Legends: TWF1 Adelaide Report

With both championships essentially tied up the main battles in the final round were for the minor places and this was especially true of the tight Division 2 contest.

Ales made the best start from second on the grid and comfortably took the lead from champion elect Timo.  On Lap 2, however, Ales put the car in the tyres in the tricky left hander just after Adelaide and dropped to 3rd behind Paul Langford.

Ales wasn't the only visitor of the tyres as Rick Stratton removed his T4's nose and Nigel Metcalf somehow avoided damage as they both visited the tyres. Stratton retired on the spot with terminal damage but he was the second retirement.

On Lap 1 Rouke had made a very uncharacteristic error bouncing off Jef, the Barriers and Timo into Adelaide before retiring with  terminal damage.

So already the field was down to 10 cars, Langford finding himself under pressure from the recovering Ales with a gap back to Baz West who was under a lot of pressure from Ralph and Bret Metcalf.

Bringing up the rear was Jef, how had had to pit for repairs but he was soon on the moving catching a struggling Nigel Metcalf as he drove a superb recovery drive.

On lap 5 Baz became the latest victim of 'Ales Corner' as he spun and lost his rear wing. Pitting for repairs moving the charging Jef up the order.

Up front Langford seemed to outbrake himself a touch allowing Ales through into second on Lap 7 and able to chase down the champion. Behind the lead three Fulvio, Ralph and Bret continued to battle, the three running close changed places frequently and were soon joined around lap 15 by Jef.

He was in no mood to 'take any prisoners' as he neatly dealt with the battling trio over the course of the next three laps and by lap 18 past Ralph, just as the battle became for third as Timo made a very rare mistakes and crashed out at the end of the lap.

The impact with the pit entry removed a wheel and forced him to retire. The retirement didn't matter, however, as despite scoring zero points he still had the title 'in the bag'.

That left Ales in the lead and he cruised to the finish. With only seven cars left in the race, one final pass for position by Fulvio on Ralph on lap 23,  was the only pass for position as the race drew to a gentle close.

The top 5 is believed to be :-

Timo - 224
Ales - 220
Roberto - 195
Bret - 189
Fulvio - 165

Division two also had a champion but there was a ferocious battle for second place. Kat Scott held the place but, hindered by a poor Donnington result, this was far from secure. In fact Martin Cooper was 'in the box seat' for the position especially as Scott would not be able to race.

One driver with an outside chance at the position was Simon Baggett and he duly put his car on pole of the 11 car grid. Too much wheelspin left Fulghum in fourth off the grid after Marot made a superb start but by the laps end he was up to third. 

Martin Cooper took second from third on the grid while Pym had a disaster.  Battling hard with Tallini the pair approached 'Schumacher corner' - the pair touched, Pym spun and was collected by Hocq who had no chance of avoiding the McLaren.

He was soon on a charge passing cars on every lap until he had moved from 11th to 7th at which point he met a wall in the form of Marot.

Marot, driving well, took a few laps to pass by which time there was a gap to Tallini that would take him till about half distance to catch and pass.

Up front Bagget was fairly untroubled although Cooper was doing his best to keep the MaLaren under pressure. Cooper steadily fell back into the clutches of John Wallace, however, and on lap 17 the Bous car passed him for second.

Two laps later Eric was through too but then a battle Royale commences which saw the pair swap places two more times before the champion finally kept the final podium position. Pym rounded out the top five.

The final ( believed) championship top 5 positions are :-

Eric - 222
Martin - 193
Simon - 186
Kat - 186 (4th due to Simon winning more races)
Dave K - 181

Overall too keenly contested championships with some intense battles to the wire and highly memorable drives.

Legends: TWFA Adelaide Report

The Legends admin team threw up a huge challenge for the closing race of the TWFA season in the form of the challenging Adelaide circuit. Famous for the incident that deprived Damon Hill of a world championship, this circuit has numerous 'speed hump' curbs that threaten to send cars into wild spins at the slightest touch.

As such a high attrition rate was predicted as Paul Langford and Rouke vd Hoek fought tooth and nail for, what for now at at least, the first and final Legends TWFA Championship.

As always the meeting started with the sprint race and the field of 12 cars was lead away from Pole by Langford. Rouke lined up alongside him on the front row with, newcomer to this series, Simon Baggett lining up 3rd.

From the start Langford led with Rouke right behind as the field streamed through the tricky chicane that forms Turn 1 of this circuit.

Behind, Simon was slow away baulking the right side of the field slightly. The front of the field still got through the corner cleanly but Baz West locked a brake and collided with Graham Palferyman.

