Race Results and reports
Round 1 - Mornington Park - 18/7/23
1st - John Batich
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - John Batich
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Race 1 Report
This week saw the start of Daves early sports car series
While only 8 racers faced the starter this week there was still some close racing.John Batich was the class of the field with his well setup Ferrari 330. Bruce just had to be different and after some research found that a Shelby 350 competed as a sports car at Le Mans so prepared his Revell Shelby for this event. He then tried to have all the other cars declared illegal as his was the only "true front engined car".
The scrutineer canned two cars Rhys and the author both failing the clearance test,lucky mine only proved to be a piece of plastic stuff to the rear of the chassis so faced the starter all clear.
John was the clear favourite from the start with good time and lap scores. Bruce took the first bracket to get the feel for the Shelby while DB and Callan both settled with good lap times, even though Dave insisted his car was very slow.
Ugly and Rob both wear very close But Dave faulted on Blue and ended up a lap down on Rob.
My Bizarrinni had some unusual handling problems, when Callan commented it looked low in the rear, I concluded that the spacer on the rear mount was missing, pretty obvious when I looked to see one of the rear tyres had a groove around it from rubbing on the interior!.
Rhys circulated around maybe we should just call him "Captian slow"
Finishing order was JB 2 laps clear of Callan, DB just beating Bruce on the same lap,Rob was a lap down,Ugly and myself on the same lap with Dave ahead and Rhys following up the rear.
This week saw the start of Daves early sports car series
While only 8 racers faced the starter this week there was still some close racing.John Batich was the class of the field with his well setup Ferrari 330. Bruce just had to be different and after some research found that a Shelby 350 competed as a sports car at Le Mans so prepared his Revell Shelby for this event. He then tried to have all the other cars declared illegal as his was the only "true front engined car".
The scrutineer canned two cars Rhys and the author both failing the clearance test,lucky mine only proved to be a piece of plastic stuff to the rear of the chassis so faced the starter all clear.
John was the clear favourite from the start with good time and lap scores. Bruce took the first bracket to get the feel for the Shelby while DB and Callan both settled with good lap times, even though Dave insisted his car was very slow.
Ugly and Rob both wear very close But Dave faulted on Blue and ended up a lap down on Rob.
My Bizarrinni had some unusual handling problems, when Callan commented it looked low in the rear, I concluded that the spacer on the rear mount was missing, pretty obvious when I looked to see one of the rear tyres had a groove around it from rubbing on the interior!.
Rhys circulated around maybe we should just call him "Captian slow"
Finishing order was JB 2 laps clear of Callan, DB just beating Bruce on the same lap,Rob was a lap down,Ugly and myself on the same lap with Dave ahead and Rhys following up the rear.
Round 2 - Stratton Valley - 1/8/23
1st - John Batich
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - John Batich
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Race 2 Report
This week saw a bigger field for race 2.
Two people presented cars not complying with the rules, PLEASE READ THE RULES.
If you have any questions ask the organiser.
We John again showed the speed of the big Ferrari to lead the field home by two laps,but this week Adrian was back and managed to finish is second a lap ahead of Dave Bantoft on the same lap as myself but about 1.5 metres ahead, the Bizarrine showing some improvement over last week. Altough Rob did comment that the Bizzarrinni tyres looked crap!
Bruce managed to show Callan who is boss my finishishing ahead. Rob and Scott ( with J.Bs Jag) were both on 67 laps one lap behind Callan.
Rhys and Dave Gray followed with Thomas in last with an unweighted unnumbered Cobra.
This week saw a bigger field for race 2.
Two people presented cars not complying with the rules, PLEASE READ THE RULES.
If you have any questions ask the organiser.
We John again showed the speed of the big Ferrari to lead the field home by two laps,but this week Adrian was back and managed to finish is second a lap ahead of Dave Bantoft on the same lap as myself but about 1.5 metres ahead, the Bizarrine showing some improvement over last week. Altough Rob did comment that the Bizzarrinni tyres looked crap!
Bruce managed to show Callan who is boss my finishishing ahead. Rob and Scott ( with J.Bs Jag) were both on 67 laps one lap behind Callan.
Rhys and Dave Gray followed with Thomas in last with an unweighted unnumbered Cobra.
Round 3 - Shelmore Park - 8/8/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - John Batich
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - John Batich
Race 3 - Report
The 3rd round of Front Engine historic sports car was also run this week at Shelmore Park. It was a another closely fought round with many drivers finishing on the same lap & a quite tight spread of laps over the field. However one thing did remain a constant from the first two rounds and this is best summed up in the following little saying:
“If you’re not driving red, you might as well be dead”
Now, usually the presence of a bright Italian red among the field of cars, or the top 3 photos, adds a fantastic splash of vibrant colour & is welcomed by all motor racing photographers.
