Race Podium Photos
Race 1 - Shelmore Park
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Bruce Thomas
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - John Batich
3rd - Bruce Thomas
Race 1 Report
So, here we go. The start of another new series, and an eagerly awaited one at that with the arrival of the huge range & loosely scrutineered cars of the Narrow Can-Am series. However, along with the new series, there were also sadly the same old complaints & whinging over content on the website. This week it was regarding the absence of the ever-popular Race Reports summary. Obviously, this complaint was a scurrilous one as it should be obvious to those of you reading this, that there is indeed a Race Report on the website. I hope this puts that particular avenue of discontent to bed once & for all.
To the racing though, and the competition commenced even before cars had taken to the track. As the initiator of this series (Rhys) doesn’t believe in rules, there were many cars pushing the boundaries of development resulting in a vast range of body shapes, chassis types & engine/tyre combinations. This tended to also lead to a vast range of lap times & overall laps completed at the end of the evening.
In first place at the end of round 1 was Phil in the little Porsche 906 (Carrera). Traditionally very underpowered in the 1:1 Can Am series against the big bangers, this proved to be not the case in this series…..brought about by the simple matter of installing a blindingly quick motor & NSR slicks ! That was enough to give Phil the win by a huge margin of 4 laps to finish on a total of 108. Back in 2nd on 104, was John Batich with a very well controlled & consistent drive in his superb Lola T70, which will be a huge contender as the series progresses. Especially as Phils proposed strategy of churning through a different car each round may affect his consistency over the series. Third place this week, with 102 laps, went to the controversial “Fan” car of Bruce Thomas in the Chapparal 2J in an unusually consistent run with none of the usual breakages associated with a Thomas prepared car…….these were reserved for the other Thomas prepared car as we shall hear about later.
In 4th place (100 laps) & a very encouraging first round performance was Dave Schofield in the McLaren M8D who was very quick & probably cost himself a podium with a couple of de-slots as the races progressed. However, one to watch for the rest of the series. 5th went to the also very quick, but exceedingly unlucky Callan Thomas who had to cope with the difficulty of his motor wanting to part company with his car at regular intervals. In the end his 97-lap total was a very good effort in the circumstances and he will also be another big improver over the next few rounds. That is of course assuming that in his vigorous efforts to bang his motor back into place he hasn’t managed to break his car in two.
6th on 97 laps was Dave Bantoft, who flew below the radar circulating so quietly that his car would have struggled to be heard over the dulcit tones of an F-111 Jet fighter. 1 lap back on 96 was Rhys Filbee in 7th, and in 8th on 95 laps was the 2nd Porsche 906 of myself. This time occupying the more traditional position in the Can-Am field associated with the small flat 6. Adrian Grays Ford GT40 (proxied by myself) sadly suffered a loose wheel early in heat 1 & from then on struggled to make up the lost laps & so finished the round in 9th & on 87 laps, ahead of Dave Gray in 10th on 82. The standout livery for the evening went to Thomas Males in the Cadbury Purple (appropriate for the upcoming Easter holidays) car, and he finished in 11th place on 74 laps.
A great start to the series. Hopefully becoming more competitive as the rounds progress.
To the racing though, and the competition commenced even before cars had taken to the track. As the initiator of this series (Rhys) doesn’t believe in rules, there were many cars pushing the boundaries of development resulting in a vast range of body shapes, chassis types & engine/tyre combinations. This tended to also lead to a vast range of lap times & overall laps completed at the end of the evening.
In first place at the end of round 1 was Phil in the little Porsche 906 (Carrera). Traditionally very underpowered in the 1:1 Can Am series against the big bangers, this proved to be not the case in this series…..brought about by the simple matter of installing a blindingly quick motor & NSR slicks ! That was enough to give Phil the win by a huge margin of 4 laps to finish on a total of 108. Back in 2nd on 104, was John Batich with a very well controlled & consistent drive in his superb Lola T70, which will be a huge contender as the series progresses. Especially as Phils proposed strategy of churning through a different car each round may affect his consistency over the series. Third place this week, with 102 laps, went to the controversial “Fan” car of Bruce Thomas in the Chapparal 2J in an unusually consistent run with none of the usual breakages associated with a Thomas prepared car…….these were reserved for the other Thomas prepared car as we shall hear about later.
