|
19-09-2005 - Washington and Ansell take their season 4
crowns |
|
|
It's
been a while since the season ended, but now that the stewards have
reviewed all the races it can safely be said that Jeremy Washington
won the FMBL4 title, while Tom Ansell took the FMBL4.2 crown. Congratulations
to both of you! They drove a very consistent season, fending off challenges
from several established FMBL drivers and were rewarded with the ultimate
prize in simracing: their name on the FMBL Hall of Fame waiting list!!
However,
the end of this season may also mark the end of GPL as the platform
on which our much-desired Hall of Fame waiting list spaces are fought
over. More and more new sims are coming out, and interest for GPL
is clearly fading, to the point where we have trouble getting a nice
grid of cars on the track. The solution to this problem is most probably
moving on to one of these new sims, something fresh and new, but also
something that will last for several seasons like GPL did.
The best
option right now seems to be rFactor and its (coming) mods, like the
Formula 3 mod. There will be more mods and addon tracks soon, so this
promises to be a big one - and the many mods should be able to keep
it "alive" for a long time. So, in the coming time we'll
be looking into this, and more importantly our capability of hosting
races. We've postponed the start of FMBL5 to early 2006, so the remainder
of this year can be used for test- and funraces so everyone can get
a feel for things.
Ofcourse,
this is not final yet - suggestions are always welcome!
GPL '67?
'69? Thundercars? Live for Speed? Perhaps something else? Anything
that is easily accessible for all of us (read: cheap, easy to run,
easy to host) should be considered.
|
21-12-2004 - Happy Holidays! |
Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!
Yes,
we know you were expecting the race reviews for Albi and Silverstone,
but we have to disappoint you. We hate to do that, especially this
short before Christmas, so we'll just say it's all Jeremy's fault
and he'll make up for it soon, just so you know he's the bad guy who
spoiled the holidays for you :p
See you
at the Ring in 2005!
|
23-11-2004 - Washington takes his first FMBL victory! |
|
By Jeremy Washington
|
If
you like sand in your pants, you'll like the Dutch GP - otherwise
you're at a distinct disadvantage. Thus those who were not held back
by the physical limitation of pants were in a position to benefit,
because 50% of the JS-Racing team was pant free this goes some way
to explaining their great form this weekend.
The paddock
was astir behind the Zandy garages as off track news took the spotlight
away from the practice sessions. Word on the pit lane is that several
older drivers from FMBL3 are interested in rejoining the series; obviously
this is just a rumour but it has many of the top teams excited yet
nervous at the same time. More big news was the surprise entry of
Joris Verheul to the league, driving for the Norfolk and Chance team
Joris is also expected to take over running the team in the near future
and it will be interesting to see how he handles the added pressure
of the hustle and bustle of the Herring Club.
Soon
the roar of 8 of the most powerful cars on the planet turned people's
attention back to the track as the drivers left the pit lane to begin
qualifying. Initially the times were disappointing as the dust was
swept off the racing line, but soon it became apparent that it was
very slippery offline as Washington speared into the fence at the
last turn wrecking the front end of his car "I'm having to
switch to the spare" exclaimed the flustered Ferrari driver
who lost a lot of time looking for his spare keys. Almost at the same
time his team mates Ferrari power plant had a piston failure and so
he had to cruise into the pits where a quick, and ultimately shoddy
repair job was done. Soon after Strang had rejoined the engine completely
exploded without any chance of repair. Luckily for Samuli the engine
from Jeremy's wrecked car was still working so a quick change over
allowed the young Finn to race.
Besides
the pandemonium in the JS-Racing garage qualifying was a rather sedate
affair, the sound of Beaudoins screaming Lotus echoing off the dunes
gave some clue as to his speed but the clock showed it best. Didier
took yet another pole position a mind-boggling 6 tenths ahead of second
placed Gregory. Thankfully behind him the field was closely bunched,
less than 3 tenths covering the next 4 drivers (Gregory, Washington,
Thomassen, Strang; in that order) promised a tight race for second
at least. Virtanen was 6th with Hammond and Verheul rounding out the
grid. It appeared all Didier had to do was cruise around and take
victory here, but as we've seen in the past anything can happen in
race conditions.
Officials
decreed that the grid would be a 3-wide affair so it would be a showdown
between Beaudoin, Gregory and Washington into T1. As the flag ripped
down Didier got away well while Howard bogged down and got swamped
by the field, but on the outside Jeremy had got a strong start and
lead into T1. As he had the inside line Beaudoin managed to bring
his Lotus alongside as they ran to T2 but alas the two cars tangled
and the JSR Ferrari was sent spinning right in front of the pack,
only some quick reflexes from Thomassen avoided a horrible accident
and Washington was able to recover at the back of the field.
Strang
who had a fantastic start was promoted to second and began to attack
the lead Lotus, but as they exited T1 on lap 2 Samuli used too much
throttle and spun into the sand, dropping him to the back of the field;
JSR's already poor weekend was getting worse! And so a familiar sight
was restored, the two HERTZ drivers leading the pack - due to others
misfortunes Gregory was promoted to 3rd but didn't appear to have
the pace to go with the leaders. Towards the back Hammond, Virtanen
and Verheul were having a battle of sorts as they continued to pass
and re-pass each other as they flew off the road. While there wasn't
much wheel to wheel action it was exciting nonetheless.
Benefiting
from their misfortune Washington and Strang were able to progress
up to 4th and 5th, the former was soon tucked up behind the BRM of
Howard Gregory who was having to work very hard to stay ahead, using
all the track and really pushing the limit. In contrast the compact
red automobile behind him was looking very smooth and effortless to
drive. However, there is only one legitimate overtaking spot at Zandvoort
and that is into T1; to get alongside a driver needs to get a better
run than the car in front out of the final corner to have a chance
into Tarzan. As it was, Washington seemed faster than Gregory everywhere
except the final turn. For 6 frustrating laps the Ferrari was held
up "I was getting a bit annoyed as I knew I could go a second
or so faster, and I could see the HERTZ guys driving off with it"
On lap 9 his wait would end.
Up front
as Didier began his 9th lap he carried too much speed into Tarzan,
locked his rears and spun up onto the embankment - Marcel who was
pressuring him stayed low in an effort to get past but unluckily for
both of them gravity kicked in and carried the spinning Lotus right
into the others path! Contact was made and while Thomassen could go
on it appeared as though he was struggling "It was enough
to bend my car up, so although I initially went on I had to stop at
the hairpin to repair my car" explained Marcel later on.
7 Seconds later Gregory also locked his rears on the way into Tarzan
and spun next to Beaudoin who was still recovering, Washington managed
to squeeze through the carnage and moved up to second, this quickly
became first as he past the stranded Thomassen at the Hairpin. Strang
also gained places and moved into 4th, a perfect 200m for JSR.
Marcel
had to hop out at the hairpin to realign his suspension, but was soon
back underway in 5th position. Within laps he was upon Strang and
soon made an effort to pass him at Tarzan, this was to be an unlucky
corner for HERTZ though as he went in too hot and clouted the wall,
ending his afternoon. The past series champion was philosophical afterwards
"What happened happened and let's go on racing with a fresh
mind".
Washington
now had a 5 second lead over Gregory and within the next laps eased
away to make it a 10 second gap. Concurrently, Beaudoin was recovering
and began challenging Howard for second spot, a couple of times he
drew alongside but was unable to get past. On lap 21 he spun around
the back of the track, dropping himself to 4th behind Strang in the
process. Again he caught up to the car in front easily but was unable
to pass, eventually he tried to out brake the Ferrari into Tarzan,
but sadly Didier ran wide and spun losing himself even more time.
This left Washington leading, with Gregory second and Strang third.
In
the closing laps Washington cruised allowing the gap to drop back
down to 5 seconds, but he was never in danger and after 50 minutes
of hard racing crossed the line to take his first FMBL win! "It's
a great day, obviously I was lucky but I was really consistent and
feel that I deserved the win today - being the only driver to be mistake
free and all". Behind him Howard came home a very credible
2nd in what will be a big boost for L'Equipe Djangos championship
position "I can't be too disappointed with second place, maybe
one of these days I'll make the top step of the podium".
Taking the final podium position was Samuli Strang who drove well
after his earlier spin "I had to drive pretty defensively
today, but I'm very pleased with how it went. We had a rough qualifying
so to get both cars on the podium is fantastic for JSR".
Didier
limped his battered Lotus home in 4th in what was really a good result
considering the day he'd had. In his first FMBL outing Joris Verheul
drove brilliantly to come home 5th "That was a blast!"
he shouted as he climbed from the cockpit. Celebrations erupted around
the nation as soon as he finished in scenes reminiscent Melbourne
2002. We foresee a long and prosperous career for the young man and
hope he can inspire more young drivers to join the league!
After
such a roundabout race the championship has tightened up considerably.
Didier still leads but only by 3 points from Washington who leaps
from 4th to 2nd, Strang is third just one point behind with Gregory
and Thomassen still in the hunt. With Albi (a track conductive to
good racing) next on the schedule exciting times lie ahead.
In
other news the FMBL4.2 support race also took place at Zandvoort this
weekend past, resulting in a great win for Tom David Ansell of FMBL3
fame, who came out on top after an inspired battle with Lennart Magi.
