True Scale Race Report 15/05/2009

True Scale Race Report 15/05/2009

The field was made up of 8 drivers myself included, and it was to be my first taste of the true scale class and boy what a taste it was! I arrived with the intention of marshalling and spectating and as the established members would have it I was to race! This was going to prove difficult as I don’t own a True Scale car, but Mike stepped up to the plate and very bravely offered me the use his machine and I, never being one to back down from a race, grabbed the opportunity with both hands!!

So very soon after arriving I kicked off what was to be the first of two qualifying sessions for us all, placing myself ahead of Phil and young Ayrton, who showed he had pace and just needed to keep it on the track, the three of us were however, no where near the Top Guns of the class, with Craig taking Pole position ahead of Erlo, who, I might add, had a very neat Ferrari 330 P4 going extremely well!!! Ashwin was hot on his heels however, followed so closely by Mike, with Costa the last of the hard chargers in 5th position, it was going to be close racing at the top and we were all eager to see what the outcome would be!!

With the field small we were divided up into 3 sub categories of drivers, Myself and Ayrton kicking off the nights racing. I felt a little pressured knowing that the young but extremely talented Ayrton (Using Costa’s car) was to be my adversary for the evening, needless to say it is racing and it was, most definitely, on!!! The heats were close and although Ayrton was able to coax faster lap times out of his machine it was consistency that would win the evening in our race. Young Ayrton reminded me of a desperate Senna destroying his car on the scenery in the process of pursuing the chequered and I the Prost of the evening, not the fastest, but there indeed, and staying on the track the longest, to take overall 7th only 2 laps ahead of Ayrton.

Next up we had Mike, Costa and Phil (the bold, the big mouthed and the balding J Just kidding guys!!) making up race 2. The race started and after 2 segments of close racing there was only one lap separating the 3, the lap times were much faster than in my race, with experience clearly showing its pace!! Costa had built himself a little cushion of a lead but the race was nowhere near won with Mike letting him know that he was right there, Phil bringing up the rear, struggling a little with his car I would assume, as his driving is rarely at fault. At the start of the last segment they were within 2 laps of each other with Costa and Phil separated by Mike. Costa drove a near faultless final segment to take 4th from Mike in 5th one lap behind and Phil bringing up the rear in 6th, finishing on a total of 104.16.

And into the final, consisting of the three bullets, Ashwin, Erlo, and Craig, with them putting in 9.44, 9.45, 9.46 laps respectively in the second qualifying segment, this was going to be a close close race!! The flag dropped and Erlo’s beautifully turned out Ferrari looked to have the edge, although the other 2 were never more than a car length behind him, a small turn of speed and within a lap Erlo was caught and very gently shunted off his lane by an apologetic Craig! Ashwin I am sure breathing a sigh relief that his competition had effectively been halved! Erlo was never to recover from that, although he did put in some lightning fast lap times! It looked as if it would be Craig and Ashwin dicing for the win, and then….the Blue lane happened!!! Ashwin hit it and was never able to find a rhythm on it, we all agreed that there was something amiss on Blue that night, still he was not deterred and fought until the very end, catching Craig by consistently lapping in the 6,2 sec lap time bracket, it was to be a case of just what was needed, but just a little too late. So it was Craig who put in an almost flawless run, who assumed his well earned place on top of the podium, followed home by Ashwin, with Erlo taking third.

The guys comparing notes!!!

A great night was had by all, and thanks go out to the guys who worked to lay Goop down on the track!!

Excellent report by Jono - thank you