However, I have to say that the podium shots of the first three round of this series are starting to look a tad, dare I say it, boring !
The 3rd round of Front Engine historic sports car was also run this week at Shelmore Park. It was a another closely fought round with many drivers finishing on the same lap & a quite tight spread of laps over the field. However one thing did remain a constant from the first two rounds and this is best summed up in the following little saying:
“If you’re not driving red, you might as well be dead”
Now, usually the presence of a bright Italian red among the field of cars, or the top 3 photos, adds a fantastic splash of vibrant colour & is welcomed by all motor racing photographers.
However, I have to say that the podium shots of the first three round of this series are starting to look a tad, dare I say it, boring !
See what I mean ?
Surely someone could just do a quick re-spray before the next round ??? A nice subtle yellow, or a powder blue even ?
Anyway, the first of the Red cars this week were Phil & Adrian, in a very tight result & both finishing on 98 laps for the night. Phil in the very last heat for the night drove past Adrians car with a couple of seconds left & so took out the win this week. Adrian in a very unlucky 2nd.
3rd spot went to a red car (Funnily enough) with JB just managing to pip Callan Thomas (4th) in another red car on track position with their total of 93 laps. In 5th, and in the first of the non-red cars, was Bruce Thomas in a great result for the big (predominately white) & Front engined Mustang. Bruces total of 92 laps had him clear by 2 laps from myself in a (hold the phone!) Blue car in 6th on 90 laps this week.
Dennis Murrays visit this week was marked by a good performance and his 88 laps was enough to lock him into 7th spot by 1 lap from another 2 drivers fighting over 8th & 9th. Dave Gray was very competitive this week & good enough to grab 8th ahead of Rhys (9th) on track position.
Top 3 placegetter in the first two rounds, Dave Bantoft, decided to take his car for a Sunday drive this week circulating quite slowly & only occasionally in the slot (especially when Phil was attempting to pass!) and ended up 10th on 84 laps. Thomas Males, obviously still distraught over his rally win being taken away the last minute tried hard to keep it together, but anyone could see his heart wasn’t quite in it & he rounded out our 11 driver field this week on 71 laps.
More red cars next week……
Surely someone could just do a quick re-spray before the next round ??? A nice subtle yellow, or a powder blue even ?
Anyway, the first of the Red cars this week were Phil & Adrian, in a very tight result & both finishing on 98 laps for the night. Phil in the very last heat for the night drove past Adrians car with a couple of seconds left & so took out the win this week. Adrian in a very unlucky 2nd.
3rd spot went to a red car (Funnily enough) with JB just managing to pip Callan Thomas (4th) in another red car on track position with their total of 93 laps. In 5th, and in the first of the non-red cars, was Bruce Thomas in a great result for the big (predominately white) & Front engined Mustang. Bruces total of 92 laps had him clear by 2 laps from myself in a (hold the phone!) Blue car in 6th on 90 laps this week.
Dennis Murrays visit this week was marked by a good performance and his 88 laps was enough to lock him into 7th spot by 1 lap from another 2 drivers fighting over 8th & 9th. Dave Gray was very competitive this week & good enough to grab 8th ahead of Rhys (9th) on track position.
Top 3 placegetter in the first two rounds, Dave Bantoft, decided to take his car for a Sunday drive this week circulating quite slowly & only occasionally in the slot (especially when Phil was attempting to pass!) and ended up 10th on 84 laps. Thomas Males, obviously still distraught over his rally win being taken away the last minute tried hard to keep it together, but anyone could see his heart wasn’t quite in it & he rounded out our 11 driver field this week on 71 laps.
More red cars next week……
Round 4 - Mornington Park - 15/8/23
1st - Adrian Gray (aka the masked bandit)
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - John Batich
1st - Adrian Gray (aka the masked bandit)
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - John Batich
Race 4 - Report
Racing this week was at Dave Grays Mornington Park track, and from the very start (as soon as I walked in the door in fact) there just seemed to be something missing ?
It didn’t take me long to work out that the something missing was Dave Gray himself. In fact when I arrived it was those two co-conspirators from last week, Phil Kalbfell & John Batich, who had their heads together by the track no doubt concocting another devious plan to deny a worthy winner of their just desserts.
Hopefully our host will be back on deck asap.
