AFF1600NATS: Tom Chapman 2024 Champion

Tom Chapman has emerged from an intense three-day weekend at Morgan Park Raceway as our 2024 Australian Formula Ford 1600 Nationals Champion, having won the 15-lap Feature Race over Marc Redman and Matt Dicinoski having avoiding carnage at the race start.
2024 Champion: Tom Chapman (#88). Lifeskills Australia backed Van Diemen RF01 by Fastlane Racing.

---------- Pre-Race ----------

The event had many distinct sections building up to the winner-takes-all Feature Race, starting with an open practice day on the Wednesday. Half the field participated, with the two Okey Dokey cars from WA of Brock Brewer and Todd Vince rapidly learning the challenging Morgan Park layout; reigning champion Tim Hamilton was running in a freshly rebuilt engine; Andrew Torti spending time building upon his recent first race meeting in Warwick; while Wes Young, Matt Dicinoski and Michael Gillespie additionally all sorting out cars which had at various times through the year caused their owners some troubles.

Come Friday the rest of the field had arrived, which included a quartet of front runners consisting of the remaining two from the WA crew in Tom Chapman and Marc Redman and the pair of Anglo Motorsport Spirits to be piloted by Queenslander’s Liam Loiacono and AJ Gealy. Not everyone chose to run official lap timers on their cars, but it was self-evident there was going to be an eight-way tussle for the front with a string of battle-packs emerging from 9th through to 19th.

Uncharacteristic for November, an East-Coast wide heatwave saw ambient temperatures of 36 degrees on Wednesday. Thankfully they would gradually ease to high 20's by Sunday... with the threat of rain for the Feature Race! Welcome to Sunny Queensland.

---------- Qualifying ----------

Brock Brewer (WA) took pole position in Saturday morning’s Qualifying for the first of three heat races. Each heat race would work to a progressive grid, scoring points that would determine the starting order for The Nationals Feature Race.

Joining Brewer on the front row was Loiacono (Qld), followed by three of the West’s best in Chapman, Vince and Redman, then Queensland hopefuls Gealy, Torti and Hamilton. Rounding out the Top 10 was FF1600 newcomer Matt Dicinoski and the out-of-hibernation Tony Chapman (no relation to WA’s Chapman), both racing for Queensland.

Man of Speed: Pole in Qualifying. New race Lap Record (1:20.830). Brock Brewer (#157) Van Diemen RF93.

---------- Heat Races ----------

Heat 1 was a high-pressure race but ultimately the front runners ended up where they started, save for Andrew Torti who managed to overhaul AJ Gealy on the last lap. Notably however Tim Hamilton started out of position at the end of pit lane, and despite progressing through the field his title-defence came to an end as he retired to the pits with engine-related gremlins and would not reappear for the rest of the event.

Heat 2 was a feisty affair as Brock Brewer fired off the road starting lap two and handed Loiacono the lead, who in turn was dealing with pressure from Todd Vince who found a way past on lap 6 and continued to the win. Tom Chapman snuck through to second as well thanks to the displaced Loiacono, but eventually ceded position to the Spirit driver to finish third. Brewer was on a mission though, dispensing with Tony Chapman and AJ Gealy, then Marc Redman and finally Andrew Torti to work back to fourth by race end. Tony Chapman would become another event scratching as an engine dry-sump issue forced a "safer rather than sorry" withdrawal.

Heat 2 winner Todd Vince (#17) & Marc Redman (#11).

Sunday opened with Heat 3, the final opportunity to earn the all-important points that would set the starting order for The Nationals. Todd Vince was the leader to begin with, but Liam Loiacono had been steadily getting his head around FF1600s and found some more speed which was put to good use as he emerged in P1 at the end of lap 2. From there he wasn’t headed but had to deal with the charge of the West Australian’s right on his tail. Starting lap 7 Brewer pushed deep into Turn 1 and ran out of road, while Tom Chapman was up the inside of Todd Vince at the same time. The order would shake out with Chapman following Loiacono home for second, while Brewer retook Vince on the last lap to secure third.

Heat 3 lead battle Liam Loiacono (#43), Brock Brewer (#157) & Todd Vince (#17).

---------- The Nationals: Starting Grid ----------

With the Heat Races concluded, the points to set The Nationals Starting Grid were tabulated. Multiple tiebreaks required positions to be settled on best result count-back. Liam Loiacono claimed pole, followed by Brewer, Vince and Tom Chapman, with Marc Redman and AJ Gealy set to launch from the third row, Matt Dicinoski and Jerry Van de Pol starting 7th and 8th. Shane Baumer was 9th and the leading Analogue Cup contender, and Andrew Torti dropped a few spots due to a late Heat 3 DNF.

The 2024 Australian Formula Ford 1600 Nationals would be run over 15 laps of Morgan Park in the early afternoon of Sunday as “Race 4” on the program, with the Podium Positions, The Analogue Cup and The Hard Charger Award all to be decided in the single Feature Race.

New for 2024, The Analogue Cup is for cars without Data Logging or Digital Gauges. Eligible contenders were: Shane Baumer, Wes Young, Robert Rowe, Jeff Senior and David Rodgie. Sadly a late gearbox drama saw Rodgie miss the Feature Race.

The Hard Charger Award is for the most places gained from the Starting Grid.

The Nationals: Starting Grid Pole - Liam Loiacono (#43) in the NSW built Spirit WL10. 