Kat Scott (pink car right) was forced to lift both for the yellow and the slow moving West. 

Ted Ball (green car) thus was able to pass Scott on the run to T2.

Scott would become the first victim of the curbs spinning down to last. She wouldn't be the last.

The Championship battle wasn't the points battle on with Bret Metcalf and Ralph Maiph also in a tight battle for a good championship finish. They both, ironically, had suffered qualifying penalties so start this race at the back.

By lap 4, with several drivers having spun, Maiph was making good progress and was up to 8th. Bret was just ahead as the pair ran nose to tail. 

Marcus Adams became the only retirement a lap later, crashing out, as the field largely settled down. That was until towards the end of lap 8.

Rouke had finally got within range of Paul and attempted to pass him into the hairpin. The pair touched and Paul was able to retain the position.

Then at the end of the lap Paul seemed to make a small mistake, the pair touched, Paul half spun. Rouke in a sporting gesture, having briefly passed the yellow car, returned the place as their head for the S/F line.

Roukes challenge in the sprint ended there and then so the championship came down to the final race of the season.

This wasn't the only battle going on, however, as Scott had caught Ball. Her first pass on lap 7 had failed after a mistake two corners after she passed him. One lap later Ball repeated Scott's mistake and with Bret Also hitting late trouble she finished 8th.

Overall an intense fight was brewing, a superb drive by Ralph had put him in the 'box seat' in the battle with Bret while Langford led the battle for the championship.

In the feature a bit of scrabbling off the start left Langford taking to the escape route but the two championship leaders succesfully negotiated the corner in the lead.

Behind some things got a little close but there was no major problems as the field streamed through T1.

A couple of minor incidents happened down the field as it approached the long straight before the hairpin.

As a result Kat Scott was able to make good use of her lower downforce allowed her to move up to 7th.

Into Lap 2 Rouke worked his way past Langford and the championship was fully alive. 

Behind newcomer Baggett was all over the back of a fierce battle between Tallini and Palferyman. The Latter became a curb victim onto the main straight spinning into the concrete. Bagget was able to also get past moving up to a strong 3rd pursued by Marcus Adams.

Adams' season has been mixed and another promising run, sadly, would fall by the wayside a few laps later as he spun out of fourth and into retirement. 

The next victim of the curbs, on lap 8, was Salvatore Tallini, his stop dropped him down to eighth behind a battle Royale.

Kat Scott was driving smoothly, she'd put in a great start and had genuinely passed Baz West on lap for and was now running fourth.

She didn't have the outright pace of Baz West or Juan Carlos Huate (seen attempting to pass West Right) but her sheer straight line speed and decent lines made it impossible for them to pass her.

Tallini soon caught the battle, as did the hard charging Ralph Maiph. Thinking on his feet, and with a stop needed, the latter dived into the pits as he caught the battle. This gave him clear air and no delay and would pay him well later in the race.

By Lap 15 Tallini had worked his way onto the back of Scott and passed her with another great pass, the Second he'd done on her in two weeks. 

Then going into the fast kink Scott made a small error in line, slid into the barrier and lost her nose.

Unfortunately, in what could well have been the incident that settled the championship, her slower return to the pits meant Rouke caught up with her as she entered the pits. No Blue flags were shown as he caught up so quickly and unfortunately was forced to avoid the rear of the pink car and went off. (above). 

Shortly after the Ralph/Bret battle was essentially settled as Bret went off losing his nose and forcing a pit for repairs. Despite the problems, the championship battle wasn't over as after their stops Rouke was in sight of his challenger.

Meanwhile Baz and Huarte were still fighting together, now for 6th and 7th but that ended on lap 22 when West spun over a curb and had to pit.

Had Scott not been worried about fuel, he would have dropped to 9th. Scott however had fuel on her mind, West was able to retake the place.

Overall the battles went right down to the wire, passing didn't stop till almost the very end and two entertaining races provided a fitting end to the championship.

Well done to Paul and Rouke for an excellent, fair and clean battle and congratulations to Paul for taking the crown.

Legends - TWF1 Donington Report

(sorry this is late, University work first, racing second ;) ).

Technical issues struck during two entertaining races at the challenging Donington Park racing circuit.

In the Div 1 Rik Walker had his best qualifying after a slight handicap adjustment allowed him to use the improved M29 car. He was one the lead of 3 such cars lining up behind pole sitter Timo Peltola.

Timo had almost got the championship sowed up and led from his pole with Rik Walker making a poorer start and losing a place to Ronny on the run to Turn 1.