First up in this week’s racing though was round 4 of the Front Engine sports series, and it was a replication of recent weeks as far as the top 3 went albeit with a slightly different order. It was Adrian Gray who finally took his first win of the series after 2 very close 2nd placings. His breakthrough was a comprehensive one however & his total of 102 laps was 2 clear of 2nd place Phil Kalbfell on 110 & 4 laps clear of 3rd place John Batich (108).
Dave Banoft, after a poor result last week, scrapped his way back up to 4th this week on 102 laps to be 2 laps clear of 5th & 6th placegetters, myself & Callan Thomas both of whom finished on a nice round 100 laps total. Callan had some early controller issues & once this was sorted his car went from behaving like a dog, to something a little more controllable.
Just 1 lap back on 99 & all on his own in 7th was Rhys Filbee, 1 lap ahead of Bruce Thomas in 8th on 98 laps. Bruce seemed to be using this week’s racing primarily as a test session and was seen fiddling with his big Mustang on various occasions.
Dave Schofield was welcomed back to racing this week & in his return he managed 9th place on 97 laps with Scott Wyman (86 laps) & Thomas Males (82 laps) rounding out the 11-driver field.
Racing this week was at Dave Grays Mornington Park track, and from the very start (as soon as I walked in the door in fact) there just seemed to be something missing ?
It didn’t take me long to work out that the something missing was Dave Gray himself. In fact when I arrived it was those two co-conspirators from last week, Phil Kalbfell & John Batich, who had their heads together by the track no doubt concocting another devious plan to deny a worthy winner of their just desserts.
Hopefully our host will be back on deck asap.
First up in this week’s racing though was round 4 of the Front Engine sports series, and it was a replication of recent weeks as far as the top 3 went albeit with a slightly different order. It was Adrian Gray who finally took his first win of the series after 2 very close 2nd placings. His breakthrough was a comprehensive one however & his total of 102 laps was 2 clear of 2nd place Phil Kalbfell on 110 & 4 laps clear of 3rd place John Batich (108).
Dave Banoft, after a poor result last week, scrapped his way back up to 4th this week on 102 laps to be 2 laps clear of 5th & 6th placegetters, myself & Callan Thomas both of whom finished on a nice round 100 laps total. Callan had some early controller issues & once this was sorted his car went from behaving like a dog, to something a little more controllable.
Just 1 lap back on 99 & all on his own in 7th was Rhys Filbee, 1 lap ahead of Bruce Thomas in 8th on 98 laps. Bruce seemed to be using this week’s racing primarily as a test session and was seen fiddling with his big Mustang on various occasions.
Dave Schofield was welcomed back to racing this week & in his return he managed 9th place on 97 laps with Scott Wyman (86 laps) & Thomas Males (82 laps) rounding out the 11-driver field.
Round 5 - Stratten Valley- 22/8/23
1st - John Batich
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
1st - John Batich
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
Race 5 - Report
Round 5 of the Front engine sports series this week was at the lovely Stratton Valley track of JBs, and despite being a couple down on numbers the racing was close (mostly) and without too many incidents (mostly).
The standout performer of the round though was, of course, John Batich. In the aptly named Bobblehead Ferrari, JB elastic suspension/body mounts floated the car to a great win by 3 laps with a total of 74 to be clear of 2nd & 3rd placegetters Adrian & Phil. These two had to again be separated by track position as both ended up on 71 laps. Adrian took the place this week with Phil in 3rd.
2 laps back in 4th (69 laps) was Dave Bantoft with another good recovery drive after his disastrous 10th in round 3. Luckily now that the dropped round score has been implemented DB can completely erase this effort from both his memory & the points tally for the series & still be pushing for that series podium finish.
On 68 laps & another competitive drive was Bruce Thomas in the Mustang in 5th, 1 lap ahead of Rhys Filbee (7th) on 67 laps for the night. Schoee in 7th on 62, Scott in 8th on 61 & Thomas Males in 9th on 56 rounded out the finishers for the evening.
In 10th….and officially on about 26 laps was the writer. His heat came to an abrupt end as the rear wheel decided to part company with the car & over took it on the front straight, perhaps the wheel thought the car was going too slowly & took matters into its own hands.
Round 5 of the Front engine sports series this week was at the lovely Stratton Valley track of JBs, and despite being a couple down on numbers the racing was close (mostly) and without too many incidents (mostly).
The standout performer of the round though was, of course, John Batich. In the aptly named Bobblehead Ferrari, JB elastic suspension/body mounts floated the car to a great win by 3 laps with a total of 74 to be clear of 2nd & 3rd placegetters Adrian & Phil. These two had to again be separated by track position as both ended up on 71 laps. Adrian took the place this week with Phil in 3rd.
