Policar Classic F1 Series

Round 1
This has been another highly anticipated Series, with a gorgeous collection of beautiful and well-engineered racers available. Stef was a late withdrawal, with Covid-19 but Alan managed to defeat the virus on time to race and nine drivers lined up for the first Round, with nine new Policar F1 cars, each prepared to a different extent for the struggles ahead!

Qualifying
This Series runs a Qualification Session run on one lane chosen at random for each Round. The fastest lap time per driver is their qualifying time and this gives their ranking into the knockout Finals. For our first race in the Series the slowest lane, Red, was selected.

Gordon commenced the Session with a set of laps in the high 9 secs, just dipping down to 9.445 as he reached his limit. Up next was Chris, who usually excels with highly-bred cars like this and this turned out to be no exception. He immediately posted 9.243 on lap 2 with his Graham Hill Brooke Bond Oxo Lotus 72 and followed it with multiple sub-9.5 laps before setting his best time of 9.204 on his tenth lap. Evan showed up with a car that had zero preparation and it showed, with early laps all above 10 sec before he managed 9.865.

Les also had a slow car and struggled early, slowly increasing his speed before peaking on his final lap at 9.631. Dave was another driver with problems and managed 11.386. Alastair had literally done nothing to his Ferrari 312B2 and it showed, with a series of slow slippery laps, ending with 10.734. Brian's BRM P160 had similar problems and ended with 10.735.

The final two qualifiers, Andy and Alan were expected to provide serious opposition to Chris. Andy, with the gorgeous Ickx Ferrari started slow, neared his limit on lap 9 with 9.399, then 9.398 and finally 9.344 on lap 11. The final qualifier, Alan, posted 9.425 on lap 2, 9.386 a lap later and 9.292 next lap but could not improve on that.

Qualifying Times
1 Chris 9.204
2 Alan 9.292
3 Andy 9.344
4 Gordon 9.445
5 Les 9.631
6 Evan 9.865
7 Alastair 10.734
8 Brian 10.735
9 Dave 11.386

Step-Up Round 1
Brian (Yellow), Alastair (Green) and Dave (Blue) faced up for the first knock-out Round. Brian's hopes evaporated on Lap 9 when his BRM ground to a halt. Resuscitation efforts failed and a post-mortem revealed a sheared pickup wire. This left Alastair to romp to victory, three laps clear of Dave

Step-Up Round 2
Gordon (Green), Les (Yellow) and Evan (Blue) were joined by a promoted Alastair on the slowest (Red) lane. Gordon was the class of the field, beating Les by a lap and setting a formidable 9.243 in the process. Evan was unexpectedly fast when he stayed on (9.332) but Les (9.699) and Alastair (10.000) clearly had work to do.

Final Round
Gordon (Red) joined Andy (Blue), Alan (Yellow) and Chris (Green). Chris, helped by the luxury of the fastest lane, disappeared into the distance and won the race with a fault-free run, 17 laps below 9.1 sec and a massive FL of 8.834. Alan started fast and had already set 9.072 on lap 5 but he couldn't stay on track and eventually slumped to last place after six offs, albeit with an excellent FL of 9.001.

This left Andy and Gordon to contest second place and a royal battle ensued, with each achieving ascendency in their turn. Going into Lap 20 a couple of offs had delayed Gordon and Andy looked set for victory with a 4 sec lead but his first and only de-slot resulted in a fumbled response from the lane marshal, handing Gordon a 2 sec lead with 10 laps to go. The next 4 laps were flat-out by both drivers, gaining Gordon 0.102 sec then the pressure told and he fell off, deciding the contest. Gordons FL was 9.121 and Andy's 9.044.

Result
1 Chris (FL 8.834)
2 Andy (FL 9.044)
3 Gordon (FL 9.121)
4 Alan (FL 9.001)
5 Les (FL 9.699)
6. Alastair (FL 10.000)
7 Evan (FL 9.332)
8 Dave (FL 11.538)
9 Brian (FL 11.161)

Andy

Round 2
No Evan this time but Stef was back from his Covid awareness experience so nine racers lined up.

