Ganley Festival - Hampton Downs January 2015

[ERC]

A much better crowd today than yesterday.

Car #281 was fixed and back in the fray today but it was a day of ups and downs for several of our drivers.

Most impressive return was car #75 after yesterday's engine blow up. Rob Berggren just happened to have a Ford Escort engine under his bench in one of the apartment garage units, so by the time lunch time came, car #75 was up and running again! Brilliant - but it kept the reserve list up!

Car #866 had issues and when fixed, found that a faulty radiator cap needed fixing - to be sorted overnight as there aren't many places stocking Renault Gordini parts locally!
Car #156 had a split radiator - but also returned after a replacement was sourced.

Sadly, in the afternoon handicap, we had our first panel damage of the weekend. #739 was faced with a spinning Cobra at Turn 1 and copped a damaged right front wing, but will race tomorrow. The Cobra will not run with us.

Car #146 freaked out when being caught by the two fast charging scratch guys and put himself off at turn 1 causing a little bit of body damage. Well done to Bruce Manon, overtaking the whole field, driving Mike Sexton's immaculate Escort, snatching the lead just before the final hairpin on the last lap.

Overall, a busy day on track with full grids for both handicaps and full grids for tomorrow (Sunday), still with reserves to call upon. Thankfully, our attrition rate appears to be lower than many smaller grids - which is a bit of a surprise to be honest! Well driven guys. Very proud of you. A couple of yellow flags certainly stopped the bulk of the faster cars getting to the front in the afternoon - typical of handicaps - yet they managed it during the morning race.