Race Results & reports
Race 1
Race 2
Race 3
Race 4
Race 5
Race 6
Race 7
Points table - Final
Round 1 - Mornington Park - 5/11/24
1st - Rob Golley
2nd - Dave Bantoft
3rd - Bruce Thomas
1st - Rob Golley
2nd - Dave Bantoft
3rd - Bruce Thomas
Race Report - Round 1
Well, in a packed program tonight there were two brand new series on the cards and the first of these in tonights schedule were the Group A touring cars. There was the usual anticipation and expectation than goes with bringing out either a brand new car, or an old reliable runner and putting your trust in the preparation (or lack of) to see you through the first round.
There was a wide variety of cars in the field as they were all assembled on the grid for the usual pre-series photo shoot. There were BMWs, and BMWs, and BMWs, and even BMWs to make up half the grid. To be fair, the other half of the grid was quite interesting with Jags & Rovers & the occasional Commodore, Sierra, Nissan……..and a Maserati.
However, it was no surprise to see the top 3 placings fought out between an all BMW group of drivers and it was an emphatic win in round 1 for Rob Golly in the first of the 635 BMWs with his total of 114 laps. This was 4 laps clear of any other car this week with the battle for 2nd & 3rd fought out between DB & Bruce on a shared total of 110 laps. In the end it was DB who grabbed 2nd from Bruce in the mobile art installation, who had to overcome the slight inconvenience of missing his entire front axle for the last part of heat 1.
Only 2 laps back from the BMWs was the first of the rest in 4th. Rhys in the Maserati BiTurbo managed to notch up 108 laps in a consistent performance and showing promising signs for the series. Another 4 laps back to 5th place, and it was Phil on 102 laps, although a much higher place could have been achieved if not for the regular occurrence of people randomly taking his car off the track & banging it quite hard on the track edge during heat 2. Once the problem leading to this “fix” has been sorted we can expect a jump up the results table in upcoming rounds.
Luckily for Phil, he was quick enough in his other 2 heats to still manage to finish 1 place ahead of Caine in 6th. Phil was very keen to maintain bragging rights over the grandkid, which he did by 3 laps….this wouldn’t last past the end of the night !
Anyway, that later, Caine’s total of 99 laps was shared with Dave Gray, but Caine took 6th on track ahead of Dave in 7th. Ben in the Sierra was another 3 laps back on 96, and this was enough for 8th place, 1 lap clear of JB in the lovely looking, but difficult to drive Commodore in 9th.
Tom took out the final top 10 position with his 88 lap total, which left yours truly down at the tail end of the field in 11th on a mere 71 laps. In a sign of things to come for the writer, it was the pinion on a brand new car that gave up the ghost and will require some rebuilding work over the next week.
Well, in a packed program tonight there were two brand new series on the cards and the first of these in tonights schedule were the Group A touring cars. There was the usual anticipation and expectation than goes with bringing out either a brand new car, or an old reliable runner and putting your trust in the preparation (or lack of) to see you through the first round.
There was a wide variety of cars in the field as they were all assembled on the grid for the usual pre-series photo shoot. There were BMWs, and BMWs, and BMWs, and even BMWs to make up half the grid. To be fair, the other half of the grid was quite interesting with Jags & Rovers & the occasional Commodore, Sierra, Nissan……..and a Maserati.
However, it was no surprise to see the top 3 placings fought out between an all BMW group of drivers and it was an emphatic win in round 1 for Rob Golly in the first of the 635 BMWs with his total of 114 laps. This was 4 laps clear of any other car this week with the battle for 2nd & 3rd fought out between DB & Bruce on a shared total of 110 laps. In the end it was DB who grabbed 2nd from Bruce in the mobile art installation, who had to overcome the slight inconvenience of missing his entire front axle for the last part of heat 1.
Only 2 laps back from the BMWs was the first of the rest in 4th. Rhys in the Maserati BiTurbo managed to notch up 108 laps in a consistent performance and showing promising signs for the series. Another 4 laps back to 5th place, and it was Phil on 102 laps, although a much higher place could have been achieved if not for the regular occurrence of people randomly taking his car off the track & banging it quite hard on the track edge during heat 2. Once the problem leading to this “fix” has been sorted we can expect a jump up the results table in upcoming rounds.