In 4th place (100 laps) & a very encouraging first round performance was Dave Schofield in the McLaren M8D who was very quick & probably cost himself a podium with a couple of de-slots as the races progressed. However, one to watch for the rest of the series. 5th went to the also very quick, but exceedingly unlucky Callan Thomas who had to cope with the difficulty of his motor wanting to part company with his car at regular intervals. In the end his 97-lap total was a very good effort in the circumstances and he will also be another big improver over the next few rounds. That is of course assuming that in his vigorous efforts to bang his motor back into place he hasn’t managed to break his car in two.
6th on 97 laps was Dave Bantoft, who flew below the radar circulating so quietly that his car would have struggled to be heard over the dulcit tones of an F-111 Jet fighter. 1 lap back on 96 was Rhys Filbee in 7th, and in 8th on 95 laps was the 2nd Porsche 906 of myself. This time occupying the more traditional position in the Can-Am field associated with the small flat 6. Adrian Grays Ford GT40 (proxied by myself) sadly suffered a loose wheel early in heat 1 & from then on struggled to make up the lost laps & so finished the round in 9th & on 87 laps, ahead of Dave Gray in 10th on 82. The standout livery for the evening went to Thomas Males in the Cadbury Purple (appropriate for the upcoming Easter holidays) car, and he finished in 11th place on 74 laps.
A great start to the series. Hopefully becoming more competitive as the rounds progress.
Race 2 - Stratton Valley - 12/4/22
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Schofield
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Schofield
Race 3 - Mornington Park - 19/4/22
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Rob "Comeback" Golley
3rd - Callan Thomas
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Rob "Comeback" Golley
3rd - Callan Thomas
Race 3 Report
It may have taken until the third round, but this week finally saw the 1:32 Can-Am series reflect the usual results from the early years of the 1:1 Can-Am series and the restoration of the Bruce & Denny show. Or in this case it was the Phil & Rob show filling the first two spots this week in their identical papaya coloured (hmmmm !) McLaren M6Bs. Phil with his 3rd different car in 3 weeks showed that this really made no difference whatsoever and took out the round by 4 laps with 123 total. Rob Golley in a very strong comeback to this series logged up 119 laps to take out 2nd spot ahead of Callan Thomas’s big Porsche in 3rd on 118.
Bruce’s Chaparral (proxied by Callan) showed lightning speed again, but one inconsistent stint cost him overall & he finished in 4th on 116, narrowly pipping the tiny little underpowered Porsche 906 of the writer who finished 5th on 115. John Batich’s lovely Lola was also a very close 6th just 1 lap back on 114 with Dave Schofield 7th & Adrian Gray 8th on 112 & 111 laps respectively.
Our special F1 correspondent, Rhys Filbee, flew in from Melbourne to slot into 9th place on 109 laps and Dave Gray rounded out the top 10 with a 104 lap total. Dave Bantoft struggled somewhat this week finishing in 11th (103 laps) and was heard announcing that he would have to retire his current car & build a new one. With 4 rounds left in the series, we look forward to seeing what he can come up with ! Finally in 12th & with an 89 lap total was the The Purple Petrol Eater of Thomas Males.
Bruce’s Chaparral (proxied by Callan) showed lightning speed again, but one inconsistent stint cost him overall & he finished in 4th on 116, narrowly pipping the tiny little underpowered Porsche 906 of the writer who finished 5th on 115. John Batich’s lovely Lola was also a very close 6th just 1 lap back on 114 with Dave Schofield 7th & Adrian Gray 8th on 112 & 111 laps respectively.
Our special F1 correspondent, Rhys Filbee, flew in from Melbourne to slot into 9th place on 109 laps and Dave Gray rounded out the top 10 with a 104 lap total. Dave Bantoft struggled somewhat this week finishing in 11th (103 laps) and was heard announcing that he would have to retire his current car & build a new one. With 4 rounds left in the series, we look forward to seeing what he can come up with ! Finally in 12th & with an 89 lap total was the The Purple Petrol Eater of Thomas Males.
