Our fourth WHO/digital Wednesday of the year saw seventeen people take to the grid
for a Nascar club car team race and a Trans-Am pairs race. The results, stats and
some pictures are on the right, plus there’s a video over on YouTube. Updated championship
tables are on the 2019 season page.
Race report
The penultimate Digital Wednesday of the year saw seventeen drivers take part in
some excellent Nascar and Trans-Am racing - battling for race wins and for crucial
championship points. Simon's layout certainly required plenty of concentration -
perfect for a field of experienced WHO/digital racers.
Nascar club car team race
The seventeen drivers were divided into five teams of three and one pair. Four fifteen
minute segments would make up the hour of racing, drivers swapping after five minutes
- apart from the duo of Jerome and Terry who'd swap halfway. The winners of each
stage would swap cars with the sixth place team, second with fifth and third with
fourth. With all the practicalities sort out, we were ready to race!
Stage One - 15 minutes. For a gentle re-introduction after two months off, the RCS64
race management software ran with just a fuel simulation for the first stage. It
was a very close race until the Unity Taurus of Matthew, Andy and Rob pulled out
a two lap advantage in the closing stages. There were then three cars locked together
on 46 laps - Ash, Jean and Peter with the Dewalt Taurus; Jerome and Terry's STP Ford;
and the Home Depot Pontiac of Simon, John and Daniel. A further two laps adrift were
Mike D, Dean and Duncan with the Juicy Juice Ford - two laps ahead of the Coca Cola
Ford of Alex, Alex and Mike McCann.
Stage Two - 30 minutes. After a car swap and now both fuel and tyre simulations
switched on, we were racing again. It was the turn of Mike D, Dean and Duncan to
shine - this time with the Dewalt car - finishing on 48 laps. Jerome and Terry's
orange Pontiac rolled in second, two laps behind, but taking the overall race lead.
The Alexes and the other Mike drove the Unity car to third, equal on 45 laps with
the Juicy Juice car of Ash, Jean and Peter. The top two from the first stage came
in fifth and sixth on 43 laps. Overall, the top five were covered by just three laps
- Alex, Alex and Mike six laps behind the leaders.
Stage Three - 45 minutes. We stayed with fuel and tyres for the penultimate segment.
The Dewalt Taurus was again the winning car with 48 laps, this time piloted by Simon,
John and Daniel. Just a lap back were Mike D, Dean and Duncan with the blue STP car.
The top two in the stage were also top two overall - Mike D's team holding a one
lap advantage going into the final fifteen minutes.
The other teams had all lost ground. Matthew, Andy and Rob put in a decent score
of 44 laps with the orange Pontiac to sit three laps behind the leaders overall.
Ash, Jean and Peter had finished fourth in the stage with the Unity car to take fourth
overall, just ahead of Terry and Jerome who had struggled with the Coca Cola Ford.
Ash, Ash and Mike had struggled slightly more with the green Juicy Juice car. These
were the two cars that would be handed to the teams leading the race for the final
fifteen minutes…
Stage Four - 60 minutes. The race began on a damp track, with rain arriving after
four minutes and everyone changing to wets. After the first driver change, Jerome
and Terry were in the lead with the blue STP Ford, a lap up on the two teams of Ash,
Jean and Peter and Simon, Jean and Daniel. Another lap back were Matthew, Andy and
Rob, who were a lap up on Mike D, Dean and Duncan. That meant Simon's team were just
ahead overall. The rain soon stopped, but left a very wet track. The sun came out
with seven minutes to go and the track began to dry.
Mike D, Duncan and Dean struggled with the weather and made a mess of their tyre
choices, dropping them to the back of the field. Most teams chose Intermediates and
it was Ash, Jean and Peter who navigated their way most effectively through the changing
track conditions, leading by a lap coming up to the final driver change. Simon's
team held second and took Hard tyres earlier than everyone else. Jerome and Terry
were on the same lap on Intermediates.