Zandvoort is a difficult track and the win will do wonders for his
confidence.
And so,
the huge FMBL4 championship lead we foresaw for Didier has failed
to materialize and we are left with a tight race for the title as
we head into the mid part of the season. With 3 new winners so far
this season, and 4 different drivers taking victory from the first
5 races the quest for glory has never been so thrilling, watch this
space.
|
12-11-2004 - Perera's long overdue first FMBL victory
comes at Milwaukee |
|
By Jeremy Washington
|
Last
Sunday at one of the greatest oval tracks in the world, the Milwaukee
Mile, Nishi Perera showed us in the most stunning way possible the
classy, well rounded intelligent racer that he is. Within the space
of 2 hours the young Canadian annihilated his FMBL competition to
secure his first full league race win in the most dramatic style.
Since
the Milwaukee Mile is so short (My secret sources have led me to believe
it is around 1.6km in length) qualifying was decreed to be a single
car event. In no particular order each driver would enter the track
one at a time, do an out lap and two fast laps and an in lap. The
better of these two flying laps would be their final time.
All initially
went well until Varun (who else?) made his way out. Thomassen, in
control of the timing, became discombobulated when Kotharu spun more
times in two laps than thought humanly possible. Marcel, distracted
by the physics defying Brabham managed to lose all the previous times,
including his own. The session would have to be re run.
When
it was announced that Qualifying would be restarted there was a disappointed
sigh from the drivers, except for one "YES!" from the still
gyrating Varun Kotharu.
Marcel
was first out, setting the benchmark time of 31.1, Jukka Maattanen
followed and quickly beat that with a 31 flat.Washington then tookto
the track and set a modest time of 31.3 - next up was the whirling
prowess of Varun, who managed to keep it together and set a fantastic
time of 31.6. As the rest of the cars did their laps it seemed as
though Jukka was going to snatch pole with only Virtanen and Perera
to go. But Mauri utilized the amazing agility of Chicken Runs new
BT-11 to take provisional pole with a 30.79. The paddock gasped as
Mave went 3 tenths faster than his team mate who was relegated to
second.
The pressure
was on as Perera brought his Brabham up to speed, and bang first lap
he was right up there clinching second spot! And then it happened,
Nishi drove what could only be called the perfect lap to take pole
position and amazingly, set a new world record, with a scorching 30.70.
Amazing stuff in what was easily the most exciting qualifying session
of the year!
Championship
leader Didier Beaudoin took fourth while second placed Strang qualified
in sixth, as good as could be expected with the lumbering Ferrari.
For the
second, and last, time of the year a rolling start was called. Varun
pulled off his move of the race by taking Washington on the warm up
lap, but let him go through before the S/F line thus avoiding punishment.
From
the start Perera looked strong; you could visibly see him making an
effort to keep his tyres cool. Initially Virtanen was able to keep
with him, but Nishis pace was such that he could pull a tenth or two
occasionally and in the end Mauri was unable to keep up.
Behind
them Maattanen and Didier were battling hard, with Thomassen in hot
pursuit. On lap 7 Didier and Jukka came together while fighting for
the final podium position, Marcel managed to get through the wreckage
but by the time they had recovered Didier and Jukka were 7th and
8th.
As the
laps ticked by they started to make their way through the field, easily
dispatching Washington, Hammond and Strang. Kotharu would have been
included in this list but he wasn't able to find a good balance all
weekend and eventually ended up in the wall on lap 41.
Just
before that on lap 28, Strang suffered yet another Ferrari engine
failure and slipped down to 8th behind his team mate. The JSR team
was having a horrible weekend on what is thought to be the worst track
on the calendar for them. By lap 42 Strang had clawed his way onto
the gearbox of the other Ferrari and on lap 44 made his move, for
3 laps Washington and Strang went side by side - huge grins on their
faces. Eventually Strang slipped by and took 7th.
As
the race drew to a close Pereras pace (and race) got better and better,
his lead extending as Virtanen suffered cramp in his legs. And so
at the end of lap 90 Nishi crossed the line to take his first ever
win by 19 seconds, what a great way for him to kick start his championship
campaign! Virtanen survived what he described as an uneventful race
to take 2nd while Thomassen cruised home 3rd after being free of immediate
competition most of the race.
Beaudoin
and Maattanen recovered to take 4th and 5th while Eric Hammond survived
a late scare with his suspension to finish a fantastic 6th. The JSR
cars filled the last two points paying positions.
In championship
news Didier extended his lead over Samuli to 5 points and looks very
good at the head of the table. More troubling news was Thomassen moving
ahead of Washington in the standings to snatch 3rd, obviously there's
some mistake there which will hopefully be rectified on the coming
rounds. In constructors news Chicken Run now looks a force to be reckoned
with as they boosted their points tally massively after Milwaukee.
Next
up on the schedule we have Marcel's home race at Zandvoort, with Didier
looking to extend his lead, JSR hoping to fight back, Thomassen striving
to do well at home and Chicken Run surfacing as a threat it promises
to be one of the most exciting races of the season!
|
19-10-2004 - Another double for HERTZ at the Norisring |
|
By Jeremy Washington
|
In
1356 Nürnberg became the capital of what was known at the time
as the Holy Roman Empire, for a large period of the Middle Ages the
HRE was very much the centre of attention in Europe. In the mid 1930s
Nürnberg again became the centre of interest as it hosted massive
Nazi Party rallies, and once the war was over the world turned its
gaze upon the ravaged city as it held the trials of suspected German
war criminals. All these events are probably very important to the
historians and maybe even the average Nürnbergian but in the
year 1965, FMBL came to town - finally, some important history would
be written.
The story
of the weekend was those bumps on the entry into the Esses. Lap after
lap cars would come through unsettled from the pounding they got under
braking, drivers hands a blur, wheels squealing, a hint of a muttered
curse from the cockpit as the power was fed back on through the right
foot. Before they arrived many drivers smirked at the rumor going
around "The Norisring is like a mini Monaco". After their
first laps those smiles were gone.
For such
a basic circuit (Hairpin, Esses, Hairpin) the Norisring throws up
many challenges. High curbs at T1, the bumps at the Esses and final
hairpin, as well as a slippery track surface make for a unique test.
As we've
come to expect these days, Didier Beaudoin stormed his way to pole
with a scorching lap early on in the qualifying session, Howard Gregory
drove excellently to take second 2 tenths behind, Thomassen and Washington
wrapped up the second row another tenth behind. There was then a half
a second gap to Strang with a further margin back to the Chicken Run
duo led by Jukka Maattanen.
Another
small field for the Norisring brings afresh fears about the cost of
F1 these days, if Petie Oosterstone doesn't start sharing the TV money
with the teams FMBL could soon be under threat. Heres hoping for a
bigger grid at Milwaukee!
At the
start the HERTZ cars got away cleanly and took 1st and 2nd into the
first corner. Gregory had a tardy start and under braking into T1
had to take a tighter line to cover Washington who was now all over
his gearbox. Aided by a poor start by Strang was Maattanen, cutting
the field like something warm through something cold and spreadable
the BT7 swept around the outside at T1 and snatched an amazing 3rd
place. After the first turn the running order was Beaudoin, Thomassen,
Maattanen, Gregory, Washington, Strang, and Virtanen. 
It didn't
take long for Howard and Jeremy to pick up where they left off at
Monaco; the Ferrari flew through the Esses and pulled alongside Howard
into the final hairpin. The red car got through but it wasn't over
yet, Gregory came back down the straight and had Washington into T1.
Again the pair drove aggressively each not wanting the other to get
the upper hand. Two corners later Washington had another shot and
flew past the BRM under braking; spotting a gap the second JSR car
of Strang tried to follow his team mate through but Howard closed
the door, the two cars made contact. Strang spun off while a rattled
Howard kept going albeit 2 seconds down on Washington.
After
qualifying it was accepted that only Howard and Washington would be
likely to challenge the two Loti today and their squabbling played
right into HERTZs hands. Didier and Marcel now had over 6 seconds
on the pair with Jukka still going strong in between. Maattanen was
fighting hard to keep his underpowered car ahead of the works Ferrari's
and BRM, for the few laps he was in third he had to push super hard
to stay there - unfortunately cooking his rear tyres, on lap 5 he
lost the back end at the first hairpin and dropped back to 5th. It
looked as though the race was going to settle down into a fairly tame
one until Marcel, pushing hard to put pressure on Didier, lost the
back end over those bumps. Completing a clean 360 the only damage
done was to Thomassens ego. This faux pas allowed Washington and Gregory
to close up on the Lotus which was still getting its rhythm back.
Washington had one little look at the second hairpin but decided against
taking a stab and then frowned as the green machine pulled effortlessly
away.
In an
attempt to keep Marcel in sight the lead Ferrari took too much speed
over the bumps and started a half spin, with no where to go Howard
clipped the front of his rivals car, righting it in the process! A
chuffed Washington got back up to speed only 2 seconds behind Gregory
who was now in 3rd position.
Back
down the road Jukka was still holding a nice gap to the recovering
Strang when he lost it under braking into the final hairpin. The Monaco
winner swept past and took 5th. The Brabhams were now 6th and 7th,
Mauri having a torrid time on his way to being lapped.
