drag challenge round 3 report

Following report re today's Round 3 At North Weald

by Mr.F

Thanks for a fantastic turnout today - the weather really helps. We made up our eight car field for the Eliminator with the help of Invitational member for the day, Naresh Bhatti with his Datsun Violet SR20DET. This gave the Z Club Seven (commentator John Price's pun...) something to think about as Naresh's car is capable of low thirteen second quarters!

 

We had two afternoon sessions of qualifying to determine who meets who in the Eliminator, the qualifying order being:

 

1.John Palmer 12.21 / 119 mph (!JZE 240Z)

2. Darren Stiles 13.16 / 119 (RB26DETT 240Z)

3. Paul Hopkinson 13.24 / 106 (300ZX Z32 TT)

4. Neresh Bhatti 13.76 / 103 (Violet SR20DET)

5. Rob Smith 14.21 / 104 (300ZX Z32 TT)

6. Dean Halsey 14.37 / 99 (240Z Rebello)

7. Nick Tandy 16.09 / 87 (300ZX Z32 NA)

8. Charles Leekam 17.31 / 81 (300ZX Z31 NA)

 

Round 1 of Eliminations

 

John Palmer vs Charles Leekam - 12.21 against 17.42 - John to Semi Final

Naresh Bhatti vs Rob Smith - 13.97 against 14.22 - Naresh to Semi Final

Darren Stiles vs Nick Tandy - 13.75 vs 16.16 - Darren to Semi Final

Paul Hopkinson vs Dean Halsey - 13.28 against 14.74 - Paul to Semi Final

First round losers score 1 point each.

 

Round 2 Semi Final

 

John vs Naresh - 12.32 against 14.75 - John to Final

Darren vs Paul -13.57 against 13.32 - Paul to Final

Runners Up each score 3 points

 

Round 3 The Final

 

John vs Paul - 12.12 against 13.4 - John Palmer takes the win overall - 10 points. Paull runner-up 5 points

 

Class Points

 

Class 1:

Dean Halsey 1 point + 2 attendance + 1 Eliminator = 4

 

Class 2:

Charles Leekam 1 point + 2 attendance + 1 Eliminator = 4

 

Class 4:

Nick Tandy 1 point + 4 attendance + 1 Eliminator = 6

 

Class 5:

Paul Hopkinson 2 points + 4 attendance + 5 Eliminator = 11

Rob Smith 1 point + 4 attendance + 1 Eliminator = 6

 

Class 7:

John Palmer 2 points + 4 attendance + 10 Eliminator = 16

Darren Stiles 1 point + 4 attendance + 3 Eliminator = 8

 

Invitational:

 

Naresh Bhatti 6 points total

 

Spectators:

George Antoniou 240Z 2 points

Ian Patmore 260Z 2 points

Terry Taylor 240Z 2 points

Mike Feeney 350Z 4 points

Matt Bannister (passenger) 2 points

Alan Maltby (Mitsubishi) 2 points

 

A shame that some of the Z boys couldn't get out of bed early enough to be there to sign on. Another word of warning for next month at the same venue - if you arrive after 9-00 am you stand a high risk of not getting signed on!

 

Although we didn't use reaction times for points at this meeting, I did record them during qualifying. Congratulations go to newbie Dean Halsey for the best reaction time of the day at 0.251 seconds!

 

Huge thanks for Tony Huck, organiser, for a great day which ran really smoothly. Tony should be good at this - today marked the twentieth anniversary of him running events at North Weald!

Also to John Price, commentator, who let me into his inner sanctum to provide additional commentary on proceeding plus a little inside information...

Also, thanks to the organisers for providing a trophy for our winner!