Piennes International - June 22nd/23rd 2002

The annual Grand Prix de France International was held over the weekend of June 22^nd/23^rd and for a change the weather was excellent with a definite requirement for sun cream top ups a couple of times a day. The weather made a real change this year after 4 years of really miserable conditions at this event (including the 2000 W/C)

The C.M.B.L. club had done an excellent job as usual in organising the event and were running F2A, F2B F2C and the new F2F class.

The UK had the most entries with 8 teams in attendance and, unusually, only 5 French teams. Noticeable countries missing included Italy and Germany who usually make a good turnout for this event but were possibly affected by the close proximity of the Sebnitz W/C

Racing commenced on the Saturday with official practice starting at 2:00 pm and two rounds of heats being flown with a round of F2F in between making it a bit of a late evening on the first day.

In the first round it was Ougen/Surugue (FRA) who lead the way with a 3:16.2 followed by Raffal/Maiffret (FRA) who took advantage of an almost solo run and fairly lenient jury to record a 3:17.6. Fischer/Straniak (AUS) put in the only other sub 20 time with a 3:19.3 with British teams of Ross/Turner and Heaton/Campbell filling the next two places recording times of 3:22.1 and 3:25.7 respectively.

In the second round Ross/Turner put in the only sub 20 time of 3:15.0 to move into 1^st spot. The only other significant moves in this round were by Dessaucy/Dessaucy with a 3:23.3 and Maret/Perret (FRA) with a 3:23.7. Ougen/Surugue opted not to fly in either the second or third rounds.

The third round was on the Sunday morning with official practice commencing at 9:00 am. Ross/Turner took advantage of a two up race to record the fastest time of the event - a 3:12.5 with Maret/Perret moving into 2^nd place with a 3:14.2 and Picard/Perret (FRA) putting in a good 3:15.9 to edge into 3^rd spot.

So - there were 4 French teams into the semis accompanied by 2 British, 1 Austrian, 1 Ukrainian and 1 Belgian teams. Tribe/Bollen took advantage of a two up race at the end of the third round to put in a 3:31.0 and fill the first reserve position (although, as it turned out, they were not to be required)

Ougen/Surugue led the way in the first round of semi's with a 3:15.5 followed closely by Ross/Turner on 3:16.8 and Maret/Perret on 3:18.6. None of these were able to improve in the second round but an excellent time of 3:15.8 by Picard/Perret was to mean that the current world champion was put out of the final by his daughter.

The final got underway at around 4:30 pm with delays caused by a light rain storm and distant thunder causing concern. All teams were away successfully at the start with Ougen/Surugue clearly the fastest in the air and Ross/Turner's model running light as they had chosen to do for the final. As the race progressed it was clearly going to be between these two teams as Picard/Perret were gradually dropping behind. By the midway stage the UK model had picked up a bit of speed and a compression change was required by Ougen/Surugue resulting in the two teams running neck and neck by the 150 lap mark despite Malcolm Ross cutting in the wrong place at the 4^th stop and having to glide an extra stop lap. The French model was now running warm and Ross/Turner were nearly three laps ahead as they came in for their final stop on 168 laps. All it needed was a nice steady pitstop but, unfortunately, the model slipped through Brian Turner's hand and ran into the circle causing the UK team to be Dq'd when Brian retrieved it. Ougen/Surugue's motor overheated terribly and droned on to win with a time of 6:59.4 with Picard/Perret around 11 laps behind and coming home in 7:20.9. It was surprising the Roland did not call the model down at around 185 laps to make an adjustment again and save the motor - they were certainly well enough clear to be able to do this.

The prize giving took place at around 6:15 outside the clubhouse with the local town mayor giving a short speech and all competitors receiving some reward for their efforts.

Much thanks must go to Jean Paul Perret and all of his helpers at CMBL who do a marvellous job of organising this event every year.

Don’t Forget - GPL at Piennes - September 7^th and 8^th 2002