Race Results & reports
Race 1
Race 2
Race 3
Race 4
Race 5
Race 6
Race 7
Final Points
Round 1 - Sorell Creek - 4/2/25
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
Race report - Round 1
First round of the new series this week, and it was the turn of the 1953-65 front engine sports cars to take to the track.
A wide variety of red Ferraris lined up in the field for the series photo, along with a few green jags so it immediately became obvious that there would be a need for the race organiser to structure the heats carefully to avoid too much in the way of marshall traps.
A task, that sadly, was beyond the organisers foresight, and so in the first couple of heats we saw all the red Ferraris & all the green jags scheduled in to run together…..so….extreme possibility of marshalling problems to come then ! Which is exactly what happened of course.
Anyway, eventually we got though all the red Ferraris & moved onto other makes/models & primary colours and the heats moved along in a somewhat smoother manner.
In the washup, the top three were, unbelievably, made up of 3 entirely different primary colours and it was the very rare sight of a green Ferrari taking out the win this week. Callan it was who drove this car beautifully & mistake free to notch 98 laps for 1st place, ahead of the next 2 drivers sharing 95 laps on the night. It was JB who snuck into 2nd though, ahead of the unlucky Phil in 3rd. Phil in fact finished heat 1 with the body unattached from his chassis, and finished the rest of the night with it gaffer taped in place. He will no doubt be looking forward to even better performances in the upcoming weeks in a car that remains in 1 piece.
4th & 5th was another tight battle on 91 laps, and it was a good performance from Caine in this case to take 4th ahead of Bruce in Phils baked goods delivery van. Bruce will be hoping for his actual car to arrive next week….or maybe it was a cunning ploy of his to “forget” his car, in the hope of running a nicer model.
Whatever the case, his choice of car this week was welcomed by all & sundry as it provided much entertainment in the form of bread product puns flying around. Not to put a damper on his performance, but Bruce will be hoping for batter next week without all the stirring. Hopefully there’s muffin wrong with his actual car and will not require a rent-a-van again.
In 6th, and all clear on 90 laps, Rob Golley, 2 laps ahead of 7th place getter Rhys on 88 laps. In places 8th – 10th there was just 1 lap difference for each place, and it was Scott who headed this list (8th) on 85 laps, ahead of Adrian Gray on 84 & Dave Gray on 83. Adrians excellent run in his first 3 heats had him well on target for at least a top finish, however a final heat technical issue (lead wire) put paid to this.
Schoee was next in line on 90 laps & 11th place, with Ben having rear wheel issues leading to his 72 lap 12th place.
Toms Jag was not behaving well this round, and he eventually pulled the pin after 1 frustrating heat.
First round of the new series this week, and it was the turn of the 1953-65 front engine sports cars to take to the track.
A wide variety of red Ferraris lined up in the field for the series photo, along with a few green jags so it immediately became obvious that there would be a need for the race organiser to structure the heats carefully to avoid too much in the way of marshall traps.
A task, that sadly, was beyond the organisers foresight, and so in the first couple of heats we saw all the red Ferraris & all the green jags scheduled in to run together…..so….extreme possibility of marshalling problems to come then ! Which is exactly what happened of course.
Anyway, eventually we got though all the red Ferraris & moved onto other makes/models & primary colours and the heats moved along in a somewhat smoother manner.
In the washup, the top three were, unbelievably, made up of 3 entirely different primary colours and it was the very rare sight of a green Ferrari taking out the win this week. Callan it was who drove this car beautifully & mistake free to notch 98 laps for 1st place, ahead of the next 2 drivers sharing 95 laps on the night. It was JB who snuck into 2nd though, ahead of the unlucky Phil in 3rd. Phil in fact finished heat 1 with the body unattached from his chassis, and finished the rest of the night with it gaffer taped in place. He will no doubt be looking forward to even better performances in the upcoming weeks in a car that remains in 1 piece.
4th & 5th was another tight battle on 91 laps, and it was a good performance from Caine in this case to take 4th ahead of Bruce in Phils baked goods delivery van. Bruce will be hoping for his actual car to arrive next week….or maybe it was a cunning ploy of his to “forget” his car, in the hope of running a nicer model.
Whatever the case, his choice of car this week was welcomed by all & sundry as it provided much entertainment in the form of bread product puns flying around. Not to put a damper on his performance, but Bruce will be hoping for batter next week without all the stirring. Hopefully there’s muffin wrong with his actual car and will not require a rent-a-van again.
