[Wambulance]

Forwards for round 5. I found myself drawn between my archest rivals, Geoff and Wes, things looked bad.

Keith found some Carrera Muscle, I find these a bit tricky but with a hefty push on the old Wambulance button I surprised myself by finishing with 2 wins. I came second in class 2 points behind Jim's 26 - result.

Sandy went for Golfs, this did him no good, Jim had 29 this time, but Tony had a winning 30.

BTCC was Jim's choice, a good one as it turned out as he finished with 31 points and the win. meanwhile Sandy, who was having a night he would probably want to forget hit the nights low point with 8.

At the break, Jim was stating to look good while I was still hanging on to a slender lead over Wes.

Tony dug out the Cossies, and won with 28, and by some miracle I eked out another point over Wes, perhaps this night would not be not bad after all.

But it was Wes's pick, he played a straight bat with Accord. The Accords, oh dear, after years of faithful service in clubs and abuse at parties the "set" has started to crumble. Tony keeps using them because as he says they are the ideal party car - not to speedy, with good brakes, stable and pretty crash proof, they put on a good show. So before we started it was a massive parts swap as we sorted out 6 reasonable examples, as it happened one was still much slower than the rest, but hay ho, it is the same for everyone. The surprise was this all suited Sandy rather well, true he won no races but he clocked his best class score of the night buy a huge margin and was the only one of us never to come last. Come on Sandy you know you can do it! I was driving like a dork, impatient to get on I stupidly tried to pass Tony on the outside with inevitable results and a big loss of points - doh! Oh yes - Keith and Jim shared the class with 27 each.

Another win for Jim then on 137 with Tony then Keith not far away. Meanwhile I had thrown it away and let Wes beat me by 4 points - grrrr!.

It's a reverse round next on October 13th, here are the scores and points so far.

 

[Wambulance]

So Round 6 - Round SIX, that will be a reverse direction night then?

Not necessarily, especially if we make a mistake and run in forwards direction in error. I assume to make things as fair as they can be we will run R7 & R8 in reverse direction.

Despite the surprise welcome appearance of Matt we had only 6 of us racing, so we junked the white lane and went for a pick each, 4 classes before break and 2 after.

Geoff got us started with Ninco F1, for no other reason than they happened to have been left on the line following a party. This suited Keith and he won easily with 23 the best class score of the night. Matt had a steady round and was unlucky with his 13 points.

Keith chose McClarens, these provided much closer racing, despite a huge difference in performance between cars, but this time Keith only had a slender victory with 19 and Tony snapping at his heals 2 behind. Matt had his highest score with 16.

Jim wheeled out the BTCC, not a favourite of mine, but I see I got my highest class score with them, 15, an honour I shared with Keith and Matt. Tony got 16 but Jim won his class with 19.

While the end cupboard was open I went for Golf, I did OK but Jim won with 19.

Keith had a healthy lead at the break with 79, but Jim and Tony were within reach.

Tony's pick and he went for SCX F1, this was a surprise as I always thought Mr T didn't much like open wheelers, but then I suppose I don't, if I am in the lane next to Tony

As the cars had not run for a while we were set to do some warm up laps, everyone was saying how slow they were, mine was a real slug but I thought that was how they were and said nothing. Turns out mine had been a dog and everyone had to endure a slow race in that lane. Jim got a 3rd place with the "slow" one and went on to take the class with 22, closely followed by Keith, Tony slumped to his lowest score of the night. Somehow out of the carnage Geoff got his best score of the night, 14, while Matt got the nights lowest of 7. Oh sorry Matt, I gather I do not often mention you, so here we go. Matt had been having a pretty good night so far, in fact at the break Matt was running in 4th place, well done Matt.

And the last round was Matt's pick, JTTC did well for Matt as he scored 15, which was 5 more than me. Jim won the class with 20.

And that left things pretty close at the end. While Tony slumped Jim soared and looked likely to overhaul Keith but somehow Keith hung on to win by a single point with 112. I had been doing OK, to the point that I only muddled up me lanes once all night which, for me, counts as a RESULT. But Matt had a fantastic finish, coming through to beat both Geoff and I and he also took the Clubmans class, so it is a real big well done to Matt.

So the next round will definitely be a reverse direction affair, meanwhile feast your eyes on the scores.

Talking of clubmans - we were weren't we. Tony seemed a little impatient as the rate that Clubmans will repopulate. And he is right in the short term, but in the long term clubmans will (by my maths) get a bit crowded. As we have only just started this return to clubmans thingy - now is the time to refine it. If you do, just keep it simple as I am the one that has to work it out and you know how I crumble at a challenge - unless the challenge is a large crumble such as apple or rhubarb.....

