F1 Championship Round 4 - 26th July 2007

F1 is not the most popular class in the Club but no less than 15 members turned up for last night's Round 4 of this year's F1 Championship.

The usual Championship system of four qualifying heats followed by 'bonus point' finals saw (for F1!) some reasonable racing for a change -probably because 10 out of the 15 drivers chose to race Falcon powered cars!

As usual, no real surprises among the top qualifiers with Ian B setting a personal F1 best to TQ just ahead of Phil M and Phil H. These three, all running decent strap powered cars, were well ahead of the rest, with Ben and his falcon beating at least another couple of straps ahead of a closely fought mid-field.

15 drivers meant four Finals and Stuart decided he had had enough after his borrowed falcon had given up, leaving just 2 in the 'D' Final. This started off between the two Simons but Simon J quickly retired to leave Simon WT a clear run and his best time of the evening and 5 bonus points.

The 'C' Final promised to be very close and Chris B once again saved his best till last to beat Bill by just half a lap ahead of Terry and Robin.

On paper, the 'B' Final would also have looked promising but was left to a race between Ian K and Jody, fighting all the way and Ian just winning by 8 parts. Graham H followed them home with Chris C falling by the wayside with a broken guide.

So to the 'A' Final. Phil M on one of his regular F1 returns, really got going to break the F1 Class Record and beat Ian B into second place, ahead of Phil H, and with Ben bringing up the rear with his damn quick falcon.

Not a bad night - a new F1 Class record for Phil M and at least one personal class best. Falcons are getting very popular in this class by virtue of being easy to drive, but last night did prove that you can't beat a decent strap!

Overall, the F1 Championship appears fairly wide open at this stage -would you believe that the next F1 Championship is not for another 11 weeks!

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