Luckily for Phil, he was quick enough in his other 2 heats to still manage to finish 1 place ahead of Caine in 6th. Phil was very keen to maintain bragging rights over the grandkid, which he did by 3 laps….this wouldn’t last past the end of the night !
Anyway, that later, Caine’s total of 99 laps was shared with Dave Gray, but Caine took 6th on track ahead of Dave in 7th. Ben in the Sierra was another 3 laps back on 96, and this was enough for 8th place, 1 lap clear of JB in the lovely looking, but difficult to drive Commodore in 9th.
Tom took out the final top 10 position with his 88 lap total, which left yours truly down at the tail end of the field in 11th on a mere 71 laps. In a sign of things to come for the writer, it was the pinion on a brand new car that gave up the ghost and will require some rebuilding work over the next week.
Round 2 - Gotham Park - 12/11/24
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Race Report - Round 2
Well, after the magnet-gate scandal in the Historic NASCAR round had finally been put to rest & tensions had once again dissipated it was with a refreshed feeling of optimism that we approached the running of the Group A series safe in the knowledge that surely lighting couldn’t strike twice.
........How wrong we were.
After having run a nice perfectly legal Scalextric XJS in round 1, Tom decided in his wisdom to crack open a brand new Scalex Sierra & give that a run…..with no changes whatsoever……which obviously included the item that caused so much contention in the first series.
As a response to the goings on during this weeks racing, some track owners are considering the introduction of some more efficient magnet testing equipment as a strong deterrent to this evil practice in the future.
The simple introduction of a electro magnet, similar to that pictured below, will work by immediately removing (vertically) any magnetic effect cars from the track as they pass under the tester, and then leave them suspended above the track for the remainder of the round to serve as a timely reminder to anyone else considering the use of these devious devices….
Well, after the magnet-gate scandal in the Historic NASCAR round had finally been put to rest & tensions had once again dissipated it was with a refreshed feeling of optimism that we approached the running of the Group A series safe in the knowledge that surely lighting couldn’t strike twice.
........How wrong we were.
After having run a nice perfectly legal Scalextric XJS in round 1, Tom decided in his wisdom to crack open a brand new Scalex Sierra & give that a run…..with no changes whatsoever……which obviously included the item that caused so much contention in the first series.
As a response to the goings on during this weeks racing, some track owners are considering the introduction of some more efficient magnet testing equipment as a strong deterrent to this evil practice in the future.
The simple introduction of a electro magnet, similar to that pictured below, will work by immediately removing (vertically) any magnetic effect cars from the track as they pass under the tester, and then leave them suspended above the track for the remainder of the round to serve as a timely reminder to anyone else considering the use of these devious devices….
Actual racing summary –
Adrian turned up for round 2 & brought his tried & true JPS XJS, which was a winner on the track with his 101 laps, & had the added bonus of being a very good scrabble hand. The 2nd big Jag of the series, Phils, showed its true form this week as well and took out 2nd spot, 3 laps back on 98. In 3rd (& redeeming himself after NASCARS) was DB on a total of 97 laps. His BMW was the first of the results for this make, which so dominated the round last week.
This week they would dominate the middle part of the results as we shall see. In 4th, Bruce Thomas on 96 laps (BMW). Same lap but in 5th, Callan Thomas (BMW), and in 6th spot this week, and on 93 laps Rob Golley in a ….wait for it…..BMW. So that’s 3rd to 6th taken care of by the Bavarian Motor Works.
Rhys Filbee sadly broke the run in the Maserati by finishing 7th on 91 laps, just 1 lap ahead of yet another BMW, the writers, in 8th on 90 laps for the night.
We finally had some variety in 9th, with the Commodore of JB on 89 laps, 1 lap ahead of Dave Gray in the Rover in 10th with Caine in the Skyline in 11th on 86 laps.
Ben had some lead wire issues after heat 1 & this put paid to his night back in 11th, with the final driver Tom Males racking up some extremely impressive lap times, which unfortunately didn’t count.
