Rob Janney Memorial, Wanneroo Raceway 6th November
The final round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Sunday 6th November.
The biggest field of cars in several seasons turned out for the final round, a total of 19 entrants.
Prior to qualifying one Ralt dropped out and a second Ralt was lost after qualifying with a broken axle.
There was a very interesting mix of new cars and drivers swapping cars with others. Dan Gate delivered a blisteringly hot 54.9 sec lap in qualifying driving Bob Creasy’s RT4. Whilst Bob reverted back to his earlier RT1 Ralt. Meanwhile, Tom Hamlett had jumped into Dan Gate’ newly acquired March 80A and Terrence Nielson had jumped into his Dad’s RT4 and left Dad (Andrew) to drive his newly rebuilt Tiga FA-82. Brian Searles had an engine failure in the Friday practice session and brought out his recently acquired Tiga SC84 for its maiden outing. Other debutants for this season included Ray Stubber, Dave Watkins, Jamie Kerkhoff and Bruce Mitchell.
Dan dominated the day winning all three events with Terrence Nielson taking out overall second with Marty Bullock in his trusty Chevron rounding out the top three.
This final round of the 2022 FCR Championship was sponsored by Trench West with 4 lucky entrants each receiving $500 at the end of meeting barbeque having their names drawn from a hat. Congratulations to Jamie Kerkhoff, David Dearden, Bill Norman and Ricky Virago.
The penultimate round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Collie Motorplex over the weekend of 1st / 2nd October.
The initial entry numbers looked very encouraging with 13 entrants however 3 Ralts all fell by the wayside before qualifying was completed. Neil Woodward was a further retiree after race 1 with the Bifa Ford leaking oil profusely.
Dan Gate, usually the dominant driver at Collie, had a couple of issues with his Ralt RT4 on Saturday with a control arm failure in race one and overheating issues in the second race. However normal service was resumed for the Sunday with wins in both races.
Simon Alderson, another usual top performer had issues with his Van Diemen on the Saturday losing a front brake in race one. A replacement calliper was sourced overnight and Simon was back on Sunday with a third and second place finish in races 3 and 4.
Lance Carwardine suffered an unusual problem in race 1 with a piece of plastic debris getting in behind his clutch pedal and restricting its operation. The problem was easily rectified and Lance continued to a steady third place overall for the weekend.
The weekend was won by a guest driver, Tom Hamlett, in a Stealth S3D Duratech powered Formula Ford.
The seventh round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Saturday 17th September.
There were eleven entrants in the Formula Classic event.
Dan Gate was the dominant driver winning all three races. Allan Jones kept him honest in the first race but sadly retired his Ralt RT5 with electrical gremlins.
Ricky Virago gave his new Lola T492 Sports 2000 its first race and he ran consistently with it throughout the day.
Sadly, another casualty after the first race was Bill Norman with a worrying rattle from his freshly rebuilt BDA. Fingers crossed it is only something minor.
The sixth round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Collie Motorplex on Sunday 21st August.
There were only six entrants in the Formula Classic event and FCR had to argue strongly with MSA and the Collie race officials not to amalgamate the group with Formula Ford. The winning argument being that the Formula Ford event was a championship round and that for them to have ‘other’ cars on the track at the same time may interfere with the outcome of their championship.
Dan Gate blitzed the qualifying session in his Ralt RT4, 7 seconds quicker than the second place qualifier. Sadly, Ricky Virago’s Ralt RT5 only managed half a lap in qualifying before clutch failure put him out for the day.
The highlight of the meeting was Dan Gate setting a new Formula Classic lap record in race one in a time of 1 min. 07.81 sec. Eclipsing Hendo’s previously lap record by 0.1 sec.
Outside the excitement of the new lap record the three events were largely processional with only Neil McCrudden and Brian Searles having a personal battle at the back of the field for tail end honours.
The fifth round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Saturday 25th June.
It felt like déjà vu!
It was a beautiful winter’s day; there was a very small grid of Formula Classic cars entered, Dan Gate blitzed the qualifying session, failed to finish the first run and then blitzed the second and third races. Have I just slipped back to the May race meeting?
Allan Jones took outright honours on the day with a first and two seconds, it was Allan’s first outright win in his beautifully prepared Ralt RT5 Congratulations Allan, hopefully there’ll be more outright wins to come in the future for you.
The broken driveshaft on Dan’s car at the start line cost him dearly with no points for the first run and despite wins in races 2 and 3 he was only able to manage third overall for the day.
Lance Carwardine had a steady run throughout the meeting in his Jane Brabham netting him overall second place.
Simon Alderson, normally a front runner, had a tiny touch with Allan Jones’ rear wheel exiting the Esses that damaged his front wing and put him out of race 2.
The fourth round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Sunday 29th May.
There was a very poor turnout with only 7 cars taking to the track, one of which was a ‘guest’ car from F1000.