Rik made minor contact mid corner with the 'Players' M29, however, and retook the position. Feeling he gained it unfairly he returned the place as the field streamed down towards Old Hairpin.

Further back on the edge of the top 10 Berti had become the meat in a Brabham Sandwich. He got squashed by Bret and Allar and, as his BT49 became briefly airborne, he was forced off the track.

He rejoining narrowly behind Ralph and forcing Rick Stratton behind to slow early. This delay allowed Paul Langford to get alongside the bright yellow T4 Ferrari. Langford turned in a touch early, collided with him and the M29 was spinning onto the infield.

Stratton was unfortunately the first victim of technical issues and went off at the next corner as he struggled with lack of force feedback. Losing his nose, he would retire on lap 7 after struggling for a few laps.

Into the hairpin Bret and Ales had a slight collision as Bret tried to pass the dark grey Brabham. Bret lost several places as he fought to regain the track then also suffered a technical issue as he lost connection.

So at the end of lap one Peltola led from Rouke, Denis and Allar Foht. Allar had made the best start, leaping from 9th to 4th ahead of Ales.

Timo was already looking secure, but the rest of the podium was soon embroiled in an intense battle. Denis made a probably over-optermistic pass attempt on Rouke on lap 3 into Turn 1, he collided with Rouke, ran wide, and was fortunate not to lose a place straight away.

Shortly after, however, Allar was through and chasing after the Orange and Black car ahead. He tried.. and tried.. but Rouke was driving well and it took until lap 6 before he was able to pass.

By then Timo was clear and the pair would run uncontested to the flag. Rouke and Denis would have races to forget, however, as both retired by before half distance leaving Ales in Third.

Behind the drivers who were delayed early on were now making their way through the field. Rik Walker had been passing drivers at close to a rate of every other lap and was up to 7th by lap 12. Behind Paul Langford had made similar progress but as he had dropped further back with his spin, he was up to 12th and chasing Ralph hard.

Retirements then started to come thick and fast, by lap 19, 5 drivers were out and wouldn't score any points. This dropped to 10 when the battling Ronny and Roberto retired. Both crashed heavily on lap 29 after battling hard together for several laps.

Most drivers were running seconds apart on the track by now, but Fulvio and Ralph were embroiled in an intense battle. Twice they swapped places before finally on lap 34 Fulvio took the place.

Up front Peltola took a deserved win and it's believed a provisional championship. ( Last season, from memory, any penalties incurred in last race took points penalties as the licence is cleaned at the end of the season. So it's feasible to lose points ).

In Division two Simon Baggett and champion elect Eric Fulghum lined up on a M29 front row, matched by a similar pair of M29's behind. Two Renaults appeared on the grid for the first time with two new Frenchman joining the field. They lined up 5th and 8th out of a field of 11.

When the light went Green, L'il Miss superstarter was at it again, however. Yet again Kat got it all right at the start and as the field streamed towards T1 she was rapidly closing on the second and third rows on the grid from 9th.

Into T1 she was alongside Cooper's 'pig', she backed out on entry but mid corner David Pym slid wide slightly, causing Cooper and Kat to back up a little and minor contact made.

Eric had made the best start and was now leading ahead of Baggett, Pym and Cooper. Into the chicane Kat made an attempt to outbrake David. The maneuver was largely successful but unfortunately light contact was made with both cars ahead. Pym had turned in, seemingly not aware of Kat's attempt, he unfortunately spun.

Cooper was nudged slightly by the Ferrari but retained the spot without bother while Kat easily kept her car on track.

Now started a ferocious battle between V12 power and better handling cars. the FW07 of the hugely improving Sal Tallini was all over the back of the Screaming yellow car and for the next 3 laps he was unable to overcome the power deficite.

On lap 4, however, he pulled off the move of the day outbraking Scott round the outside of the chicane. She gave him the minimum of room but he calming slid his car through the gap and into fourth.

The Recovering Pym and John Wallace now had to contend with the bright yellow car. Once again Scott kept them at bay but a spin in T1 let the two recovering cars through.

Further back new driver Aymeric and Philipe were having a fun battle while up front Eric had, championship in mind, let Baggett back ahead and the two would comparitevly cruise to the finish.

John, Tallini, Martin and David were soon in their own battle. The 4 not swapping places much but running tightly together lap after lap even after Cooper had a brief off on lap 24.

Tallini unfortunatly retired, probably with technical problems on Lap 33 shortly before Scott also retired. She suffered a disconnect for unknown reasons robbing her of a secure 6th place and giving Cooper an excellent chance at second in the championship.

Eric's second place handed him the championship with the same proviso's as for Div 1.