---------- The Nationals: Feature Race ----------

The lights went out and it was Brock Brewer on the outside line with the best start, gaining half a car length over Liam Loiacono. Disaster struck after only a few hundred meters, with Brewer lifted and rotated in front of the pack as contact between the front row pair set off a chain reaction of events that shuffled the entire pack and eliminated some contenders.

The second-row starters somehow navigated around the spinning Brewer, but for the unfortunate AJ Gealy there was nowhere to go while running along the pit wall and he ended up sandwiched between Brewer and the fence. Three cars were out on the spot, Brewer and Gealy intertangled on the main straight with the rescue crews immediately jumping into action, while Loiacono only limped as far as Turn 2 before broken front left suspension signaled retirement.

The race was immediately neutralised by Race Control under a red flag, with drivers parked on the Starting Grid in single file and attended to by crews with umbrellas and battery jump packs. It was determined to resume the race under a Safety Car Restart once the track was cleared.

Separately to all the action on the main straight, Andrew Torti had pulled up after The Bridge with mechanical trouble and would not proceed any further.

With all drivers walking away and the cars and debris cleaned up, the field proceeded under the control of the Safety Car on Lap 2. With contenders Loiacono, Brewer and the rapidly improving duo of Gealy and Torti out on Lap 1, the race went green starting Lap 3 with Tom Chapman immediately fending off pressure from Todd Vince and Marc Redman.

Vince added to the unpredictable script, running off track on Lap 4 in his pursuit of Chapman and dropping to last place and 24 seconds behind! He put in a storming recovery drive to Fourth but had to fight fiercely for every place gained and fell just shy of commencing a podium attack on the last lap.

Meanwhile the battle for The Analogue Cup came down to two, with Shane Baumer and Wes Young putting on a spectacle of passing and high pressure driving which kept the spectators stacked on the pedestrian bridge and viewing mounds entertained. By mid-race though it was clear that something was amiss for Baumer after having edged into the lead of the battle, as a cut tyre valve stem would deflate his tyre, presumably from collecting debris on his way through the opening lap disaster. Wes Young would continue to the flag and collect The Analogue Cup along with a 7th place outright finish.

The Analogue Cup battle: Shane Baumer (#86) fought Wes Young (#9) until a deflating tyre ended his Nationals.

Recipient of The Hard Charger Award was Jeremy Mattea, who made up 7 places from his starting position to finish 6th outright. Locked in a battle royale over 5th place with Jerry Van de Pol, the pair ultimately fought into Gumtree Corner side-by-side and Mattea nearly held it for the inside line at Siberia, but Van de Pol deployed a ‘send it long’ braking defence and held the place around the outside of the turn. Not long after Mattea’s progress fizzled as engine temperatures kept climbing as more laps ticked by, so he drove to a number managing his car to the finish.

With attrition only 11 made the finish. Michael Gillespie improved all weekend and claimed 8th, fighting hard with NSW’s Three Amigo’s Team of Robert Rowe, Jeff Senior and Jason Liddell (9th-11th).

Meanwhile Tom Chapman was supreme at the head of the field, comfortably building his lead after the Todd Vince departure and taking a thumping victory in the 2024 Australian Formula Ford 1600 Nationals presented by Yokohama. West Australian compatriot Marc Redman claimed a surprise Second with a consistent and controlled approach paying dividends and being the true dark horse by setting the 2nd fastest lap time of the event. Best of the Queenslanders was Matt Dicinoski in Third, speechless and overjoyed with his first ever FF1600 podium!

Podium surprise in Second: Marc Redman (#11) in the WA built Stealth S3. Under the radar in the Heats, he delivered when it mattered.

Third and best of the locals: Matt Dicinoski (#2) in the UK built Van Diemen RF06. Started 7th, car and driver same shade of red by the end, but stoked nevertheless.

---------- The Nationals: Feature Race Result ----------

Fastest Lap was Tom Chapman 1:21.7510. 
Ignore Fastest Lap Results below, due to the safety-car restart a timing error has occurred. 

The Nationals Podium (L to R): Matt Dicinoski (3rd), Tom Chapman (1st) & Marc Redman (3rd).

Hard Charger Award - Jeremy Mattea (#3) in the VIC built Spectrum 05c.

The Analogue Cup winner - Wes Young (#9) in the UK built Van Diemen RF96K.

---------- The Wrap ----------

What had been building up all weekend as an intense battle will ultimately go down in history instead as the epitome of survival of the fittest. The last one standing in The Winner Takes It All was Tom Chapman in his Lifeskills Australia backed Van Diemen RF01 prepared by Brett Lupton’s Fastlane Racing and Tom’s father Brad.

It goes to show that you must be in it to win it, so keep an eye out on Formula Ford Australia media for the announcement of the 2025 edition of the AFF1600NATS!

The Formula Ford Association would like to thank:
Event partners Morgan Park Raceway and Yokohama for their support 
All the event officials, flaggies and track crew for an outstanding weekend
Amelia Foss and Tia Watt for Photography and Social Media coverage
Zak Caban for Commentary
James Corbett for Competitor Liaison & Scrutineering
Tony Chapman for Media and Promotions
Tim Hamilton for Event Organisation
All the competitors for making The Nationals what it is
Special mention for those that traveled from around the country. Sorry about the heat!

Race Report by Tony Chapman and Tim Hamilton. Images by Amelia Foss & Tia Watt.