I have been sitting here,..'Contemplating' that New F1 chassis I had built Troy and a Trophy I picked up last night and trying to work out in my Head,..just HOW to start (and Fill-In), this particular Race Report.
It gets to a point in time,..when you have almost completely run out of Superlatives, to effectively 'Describe' the state of the action and This was MOST Definitely One of those Occasions, when perhaps descriptive superlatives are in fact inadequate to effectively describe almost Any aspect of the Racing itself, Or the extremely enjoyable atmosphere by which the Racing was conducted,..
Unless you were Actually there,...But,..I will do my best, to Help those that Didn't attend, to 'Realise' Just What an Event they Missed,..either as competitiors,..OR even as just Spectators.
Now sure,..I know that invariably, just 'Watching' slot cars being raced, can arguably be a somewhat Suspect Spectator Sport!,..lol,...BUT,..I Really do think it Fair to say, that after about 2 Years or so of this Truly Wonderful Class of Racing, we experienced Exactly the Kind of Unbeleivably Great Racing that This Class has provided in the past and I am 100% sure,..was Absolute and Thoroughly Enjoyed by All.
I Know!,..I Know!!!,..I ALWAYS say that sort of stuff in my Race Reports,..But SERIOUSLY,..Last Night, was Kind of Like the Culmination of the Gradual Development of Both the Class, People's enjoyment of it and Also the Rise in the Talent/Skill co-efficient of All the Racers involved.
To ALL of the Other Racers, that make a Habit of this 'Aussie Retro' Racing,..I Thank You All, for your Interest, Dedication, Racing and General attitude, that over these Past few Years has Not Only made for some Great Racing, but has also provided us All I believe, with a Very Pleasant and enjoyable Series of events to fill up the occasional Saturday evening with.
Anyway,..enough of the 'Prattle',..on to the the Racing itself,....
We ended up with 14 entries for the CanAm class and 12 for the F1 class, which wasn't too bad I guess, so 'augers' well perhaps for the upcoming State Titles, when 'interestingly' we will probably have a much Higher incidence of Inter-state drivers than we had for the 'Nationals', (No one from interstate actually attended)..Perhaps we should Swap Title designations for the Retro Races, as one Could argue that Last Night Really Was Our NSW State Retro Titles,..even though the Trophies don't actually suggest That !!,..ROFL
CanAm.
Qualifying;
It Must be said, that in these types of events, my old friend and racing 'buddy', Mark Fox, has always seemed to manage to pull More than just a Rabbit out of the Hat!!,..lol and Last night was No Exception!
In a Field where realistically Very small margins exist between the Individual Lap times, Mark Managed to 'Wipe the Floor' with us all, Not only setting the Fastest Time of the Day, but Doing it on ALL of his Qual Laps !!
A Worthy TQ if Ever there was one!
Only Mark and James managed to 'Sneak' Under 5.00 seconds.
Mark doing; 4.901, 4.918 and 4.922, with
James turning in; 4.969, 4.981 and 4.992.
Cody was 3rd fastest, just a Hairs breath away at 5.003
Slowest of the 'Regulars' times, were in the 5.2's (a pretty average sort of Race lap time and only 2 or 3 Newer/less frequent runners doing 5.5's etc, it became obvious early on it Was (as Usual), going to be a Tough evening to do well.
Congrats to Mark Fox on a 'Typically' Great TQ.
Semi B;
A great 'Mix' of Drivers in this Semi, with James, Dale, Morkuz, Troy, Jacco, John W and Brad lining up to take the start.
Whilst the Racing in Both Semi's was basically pretty clean and Very Fast!, there was 'Inevitably' times and occurences that caused the Odd 'Frantic' Hollering and Loud 'Self Admonishment' !!,..ROFL
Plenty of Marshalls always Helps though and overall, a great Semi.
James showed that his earlier Qualifying 'Form', was No Fluke!, took Command in the first bracket and held 1st place to the end.