In 6th, and all clear on 90 laps, Rob Golley, 2 laps ahead of 7th place getter Rhys on 88 laps. In places 8th – 10th there was just 1 lap difference for each place, and it was Scott who headed this list (8th) on 85 laps, ahead of Adrian Gray on 84 & Dave Gray on 83. Adrians excellent run in his first 3 heats had him well on target for at least a top finish, however a final heat technical issue (lead wire) put paid to this.
Schoee was next in line on 90 laps & 11th place, with Ben having rear wheel issues leading to his 72 lap 12th place.
Toms Jag was not behaving well this round, and he eventually pulled the pin after 1 frustrating heat.
Round 2 - Stratton Valley - 11/2/25
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Adrian Gray
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Adrian Gray
Round 3 - Gotham Park - 25/2/25
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Bruce Thomas
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Bruce Thomas
Race report - Round 3
Round 3 of the Front engine sports moved to the Gotham Park circuit this week and the home track of series leader Callan Thomas. With 2 wins to his name out of 2 rounds so far he is well on the way to a series win……or is he ?
Phil Kalbfell with a 3rd & a 2nd in the first 2 rounds has steadily been improving, and all onlookers were wondering if this improvement would be enough to challenge Callan for the top spot this week ?
As it turned out, yes it was.
Phil with a 98 lap performance grabbed his first win of the series by a lap from Callan on 97, and brought the series alive with still 4 rounds to go & plenty of time to make up the points difference in the series. Callan had to settle for 2nd this time out, but was still well clear of the rest of the pack which was headed by the big booming Mustang of Bruce Thomas in 3rd place with his 94 lap total.
Two drivers fought it out for 4th & 5th on 93 laps apiece, but it was Rhys who took the place just from Adrian on track. JB was next in line, on his own in 6th with his 91 laps, 1 lap ahead of DB in 7th on 90. Another 2 laps back, the writers Jag pottered around innocuously for 88 boring laps and eventually slotted into 8th place for the round.
4 laps back, in 9th was Ben Lewis with 84 laps, and another 3 laps back, Rob Golley in 10th with his 81 lap total.
Dave Gray made a welcome & solid return this week with his 79 laps grabbing him 11th place, ahead of the final 2 drivers - Thomas Males on 74 (11th) & Blair McGuinness in 13th on 60. Blair wasn’t helped by a slipping motor either, and sadly his blue lane drive was a disastrous 0 lapper.
The other incident of note during the running of this round was the sudden & unexplained appearance of a small, slot-it shaped magnet on track at one stage during the running of a heat, which bought the heat to a rather abrupt stop while the offending item was removed from the bottom of Rhys's car where it had stuck!.
Given that none of these cars (theoretically) should be able to hold a slot-it magnet, its appearance was a complete mystery, but opens up some interesting question. Was it left over from a secret magnet test session by the track owner perhaps?
Round 3 of the Front engine sports moved to the Gotham Park circuit this week and the home track of series leader Callan Thomas. With 2 wins to his name out of 2 rounds so far he is well on the way to a series win……or is he ?
Phil Kalbfell with a 3rd & a 2nd in the first 2 rounds has steadily been improving, and all onlookers were wondering if this improvement would be enough to challenge Callan for the top spot this week ?
As it turned out, yes it was.
Phil with a 98 lap performance grabbed his first win of the series by a lap from Callan on 97, and brought the series alive with still 4 rounds to go & plenty of time to make up the points difference in the series. Callan had to settle for 2nd this time out, but was still well clear of the rest of the pack which was headed by the big booming Mustang of Bruce Thomas in 3rd place with his 94 lap total.
Two drivers fought it out for 4th & 5th on 93 laps apiece, but it was Rhys who took the place just from Adrian on track. JB was next in line, on his own in 6th with his 91 laps, 1 lap ahead of DB in 7th on 90. Another 2 laps back, the writers Jag pottered around innocuously for 88 boring laps and eventually slotted into 8th place for the round.
4 laps back, in 9th was Ben Lewis with 84 laps, and another 3 laps back, Rob Golley in 10th with his 81 lap total.
Dave Gray made a welcome & solid return this week with his 79 laps grabbing him 11th place, ahead of the final 2 drivers - Thomas Males on 74 (11th) & Blair McGuinness in 13th on 60. Blair wasn’t helped by a slipping motor either, and sadly his blue lane drive was a disastrous 0 lapper.
The other incident of note during the running of this round was the sudden & unexplained appearance of a small, slot-it shaped magnet on track at one stage during the running of a heat, which bought the heat to a rather abrupt stop while the offending item was removed from the bottom of Rhys's car where it had stuck!.
