Newsflash 12/7/2017

Written by afja-admin on 4 July 2017. Posted in News

Hello everyone,

I thought I could be the one to report on this last weekend at Morgan Park, as I wanted to take my new campervan on a journey out there to see what was happening with Formula Junior Racing for myself…….and of course to let you all know…..and I am so very happy I did!

David Reid not only saved me a parking spot for my arrival on Saturday, but very kindly left me a ticket at the gate, so when I asked the very nice man for it, his face lit up and he gave me the most wonderful welcome!  The occupants of the car behind me shouted for this lovely man to hurry up, and his reply was ….’I can’t, I have Royalty here’!  I realised in an instant how much Roger was loved by all.

Some of the “Support Team” watching the action – Joan Wright, Robyn Bryen, Jill Armstrong and Margaret Ealand.

The brilliant winter sunshine and very blue skies was just perfect, not only for racing but camping in the pits, (such a fun part of motor racing) but of course most of us know that any circuit that starts with a W, is freezing at night in winter the moment the sun goes down…..ie Winton, Wakefield Park & Warwick!  However this only meant that fun was had around the blazing fire that Mike & Maggie Goodfellow had going outside their tent, whilst others had the wine flowing, some had heaters, electric blankets and hot water bottles like myself!  All part of motor racing, which I always loved, with everyone happy and enjoying themselves.

Not a lot of Formula Juniors at this 40th Historic Queensland event, with quite a few overseas, however there were enough Historic Cars in three Groups to be able to have four exciting races over the two days…so great fun was had.  I have to say here that our very own Secretary, Noel Bryen was flying! He broke the FJ lap record on Saturday afternoon, then last race on Sunday he broke it again!  Well done Noel, congratulations!

Viv Buckley making sure Rob’s bow tie is straight before one of his races.

Before I leave a bit of room for Noel Bryen to tell you about cars and racing, I would just like to finish by saying how wonderful it was for me to be back in the environment I am so familiar with and to have such lovely hugs from friends we made over the years.  I am grateful to still be a part of the Formula Junior family, even if it is only to get some reports to you all, which I hope you are enjoying.

My best wishes,

margaret.ealand@gmail.com

David Reid sampling his second place trophy.

Thanks Margaret, it’s great to have a non-racing perspective of our race meetings, as we tend to get so involved with the track action that the social side is sometimes taken for granted.  However, without the support of our “other halves” life in the pits would be just that – the pits.

For this meeting the mix was Groups L, M and V which formed an 18 car grid with the 4 Juniors of David Reid (Cooper T59), Rob Buckley (Golford), Geoff Fry (Jolus) and myself in the Rennmax.  The other Group M car was Geoff Varey in his Elfin Mono.  Allan Conway had entered his “new” BT15 F3 Brabham, but gremlins prevented him from making the start line.  Bill Norman would have been competing in his Lynx, but unfortunately he sold it to the UK, so another Aussie icon leaves our shores – not Bill, the Lynx!  Bill was there in his RALT RT4, playing in the “big league” and went very well, running second all weekend to the much later RALT of Chris Farrell.

The Rennmax was sporting a fresh engine (with a couple of new fast bits) courtesy of Superior Auto, and new tyres, thanks to Tony Simmons, so I didn’t have any excuses not to be at the pointy end of the field.  Fortunately, everything went well and the car improved all weekend and I was really pleased with how well we both went.  I am now totally pain free with two new hips and it is just amazing how much easier life has become!

For this year, instead of having one trophy race on Sunday, the HRCC awarded points over each of the 4 races to determine the winners, which was a good idea as it rewarded consistency and improvement.  This worked well for David Reid who had a great time in the Cooper and really enjoyed himself to take second in Group M overall.  It didn’t work so well for Rob Buckley who had a bit of an off around the back of the circuit during the main race, when he put a wheel or two off the black stuff and the soft edges sent him spinning across the circuit.  I remember coming around shortly after to find a witches hat right on the apex and dirt across the remaining part of the line, but fortunately the yellows did their job and Rob and car were both OK. 

Unfortunately for Geoff Fry, he had trouble selecting second gear all weekend and eventually battled on without it, which didn’t make for a very competitive car, but it was good to see that he never gave up trying and finished all of his races.  Well done Geoff.

The points score after 5 rounds now looks like this:

I hope to see you at Wakefield Park on the first weekend in September.

Regards,

Noel Bryen

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