Adrian turned up for round 2 & brought his tried & true JPS XJS, which was a winner on the track with his 101 laps, & had the added bonus of being a very good scrabble hand. The 2nd big Jag of the series, Phils, showed its true form this week as well and took out 2nd spot, 3 laps back on 98. In 3rd (& redeeming himself after NASCARS) was DB on a total of 97 laps. His BMW was the first of the results for this make, which so dominated the round last week.
This week they would dominate the middle part of the results as we shall see. In 4th, Bruce Thomas on 96 laps (BMW). Same lap but in 5th, Callan Thomas (BMW), and in 6th spot this week, and on 93 laps Rob Golley in a ….wait for it…..BMW. So that’s 3rd to 6th taken care of by the Bavarian Motor Works.
Rhys Filbee sadly broke the run in the Maserati by finishing 7th on 91 laps, just 1 lap ahead of yet another BMW, the writers, in 8th on 90 laps for the night.
We finally had some variety in 9th, with the Commodore of JB on 89 laps, 1 lap ahead of Dave Gray in the Rover in 10th with Caine in the Skyline in 11th on 86 laps.
Ben had some lead wire issues after heat 1 & this put paid to his night back in 11th, with the final driver Tom Males racking up some extremely impressive lap times, which unfortunately didn’t count.
Round 3 - Sorell Creek - 26/11/24
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
Race Report - Round 3
As supper duties were an even more pressing priority during the 2nd round of the night, I saw even less of the Group A round than I did of the NASCARS, and so will have to use my very limited creative writing skills in writing up this report based almost entirely on seeing the end results sheet……almost.
I did however have a close up view during my final 2 heats of the driving tactics of DB this round. Seemingly endless instances of cars being left in his wake strewn all over the track, with the unlucky drivers (Adrian, Callan & myself) left to negotiate the carnage at regular intervals.
I can only assume that this tactic was quite successful though, as at the end of the nights racing DB had totalled 99 laps to take out the round win by a lap from fellow BWM teammate Rob Golley on 98 laps in 2nd.
It was a battle of the big cats for 3rd between the Jaguar XJS of Phil & Adrian on 95 laps each, and it was Phil who took the place on track position from Adrian in 4th.
On 91 laps and in 5th this round, Caine finished ahead of a 2 way struggle for 6th & 7th between Ben & the writer on 91 laps. Once again it was the downhill that saw Ben coast past my own stationary car on the way around the hairpin to grab the position. I’ll have to do something about my brakes & gearing !
Dave Grays Rover was just 1 lap back in 9th on 90 laps for the night, with Rhys in 9th on 89 laps in the Maserati.
In 10th & 11th & in unfamiliar positions, Bruce & Callan, each having a breakdown on Blue lane putting paid to their chances on the night. Well, in actual fact, Bruce had sabotaged any chance of a series result himself by running a different car to the earlier rounds.
In 12th and with a total of 68 laps, Toms ANZ Moffat Sierra suffered from the occasional de-slot which was enough to make interested onlooker Roger Mahoney smirk with satisfaction.
As supper duties were an even more pressing priority during the 2nd round of the night, I saw even less of the Group A round than I did of the NASCARS, and so will have to use my very limited creative writing skills in writing up this report based almost entirely on seeing the end results sheet……almost.
I did however have a close up view during my final 2 heats of the driving tactics of DB this round. Seemingly endless instances of cars being left in his wake strewn all over the track, with the unlucky drivers (Adrian, Callan & myself) left to negotiate the carnage at regular intervals.
I can only assume that this tactic was quite successful though, as at the end of the nights racing DB had totalled 99 laps to take out the round win by a lap from fellow BWM teammate Rob Golley on 98 laps in 2nd.
It was a battle of the big cats for 3rd between the Jaguar XJS of Phil & Adrian on 95 laps each, and it was Phil who took the place on track position from Adrian in 4th.
On 91 laps and in 5th this round, Caine finished ahead of a 2 way struggle for 6th & 7th between Ben & the writer on 91 laps. Once again it was the downhill that saw Ben coast past my own stationary car on the way around the hairpin to grab the position. I’ll have to do something about my brakes & gearing !
