SEQSCC August epic

[wixwacing]

It was going to take more than plummeting temperatures to deter the rank and file of the SEQSCC. And so, on a milder evening than before, a group of stalwarts made their way to (g)Raceville to do battle against the track and each other. The theme for this nights racing was a German affair with models picked from across the post-war era. And what better way to start than with cutting edge technology in the form of DTM!!!

First up where the German Touring Masters and Norm very quickly stamped his authority on the race and sailed off into the wild blue yonder leaving the rest of us scampering for position. I tried to bring the fight to him but my box standard Carrera Audi decided to have continued braid problems with its huge guide and at one stage it was hard to complete a lap. Kev decided it was his turn to challenge but Norm was gone! Ken chose the role of also ran and ran also but at the flag he had me behind him so I was left with egg on my face!

The second heat saw a three way family affair with Mick, Sean and Dan nutting it out between them. Peter, in one of his more constructive modes managed to place himself between Mick and son Sean at the line while Dan had to contend with ‘also ran!’







Baying for blood with a now fixed Carrera Audi I requested to join the last event as there were a couple of spare spots. Norm was posted too and with track owners Julian and Mark in the line up it was on. Norm’s car had more straight line speed than mine but the twin magnet Carreras hang on for grim death in the bends and the more twistier parts of the track and Norm,s delectation for the odd deslot helped me to first place in front of Norm at the flag.

Event 1			DTM			10 laps
Race 1
position		driver			fastest lap (secs)
1.			Norm				24.24
2.			Kev				25.85
3.			Ken				28.09
4.			Phil				25.19

Race 2

1.			Mick				25.70
2.			Peter				27.38
3.			Sean				24.93
4.			Dan				30.56

Race 3

1.			Phil				24.57
2.			Julian				25.92
3.			Norm				23.09
4.			Mark				25.39

Event two saw the field swell some what with new faces and old arriving for the event. The Class was A1GP and on the very favourable Scalextric Sport surface with similar models, there was going to be even closer racing, or so I thought. Even though the fastest lap times show a very evenly matched field, the races seem to be interspersed with regular deslots in regular places with the remainder of the competition driving into the deslotted cars in question.







The ‘car park’ was the favourite venue and either by skill or judgement the offending cars managed to bring the race to a standstill in the worst marshalling spots on more than one occasion!! with marshalls peering into the murky depths of the muti pass over to recover cars. Dan struggled with an ailing model and eventually retired after it petered out all together. Finally all the heats were run and we quickly moved on to the next class!!

Event 2			A1GP				20 laps

Race 4

1.			Norm				21.14
2.			Peter				23.18
3.			Mick				23.04
4.			Kev				23.94

Race 5

1.			Rob				22.09
2.			Sean				22.59
3.			Ken				24.00
4.			Dan				26.64

Race 6

1.			Phil				18.05
2.			Julian				21.73
3.			Adrian				21.78
4.			Gary				20.45

Next up were the notorious Kombis. These are diecast models with a Scalextric Lancer chassis and running gear. They have a good turn of speed on the straight but although they can corner quite well, a roll over deslot can come quickly and mercilessly to the inattentive(all of us)! This class is a great leveller and it can bring fame and great wealth to those who succeed. Well, fame anyway. And so, some new names appear at the top of the results board which showed that suffering and torment was shared by all.






Dan put in a good performance to win his heat after a lack lustre showing in the classes so far. Good on yer Dan. Adrian and Kev also managed to turn their acts round for this event. I’m not fully sure what Peter was up to but he didn’t clear any lap??

Event 3			Kombis			5 laps

Race 7

1.			Kev				26.39
2.			Rob				32.04
3.			Norm				36.98
4.			Mick				43.22

Race 8

1.			Dan				32.13
2.			Ken				34.23
3.			Julian				40.80
4.			Phil??!!??			39.83

Race 9

1.			Adrian				28.24
2.			Gary				32.45
3.			Sean				38.81
4.			Peter				48.28

It was now time for the ‘champagne’ class, Porsche 911 GT’s. A good selection of models for this event and as expected the Scaley Porsches were going to dominate but they didn’t have it completely all there own way. I mustered an Autoart GT-R which, with its twin magnets and high performance motor on paper was a contender. But the immensity of the Graceville circuit left a power drop on the far side of the track and my model struggled for watts at critical moments. Still, it did well to take a second place in stiff competition.







