Alan’s track is one of the many that need that extra bit of discipline and being on the fast side of technical, thinking zones were going to be that much shorter. Being out in front was going to be the best plan as being a backmarker was going to leave you in a constantly changing danger zone!
First up were open topped sports cars, and what a messy start to the evening that was! The Eggmeister set the tone of the evening by leaning across the track to marshall, allowing Justin to take full advantage of driving up his ‘T’ shirt, whereupon, on standing up he pulled the car completely off the track!! I achieved nirvana buy bringing home my box standard Carrera Aston Martin DB3 in front of Kev’s King Cobra into third place but not before I had ploughed into him flat out at the end of the main straight!. There were some glittery pieces thrown about the track but none were mine, which is a testament to early Carrera models! In retrospect, I suspect it was more a case of Kev driving badly than the Aston being quick!!
Another moment of sheer mirth was when Greig, in a marshalling moment, put Norm’s Corvette back on, back to front! I’m sure it was an accident Norm! Justice was his though when in a following heat he went head to head with John. Trading deslots and places. Peter then came into play to leave Norm with it all to do. He miraculously caught up and John’s last minute deslot left Norm to cruise across the finish.
Race 1 Open topped two seaters 15 laps Pos. Gp B Driver 1. Paul 2. Justin 3. Alan 4. Norm 5. 1 Kev 6. John 7. Eggy 8. 2. Greig 9. 3 Peter S 10. Phil 11. 4. Ken 12. 5. Bob 13. 6. Jordan 14. 7. Peter J
Next up was the set class. This time I chose Rally class C. This is for unlimited motors so it was going to be a bit of a chase and once again Ninco would no doubt have something to do with the end results. One brave person was Norm who unflinchingly raced his NC1 powered Ninco Porsche, with success!! Well done Norm, you are a braver man than I. Subaru’s and Porsches were to make up the core of the class but a couple of the more adventurous amongst us chose more conservative models with fun being the key requirement.
Paul’s Suzuki was swift by name and swift by nature and another brave soul raced the SCX Seat 131 which, if set up well, could have been a contender. A Ninco Veedub Golf also came out for an airing. I have a full race Impreza in my cabinet which has often done the deed but this time I chose to run my SCX Peugeot 206 which is like putting on an old pair of shoes! And a joy to throw about on board tracks.
At one stage there was panic afoot as Justin called out excitedly that his model had stopped and wouldn’t go, after some short while it was decided he had finished and the power to his lane had been cut!! Good on you Justin! Another bout of Normophobia struck as twice I passed him and twice I was flicked off by the arch demon and his NC1 to finish the heat half a metre behind him. Finally the computer put an end to several peoples torture and there was no consolation for their poor performances!
Event 2 Rally motor class C 15 laps 1. Justin 2. Paul 3. Norm 4. 1 Kev 5. Phil 6. Eggy 7. 2. Peter S. 8. 3. Greig 9. Alan 10. 4. Jordan 11. John 12. 5. Bob 13. 6. Peter J. 14. 7. Ken
Marshalling dexterity was abundant and in one incident John marshalled Peter S’s loaned car what must have been 1.5 metres above the track and with a technique befitting a test cricketer managed to prevent it dashing itself against the floor!! Good job too as the model’s owner was not at the meeting and it could have invoked a lot of post race questions!
A dilemma evolved as it became apparent that more than one racer was using illegal models (including myself) so discretion being the better part of valour, I left the autopsy ‘til after the meeting. Needless to say a Slot.it car was the fastest on the track and no one was going to catch it. Another Slot.it with a Scaley motor drove well and the owner deserved better than he got. Ken battled relentlessly with a Scaley Aston Martin Vanquish and it proved a hard model to drive. Me and a couple of other AUTOart drivers did well in the scheme of things but the models would need extra work to be competitive.
With the end in sight the computer stated the bleeding obvious and for some of us it was time to rethink the strategy. Results panned out as follows:
Race 3 Unmarked Road going Supercars 1. Norm 2. Paul 3. Justin 4. John 5. 1. Kev 6. Phil 7. Alan 8. 2. Bob 9. Eggy 10. 3. Jordan 11. 4. Peter S. 12. 5. Greig 13. 6. Peter J. 14. 7. Ken
Top guns taking a breather!!!
Once again a great afternoon and evening’s racing with some nice models on the track, and as always, many thanks to Alan, and especially Jacqi for the fabulous barbeque and other culinary delights! These are always greatly appreciated. I look forward to seeing you all at Paul and Jen’s soon. Don’t forget, bring a table and chair!!