To try and keep it simple I have kept my return to clumans formula as a short sentence thus:
"Returner is the lowest scoring consenting non clubman who did the majority of rounds in championship"

Surely we can do better than that?

 

[Wambulance]

Hi All
did round 7 run last week?
If so who has the results?

 

[Mr.M]

No, we thought it best to cancel, Will. With you and Wes away, and Geoff and Tony on family celebration duty, we would have been a bit light on numbers.

 

[Wambulance]

Reverse direction racing for 8 of us in the penultimate round of this Championship.

Tony lined up 512s and he won the class with a lowly 28.

I went for Indy, again a low class winning score, this time for Keith with 27.

Matt found some JGTC, these provided a wider spread of scores with Jim winning with 32 while Geoff got the nights record low of 10.

At the break Tony was in the lead on 85 with Jim 4 behind. Talk was of the endurance on Sunday, Matt had brought the set of cars we are to use with a couple of spares. They were checked to see if they all had the same colour engines, some can differ. The other talk was about BMI, not a class of car but Body Mass Index!

2CV picked by Geoff got him his equal highest score of 20. Jim got the evening record with 33.

Jim sniffed the BTCC out of the end cupboard, he didn't do that well but Keith put Tony's nose out of joint as they both got 29.

In the end it was 140 each for Tony and Jim, count back went Jim's way. Keith was 3rd with 130 while I headed up the rest and also won Clubmans.

Next round is another reversio and will be on the 24th. Bolwextric Racing results.

 

[Wambulance]

The six racers were in for a surprise as they found themselves racing in forwards direction. I think the reason being fear of the white lane's dodgy wire, as it happened we didn't use the white lane and went full ahead for a pick each. Sadly Wes couldn't make it as his rattly Corsa had gone bang coming up the A3 so he and it were awaiting the attentions of a recovery truck.

Keith kicked us off with the famous Ninco One Corvettes still glowing from their brilliant showing in the 9 hour endurance. Despite everyone's efforts they steadfastly refused to get within 2 seconds of the lap record they set on the day, a clear case of drivers, cars and track all getting a little too chilled. Tony took the first 3 races and went on to a winning 22.

I played a boring card with Accord, these seemed very arthritic and caused a bout of voltage checking, one just would not come up to speed and was swapped. My pick was not lucky for me and I ended almost last in class. This time the winning 22 was Jim's.

Sandy went below the belt with Lorries, he was repaid with the nights lowest score of 6, rightly so IMHO - I had been taken out by him a few times, so had thrown my charitable hat in the bin. Tony's winning 21 was just a point clear of Jim.

Tony decided to sneak in the Skylines before break, Jim dominated the class and won well with 22. 22 was the highest score of the night being achieved once by Mr T and 3 times by Mr M.

At the break Tony was just ahead of Jim with 82. Geoff was starting to have controller problems of which he got through 3, this left him languishing on 38. We talked all sorts of things and were very impressed with Tony's efforts brightening and tidying up the place. Next to get a make over is the rally stage which is not far from becoming usable. Tony also took us through the thorny subject of spoon allocation, we were shown the new clean and dirty spoon receptacles, I got the impression from Tony we needed to get this right - for his sake. We touched on F1, but not about our magnificent new world champion but discussed who was driving the cars? - driver or the pits!

With his controller problems continuing, Geoff's pick of 2CV seemed suicidal, and so it proved to be as he matched Sandy's earlier 6. Actually the 2CV didn't seem as bad as I remember, the two green bodied examples seemed almost drivable and I managed a win with each. Tony got the winning 21.

Even fresh wet paint can't keep Jim out of the end cupboard and so it was BTCC for the last class which Jim won with 22.

121 for Tony and 121 for Jim, a two layer countback was needed to declare Tony the winner. So at the end of the championship Jim had a convincing Championship win, and I took the Clubans cup. It seems Wes will be rejoining Clubman's for the next championships, these start on December 8th.

On the web site we have the list of scores and winners.

 

[Wambulance]

6 of us threw down the gauntlet on this first round of a new championship. My hopes of getting out of the Clubmans' class took a beating with the realisation that Wes would now be taking away my chance of a win. Welcome back to Clubmans Wes - NOT !

Tony had the heaters blaring but this was a cold night and grip was hard to find, turned out that red was the grippiest and green the least, as I was starting each class in red that helped me get going in each class and I need all the help I could get.