Dave Grays Rover was just 1 lap back in 9th on 90 laps for the night, with Rhys in 9th on 89 laps in the Maserati.
In 10th & 11th & in unfamiliar positions, Bruce & Callan, each having a breakdown on Blue lane putting paid to their chances on the night. Well, in actual fact, Bruce had sabotaged any chance of a series result himself by running a different car to the earlier rounds.
In 12th and with a total of 68 laps, Toms ANZ Moffat Sierra suffered from the occasional de-slot which was enough to make interested onlooker Roger Mahoney smirk with satisfaction.
Round 4 - Gotham Park - 10/12/24
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Round 5 - Stratton Valley - 14/1/25
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Rhys Filbee
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Rhys Filbee
Race Report - Round 5
It was the first night back racing for the new year of 2025, and all had gathered at JBs for the re-commencement. Immediately there was some good news & some bad news for all participants in the Group A touring car series.
The good news (specifically for Dave Bantoft) was that we had miscalculated the rounds & this was in fact only round 5 instead of round 6, and so there are still 2 rounds to go in the series.
The bad news (for everybody else) was that we had miscalculated the rounds & this was in fact only round 5 instead of round 6, and so there are still 2 rounds to go in the series!
This disappointing revelation brings with it a few questions…
When we finally got around to racing though, it was quite an uneventful night & everything went smoothly with no noteworthy incidents.
Oh OK, fine, there might have been a couple of quite insignificant events during racing that may have caught the interest of some of the more pedantic onlookers. SO I suppose these should be included in a fully comprehensive report.
To explain the 2 incidents in question fully, we really only need 1 picture (as shown below)….this will explain everything. Note this is not a photo of the ACTUAL incident, but a digitally created re-production, however you will all get the gist.
What I would like you all to do is take a close look at the photo which shows an approximate reproduction of the start of Heat 10 of the Group A Touring (this fact is important). There are some deliberate errors included in the photo (no, not the dodgy photo editing!). Take some time to spot the deliberate errors, they may be very subtle & hard to spot but do your best.
Answers will be listed below the photo.
It was the first night back racing for the new year of 2025, and all had gathered at JBs for the re-commencement. Immediately there was some good news & some bad news for all participants in the Group A touring car series.
The good news (specifically for Dave Bantoft) was that we had miscalculated the rounds & this was in fact only round 5 instead of round 6, and so there are still 2 rounds to go in the series.
The bad news (for everybody else) was that we had miscalculated the rounds & this was in fact only round 5 instead of round 6, and so there are still 2 rounds to go in the series!
This disappointing revelation brings with it a few questions…
- How much further can Phils Jag lean by the time we get to round 7?
- With the saturation coverage of the evils of cigarette advertising in this series, will we all be chain smokers by the end of round 7?
- And finally, having been given a test drive of JBs old Group A car (Volvo) after racing, the question has to be asked…..why is he persisting in running a commodore? (unless it’s sheer stubbornness)
When we finally got around to racing though, it was quite an uneventful night & everything went smoothly with no noteworthy incidents.
Oh OK, fine, there might have been a couple of quite insignificant events during racing that may have caught the interest of some of the more pedantic onlookers. SO I suppose these should be included in a fully comprehensive report.
To explain the 2 incidents in question fully, we really only need 1 picture (as shown below)….this will explain everything. Note this is not a photo of the ACTUAL incident, but a digitally created re-production, however you will all get the gist.
What I would like you all to do is take a close look at the photo which shows an approximate reproduction of the start of Heat 10 of the Group A Touring (this fact is important). There are some deliberate errors included in the photo (no, not the dodgy photo editing!). Take some time to spot the deliberate errors, they may be very subtle & hard to spot but do your best.
Answers will be listed below the photo.
Answers:
For those more eagle eyed among you, there were possibly 2 other deliberate mistakes if you’d studied the photo carefully.
Well done to all of you who spotted 3 out of 3 of the mistakes !