Qualifying
This quali Round was run on Yellow, a fast but rather bumpy lane. Chris led us off and was quickly into the low 9 secs region, flirting with a few high 8s and reaching 8.931. Gordon was next and soon delivered a shedload of 9.3s before dipping down to 9.093 near the end. A much-improved Alastair then lapped around the mid to high 9s before reaching 9.527. Alan followed, much anticipated as he's not lost his reputation for quickest driver on the block. His third lap was a meteoric 8.922 and he proceeded to beat that four times, his final lap was the fastest at 8.863.

Brian couldn't get out of the high 9s and ended with 9.755. Les' qualifying was a tale of two halves. He started around 9.5 but lap 8 saw his first sub 9.4 and he reached 9.175 on his penultimate lap. Dave began around the low teens but managed multiple 10 sec laps, peaking at 10.255. Andy's first fast lap was 9.321 but he couldn't build on it until lap 7 when he managed 9.178 then overdrove for the remainder of his session.

This left Stef, the New boy, as the final qualifier. Everybody (including Stef I suspect!) didn't expect very much but his first lap was 9.857, his second was 9.669 and his third 9.261. This was frankly amazing pace for a newbie and it was no fluke as he dropped even lower, recording 9.187 then 9.141 to secure a very well-deserved fourth place grid position, a shade below third place Gordon!

Qualifying Times
1 Alan 8.863
2 Chris 8.931
3 Gordon 9.093
4 Stef 9.141
5 Les 9.175
6 Andy 9.178
7 Alastair 9.527
8 Brian 9.755
9 Dave 10.255

Step-Up Round 1
Alastair, Brian and Dave lined up on the grid for the first knock-out Round. Alastair had Quixotically opted for the slow Red lane and took little further part in the proceedings. Brian on Green outpaced Dave mostly due to a few costly offs from the latter and finished a couple of laps clear, despite Dave's fastest lap (9.513) being comfortably quicker than Brian (9.947). A taste of things to come for Dave?

Step-Up Round 2
Stef on pole (Green) faced Les (Yellow), Andy (Red) and the promoted Brian on Blue. Les and Stef on the faster lanes led Andy for a couple of laps before both deslotted on Lap 3. After this Stef's pace became a bit slower and he slipped back further with another off on lap 11. Les, on the other hand was clearly quicker than Andy and the race devolved into a stubborn defence from Andy against Les's fightback. The two were always on the same lap and it was decided in the end by Andy's steady pace and Les's errors. Stef finished close behind these two veterans, cementing his reputation as Driver of the Future in this class of racing!

Final Round
Andy (Red) joined Gordon (Blue), Chris (Yellow) and Alan (Green). Chris and Alan rapidly left Gordon and Andy behind, both lapping regularly below 9 secs before Alan started reaching his limit a shade slower than Chris then came off a couple of times near the end. Andy and Gordon resumed their tussle of the previous Round, only this time Andy on Red couldn't quite reach Gordon's pace on Blue. At the end Chris was a clear winner with a lap lead over Alan, Gordon finished on the same lap in 3rd place and Andy was 4th a further lap back, just being lapped again by Chris at the end. The average speeds for the drivers as the race progressed are below.





Chris heads boldly towards the Stratosphere, Andy, Alan and Gordon are locked in battle for the runner-up positions, Les is a lonely 5th and Alastair and Stef are the only remaining contestants who have troubled the scorer so far.
Andy

Round 3: The Competition Hots Up
Dave was the sole absentee for this race, which is fast becoming a very popular classic for us.

Qualifying
Qualifying was run on Green, arguably the fastest lane at DSCC. Andy was first off and ran comfortably around 9.4 then 9.3 and reached 9.115 on lap 11. Evan was next and went off like a rocket, posting 9.257 off a standing start. His next lap was 9.326 then 9.099. Then he came off and couldn't get back in the groove. Gordon was quickly on the pace, delivering 9.174 on lap 3 then a couple of laps around 9.1 and a final best of 9.056 on lap 11. A dispirited Alastair started in the low 10s, finally dropping to 9.411. Les seemed to have a grip problem and started in the mid-9s before dropping down to 9.216 near the end.

