2003 Marconi Foundation Proxy Races

Class E: "OK, Anything Goes" class. GTP, ALMS and LMP cars, 1979 to 2002

The race

Roy Omer and his son Bryce, two relatively new hobbyists, got their cards right as they defeated the cream of the crop with cars of rather plain appearance, but using the "right" components. Roy's car, a modified FLY Lola chassis fitted with a TSRF motor and boy, with less magnets than most entries and the lightest car there, just walked away with it, setting a track record that was only beaten in a later race by the TSRF car of Philippe de Lespinay. The car was a rocket and just motored away from his son's car, another FLY Lola using the stock body and a Falcon motor. Both cars used PPR tires. Larry Geddes very pretty Mazda GTP took third, only 2 laps behind Bryce, with a very consistent car but lacking just a bit of top speed. The first of the Jim McLaughlin armada was another 8 laps down, and the first of the twin-motor variety. The twin-motor cars had so much speed and brakes that they really looked like wing-cars lost on a plastic track, but their excessive weight meant that even if indeed, they were the fastest along the two long straights, they had to slow down some to negotiate the ten turns closing the track design. So the lightest of the slower but faster-cornering single-engine cars just made more laps. The race was incredibly intense and we were really pleased to see that true professional drivers were handling matters as there is little doubt that amateurs would have left a much larger pile of debris all over the track.

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		Roy Omer's Bentley was fastest. TSRF and Slot.It components with PPR tires. But the Concours judges frowned on it...

			Bryce Omer's modified FLY Lola B98 followed in the same lines as Roy's winning car, using a Falcon motor, simple but effective bar and round-magnet arrangement, Slot.It wheels and PPR tires. Body was near stock.
			Most technically interesting was the Larry Geddes Mazda. The chassis is built of wire and fiberboard, with a 3-magnet setup and the Falcon mill mounted towards the front to apply more down force on the nose. The car had the best handling but was a bit underpowered to compete with the "Omer Rockets".
			Jim McLaughlin sent an armada of cars from Greece, and this twin-TSRF/Falcon-milled Porsche was best. Like all twin-motor cars in the race, it had tremendous speed but was too heavy, forcing slower cornering speed. The motors were also modified and it set the fastest lap of twin-mill cars.
			Jim Cunningham's Doppelganger Audi was amazing, the fastest in a straight line. It finished in the same lap as Jim's Porsche, lacking just that bit of consistency to be the first of the multi-motors. Certainly a concept to follow in the future for very large tracks. It also placed first in Concours.

The Concours d'Elegance

This was a tough one as one would greatly hesitate between two cars that were well built and very interesting in their own respect while being so different. Jim McLaughlin's gorgeous Pro-Drive Ferrari GT won the "top" category but its chassis lacked a decent finish and that placed it behind three cars that were just very nice from top to bottom. The winner was the Audi R8 "Doppelganger" designed and built by Jim Cunningham. It was a finely detailed wild thing and looked really nice from all angles. Second place was the clean and simple Porsche 956 of Dennis Hill, and third was Larry Geddes' Mazda, also the kids favorite because of its comic-strip Speed-Racer looks with its huge 24" 6-wheeler-like wheels and super-low profile tires. The Omers cars lost a lot of points there, relegating them in 6th and 7th overall. The big winner was Larry Geddes who came back from a third place in the race on top to win all the marbles. Jim Cunningham and Dennis Hill complete the podium.

		After-race pictures of Jim McLaughlin's demolished Ferrari. It gathered maximum points in Concours seen from the top, but its chassis finish needs serious improvement to contest for top honors. Milan Tomasek body.

The very sad thing is that the beautiful Ferrari sent by Jim McLaughlin suffered a major hit when an errant car flew into it, utterly exploding the wonderful body built in Slovakia by Milan. It was very sad to see indeed. The car completed the race but the body is a total loss.

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			Dennis Hill's Porsche 956 followed in the lines of his 2001 winning Toyota GTP. The car is utterly simple but as in the Geddes Mazda, was probably over magnetized, compromising its chances.
			Michael Liptak's Panoz was just beautiful and very efficient. It needs to loose a bit of weight to be truly competitive. Great progress from his 2002 car.
			From the Scuderia Mclaughlin all the way from Greece, this Audi R8 lacked both speed and grip to contest for top spot. it was slower on lap time than his twin-mill Porsche. Back to the drawing board.

Results

Final Placing

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