And so
the race was set, with large gaps between everyone, to run out sedately.
Beaudoin re-stamping his authority on the league with another dominating
performance. With 5 laps to go a secure podium spot for Gregory took
a turn for the worse with a moment at T1, this allowed Washington
to make his presence known, possibly causing the next incident. A
lap later Howard got sideways under braking for T1 allowing Washington
to sneak by and take third, Jeremy then set about setting some low
55s while Howard struggled in the high 55s.
With
3 laps to go Strang was 3 seconds ahead of Maattanen when he came
up to lap Jukkas team mate, Virtanen.As theywent into the Essesthe
second Chicken Run car conveniently managed to spin right in front
of the Ferrari! Not panicking, Strang calmly downshifted and navigated
around the Brabham - crisis (and possible evil teammate "assistance")
avoided!
On the
38th of 39 laps Gregory set a scorching 55.0 while Washington floundered
with a 55.7 "Coming out of the last corner I got very sideways,
I held it for as long as possible but had to get off the gas to save
it - this killed all my drive for the main straight" said a dejected
Washington. So on the last lap Gregory got a great run on Jeremy and
forced him to go defensive into the first hairpin; Washington took
too tight a line and clipped the curb. The Ferrari bucked as the front
wheels lost contact with terra firma, taking the car out wide. Howard
got through with Washington sweeping back across to fight back. Gregory
ran wide at the first "S" and allowed Washington to go for
the outside on the exit of the final "S". "I was out
on the concrete, dust coming off my tyres as I got squeezed between
the BRM and the wall - eventually I had to get out of the gas"
With that avenue blocked the Ferrari darted around looking for another
way past. Going into the final corner Howard took the inside line
while Jeremy went wide, it was obvious to all he was going to try
a criss cross to gain as much speed as he could for the final drag
over the line. Howard was driving exceptionally at this stage though,
and saw this move coming, to counter he took the tightest line he
could and "parked" his car on the apex. "I saw him
take the apex and I knew I was stuffed, but it was the last corner
of the last lap so I had to try and keep the momentum going"
And momentum he had! Carrying a huge amount of speed through the apex
the Ferrari clouted the back of the BRM sending it spinning. The final
podium was Washingtons! But nay, as they came to the line the Ferrari
slowed and let the recovering Howard through to take the 3rd that
he deserved. A great year long (friendly, lets hope) rivalry seems
to be sparking between these two virtually evenly matched drivers
and it is certainly giving the fans their monies worth!
And so
the Norisring provided us with another HERTZ 1-2, again led by Beaudoin.
Thomassen must me slightly worried about his teammates current form,
and pondering ways to get back to the front. Howard picked up his
second podium in a row while Washington grabbed his second
4th
of the season. Strang backed up his first win with a solid, if unspectacular
5th place "I can't be fast everywhere
be right back, food"
explained the Frying Finn. Maattanen again punched above his weight
scoring a great 6th place while Virtanen came home a distant 7th.
Word from the paddock is that there is a BT7-B spec car (badged the
BT11) in the works for Chicken Run, but its still unclear if that
will come to fruition.
With
two excitingly close championships being fought for, FMBL begins preparations
for the most strategic race of the year at the Milwaukee Mile on the
31st. Lets hope there are more close battles, and more battlers!
|
04-10-2004 - Strang takes JS Racing's first win at Monaco |
|
By Jeremy Washington
|
After
World War Two the first organised motor sport event to take place
occurred at Monte Carlo on the famous Monaco circuit. After years
of fighting you'd think the populace of Europe, and the world, would
be quite content to live in peace. But nay - battles draw people in,
and even though the battles around the Principality are limited to
the track they are still ferocious and unforgiving. Add a little slice
of FMBL drivers and a pinch of beastly cars into the mix and you have
a virtual war zone that makes Normandy look like a tea party. Carnage
was going to have a new meaning.
Most
of the drivers took the time to check out the track before the weekend,
each seeing the proximity of the barriers only inches off the racing
line. Imaginations ran wild as thoughts of a multiple car first corner
pileup were pondered. And so on Friday evening a very nervous group
of drivers met in the paddock and decided that they would begin the
race not from the normal stationary position but go, Varun styles,
with a rolling start.
With
that issue settled, qualifying was free to begin! Back in 1297 control
of Monaco was seized by Francois Grimaldi whose family was best known
beforehand as a band of pirates from Genoa. Naturally, FMBL resident
pirate Didier Beaudoin was hoping to re-enact that event this weekend,
thus seizing control of the Championship - but unfortunately (for
him) that was not to be. "I'm tired" yawned the HERTZ
driver, in fact half the grid had been decimated by a corresponding
24 hour event at Le Mans. Missing for Monaco would be both HERTZ and
Balderdash Drivers as well as Eric Hammon and Ivan Djjodjjo. This
left the door open for the chasing pack to cast off and tack their
way to the front of the grid.
Within
5 minutes the front row had been set, Samuli Strang charging to provisional
pole with a blistering 1:28.4. His team mate Jeremy Washington lodged
his claim on second spot with a 1:28.7 - these two times were never
bested and were the only 28s set over the course of the weekend. Behind
them the two Chicken Run cars of Virtanen and Maattanen fought hard,
Mauri (4th) finally edging out his team mate (5th).
After
initial teething problems Howard Gregory was able to get some track
time and set a fantastic 1:29 lap to snatch 3rd on the grid ahead
of the two Finns. This complemented nicely his team mates 6th on the
grid taken by John Potter in his first outing for FMBL4. Varun Kotharu
got 7th followed by rookie Esben Tipple in 8th.
As the
cars rolled slowly away for the warmup lap warnings were shouted between
drivers to remain calm and leave big gaps on the first slow lap -
luckily for all these alerts were heeded. The lead drivers swerved
their cars viciously on that first lap in an attempt to warm up their
boots, but through the tunnel the lead Ferraris seemed very cautious.
The two drivers sensing that the dark underpass was a dangerous place
for their red machines
Coming
out of the hairpin for the first time Strang lit up his rear Dunlops
and immediately pulled a 1 second gap on his team mate. Washington
repeated the treatment and pulled a 2 second gap on the chasing Gregory
- the press box sighed as thoughts of another Monaco, Ferrari dominated,
procession did the rounds.
The 3
lead cars held position for the first laps, with nice buffers between
them. Behind them though the chasing pack couldn't keep up and after
a few laps Virtanen had an incident that dropped him two places to
6th. Behind him Kotharu was running in 8th when mechanical problems
(also known to us normal people as a wall) put the young driver out.
Back
at the front Strang relaxed his pace allowing his team mate to close
right onto his gearbox. "There was no need for me to go faster,
you can't pass here and I knew Jeremy wasn't going to do anything
stupid". Wise words, but this put Washington in a rather
awkward predicament, after 5 laps he was tucked up behind Strang and
had Gregory all over him, ducking and weaving as he looked for ways
past. "I thought Samuli had the wrong setup for a while, he
was so slow!" Washington Exclaimed "I was willing
him to go faster just so I could ease the pressure from Howard, which
was rather intense at the time!"
For
15 more laps the trio remained nose to tail, the second Ferrari boxed
in desperately trying not to make a mistake, but at the same time
not put too much pressure on his boss. The crowd cheered wildly each
time the trio passed separated by less than 2 seconds lap after lap.
On lap 19 Howard closed to within a second of Strang, Washington squeezed
in between them, when the inevitable happened. Samuli seemed to make
a small error at the top of the hill which baulked Washington through
Massenet, Gregory had his opportunity and started his attack run.
As they sped towards Mirabeau the second prancing horse dived to the
inside to block the pursuing BRM. "I covered the inside line,
but I didn't have a breaking point and I thought the track was dirty
so I ended up slowing earlier than I should have, Gregory clipped
me and I spun in the air and hit the wall hard, damaging the right
rear suspension and tyre wall." The damaged Ferrari howled
like an injured animal as it spun back onto the track and charged
off after the leading pair - now 7 seconds down the road - leaving
a cloud of tyre smoke in its wake. Washington was seemingly out of
contention.
At almost
the same moment Virtanen finally gave in to the temptation of the
scantily clad women sunbathing on the yachts beside the track, parking
his Brabham BT7 in the tunnel to continue the off track chase. This
left the hopes of Chicken Run to Jukka Maattanen who was driving solidly,
if unspectacularly in a lonely 4th position.
Back
at the front Gregory was bobbing around and generally being a nuisance
in Strangs mirrors, and for a time it looked as though the BRM was
going to fight his way past. But by now the lead Ferrari was very
good at making itself rather wide, hampering Howards attacks.
In
third place Washington was finally in some clean air, with a stunning
burst of speed he was the first driver (the only other being Strang
late in the race) to dive into the 1 minute 29s. Fastest lap after
fastest lap allowed him to get within 1 second of the battle for the
lead with 6 laps to go - the stage was set for a thrilling finale.
It was now that the lead Ferrari looked at its weakest, but alas for
Gregory, it was a ruse. Strang had been pacing himself the entire
race and with only a small way to go he put the hammer down. He soon
joined his team mate in the 29s and eased away from the chasing BRM.
