The 2nd Centralised competition of 2001 was held at Oakington on April 8th with the site being shared with the speed fraternity. The weather was dry albeit a bit on the cool side with signs of the recent deluges present in miniature lakes around the airfield.
9 Teams turned up on the day following a week where everyone was unsure whether or not we would be allowed on site due to F&M restrictions. In the end the Farmer was extremely helpful in letting us continue providing we took all vehicles through a disinfectant wash and that we all kept off grass areas within the site.
½A Team Race was also due to be held but, with only 2 teams turning up, this event was cancelled.
The F2C teams all found problems with the surface – many cracks are appearing despite work by the resident club and it is becoming a difficult site to race on – particularly with the modern lightweight F2C models.
During the first round many teams experienced difficulty obtaining a reasonable setting due to the cold air going through the models. The Mazniak motors seem particularly sensitive in this way and it is a common pattern to see teams putting the compression up to combat the cold air only to overheat half way though a race. The fastest time in the first round was a 3:46.6 by Heaton/Broadhead. Ross/Turner managed a 3:48.8 – a bit slow for them !
In the second round Ross/Turner improved to a 3:31.7, Tribe/Bollen put in a 3:47.2 and everyone else seemed to "give in". It was as if everyone was trying to remember how they made the models go fast last year as no-one seemed to be able to get it together.
After a ¾ hour lunch break the third round got underway and a few more respectable times were recorded with a 3:32.7 from Fitzgerald/Thomason, 3:36.1 from Heaton/Broadhead and 3:36.9 from Tribe/Bollen. Again most of the other teams gave up during their races.
The poor standard of racing continued and the 4th round saw just 4 teams fly and only two times recorded.
No-one was interested in flying a final so placings were decided on heat times.
The competition was again run by Dave Rudd.
F2C - Team Race Results |
|||||||||
Heat 1 |
Heat 2 |
Heat 3 |
Heat 4 |
||||||
1 |
Fitzgerald/Thomason |
ret |
91.0 |
4 |
54.1 |
3 |
32.7 |
3 |
30.6 |
2 |
Ross/Turner |
3 |
48.6 |
3 |
31.7 |
ret |
44.0 |
dnf |
|
3 |
Heaton/Broadhead |
3 |
46.6 |
4 |
03.4 |
3 |
36.1 |
ret |
50.0 |
4 |
Tribe/Bollen |
3 |
53.1 |
3 |
47.2 |
3 |
36.9 |
ret |
01.0 |
5 |
Fry/Whorton |
4 |
23.6 |
ret |
44.0 |
ret |
68.0 |
3 |
48.8 |
6 |
Hill/Metcalfe |
5 |
06.6 |
ret |
27.0 |
dnf |
dnf |
||
7 |
Barker/Tompkins |
5 |
15.0 |
ret |
72.0 |
5 |
07.1 |
ret |
01.0 |
8 |
Miles/Yeldham |
5 |
10.7 |
ret |
57.0 |
ret |
50.0 |
ret |
95.0 |
9 |
Holmes/Robson |
ret |
21.0 |
dnf |
dnf |
dnf |
League Points were awarded as follows :-
Ent |
Plc |
Fin |
Imp |
Tot |
|
Fitzgerald/Thomason |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Ross/Turner |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
Heaton/Broadhead |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Tribe/Bollen |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Fry/Whorton |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Hill/Metcalfe |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Barker/Tompkins |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Miles/Yeldham |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Holmes/Robson |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |