A Double Win For Meatball46 at a Rainy Ring!

The third meeting of the Historic Roadsports trophy at the Nurburgring was a mixed affair, and while the furious action seen at Sonoma wasn't repeated, There was still a lot of entertainment to be had.

Two newcomers were on the grid - Snoopzaka and del3k, though series regular Kurzheck was absent.

Race 1 settled quite quickly into Meatball and Snoopzaka as a leading pair, the new driver at the wheel of a Lotus Elan that, though the driver complained about bad handling, didn't lack speed.  this pair fought over the lead for a few laps before Meatball pulled out a 10 second lead he would retain until the chequered flag- taking his first roadsports win of the season, to add to his win at the Lime rock Can-Am race. 

RichXM655 suffered an early setback on lap 2, dropping to last place, before working back through the field to take 3rd at the flag. Boozy and Rice followed fairly closely behind, with Del3k, who had been very unhappy with the performance of his Ferrari Dino, bringing up the rear.

Between races, both Del3k and Snoopzaka exercised their right to change car. Snoop chose a Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R, and Del3k decided on an identical Mustang to Meatball's.

And then, the clouds opened over the Nurburgring. Naturally, the first lap in the torrential conditions were fairly tentative, with RichXM655 leading at the end of the first lap, and then running wide at the Ford-Kurve (Giving Meatball another lead that would not be challenged for the remainder of the race) dropping to 5th. 

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Every driver went off at some point, with SnoopZaka spinning the Skyline on lap 2.

From this point, a battle ensued between the two fords of RichXM655 and Rice Kingford for second place, which was traded back and forth several times, until Rich in the Lotus Cortina was able to pull a small gap. Without the need to drive defensively, the light-footed Cortina was able to lap over a second a lap faster than Rice's Mustang and wasn't challenged again for the whole race. Rice fell back towards the clutches of newcomer Snoopzaka's Nissan and the Alpine of Boozy, and a thrilling three-way battle for the last podium spot ensued.

In the end, Boozy came out on top of that battle, with Snoopzaka 4th and Rice 5th. del3k brought up the rear once again - the combination of the wet track and the lairy mustang, along with a lack of practice, not adding up to a great result.

Meatball's win, by nearly 25 seconds, put him in top spot of the championship, before dropped scores are applied.

Race 1:

Position	Name	Finishing Time	Gap	Best Lap	Points
1	Meatball	19:55.004		2:27.059	30
2	Snoopzaka	20:04.704	9.7	2:28.197	25
3	Richxm655	20:17.192	22.188	2:30.200	20
4	Boozy	20:20.863	25.859	2:28.767	16
5	Rice Kingford	20:35.246	40.242	2:31.258	12
6	Del3k	20:49.209	54.205	2:31.319	10

Race 2:

Position	Name	Finishing Time	Gap	Best Lap	Points
1	Meatball	20:58.932		2:35.182	30
2	RichXM655	21:21.224	22.292	2:37.464	25
3	Boozy	21:31.923	32.991	2:37.954	20
4	Snoopzaka	21:44.590	45.658	2:38.873	16
5	Rice Kingford	21:46.436	47.504	2:39.190	12
6	del3k	22:12.602	73.67	2:51.380	10

Standings (No dropped scores applied)

Driver	Points
Meatball	155
RichXM655	151
Boozy	100
Kurzheck	95
Rice Kingford	52
Snoopzaka	41
Del3k	20

Thrills in the Hills at Sonoma!

Sonoma Raceway was the venue for the  second meeting of the RLLMUK Historic trophy Roadsports series, and once again, the series put on a display of the intense close racing that's been its trademark.

After Qualifying, Meatball's Mustang claimed pole, with Kurzheck's second in the Capri, RichXM655 in the Lotus Cortina third, ahead of boozy's Alpine  and Rice Kingford in another Mustang.