Howard pushed hard to keep up but was unable to match the pace shown
by the two Ferraris. In an attempt to keep up Gregory started pushing
hard: "I saw the BRM kiss the wall at Tabac with about 5 laps
to go, I got pretty close, then on the entry to the corner before
Portier he got very loose, it looked like he half spun - I slammed
the brakes on but just had nowhere to go" Explained Washington.
"It should be an interesting replay" frowned Howard.
This time it was Gregory's turn to hit the wall, an event which meant
he would finish 3rd. Washington managed to limp his Ferrari home in
second place to round off a JSR 1-2!
The final
Chicken run car was brought home in a lonely 4th, Jukka cruising most
of the race and just glad to get a solid haul of points this weekend.
John Potter drifted his way nicely into 5th spot, putting the icing
on the cake for L'Equipe Djangos weekend. Debutant Esben Tipple came
home in 6th benefiting greatly from the small field. The highlight
(lowlight? -Ed) of his race was a heart stopping 360 degree spin at
200km/h at the exit of the chicane. Our congratulations to him for
sticking with it though!
Ultimately
though this weekend was all about Samuli Strang, his first FMBL pole
position and win in the one weekend will be a great boost for his
morale, and ultimately his Championship chances? Time will tell. But
without a doubt his speed, consistency and race craft were faultless
this weekend.
This
small round of the championship certainly sees a major shuffle of
the championship standings. JSR has leapt to the top of the Constructors
Championship ahead of HERTZ while Strang and Washington sit first
and second in the Drivers Championship. Monaco was certainly a shot
across the bow of the HERTZ battleship and the Norisring in two weeks
should see fantastic battles as HERTZ, Balderdash, JSR, Chicken Run
and L'Equipe Django go head to head once more.
|
20-09-2004 - Perfect start for Beaudoin at Kyalami |
|
By Jeremy Washington
|
As
the setting suns waning rays pierced the surrounding trees, the track
workers of the Kyalami race circuit set to work, clearing debris,
removing scaffolding, sweeping the track; The track that for one fine
September day belonged to one man, Didier Beaudoin.
After
months of off season testing there was a collective sigh of relief
from the FMBL crews and drivers as they arrived at the scorching hot
South African circuit. It was almost as though the racing was going
to be a break from the testing rather than vica verca, and so as the
practice session began cars instantly flooded the circuit, their drivers
eager to get things underway. Many the driver had a slight smile on
his face for that first out lap as the reality dawned; FMB Legends
4 had begun.
Instantly
though, it was back to business. Beaudoin staking his claim at the
top of the timesheets within two laps with a solid 1:23:98. It seemed
to the press corps that Didier was going to start pumping out some
mid 23s but for some reason his times didn't improve; "I thought
I made fast laps, then I saw that I was making only 24s" This
allowed JSRs Jeremy Washington to come in and steal the spotlight.
Setting a blistering lap of 1:23:64 the Ferrari driver set the HERTZ
team a serious target.
In the
end, Thomassen wasn't able to get into the 23s and ended up in an
ominous 3rd place. Beaudoin finally managed to knock Washington off
the top spot with a stonking 1:23:5 late in the session. However,
controversy reigned after Howard Gregory rocketed to the top of the
charts with a world record lap! Unfortunately the FMBLIA time machine
still has some bugs and transported poor Gregory back in a 1967 spec
car ruining his weekend. Samuli Strang rounded off JS-Racings strong
qualifying with a great 4th place while Balderdash Racings Nate Perron
was very pleased with 5th, less than a tenth ahead of his team mate
Nishi Perera. In 8th came Jukka Maattanen in the lowly BT7 followed
by Hammon, Djjodjjo, Virtanen and Kotharu in places 9th-12th respectively.
As the
drivers got ready for the start a shadowy figure, whose profile had
many Zebus like qualities, was seen around the JS-Racing garages
but
more on that later.
With
the cars lined up on the grid the tension rose. The time had come
and with a drop of a flag FMBL was going to be underway. Unfortunately
it was all too much for Varun Kotharu who got over excited at the
idea of going wheel to wheel with some of the worlds best. As the
flag man stood motionless Kotharu engaged first and ploughed into
the back of the stationary Djjodjjo. Their races were effectively
ruined, both cars soon retiring.
Unfazed
the flagman raised his arm, savored the glorius onslaught of 12 beastly
F1 cars revving at full tilt before whipping the flag down. Beaudoin
and Washington got solid starts, the latter going for a very small
gap to get past the illegal Gregory. From 3rd position on the grid
Thomassen leaped away to get the inside line for T1, snatching second
from an overly cautious Washington. Right behind them was Strang who
had made a good start and was looking for a way by his team mate.
The rest
of the field came through led my Perron, Perera and Gregory, as is
always a risk at the first race of the season everyone was worried
about a T1 crash. Thankfully for all, besides the Kotharu incident
the start was clean.
After
half a lap the cars started to settle down into single file as the
drivers started to take stock of where they had shuffled out. At the
front Beaudoin had already pulled a few car lengths with team mate
Thomassen providing a comfortable rear guard. Behind him on lap 2
Washington started to close the gap. It was then that a rare happening
occurred; the Ferrari engine exploded. These engines are very tough
and it is strange indeed for one to fail, especially so early in the
race. "We aren't sure what happened to the engine yet" explained
a JSR spokesperson "But a bag full of bolts placed in the wrong
spot can do the type of catastrophic damage seen here" The image
of a Zebus lurking around the JSR garage certainly fired up the small
team and revenge may be on the cards in the coming races.
Back
to this race though; his engine on fire spewing debris and oil Washington
pulled sharply off the track and let his team mate Strang past unhindered.
Samuli now had a free line of attack at the two HERTZ cars but was
unable keep up their stunning pace and dropped back into a lonely
3rd place.
Behind
him Perron and Perera started battling for 4th and went side by side
a couple of times before Perera got by on lap 4. Unfortunately the
'67 shod Gregory sped past and then braked hard into T1, Nishi had
nowhere to go and slammed into him - effectively ending his race right
there.
After
that came Maattanen, Hammon and Virtanen who fought a race long battle,
the two Chicken Run drivers having trouble with their underpowered
cars, spins and a stop go penalty. "I got one for cutting the
course" said a livid Jukka. Like the good FMBLer he is, JM served
what he saw as an unfair penalty but still picked up a point for 8th.
Virtanen looked set for 5th when spun on the last lap and allowed
Perron (who'd spun back to 6th just before) back past, Mave recovered
to finish a respectable 6th. In a very strong 7th place came Eric
Hammon who after an earlier incident had driven a strong race to finish
just 1 second behind Virtanen and 2 seconds behind Perron.
Perera
was classified 9th two laps down after he tried to limp his poor handling
BT11 to the line.
Coming
from the back of the pack for 4th place was Washington, benefiting
from other peoples dramas he made up a few positions quickly, passing
both the Chicken Run cars in one move into T1 and getting past Perron
after the Brabham driver pulled aside to let the faster Ferrari through.
Washington fought back a 20 second deficit on his team mate and was
planning to do a formation finish when electrical problems struck
4 laps from home "I started having difficulties controlling the
car and my ECU and FMBLIA Timing Unit short circuited" Washington
cruised home 4th.
With
Strang in an easy 3rd after a brilliant drive the new JS-Racing team
went home from South Africa very pleased with the result "Its
great for us, and a real motivational boost for the team" Strangs
manager read from a statement for the shy Samuli "I'm very strong
at Monaco so another podium is definitely on the cards there"
Ahead
of the pack by a mile this weekend was the HERTZ pair though. Thomassen
cruised to a strong second place while Beaudoin survived a heart stopping
half spin with a trip across the grass on lap 15 to take the win.
For most of the race both drivers had clear track and used that to
their advantage to pump out some very impressive times. After the
race Marcel had this to say to the press corps "After Jeremy
fell back early on it was actually a bit boring for me. Didier's pace
was too much for me today, and I could only come closer when he made
a mistake about halfway through the race. Which I quickly compensated
for with a 360 at the first turn!" Beaudoin added "Well,
I do feel very well, I must say! I had some troubles with the car
in practice so I thought for most of the session that I would have
to give up the Pole to Jeremy who had made a very fast lap. But after
a few adjustments, the car was perfect until the end of the race,
and I was able to do what I was expecting to do in Kyalami..."
As
for HERTZs start to the season Thomassen went on to explain how proud
he was of his team "Ofcourse! Well I'd rather see the positions
reversed ofcourse, but we blew over the JSR "threat" quite
comfortably and that's what counts for now. And we're now the most
succesfull team in FMBL history!"
The winner
was overjoyed with the Lotus 33 suplied for him "I must thank
the entire team for the excellent work done in Kyalami!" Indeed
the car seems to have amazing pace straight out of the box.
As thoughts
started to turn towards the next round in Monaco Beaudoin is feeling
confident he and the team can continue their amazing start "Marcel
is always very quick in Monaco, so he'll be tough to beat. But it
seems that I have got the hang on the new cars and I like Monaco,
so I'm moderately optimistic that I can surprise there and take home
a second win in a row."
And so
as the teams packed up their gear and said farewell to South Africa,
everyone was greatly relieved to have gotten the championship underway.
