TWF1: OldRing Report

Sitting at the end of pitlane, mechanics fussing over the car, as 24 other cars blast away down the long straight at OldRing, Champion elect Rouke vd Hoek looked lonely and faced an uphill battle to the title...

Then a wheel bounced past as his engine fired up for the start, the sounds to his left weren't of roaring engines, they were of carnage and tearing metal. Screeching tyres and overheating engines.

In all 27 drivers made the grid for the final round of the championship. If there was ever a signifier of a successful championship this was it. Seven drivers were guaranteed to leave without points as only the top 20 score points.

Bret Metcalf on pole got away solidly but spin a wheel up and suddenly veered off to the right, Simon Baggett bounced off him and he was collected by Bento. Further carnage was avoided as behind them Benoit's Renault overheated. This was caused by a formation lap mishap involving Robert Jones.

He spun on approach to the grid and caused it to be very slow forming up, the end result was a smokey Renault. Corrado spotted his problem, slowed by Jones behind was unsighted and cannoned into him. With tyre smoke from the start still in the air all hell broke loose.

In all around a dozen cars were damaged by the startline collisions with both Metcalfs, Benoit and Corrado all retiring.

Kat, Miguel, Simon, Costa all pitted at the end of lap one along with Luis Lima. Lima was the last person involved in the fallout from the start, a fact that was slightly surprising as he was one of 3 to start from the pitlane. He tripped over Corrado, in a slightly strange accident, who was creeping back to the pits. The collision ending Corrado's race.

The big benefiter's from the first lap carnage were Ralph Maiph who jumped straight into the lead, Rick Stratton who gained 12 places to sixth, Kat Scott who despite a pit at the end of lap 1 was 19th from 26th and Rouke, 16th after a pitlane start.

By Lap 5 the leaders were having to contend with lapped traffic. The leaders caught Kat towards the end of the lap and this caused Leo to make a mistake. Overcooking the corner he slide wide, almost making contact with the Ferrari and losing a place to Ronny (left).

Ronny had briefly held second on lap two, lost it to Leo on lap 3 but once back ahead he set about chasing the small gap to the leader. 

Behind a small battle was developing for fifth with Shazy and Rick battling a few seconds ahead of Paul Langford. Rouke was making great progress and already closing the one Alfa and was into the top 10. 

Jef was fourth and unable to keep up with the lead three, but comfortably ahead of Rick behind who by lap 11 was starting to drop Shazy. The latter had fallen into the clutches of Paul Langford who was having a bit of a mixed race. On at least two occasions he made a mistake at Adelaide losing a place to Shazy and on one occasion Rouke who was having a dream race.

Meanwhile Kat was making steady progress moving through the field and by lap 17 was battling with Martin. Martin managed to slip back after she went wide in turn 4, but she was soon back ahead and right with Phillipe. Marot made it very hard for the Ferrari and almost made contact in T4. She finally got past on the exit of Aque Minerale and by lap 22 was into the top 10.

Eric Fulghum, was also making quiet progress. He'd pitted on lap three after colliding with the pitwall following a very light rear nudge from Fulvio who also spun and lost time but didn't pit. By lap 16 Eric had been caught by the leaders and initially it looked like a normal lapping manoveur. 

Ralph passing the HMR car easily on approach to T1 but for some reason the two drivers then managed to confuse each other with braking points and Eric had the scary prospect of nearly taking out the leader. 

Post race Eric apologised to Ralph. He said, "Yea, sorry about that Ralph. Although, I remember being suprised that you were suddenly slowing. I have to watch the replay, I'm sure I got something wrong there.

"I just dive bombed the corner as much as possible and hoped you were not there. Thankfully, you went over the curbs at the second apex of the T1 chicane to give me room. Luckily rFactor gave it to us and didn't give us any damage as we brushed and interlocked wheels. Whew! Taking out the leader is the lamest thing ever, and the last thing I wanted to do."

Ralph continued but was being steadily caught by Ronny who by lap 24 was right with him. Under intense pressure Ralph held him off until finally, on lap 26, he finally made a pass for the lead. Drafting Ralph down start/finish he took the lead before turn 1 but was unable to escape. On Lap 31 Ralph made his move squeezing through a gap barely wide enough for a Brabham he retook the leader on approach to Adelaide.

By now 12 cars had retired, in addition to the five retiring from first lap incidents. Miguel, Robert Jones, DK and Simon Baggett amongst those who failed to make half distance. Others having troubled races included Tallini and Luis Lima. Tallini, who failed to make the end of the formation lap and thus started from the pitlane, pitted again on laps 9, 10, 15, 26 and 28. Lima pitted three times and several drivers pitted twice.

