This was the 3rd edition of this race and with 27 entries so far the biggest so far. In both 2011 and 2012 18 drivers attended the race. The Retro F1 class was introduced in 2008 and was on the National Danish Championship Calendar from 2009.
The cars are inspired by the American D3 Retro cars, but we have chosen another approach with more scale-like cars and the cars are basically copies of the scratchbuilt F1 Slot Cars raced in the late 60's and built from brass plate and wire and/or piano wire. With a max width of only 30mm and the use of repops of original Lancer, Russkit etc bodies from the same period, this is as retro as it gets.
The motor is the Fox 10 (Sakatsu Fox) and most drivers use standard 3mm axles and wheels/gears.
The track in Ikast a four-lane 40 meters long Carrera track which is demanding and challenging to drive with a good combination of curves and long and short straights. The club facilities are fine for this kind of race and it is always nice to attend races there.
Jan Juul is the driving force behind the Danish Retro F1 GP. He is an old friend and we have been playing with small cars together since around 1960 and started club slot racing together in 1968. Unfortunately Jan is ill at the moment, but I hope he will recover well and we can have a 2014 edition of this fine race.
For the first time we had visitors from abroad, as three Germans entered the race this year. They had a great time and I am certain they will return. Hopefully they will spread the "Retro Fever" in Germany too J
After some practice runs in the morning, followed by technical inspection, qualification took place. Fastest qualifier would earn 5 points, 2nd 4 point etc with 5th fastest getting 1 point to add the total score.
The race was held as 3 individual rounds, in which the winner gets 40 point, then 38, 36, 34, 33, 32, 31 etc. You are allowed to erase your worst round, so your total would be the point of your best 2 round + eventual point from qualification.
Fastest qualifier was the young Johan Christensen (9.400), who also are 2013 Danish Champ in this class, with Jan Juul and myself (with identical 9,776 secs times) next and Gorm Nørgaard (9,960) and Martin Borch (10,120) 4th and 5th.
First round showed close battles through all the heats, with some people wanting to prove that their qualification results were not up the their normal standards, like Per Møller who had back luck in qualifying and who won 1.heat to end 7th after first round. But otherwise many of the drivers ended around the same place in the first round as in qualifying. In the last heat all four driver ran consistently lap times below 10 secs with fastest times around 9,3 secs.
The winner was Johan (99,18) in front of me (97,11), Jan (95,04), Johan’s father John (92,30) and Gorm (91,27) and Martin (91,16). But it was close. Apart from the first 3 drivers there were only not many laps between nr.4 and no.17.
Second round was just as fierce with hard and exiting racing. I won the round with 98,13 round, with Johan (97,06) and Jan (96,02) behind. Again it was very close and only two laps separated 4th and 8th place and there was only 5 rounds between 4th and 21st place.
After 2 rounds Johan was leading with 83 point (40+38+5) in front of me with 82 and Jan with 76 points. So the race was still very open.
Third round was the deciding round and the old guys had to bow for the young blood and Johan won this round too. I was unlucky in traffic and the resulting charge gave too many accidents, so Johan could drive away with me second and Gorm third in the round. Jan was unlucky and his car went on the floor and got bent, so he had to stop L
Again the racing was close and from 3rd downwards the difference between the drivers was very close.
So Johan won the race with me second and Jan third, with Gorm, John and Martin on the next places. A positive surprise was Per Thaudal in 7th and Jan’s “adoptive” son, Christopher in 8th. The Germans ended down the list, but had a great time – and that is actually what counts J
The winners: Niels (me) (2), Johan (1), Jan (3)
Volker - Concours winner (nice to meet you and your friends)
Best Foreign driver was Volkers friend, Bern Bubenheim
So how was this event, apart from the serious and close race?? - Mostly between OK and Super. People had a good time and enjoyed themselves and enjoyed the retro racing films shown in the Lounge or playing Retro F1 games and the computer console.
On the negative side, the lap counter system gave too few information to the races and caused a bit confusion in the beginning of the race. Also to track sensor system was not up to standard, and forced some drivers to add silver foil to their chassis to be sure that their laps were counted. This is NOT acceptable and has to be changed for the next GP.
But all in all – a big thanks to Jan and the guys from the Ikast club for hosting a Great Event J - hope to attend next year as well.
Niels , DK
