Retro F1 Thursday 14th June Options

[AllanI]

After finding out I wasn't going to miss this round I've been busy trying to prep another car. Hopefully it will be ready for Thursdays running of the Retro F1s, if it isn't the trusty Shadow-Hill with be racing again or maybe the BRM. These budget racers have proved fascinating and given us very close racing.

Allan

[TimR]

The paint is drying on mine as I type, so I might actually be participating this Thursday. At the moment I have a headless driver but my classic GP car ran for many weeks without a driver until Mr Hill was finally installed!
Thursday might be more of a shake down session as I don't even know if it runs yet

[AllanI]

Parts arrived and fitted. My latest car runs but isn't as quick as hoped, maybe lack of French boost. Old BRM with latest parts fitted is faster than before and easy to control so may use that, unless Shadow-Hill is faster with new parts swapped in. Too many permutations and combinations to try.

Allan

[Dave Sykes]

I have had a delivery of five new (to me ) power plants so they have been stripped, cleaned and tested the best fitted to the 312b2 and Brabham and a third slipped into a tyrrell chassis for testing. I dont have time to build a tyrell rear wing so it will test run only, and as for starting on building the six wheeler gear box tonight forget it.

[TimR]

Looks like it will be a good night! My driver's head is fitted and a quick test reveals that the car at least moves in a forward direction (so that's better than our team car from Gaydon!) It will look good on the start line but after that ........ Who knows?! Will probably run like a bag of spanners

[pfj]

it was the track wireing in reverse at Gaydon....ye of little faith I ask you. seya phil.

[AllanI]

These Johnsons can be so frustrating. I was running what I thought was a good one but after bit of testing it went off then came back again. Only through having a lap timer can you discern the marginal differences between them. Unless of course you've got a tacho like Russ

Allan

[AllanI]

The change of car paid off. One of the only Renault Turbo F1s to be in private hands managed to triumph in its first event. A poor showing in the first two heats was overcome with a motor swap between heats 2 & 3 and the clawing back of laps on blue and green was topped off by an unusual (for me) win on red lane. Team Tyrell was a close second while Craigs Ferrari was third after shedding wings and spoilers in an effort to lose weight in virtually every race. Chris' Lotii were a bit problematic and a broken motor mount ruined a potentially winning performance. Tims Gold Leaf Lotus looked stunning and must be worth a few pictures being posted. The JPS Lotus of Peter ran without incident to finish well. The Martini liveried MRRC Lotus ( lots of Lotus' last night) that Eric was using had too high a gear ratio to start with but a change of axle brought better results. Daves Ferrari looks great and ran smoothly but a late change to a Brabham was needed for the last race. Adams Renault seemed to lack turbo boost while Mikes Shadow improved over the evening. A fantastic nights racing with what are essentially budget racers even with the cost of gears and rear wheels/tyres factored in. Come on Phil persevere and get a car built, don't forget the class is here for next season as well.

Allan

[Dave Sykes]

Lets start of positivly before the results are published.

The Ferrari 312B2 ran faultlessly it had lots of power and was good to drive. It was nice to have a car I could push with and chase. Had a big tussel in the first heat on Blue with Peter's JPS Lotus and Eric's Lotus. We all banged wheels letting Peter off into the distance and had to chase him back down. I finished the heat in the lead by one sector of the track as pete hunted me back down again. Banging wheels was a problem for both me and Eric which lost us both a lot of time. and a coming to gether with Eric left us way back again and having to chase hard after pete on Black whilst Erics car lost its front axel probably down to collisions. Red for me started well with the lead as the competition tripped up but as we accelerated towards the cork screw we jumped to green lane and in retreiving us our guide got displaced and a slow return left us well down from the lead we had held and a whole lot more work to do with a car not performing as it had.
After a rebuild we ran very well on black and needed a good yellow to finish. Again the Ferrari fought hard after we knocked wheels with Eric and in being returned to the track we lost the lane tape. Push push push and we were chasing down pete's leading lotus but came off on the cork screw. Now the mashal who should of put us back on was too busy with his mobile and another jumped too after a few places had fallen but in the process our guide was broken and the car came loose at the next corner. We changed to the Brabham then to try to rescue some laps and fortunately it proved a good little runner.

[AllanI]

This is my Renault Turbo laid bare. The regs for our class allow tubing of the front axle, the tube is glued in place where original axle once wobbled. The Johnson motor is in its original postion and drives a Slot it gear on an axle which has the bearings glued to the chassis in the original mounts. The guide is a Slot it push in guide in the original position. I set the guide as high as possible in the chassis before the glueing of the axle which is done with the car sat on a setup plate to ensure all four wheels are in line as the glue sets.
General View


The chassis with body removed.


The rear end setup


Front axle installed.


So far as I am aware our (Scale Models Racing) class rules differ slightly from the Heart of England regulations in that we allow the changing of the contrate gear and allow alloy wheels.

Allan

[Marvin]

A good night again. Did I hear Craig say he liked this class?

Scores are on the blog.

Marvin

[Ian H]

Great to see that you guys are having as much fun with this class as we are at Bearwood and in the Heart of England Championship!

These cars are fascinating, relatively quick, cheap to build and superb to drive.

More pics tho please?

[AllanI]

A BRM I built up before.



And after a clean up and some painting.


Allan

[craigus22]

This class and the 70s sports car class are really captivating....there are so many permutations of which I intend to persue...Dave I think a purchase of the Penelope Pitlane 6 wheel chassis for the March is a must...I must do it....