Norm blew the rest away in his heat and again was back at the bar while we were still disputing the rest of the placings. Peter managed to secure his first and only win of the night.

Event 4		Porsche 911 GT		13 laps

Race 10

1.			Norm				22.45
2.			Phil				25.19
3.			Kev				25.66
4.			Gary				28.28

Race 11

1.			Adrian				23.79
2.			Ken				26.45
3.			Mick				29.05
4.			Sean				33.91

Race 12

1.			Peter				24.95
2.			Julian				25.06
3.			Dan				28.28
4.			Gary				31.36

The 1000km of the Nurburgring was next, or the 5 minutes of Graceville to be more precise. This was open to classic Nurburgring style cars but the only two models to make it to the line were the Scaley Mercedes 300 SLR’s and the Revell Porsche 550’s. This was shaping up to be a David and Goliath scenario but it soon proved that once again, David would be the victor on the night. The Mercs were way outclassed by the Porsches which had straight line speed to spare and cornering ability reminiscent of their stable mates, the Trebants. It was very soon clear that if you weren’t racing a Porsche, then you weren’t racing!! While the Mercs were putting in 26 and 27 second laps, the Porsches were scorching a 22 second trail across the leader board.

Event 5		Nurburgring 1000km		5 minutes

Race 13

1.			Phil				21.92
2.			Julian				22.51
3.			Adrian				27.03
4.			Mick				26.17

Race 14

1.			Gary				24.91
2.			Norm				26.35
3.			Dan				30.12
4.			Peter				31.98

Race 15

1.			Kev				23.45
2.			Sean				27.76
3.			John				28.01
4.			Ken				29.52

The penultimate event was the SEQSCC Challenge and what better way to celebrate the history of Germany in motor sport than to line up four Pink Kar VeeDub Beetles!!! For those of us on valium it would seem quite an exciting race but for the rest it was to be the longest three laps of their slotcar career!! The race was punctuated by long periods of eerie silence as all four models would depart their predetermined routes on mass. This event was much like synchronised swimming!! All the models would come off together, no matter where they were!! Eventually the excitement subsided and we noticed that some racers had actually completed the task in hand so positions were declared!!

Event 6		VeeDub Beetles			3 laps

Race 16

1.			Mick				45.76
2.			John				47.16
3.			Sean				47.52
4.			Dan				51.64

Race 17

1.			Norm				43.69
2.			Julian				43.48
3.			Kev				50.02
4.			Phil				45.38

Race 18

1.			Gary				44.49
2.			Peter				48.89
3.			Ken				42.27
4.			Adrian				54.16

Finally, with the big hand on the six and the little hand on the ten, we waded into the last class. The ‘piece de resistance’ was to be Scaley Mercedes CLK GT1!! Almost non magnet! A very slippery drive in deed and the one with most nerve was to be the winner. Adrian led the way buy choosing the same spot to deslot each time which made it easy for the marshalls. Every one else thoughtlessly picked random spots which had the marshalls in a flat spin at times and extended their ‘down’ time and lengthened their lap times! Twelve competitors in the hunt still made for good racing and ‘Mr Steady’ paid dividends. Another good win for Mick in his event which indicated he had less than one hundred deslots!!

Event 7		Scalextric Mercedes CLK GT1

Race 19

1.			Kev				28.86
2.			Norm				28.27
3.			Dan				37.36
4.			Ken				35.13

Race 20

1.			Mick				33.26
2.			Adrian				32.39
3.			Julian				34.40
4.			Peter				37.46

Race 21

1.			Phil			not recorded
2.			Sean				“
3.			Gary				“
4.			Mark				“

All in all another successful evening with fourteen in attendance over the evening. This event is a great leveller and it reduces racers to equal terms time and again. Once again, many thanks to Mark and Julian for a great evening at a great venue.

[yankfaraway]

Where are you guys getting those great VW Bus bodies? I can't find them anywhere! I have a '71 Bus and a '68 Doublecab truck that I love, in addition to several other VW's, and I want to build a slot car of all six of them. But in 1/32, I haven't had a nibble on my line.

[wixwacing]

Hi Rob

These are diecast metal bodies whic adds to the drama of racing them. They are available in some of those two dolar staore here or at service station checkouts.

There is a source of resin ones which comes at a price though and that is

http//www.a2mweb.com

You might need to cut and paste this as I can't seem to get the direct link to work.