Racing on the night…yes there was some, and it was DB who took out another round of the series, his 2nd win in 3 rounds in a very close finish. It was DB & Callan who both finished on 76 laps, but DB grabbed the win on track position from Callan in a very close 2nd. With still 2 rounds to go, DB has opened up a 4 point lead in the series after this victory. A newcomer to the podium in this series though was Rhys in the Maserati. A very good drive saw him rack up 73 laps to take 3rd by 1 lap from 2 drivers on 72 laps. A good solid return to racing from Schoee saw him grab a great 4th, just pipping Adrian Gray in the process.
6th place on his own on 69 laps, the writer was lamenting the fact that for some reason his actual Group A car was no-where near as fast as the DTM he attempted to run with first…..darn that.
Locked together on 68 laps was Ben & JB, with Ben taking 7th ahead of JB in 8th, and whose driving of the reluctant commodore was top notch, but we feel he’s fighting a losing battle with this car.
The Jag of Phil is struggling to make it to the end of the series, and this week, despite some quick lap times, it also refused to go around left hand corners and his 66 laps was all he could manage for 9th place. Dave Gray completed the top 10 with 64 laps, ahead of Caine (11th) on 61 & Tom in 12th on 50 laps for the night.
- So, all of you will no doubt have spotted the most obvious deliberate error here, which is the fact that Schoees car is shown as still having his navigator in the passenger seat, when of course in fact there is no navigator in his actual car. Well done for those who got this one, but this one really wasn’t a challenge.
For those more eagle eyed among you, there were possibly 2 other deliberate mistakes if you’d studied the photo carefully.
- Given that this photo shows the cars at the start of the heat………there has to be a slight question about the direction of travel of one of these cars. Yes, that’s right! Schoees car is actually facing the wrong direction! Well done to all who got this rather more difficult clue. In fact, it actually took the Marshall in question some time to spot this subtle error as well, as it took him 2 attempts to turn it around to face the correct way. His first attempt to rectify the error, resulted in him simply switching the car to another lane……still facing backwards. But we got there in the end. Perhaps Schoees driver might have been wishing his navigator was still with him in the car at this point !
- And finally, the third & most difficult to spot mistake, the fact that in a non-podded, Group A touring car series, a podded Slot-It DTM car was able to find its way onto the track, making its way all the way to the start line & in fact, even complete a lap or two before this was noticed by the driver. In fact it took a couple of prompts by a fellow driver (Adrian) for the owner in question to finally realise that the “wrong car” quips were directed at him……I’m certain that the cars owner will be glad that to see the back of this weeks fiasco, and I’m sure all others in attendance will put this incident behind them as well, and there will be no further mention of it in coming weeks, months…years.
Well done to all of you who spotted 3 out of 3 of the mistakes !
Racing on the night…yes there was some, and it was DB who took out another round of the series, his 2nd win in 3 rounds in a very close finish. It was DB & Callan who both finished on 76 laps, but DB grabbed the win on track position from Callan in a very close 2nd. With still 2 rounds to go, DB has opened up a 4 point lead in the series after this victory. A newcomer to the podium in this series though was Rhys in the Maserati. A very good drive saw him rack up 73 laps to take 3rd by 1 lap from 2 drivers on 72 laps. A good solid return to racing from Schoee saw him grab a great 4th, just pipping Adrian Gray in the process.
6th place on his own on 69 laps, the writer was lamenting the fact that for some reason his actual Group A car was no-where near as fast as the DTM he attempted to run with first…..darn that.
Locked together on 68 laps was Ben & JB, with Ben taking 7th ahead of JB in 8th, and whose driving of the reluctant commodore was top notch, but we feel he’s fighting a losing battle with this car.
The Jag of Phil is struggling to make it to the end of the series, and this week, despite some quick lap times, it also refused to go around left hand corners and his 66 laps was all he could manage for 9th place. Dave Gray completed the top 10 with 64 laps, ahead of Caine (11th) on 61 & Tom in 12th on 50 laps for the night.
Round 6 - Mornington Park - 21/1/25
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Callan Thomas
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Callan Thomas
Race Report - Round 6
So, for what seems like an eternity, we have been running the Group A touring cars. Starting sometime in the middle of last year the light at the end of the tunnel is finally in sight & this week marked the penultimate round (2nd last !).