In the early phase of the 10-lap race, Meatball eased out a lead in the powerful pony car, while Kurzheck and RichXM655 battled behind in their smaller, more nimble fords. As the race passed mid-distance, Rich in the Cortina finally managed to start bridging the gap across to Meatball and place the big car under some pressure.

That pressure ended up with Meatball running wide off the track in the Carousel - the long, punishing left hander half way through the lap. Both Rich and Kurzheck got past the Mustang, which rejoined in pursuit.

The action wasn't just at the head of the field. Boozy and Rice were engaged throughout the race in a david-and-goliath style battle where Boozy's lightweight Alpine would dominate the turns, and then Rice's big V8 would re-assert itself where the racetrack was straight.

A racing incident saw Meatball push Kurzheck off-track, again at the Carousel, and she breifly dropped back into the clutches of Rice, before being able to recover to 3rd. as the race ended, RichXM655 took the win by 1.4 seconds from meatball, with Kurzheck trailing in 3rd. the action wasn;t over though as Rice took 4th by half a second from boozy, to finish the running.

It was testament to how hard all the drivers had pushed that they all beat their qualifying lap times. a short break followed to allow shattered nerves to be repaired and then the grid formed up for race 2.

Off the line, Race 2 settled fairly quickly into RichXM655 leading, Kurzheck in second, and Meatball in third, while Rice and Boozy scrapped for 4th place again. The top three slowly pulled away from the other two, with the race splitting into two groups.

At the head of the field, no driver really pulled away from any other and there were several attempted overtakes, though none that were made to stick.

That all changed on lap 9, As Kurzheck and Meatball entered the carousel. Meatball got a good run into the corner, but the Capri driver held tight to the inside line and saw off the attacking Mustang. However, at the following corner, the purple car went in way too deep and left the door open for Meatball to pass through.

Meatball's charge wasn't over though and at the same point on the final lap, Rich got a bad exit in the cortina, allowing the pursuing mustang to take the lead through turn 9 with two corners to go. But it wasn't over. Meatball got into a slide through the crucial turn 10, Allowing the tiny white car to counterattack into the hairpin. So, as they crossed the line, Rich took a second win, with Meatball second, and Kurzheck third again.

Results:
Round 1:

1	RichXm655	19:33.055		1:55.483	30
2	Meatball	19:34.415	1.36	1:57.306	25
3	Kurzheck	19:42.262	9.207	1:55.830	20
4	Rice kingford	19:46.505	13.45	1:56.355	16
5	Boozy	19:47.110	14.055	1:56.268	12

Round 2:

1	RichXM655	19:24.595		1:55.084	30
2	Meatball	19:25.836	1.241	1:54.410	25
3	Kurzheck	19:27.848	3.253	1:54.982	20
4	Boozy	19:35.622	11.027	1:55.431	16
5	Rice kingford	19:37.100	12.505	1:55.509	12

Championship Standings

RichXM655	106
Meatball	95
Kurzheck	95
Boozy	64
Rice kingford	28

Historic Trophy Season 3 gets off to a thrilling start at Brands Hatch!

If you ever needed proof that you don't need big grids for thrilling racing, then the opening meeting of the Historic Trophy this weekend was about the best evidence you could ever hope for.

At the start of round 1, 4 cars lined up on the grid of Brands Hatch's famous Indy circuit, and once the flag dropped, the action was non-stop for the next 20 laps. Kurzheck took the early lead in her Capri, With Meatball's Mustang alongside into Druids.

Meatball's Mustang probably wasn't the best suited for such a tight track, and in the early phase of the race a couple of uncharacteristic minor errors dropped the season 1 champion down to the rear of the field.

Just after half distance, Kurzheck succumbed to pressure and RichXM655's Cortina slipped into the lead, and while this was going on, meatball had got the hammer down on a recovery drive - overtaking Boozy's Alpine and then setting after the leading pair.

By the end of the race, Rich held on, just, taking the win by less than half a second.

