60+ Racing Adventures-7th
Round at Montreal-Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The 7th Round of the 60+ Racing Adventures
League for drivers age 60 and older ran Wednesday, 7/26 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
in Montreal, running the Pro Mazda. 27
drivers participated. Pennsylvania’s Donald Strout posts his first win of the
Season in a Group 1 race by following Fangio’s advice.
Juan
Manuel Fangio, aka El Maestro, 5 Time World Champion, who won over 46% of the F1
races he entered, once advised, “Drive a slowly as possible, while still
finishing ahead of all the other cars.”
Seems that Strout also values starting at the front, as he qualified on
the Pole with a lap time of 1:34.8. But, once building up a 3 second lead with
a 1:34.9 second lap on the 3rd lap, he intentionally “slowed down”
and still managed to finish with an 8 second gap ahead of the three cars of
Team# 1, Bill Lawrence, Steven Carkner, and Mark Robertson.
According
to Strout, “Most people recognize that reaction times get slower as we get
older. But, often they forget that we are not only slower, but we also get less
accurate as we age. So being 66 years
old, my car placement accuracy is not what it used to be, making it very dangerous
to try for absolute maximum speed through those dangerous chicanes 9-10 and
14-15 with their big white sausage curbs and unforgiving walls. During more
than 200 laps of practice, I was able to get my “optimum” time down into the
low 1:34.x range, but I was crashing almost every lap. So, I just decided to
concentrate on trying to be able to turn 15 laps in a row at around 1:35.2
(almost 0.8 seconds per lap slower) with no draft—with no mistakes that anyone
would notice.”
Welcome to
Quebec! Strout broke the draft on first
lap and led the rest of the way.
It
was not a good day for Jos van de Ven, from the Netherlands. Running in 2nd
place, his internet connection failed in the first race after 6 laps. It
happened again in the Group 2 race. It
has been said, “Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.”
Jos van de Ven makes
early attack and passes Lawrence
Despite
turning the fastest lap of the event, a 1:34.4, the UK’s Andrew Fidler could
not overcome the Team #1, threesome in the Group 1 race. And, despite improving
his average speed in the Group 2 “Second Chance” race, he finished 2nd
to Portugal’s Antonio Reis.
The three car Team #1 “Wolfpack” accelerates out of
the Hairpin followed by the Morgans
Barely
missing the Podium in the Group 1 race, Florida’s Mark Robertson earned his
first Pole of the Season in the Group 2 race.
The
black marks on the wall exiting T5 were a warning to the over exuberant.
Robertson missed the apex in T5 and had to correct a loose car, steering toward
the wall there. He maintained control and did not hit the wall but lost his
position after leading van de Ven and John Morgan the first lap and part of the 2nd. His over exuberance was not in T5 though as the cause of Robertson's problem was contact with the infamous "Wall of Champions" exiting the chicane in T15 at the end of the first lap. The contact damaged his front suspension, allowing fast right turns but creating a huge understeer when turning left--hence the cause for his missing the apex in the left turn T5.
John
Morgan moving left in T5 to avoid Robertson who almost hits the wall
Once,
van de Ven was out because his mysterious and surely frustrating internet
failure, the rest of the race in the front was between John Morgan, Antonio
Reis, Andrew Fidler, the UK’s Andy Morgan and newcomer from Ohio, Joe
Renn. Reis and Fidler would pass Morgan
with the five cars then pretty well holding their positions for the rest of the
race.
Renn, now on Team #5 with Strout would earn 20 points for his 5th
position, and when added to Strout (27) and Wayne Galloway’s (10) points in the
first race, would vault Team #5 to within 16 points of P2 in the Team Championship.
Antonio Reis makes the pass for the lead.
After seven events, the Team #1 of Carkner, Lawrence,
Robertson, and Andy Morgan still holds a substantial lead. (Actually Morgan being
added to Team #1 increased their dominance—they earned a record 97 points
together in this event!) Team #8 with John Morgan, Marcel Guiterrez, Ron
McManus, and Richard Coulombe jumps into 2nd, but with only a 1
point lead over the Team #4 of Remigio di Pasqua, Jose Campodonico and Antonio Reis, now
in 3rd. Only one point behind them, in 4th is Team #2 of Fidler,
Raspaldo, Bonasera, and Dummer. Team #6
of John Unsbee, Jim Oliver, Michael Key and P J Salley is in 5th.
The series maintains a Driver Championship and a Team
Championship. Team assignments are
determined by the League Organizer to pair up 3 or four drivers that together
have a “fair” chance compared to other teams.
In other words, less experienced or accomplished drivers are paired with
the more experienced so each team is deemed to have a “fair” chance to win the
Team Championship that pays $100 to the Winning Team, $50 to the 2nd
Place Team and $25 to the 3rd Place Team for the Season. In an
effort to insure this continued “fair” chance, three teams that have had
members unable to participate/contribute were combined for the second half of
the 12 race season—this changed tightened the race considerably with only 20
points separating 2nd from 7th.
In the Driver’s Championship, Bill Lawrence jumps into 1st,
with Steven Carkner and Jos van de Ven tied for 2nd.
Winning drivers this Season:
Steven Carkner (2) Grp 1
Bill Lawrence (2) (1 in Grp 1, 1 in Grp 2)
Andrew Fidler (2) (1 in Grp 1, 1 in Grp 2)
Antonio Reis (3) (1 in Grp 1, 2 in Grp 2)
Donald Strout (4) (1 in Grp 1, 3 in Grp 2)
Jos van de Ven (1) (Grp 1)
The next event for the 60+ guys is at Road Atlanta, on
August.