Jacco Troy and Dale, constantly swapped places, fighting over the Other 'Move-Up' spots, with the others unfortunately left in the Fast 'Wake' of those ahead.
So the outome being;
James 1st on 177 Laps !!
Troy 2nd on 173
Dale 3rd on 168
Jacco 4th on 165
Making the Move up to the Main, with;
John W 5th on 161
Brad 6th on 157
Morkux on 144
It was great to see John Wiley back having a run with us in Retro's again,..(Just Need a bit more Track Time John!), as well as Morkuz,...who has been having a few runs with us of late.
Semi A;
This was going to be a Tough one,..for Sure!
Not Only did we have some very Respectable lap totals turned in by the Previous Semi Runners,..we also had some Fast runners in this one as well.
Charles, Cody, Darryl, Foxxy, Hoff, Rob and Myself lined up for this one.
Great to see Rob G back again, (Just Need some More Track time as well Rob, so DO keep coming back!!) Great also to Have a Face from the past taking the Opportunity to Not only attempt 'Building' his own car, but also to have a Run with us in Retro's. Hoff's car was shall we say, perhaps Just a 'Tad' on the 'LIGHT' side !!!,..ROFL,..wish I had a pic to show you, (in fact I'm unsure whether he actually Managed to turn a Lap in Qual !!), so he Graciously took the opportunity to Run one of my earlier chassis, which he seemed to enjoy, it being both a tough field and event to take one's first steps into Retro Land !!,..lol Well done mate!
As is often the 'Norm', Cody like James in the previous Semi, Grabbed 1st place at the 'Get Go' and never looked Back.
I managed to turn some consistent laps on the dreaded Purple and Black and managed to 'snare' 2nd about half way and hold it to the end, although, it Must be mentioned, that it was a Race long 'Tussle', with Darryl, Mark Fox, Chuckie and myself exchanging positions pretty much race long.
The Final outcome and move ups to the main being;
Cody 1st on 173 laps
Stoo 2nd on 171
Mark Fox 3rd on 168
Charles 4th on 165
this left,
Darryl, ever so close behind on 161 laps,
Rob G having a bad run tonite on 155
and Hoff turning in a Very creditable performance bringing up the Rear with 140.
The Main was looking HOT and Boy Oh Boy,..didn't it Prove to be Just THAT !!!
CanAm Main;
"Dribbling Superlative Warning",..."Dribbling Superlative Warning",..."Dribbling Superlative Warning",..ROFL
Gee,..What Can I say Other than WOW and 'Bugger'!! at the same time!!
NEVER, Have I had Such a Race or 'Run' and NEVER have I Come So, so Close to a Major Title Win !!
What a Race!
Lined up at the Start, were;
James Colfax, Cody Bramble, Mark Fox, Charles Rickards, Jacco Stikkelorum, Troy Boldy, Dale Anderson and Myself, Stewart Amos.
There is in This Field, easily some of the Best drivers, arguably in Almost Any Class in the Country here, so No one was expecting to have an easy time trying to do well.
The Racing, was Extremely FAST, (although Lap totals were Not Record levels) and whilst Generally Very Clean as well, (as would be expected), it Did at times decend into some extremely 'Frantic' Calls to the Marshalls, (and here I must Heartily Thank all those that stayed and Helped, a Special Mention going out to Robyn, once again, who Often, Very patiently helps out during Open Practice and in the Races and does a Fine Job as well,..so Thanks from ALL of us !!).
There were a Few Track Calls,..and I must say, in all Fairness, All were Fair Track Calls, as this Was an Important event AND the Racing as will be seen was Incredibly Close!, Race Long.
I had turned up in some ways quietly Confident of My Main cars adequate if nothing elses performance,..it is Very much a Known Quantity,..But surprisingly, during Race Practice, I noticed, it was, (after changing to Normal JK Rears), to all intents and purposes, PERFECT!