The season should be a hot one, the HERTZ drivers battling for wins
with JS-Racing fighting hard to hold back the likes of Balderdash
and Chicken Run for second place in the Constructors Title. With battles
appearing all through the field this reporter can't wait for Monaco,
the jewel in the FMBL toilet bowl, to see the fight continue!
|
13-09-2004 - FMBL 4.2 introduces itself |
|
By Alex Reyes
|
With
the beginning of the fourth season of the FMBL, two things will be
new this year: firstly, 1967-spec cars with 3 litre engines are out,
and 1965-spec cars with 1.5 litre engines are in, and secondly, FMBL
has been split into two leagues
The main league will exist in
the same form as the previous united series, but there is a second
series introduced for drivers who feel their abilities are not up
to par. This is FMBL4.2.
The
season premiere of the league will be in the South African track that
is loved by many, but hated by a few: My Home, better known as Kyalami.
It is a medium-high speed course with some tricky corners. The drivers
are training hard, and will giving their best to make a good impression
for the forthcoming season and establish themselves a good reputation.
From
all around the world, the drivers are registered for this season premiere.
The Estonian driver Lennart Magi, the Venezuelan driver Alex Reyes,
the British drivers Rob Martin, Craig Harris and Tom Ansell, and the
Brazilian driver Pedro Paiva are ready to rock and roll in the season
opener in Kyalami, trying to give the best of them. We will see everything
from close battles to stupid mistakes, from excellent runs to spectacular
crashes. We will see the elation of victory, and the pain of defeat.
The drivers are ready and they're not afraid to give the best. So,
to all the drivers of the FMBL4.2, consider yourself welcome to the
exciting world of Grand Prix Legends!
We are
ready to rock and roll!!!
|
10-09-2004 - FMBL 4 starts soon! |
|
By Jeremy Washington
|
Each
year hundreds of millions of people around the world celebrate the
holiday known as Easter. Now while this religious festivity is largely
used as an excuse for chocolate to be thrown around with careless
abandon it is also a time for rebirth. A new beginning for people
to look to the time ahead with hope and expectation - FMBL is having
its own Easter right now. The league is going back in time to begin
a new season in the happy old time of 1965, where the cars are slow
and Marcel's even slower. The League is reborn.
And so
as the drivers huddled around in the winter rains, or relaxed on summer
beaches depending on your hemisphere and your interpretation of the
words winter and summer, the mighty organization that runs Farzads
Message Boards Legends, the FMBLIA, worked non stop to push their
drastic rule changes through the Technical Working Group. The TWG
said it couldn't be done - but with a determination that amazed us
poor peasants the ruling body invented a time machine and sent us
all back to 1965. New cars, and new life, were upon us!
Among
cheers of joy there were several dissenters that have decided to move
on. Az Edwards and Alex McCarthy have decided to concentrate on other
endeavors while the leagues evil duo of Herrings, Parise and Fransson,
have taken their skills (Edu's skills anyways) to other FMB racing
pursuits. Luckily many of the old guard have decided to hang around
and grace us with their presence.
With
arguably the strongest pairing on the grid H.E.R.T.Z Racing returns
(sans Herring) with Didier Beaudoin and Marcel Thomassen taking their
trusty Lotus to round 1 at Kyalami. "This will be a hard year
for HERTZ Racing." Thomassen rambled "Now that the Herrings
have gone we had to find something else to live on, and after the
Endurance Challenge we realised Balderdashes were really not so kind
to our stomachs. Thankfully now we have JS-Racing. We heard J's are
very nice as a snack -small and insignificant, good for your cholesterol
and eating it helps pass the time waiting to receive another winner's
laurel." I think this team is very much FMBLs DreamING Team.
Balderdash
Racing returns with a new lineup that will certainly have an impact
on the results this season. Nishi Perera and Nate Perron will be driving
the nimble BT11 around and round, hopefully more on the green stuff
than on the grey matter. It is expected that this will be the most
consistant line up in FMBL4, consistently fast or slow
we'll
find out!
Also
returning after a late FMBL3 debut is L'Equipe Django, the team consisting
of John Potter and Howard Gregory driving the mighty BRM. Big things
are expected of this team and the amazing pace Gregory demonstrated
at Adelaide last year will net him wins this year if he can utilize
it again in the '65 spec machines.
A brand
new team consisting of two of the most promising rising FMBL stars
has been formed over the off season creating a team that has set its
goals very high, and very much in reach! That team is the amazing
JS-Racing. Now some may accuse me of being biased here but this team
will be pushing very hard to trouble the more settled teams at the
top of the ladder. The team will be leading the Ferrari horse over
the line in a gallop and is expecting big things from the word go,
or the moment the flag drops.
In any
given league there are trouble makers and FMBL is no different, and
so it is Mauri Virtanen and Jukka Määttänen that have
to be different and leave their launch until the last minute. Word
has reached us that they will be driving the Brabham BT7 and have
named their team based on the amount of points they expect to get
nothing,
none, zip, naught!
Also
joining the main league after participating in the faltering Endurance
series is Ivan Djjodjjo. This new driver plans to drive the BRM and
is expected to do very well after a very solid debut at Le Mans. He's
also fishing for a team mate (lets hope he doesn't catch anything
red and smelly) so if anyone's interested you may wish to contact
him.
Varun
Kotharu also returns at the helm of Xytech Racing driving the Brabham
BT11, heres hoping solid performances from him! Several other one
car teams are in the league including BioX Racing, Team Repook, Race
4 Beer (yes please!) and Gutsprayers. Hopefully many good performances
can come from these teams and perhaps they can upgrade to 2 car outfits
soon!
Some
amazing circuits are on the cards this season with famous tracks like
Monaco, Monza, Spa and the Nurburgring gracing us with their presence
and giving us an amazing backdrop to go racing at.
As the
teams work hard in testing, staying up late tweaking suspensions and
chassis settings - at the back of their minds is the knowledge that
very soon they'll be racing wheel to wheel with some of the best drivers
in the world. I, for one, can't wait for FMBL4 to come out of the
oven.
01-05-2004
- Edwards takes the last victory of the season at Adelaide
News
just filtered through from the other side of the planet that LA Racing
driver Az Edwards has won the final round of the FMBL 3 Championship
at Adelaide. With the top three drivers in the championship absent,
he took his chance and took 3rd place in the final standings from the
unfortunate Beaudoin.
When
the FMBL spectacle arrives at the traditional season ender at Adelaide,
the championship is often already decided. This means the top drivers
can take it easier, or in this case, stay home to see what the rest
of the racing world is doing. This gives many drivers a good chance
to provide some good racing - like they always do, but this time in
the spotlights. In only his first season of FMBL, Howard Gregory took
finished the race in a formidable second place to take his first podium.
Alex McCarthy took a solid 3rd to make it an all-British rostrum.
Just
behind him came Nishi Perera in the only Lotus that was shipped to Australia,
followed by another fine performance from Samuli Strang. Local hero
Jeremy Washington took the 3 points that come with 6th, while Samuli
Ikäheimo took his first (and last!) points of the season in 7th.
Tom Tziotzios, recently voted Top FMBL 3 Backmarker, took his Ferrari
home in 8th place.
So
that's it - another long season of hard racing is over. Edu Parise took
another deserved title in his last season, while HERTZ Racing took the
Teams' championship. Lotus not surprisingly won the Constructors title.
Canada was the fastest country this year. A last-minute British charge
was too little, too late so they had to settle for 2nd.
Many
thanks for everyone who raced, followed or participated in any other
possible way and see you in FMBL 4 - but don't forget the two off-season
leagues that are organised. The FMBL F2 League starts tomorrow with
a race at the challenging Dijon-Prenois track, while the FMBL Endurance
Challenge (using the new 1965 mod!) will start in 2 more weeks at Daytona.
Be there!
13-04-2004
- Team of FMBL drivers takes 5th place in Oulton Park 1250 km race
Team
FMB International, formed by 6 of FMBL's finest drivers, managed an
excellent 5th place finish in the first round of the European Endurance
League. The race was held over 1250 km, or 282 laps, of the long layout
of the British Oulton Park circuit. At the end of the gruelling 7 hour
race the FMB team, of Fransson, Perera, Beaudoin and Thomassen, as Parise
and Perron were unable to make their way to the track, was 20 laps behind
the winners of the race, Team Notepad. During several stints the team
faced connection problems, causing it to fall back.
Team
Captain John Fransson qualified the car for the race, putting it on
a fine 9th position on a 13 car grid. That's exactly where he kept the
car during his stint, but at the end of what should have been his first
of two stints the problems began. Nishi Perera was up to do the second
stint but had trouble rejoining the race, causing the team to lose several
laps in the pits.
Perera:
"I had a bit of trouble starting the car for the 2nd stint,
then my teammate Jo kicked it and it fired right up, unfortunately it
lost us quite a bit of time. Once out onto the track I took it cautiously
for the first couple laps. I was right in the a gaggle of battling cars,
so I didn't want to get in the way. Then I had some clear track I began
to push a bit harder, but still keeping a margin of safety. the stint
got better and better. Especially with new tires after the pit stop,
I was even catching and passing a few cars. I only had one incident
where I was trying to let a faster car lap me, but he just drove into
the back of me, and pushed into the gravel trap of the last turn. Fortunately,
I was able to drive out and didn't loose too much time. I then handed
the car over to Didier after 1h30m."
