Once again Slotcar Legends invited all and sundry to an afternoon of serious competitive slotcar racing. That in itself was a big ask and sure enough the closest anything got to serious or competitive was the rush for the meat pies in the interim . Nonetheless, we all mustered as much dignity as we could and pretended to be mature and responsible adults just for a brief moment in time.
Gary ALWAYS dresses for the occasion!
Chaps started arriving about 13.00 hr and set to testing the competition cars for the afternoon. I can honestly say I have never seen as much indecision outside of local slotcar racing!! I was always lead to believe we picked our models days before and fine tuned them to the peak of performance BEFORE the race day……………. Call me old fashioned if you like but I swear it does work. There is obviously a large segment of Slotcar Legends who allow fate to be the harbinger on their race day…..and sure enough, fate was the operative word for this meeting.
So, without further ado, the five minute bell was rung (metaphorically) and indecision took over.
First up was a testing class. LMP open, what would this bring? Most racers had chosen to race more recent offerings like the Scaley Porsches and the Ninco Acuras and trust me when I say these are more than competitive on this track. There was also an Audi R8 (old style) and a couple of Lolas, not to mention a Joest Porsche or two, but, some of us had done our homework and had pulled their Ninco BMW’s out of retirement.
The first heat saw a strong field but on a fresh track we were struggling to break the five second barrier. Heat two was total chaos with the field in total inverted disarray. My usual impeccable track manners had to be compromised on a couple of occasions when marshalls decided it was more interesting to watch the race than to recover models spinning on their drivers heads every time a car passed by?
A couple of good heats followed and with group B drivers creating some interesting mobile chicane situations it looked set to be a disciplined and orderly event. Then the sun came over the front yard and extraneous infra red managed to find its way under one of the circulating models and caused it not to register laps. With the garage door down we continued on our way and a mental note was made to add fifty seconds on to Gary’s results.
Secret mens slotcar business
By the latter heats Chris had got his Scaley flying, thanks to some MJK tyres he had purchased from me earlier in the day. Blatantly the quickest car on the track, circulating in 4.6 second laps, but some earlier entanglements with other racers and the need to race his Ninco on the outer lanes (because the Scaley guide wouldn’t negotiate a couple of outside lane corners) was to put him a couple of more places down the finishing order than he would have liked.
Once again there was a contingent of fleet car owners displaying their garage as different models took to the track. Loosing wheels and various other parts in the course of the event. Peter J played a pivotal role in others fortunes as he made sure you were getting past him over his dead body on the tight and tortuous corners of the Boondall track. Jordan too had set his own path for the night!
LMP results before Gary's 50 second correction
By now the track was rubbering up nicely and the track owner and another track owner present where admiring the dark marks across the piste and were pondering tyre compounds for this new level of grip?? About this time , and taking view of some casual attire, it was also pondered as to what actually happened to the Neubaeur and Rosemeyer’s of South East Queensland RTR slotcar racing?? The purple hibiscus’s where present on only one torso! And not a bona fide wearer!! Yes, what ever happened to the Sunny boys threat which made its presence felt at some of the meetings in the not too distant past? Is it Sunny boys………. ‘RIP’?
No matter, the next event was DTM’s and that too was going to be a good one. The models had to be sedans which had raced in modern DTM and had to carry the markings of one of the modern DTM series. This was one to be pondered too and from the start there was going to be some Carrera cars, but possibly they were just a little too heavy for this twisty circuit? I put my money on an SCX Astra and there were also a couple of Scaley models from that era too. A couple of Nincos finished the field off and it was time to start.
These models are capable of a good turn of speed and before long racers where locking wheels in the twisty bits and the quicker ones were once again trying to steer a clear path round the back markers. The best tactic was to wait and for those who did it paid off. For those who didn’t they spent a percentage of the race waiting to be marshalled.
Never let it be said that there is total control at a legends meeting and one of the later heats saw two erstwhile contenders go to their adjacent race positions nervously waiting for the off…..and when it came, it took a lap or two to realise these buffoons had, for whatever reason, decided to go to the wrong drivers stations, consequently they were driving each others models while following the spectacular antics of their own models!!! One was the track owner who will remain anonymous and the other was an unidentified participant in the form of an ‘also ran’.
Moving on, the heats progressed nicely and Kev, Paul and Eggy where proving to be worthy adversaries, but it was going to need more than ‘worthy’ to be a winner. The racing proceeded heat after heat in marshall nightmare mode and if you could stay out of trouble you had to be a contender. But who would be the top?? Finally the computer decided who was it and a well deserving run from Norm left him in first spot with a good drive by Chris giving him second place.
DTM Results
The Historic Can Am round was started and once again with such big models on such a tight track, it was always going to be tough. But in spite of that, the careful racers were the ones who benefited most. A couple of models were of dubious origin and content and I will be addressing that issue this week but for the most there was a good show of qualifying models. Gary had a little Monogram McLaren M6 which was flying and Norm alternated between a Lola and a vanquish model of some description??
What have you got there Kenny??!!
Heat one showed it was full on and after a couple of silly mistakes I got in the groove and hunted Norm down ‘til I was along side him. Then, a lap from the end he caught me in the sweeper onto the main straight and that was second place for me. Big Johns 917 which had been so successful at Nerangba was struggling to keep up and I noticed John raced a couple of model in an attempt to stay competitive.
Alan took his custom striped M20 to the pack and it wasn’t long before he was dishing out as good as he got. I estimated the model to weigh in at about twelve kilos but I’m sure it was a bit lighter than that. Moby was demonstrating some of his ‘new motors’ which were very recent acquisitions. Moby had struggled defiantly in the earlier part of the evening with what must have been a two ohm controller until I leant him one!! It was them time for him to race his ‘new motors’ one at a time and very nice they were too!
Kev was pushing a very smart Vanquish about the laps and looked to be heading for a good spot and Chris was doing some decidedly quick laps in a non legal car! It was about this time I had noticed that through the course of the evening the track owner had been slipping down the results and some erratic on track performances were causing me to wonder what the fault might be?
'Allo John, gotta new trophy?!
We eventually got to the end of the second running of the Historic Can Am series and the computer once again dished the dirt and Norm had the biggest pile. Well done Norm. A scattered field as far as expectations were concerned but a great afternoons racing by any standard. One thing I look forward to is round three of the Slotcar legends Historic Can Am series!
During the third class the food was cooked and we retired to the entertainment area to imbibe and partake in some carnophilic comestibles. Jordan had once more done himself proud and had a very nice barbequeued supper waiting for us. During the break Bob took the opportunity to present some of the hardware which had been available to successful contestants for the season and the year. There was discussion as the format for racing in months to come and maybe a new injection of ideas for the groups. Whatever happens I am sure we will all continue to enjoy firstly the hospitality of the track owners and their wives and secondly some outstanding racing and camaraderie in the times to come. I look forward to seeing you all once again in a couple of weeks.
Leave it alone John!
Goodnight Jordan!
