Eggy’s track is a brilliant four laned board circuit and highly driveable too, but open wheelers!! Gulp!!
Plenty of track time for the early arrivals helped them make last minute changes and, with the exception of a couple of latecomers, most of us were happy with our models and ready to do it. First up was JGTC GT500 (Japan) cars only! The entries came from Ninco and Scalextric and on this surface the winner would be a Ninco no doubt.
After the first couple of heats it was clear that Paul had his model flying and Chris was lapping very respectably in his Scaley Xanavi Nismo. Carnage was at a minimum and marshalls had a little time to reflect on other things. Justin had his new Lexus in fine fettle. During practice it had been hard to beat but slowly, everything came unravelled for him in the heats and a prospective race winner ended up half way down the results. Egg as always tried his best to unnerve the rest of the pack but even after a couple of respectable heats he (or the marshalls!) let himself down badly. He took up next spot after Justin in the results.
Racing was quick with the leaders lapping in the very low sixes with a couple of guys pulling out 5.8.s and race averages of not much more! After twelve minutes total race time the results were as follows:
JGTC Overall Group B Position Position Driver 1. Paul 2. Phil 3. Chris 4. Norm 5. Glen 6. Eggy 7. Justin 8. John 9. 1. Jordan 10. 2. Ken 11. 3. Alan
With the fast race out of the way it was time to indulge in possibly one of the best classes for this track. NC1/NC8 Rally! Along with NC1 Touring cars this is one of the most closely contested classes. We have expanded the rules to the class and any Rally car with an NC1 / NC8 conversion is allowed. This sees popular models like Peugeot 307’s and Porsche 911’s amongst many take part.
This event was Justin’s turn to shine and he had his 307 running at the max for all heats, comfortably coming in ahead of the field. Norm’s Porsche 911 was very quick on the track but Norm had issues with keeping it there! There was an acute shortage of Subarus but the classic Ninco Celicas made up for it, being one of the most popular models fielded.
With the exception of Justin, the rest of the pack had some very close racing with models finishing their 25 laps on the same lap more than once. The chicane on the flyover kept the marshalls busy most of the time and it was all to do just to stay out of trouble. The wily driver reaped the benefit of the situation and eventually Justin’s 307 took first spot with a couple of Celicas hot on his tail!
1. Justin 2. Chris 3. Phil 4. Glen 5. Paul 6. John 7. Eggy 8. Norm 9. 1. Jordan 10. 2. Ken 11. 3. Alan
Time out was called as Eggy had graciously supplied a barbeque and it was time to feed our faces and build up strength for the daunting task ahead. Washed down with a concoction of beverages we steeled ourselves for the next class, (well, I did anyway!)
I had some trepidation about the last class well before the event and planned that if I could stay out of trouble I would be in with a good chance. A fat chance, more like! To put it mildly Open wheelers was a fiasco, no! Chaotic mayhem, yes, that sounds more descriptive! Total anarchy on four wheels. The ‘dome lends itself to ALL classes of racing but unfortunately not to all classes of driver! The inevitable happened and at times the track was more reminiscent of the Dunkirk evacuation!
The class was for open wheelers and there was a good cross section on the track. These include the Lauda 312 Ferrari and the Hunt McLaren M23, an ageing Scaley Benetton, (bad luck Chris), a new Scaley McLaren and an Indy car!! A couple of A1 GP’s and my Ninco Ferrari 312b amongst others.
The marshalls were kept fully occupied for the duration and full marks go to Terry who volunteered for turn one! At any one time there was a queue for his marshalling talents. Another hot spot was the main underpass after turn two. Flat strap in yellow lane saw the model involved leap from the slot and clear the perimeter fence, bounce off the monitor and fall into a hard to get to pocket below the track!! I know, I marshalled that spot! Other cars tried to cross the elevated chicane ‘en masse’ only to have one of them leap into the air and fall to the floor between green and blue drivers stations!! While some of us were ripping off hot laps, others were ripping off front and rear wings and other items not fully nailed on!
There was a brief interlude to the destruction when Eggy’s wife Kim brought tea and cake for the frazzled nerves of all. Well done that gal! Anyway, for me the carnage had an up side. I had decided to race an old faithful Ninco Ferrari 310b with MJK’s. A good choice as it happens. Not the fastest, but so easy to drive. I spent most of the heats avoiding models in front of me, besides me and sometimes overhead!! Other quick models were the A1GP cars and Justin was working a Scaley McLaren hard too. Favourite for the chequered flag was Paul who was also managing to avoid the mess ,that is, until his last heat. I’m not sure what happened but the model suffered a semi fatal impact and as far as I know the front axle was displaced. Paul tried to drive to the end of the heat but at more than a second a lap off the pace it cost him dearly.
My last heat saw a fastest lap of 6.1 secs and a race average of 6.3!! This was enough to put me ten seconds in front of Paul when the flag fell after 12 minutes racing. Bad luck Paul!! There is a moral to this little tale, but I can’t for the life of me see what it is!! Ah well!
1. Phil 2. Paul 3. Norm 4. Eggy 5. Glen 6. Justin 7. Chris 8. 1. Alan 9. 2. Jordan 10. 3. KenThat was the end to another good race night and with only the journey home to make I think we all agreed
See you all at Jordan and Therese’s ciao!
