 Falcon runners. As for the Falcon class I don’t think that as yet the JK is actually proving to be that much faster than the Demons. Certainly some people had been faster using Demons last year. However I do expect that, once people have spent more time experimenting with gear ratios, weight, bodies and tyres, the JK will be a better package than the Demon. The obvious advantage of the JK is its ability to survive a crash without bending.

1/32nd Finals

 

  A FINAL FINAL LAPS  POSITIONS POINTS Novice
A FINAL Andy Brown Searle 45.24 1st A.final 50  
A FINAL Chris Thomas 45.09 2nd 47  
A FINAL Martin Jackson 44.11 3rd 45 50
A FINAL Mike Harrison 7.00 4th 43  
  B FINAL FINAL LAPS  POSITIONS POINTS Novice
B FINAL Alan Lucas 44.11 1st B.final 41  
B FINAL Norman Fawcett 42.87 2nd 39  
B FINAL Pete Sedgwick 42.86 3rd 37  
B FINAL Stephen Siddall 42.66 4th 35  
  C FINAL FINAL LAPS  POSITIONS POINTS Novice
C FINAL Mike Ogden 43.48 1st C.final 33  
C FINAL Ernest Danyi 43.37 2nd 31  
C FINAL Graham Thomas 43.34 3rd 30  
C FINAL          
  D FINAL FINAL LAPS  POSITIONS POINTS Novice
D FINAL Keith Charles 42.59 1st D.final 29  
D FINAL Christopher Green 40.29 2nd 28 47
D FINAL Dave Homer 38.60 3rd 27  
D FINAL          
  E FINAL FINAL LAPS  POSITIONS POINTS Novice
E FINAL Matthew Siddall 39.96 1st E.final 26 45
E FINAL Matthew Green 38.96 2nd 25 43
E FINAL Katy Fawcett 31.38 3rd 24 41
E FINAL          
  SUPER A FINAL FINAL LAPS  POSITIONS POINTS  
A FINAL Paul Shephered 47.19 1st A.final 50  
A FINAL Steve Sargent 45.09 2nd 47  
A FINAL Chris Cowan 44.86 3rd 45  
A FINAL          
  SUPER B FINAL FINAL LAPS  POSITIONS POINTS  
B FINAL David Sargent 42.76 1st B.final 43  
B FINAL Chas Keeling 42.45 2nd 41  
B FINAL Martin Ellis 37.85 3rd 39  

 

 

Pauls Winning Super Production

 

Team Race.
 One of last years voted in changes was to allow an extra 30mins practice prior to the team race. There were 12 teams and each of them was given two four-minute sessions. As far as I can remember this session was voted for so that the early morning practise could be for 1/32nd cars only. This was not the case and all teams tried out their 1/24th cars in the early session. The result was that some of the teams didn’t take up their full time for this later session. Perhaps we could have two 15min dedicated 1/24 session, one session half way through the morning practice and the other before the team race. I would suggest that the morning practice be open to visiting drivers for 1/32nd cars only till 09:00. Then 09:00-09:15 would give each team one session with their 1/24th car. 09:15-10:00 could be scheduled 1/32nd practise during which each driver, including home drivers, would be given equal track time. (Probably two sessions each) The scheduled sessions would save people having to queue and therefore give more time to get their cars ready. The scheduled practice heats could be arranged during 1/24th practise. There would then by a 15min practice session for the team cars after the 1/32nd finals.

  The team race would start at 14:30 so it was decided that we would have 10minute segments. This could have easily been longer had not so much time been wasted in the morning. For future rounds could the clubs staging the meeting please be aware that they need to organise a list of drivers, including which class of car they are using, and a list of teams. Chris Thomas is happy to set up the race sheets but as a visiting driver he needs practice time too so please don’t leave him to sort out everything.