Great Super Smooth Motor, Very Fast !! and an Absolute Stealth Whisper Jet Weapon.
It's Fantastic when you Can get that Absolutely Silent Slot Car happening!,..lol and was Smoooth As !!
Anyway,..Away we Go,..and straight up, it's Cody, James, Mark Fox, Chuckie (initially) and Myself, Really 'Dukeing' it Out, with the 1st to 5th changing almost Each bracket for the Whole Race.
Personally, I must admit I was strangely, Very Happy with My own driving on the Night,..BUT, it was also one of those Nights, when Everyone else seems to be Having their Own little accidents, which strangely Do Not effect your Progress!!
I Know Mark was having a Really Tough Time!! and there was Genuinely some Very Frantic and Loud Yelps and Yells from Cody, Troy, James, Mark and Coccasionally Myself as the Race progressed, I'll add the Race positions and Totals so you Can 'See' the Race as such, it Goes like this;
- CanAm Race chart
- race chart.jpg (45.72 KiB) Viewed 11110 times
From someone who often enjoys a wee 'Jibe' together,..I'll Take This opportunity to Dig YOU in the Ribs over this one Matey !!!,..LOL
It's Funny sometimes, how a Race progresses, as you are competeing in it,..usually, I don't bother even looking at the race totals/positions as we progress, (usually simply enjoying myself anyway!,..lol), and I find I tend to just Drive as it goes, often successfully, often Not!!,..lol
During This race, I couldn't Help Notice,..as for One, I Knew in myself I was doing pretty well and one does hear the others talk about the race as it progresses.
I Knew also that Mark was 'having a Hard Time of it' and was comfortably quicker or atlewast as quick as the rest,..EXCEPT for James,..who I also Realised, was 'Strangely' Quiet,..(always a Bad Sign !!,..lol), so figured he was having a race like Mine.
He was Definitely 'On the Money' on the night and his car Was Extremely Quick, in Fact, "On Track", there was VERY Little Between us!!,..and So it Proved to be at The End,..with I guess in Some ways about the 'Margin' between us in Qualifying, Also being the distance Between us at the Line.
I was over the Moon with My Last Bracket, managing to Pull off a 36 !!,..WooHoo !!,..But,..it was to No Avail and James 'Nipped' across the Finish Line ahead of me, it being a fantastic Race Long Duel, whilst racing at Opposite ends of the Track to each other,..we kind of played a Great game of Stealth and Crash Avoidance, for James to Come out, the Overall and may I add (as may Many Others), a Most Worthy, "National Aussie Retro Champion". Well Done Mate,..Like yourself, having started Racing all those years ago, Waay Back, along with that, other 'Shared' Personal Nemesis,
Mark Fox, Always there to Consistently Beat you, it Must be Even More satisfying!!!,..lolI Know Only Too well How you must Feel !!!,..ROFL (James and Mark used to Race together at their Local Raceway Waay Back, around the same time Mark and I started to Race in the Association), so in some ways, it was a Very Happy Trio of Grinning Winners this evening !!!
Mark,..Really was there ALL the Time,..even though he was apparently having a Damn Hard race!,...So maybe James and I were sprinkled with the Luck Dust on the evening, as we Obviously had a far easier evening in Our relative progression than the others.
The Final Outcome being;
1st James Colfax 265 Laps
2nd Stewart Amos 265 Laps
3rd Mark Fox 262 laps
On a personal level, I think this event, was a Truly Fitting and suitably exceptional event, that has taken All of the Great racing this class has provided over the recent past and Culminated in a Really Wonderful, Full On Hard and Fast racing event that Really was, Thoroughly Enjoyed by Everyone, no matter where they finished or even Raced!
Interstingly as well, we Now have a few people really starting to think about Car Tuning, Handling, Tyre compound changes, Different Gear Ratios etc, etc and we even have a Few starting to think about building, although it must also be said, that Wayne has a Huge order for His 'Current' and arguably extremely Effective, (as will be seen shortly), F1 chassis.