Dan Gate looked like dominating proceeding again but a DNF in race one due to an ignition coil issue put pay to that outcome. He did however win the remaining two races.
Simon Alderson and Stewart Burns, the guest F1000 drive had a great battle at the front of the field with the F1000 just having the legs over Simon’s Van Diemen.
Allan Jones in his Ralt RT5 and Lance Carwardine in the Jane Brabham were the only other drivers in contention for place honours with Allan grabbing 2nd overall for the day.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Simon Alderson 65 pts
2nd Allan Jones 56 pts
3rd Dan Gate 50 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Simon Alderson 27 pts
2nd Allan Jones 24 pts
3rd Dan Gate 10 pts
The next round is at Wanneroo on Sunday 25th June.
The third round of the 2022 Formula Classic season, the Ernie Hastie Memorial, was held on Sunday 15th May. Several entrants made the journey down to Collie on Friday for the afternoon practice session and then took ‘the day off’ on Saturday to do other things in region before returning to race on the Sunday.
Bill Norman Did not have a good Sunday! He left Perth at 3.00 pm to get to the track on time only to have very concerning mechanical rattle from the bottom end of his engine during the qualifying session that forced him to retire his car before the first event.
Dan Gate continued his dominance of the class with a qualifying pole time 4.5 seconds quicker than the second place car and a comfortable win in all three events.
Young Formula Ford driver Marc Redman and FCR regular Lance Carwardine had a great battle for second place honours with Marc coming out on top with two second places to Lance’s one.
Further down the field Craig Thompson and Glenn Swarbrick were having a great battle in the historic Formula Fords.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Dan Gate 75 pts
2nd Marc Redman 58 pts
3rd Lance Carwardine 56 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Lance Carwardine 33 pts
2nd Dan Gate, David Drearden & Glenn Swarbrick 20 pts
The Collie Icebreaker, second round of the 2022 Formula Classic season, was held on Saturday 26th March. The weather forecast was for heavy rain all day which fortunately did not happen. The morning qualifying session was wet and there was a further shower just before the final race of the day but in between this it was dry, overcast and very humid. There was a modest entry with just 10 cars being present. Sadly some of the more regular entrants were unable to compete due to their cars being out of action or virus restrictions.
New kid on the block, Dan Gate, continued to show his race pace securing pole position for every race and winning all three events too. Bill Norman kept him honest in the first two events but unfortunately his Ralt suffered engine failure during the second race. A suspected dropped valve being the cause of the failure.
It was good to see “The Father” of Formula Classic, Neil McCrudden, making an appearance on the track again after a several year hiatus in his trusty Macon F2. Neil was immediately on the pace and ran well in the first two races until a fuel issue forced him to retire the car before the third run.
Ricky Virago and Lance Carwardine were trading third and fourth places depending upon whether the track was wet or dry with Glenn Swarbrick behind them, and as always, running steadily in his Macon Formula Ford.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Dan Gate 75 pts
2nd Lance Carwardine 52 pts
3rd Ricky Virago 50 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Lance Carwardine 28 pts
2nd Brian Searles 25 pts
3rd Glen Swarbrick 18 pts
The next round is at Collie over the weekend of 14th / 15th May.
The first round of the 2022 Formula Classic season kicked off at Wanneroo with the twilight meeting. There were 13 cars entered but sadly a couple didn’t make it past qualifying due to mechanical issues. Marty Bullock’s Chevron leaking oil from the rear of the engine somewhere and Allan Jones’ Ralt developed a misfire that could not be found.
New kid on the block, Dan Gate, showed his race pace immediately by putting his recently rebuilt Ralt RT4 on pole and then running away with a win in races 1 and 2. Unfortunately a clutch issue on the start line for race 3 excluded him from the final race of the day.
Andrew Nielson had handed over the reins of his Ralt RT4 to his son Terrence, for this race, and he was going great guns in his first outing in the car, chasing Dan hard. A good second place finish in race 1 and running strongly in second place in race 2 until a front suspension failure put him off the track and into the sand trap at the bottom of the hill.
Simon Alderson and Bill Norman were also in the mix at the front of the field in their respective Van Diemen FF2000 and Ralt RT4. Their consistencies paying off with a round win to Simon and Bill in second spot.
In the mid field, Craig Thompson and Lance Carwardine were having a great duel trading places regularly throughout the three races. Craig finishing on top and picking up third place overall for the day.
Outright results for the meeting were:
1st Simon Alderson 63 pts
2nd Bill Norman 53 pts
3rd Craig Thompson 52 pts
Simon Alderson accepting 1st place trophy
Bill Norman (2nd) describes the days events
Craig Thompson (3rd)
Handicap results for this round;
1st Robert Creasy & Genn Swarbrick 20 pts
3rd Allan Ould 19 pts
The next round is at Collie over the weekend of 26th / 27th March.