2 laps back in 4th (69 laps) was Dave Bantoft with another good recovery drive after his disastrous 10th in round 3. Luckily now that the dropped round score has been implemented DB can completely erase this effort from both his memory & the points tally for the series & still be pushing for that series podium finish.
On 68 laps & another competitive drive was Bruce Thomas in the Mustang in 5th, 1 lap ahead of Rhys Filbee (7th) on 67 laps for the night. Schoee in 7th on 62, Scott in 8th on 61 & Thomas Males in 9th on 56 rounded out the finishers for the evening.
In 10th….and officially on about 26 laps was the writer. His heat came to an abrupt end as the rear wheel decided to part company with the car & over took it on the front straight, perhaps the wheel thought the car was going too slowly & took matters into its own hands.
Round 6 - Gotham Park - 29/8/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Bruce Thomas
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Bruce Thomas
Race 6 - Report
Round 6 (penultimate) of the Front engine sports car series and as the series draws towards a close, the closer the points to the overall series results seem to be getting.
At the end of round 6 a total of 2 points separates the first 3 placers, mainly due to a barnstorming run from Phil Kalbfell. Phils first two round were ones he like to forget, but since then he has been in the top 3 every round including 2 wins. This weeks round was his 2nd victory of the series & his 98 laps was a massive 7 laps clear of the rest of the field & shows that he has the form going into the last round.
He will have to bring his best though, as currently being in 3rd has that 2 point margin to make up to the two equal leaders. 2nd position this week went to the ever-reliable Adrian Gray. As one of our equal series leaders, Adrian has not finished outside the top two since missing round one, and even though this weeks drive was not one of his best (as I’m sure he’d agree) he still snatched that vital 2nd spot & the 24 points. His 91 lap total was equal with Bruce Thomas but Bruce was denied 2nd by the eventual finish position on the final lap. Bruce had to settle for 3rd this week.
Dave Bantoft grabbed 4th place this week with his total of 89 laps and this just pipped John Batich into 5th by 1 lap with JB on 88 laps.
In 6th Dave Gray had a great drive this week and racked up 85 laps to be 1 lap ahead of the writer in 7th on 84 laps. In 8th, just 1 more lap back on 83, was Dave Schofield with Thomas Males (76 laps) in 9th & Scott Wyman (72 laps) in 10th.
Unlucky mechanical breakage prize for this week went to Callan Thomas, who still managed to fly round for 90 laps after switching to a borrowed car, but of course his results couldn’t be officially counted.
Round 6 (penultimate) of the Front engine sports car series and as the series draws towards a close, the closer the points to the overall series results seem to be getting.
At the end of round 6 a total of 2 points separates the first 3 placers, mainly due to a barnstorming run from Phil Kalbfell. Phils first two round were ones he like to forget, but since then he has been in the top 3 every round including 2 wins. This weeks round was his 2nd victory of the series & his 98 laps was a massive 7 laps clear of the rest of the field & shows that he has the form going into the last round.
He will have to bring his best though, as currently being in 3rd has that 2 point margin to make up to the two equal leaders. 2nd position this week went to the ever-reliable Adrian Gray. As one of our equal series leaders, Adrian has not finished outside the top two since missing round one, and even though this weeks drive was not one of his best (as I’m sure he’d agree) he still snatched that vital 2nd spot & the 24 points. His 91 lap total was equal with Bruce Thomas but Bruce was denied 2nd by the eventual finish position on the final lap. Bruce had to settle for 3rd this week.
Dave Bantoft grabbed 4th place this week with his total of 89 laps and this just pipped John Batich into 5th by 1 lap with JB on 88 laps.
In 6th Dave Gray had a great drive this week and racked up 85 laps to be 1 lap ahead of the writer in 7th on 84 laps. In 8th, just 1 more lap back on 83, was Dave Schofield with Thomas Males (76 laps) in 9th & Scott Wyman (72 laps) in 10th.
Unlucky mechanical breakage prize for this week went to Callan Thomas, who still managed to fly round for 90 laps after switching to a borrowed car, but of course his results couldn’t be officially counted.
Round 7 - Shelmore Park - 5/9/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Overall Series results
*After careful scrutineering, only 2 cars from the series actually qualified as being officially Front Engine & so here are the top 2.
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Scott Wyman
*After careful scrutineering, only 2 cars from the series actually qualified as being officially Front Engine & so here are the top 2.