Next up was Chris and a hush descended as we waited for his usual ultra-fast pace. His second lap seemed restrained but nevertheless was already below 9s. Five laps followed with little improvement then he dropped down to 8.754 on lap 8 and finished with 8.634 on lap 12 - job done.

Alan followed, the only racer with a realistic chance of matching Chris, and he was quickly lapping below 9s, setting 8.746 on lap 3. He seemed to have trouble improving on this until lap 10 when he reached 8.718 and immediately followed with 8.690, just half a tenth behind his rival!

Brian was our penultimate qualifier, quickly getting down to 9.613 but unable to improve on it. Stef was the final qualifier and much was expected after his amazing performance in his last quali. This time he was clearly quick but erratic, putting together a 9.313 lap, plus 5 offs in his session!

Qualifying Times
1 Chris 8.634
2 Alan 8.690
3 Gordon 9.056
4 Evan 9.099
5 Andy 9.115
6 Les 9.216
7 Stef 9.313
8 Alastair 9.411
9 Brian 9.613

Final Round 1
Alastair, Brian and Stef contested the first knock-out Round. Alastair had chosen the slow Red lane again and rapidly receded into the background, never getting near 9s laps. Brian on yellow lapped in the low 10s but was nowhere near Stef who put in regular lap times in the mid-9s and finished a couple of laps up with a best of 9.417 on Green.

Final Round 2
Stef (Red) was promoted to Round 2 and faced Andy (Yellow), Evan (Green) and Les on Blue. Andy seized the lead early on lap 1 and was never caught, lapping consistently around 9.2 and reaching 9.070 by the end. Evan posted three laps around 9.1 by laps 8 but he also had three offs, ceding almost a lap to Andy and never recovered. Stef had a good race with just two offs and a typical (median) pace around 9.7, ending on the same lap as Evan and just one lap behind Andy. Les couldn't get on terms with his low grip on Blue and lapped in the high 9s with a FL of 9.767, finishing fourth, a lap down on Evan and Stef.

Final Round
Andy (Red) joined Gordon (Blue), Alan (Yellow) and Chris (Green) in a near-re-run of the previous Round. As before, Chris and Alan rapidly left Gordon and Andy behind but this time things were different for the fast boys. Chris stumbled on lap 3, allowing Alan to take a small lead which he built on steadily to about 2s at lap 11, posting a meteoric FL of 8.441 in the process. Then it was Alan's turn to record a slow lap, losing almost all his advantage on lap 12. Unfortunately for Chris, he also had an off two laps later, giving Alan a 4s lead. Chris ate into Alan's lead very slowly over the next 13 laps, piling on the pressure and recording his personal FL of 8.518 3 laps before the finish. This achieved its goal of pushing Alan into an error on the same lap but crucially he was back in the slot a half second ahead of Chris and survived the final two laps to gain a well-deserved win.

Meanwhile, Andy and Gordon resumed their regular fight which has happened every Round so far. Andy on Red was at a slight disadvantage to Gordon's on Blue but there was almost nothing to separate them for the first 10 laps, at which point Andy was 0.2s back. A slight error for Andy on lap 11 gave Gordon a 2s lead but a slight mistake for Gordon 2 laps later handed most of this back. The next lap Andy took a tiny lead but another off on lap 16 gave Gordon a 3s lead again and things were looking dire for Andy. Two laps later Gordon's pace dropped dramatically and the following lap he pulled his car over for a desperate check. It was the old slipping pinion gear problem that dogs Policar BRMs and Gordon's race was over on lap 19 - a big disappointment for everybody in the room.

Alan has emerged as a serious contender for the Championship, alongside Chris who still leads. Andy and Gordon are fighting for third, Les and Stef are going for 5th.
Andy