Keith got out the Escorts, if this were another kind of club "getting out the Escorts" could herald some sleazy entertainment but here it means a set of dodgy old bangers well past their prime ? Ah well - these mark two escort slot cars actually provided enough entertainment for us (well me anyway). I was on the start box when there was a triple jump start that included Jim, who happened to be in the fast red lane. Would he have enough time to make up the distance, after a couple of laps he was on the case and the dilapidated Mk 2 was doing a very good impression of the real escorts as corners were dispatched in a slight tail out attitude. It looked like Jim was going to take the honours when, as he passed the leading group of cars to start the last lap, he got punted off (no names). A great bit of entertainment and - OH way did I not have the video with me? It was close racing and the class ended with a 3 way draw, Keith, Jim and Wes all finished with 19. Sandy had a controller/car miss match and could only net the nights lowest of 6.

Sandy went for Ninco DTM, some were slidey and some not so much, another close call with all of us getting one win each. Jim was top man with 20, which was the equal highest class score of the evening.

BTTC were Jim's call, these didn't seem as difficult as I remember them, though the yellow one did tip me off in chicane turn as I was level with Keith to win a race, I should have known it might do that as it has done that before. 19 was enough for Jim to win with his pick, and again everyone won a race.

I went for Indy and did well, by my usual standards, as I clocked my best round with 17, Keith and Tony took the win on 18s'.

Time for a break, Jim was in the lead with 71 but Keith, Tony and Wes were in their 60s' so it was not a done deal yet. Some of us spent some time convincing the old lap top to show the race data on a new screen that Tony had on the corner shelf.

Tony got heavy with Pro Truck, he had to share his win with Keith, both ending on 20.

With the track as warm as it was going to get, Wes ended things with the endurance Ninco One class. Wes got two wins but so did Tony, but the top step went to Keith with 20.

So it was a win by Keith from Jim who was 1 point behind. In the Clubmans' Wes was straight out of the blocks with a win - HUH!

Bolwextric Racing results and the next round is on December 22nd when we should be racing in reverse direction.

 

[Mr.M]

Ninco JGTC!

Told you I'd remember.

 

[Wambulance]

On line results for this championship are now up to date (BELATEDLY - sorry).

On January 5th we could only manage just 6 racers. Jim was the winner, at the break I thought I was going to be last by a huge margin but somehow I sneaked into penultimate spot, which was what I judged a "result". PS you have just read the blog

The next round is on January 19th and should be a reversio.

 

[Wambulance]

Round 4 and things were going backwards, not just the racers racing the circuit backwards, but also specially ME

I had a grot night.

Wes started us off with Accords, I have done great things with these, but not this time, I started with a 1 and it didn't get much better. Had it not been for Sandy making a suicidal dash for notoriety with the nights lowest score of 9, it would have been for me a disastaa darling! Now what you wanted hear - the winner was Jim on 21. (we were only running 5 lanes hence the low winning score)

Keith had us parading around with Cossies, not a good thing to do on a cold night. A pretty even shout from king Jim on 23 down to Tony, Sandy and myself all on 12.

Pro Trucks were Tony's choice (who else), he got 19 which amazingly enough was good for a win. For me a grim pattern was emerging, my first lane was red, and on this night it was by far the quickest, so most of my chances of getting a good finish slipped away as I learned the class and then tried to make up ground in the vital first race.

JGTC seemed to me by far the quickest class of the night, picked by Jim but not won by Jim as Tony made it two in a row with a winning 21. In my second race I was thinking I had turned the corner and was congratulating myself on some very smooth driving, until Wes pointed out (very loudly) that I had actually been "driving Jim's car", mine had shot off at the first turn. As the race was half done I had to join in the laughter - WHAT A DORK!

At the break Jim was sitting pretty with 79 while I was last with 45.

I picked Scallex Indy, as we had no open wheels so far and I often do comparatively well with Indys, but not this night, last with 10 was all I could manage. 21 was enough to give Jim a huge win as next down the road was Keith with 17.

Sandy picked the last class, Cobras, I needed to make up some ground to avoid total ignominy (I put that word in for you Sandy), I was soon in despair as my best chance in the red ended with a 1. Perhaps the car was duff - no honest, Jim got a 1 with it to. Tony had a commanding win with 22, the evenings equal highest.

Another round won by Jim, this time on 114 with Tony runner up on 105. Wes finished with 82 plenty enough to make everyone else in Clubmans look a bit green. Wes has now won the clubmans in every round so far.

We will be back to go forwards on February 2nd, meanwhile the scores are here.

 

[aerodynamic]

Things can only get better for you, and it's good to share the ignominy occasionally. As for 'winning' Clubmans that seems, for me at least, to coincide exactly with the absence of anyone else in the class!

 

[Mr.M]

QUOTE (Wambulance @ 20 Jan 2015, 14:17) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A pretty even shout from king Jim on 23 ....