Behind Scott got 22 points for being placed 9th after her retirement.

In Division 1, the top three are likely settled although a bat race for Ales will hand the place to Roberto.

Bret can, however, take the place after his zero points at Don he can still overhaul Berti.Third for Bret gives him equal points with Berti if the latter fails to finish better than 12th. A win for Bret gives him 205 points, 3rd for Berti gives him 206.

In Division 2, however, three drivers are battling hard for the position with Simon Baggett and Pym having outside chances.


Before dropped scores the position is :-

2 Kat Scott 186
4 Martin Cooper 165
3 David Kadlcak 157
5 David Pym 154
6 Simon Baggett 146

as such if everyone DNF's that is the finishing positions.

Both Pym and Baggett rely totally on bad results from all three ahead, and a win ( or second in Pym's case) to take second. While 8th for Kat would prevent Baggett taking second, she needs 3rd if Pym wins ( or 7th if second)

Cooper needs to finish 9th or better with Scott behind and David K less than 8 points behind. So if DK won, second would get him the place.

Scott will drop points ( the only one of the top 6 to do so ) so is effectively on 164 and thus faces the same maths as Cooper with the difference of needing to finish ahead of Cooper, if both are 9th or better.

For DK to take second he needs to get 29 points with Scott finishing 9th or worse and Cooper the same. Thus 3rd is his minimum.

TWFA: Donnington Park Report

The seventh round of the TWFA season saw the drivers take on the strangely challenging Donnington Park circuit. Why strangely challenging? Well it seems to be a circuit that some people just simply 'get' while others struggle like crazy. It's layout, however, looks deceptively simple with many corners being flat out.

Title contenders Paul Langford and Rouke vd Hoek locked out the front row with improving driver, Sal Tallini, lining up in 3rd.

Tallini was the first victim of a number of incidents as, going into Redgate, West appears to accidently 'get into' him and the pink TWFA spun onto the infield.

Several newcomers entered this race and exiting Redgate one of those drivers, Pierre was strangely slow and dropped two places.

Into Melbourne hairpin there was a bit too much pushing and barging. First Dominic made contact with Tomas pushing him wide and taking the place. Then Neill got into Huarte spinning him round as Tallini then made contact with the back of Johnson.

Into the final corner Dominic outbraked Maiph and ran wide while Tomas tried to slip inside the red car and the two made contact. They both spun.

Up front Rouke made his way past Langford and cruised away with Baz in a stable but lonely 3rd.

Behind Graham, Martin, Patrick Dobner and Bret were embroiled in a monumental battle. Over the 8 laps there were getting on for a dozen different position changes. Eventually Bret won the battle which became for 3rd when Baz West proved the adage "To finish third.. first one much have enough fuel in the car!!!" as he ran out on the last lap.

In the feature race Tallini made the best start but there was some rubbing between all three not helped by Tallini's technical problems that cause his car to warp.

Paul took second from Rouke as the field streamed down to the Old Hairpin.

The opening lap was rather cleaner although Ted did manage to get into the back of Katier. She spun, losing a place and suffering some damage. Ted's weekend had been a nightmare and in all he only managed 2 racing laps.

Up front Paul Langford was taking the lead with Rouke looking for a way past the bright yellow car. Sal Tallini was 3rd with West 4th ahead of another large battle.

For the second time in the day Martin Cooper found himself battling tooth and nail this time Chasing Patrick Dobner hard.

Then on lap 7 Rouke went off, forcing a pit for repairs, then to compound matters he had a stop go. That dropped him way down the order but on the plus side would not need to stop again having topped his tank during the stop.

As the stops approached, therefore, Langford was secure out in front ahead of Tallini but the latter had a crash and retired at half distance. The handed Graham second and for a while he lead as Langfords stop dropped him to second.

Meanwhile Rouke was steadily climbing up the order. He past a struggling Kat on 10 and by the end had recovered to a handy 9th place. Metcalf took a smooth second ahead of Palfreyman and Rookie Dobner.

Of the other rookies, Pierre missed the sprint and Dominic's race was incident filled. He gad a number of off's between showings of pace. He would finish 11th.

With Berti missing this round the championship is essentially a two horse race.

After dropping their worst scores :-
(NOTE I believe that one of Roukes scores is missing on the official table)

Langford - 606
Rouke - 602
Berti - 568

Berti can still win it, if he takes both races that is 120 points. Putting him on 688 and requiring Langford to take no more than 61 points. Assuming he completes > 50% of the racing that is the equivelent of about 2 12th places. Rouke would need to do worse than something around 2 10th to give Berti a shot at the crown.