Race Report
The start of our tenth season of HO racing at the Barn saw a modest bunch of sixteen
racers gather for some super-fast WHO Mod action. Simon had delivered possibly our
biggest ever HO layout - a 130-foot monster that had plenty to keep everyone on their
toes. Eleven Vipers would contest the lexan-clad WHO Mod race, with five hard-bodied
WHO Tuners competing for the subclass win - three long wheelbase Mega-G+ cars and
two Super-Gs.
Jerome and Andy looked rapid in the opening heat, but both had a few offs while they
came to terms with the track. Gareth was next up and he kept it clean, holding pole
at halfway and having set the only 16-lap heat score, in yellow. Jerome was top junior
and third overall, Mike D fourth and Terry fifth. Keith put his Tuners Mega-G+ Camaro
in a superb sixth place at half way. Aiden seemed to have the fastest car on the
grid, but was struggling to get to grips with the layout having missed out on practice.
The second run of heats saw Andy and Jerome improve, Andy throwing in a huge 17.05
laps in red. With Gareth's car slowing, that gave Andy pole position, Gareth just
holding on to second ahead of Jerome. Those would be the three automatic qualifiers
for the A final. Peter had a great couple of heats with his new Viper with neo magnets
and big wheels - he jumped up to fourth ahead of Terry and Mike D. Aiden rallied
to seventh, just ahead of Top Tuner Keith. The top nine were covered by just under
nine laps.
Finals
The E final was a full house - Daniel and Mike's Vipers up against Duncan's Super-G
and Ash with the white Mega-G+ club car. Daniel was first off the line, first on
the opening lap and led all the way to the chequered flag. Duncan tried to hang on,
keeping the deficit to a lap and came in a comfortable second as Mike and Ash both
had nightmares in the gutter lanes. Mike's recovered to grab third and Ash was philosophical
in fourth.
Daniel had the joy of white - the least favoured gutter lane - in the D final. He
did manage to lead Ned's Viper in the early stages, until Ned recovered from an iffy
start. At the front, Simon and Deborah were having a humdinger of a WHO Tuners battle
- Simon with his vintage Super-G Capri and Deborah with her super-sleek Peugeot LMP
Mega-G+. Deborah led the first half of the race, crossing the line at half distance
just 0.29 of second ahead. Simon grabbed the lead with 40 seconds to go, the gap
at three-quarter distance just 0.3 of a second. With eighteen seconds remaining,
Deborah grabbed the lead back, only for Simon to regain top spot a lap later. When
the power was cut at the end of the race, the Peugeot's nose sat less than an inch
behind the rear bumper of the Capri. What a race!
That meant Simon had a crack at the Tuners win in the C final. He'd have to beat
Keith's ultra-rapid Mega-G+ though. In terms of raw speed, Aiden and Matthew's Vipers
were in a different class, but could they keep them on the track? Aiden had managed
fourth best score in red lane during the heats and he seemed reasonably comfortable
and very quick, managing sub-16 second laps - something very few racers achieved
all evening. Despite some offs, his astonishing speed put him a lap ahead of Matthew
at half distance. Matthew's race was not error-free either and offs in the second
minute allowed Keith to slip by into second place. Simon had given white lane a good
go, but ended up well adrift in fourth, happy enough with useful points for the Tuners
championship.
The four racers in the B final are all still working on getting the most out of their
Vipers. These two minutes would see who had made the most progress during the evening.
Aiden already had a decent lead at the end of the first lap, but then crashed at
Turn 4. That left Peter at the front, ahead of Terry and Mike. At half distance,
Mike had moved up a place, 1.57 seconds behind Peter. The top three were going hard
for the win and the step up. Aiden was concentrating on getting some consistency
in white lane. After a mostly frustrating evening of car development, Mike was finally
able to push his Viper with some confidence and he passed Peter with forty seconds
to go. Peter could not respond and a five second gap had opened up by the end. Terry
finished within a lap of Peter, with Aiden bringing his Viper home fourth.
The A final saw last season's Mod champion and junior champion up against the top
two in the club championship. It was a quality field. Andy and Jerome were quick
away and pulled out a decent gap. They'd already raced four times in the heats, with
the score 3-1 to Andy. At a quarter distance, Andy had a second and a half lead,
with Gareth not able to keep up and Mike having a few offs back in fourth. The top
three were driving error-free. At half distance Andy had pulled out a four second
gap on Jerome and had lapped Gareth. But a crash with a popped axle or dislodged
body could still be very costly - Andy had suffered both in the heats.
It was only when Andy lapped Jerome - just after half distance - that he relaxed
a little and settled into a comfortable rhythm. Gareth was lapped again before the
end and the reigning champion also crashed for the first and only time. That didn't
make any difference as Mike was too far back to capitalise. So more tweaks are needed
to close the gap before the next race in April.
Congratulations to all the evening's winners and a big thanks to everyone who took
part. Special thanks goes to the hugely-efficient set-up crew and to a very slick
race control team led by Daniel. As always, thank you to everyone who stayed at the
end to pack away in a rather chilly Barn. Hopefully the heating will be on for our
WHO/digital Wednesday evening in two weeks time!
- Andy P