....... Tony had a commanding win with 22, the evenings equal highest.

Spotted the deliberate mistake straight away, Will. You're making them too obvious. Is the prize still the same?

 

[aerodynamic]

But Tony's 22 is as high/higher than your 23 as he owns the club (George Osborne school of arithmetic).

 

[Wambulance]

Jim I think you need to add Ace Editor to your CV. Prize? What Prize?

So which was the incorrect part of the shambles? Jim only got 22 for that win. If there is a best outcome for me this is it, for only a change from 23 to 22 is needed for total correction of blogg.

The case for the defence me lord:
"In mitigation it was found that even the raw data was in itself not clear on the matter, forensic examination of the contents of the master sheet showed that the sub total in question as written could have indeed been shown to be equally 22 or 23 or even 21, 27 and possibly 29. Is it not entirely probable that a hard pressed bloggist, conceivably suffering an empty stomach or even a surfeit of alcohol may have misconstrued the item in question? If you take into consideration aggravating, environmental and social factors, such as for instance, Microsoft Windows, low sun, tragic marriage (with daughter) and sad jumper, it is my submission that the accused, though technically guilty, should be sent away with just a finger wagging. Further, if you look at the precedent set by the above case "Sandy versus Tony", in relation to mathematical hierarchy in such circumstances, it is clear that none of this matters a toss and the case should be dismissed."

 

[aerodynamic]

A wee bit curious about marriage 'with daughter'. Tragic always implies terminated as well as mistaken.

 

[Steve Hills]

Hi all.
I popped down to race at the hand-out club car night many months ago and would like to come along again.
I have studied the web site but couldn't find out when the next hand-out night is.
Can anyone help me find the information so that I can attend more regularly?

(PS.. Tony, I've not forgotten I owe you )

thanks in advance.

 

[Mr.M]

Hi Steve,

"Handout" car night is next Monday 2nd Feb, then alternate Mondays from then.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Steve Hills]

Hi Jim.
Many thanks. I'll plan to come over Monday 2nd Feb.

 

[Wambulance]

Round 5 and we started by welcoming some fresh meat, Steve Hills, who some of us already knew or knew about. Don't worry Steve, what we knew was all good (or what I knew, anyway).

It was too cold to stand around so it was promptly into SRS2 Saloons, picked by Jim and won by Keith on 26. Steve took it really easy and started with a brace of fives, a promising start - too promising for the likes of me. As for me I started with a win, this put me in a "can only get worse" situation which I wasted no time in proving.

Keith went all F40ish and Jim returned the favour with a winning 29.

Wes went for the Golfs, I rather like these as they make up for my inability to get round corners fast, hence my best class of the night with 24, Jim often picks Golfs and he cruised to one the nights equal best scores with 31.

At break it was Mr M starting to pull away with 82. We commiserated with Wes about his unfortunate clash with a camouflaged police speed trap in darkest Clanfield. We wondered about the safely at work issues involved when officers clad in all black step out in front of "speeding" cars on ill lit streets. Wes said it wasn't the clearest scenario, and having been driven by Wes for many miles I would rate him as considerably more aware than the average driver.

Pro Trucks next, no prizes for guessing who picked them, but the curse was about and Tony only scored 22, well off the winning 29 of Jim and Keith.

I had the final pick and gave a choice of Open Wheel or Accord, nobody went for accord but several said "Oh no, not the open wheelers!", so Accord it was. They did me no favours as I slumped to my lowest of the night including a dreaded 1. Jim hammered in the final nail of the night with the other 31, while Sandy, who had a torrid night, finished on the nights low of 8. At least for him - things can only get better, come on Sandy you can do it!

So 142 for Jim with Keith keeping up the pressure with 131 while Wes got a small consolation in the shape of top Clubmans, 119. Next round will be on the 16th Feb and we will be going backwards, just to make that clear to Steve - we will be racing round the track in reverse direction, which actually puts those with least MFR experience in a better place. Scores are here.

 

[Wambulance]

So - bit of a delay with the results, eh Will?
I was doing OK until the spreadsheet said "computer say NO". Turns out the score total was a significant 6 over on total points. Every time I sat down to find out why I got distracted. Finally turned out that Steve had been awarded 6 extra points in the final class, but it didn't change the final order - oh well.

Great night of reverse direction action, only five racers so we went for 4 centre lanes only.

Tony took top spot with 63 with Keith just 2 behind. Wes had a night to forget and finished last, being trounced by both newbie Steve and myself - WOW!

Scores and points are on line here. Next round is forwards direction on March 2nd, with just 2 rounds to go we have a tie for second place in the championship. Wes needs to return to his winning ways or his Clubmans championship is in jeopardy.