Practice saw a whole bunch of guys looking for those final tenths to give them the edge on this five laned sweeper of a track. Straight line speed was going to be more important on this track than some of the smaller more technical tracks we race on but the big ‘if’ was going to be getting enough downforce from a quick model on the sweeping magnabraid bends.
First up was round two of the new trophy series Renault Meganes. Two choices for this event.... SCX or Ninco. Hands up those who chose Ninco??.......WRONG!!!. You guessed it. I had been doing some homework on the new (to me) Logan City speedway (call for details!). Owner Greg has a demon SCX Megane which I couldn’t catch with my Ninco, so I bought my ten year old SCX Megane out of retirement complete with aging pro turbo motor, and burned some midnight oil!
On the day, three SCX Meganes blitzed the field. They took off into the distance like scalded cats and the rest of the pack just wasn’t in it, SCX and Ninco alike. There was a tight bunch behind the three and they had some good racing amongst themselves. At the final flag the Logan boys crossed the line and when the results were published it was a bit reminiscent of the day three Ford GT40’s crossed the line at Le Mans! Well done to Greg for taking out the class win on his debut!
Next class was the modern GT’s. Once again a mixed bag here which is always good to see. Paul had obviously been reading something of mine on the Outhouse as he turned up with the same model as me for this event!!? Although he did try a couple of others out, the Carrera Z4 Bimmer was unstoppable. Chris raced a very quick dodge Viper and there were a couple of Maserati MC12’s putting on a good show, but best and fairest on the day was ‘Mr Quiet Achiever’ Garry with a very quick Scaley Ford GT.
I put in the quickest time with my Carrera Z4 but was dogged by senior moments in the early stages of the race. I jumped the lights at the start of one heat after someone feigned, and did a full on deslot under the only flyover after the track went left when my intention was to go straight on!! Finally after all the action the computer once again showed who was paying attention.....and who wasn’t.
Last up was the Modern F1 race. Now the word is that ALL F1 races without exception, end in carnage! And this race was no exception. I give eleven out of ten to all the marshalls, under siege from all manner of flying plastic, and I’m sure there was a small pile of front wings building up at a couple of the corners in most heats.
There was a potential choice of three different makes for this class although I suspect it was predominantly Scaley products that were going well. Glen had a hugely fast early Scaley Toyota (remember them?) and he was going to use it. Paul had an even more hugely fast Toyota and he was going to use his too! And I had a monstrously quick ING Renault and guess what, you got it!
The early heats saw me bore off into the distant future with Glen and Paul in pursuit. A few heats later Paul had a massive shunt which decimated the front of his model, and was going to race a second string model. Glen and Garry put in consistently good times and as I always say “Mr Average wins the race†so a mammoth effort was required. A bunch of racers in the midfield positions were also having their good times and their bad times. A race that was dogged with crashes tested racers and marshalls alike.
With my last heat at hand I just had to go for it and stay on. I achieved a track best of 7.120 earlier on and didn’t need to prove anything, but a couple of incidents inflicted on me by the great Sun god Ra saw what was an easy chance slip away. Conversely, Paul decided to race the battered Toyota and all, for me, was lost. Not only did he have a race average of 7.9 he had a best lap of 6.990 which was a new track record. I’m sure Shakespeare would have a good line for my distress!
It turned out as a war of attrition for some guys. Ken didn’t know what name he was racing under for one race??? Al suffered a litany of model failures. Dave wanted to change his name to Phil for the results bit. Eggy was fending off a barrage of badinage from all quarters. Newcomer Tim was flying one minute and then....not. John for once was always the bridesmaid! Bob suffered a skin lesion during a marshalling incident!!?? Kev was sidelined with a viral attack, Justin, was Justin!
So there we have it. Another great race day at the mount and nothing more to do other than pack up and go home. Many thanks to Glen for holding the meeting, and many thanks for the eats and nibbly’s that were forthcoming during the afternoon!