The track was still damp at the final driver change and Intermediates were still
probably the best choice of tyres. Rob was making excellent progress on Intermediates,
overtaking Terry, Jean and moving up to the same lap as the leader Simon - all of
them on Hard tyres. Dean was trying to make up some ground on Intermediates and was
soon in fifth and closing in on Terry. However, more problems for the former race
leaders dropped them to the back at the end. At the front, Simon held off Rob to
take the stage win and the overall race win - Simon, John and Daniel finishing two
laps ahead of Matthew, Andy and Rob.
Ash, Jean and Peter finished the stage third and took third overall, four laps off
the winners. Mike D, Duncan and Dean were cursing their luck, having finished last
in the stage, but enough for fourth overall, just a lap ahead of Jerome and Terry.
Congratulations to Simon, John and Daniel on a hard-fought victory. After the traditional
team photographs and medal presentation for the winners (thanks to Professor Motor
for the stickers) it was time to move on to the Trans-Am pairs race...
Trans-Am pairs race
Nine cars were entered for the Trans-Am pairs race. Matthew required a randomly-chosen
racing partner, who was John for the ten-minute qualifying heats. They went in the
first race. Simon and Duncan's Ford Falcon XB lead at halfway, but they had to make
do with second after an excellent second five minutes for Mike D and Jean's Camaro.
Matthew and John's Camaro was third, Mike and Daniel's Pioneer Mustang fourth and
Terry and Rob's Javelin fifth.
Ash and Andy's Javelin blitzed the second heat, taking overall pole position. Alex
and Dean were second with their fabulous Pioneer Charger, slotting into third place
in the feature race behind Mike D and Jean and just ahead of Simon and Duncan on
fastest lap time. John and Alex's third place in heat two put them fifth in the feature
race. The sixth and final place went to Matthew - Peter and Jerome's Pioneer Camaro
had looked really quick but didn't make it to the end.
Consolation race - 5 minutes. Peter and Jerome made up for their disappointment
in the heats with an absolutely blistering drive in the consolation race. The Javelin
of Terry and Rob was locked in an exciting battle with Mike and Daniel's Mustang.
At the end of the five minutes, Peter and Jerome finished with a huge score of 20
laps, three laps ahead of the other two with the Javelin just beating the Mustang
to second.
Feature race - 5 minutes. The feature race was set up as a damp-rain-drying race,
but we forgot to change back the race length to ten minutes! When the rain came after
a minute, the error was spotted - but we decided to continue in what would be a chaotic
and frantic sprint to the line. As heavy rain fell, the top five were on the same
lap but on completely different tyres. Pole-sitters Ash and Andy were on Soft tyres,
Mike and Jean on Wets and everyone else on Intermediates. Soon after the panic of
the rain - with everyone apart from the two Camaros of Jean and Alex F pitting for
Wets - it was time for the mid-race driver change…
In such a short race, a second stop was a disaster. Jean and Mike managed a fuel-only
stop, putting them into a comfortable lead, ahead of John and Alex who waited until
the driver change to swap to Wets. Ash and Andy had gambled on no tyres or fuel at
the driver change, leaving the pits third and fought back to take second place. That
was until a late splash-and-dash dropped the Javelin down to fifth, just behind the
Charger of Alex and Dean. Mike and Jean cruised to victory on the same tyres they
started on, a lap ahead of John and Alex. Simon and Duncan took an excellent third.
Matthew, partnered by Peter, rolled in sixth.
Jean and Mike's win means they only need to turn up in July and race together to
win the Trans-Am drivers' championship. Alex sits third, two points ahead of Andy
and Ash.
So that was the end of another excellent Digital Wednesday at the Barn. Congratulations
to our winners and a big thank you to everyone who came along and took part. Special
thanks goes to the set-up crew, Daniel and Andy on race control and to everyone who
stayed behind to pack away. We wouldn't have any WHO/digital racing without the generosity
and enthusiasm of Mike D - so a massive thank you from all of us.
- Andy P