Given that none of these cars (theoretically) should be able to hold a slot-it magnet, its appearance was a complete mystery, but opens up some interesting question. Was it left over from a secret magnet test session by the track owner perhaps?
Round 4 - Sorell Creek - 4/3/25
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Round 5 - Stratton Valley - 11/3/25
1st - John Batich
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Rhys Filbee
1st - John Batich
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Rhys Filbee
Race report - Round 4
Round 5 of the Front Engine Sports returned to JBs Stratton Valley circuit this week, and in a huge surprise to everyone it was JB who was the pacesetter. His lap times were on average 2 tenths quicker than anyone else on the track, with the quickest lap times in the 6.7 range.
This, combined with a stubborn refusal to come off at regular intervals, made it extremely difficult for other drivers to compete for the win and so, with a total of 74 laps JB took 1st place this week for his 1st win of the series.
Series leader Callan, pushed JB all the way, but in the end ran out of time and ended up 1 lap back on 73 for 2nd. The big improver this round however was Rhys in the E-Type. His total of 71 laps was only 2 laps down on 2nd & 1 lap good enough to grab the final podium position in 3rd.
In 4th & on 70 laps, DB was another lap back, however his last 2 rounds have been a huge improvement with a 3rd & 4th given his 10th & 7th place finishes in rounds 2 & 3. On the other hand, after 2 wins in rounds 3 & 4, Phil dropped back slightly this week with his 68 lap total placing him 5th. It was, however, the introduction of the dropped round, and consequently Phil remains very much in the hunt for the series win with his point total just 1 behind leader Callan.
Another 1 lap back on 68 was the writer, who’s Jag XK120 seemed far more at home on JBs track than any other it’s been driven on so far. It was only lacking somewhat in a straight line, not much I can do about that however with 2 rounds to go.
Dave Gray had a great run this week for 64 laps, & his 7th placing was his equal best result for the series. 2 laps back on 62, Dave Schofield grabbed 8th, 1 lap ahead of Ben Lewis in 9th on 61 laps for the night.
Toms cobra notched up 53 laps for 10th ahead of Scott in 11th on 49 laps overall.
With 2 rounds to go, the top 3 in the series is still up for grabs. It’s Callan currently on top with 98 points, 1 point ahead of Phil on 97. JB is 3 points back on 94, but coming into form at the right time.
Round 5 of the Front Engine Sports returned to JBs Stratton Valley circuit this week, and in a huge surprise to everyone it was JB who was the pacesetter. His lap times were on average 2 tenths quicker than anyone else on the track, with the quickest lap times in the 6.7 range.
This, combined with a stubborn refusal to come off at regular intervals, made it extremely difficult for other drivers to compete for the win and so, with a total of 74 laps JB took 1st place this week for his 1st win of the series.
Series leader Callan, pushed JB all the way, but in the end ran out of time and ended up 1 lap back on 73 for 2nd. The big improver this round however was Rhys in the E-Type. His total of 71 laps was only 2 laps down on 2nd & 1 lap good enough to grab the final podium position in 3rd.
In 4th & on 70 laps, DB was another lap back, however his last 2 rounds have been a huge improvement with a 3rd & 4th given his 10th & 7th place finishes in rounds 2 & 3. On the other hand, after 2 wins in rounds 3 & 4, Phil dropped back slightly this week with his 68 lap total placing him 5th. It was, however, the introduction of the dropped round, and consequently Phil remains very much in the hunt for the series win with his point total just 1 behind leader Callan.
Another 1 lap back on 68 was the writer, who’s Jag XK120 seemed far more at home on JBs track than any other it’s been driven on so far. It was only lacking somewhat in a straight line, not much I can do about that however with 2 rounds to go.
Dave Gray had a great run this week for 64 laps, & his 7th placing was his equal best result for the series. 2 laps back on 62, Dave Schofield grabbed 8th, 1 lap ahead of Ben Lewis in 9th on 61 laps for the night.
Toms cobra notched up 53 laps for 10th ahead of Scott in 11th on 49 laps overall.
With 2 rounds to go, the top 3 in the series is still up for grabs. It’s Callan currently on top with 98 points, 1 point ahead of Phil on 97. JB is 3 points back on 94, but coming into form at the right time.
Round 6 - Mornington Park - 18/3/25
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - John Batich
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - John Batich
Race report - Round 6
Round 6 of the Front Engine sports, and incredibly it saw the first visit of this series to the Mornington Park circuit, a layout that should really suit these cars to a tee.
