Round 1 - The Indiana Brick Company Golden Brick
One of the biggest questions over the off-season was where reigning champion Ellie McIllan would land after McIllan Racing closed its doors after 26 seasons. As Kane McKane had taken up the second seat at the Holden works team, that left Jean Paul Cassell looking for a driver. He was more than happy to sign Ellie McIllan and bring her #1 plate to the Pizza Hat team.
As expected, Team Yellow Toyota (previously Toyopet) arrived with six cars; having secured the services of Sticks Baja at the end of last season as well as picking up Miles Prower, Hatsune Miku, and Amy Rose, all on lease arrangements. Toyota brought their 3UR V8 from various Lexus road cars but it, like the rest of the field was running desmodramic camless valves.
The biggest surprise in the paddock was the arrival of Mercedes-Benz. They were sporting two factory cars for their in-house driver Andy Harrington, as well as Natalie McIllan who became a free agent at the end of last season.
McAlpine Racing had decided to run four cars for Kayleigh McAlpine, Michelle Oxford, newcomer Marnie Roxy, and Koffing who had brought his own charter. McAlpine Racing had also fabricated two cars for Mario Mario and Donkey Kong; after they couldn't find terms of agreement with the Mercedes-Benz factory.
The B-Heat Race:
The opening round of the season is unusual in that there aren't any previous results from which to draw the lists for the A and B Heat races. Thus, rather than the fastest 36 cars from the previous round, the two lists were simply just made up of every other car going into the race; based upon competition number.
The first round of the new season is often like the first day back at primary school. The kids are often rowdy and unruly. Maybe it was because of increased safety provisions due to the virus but the first two corners of the 20X1 season were decidedly bad tempered.
Al Yankovic put his Ford on pole and Kayleigh McAlpine's Holden was on the outside of the front row. Yankovic held the field back because he'd set the car up with slightly shorter gearing and was hoping to scoot away but before the green flag fell, he was being given bumper Morse Code by Garfield Arbuckle who was immediately behind him. That set the tone of the opening lap.
Way down in 14th, Go Mifune pulled across the bow old Asuka Langley Soryu and she was livid. In less than a mile, her brand new Mitsubishi Celeste had been dented and seeing as there was still almost all of the 80 laps to go, she exacted her regent almost immediately and speared underneath his left rear quarter panel.
That triggered a reaction where Mifune was hooked and sent barrelling onto his roof and Dr George Claw was also turned and sent backwards into the armco barriers.
Robie Robie came down the racetrack and collected Sherlock Holmes' tartan Chevrolet; while Samuel Touquanne gave rookie and debutante Olivia Micina a side stripe.
The first car which cleared the carnage unscathed was Andy Harrington in the Mercedes Benz. He had a box seat to watch the mayhem play out in front of him and was lucky as it parted like the Red Sea.
Thirteen different manufacturers are represented in The Goof for 20X1; with support ranging from direct factory ownership, all the way to customer entries. Two of the new manufacturers in 20X1 are Jaguar who have supplied four engines of occluded origin and Honda who have appeared because of one dealership in Chiba. Hondas engines look suspiciously like the Nissan VK50 V8.
For their first time out, Jaguar managed to get two cars to escape the heat races while Honda was only able to get one to make the grade and even then, Byuti Nanako only made it to the last qualifying place in the A-Heat Race in 18th.
This shot of Patrick Mann's Toyota Century, Natalie McIllan's new Mercedes Benz 500 and reigning champion Ellie McIllan's Holden Standard putting a lap on the Jaguar XJ8 of Minch Yoda and the Honda Legend Type-R of Don Patch, will be a typical sight; in that five different manufacturers are within eyeshot of each other.
Having said that, neither Yoda nor Patch would escape from the B-Heat Race and will return to the next B-Heat Race in Round 2. Both Jaguar and Honda might have to find some more power in those engines going forward.
Mazda went away over the off season and did some further testing on their Skyactiv derived five litre V8. Their engine is basically two of their 2L in-line four cylinder engines, cut at 45° through the crankcase and welded together. Thus, they have done what Cosworth Engineering did with the FVA to create the DFV but on a larger engine.
It appears to have worked for then because of the six Mazdas that were entered in this season, all six escaped the heat races and did so handsomely.
If 20X0 was a treated as a learning experience then 20X1 appears to be them putting that experience to work. Sakamoto didn't score very many points last season and in just this one heat race, he scored more points than his total haul last season.
Sakamoto had a pretty quiet kind of race. After sitting behind the carnage of the opening lap, he quickly tucked in behind Patrick Mann's Toyota and then gradually picked off spots methodically. By the halfway point when most cars came in for tyres at lap 40, he was already up to third place and then took ages to pick off Robie on lap 55 and then Bruno Gourdo on lap 69. He was then left in relative peace as every car that he put between himself and Gourdo, meant yet another small buffer.
Behind them, Robie Robie came in third; which might be an indication that after a less than ideal 20X0, that Team Yellow Toyota might be in place to have another tilt at the title.
Points Awarded B-Heat Race:
9 - Tse Sakamoto
6 - Bruno Gourdo
4 - Robie Robie
3 - Kayleigh McAlpine
2 - Al Yankovic
1 - Kane McKane