Didier
Beaudoin now took over the car for the third stint. Beaudoin: "Even
if it was an endurance race, my stint seemed too short! I must say the
car was absolutely perfect throughout, mostly because of the fantastic
work of the mechanics, that I want to thank! Great job guys! While I'm
in the thanking mode, I'd also like to thank our sponsor who backed
us magnificently and made this race possible, namely Farzad's Message
Board.
When
Nishi came at the end of his first stint, the driver change was pretty
fast. I got in the car and started lapping really consistently and pushing
more and more as I was really at ease in the car. I started overtaking
cars and I completely lost track of the standings, I was only lapping
as fast yet consistently as I could until my tank was amost completely
dry. I came in for new fuel and some fresh tires but I had some troubles
in the pits as the gear indicator and the speedometer weren't working,
so I had to guess what speed I was going. Fortunately, We didn't get
a speeding penalty, but I suspect I lost many seconds because I was
driving too slow.
When
I came out, I was surprised by the car handling onfull load and cold
tires and spun twice at the hairpin. Fortunately again, I was able to
avoid an other car that had spun and went back to the track unharmed
twice. Then went back into the mood I had at the start of my stint and
stayed there until the end. I even made temporary team's fastest lap.
I then had an incident at the very end when a slower car spun right
in front of me. I couldn't avoid it, but there was o damage.
I'm
really happy brecause no other car lapped me during all my stint and
I overtook quite a lot of them, which is very positive."
Now
the "connection" problems got worse, as Fransson failed to
reconnect his hands to the steering wheel for the fourth stint. However,
in a hurry to get back to the circuit, Fransson unsettled a policeman's
hairdo by flashing past it at 124 mph in his Volvo, and was subsequently
thrown in jail. Fortunately he used his one phonecall to call Nishi
and ask him to stand in for him.
Perera:
"I was watcing the race from the pits, thinking that my hard
work was done for the day, when I got the call to suit up agian. Apparantly
Jo had been pulled over by the local police and thrown in jail! So I
was called in to do another stint, as I was the only one available at
that moment. But I had forgotten to take my noise cancellation earplugs
off before putting my helmet on. So I couldn't hear a damn thing! I
did the best I could for that stint, trying to use my eyes as feelers
for how the car was reacting. Fortunately it was only a 45m stint and
Marcel was ready to take over."
Thomassen
was now up to take the car to the finish, and to drive the 2 remaining
hours of the race. At the end of his stint, Perera still had the car
in last place but he managed to get it well within reach of WR Racing.
Now it was up to Thomassen to finish the job.
Thomassen:
"When I got in for the last stint, we were about 7th or 8th,
I'm not sure. I had seen on the timing screens before getting into the
car that we were closing considerably on WR Racing, so I figured that
once they made their last driver change, I should be able to challenge
them. With this being my first race in the car, I really had to get
used to the car. I had to let a few cars by in the beginning, one even
shoved me to the side a bit, but we survived. A little later I was able
to push harder and gain on other cars, who must have felt our pressure
as they spun off right in front of my nose.
Then
a few more cars retired, so we were 6th when WR Racing did make that
final change. That put me to within a lap behind them, and I was gaining
on them quite rapidly at some 3 seconds per lap. Within 10 laps I had
catched them, and a few laps later I was by into 5th place. However
they got it back for a while when I had to stop for fuel and tires for
the second time - but I was able to repass them before they had to stop
themselves.
During
the last pitstop I didn't need a full tank of fuel anymore to finish
the race, so the car was a bit lighter on the last stint. With nobody
left to race I kept myself alert by trying to drive good lines and fast
laps - and helped by the lighter fuel load set Team FMB's fastest lap
at 1:22.808s. It was really great to do the last stints! It lasted 2
hours but they went by very fast, so while I was craving for a brake
I wouldn't have minded another stint! It was just fantastic to cross
the line in 5th, rewarding all the hard work by my teammates. I'm hungry
for more!"
The
three remaining drivers now went to to have a party in the paddock as
if they had won the race. Completely forgetting all the troubles they
had, and that Fransson was in jail. Finishing 5th was what mattered.
A little while after the race Fransson joined the party, after he worked
his charmes on a policewoman and set himself free.
Fransson:
"What an absolute rush it was to run as the first driver and
teamleader today! I am so proud of my team and the job from everyone
involved. If we keep on building on this, our car will pack a potent
punch when we arrive at Le Mans in October! It's an honour working with
such fine drivers."
Perera:
"That was a great result for our first race. The team was put
together very late and we barely got any testing in the car. So our
goal was to try and finish the 1250km in one piece. We had a roller
coaster race, with various troubles. But at the end of the day we managed
to finsh and the 5th place is a bonus. All the driver's did a great
job, so here's to them! Cheers!"
Beaudoin:
"I really appreciated my first experience in Trans-Am and endurance
racing. The car was fast and very fun to drive and the track was really
interesting with ups and downs and some very challenging corners. Also,
the final result is really pleasant, and I think team FMB will get many
other good results throughout the season."
Thomassen:
"This was awesome! I already was really enthusiastic about endurance
racing but now the bug has really caught me! I'd just like to thank
my teammates for all their great work, and ofcourse our broad base of
hardcore fans, who were cheering us on throughout the race. See you
at Road Atlanta!"
The
race results can be found here.
Team
FMB hopes to enter both cars, or maybe even a third one, at the next
race at Road Atlanta on May 1st.
03-04-2004
- Edwards brings a British flair to the US GP as Parise takes FMBL
WDC
"The
Eagle is a bitch around here!" - Az Edwards
By Varun Kotharu
As
the sun rose above the small town of Watkins Glen, there seemed to be
a feeling of suspense and anticipation. Nearby, the roaring voices of
fifteen FMBL F1 cars were shaking up the Watkins Glen track. The overnight
parties of the American people in the bog left a lingering dark omen
in the skies as the smoke from the burnt vehicles in the bog raised
into the sky and swirled around clouding the sun light. But Eduardo
Parise of Team Herring was not to be deterred by such excitement as
he was to emerge as the driver of the year once more.
Fifteen
races have gone by us in this seventeen round championship and the Championship
still seemed possible to be up for grabs. Round sixteen was set in the
USA at Watkins Glen. The small town is shaken up every year as the FMBL
circus gives them a visit from time to time with the clowns being the
drivers mostly. On this occasion, there was an added incentive for the
people to be at their best since there would be a big party at the end
if Parise were to take the championship away from defending champion
Marcel Thomassen and take revenge for the Herring's that were eaten
by the hungry HERTZ during the season.
Qualifying
time came and the pits were starting to brim with activity to show that
the weekend had begun. It was once again a battle of skill and speed
as Az Edwards of Great Britain was to snatch pole position from Edu
Parise with a mere 0.056 second difference while registering a smoldering
time of 1:04:263s. It seems that the race was not without the hint of
irony as Edwards had branded the Eagle as a "bitch" to drive
at Glen. The irony was not to end there since Parise himself drives
an Eagle. Defending champion Marcel Thomassen took third place on the
grid with his Lotus while being slow by only 0.104 seconds behind Edwards.
Nishi Perera took fourth place with the difference being just over half
a second. Samuli Strang of Finland in his Ferrari once again surprised
everyone by planting his Ferrari fifth on the grid while being just
over a second slower than Edwards. He was followed by Alex McCarthy
in his Ferrari as well. Howard Gregory and Jeremy Washington took seventh
and eighth respectively in their Brabhams. Mauri Virtanen and Samuli
Ikaheimo took ninth and tenth in their Ferrari's. They were closely
followed by Nate Perron and John Potter in eleventh and twelfth positions
in their Brabhams. So far, it looked like the constructor's wanted their
cars to be side by side on the grid given the notorious T1 incidents
at Glen and in FMBL. Tom Tziotzios and Matt Danson finally broke that
chain when they qualified thirteenth and fourteenth with Tziotzios in
his Ferrari and Danson in his Eagle. It was a great day for Tziotzios
since he outpaced a much better ranked FMBL driver probably for the
first time in his career. Craig Harris in his Ferrari took last spot
on the grid just for showing up. Due to a screw up in the time frame
of the world on this day, Didier Beaudoin who was the most likely candidate
to beat Edu Parise arrived to the Grand Prix one hour late only to find
that he got the message about the race being an hour earlier than usual
a little late. Being the man that he is, he simply took the next flight
home with a smile on his dejected face. Whether it was the smile or
the dejected face that broke the heart of the spectators will forever
remain a mystery. His loss was a loss to all Canadians as it ended the
Canadian charge for the FMBL WDC.
The Esses of Watkins Glen provide a dangerous way to start a GP. However,
the Esses also provide the best way to set oneself up for a pass during
the lap. Therefore, a certain level of restraint and commitment is required
from the drivers at Watkins Glen during the start. The younger drivers
are the most prone to crashes while the elder drivers are more prone
to being butted out due to the eager mentality of the younger drivers.