Luckily this week also saw the penultimate (2nd last) game of Big Bash cricket on the calendar, so from next week we’ll (hopefully) see a return to racing from half the field who’ve been jumping on the recent local Big Bash teams bandwagon.
To the racing, and it was again a top display of driving from series leader Dave Bantoft. Although this week DB was pushed all the way by the return of Rob Golley to the fray & it was this pair locked together on 114 laps apiece at the end of the racing. DB took the win by 1 car length and extended his lead in the series to an almost unbeatable 8 points with just 1 round to go. Barring disaster, DB should lock up his first series win for the year. Rob Golleys 2nd place has his well placed in 2nd overall as well, and it was only his 1 missed round that has cost him his chance of a series win.
In 3rd place this week, & moving up into 3rd overall, Callan has recovered well from his disastrous round 3 result, however a missed round 1 has meant that his 3rd round 11th place finish has to count in his point total. Callan was just 1 lap back from DB & Rob with his 113 lap total.
In 4th Schoee continued his good form in his racing return and his 108 laps was shared with Rhys, however it was Dave who took the pace on track from Rhys in 5th.
Phil battled hard all night in his very uncooperative Jag to end up with 107 laps & a 6th place, still good enough to be well clear (4 laps) of 7th place finisher (myself) on 103 laps. JBs Commodore was next in line on 101 laps for 8th, a good result for such a hard car to drive well. Another 2 laps back on 99, Dave Gray picked up 9th, 4 laps clear of 10th place finisher Caine on 95 laps for th night.
In 11th, Ben had some technical problems in his 2nd heat & this affected his end result significantly. Tom’s car handling issues form last week, plagued him again and his 67 laps saw him round out the field in 12th.
So, for what seems like an eternity, we have been running the Group A touring cars. Starting sometime in the middle of last year the light at the end of the tunnel is finally in sight & this week marked the penultimate round (2nd last !).
Luckily this week also saw the penultimate (2nd last) game of Big Bash cricket on the calendar, so from next week we’ll (hopefully) see a return to racing from half the field who’ve been jumping on the recent local Big Bash teams bandwagon.
To the racing, and it was again a top display of driving from series leader Dave Bantoft. Although this week DB was pushed all the way by the return of Rob Golley to the fray & it was this pair locked together on 114 laps apiece at the end of the racing. DB took the win by 1 car length and extended his lead in the series to an almost unbeatable 8 points with just 1 round to go. Barring disaster, DB should lock up his first series win for the year. Rob Golleys 2nd place has his well placed in 2nd overall as well, and it was only his 1 missed round that has cost him his chance of a series win.
In 3rd place this week, & moving up into 3rd overall, Callan has recovered well from his disastrous round 3 result, however a missed round 1 has meant that his 3rd round 11th place finish has to count in his point total. Callan was just 1 lap back from DB & Rob with his 113 lap total.
In 4th Schoee continued his good form in his racing return and his 108 laps was shared with Rhys, however it was Dave who took the pace on track from Rhys in 5th.
Phil battled hard all night in his very uncooperative Jag to end up with 107 laps & a 6th place, still good enough to be well clear (4 laps) of 7th place finisher (myself) on 103 laps. JBs Commodore was next in line on 101 laps for 8th, a good result for such a hard car to drive well. Another 2 laps back on 99, Dave Gray picked up 9th, 4 laps clear of 10th place finisher Caine on 95 laps for th night.
In 11th, Ben had some technical problems in his 2nd heat & this affected his end result significantly. Tom’s car handling issues form last week, plagued him again and his 67 laps saw him round out the field in 12th.
Round 7 - Gotham Park - 28/1/25
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Final Series - Top 3
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Callan Thomas
1st - Dave Bantoft
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Callan Thomas
Race Report - Round 6 & final round
And so we came to the final round of the 2 year long series that was the Group A Touring cars with nothing to gain (except a series win) & almost everything to lose for series leader Dave Bantoft. In fact DB was so far ahead on the series all he would really have to do was just trail around behind all the serious contenders making no mistakes & avoiding being punted off at regular intervals by some of the more vigorous drivers.