By now the field was settled, but battles still raged. Ronny was trying everything to get past the leader while Leo was having to fend off the advances of Rouke. Meanwhile Eric's fine recovery was about to fall apart. 

On Lap 29 Tallini was recovering to the pits but, suffering from a missing rear wing, lost it approaching Blanchimont he lost it. Eric was an unfortunate, accidental, and unavoidable victim and after heavy contact with the wall continued.. 

Only to collect Cooper ( inset) in Adelaide, as Eric found that the brakes on a car with heavy suspension damage don't work in the same way as on a fixed car. Fulghum was forced to pit and would lose a place to Kat.

Ultimately a highly entertaining exciting race. Several drivers putting in very good drives, others struggling on a track that seemed to suit the 1979 Formula 1 cars very well. An excellent end to a very good season, congratulations to Rouke for a well deserved championship victory. But as always it's fun to recognise a driver of the day.

I think it would be unfair for me to choose it as anyone who makes up 19 places in a race must be in with a shout, so over to Rick Stratton for his thoughts on the most deserving driver.

TWF1: The Fast and the slow.. of Fuji

Engine screaming, surging up towards the limiter, the bright yellow Renault looks completely at home down the main straight. Topping out at insane speeds it then squirms and struggles as the driver puts the anchors on for the hairpin. Fuji, with it's long straight saw the cars, most noteably Phil Carroll's Renault and Kat Scott's Ferrari, with powerfull engines stripping downforce for maximum speeds of well over 180mph by the braking point.

The Cosworth cars were lucky to hit 180 without effects of a tow but those cars would look so much more comfortable around the tight twists of the back end of this circuit that is full of contrast.

Pole went to one of those Cosworth's in the hands of Rouke, with Simon Baggett lining up second ahead of Timo and Leo Menegucci. Rouke made the best of the start with Timo jumping Baggett into second with Leo and Corrado keeping grid order.

Slightly further back, however, with a massive field of 26 cars the inevitable happened and someone touched. Bret had made an horrendous starting, skewing across the track then into T1 he locked up and slid into Costa. Langford and Marot were also involved although non of the car seemed to pick up much damage.

The field, however, was getting very congested now and into T1 Ivor made the same mistake and slid into the back of Fulvio, who was punted into the paths of Scott and Jones. Several other cars were lucky not to get involved the Jones ended up having to take a slightly scenic route as a result.

Two further incidents brightened up the first lap. Phil Carroll threw his car off the road avoiding Costa approaching the hairpin and Tallini managed to remodel his Ferrari towards the end of the lap. Tallini's car, minus a wheel, would retire at the end of the lap while the remaining cars streamed round to complete the lap.

John Wallace was the biggest improver in that lap running 8th from 18th on the grid between Bret and Miguel who were battling hard over 6th spot.

Up front the order looked fairly stable with Timo tracking Rouke. Leo, Simon and Corrado all holding station but on lap three Bret moved up to fifth. He worked his way past Bento when the latter spun under braking for the hairpin.

On Lap 6 Rouke lost the lead to Timo but that was far from the end of the battle and as the field approached lap 13 the action ramped up a level. The cause of the action was the removal, on the previous lap, of the 200m board causing drivers to brake too later for the corner.


Timo, Leo, Simon, Kat, John, Miguel, Corrado and others all missing their braking points to a greater or lesser extent.

Big losers caused by the missing board included John and Corrado, while Ivor probably took the biggest journey off road. At the end of Lap 16 therefore, Rouke was back in front from Timo, Leo , Simon and Bret. Fulvio was next up and starting to make good progress through the field while John Wallace was about to Retire.

He became the 5th retirement, before half distance, with Nigel, Kat, Shazy also joining Tallini in the Nill points column.

Up front it was clear Timo had the edge on pace, driving impressively quickly but Rouke had the lead and a battle Royale was developing. The lead swapped, and swapped again.. Rouke refusing to give up then on lap 23 Timo got it all right, drafting Rouke down the main straight Rouke went defensive. Off line he braked a touch early, Timo braver on the brakes swept round the outside the the race was his for the taking.

Take it he did, pulling steadily away to register an impressive win. Leo held onto third from Timo with Fulvio finishing an impressive fifth.

Overall an interesting race with a huge field that produced incident, excitement and resulted in the majority of the field taking at least one trip off the track.

Driver of the day? Well some good performances, Patrick Dobner started from the back and finished 11th so scores highly, Larry Thomas had a quiet race but one of his best to date. Fulvio also had a solid race while Timo was might impressive with Rouke being Tenacious throughout.

I think ultimately Timo deserves it, he lost the lead several times, never gave up and had a mighty impressive pace.