Tensions ran high among the marshals of the track who were dreading
a cleanup since drivers don't slow down while on their second lap which
makes it a hazardous environment for a marshal to work in.
As
the green flag came down, the drivers rocketed away leaving a stream
of blue smoke from the tire's on the pit straight. While, Edwards, Parise
and Perera zoomed away into the distance, the rest of the field had
a very different story to be told.
Two
drivers who never were able to make it to the start for problems that
are still unclear were Samuli Ikaheimo and Craig Harris. Both Ferrari
drivers were not to be seen for the race. While that may seem unusual,
their disappearance might be linked to the bizarre problems that affected
TV camera's as the only replay left was from the unreliable feed of
Nishi Perera's own crew that was able to salvage a little of the race
coverage. Problems caused them to focus on only a few drivers and the
incident at the Esses is still undergoing extensive investigation.
Tom
Tziotzios finished in the unlucky thirteenth position while having his
car stamped with the number thirteen for the race. Being on the of the
drivers who was caught in the incident at the Esses, Tziotzios had a
hard time recovering from the accident and managed to complete only
2 laps before he parked his Ferrari and retired from the race. An uneventful
race for the Greek if one does not count the Esses incident.
Twelfth
position was taken by the Big Man aka Mauri Virtanen in his Ferrari.
The Finn managed to finish about 5 laps before he had to park his Ferrari
alongside Tziotzios' car for the same reasons. After being caught in
the Esses, there was nothing much left to do but save the car and once
the car gave up, he retired and watched the race dejectedly.
Aussie
Matt Danson of Australia was able to finish six laps before his retirement
from the race. Like Tziotzios and Virtanen, the damage suffered by the
cars due to the Esses incident was too much and he took third spot in
the retirement's podium. A man who is known to speak his mind, he babbled
incoherently into the public radio channels which disrupted the concentration
of some drivers. After being informed of their discomfort, Danson announced
his retirement from FMBL but not before he called Jeremy Washington
his best friend and told the world that "Jeremy is not a toss pot".
We can only deduce that Danson and Washington were close friends who
will not see each other on the tracks of GPL ever again.
The
driver who took fourth spot in the retirement placements was Jeremy
Washington. While it was not a real retirement, the unusual transportation
of the car to some other place with the driver left to stare at their
screen is officially called a retirement. But his race was a little
more fascinating than that of the people who finished behind him. While
the true culprit of the Esses incident may never be found, Washington
admitted that he and Howard Gregory might have been responsible for
the Esses incident. Since they qualified next to each other and since
he saw himself drifting over into another Brabham, it is only right
to surmise that he and Gregory were indeed the spark that ignited the
volatile condition of a clean start in FMBL. But a quick recovery on
his behalf saw him in fifth place at the end of lap one. After unable
to keep up with Alex McCarthy and letting Marcel Thomassen through safely,
he fought a bit with Samuli Strang who was successful as well in getting
through past Washington. After that, Washington settled for seventh
place and two points. But fate had its own mind and Washington was forced
to retire and end in tenth place in the grid. Had it not been for the
Esses incident, he might have been the "Driver of the Day".
Canadian
driver Nate Perron had a roller coaster of a race. After getting caught
in the Esses, he managed to get ahead of John Potter who was upside
down. Being in eleventh position then, he kept going on with Potter
behind him chasing him. But Perron lost his bearings when he planted
his car into the lush green grass at the Loop and this allowed Potter
to get ahead of Perron. But Perron was able to pull himself up behind
Potter and the two pushed it to the max in their Brabhams until Potter
spun at the last corner. This allowed Perron to pass him and get ahead
of Potter. But Perron was unable to contain his excitement while in
tenth position after the retirements of Virtanen and Danson at the Loop.
He spun off and got lapped nearly by everyone and was in last position.
However, Potter took advantage of the spin and propelled himself up
the charts and away from the sight of Perron. Once Perron got lapped
by Washington once again, he lost all joy and just drove to finish the
race in ninth position due to the retirement of Washington. John Potter
was the lucky man of the day. After taking advantage of Perron's spin
he got himself enough of an advantage to stay ahead and with the retirement
of Washington, he managed to get into eighth spot and get himself one
point in the championship.
The
ever elusive Howard Gregory who was never available after a race for
his comments was hounded by reporters and cornered off in the paddock
before he could make his escape undetectable. Forced to give his evaluation
of the race, Gregory summarized his race into four small points and
as a result adding to the world's stereotype of English men as stylish
and diplomatic. Like many others, he was another member of the now famous
Esses incident. After piloting his car to the ground, he managed to
save his car unlike others. He kept his car on the asphalt and drove
a calm and collected race while passing four other cars with their own
accidents. He also managed to beat Danson in his Eagle before it expired.
Gregory's engine had a small problem on lap 18 but the crew managed
to change the engine in less than a second and he was on his way again.
And instead of settling for one point after sitting behind Washington,
he got more than he gambled after Washington's forced exit from the
race. As a result, the teammates Gregory and Potter score a 1-2 in the
7-8 positions with their Brabhams.
Sixth
place went to Finn Samuli Strang who was driving a Ferrari. After a
small wrestling match with the Lotus of Marcel Thomassen at the Loop,
Strang got ahead of Thomassen. But the final laugh rested with Thomassen
who passed Strang a couple of laps later. After that, Strang passed
Aussie Washington and managed to stay in 6th place till the end of the
race. A quite uneventful race for him when compared with the races of
the drivers from the lower order.
Fifth
place was taken by Alex McCarthy in his Ferrari. In a way, the Ferrari's
of Strang and McCarthy only swapped places with each other before they
finished the race. A clean race for the Brit saw him get through the
race unscathed and also allowed him to pick up some valuable points
that saw him consolidate his sixth position a little more in the Championship
Standings.
Marcel
Thomassen who is the defending champion finally finished in fourth place
in the race. After tangling with Strang at the Loop on lap one, he drove
a magnificent race to overtake all the slower and much more inexperienced
drivers. While the task may have been easy on paper, it is no easy task
to keep the car on the track and pass others. It is a true legacy to
his experience, skill and dedication.
Canadian
Nishi Perera in his Lotus finished on the podium in third place. While
he may have had it easy without being involved in the Esses incident,
he certainly gave Eduardo Parise a run for his money after Parise's
mistake during the race at the last corner. It seemed that Parise got
a little too much over steer and he spun on the straight. Perera being
right behind him used evasive tactics to run circles around Parise and
move into second place. Parise's spin on the pit straight was a reminder
of Surtees' spin on the pit straight in the 1967 US GP at Glen. After
that incident, Parise drove a grueling race to pass Perera who was not
going to give up second place so readily. Perera was seen locking the
brakes and spewing the smoke into Parise's face while trying to get
away from him. Parise was not to be deterred as his perseverance saw
him brake a tad bit later than Perera into the Loop twice or thrice.
But Perera was smart enough to get the inside line onto the straight
which put Parise behind him. However, Parise was no fool and he showed
this after a slight mistake by Perera at the Big Bend saw Parise get
through him and take second place back. But the battle will be remembered
by all who have seen it and cherished for a long time to come.
Brit
Az Edwards drove an almost flawless race and was the Schumacher of the
race instead of the "Driver of the Race". He lead from start
to finish and only passed drivers when lapping them. The few mistakes
he encountered were not enough for the other drivers to pass him since
he was so far out ahead. And in the end he took the chequered flag of
the US GP.
While
Edwards may have won the race, it was Eduardo Parise who won the hearts.
The Brazilian has had a tough season and he has emerged victorious as
FMBL3 WDC. After taking the first FMBL WDC, he lost it last year to
Marcel Thomassen. But he has taken his WDC crown once again. His victory
will be long remembered since he has officially resigned from FMBL.
Politics and young drivers were the cause for his retirement from FMBL.
The day was marked with irony since Parise had furiously announced his
retirement after the Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps earlier this year.
But he has seen it through the season and congrats to him on his second
WDC.
And
the US GP also marked the victory of the HERTZ Team for the Constructor's
Championship. Teammates, Thomassen and Beaudoin did not party as expected
due to Beaudoin's dejected outlook on the year at the US GP. But the
bubbly will most probably flow at the Australian GP which is the last
Grand Prix of the season.
With
the US GP, we have seen three retirements. Team Herring will no longer
exist with John Fransson and Edu Parise leaving FMBL. Another retirement
from FMBL is Varun Kotharu of Xytech Racing. Without his team's second
driver Gaarenstroom active, it's most likely the end of Xytech as well.
Both
the WDC and Constructor's Championship have been decided. But more excitement
lies in store for everyone since the battle for second place in the
Driver's Championship is still on. That will give Beaudoin something
to cheer about and the only way to know if he will ever show up is to
rejoin us in two weeks time.

FMBL
3 Champion: Eduardo Parise, Herring Racing
02-04-2004
- Parise takes his second FMBL crown!
By
finishing in 2nd place in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen,
Eduardo Parise deservedly clinched his second FMBL World Drivers' Title.
With two races still remaining on the calendar all he needed to do was
keep in front of the HERTZ drivers. He started from 2nd place on the
grid to finish second, but not without one of the greatest battles in
FMBL history with rising star Nishi Perera. Thomassen qualified right
behind Parise in 3rd, but had a bad start followed by a first lap incident,
which caused him to fall back. He eventually finished 4th behind Perera.
