Mr.F
Inactive
Wow! What can I say - a fantastic day's racing in brilliant sunshine and all the excitement you could wish for at this great venue. As you know, we were granted the privilege to run our first ever heads-up Drag Eliminator for Z and ZX only at the event. First of all, my huge thanks to organiser Tony Huck for letting this happen and secondly, my thanks to John Price in the commentary box for taking the event whole-heartedly on board and letting me co-commentate with him for the qualifying rounds and the Eliminator itself.
The first session of qualifying found our hybrid S30s battling with the Z32 of Rob Smith for the top spot. At this point, Rob had the edge on Darren and John. The mid-field was dominated by the rest of the Z32s with Terry Taylor (with 47 miles on his fresh engine) and Charles Leekam driving Steve Burns' PAD 500 280ZX Turbo bringing up the rear.
The second qualifying session saw the hybrid Zs turn the tables, while the rest of the field made progressive improvements.
The qualifying order after two sessions was:
1. Darren Stiles RB26DETT engined 240Z 12.60
2. John Palmer 1JZE Soarer engined 240Z 13.07
3. Rob Smith 300ZX TT 13.09
4. Paul Hopkinson 300ZX TT 13.64
5. Frank Marino 300ZX TT 14.01
6. Kurt Baur 300ZX TT 14.23
7. Terry Taylor 240Z 14.50
8. Charles Leekam 280ZX Turbo 17.43
The ladder was formed, with fastest meeting slowest and so on to the centre - the pairing in the first round of Eliminator (and subsequent results) was:
Darren Stiles 13.72
Charles Leekam 16.58 (improving all the time in this unfamiliar car)
Rob Smith 13.33
Kurt Baur 14.53
Paul Hopkinson 13.70
Frank Marino 14.05
John Palmer 13.25
Terry Taylor 15.06
Darren, Rob, Paul and John progressed to the semi-final. Now things got a bit closer and more interesting:
Darren vs Rob saw Darren fading away after some truly impressive previous terminal speeds in the 128 - 131 mph region, and succumbing to Rob's 13.03 and only managing a 13.72. Darren had clawed back 0.25 of a second on reaction time but this wasn't enough.
John vs Paul was also close fought, with Paul taking two tenths out of John on reaction time, but just not having enough to hold back the improving S30 - 13.14 beat 13.55.
The final was set-up - Z32 vs Hybrid S30. These two had run within two hundredth of each other on best times of the day, so a close match was on the cards. However, despite Rob running his best time of the day at 12.92, John's expertise off the line gained him almost three tenths and, despite a slower time of 13.02, he crossed the finish line first. It was so close at the top end that neither driver knew who had actually taken the win until they returned to the line to receive the news!
So - congratulations to John Palmer on becoming the first ever Z Club Drag Race Elimination Winner. They liked it so much at North Weald, that the organisers have confirmed that we can do it all again in September when we return for Round 7 of the Drag Challenge!
On top of all this, the usual Drag Challenge competition was going on and, for the first time at North Weald, I was able to collect not only times, but also reaction times by virtue of being in the caravan with the timing gear! Times for the Challenge read as follows:
Class 1:
Terry Taylor 14.50 / 95 mph, best Reaction Time 0.299
Class 3:
Charles Leekam 16.58 / 81 mph, RT 0.617
Class 5:
1. Rob Smith 12.92 / 113 mph, RT 0.567
2. Paul Hopkinson 13.55 / 105 mph, RT 0.257
3. Frank Marino 14.00 / 99 mph, RT 0.287
4. Kurt Baur 14.23 / 104 mph, RT 0.418
Class 7:
1. Darren Stiles 12.60 / 117 mph, RT 0.417
2. John Palmer 13.02 / 113 mph, RT 0.279
Spectators:
Mike Feeney with 200ZR
Matt Bannister
Steve Burns with 280ZX
Peter Bright with 300ZX Z32
Mark "Slaphead" ? - details to follow...
Points scoring is complex with points awarded for the usual Drag Challenge activity and bonus points for achievement in the Eliminator:
John Palmer 24 points
Paul Hopkinson 20 points
Rob Smith 17 points
Darren Stiles 15 points
Frank Marino 13 points
Terry Taylor 11 points
Kurt Baur 9 points
Charles Leekam 7 points
Mike Feeney 4 points
Peter Bright 2 points
Matt Bannister 2 points
Steve Burns 2 points
Mark "Slaphead" 2 points
Couldn't have been much better - thanks to all who participated and rose to the challenge on the day. Thanks to Steve Burns for letting Charles drive his pride and joy to make an all Z field for the Eliminator (Charles would otherwise have been entered in his Silvia ZX...). Thanks to Matt for his marshalling help (but not for staying in the car while I set up the flags and mini-marquee in the rain on my own...)
