'Mein host' contemplating his next victory?
Saturday the 16th of May, a memorable occasion by any standards and a day that will go down in slotcar history as yet another outstanding success in the Slotcar Legends racing calendar! Nine souls in all braved the cooling Queensland weather to contest three of the best classes you could ever wish to race. After all this time it goes without saying that the Legends / Q32 race meetings flow smoothly. No argy bargy or disputes over eligibility. No scrutineering and best of all, the best of fun and good behaviour!
The storm clouds were gathering!
Racers started turning up at 2.00 pm and before long the track was buzzing with models new and old. A chance too to see some of the latest releases and a chance to run the latest set ups for the historic GP class to be run later in the afternoon. Approaching 4.00 pm and it was time to call the first event. Normally we run track owners choice first up but as there had to be some handicap heats for the DP Riley’s I decided to run the set class first and get people up and running.
Come on chaspss!
So what were the outstanding classes which generated such good humour? Well, the first one was Classic Trans Am. This was open to group ‘B’ motors rated at approximately 18,000 rpm @ 12.0 volts and that was ample for this event. Exclusively Scaley I think and with a couple of exceptions the field was a good balance. Camaros, Mustangs and Corvettes were ready on the line as quick as you could say SCX and drivers were champing at the bit as the start lights ticked down.
Arch enemies enjoy a joke at each other!
They’re off! and sure enough, it wasn’t to be long before, in what appeared to be no time at all, all four models were being marshalled simultaneously in turn one by some outstanding marshall!! Teething problems maybe, but the race progressed and eventually the next heat was called. A good start saw some professional driving marred only by at least one model leaping the barrier at turn two to dump itself unceremoniously on the floor at the feet of the marshalls?!
Watch out for the green car, has it been homologated?
A couple of heats later Bob decided green lane was a good opportunity to power into turn one and bounce back out into the path of red, yellow and blue lane! Thus causing another total marshalling situation. No matter, surely it wasn’t going to be long before calm would ensue on the track. Perro eventually set the tone by winning a later heat two laps in front of Eggy, who, in spite of registering the fastest lap in his convertible Corvette, couldn’t make things stick! I suspect that the Eggmeister tried to get even by bluffing a jumpstart in his next heat. Unfortunately no one was buying into that either so he had to make do with ‘also ran’ status.
A last victorious outing for the fried egg Camaro.... did I hear someone cheer?
Nearing the end, heat seven saw Perro, Justin and myself go ahead and after a minor altercation with the landscaping, Justin and Glen were left to contest the lead while I plugged away behind trying to pull almost a lap out of the bag. Both Justin and Glen decided to have a protracted period of quietness out of the slot a couple of laps from the end which allowed me to overhaul them, hold the lead for a lap, and take the heat. Well done guys! The computer got it all impeccably right and the results ran as follows:
Event 1 Classic Trans Am 100 laps Place Group ‘B’ Driver Race time 1. Phil 11’ 57.437’’ 2. Perro 12’ 31.063†3. Justin 12’ 48.923†4. Kev 5. 1. Eggy 6. 2. Ken 7. Allan 8. 3. Bob 9. 4. Peter
Next up was the track owner’s choice of ‘Grand Am’. With a host of models to choose from it still looked to be an outing for Jaguar XJ R’s and the expected Riley DP’s. Expecting the Rileys to be dominant I decided to run a handicap heat to determine what the handicap should be. Eggy was to race Perro’s Riley whilst Perro raced Eggy’s very quick 997. The idea was for Perro to race Eggy’s car as hard as he could and Eggy to do likewise. If either slacked off then the indicated fastest lap difference would be used to compute the handicap for the faster model. E.g. If Perro drove Eggs car 0.3 secs a lap slower then his Riley would be handicapped 0.3 secs times lap distance, get it! Anyway, as it turned out, both drove like maniacs hitting consistent 7.1’s so with the models being that close I decided to run the race without handicap…… and this is how it went!
From the start there was a surprise in store. My Jaguar with some hastily prepared MJK’s drove exceptionally well and neither Riley really had that much of an advantage. Allan also was knocking in some scorching laps with his blue Jaguar after some dire practice sessions. Again, he too got sorted with a couple of MJK’s which transferred the Jags immeasurably! John was quick in his Porsche but again, a cavalier approach to his race strategy saw too many deslots put him down the list.