Which is exactly what he did. In a display of driving completely at odds with his usual style, DB actually resisted all urges to speed up as soon as other drivers caught him and instead just allowed them past & slotted in behind for his entire 4 heats to ensure his 3rd place for the night. Which was of course enough to confirm his series win.
But more on that later. The win for the last round was taken out by the BMW of Callan Thomas with a 4 lap margin on 101 laps & was enough to lock him into 3rd place in the seriesdespite his missed round in the early part of the series. Bruce’s 2nd car, the Sierra, looked the goods again & was eventually locked into 2nd this week, but only after a very close race with DB & Rob with all 2 drivers sharing 97 laps. Bruce took the place on track though, with DBs 3rd & Rob Golleys 4th cementing their series 1 – 2.
3 more drivers finished just 1 lap back on 96, with places 5 & 6 separated by just 1 car length. Phil taking 5th from the unlucky Schoee in 6th & Rhys, the other combatant, in 7th.
Adrian Gray had a huge shunt during his run, which had a drastic effect on the tenuous link between his chassis & body, and his effort in still managing 93 laps for 8th was one deserving of much praise.
JBs commodore seems to be slowly getting better with each round, and who knows, by the time the series gets toward the latter part, he will have a quite competitive car…in 2027. Whatever the case, it was good enough for a good 9th this week with 91 laps. Dave Gray was next in line in the top 10 again on 90, which was a lap to the good of the writer’s effort with his 90 lap total and an 11th place finish. Not the worst car I’ve ever driven……..just.
Bens night was not much better either despite having great pace & his 87 laps meant a 12th place finish, ahead of the drifting style of the Moffett Sierra of Tom in 13th on 66 laps for the night.
So, in summary, the last series winner for 2024?…..or the first series winner of 2025?
Whatever the case, it is certain that DB has taken out his first series win for at least 3 years….how long exactly I’m not sure as current records don’t go back any further than that !
Well done DB !
And so we came to the final round of the 2 year long series that was the Group A Touring cars with nothing to gain (except a series win) & almost everything to lose for series leader Dave Bantoft. In fact DB was so far ahead on the series all he would really have to do was just trail around behind all the serious contenders making no mistakes & avoiding being punted off at regular intervals by some of the more vigorous drivers.
Which is exactly what he did. In a display of driving completely at odds with his usual style, DB actually resisted all urges to speed up as soon as other drivers caught him and instead just allowed them past & slotted in behind for his entire 4 heats to ensure his 3rd place for the night. Which was of course enough to confirm his series win.
But more on that later. The win for the last round was taken out by the BMW of Callan Thomas with a 4 lap margin on 101 laps & was enough to lock him into 3rd place in the seriesdespite his missed round in the early part of the series. Bruce’s 2nd car, the Sierra, looked the goods again & was eventually locked into 2nd this week, but only after a very close race with DB & Rob with all 2 drivers sharing 97 laps. Bruce took the place on track though, with DBs 3rd & Rob Golleys 4th cementing their series 1 – 2.
3 more drivers finished just 1 lap back on 96, with places 5 & 6 separated by just 1 car length. Phil taking 5th from the unlucky Schoee in 6th & Rhys, the other combatant, in 7th.
Adrian Gray had a huge shunt during his run, which had a drastic effect on the tenuous link between his chassis & body, and his effort in still managing 93 laps for 8th was one deserving of much praise.
JBs commodore seems to be slowly getting better with each round, and who knows, by the time the series gets toward the latter part, he will have a quite competitive car…in 2027. Whatever the case, it was good enough for a good 9th this week with 91 laps. Dave Gray was next in line in the top 10 again on 90, which was a lap to the good of the writer’s effort with his 90 lap total and an 11th place finish. Not the worst car I’ve ever driven……..just.
Bens night was not much better either despite having great pace & his 87 laps meant a 12th place finish, ahead of the drifting style of the Moffett Sierra of Tom in 13th on 66 laps for the night.
So, in summary, the last series winner for 2024?…..or the first series winner of 2025?
Whatever the case, it is certain that DB has taken out his first series win for at least 3 years….how long exactly I’m not sure as current records don’t go back any further than that !
Well done DB !
