SCCA Majors Buttonwillow Sept 5/6

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The Eric Report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ME...abmbyHzXYnKIIs

With the second heat wave hitting California, Formula F The Series would visit a destination known for its temperate climate at Buttonwillow along with Cal Club. With temperatures reaching just shy of 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit, more than one car would struggle to find sufficient cooling. That aside, the field set out on Saturday morning to put a bit of heat in the tires and get on with qualifying. Using a configuration that is seldom run, gearing would be a guess as would setup and learning the best line would be critical through the chicane. As the session wore on, two cars would clear themselves of the field with Chuck Horn putting in a pole taking effort and Eric Little following a scant 0.27 seconds behind. Apparent newcomer Ed Poulsen… that is what the result sheet said so I am sticking with it…. came up third fastest with Stewart Paterson right behind. Mike Callas would qualify fourth while Andy Paterson would discover that if no power is getting to the transponder, you don’t get any qualifying times.
Later that day with temperatures soaring, the field took to the track. A slow start had the field tightly bunched into turn one with Chuck retaining the lead and Eric Little holding off Eric Poulsen and Stewart to see the field form up in order. Late in lap one, Eric would utilize his learning from watching the movie ‘Ford v. Ferrari’ to discover it is true that if you use full throttle and high gear, you can pass your competition. So in his own ‘Ford v. Honda’ battle, Eric drafted by Chuck on the long run to Star Mazda to take the lead. A couple of laps later, a mistake out of sunset would see Chuck retake the lead. The pair continued the battle swapping positions on several occasions with Chuck taking advantage of the Honda low end grunt and Eric capitalizing on the high rev power of the Ford. It was truly the quintessential Honda/Ford battle. With only three laps to go, an electrical problem would leave Eric stranded at the side of the road to watch the finish as Chuck would cruise to another win. Eric Poulsen would come through to take second while the remainder of the field exited the race early with cooling issues. I did mention that it was just shy of 8,000 degrees right?
Sunday qualifying would see an adequately wired transponder and a good run move Andy Paterson up to second chasing Chuck who once again set pole. A fuel delivery problem would hamper Eric Little’s qualifying effort seeing him come in third while Stewart Paterson struggled with handling problems that appeared to have been addressed earlier in the year, bring the car in for fourth fastest and Ed… Eric Poulsen taking fifth. Mike Callas could not solve his cooling issues and decided to not take part on Sunday.
As the pace car ducked on pit road, Chuck decided to start the race completely the opposite of Saturday with the field accelerating away early for a high paced green flag. With no room between any of the front three rows, turn one would be interesting. Chuck held to the inside line as did Eric Little. The pair trusted (probably unwisely) that there would be grip in turn one while Andy Paterson on the outside opted to brake a bit early. Eric would follow Chuck to gain a position in turn one on the start with Andy slotting in third. Watching a bit of sliding from Chuck, Eric would stay on his gearbox and repeat the prior race start drafting by before the braking zone for Star Mazda where unfortunately, some lines and plans did not go as expected seeing the cars of Eric Little and Andy Paterson miss the corner and find themselves out of the race. Chuck would be delayed by this but able to continue the fight. The delay gave a bit of a gap for Stewart Paterson and Eric Poulsen now leading the field. The two would swap the lead on multiple occasions. However, this battle would slow the two and allow Chuck to close the gap. With three to go, Chuck would retake the lead and go on for the win while Stewart would finish second and Eric Poulsen third.
Congratulations to Chuck Horn whose dual win clinched his second consecutive FFTS title. A further congratulations to Eric Poulsen and Chuck Horn who were the weekend winners of the Hoosier tire giveaway. FFTS appreciates the generosity and support of Hoosier and Hoosier Tire West in what has been a difficult racing year for everyone. There is still one race left and FFTS will be announcing another tire giveaway for that final event.
FFTS thanks all of the Cal Club workers who endured tough conditions this race weekend so that we could compete. It has been a pleasure to race with Cal Club this season and we look forward to 2021.
Next FFTS visits Thunderhill to finish the remaining two rounds with the San Francisco region. We hope everyone will join us at a fantastic track for the last race of the FFTS 2021 season.