The Main Feature Race:
After having just demonstrated something of a master class in tyre management, Dr George Claw used those same tyres and stuck his Chevrolet on pole position for the main feature race. In an effort to perform the same trick twice, he then put on another set of A compound tyres and started the race on them.
Unfortunately for him, as most of the rest of the field started on B compound tyres, they all got the jump on him at the start and while he made a valiant attempt to keep the baying pack of wolves behind him, that effort only lasted until the end of the Kemmel Straight when Kermit Cleveland and Jack Raymond both scooted past him.
Cleveland's Jaguar certainly had the power but Raymond's #π Holden had a slightly different set of ratios in the gearbox and diff; which meant that he could punch out of corners more effectively. Before they made their way around the top end of the circuit, Raymond had already passed Cleveland and although Cleveland tried to find a way past, he wouldn't do so until lap 3; also while going up the Kemmel Straight. Jack Raymond was therefore credited with leading the first two laps, which is a good milestone for a first year team to have achieved.
As for Dr Claw, his Chevrolet ran reliably for the rest of the race but the long run speed that he had found in the A-Heat Race eluded him. He was forced to conform to a two stop strategy like everyone else and ended up spending a lot of the afternoon just fumbling around in the low teens to eventually pick up the scant reward of the last point for twelfth.
Kermit Cleveland did even worse. The 12 cylinder symphony up front sounded like a ruckus and far from being a happy place where the long legs of the cat could run, the Jaguar spent the day having a whinge and could only manage 28th.
Hoping to get an overcut, at the time of the second round of pit stops on lap 40, both Kerrod Edmundson and Ellie McIllan stayed out.
Edmundson's Oxo Mazda probably had a horsepower advantage over the Texaco Holden of McIllan but the defending champion made use of the draft and sat in behind him. As she had a pit box around the corner at La Source and he had his pit box before the hairpin, she had hoped that her crew could get her out before him. This plan simply didn't work.
The Texaco Holden crew all raised their hand and dropped the #1 car off the jacks, just in time to mean that they would have had an unsafe release into the door of the #51 Mazda. Thus, when the two cars left pit lane, they did so in exactly the same formation as they had entered it.
Edmundson needn't have bothered about McIllan in the long run because the black Holden started blowing smoke and was retired.
A little distance ahead of them, Kane McKane tried to hold Bruno Gourdo behind him. Gourdo clearly had a faster car but McKane made his Holden sufficiently wide enough to be an issue. It took Gourdo seven laps to get around McKane, which he eventually did by effecting a bump to the rear end of the Holden through the long left sweeper before the Bus Stop. McKane protested over the radio but the blue Golden Fleece Ford was already streaking off into the distance.
Unfortunately for McKane, the bump in the rear was more than just a simple love tap. As he rounded La Source, he reported a serious vibration at the rear of the car. By the bottom of Eau Rouge it had developed a smoking habit and by the end of the Kemmel Straight, the car had lost all drive. There was no option left but to park the car behind a wall and call it a day.
Bruno Gourdo after having seen what had happened McKane became spooked when after passing the place where the stricken Holden was parked, a lap later, felt an uncanny vibration through the steering wheel. It made sense that the impact which had eventually taken out McKane, would also take him out.
The rest of Gourdo's race was a preservation run, with the plucky Italian nursing the Ford like a hurt bird. He would lose second place to Hatsune Miku and then third place to Ellie McIllan.
With the feature race being 60 rather than 46 laps, the organisers had hoped that teams would adopt a two stop strategy. 35 of the 36 starters did stop twice but the race winner Gojira did not.
It is not illegal to wander around the pits either before, during, or after a race and Datsun Team Principal, Toshiro Gamera, admitted after the race to doing some reconnaissance and looking at the stack of tyres laying out the back of the Team MAD garage. The A compound tyres had been worked pretty hard but were still in reasonably good knick. If they could do 24 laps, it was thought that maybe they would do 30 and thus avoid a second pit stop.
Gojira assumed the lead on lap 22 by virtue of not stopping and would hold it until lap 30 when the Datsun team brought him in. By that stage, the tyres were worn right down to the cords and so the team knew that they were taking a gamble. The plan for the rest of the race would be to concede every position until lap 40 and then hope to reinherit the lead. That plan worked and while there was always the option of replacing these tyres as well, it was never exercised.
Points Awarded Main Race:
20 - Gojira
17 - Hatsune Miku
15 - Ellie McIllan
12 - Bruno Gourdo
10 - Dr Ivo Robotnik
8 - Kerrod Edmundson
6 - Robie Robie
5 - Ricardo Sasquini
4 - Darth Vader
3 - Natalie McIllan
2 - Tse Sakamoto
1 - Dr George Claw
Top 20 After 7 Rounds:
85 Robie Robie
83 Dr Ivo Robotnik
59 Al Yankovic
59 Hatsune Miku
58 Darth Vader
57 Patrick Mann
57 Ellie McIllan
56 Gojira
53 Bruno Gourdo
51 Tse Sakamoto
42 Kayleigh McAlpine
41 Garfield Arbuckle
39 Kerrod Edmundson
29 Stanley Spidalski
28 Mad Cat
25 Greg Rellings
24 Miles Prower
24 Henri Cornelius
22 Kane McKane
20 Amy Rose
Round 8 will be held at the Kidney Bean Raceway at Trenton, NJ, on May 24.
