Stepping through the door all looked pretty much as we had left it last year, but Mark had been busy in the closed season and it was soon obvious that something had changed. Sure enough. The turn at the entrance and the west end of the track had been tampered with. It had become a full 360 and I would estimate it has added at least a couple if not three metres to the track length!
First up was Aussie V8’s and most of us have one of them. Just a case of dusting it off and giving it a run! Not too much to report here, just total chaos and a marshalling nightmare as most guys hadn’t put guide to slot for some weeks. Some new faces in the pack had a good run but it was the old campaigners who were going to collect the gongs.
Mick not looking too happy with the new turn!
The V8’s still have a handling issue when it comes to Graceville, and on more than one occasion two models came head to head on the main straight when one model became dislodged in the gratuitous wiggly bits which run parallel to it and crossed the track. I realised after the race had begun that I hadn’t replaced my traction magnet which had been removed some weeks earlier for a non magnet race at another venue! Oooooops!
A picture of slotcar bliss!!
Event 1 Aussie V8’s 12 laps Race 1 Position driver best lap 1. Peter 27.20 2. Ken 31.07 3. Robert 28.01 4. Dan 31.03 Race 2 1. Mick 30.84 2. Jack 30.15 3. Noel 34.92 4. Andrew (DNF) 27.59 Race 3 1. Peter 31.10 2. Mark 29.86 3. Tim 30.92 4. Phil 36.68 Race 4 1. Pater H 27.46 2. Julian 27.89 3. Andrew 27.67 4. Paul 27.54 Race 5 1. Derek 26.00 2. Phil 25.96 3. Mick 32.06 4. Tim 36.89
A hapless contestant trying to pull the wool over the stewards eyes!
Next up was Indy cars. These are those fabulous Scaley cars with the oh so delicate rear wings, and this event did nothing to dispel those rumours. More than one ended up in the spares box by the end of the event. I chose to race an SCX Indy car and apart from it wanting to leap out of the slot on tight bends it went quite well.
SEQSCC may well introduce bull horns for communicating with the marshalls!!
After the queue for the tyre sander diminished we were able to get the event under way. Plenty of borrowing of cars in this event and the organisers (read Julian here) must have been cleaned out more than once as the heats progressed. One of the most immediate problems with the Scaley Indy cars is that once they loose there rear wing, it is difficult to tell which is the front. In the past we have had some marshalling mayhem, but this time I can’t recall and incidence??
Event 2 Indy Cars 15 laps Race 6 1. Peter P 26.40 2. Derek 26.39 3. Tim 28.34 4. Paul 14.85?? Race 7 1. Andrew 26.32 2. Phil 26.31 3. Noel 26.45 4. Mark 30.78 Race 8 1. Peter H 23.01 2. Mick 27.57 3. Ken 28.36 4. Dan 32.90
An older contestant demonstating to a more impressionable member that he hadn't been in the pub on the way there!
Time for more fun and games and a retro class to test everyone’s metal. This time it was tin tops in the shape of 90’;s BTCC cars. Fortunately the SEQSCC (read Julian here) have plenty to spare and it was almost a lottery to see who would b getting the best prepared model. Again a queue for the tyre sander formed as no doubt these models would be running on their rubber!!
Without detracting from certain drivers abilities, I think it would be fair to say that there may have been more than one incident of some drivers passing through the timer on someone else’s lane. The Scaley BTCC cars have a habit of doing this and after many reruns of the security cameras it could not be determined who did what to who, so the results stood!!!
Event 3 Scaley BTCC 5 laps Race 9 1. Paul 21.84?? 2. Phil 35.56 3. Peter P 14.18??? 4. Peter H 45.28 Race 10 1. Ken 38.80 2. Noel 42.95 3. Tim 38.48 4. Mark 51.40 Race 11 1. Derek 42.79 2. Andrew 44.18 3. Mick 46.14 4. Dan 26.10????
SEQSCC are thinking of fitting all new models with GPS
A fairly new class for Graceville is the JGTC. Not often run and pretty much a straight forward event. A novel twist was that we were going to run this one against the clock, How many laps could we do in seven minutes!! Not a lot!! Once again the class call left some wanting, but once again the SEQSCC (read Julian here) stepped in to fill the void. These are great little cars and you’d have to have sort of impairment not to put up a good result. As it happened, all taking part, free of the constraints of a set number of laps, managed to do not half bad!!
Event 4 JGTC 7 minutes Race 12 1. Tim 16 laps 2. Mick 14 3. Derek 13 4. Mark ??? Race 13 1. Dan 14 2. Andrew 14 3. Peter 13 4. Noel 12 Race 14 1. Peter H 18 2. Phil 14 3. Julian 13 4. Derek 13
I think this guy had been lying earlier?
Lastly and always not leastly was the SEQSCC Challenge. So what were we subjected to for the new year?? Hummers! Yep, no worries. On a track that has a mean lap time of about 24 seconds for a formula one, we were going to race Hummers!! Mark had made a concession to the marshalls and had purchased models which reflected the shade and hue of the lane markings, but this was only to generate confusion later on when, after loosing a few wheels, some models were substituted with others of a contrasting hue!
Another model decided to get wedged under the track section in the car park, but this was only discovered after the race had started. Others took absolute delight in rolling over when negotiating tight bends at any more than snails pace. Some where wheel standing on severe throttle opening and almost all of them travelled at breakneck speed down the back straight, only to bounce vigorously of the unforgiving catch fencing there! Once again, another SEQSCC masterstroke! The only saving grace that stopped us going on into the early hours of the next morning was that it was a three lap race
Yes, he'd definitely been lying!
Event 5 SEQSCC Challenge Hummers at 10 paces!! Race 15 1. Noel 57.69 2. Tim 43.96 3. Andrew 43.87 4. Paul 44.29 Race 16 1. Mick 47.71 2. Mark 46.23 3. Phil 45.04 4. Derek 45.07 Race 17 1. Peter H 40.07 2. Peter J 43.62 3. Ken 46.73 4. Dan 51.81
So there we have it. The new year under way at Graceville and the extreme got more extreme!! Inspite of all else, great fun was had by all and I look forward to next month’s meeting.
If you live in the Brisbane area and would like to join in the slotcar revelry, contact me on this website or email me at pwix@yahoo.com