Round 2 started in similar fashion, with cars 3-wide into druids on lap 1. Kurzheck took the lead early on and was able to build a small gap as RichXM655 and Meatball46 engaged in a long dice for second place. Meatball would nab second, briefly, into druids, but then RichXM655 would use the Cortina's superior cornering to hold on around the outside of the hairpin and retake the lead down into graham hill bend.

Eventually, an unforced error around lap 15 took the white car into the gravel at the exit of clearways allowing Meatball through cleanly. From that point on, it seemed the race was settled until another error, this time coming out of druids on the final lap, saw RichXM655 fully spin the car and lose third place to Boozy.

Coming away, the pairing of a win and a second place puts Kurzheck on top of the table, 9 points clear of RichXM655 in second place. Meatball is only one point behind, and boozy props up the table for now.

With two dropped scores in the championship, there's still all to play for, as any new entrants who race in all the remaining rounds have as much of a chance of taking the title as anyone else.

Next week, the focus will switch from roadgoing cars to brutal prototypes as the Can-Am series gets underway, bringing the thunder to Lime Rock. With another short track, coupled to fearsomely fast cars, the racing, once again, promises to be fast and intense.

(Many thanks to Kurzheck for the Race 2 photos. The full set can be seen here)

Round 1: Results

Position	Name	Finishing Time	Gap	Best Lap	Overall Points
1	RichXM655	19:17.639		57.882	30
2	Kurzheck	19:18.065	0.426	56.869	25
3	Meatball	19:18.523	0.884	56.56	20
4	Boozy	19:29.800	12.161	57.807	16

Round 2: Results

1	Kurzheck	19:12.576		56.068	30
2	Meatball	19:16.767	4.191	56.723	25
3	Boozy	19:29.559	16.983	55.979	20
4	RichXM655	19:35.291	22.721	57.835	16

Standings

Kurzheck	55
RichXM655	46
Meatball	45
Boozy	36

RLLMUK Historic trophy returns in November!

The RLLMUK historic trophy will be making a return this November, with a repeat of the Low-Spec/High Spec twin series format used in Season 2, all the way back in 2011.

The Low-Spec "Roadsports" series will once again be for cars manufactured before 1973. Limited mods, and an upper limit on engine size of 5 litres, and no forced induction. PI limit will be D400.

There's a huge range of cars to choose from - even with the engine size limit, we have representations of American Muscle, we have front, rear, and mid-engined cars to choose from, GTs, Saloons, all with various tune options to bring them up to speed

.

For the High-Spec Series, we're going to take a deep breath, and strap ourselves in to some of the most fearsome cars ever to set out on a race track - the Can-Am cars.

They never raced a world championship - that was mostly reserved for the big factories - Ferrari, Porsche, Ford. Instead, this was a garagiste formula - where specialist race car builders like Chapparal, Lola, and McLaren, using "off the shelf" big-block v8 engines from US manufacturers.

Two doors, two (Nominally) seats, no roof, and four wheels. The open rulebook this series ran to in the late '60s gave rise to extreme cars that pushed forward the state of the art in building a racing car. Slick tyres, wings, these things started here before making their way to F1.

Eventually, in the early 70's, Porsche committed to Can-Am with the turbocharged 917s and dominated, leading to the demise of this most celebrated form of the series, but in the late 60's, it was in its pomp.

Cars built to the rulebook, labelled by FISA as "Group 7" also raced in Europe and Japan in regional series. Nissan and Toyota both built cars to the rulebook. We have the Nissan, but not the Toyota. Yet.

The target PI for the Can-Am series is 855 - Meaning that the Lola and McLaren can be used in stock form, for drivers who don't want to have to mess with upgrading a car, while the Chapparal and Nissan can be upgraded to match them.

Technical Regulations for both categories can be found here

Sporting Regulations for both categories can be found here

Appendix B: Roadsports permitted wheels

Hole Star

Solid

Sun Star

Et Drag

Aluma Star 2.0

Classic

Outlaw II

ML

S/S Super Sport

Torq-Thrust M

Street Lock D Window

Equip 01

Sprint II

Smoothie