Julian Bounces Back.
You’ve got to hand it to RevoSlot. They certainly produce tough cars. This week’s Club Cars round was the ninth outing for Molesey’s Toyota Supras and they’re still going strong. Battered, bruised and tatty they may well now be, but they continue to serve up great racing race after race. This one was no different.
After two painful defeats in F1, Julian was back on form at the head of the field, dominating in every lane except orange, a rare mistake in that one letting Simon record the evening’s fastest orange lane heat and lap. What Simon couldn’t match, though, was Julian’s consistency, nor that of Lee, Simon having to be satisfied with the third step on the podium, one step below Lee.
As has become the norm, the green car was by far the fastest, with everyone bar Terry, Mario and Joss recording their fastest laps in it. Some preferred to be drawn in green lane early so they could put in a good drive and then hope to hang on as their turns in the slower cars came around, others preferred a later green lane draw. Julian got green lane last and concluded the evening with a masterclass, his 2:08.65 the only sub 2:10 heat of the race and fully two seconds quicker than Lee, the next quickest in green. Impressive.
Alex too was on form, beating Simon in green, blue, yellow and red lanes, but throwing away his chance of a podium finish in his very first heat, a poor drive in the white car just too much for him to recover from. Nonetheless, statistically he was the night’s most consistent driver, only the second time he’s been so and the first this year.
Mario too was notable for his consistency, beaten on that metric by only Alex, Julian, Lee and David. If he can find a little more speed without losing his consistency, he’ll be a regular contender for group wins.
Terry went backwards, a promising third overall after heat 1 in the red car turning to fourth after heat 2, then eighth after heat 3. He recovered slightly to finish an eventual seventh, but his race was a story of early promise unfulfilled.
The Supras have provided something different this year, forcing drivers to concentrate on adapting quickly to the different handling traits of each car and allowing everyone to directly compare their performances against everyone else, without needing to factor in car building ability. With the club’s AGM just a few days away and classes yet to be decided for next year, will the Revos remain popular? We’ll see, but I’d not bet against them.
