Trans-Am 2018 - Round 1 - Rockingham
To the glorious soundtrack of the GT3 racing hosted at nearby Rockingham Motor Speedway, the first round of the CSCRA Trans-Am series got off to an early start, despite the dreary weather.
With a small field of just fourteen, all cars passed scrutineering, with Paul Minnis’ Over 2 Litre car attracting early attention with its Italian chassis.
However, it would be Paul’s Under 2 Litre car which would steal the show, the Fiat 600 Abarth on an Amato chassis blowing away the competition in concours. Built and detailed by Nick Hirst and his colleagues, the Reprotech-bodied car had a hand-built detailed engine bay, built by a colleague of Nick Hirst. This was the little Fiat’s first outing, proving that Minnis’ instinct to go for something a little unusual was right on the money.
Second place in concours would go to Mick Langridge’s 2002 TII BMW. Built on a modified brass and piano wire open class F1 chassis, the Under 2 Litre car was also a clear favorite, gathering half again the number of votes of the final runner-up in concours.
Third place in concours was hotly contested between Matt Tucker and David Farrow, with Tucker’s Alfa GTV winning the last spot on the podium by just one point. Built on an Olifer 3D printed chassis, the Fly-bodied Alfa was powered by a 23K Krahs, and ran on MB Slot air hub tyres. Tucker's advice was that this build was “not the way to go”.
With concours out of the way, focus turned to racing. In the Standard Class racing, track conditions proved tricky. Initially grippy, conditions deteriorated quickly in all heats, with marble pickup on the tyres rapidly decreasing grip for all competitors.
After the heats, attention turned to the high-pressure environment of step-up finals. In this format of racing, each racer has just one run against his fellow competitors in his round, with winners moving up to take the last remaining lane in the final above.
Following a B final victory by Rob Kerr, the top final was an all-local showdown, with first place going to David Farrow, ahead of Mick Kerr. Rob Kerr, struggling for grip originally looked set for a fourth place finish, but poor luck on the part of Matt Tucker, who suffered a mechanical failure, would see him gifted with third place.
The A Final of the Under 2 Litre class was an equal mix of local racers and visitors, with Jeff Norton winning the B Final to race top qualifier David Farrow, Mick Kerr, and fellow visitor Pete Crane.
In an unusual turn of events, the A Final got off to a poor start, with three competitors off at the first corner, resulting in a restart.
After the restart, Farrow led from Mick Kerr, Jeff Norton, then Pete Crane, with only half a lap separating first from fourth by the halfway point. In the second half of the race, Kerr gained on Farrow, but it would turn out to be too little too late.
In the final race of the day, Mick Kerr and David Farrow had an early coming together that could have scuppered their races, but excellent recovery drives would see them finish first and second respectively ahead of Matt Tucker, and top-placed visitor Pete Crane. It would be the only class of the day in which Mick Kerr would beat David Farrow, who had been absolutely dominant for most of the meet.
With the Rockingham round over, the competitors said their farewells, and returned home to prepare for the next round of Trans-Am to be hosted at Oaklands on June 3rd.
(I apologize for the lack of pictures, despite taking a large number of them. I have misplaced my camera cable, and will upload pictures some time after the 11th of May - Rob Kerr)
With a small field of just fourteen, all cars passed scrutineering, with Paul Minnis’ Over 2 Litre car attracting early attention with its Italian chassis.
Concours
However, it would be Paul’s Under 2 Litre car which would steal the show, the Fiat 600 Abarth on an Amato chassis blowing away the competition in concours. Built and detailed by Nick Hirst and his colleagues, the Reprotech-bodied car had a hand-built detailed engine bay, built by a colleague of Nick Hirst. This was the little Fiat’s first outing, proving that Minnis’ instinct to go for something a little unusual was right on the money.
Second place in concours would go to Mick Langridge’s 2002 TII BMW. Built on a modified brass and piano wire open class F1 chassis, the Under 2 Litre car was also a clear favorite, gathering half again the number of votes of the final runner-up in concours.
Third place in concours was hotly contested between Matt Tucker and David Farrow, with Tucker’s Alfa GTV winning the last spot on the podium by just one point. Built on an Olifer 3D printed chassis, the Fly-bodied Alfa was powered by a 23K Krahs, and ran on MB Slot air hub tyres. Tucker's advice was that this build was “not the way to go”.
Standard Class
With concours out of the way, focus turned to racing. In the Standard Class racing, track conditions proved tricky. Initially grippy, conditions deteriorated quickly in all heats, with marble pickup on the tyres rapidly decreasing grip for all competitors.
After the heats, attention turned to the high-pressure environment of step-up finals. In this format of racing, each racer has just one run against his fellow competitors in his round, with winners moving up to take the last remaining lane in the final above.
Following a B final victory by Rob Kerr, the top final was an all-local showdown, with first place going to David Farrow, ahead of Mick Kerr. Rob Kerr, struggling for grip originally looked set for a fourth place finish, but poor luck on the part of Matt Tucker, who suffered a mechanical failure, would see him gifted with third place.
Under 2 Litre Class
After a brief break for lunch, racing resumed with the heats for the Under 2 Litre class. Heat 2 was the highlight of the class, with the race turning into an entertaining comedy of harmless errors. Of particular amusement was Pete Crane’s stubborn determination to drive underneath Jeff Norton’s car, which had landed atop the bonnet of Crane’s car following an incident entering the Hall Bends. The little car just didn’t quite have the power to muscle under Jeff’s car, but that wasn’t going to stop Pete trying anyway.The A Final of the Under 2 Litre class was an equal mix of local racers and visitors, with Jeff Norton winning the B Final to race top qualifier David Farrow, Mick Kerr, and fellow visitor Pete Crane.
In an unusual turn of events, the A Final got off to a poor start, with three competitors off at the first corner, resulting in a restart.
After the restart, Farrow led from Mick Kerr, Jeff Norton, then Pete Crane, with only half a lap separating first from fourth by the halfway point. In the second half of the race, Kerr gained on Farrow, but it would turn out to be too little too late.
Over 2 Litre Class
The last class of the day was the Over 2 Litres. Big and fast, these cars are a fun challenge to race, and tend to best represent the spirit of the wheel-banging door-to-door racing of the real Trans Am series.In the final race of the day, Mick Kerr and David Farrow had an early coming together that could have scuppered their races, but excellent recovery drives would see them finish first and second respectively ahead of Matt Tucker, and top-placed visitor Pete Crane. It would be the only class of the day in which Mick Kerr would beat David Farrow, who had been absolutely dominant for most of the meet.
With the Rockingham round over, the competitors said their farewells, and returned home to prepare for the next round of Trans-Am to be hosted at Oaklands on June 3rd.
(I apologize for the lack of pictures, despite taking a large number of them. I have misplaced my camera cable, and will upload pictures some time after the 11th of May - Rob Kerr)
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