Race 4 - Shelmore Park - 26/4/22
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Mal O;May
3rd - Rob Golley
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Mal O;May
3rd - Rob Golley
Race 5 - Stratton Valley - 3/5/22
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Dave Schofield
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Dave Schofield
Race 6 - Mornington Park - 10/5/22
1st - Dave (Scoee, Schoe, Scoie, Schoee) Schofield
2nd - Phil Kalfell
3rd - Callan Thomas
1st - Dave (Scoee, Schoe, Scoie, Schoee) Schofield
2nd - Phil Kalfell
3rd - Callan Thomas
Race 7 - Shelmore Park - 17/5/22
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Dave Schofield
3rd - Mal O'May
Final Series Top 3
1st - Phil Kalbfell x7
2nd - Dave Schofield
3rd - John Batich
Congratulations to all these drivers !
Race 7 & Final Round Report
In what has seemed a very short space of time the final round of the Narrow Can-Am series was upon us, and all spots of the final podium were up for grabs…….no, that’s not right is it. As Phil was already in an unlosable position for the overall win, the only interest this week was to see what car he would be running again to make it 7 different cars from 7 rounds. Of course, as it turned out, it didn’t make a scrap of difference & he took yet another win in the final round by racking up 105 laps & making it a dominant 6 wins from 7 rounds. In 2nd this week & also 2nd overall was the consistent Dave Schofield with 104 laps.
Dave has been the only driver to give Phil a fright & even managed to take out a win last week, so his 2nd place overall was a very well-deserved result. The final top 3 spot this week went to the writer also on 104 laps, with the car he was driving seemingly very happy to return to its home track & behaving accordingly. It will no doubt be happier still now that there is no prospect of me driving it again in the immediate future!
In 4th tonight but a very good 3rd overall in the series was John Batich on 102 laps. JB once again showed great consistency with very little difference between his best (2nd) & his worst (6th) over the course of the 7 rounds.
5th spot went to Rhys on 96 laps, assisted greatly by our 6th placegetter tonight. Dave (RED! RED! RED!........oh no, blue) Bantoft might well have numbered a few laps more than his 94 had he not had an outbreak of communism during a couple of his heats tonight. I don’t think will be keen on actually de-slotting on red for sometime to come. In 7th on 92 laps was Adrian Gray on 92 with Dave Gray in 8th on 72 & Thomas Males in the Cadbury purple beast in 9th spot with 66 laps total for the evening.
That brought to end to this series for another year (or 2 years), congratulations to the placegetters & to Phil for the overall win. 6 wins with 7 different cars over the 7 rounds is certainly a great achievement, especially when some of us can’t even develop 1 single competitive car over the entire series.
In what has seemed a very short space of time the final round of the Narrow Can-Am series was upon us, and all spots of the final podium were up for grabs…….no, that’s not right is it. As Phil was already in an unlosable position for the overall win, the only interest this week was to see what car he would be running again to make it 7 different cars from 7 rounds. Of course, as it turned out, it didn’t make a scrap of difference & he took yet another win in the final round by racking up 105 laps & making it a dominant 6 wins from 7 rounds. In 2nd this week & also 2nd overall was the consistent Dave Schofield with 104 laps.
Dave has been the only driver to give Phil a fright & even managed to take out a win last week, so his 2nd place overall was a very well-deserved result. The final top 3 spot this week went to the writer also on 104 laps, with the car he was driving seemingly very happy to return to its home track & behaving accordingly. It will no doubt be happier still now that there is no prospect of me driving it again in the immediate future!
In 4th tonight but a very good 3rd overall in the series was John Batich on 102 laps. JB once again showed great consistency with very little difference between his best (2nd) & his worst (6th) over the course of the 7 rounds.
5th spot went to Rhys on 96 laps, assisted greatly by our 6th placegetter tonight. Dave (RED! RED! RED!........oh no, blue) Bantoft might well have numbered a few laps more than his 94 had he not had an outbreak of communism during a couple of his heats tonight. I don’t think will be keen on actually de-slotting on red for sometime to come. In 7th on 92 laps was Adrian Gray on 92 with Dave Gray in 8th on 72 & Thomas Males in the Cadbury purple beast in 9th spot with 66 laps total for the evening.
That brought to end to this series for another year (or 2 years), congratulations to the placegetters & to Phil for the overall win. 6 wins with 7 different cars over the 7 rounds is certainly a great achievement, especially when some of us can’t even develop 1 single competitive car over the entire series.