Heat three saw two Jags pull a joint fastest lap at 6.900 and by now the Riley drivers must have realised it wasn’t all going their way. By now there was something wrong with Peters progress and a succession of poor laps left him wondering what the problem was. Allan continued to pull fast laps and it was only the ‘racing incidents’ that stopped him finishing higher than he deserved. Bob too had a Jag on song and surprised me with his ability to cut it with the leaders even though he was a lap or two behind. Perro and Justin finally met up for a head to head and the 6.9’s came thick and fast. Finally, the results were displayed.
Race 2 Grand Am 112 Laps 1. Perro 12’ 45.248†2. Phil 13’ 01.750†3. 1. Eggy 13’ 08.495†4. Justin 5. 2. Ken 6. Allan 7. 3. Peter 8. Kev 9. 4. Bob
Time for a break and once again John and Kim excelled with a fine barbeque and tasty dips and chips of all kinds. This allowed some of us to reflect on the strategy for the last event and it allowed others to pig out regardless. Unfortunately I have to admit to being one of the latter and in the race to follow I found at times I was fighting back natures call in the middle of the heats, Very disrupting! But once the plates were licked clean and the fridge emptied it was time (fanfare of golden trumpets) for the Historic GP, Tadaaaahhhh!
Preliminary tests showed that it was going to be good racing and the voltage was dropped back to 12.25v which turned out to be a great compromise, not letting any one make or model be dominant! At the start of this race back in January there were a multitude of models gracing the start line as successive racers were looking for optimum performance but five months later it looks like the Cartrix Merc W196 was to be the dominant model. Gone was the huge variety which kept the marshalls busy and in (sound of thunder, skys darken) was the Silberfeil! As many as three at a time.
I must admit though, there was still a good showing of models. I ran the Lotus 16, Glen ran the Gordini for a couple of heats and there were also Ferrari 156’s and T53 Coopers on the grid. A couple of very drivable Indy Offies too and the odd Maserati to make up the numbers, but what was to be the dominant model.
A good balanced field
From heat one controversy reigned. Ken felt more at home running in Eggy’s lane and to confuse the issue he was running a yellow model in yellow lane without a sticker!? What the….!! Eggy’s view of the matter is not reproducible here!. Heat four saw my Lotus move off into the distance with a couple of not so close markers behind. A couple of careless deslots saw me lose time to the entourage but I managed to stay a comfortable gap ahead, but, unbeknownst to me, Kev was whittling away at my lead and surprise leapfrogged me on the last lap to take the heat by a couple of models length. This explained a lot. Before the race I asked what he thought of the race coming and he indicated that he didn’t think, it interfered with his racing! Sucked in Phil, or what!
Kev unsuccessfully tries to do a ‘barking dog’ shadow art in the flash of the camera!
Glen was on form with a selection of models and about heat five he sat at the front of the pack quite comfortably. Only to be baulked a lap or so from the finish. This allowed the big man to beat him by a couple of hard earned seconds. Bad luck Glen. By heat seven the storm clouds were brewing and at least three people resorted to desperate measures. No less than three, yes, three W196’s on the start line. Where were they coming from? Out of the woodwork?? I think not!
Devastation after a Justin marshalling manoeuvre!!
A severe marshalling action caused people to be reprimanded for tawdry marshalling. Dragging models across the track instead of lift and separating. The tension was getting to us all and no one was immune. Eventually the tension was relieved and the last heat was run. Now what would Mr Dell throw at us this time. The truth or a pack of lies? Well if it was the truth it was hard to believe and this is how it was told!
Event 3. Historic GP trophy race 120 laps 1. Perro 15’ 07.938†2. Phil 15’ 22.110†3. Kev 16’ 05.656†4. 1. Eggy 5. Allan 6. Justin 7. 2. Bob 8. 3. Ken 9. 4. Peter
Desperate measures!
So Kev managed to wheel his (or Norm’s?) W196 into third place. Justin couldn’t pull a trick anywhere, probably because none of his models were Ninco! And poor old Peter saw his controller dog him senseless. Finally he opted to use the house controllers after discovering his Professor Motor had a wiring fault at the plug end! And that was it. Another great afternoons racing on one of the most enjoyable tracks in South East Queensland and without doubt one of the most affable and friendly hosts. Many thanks to Eggy for the invitation and a special thanks to Kim who must have worked PDH behind the scenes well before our arrival!
A subliminal message here for someone?