Didier Beaudoin very unfortunately missed the event due to a bad misunderstanding
over the start time, which meant he was unable to defend his chances.
The race was won by Az Edwards in an Eagle, staying out of trouble way
ahead of the most important battles of the race.
A
report of the race will follow soon.
24-03-2004
- Parise works the Brazillian magic to win at Monza
"Eagles
may soar but Brabhams don't get sucked into jet engines"
By Varun Kotharu
The
Italian GP. Home to the team Ferrari and its beloved Tifosi. Round 15
of the FMBL was located in the exquisite surroundings of this Europe's
most southern country. The track is a favourite of all drivers because
of its simplicity, the ability to overtake and more importantly, because
of the speeds. An easy track to learn, it is quite a relief for many
drivers who had driven at the last race in Canada at St Jovite where
keeping the car in the right direction is in itself tiring.
Round
fifteen attracted fifteen drivers. A statistic overlooked by everyone
who were lost in the excitement of the race. Qualifying was as usual
a dogfight at the front of the pack. Eagles are known for their prowess
at fast tracks and the defenders of this opinion were able to entrench
themselves as Az Edwards raced to pole position with a 1:27:372s. However,
people expecting an Eagle front row were disappointed as Didier Beaudoin
drove a wedge between the Eagle's of Edwards and Parise by taking second
position in his Lotus giving only 0.166 seconds away to pole sitter
Edwards. Parise took third and was 0.398 seconds behind the leader.
Following him was another Lotus with Marcel Thomassen who was 0.433
seconds behind Edwards. Nothing less or more was expected from the top
four who are all vying for the championship this year. Nishi Perera
sat on fifth position in his Lotus and was finally followed by the Scarlet
cars of Mauri Virtanen and Alex McCarthy. Danson took eighth in the
Eagle with Howard Gregory in his Brabham following close by. Samuli
Strang in his Ferrari was 10th fastest and was followed by Perron, Kotharu,
Washington, Potter and Tziotzios in his Ferrari. A popular among fans
even though he planted the red car on last position.
All
drivers tensely gripped their steering wheels in anticipation for the
start. Fifteen very powerful cars were roaring to be let free like lions
held in chains against their wishes. Infact, most drivers were known
to wet in their pants because of the tension. But the diplomacy they
have learnt in their career's also came with lessons in quick thinking
and they all waved it away saying they were sweating. (Yeah Right!)
Drag racing met Formula One racing at Monza as drivers with quicker
reflexes were able to literally drag away. This resulted in Didier Beaudoin
taking the lead, Nishi Perera beating Thomassen for 4th place and Kotharu
in the back loose two places to the Brabhams of Washington and Potter.
All drivers who lost positions were noticeably frustrated as they kept
hitting the dashboard in utter frustration - except for Tziotzios who
was extremely slow and not frustrated since he was at the back to begin
with.
A
fascinating phenomenon took place at T1. While FMB races are notorious
for T1 incidents, all drivers were able to get through it safely except
for Mauri Virtanen in his Ferrari who stuck a wheel on the grass but
was able to continue without wrecking anybody else's race. However,
a new phenomenon is taking its place to replace the old. Drivers are
now messing up at corners which are supposedly easier since everyone's
has settled in by now. However, Danson in his Eagle and Gregory in his
Brabham made unusual contact which resulted in Danson spinning wildly
and forcing Potter in his Brabham to avoid collision. Unusual indeed.
Later on, Perera and McCarthy had another incident which was blamed
on spatial distortions which ruined McCarthy's steering column and no
blame was assigned to any driver.
An
unsettling first lap indeed with racing coming from stalled cars, crashed
cars and other non racing events. And while the field was swearing,
spiting and making vows to kill each other in retribution, Beaudoin,
Edwards and Parise were swinging around Parabolica and in their perfect
unity around Parabolica, they emulated the music of racing. Mozzart
would have been proud of them. And while the three aliens were running
away, Perera and Thomassen were not far behind as they too were swinging
into Parabolica. And while they might not have been in perfect sync,
they performed the art of racing. da Vinci would have been proud of
them in this case. And as the rest of the field was drowning in their
troubles, they performed the unexplainable music of racing in the view
of bands such as Slip Knot and Metallica. Just pure shouting and screaming
for justice. We are not proud of these mortals even if they are supposed
to be created in the image of god. (Then why can't they all drive like
gods :S :S :S :S :S)
After
Lap 1, all the anger and tension rolled away as drivers started to think
about just driving home. Perron and Strang found each other on Lap 1
and they were found to entertain the crowd by racing each other. And
with Strang in the Ferrari, there was no doubt that the car would be
bolstered by the cheers of the crowd every time Strang was found to
be strangling Perron into the corners to yield and stay back. However,
Italy was not to favor the Finn as he spun off into Parabolica after
a sensational battle. A little while after that, he found Kotharu who
managed to keep him behind in his highly powered Eagle. After Strang
passed him, it all dwindled down to skill as Strang blasted away only
to find himself with a blown engine on lap 14. (Perhaps that engine
could be used on Schumacher's car next race to spice up the F1 season).
After that, it was a case of showing his anger as Strang ran away to
his bicycle and started to pedal home to Finland vowing revenge on the
power the Ferrari didn't have.
Till
lap 5, the four championship contenders were close to each other pecking
at each other's nerves to see who would crack first. While no one doubts
their will to win, Thomassen began to show signs of nervousness in his
car. The car became twitchy into Parabolica on many an occasion and
Thomassen started to fall back without ever loosing his consistency.
The Dutchman finished in fourth place and the suspicions were confirmed
when he admitted to foolishly changing the brake bias during qualifying.
It could very well have costed the defending champion the championship.
With annoying and monkey like Thomassen off their backs, the three orchestra
performers were able to continue on with their performance till lap
8 when Beaudoin had to get his priorities straight after he claimed
to have seen a woman showing her chest to distract him. Whatever the
incident was, it worked as Beaudoin lost all interest in his work and
by lap 11, he even let Edwards through and he settled in 3rd place.
(Further investigation revealed the "woman" was actually a
man in disguise trying to show his muscle to the ladies in the crowd.
So Beaudoin lost his lead for nothing. Well; amost nothing since it
was something according to him :P)
While
such drama was taking place at the front, Perera who challenged Thomassen
in the beginning had a nightmarish kind of race. After spinning into
Lesmo 1 under braking, Perera politely waited for the field to zoom
by him. The onboard camera at this point makes any driver want to hit
the gas and rudely step into the race. That showed the amount of self
control Perera used to wait and then move on. After whizzing by the
helplessly slow drivers, Perera once again said hello to the barriers
at Lesmo 1 after cloberring wheels with McCarthy. At the same time,
his car's gearbox also said hello to the nose of Kotharu's Eagle who
clobbered into the barriers as well at this time. After that, Perera
got down to business and passed Potter in his Brabham and finished in
6th place. A respectable drive since most backmarkers would have hung
up their gloves by this time and moved on with their lives (or whats
left of them atleast).
Nascar
enthusiast Matt Danson once again joined the field in hope of getting
a podium. He was to be dissapointed since he managed to bring the car
in 10th position. Thats two places short of getting a point and 7 positions
short of a podium. However, his race was not spent in complete boredom
as he clashed wheels with Howard Gregory, Jeremy Washington and Az Edwards.
While he gave a warning to Washington and didn't literally clash wheels,
the chatting of these two on the public team radios caused quite a stir
and the RAT's ratted them both out for misappropriate use of public
chanells to fuel their tete a tete. But more damage to his image was
done when another spatial anomaly in the space time continum caused
his steering column to malfunction and lapping Edwards was unfortunate
enough to collect him without spinning. But Edwards claimed to have
been put at a disadvantage of this incident and while he hasn't complained
to the RAT's, the incident has been noted in their logs as Edwards was
a strong contender for the championship.
Howard
Gregory was unavailable for his comment after the race despite the fact
that he managed to finish in 5th place. No big event befell him and
he drive an almost calm and clear race as he was never in threat of
loosing that 5th place after gaining 4 places after the start during
small mishaps. His team mate John Potter was however more cooperative
and managed to inform the reporters that he was suffering from brain
fade throughout the race which caused him to cream his car into Lesmo
1 and Parabolica on many an occasions and finish in 9th position. Reporters
informed him that he might want to get checked up by a brain specialist
and he just looked at them darkly with no apparent reason and flew away
into the night sky with wings sprouting from his arms and laughing like
a crazy man. (Beware this man people for he just might have gone insane
from hanging around the normal FMB'ers.)
Team
reports from Team Ferrari were sketchy to say the least. Their drivers
Virtanen and McCarthy were the only ones capable to finish in point
scoring positions in 6th and 7th place respectively. Tziotzios representing
Italy finished in 11th place and Strang in his Ferrari retired early
on in the race. Rumours and little evidence points to a "dissapointing
race" for McCarthy according to him. The incident with Perera at
Lesmo 1 seemed to have damaged his car more than he had anticipated
and a few other mishaps made this race a difficult one for him. Virtanen
in his Ferrari seemed to have the same problems as Thomass