The first session of qualifying found our hybrid S30s battling with the Z32 of Rob Smith for the top spot. At this point, Rob had the edge on Darren and John. The mid-field was dominated by the rest of the Z32s with Terry Taylor (with 47 miles on his fresh engine) and Charles Leekam driving Steve Burns' PAD 500 280ZX Turbo bringing up the rear.
The second qualifying session saw the hybrid Zs turn the tables, while the rest of the field made progressive improvements.
The qualifying order after two sessions was:
1. Darren Stiles RB26DETT engined 240Z 12.60
2. John Palmer 1JZE Soarer engined 240Z 13.07
3. Rob Smith 300ZX TT 13.09
4. Paul Hopkinson 300ZX TT 13.64
5. Frank Marino 300ZX TT 14.01
6. Kurt Baur 300ZX TT 14.23
7. Terry Taylor 240Z 14.50
8. Charles Leekam 280ZX Turbo 17.43
The ladder was formed, with fastest meeting slowest and so on to the centre - the pairing in the first round of Eliminator (and subsequent results) was:
Darren Stiles 13.72
Charles Leekam 16.58 (improving all the time in this unfamiliar car)
Rob Smith 13.33
Kurt Baur 14.53
Paul Hopkinson 13.70
Frank Marino 14.05
John Palmer 13.25
Terry Taylor 15.06
Darren, Rob, Paul and John progressed to the semi-final. Now things got a bit closer and more interesting:
Darren vs Rob saw Darren fading away after some truly impressive previous terminal speeds in the 128 - 131 mph region, and succumbing to Rob's 13.03 and only managing a 13.72. Darren had clawed back 0.25 of a second on reaction time but this wasn't enough.
John vs Paul was also close fought, with Paul taking two tenths out of John on reaction time, but just not having enough to hold back the improving S30 - 13.14 beat 13.55.
The final was set-up - Z32 vs Hybrid S30. These two had run within two hundredth of each other on best times of the day, so a close match was on the cards. However, despite Rob running his best time of the day at 12.92, John's expertise off the line gained him almost three tenths and, despite a slower time of 13.02, he crossed the finish line first. It was so close at the top end that neither driver knew who had actually taken the win until they returned to the line to receive the news!
So - congratulations to John Palmer on becoming the first ever Z Club Drag Race Elimination Winner. They liked it so much at North Weald, that the organisers have confirmed that we can do it all again in September when we return for Round 7 of the Drag Challenge!
On top of all this, the usual Drag Challenge competition was going on and, for the first time at North Weald, I was able to collect not only times, but also reaction times by virtue of being in the caravan with the timing gear! Times for the Challenge read as follows:
Class 1:
Terry Taylor 14.50 / 95 mph, best Reaction Time 0.299
Class 3:
Charles Leekam 16.58 / 81 mph, RT 0.617
Class 5:
1. Rob Smith 12.92 / 113 mph, RT 0.567
2. Paul Hopkinson 13.55 / 105 mph, RT 0.257
3. Frank Marino 14.00 / 99 mph, RT 0.287
4. Kurt Baur 14.23 / 104 mph, RT 0.418
Class 7:
1. Darren Stiles 12.60 / 117 mph, RT 0.417
2. John Palmer 13.02 / 113 mph, RT 0.279
Spectators:
Mike Feeney with 200ZR
Matt Bannister
Steve Burns with 280ZX
Peter Bright with 300ZX Z32
Mark "Slaphead" ? - details to follow...
Points scoring is complex with points awarded for the usual Drag Challenge activity and bonus points for achievement in the Eliminator:
John Palmer 24 points
Paul Hopkinson 20 points
Rob Smith 17 points
Darren Stiles 15 points
Frank Marino 13 points
Terry Taylor 11 points
Kurt Baur 9 points
Charles Leekam 7 points
Mike Feeney 4 points
Peter Bright 2 points
Matt Bannister 2 points
Steve Burns 2 points
Mark "Slaphead" 2 points
Couldn't have been much better - thanks to all who participated and rose to the challenge on the day. Thanks to Steve Burns for letting Charles drive his pride and joy to make an all Z field for the Eliminator (Charles would otherwise have been entered in his Silvia ZX...). Thanks to Matt for his marshalling help (but not for staying in the car while I set up the flags and mini-marquee in the rain on my own...)
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