John and Sue’s, Nerangba
A long trip for me and especially a long trip home but well worth it, it is sometimes surprising how far people WILL go to get a good day’s slotcar racing. But fortunately, I wasn’t the only one who made the journey and once there it was time to mingle. A couple of early birds were already on the track and ripping up the miles with some serious setting up to be done. Others had a bit more laid back approach and were content to try and pull something out of the hat during the race, Me, well I hadn’t taken the choicest tools and was looking forward to racing some stuff I hadn’t run for a while. A few laps with each to confirm they would do a lap and then back to the socialising.
The Eggmeister had brought along a beautiful Revell Mercedes 300 SE, a huge car comparatively and very attractive too. A couple more Scaley Dodge Vipers surfaced and they look like being a problem the next time GT class is called!! John had his overhead projector running with last years Bathurst running at about 1000watts RMS and a very entertaining DVD of some of the less dangerous mishaps that can happen on the real thing.
Two very welcome surprises. Firstly, old Q32’er Paul Craig arrived with his son, I haven’t seen Paul for a long time in the midst of local 1/32 racing and hopefully he will be a more regular visitor. The other surprise was the appearance of Martin Phoenix, ex Q32 champ and all round good racer and race prepper. Martin had brought a couple of models along and was prepared to show us how it should be done.
Green lane went down during practice and there was a little time before Superslotrackman had it running again, but running it was and it was time to do the business. Not too long into the afternoon, after nibblies and other refreshments appeared, the first race was called. It was Group 5 sedans!! (you know, the ones with the huge rear wheels!!) Entries varied from Revell BMW 320’s and Fly 935’s to MRRC Toyotas and a couple of very respectable Carrera whale tail Porsche!! Ken stamped his mark on heat two with an astounding win, (group A for you next year Ken!) And the MRRC Toyotas were going to be hard to beat. Controversy struck for the first time when Alan was marshalling the difficult end of the track and at the close of the heat there were cars still left to run, but at the time, they had been tucked under Alan’s arm, him thinking the race was over!! I saw the funny side Alan, even if some others couldn’t!!
Heats moved on and Paul S did a sub six which at the time was a first but which was to pale into insignificance by the end of the afternoon as the grip increased. Ken decided to reinforce his first win with another. By this time some where considering a drugs test!! Times tumbled and there was a clear gap appearing between the top three or four and the rest of the field. Finally, a well driven race fell to Glen with his rock steady Carrera 935. Ideally suited with its shovel nose front to get through the sometimes three car carnage which confronted it more than once.
Event 1 Group 5/Sports Sedans Position Group B Driver Time 1. Glen 10’ 42†2. Martin 10’57†3. Phil 11’19†4. Paul S 5. Norm 6. Justin 7. John 8. 1. Ken 9. Eggy 10. 2. Alan 11. Kev 12. 3. Bob
This time it was going to be a bit of a lucky dip for places on the flowing circuit. Martin’s Alfa 155 looked lovely in black and went accordingly. Al was in a bit of turmoil as he had spent some time on a nice Porsche 911 prior to the meeting only to be told it wasn’t a touring car!! I’m on your side Al, good to see you raced it later, but I suspect the Bimmer was going better!
This event should have been an Audi victory by sheer weight of numbers but I suspect the CLK and Alfa had already picked their spots on the leader board before the race started. Once again, turn four proved controversial when, this time with Ken in control, I got marshalled twice in succession, first off, last on! It felt like being last out at the movies!! No matter. The sheep stations were on the last race so it really wasn’t that important.........Ken!
By the end of the event the damage was minimal and once again there was a fair share out of places.
Event 2 NC1/NC8 Touring Cars with ribbed rear tyres. 1. Paul S 11’04†2. Martin 11’07†3. Phil 11’20†4. Kev 5. John 6. Justin 7. Glen 8. Norm 9. 1. Alan 10. Eggy 11. 2. Bob 12. 3. Ken
Time was called for refreshments and John and Sue had prepared an excellent barbeque and a good amount of time was spent in idle chat. We were under strict instructions not to feed the dogs and most of us managed to stick to it. After a suitable digestive period we made our way back for the last event of the evening. Classic Le Mans!! A super fast event for the firm of constitution!
This is open to models from the sixties era and it was going to be an unknown quantity. The Scaley P4 was a potential winner in the right hands, but, maybe a GT40 would do it? Or perhaps a Lola or Porsche 908 or 917? There was a good showing of these models and Paul’s Lola was flying and a couple of other 908’s were hard to catch. Norm’s custom paint job 908 tore off into the lead of his heat and the rest struggled for the remaining positions. I ran a scratchbuilt 917/10 but at some time during the event the body started to rub on the rear RH tyre handicapping what was a quick model, ‘til that point!
Lap times tumbled and made a mockery of the early evenings effort. Amazingly enough marshalling was at a peak but the focal point must have been a later heat when John was carving everyone up and Sue came in to watch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the guys in so polite a manner and on their best behaviour! Paul looked to have the turkey by the neck and I would have put money on his efforts but at the end of the race and to my (pleasant) surprise, John had run off with victory in the final class of his first official race meeting. I suspect there were many hours practice behind that race John!!
But as with all things it comes to a close and the computer, without a sliver of emotion, turns out the results whether you personally like them or not!! The results were as follows!!
Event 3 Classic Le Mans 1. John 10’20†2. Justin 10’23†3. Paul 10’32†4. Glen 5. Norm 6. Phil 7. Kevin 8. 1. Ken 9. 2. Jordan 10. Eggy 11. 3. Alan 12. 4. Bob