After a false start, due to the scorer making a major blunder in omitting the track owner from the entry list, it was time to go racing. And after an indifferent run of form in the middle rounds (3-5) it was back to business as usual for Callan this week as he took out his 3rd win for the series & cemented his comfortable, dare I say unassailable, lead in the series points. His 108 lap total was just enough to grab the win by 1 lap from the chasing pack with some 5 drivers fighting hard for positions 2-6 within 2 laps of the leader. 2nd & 3rd was fought out between Adrian & JB on 107 laps apiece, and it was Adrian who took the place on track with JB a good solid 3rd. JB continues to press hard at the tail end of the series, and is now up to within 1 point of current series 2nd place Phil.
Phil had his own battle this week as he was part of a big 3 way contest for 4th-6th along with Ben & Rhys. Unluckily for Phil it was Ben who grabbed 4th on track in a very good drive, and his best results of the series by some margin. Even worse news for Phil was Rhys also pipping him for 5th, and so a 6th place finish in the end for his worst result of the series so far. At least with the dropped round in place he was able to maintain that slim margin over JB in the battle for 2nd overall.
Watching all of the above unfold just in front of him was DB, although his 7th place on 105 laps meant that while he was within touching distance of the group ahead, he was like a little boy with his face to the glass of an adult shop….close, but not able to get inside to see the good stuff.
Thereafter it was a huge gap back to the rest. Bruce was next in line 5 laps down on 100 for 8th, with the writer 1 lap back again on 99 & 9th. Schoee rounded out the top 10 with his 98 lap total.
Dave Gray fought hard but couldn’t quite replicate his good form from the early part of the series, and his 96 laps was only enough to grab him 11th. Blair in 12th (85) & a combined drive form Tom & Samual in 13th rounded out the field this week.
Last round next week.
Round 6 of the Front Engine sports, and incredibly it saw the first visit of this series to the Mornington Park circuit, a layout that should really suit these cars to a tee.
After a false start, due to the scorer making a major blunder in omitting the track owner from the entry list, it was time to go racing. And after an indifferent run of form in the middle rounds (3-5) it was back to business as usual for Callan this week as he took out his 3rd win for the series & cemented his comfortable, dare I say unassailable, lead in the series points. His 108 lap total was just enough to grab the win by 1 lap from the chasing pack with some 5 drivers fighting hard for positions 2-6 within 2 laps of the leader. 2nd & 3rd was fought out between Adrian & JB on 107 laps apiece, and it was Adrian who took the place on track with JB a good solid 3rd. JB continues to press hard at the tail end of the series, and is now up to within 1 point of current series 2nd place Phil.
Phil had his own battle this week as he was part of a big 3 way contest for 4th-6th along with Ben & Rhys. Unluckily for Phil it was Ben who grabbed 4th on track in a very good drive, and his best results of the series by some margin. Even worse news for Phil was Rhys also pipping him for 5th, and so a 6th place finish in the end for his worst result of the series so far. At least with the dropped round in place he was able to maintain that slim margin over JB in the battle for 2nd overall.
Watching all of the above unfold just in front of him was DB, although his 7th place on 105 laps meant that while he was within touching distance of the group ahead, he was like a little boy with his face to the glass of an adult shop….close, but not able to get inside to see the good stuff.
Thereafter it was a huge gap back to the rest. Bruce was next in line 5 laps down on 100 for 8th, with the writer 1 lap back again on 99 & 9th. Schoee rounded out the top 10 with his 98 lap total.
Dave Gray fought hard but couldn’t quite replicate his good form from the early part of the series, and his 96 laps was only enough to grab him 11th. Blair in 12th (85) & a combined drive form Tom & Samual in 13th rounded out the field this week.
Last round next week.
Round 7 - Gotham Park - 25/3/25
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Adrian Gray
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Adrian Gray
Race report - Round 7
Final round of the Front Engine Sports cars this week, and it brought to a close a series which were (according to Bruce) “the slowest cars of any series run this year”
Well, from my point of view I heartily agree with this comment, as my car is certainly up there with the slowest cars run in any year. However, there are a few that have been a great deal quicker over the 7 rounds, and it is these cars that we’ll focus on for the first part of this summary.
Going into round 7 there was a clear cut series leader, and as long as he turned up Callan was just about unbeatable. However 2nd & 3rd was a different matter entirely. Phil & JB were separated by 1 point with 1 round to go & was in this battle that all the interest was focused.
In the final race, Phil stamped his claim on 2nd by taking out his 3rd win of the series in a very tight battle with Callan. Both finished up on 96 laps with Phil taking the track position win. Callan with his 2nd place ensured a solid 4 point margin in the overall results, however if it hadn’t been for a slight slip up from Phil in rounds 5 & 6, it might have been a great deal closer in the end.