After having just demonstrated something of a master class in tyre management, Dr George Claw used those same tyres and stuck his Chevrolet on pole position for the main feature race. In an effort to perform the same trick twice, he then put on another set of A compound tyres and started the race on them.
Unfortunately for him, as most of the rest of the field started on B compound tyres, they all got the jump on him at the start and while he made a valiant attempt to keep the baying pack of wolves behind him, that effort only lasted until the end of the Kemmel Straight when Kermit Cleveland and Jack Raymond both scooted past him.
Cleveland's Jaguar certainly had the power but Raymond's #π Holden had a slightly different set of ratios in the gearbox and diff; which meant that he could punch out of corners more effectively. Before they made their way around the top end of the circuit, Raymond had already passed Cleveland and although Cleveland tried to find a way past, he wouldn't do so until lap 3; also while going up the Kemmel Straight. Jack Raymond was therefore credited with leading the first two laps, which is a good milestone for a first year team to have achieved.
As for Dr Claw, his Chevrolet ran reliably for the rest of the race but the long run speed that he had found in the A-Heat Race eluded him. He was forced to conform to a two stop strategy like everyone else and ended up spending a lot of the afternoon just fumbling around in the low teens to eventually pick up the scant reward of the last point for twelfth.
Kermit Cleveland did even worse. The 12 cylinder symphony up front sounded like a ruckus and far from being a happy place where the long legs of the cat could run, the Jaguar spent the day having a whinge and could only manage 28th.
Hoping to get an overcut, at the time of the second round of pit stops on lap 40, both Kerrod Edmundson and Ellie McIllan stayed out.
Edmundson's Oxo Mazda probably had a horsepower advantage over the Texaco Holden of McIllan but the defending champion made use of the draft and sat in behind him. As she had a pit box around the corner at La Source and he had his pit box before the hairpin, she had hoped that her crew could get her out before him. This plan simply didn't work.
The Texaco Holden crew all raised their hand and dropped the #1 car off the jacks, just in time to mean that they would have had an unsafe release into the door of the #51 Mazda. Thus, when the two cars left pit lane, they did so in exactly the same formation as they had entered it.
Edmundson needn't have bothered about McIllan in the long run because the black Holden started blowing smoke and was retired.
A little distance ahead of them, Kane McKane tried to hold Bruno Gourdo behind him. Gourdo clearly had a faster car but McKane made his Holden sufficiently wide enough to be an issue. It took Gourdo seven laps to get around McKane, which he eventually did by effecting a bump to the rear end of the Holden through the long left sweeper before the Bus Stop. McKane protested over the radio but the blue Golden Fleece Ford was already streaking off into the distance.
Unfortunately for McKane, the bump in the rear was more than just a simple love tap. As he rounded La Source, he reported a serious vibration at the rear of the car. By the bottom of Eau Rouge it had developed a smoking habit and by the end of the Kemmel Straight, the car had lost all drive. There was no option left but to park the car behind a wall and call it a day.
Bruno Gourdo after having seen what had happened McKane became spooked when after passing the place where the stricken Holden was parked, a lap later, felt an uncanny vibration through the steering wheel. It made sense that the impact which had eventually taken out McKane, would also take him out.
The rest of Gourdo's race was a preservation run, with the plucky Italian nursing the Ford like a hurt bird. He would lose second place to Hatsune Miku and then third place to Ellie McIllan.
With the feature race being 60 rather than 46 laps, the organisers had hoped that teams would adopt a two stop strategy. 35 of the 36 starters did stop twice but the race winner Gojira did not.
It is not illegal to wander around the pits either before, during, or after a race and Datsun Team Principal, Toshiro Gamera, admitted after the race to doing some reconnaissance and looking at the stack of tyres laying out the back of the Team MAD garage. The A compound tyres had been worked pretty hard but were still in reasonably good knick. If they could do 24 laps, it was thought that maybe they would do 30 and thus avoid a second pit stop.
Gojira assumed the lead on lap 22 by virtue of not stopping and would hold it until lap 30 when the Datsun team brought him in. By that stage, the tyres were worn right down to the cords and so the team knew that they were taking a gamble. The plan for the rest of the race would be to concede every position until lap 40 and then hope to reinherit the lead. That plan worked and while there was always the option of replacing these tyres as well, it was never exercised.
Points Awarded Main Race:
20 - Gojira
17 - Hatsune Miku
15 - Ellie McIllan
12 - Bruno Gourdo
10 - Dr Ivo Robotnik
8 - Kerrod Edmundson
6 - Robie Robie
5 - Ricardo Sasquini
4 - Darth Vader
3 - Natalie McIllan
2 - Tse Sakamoto
1 - Dr George Claw
Top 20 After 7 Rounds:
85 Robie Robie
83 Dr Ivo Robotnik
59 Al Yankovic
59 Hatsune Miku
58 Darth Vader
57 Patrick Mann
57 Ellie McIllan
56 Gojira
53 Bruno Gourdo
51 Tse Sakamoto
42 Kayleigh McAlpine
41 Garfield Arbuckle
39 Kerrod Edmundson
29 Stanley Spidalski
28 Mad Cat
25 Greg Rellings
24 Miles Prower
24 Henri Cornelius
22 Kane McKane
20 Amy Rose
Round 8 will be held at the Kidney Bean Raceway at Trenton, NJ, on May 24.