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Scott Wyman
And, here are the results from the rest of the field....ie, everyone else who ignored Bruce's vehement protests......
1st - John Batich
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Adrian Gray (very, very unlucky I might add)
1st - John Batich
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Adrian Gray (very, very unlucky I might add)
Race 6 - Report
The exciting conclusion to the Front Engine Sports series was run this week, and it came down to 3 drivers all with a chance of victory and glory.
Currently in 1st, tied on points, John Batich. John’s series so far has been one of consistency with 3 wins in the first 6 rounds, and a worst result of 5th which was his dropped points round. This put him into a strong position going into the final.
Also tied on points for 1st, Adrian Gray. Adrian’s strong comeback in the series after missing round 1 has seen him grab 1 win & nothing worse than 2nd place in any other round so far. However, that initial 0 pointer in his missed round 1 has always had the possibility of coming back to bite given that he has had to use this as his dropped point round.
In 3rd, only 2 points back, Phil Kalbfell. Phils series has seen him rack up 2 wins, a 2nd & a 3rd. Unfortunately, his 1st two round finishes of 7th & 4th saw him have a slow start. His form has been good at the right end of the series though.
In the final wash up though, it came down to two drivers & 1 point. Phil once again racked up the win with 101 laps to make it 3 wins for the series & a total of 144 points overall. However, JB made sure of his series win by finishing 2nd (97 laps) to win the series by a point. The 3rd driver in the equation, Adrian Gray was right on track to pull off a clear series win after this first heat. However the appalling luck of a broken lead wire reared its head in his 2nd heat & put paid to his challenge for the series. He did manage to hold on for a 3rd place series result, but his round result was not what he was hoping for.
The 3rd place getting this round, was Dave Bantoft on 96 laps, 1 lap to the good of Bruce Thomas in 4th on 95 laps. A very close 5th was Callan, less than half a lap behind Bruce on 95 laps as well, which was a huge 5 laps clear of the writer in 6th place on 90 laps.
Rob Golleys comeback was solid if not spectacular & managed 7th on 88 laps on the night, 5 laps ahead of 8th place, Scott Wyman on 83.
9th place went to Dave Schofield on 80 laps, yet another of those who might be glad to see the back of these elderly sports vehicles. Thomas Males rounded out the top 10 on 75 laps.
As mentioned before, Adrian was the unlucky driver this week & after a great 25 lap run on lane 1, his wire issues surfaced & ended up 11th (35laps) in this final round.
The exciting conclusion to the Front Engine Sports series was run this week, and it came down to 3 drivers all with a chance of victory and glory.
Currently in 1st, tied on points, John Batich. John’s series so far has been one of consistency with 3 wins in the first 6 rounds, and a worst result of 5th which was his dropped points round. This put him into a strong position going into the final.
Also tied on points for 1st, Adrian Gray. Adrian’s strong comeback in the series after missing round 1 has seen him grab 1 win & nothing worse than 2nd place in any other round so far. However, that initial 0 pointer in his missed round 1 has always had the possibility of coming back to bite given that he has had to use this as his dropped point round.
In 3rd, only 2 points back, Phil Kalbfell. Phils series has seen him rack up 2 wins, a 2nd & a 3rd. Unfortunately, his 1st two round finishes of 7th & 4th saw him have a slow start. His form has been good at the right end of the series though.
In the final wash up though, it came down to two drivers & 1 point. Phil once again racked up the win with 101 laps to make it 3 wins for the series & a total of 144 points overall. However, JB made sure of his series win by finishing 2nd (97 laps) to win the series by a point. The 3rd driver in the equation, Adrian Gray was right on track to pull off a clear series win after this first heat. However the appalling luck of a broken lead wire reared its head in his 2nd heat & put paid to his challenge for the series. He did manage to hold on for a 3rd place series result, but his round result was not what he was hoping for.
The 3rd place getting this round, was Dave Bantoft on 96 laps, 1 lap to the good of Bruce Thomas in 4th on 95 laps. A very close 5th was Callan, less than half a lap behind Bruce on 95 laps as well, which was a huge 5 laps clear of the writer in 6th place on 90 laps.
Rob Golleys comeback was solid if not spectacular & managed 7th on 88 laps on the night, 5 laps ahead of 8th place, Scott Wyman on 83.
9th place went to Dave Schofield on 80 laps, yet another of those who might be glad to see the back of these elderly sports vehicles. Thomas Males rounded out the top 10 on 75 laps.
As mentioned before, Adrian was the unlucky driver this week & after a great 25 lap run on lane 1, his wire issues surfaced & ended up 11th (35laps) in this final round.