Graeme Stephenson joined the action to make up the 12 teams. With a few new teams it would be interesting to see how they would get on. Pirelli finished at the bottom of the pile after having a motor fail just 5 laps into the race. Norman swapped the motor but only got 9 laps in his first run. Katy had two steady runs in the seventies with Norman putting in a 92.46 lap score in his second run. Dads taxi were next up with Mathew once again joining his dad after a years break. The car appeared to be a bit slow and Steve set their best run with just 90.65laps. Mean and Green with Mathew and Christopher Green finished tenth. They both had similar scores with a best of 89.34 and their worst score being 87 laps. Local team Smike finished ninth. Problems on Blue lane cost them about 18 laps otherwise they would have finished 6th. The Symbolics team (Graham Thomas and Dave Homer) finished eighth. In hindsight we probably chose to run the wrong car as although the handling was very good we just didn’t have enough speed. Newcastle 1 beat symbolics by just 10 feet to take 7th place. They had a motor out which cost them about 40 laps otherwise they would have probably been at least second and they did record the second best single score of the day with 104.41laps on Blue lane. Ebee Gee Bees had 4 steady runs to finish 5 laps up on Newcastle but 20 laps short of SDS. The SDS team are probably one of the favourites for the team title this year with the much-improved David now able to give his dad good support. They struggled on this occasion early on with big tyres but in the last run Steve put in a very good score of 101.97 laps on Yellow lane. In fourth place were SCD Roadhogs. Paul didn’t have the best of luck in his first run as I inadvertently took him out a couple of times but he still recorded 99.24 laps and added 101.65 in his other run. Chas drove steadily with a best score of 97.87laps. The Morecambe security pairing of Martin Ellis and Ernest Danyi are another team in with a good chance of series success. A lot will depend on Martin’s attitude and Ernest’s consistency. On this occasion Martin was in top form with a very well prepared Mossetti. He had the teams first two runs and put them into the lead. Ernest’s96.70 in his first run meant they slipped to second. The same score in his second run would have retained second place by 8 feet but on the more difficult red lane he could only get 93.94 laps and they slipped to third. In second place were Baby and the Lad (Chris Thomas and Martin Jackson) . Having won the overall title last year Chris had to find a new partner and on this performance the team looks even better than last year. Martin had the first run and 97.66 laps on red was a good start and put them third. Chris then got 99.64 on Green to retain the position, which he consolidated with 102.08 on Blue. Martin needed 97.62 on Green to snatch second overall and was behind schedule early on after a couple of off. He then settled down and finished with 100.31 laps. They will obviously be very strong contenders for the next two rounds. Winners of the first round were Laurel and Hardy. With Ralph Parker missing,, Graeme Stephenson joined Andy and they recorded over 100 laps in each of their runs. Graeme recording the best run of the day with 105.70 on Red lane. Its strange how many times the home drivers record the best run on what is considered by most visitors to be the worst lane. So Andy completed the double with wins in the individual and team events. A prior engagement in Germany will result in him missing the Black-country weekend. So I suspect the Laurel and Hardy team will have two new representatives. Ralph’s most likely partner being daughter Sandy who has recently won her first Oakland’s club night and won sports last year at the Dudley area round. Hence the Laurel and Hardy challenge should remain to be strong for at least the next two rounds.

A good days racing finished at around 17:30. Thanks to the Newcastle club members who helped run the day. From a personal point of view a special thanks to Andy for providing accommodation on Saturday night, I still find it hard to believe that he was home from the Pinewood meeting when we arrived at 22:15! Hope to see a good turn out for the Black Country weekend for details see  here

Team Race

 
Pos Team Red Blue Green Yellow Total Points
1 Laurel and Hardy 105.70 100.11 101.89 103.14 410.84 50
2 Baby and the Lad 97.66 100.31 99.64 102.08 399.69 47
3 Morecombe Security 93.94 96.70 103.58 102.36 396.58 45
4 SCD Roadhogs 101.65 99.24 97.87 93.15 391.91 43
5 SDS 95.89 93.81 95.34 101.97 387.01 41
6 Ebee Gee Bees 93.32 93.08 85.50 95.99 367.89 39
7 Newcastle 1 99.99 104.41 63.00 95.37 362.77 37
8 Symbolicks 93.33 87.44 86.87 95.03 362.67 35
9 Smike 91.97 76.04 92.76 94.66 355.43 33
10 Mean and Green 87.00 86.71 88.23 89.34 351.28 31
11 Dads Taxi 88.29 86.31 77.65 90.65 342.90 30
12 Pirelli 9.79 78.33 72.84 92.46 253.42 29

 

 
Team Driver 1 Driver 2
Laurel and Hardy Andy Brown Searle Graeme Stephenson
Baby and the Lad Chris Thomas Martin Jackson
Morecombe Security Martin Ellis Ernest Danyi
SCD Roadhogs Paul Shephered Chas Keeling
SDS Steve Sargent David Sargent
Ebee Gee Bees Keith Charles Alan Lucas
Newcastle 1 Mike Harrison Chris Cowan
Symbolicks Graham Thomas Dave Homer
Smike Mike Ogden Pete Sedgwick
Mean and Green Chris Green Matthew Green
Dads Taxi Stephen Siddall Matthew Siddall
Pirelli Norman Fawcett Katy Fawcett

 

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