In 3rd this week there was a huge 3 way tussle involving JB, Adrian & Rhys. All of these drivers have shown their pace over the course of the series, and in this case it was Adrian who took the place on track. Adrian's 2 completely missed rounds slightly affected his chance in the series, but his pace has been outstanding. In 4th it was Rhys, who initially tried to slip one through the scrutineers & run a Revoslot Porsche in this round…but the eagle eyed among us managed to spot the very subtle differences and pulled him up before the car hit the track in anger. His replacement E-type did well enough to pip JB back to 5th on the night, and ensured that Johns 3rd place on the overall points table wouldn’t be improved on. All in all though a very good consistent series from JB.
And to the rest, Bruce overcame a heated discussion about the validity of his entry to eventually notch up 92 laps for 6th. The controversy centred around whether the Mustang should actually be considered a “Sports” car in line with the series rules. Some might consider it more like the blunt instrument of a muscle car rather than having the refined, nimble handing associated with being a 1960s “Sports” car. Finally he was allowed to run however, his argument that it was one of the few actual front engine cars in the series carried some weight.
1 lap back on 91 laps & good enough for 7th was Schoee in the more classic Jaguar XK120, with Ben 2 laps back in 8th with his total of 89 laps in the lovely Ferrari Testarossa. Yet another car which looks nothing like the Mustang.
9th & 10th were myself & Caine with totals of 88 & 87 laps each, with a gap of 5 laps back to Dave Gray in 11th on 82. Dave Bantoft had some technical issues in lane 3 of his heats and this dropped him down to 12th on 81 laps. The duel Shelby Cobra pairing of Thomas Males & son took out 13th & 14th with 77 & 64 laps respectively.
So, a very good win for Callan in the series, with Phil 2nd & JB 3rd.
Final round of the Front Engine Sports cars this week, and it brought to a close a series which were (according to Bruce) “the slowest cars of any series run this year”
Well, from my point of view I heartily agree with this comment, as my car is certainly up there with the slowest cars run in any year. However, there are a few that have been a great deal quicker over the 7 rounds, and it is these cars that we’ll focus on for the first part of this summary.
Going into round 7 there was a clear cut series leader, and as long as he turned up Callan was just about unbeatable. However 2nd & 3rd was a different matter entirely. Phil & JB were separated by 1 point with 1 round to go & was in this battle that all the interest was focused.
In the final race, Phil stamped his claim on 2nd by taking out his 3rd win of the series in a very tight battle with Callan. Both finished up on 96 laps with Phil taking the track position win. Callan with his 2nd place ensured a solid 4 point margin in the overall results, however if it hadn’t been for a slight slip up from Phil in rounds 5 & 6, it might have been a great deal closer in the end.
In 3rd this week there was a huge 3 way tussle involving JB, Adrian & Rhys. All of these drivers have shown their pace over the course of the series, and in this case it was Adrian who took the place on track. Adrian's 2 completely missed rounds slightly affected his chance in the series, but his pace has been outstanding. In 4th it was Rhys, who initially tried to slip one through the scrutineers & run a Revoslot Porsche in this round…but the eagle eyed among us managed to spot the very subtle differences and pulled him up before the car hit the track in anger. His replacement E-type did well enough to pip JB back to 5th on the night, and ensured that Johns 3rd place on the overall points table wouldn’t be improved on. All in all though a very good consistent series from JB.
And to the rest, Bruce overcame a heated discussion about the validity of his entry to eventually notch up 92 laps for 6th. The controversy centred around whether the Mustang should actually be considered a “Sports” car in line with the series rules. Some might consider it more like the blunt instrument of a muscle car rather than having the refined, nimble handing associated with being a 1960s “Sports” car. Finally he was allowed to run however, his argument that it was one of the few actual front engine cars in the series carried some weight.
1 lap back on 91 laps & good enough for 7th was Schoee in the more classic Jaguar XK120, with Ben 2 laps back in 8th with his total of 89 laps in the lovely Ferrari Testarossa. Yet another car which looks nothing like the Mustang.
9th & 10th were myself & Caine with totals of 88 & 87 laps each, with a gap of 5 laps back to Dave Gray in 11th on 82. Dave Bantoft had some technical issues in lane 3 of his heats and this dropped him down to 12th on 81 laps. The duel Shelby Cobra pairing of Thomas Males & son took out 13th & 14th with 77 & 64 laps respectively.
So, a very good win for Callan in the series, with Phil 2nd & JB 3rd.
Series Top 3
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - John Batich
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - John Batich