So Interest is 'on the Rise again and this Must also I feel be more than just in Part, Because of the currently Fantastic and enjoyable Racing environment provided, by James and Wayne and Gary at HSC at the Moment.
From Myself and I am Positive from Everyone Else,..Thanks Guys for allowing us to have such a Great event and Regular well organised Racing!!
F1's
Qualifying.
Well,..What an Absolute 'Turn up for the Books' !!!
I'm Sure, Much MUST have been expected,..But Probably Not This !!!,..BUT Hey,..How Fantastic!
We had a couple of Very Quick F1's here tonight and what with the likes of Cody and Fox etc,..we were all I must say Both surprised and Yet Extremely Pleased, that with what appeared to be simply just a few quick laps,..as one of the Early Qualifiers,..Brad, Not ONLY Managed to TQ!,..with a Fantastic Time of 5.141, but he Backed it Up with a whole String of TQ laps, turning 5.181 and 5.199 to back up his Top Time.
All his TQ laps were Faster than myself in 2nd, only managing to turn a best of 5.215, 5.252 and 5.269, with Mark Fox closely following, with 5.234, 5.244 and 5.245.
James, John, Rog, Dale, Jacco and Troy, were all between 5.2's and 5.4's, with only Chuckie and Morkuz in the 5.5's. So once again a close and Fast field.
Semi B;
With Cody, armed with his usual WayneB Built F1 Weapon at hand and going well, along with John Wiley, with a Fast New car, Dale,..Now Amazingly Back to His Old Reliable car,..Again !!,..lol, Troy, seemingly slightly Happier with My New chassis and running Quickly as usual and Morkuz also running a new car, it was bound to be a rather tough event and it Was!
Talk about Make the Move Up by the 'Skin of your Teeth' !!!,..Phew ! I Struggled Race Long to Get that Final Move up spot, having started out well, I had a Not so Hot run on Black that put me Well Behind the 8 Ball !!, so Sorry John, for 'Pipping' you in the Last Bracket. Great racing though.
Cody grabbed the number one spot and typically held it to the end, with Dale almost doing the same with 2nd, although having a slight 'Hiccup' in the Middle brackets.
Troy, in his usual style starting on Purple and then Black, was the softly, softly, catchy Monkey of the brigade, slowly 'cruising' up to 3rd and Morkuz having his first serious F1 run also turning some decent laps ending in 6th
Cody turned some Great laps and ended;
1st with 175 laps
Dale managed 168 as Did
Troy, also with 168 laps, with myself,
Stoo 4th with 164, taking the 4 Move up slots, whilst
John W finished closely with 163
and Morkuz turning 142.
Semi A;
This Semi saw James, Jacco, (taking the opportunity to run My Older car), Chuckie, Fox, Brad and Rob lining up to take the start.
Unlike the other Semi, the Top spot was argued about amongst a few drivers, with Many places changing during the Race, although it must be said,
Mark Fox, kinda had a Handle on it throughout, only dropping to 2nd and 3rd on black and yellow, otherwise he had the top spot 'Nailed, with 168 laps'.
Charles and James argued over 2nd and 3rd, with James actually Sneaking 1st of Mark at one stage, with Charles finally winning out with 165 laps to James' 164
Rob G started on the 'Bad Lanes and worked his way up to take the Last Move up, with 163.
Jacco and Brad had a Real Close race almost all through, with Jacco finishing 5th on 159 with Brad 6th on 158!
So,..from both Semi's, we had for the;
F1 Main;
Cody, Dale, Charles, Mark, Rob, Troy, James and Myself to take the start.
This Was going to be a damn Hard Race and I think it was!
Not as Clean as the CanAm final,..but Easily Just as competitive !!
Some Really Great racing! With 4 different Leaders during the Race and even the Minor placings hanging closely behind!
Everyone's individual lane totals are impressive and was a race where one Couldn't afford to 'Blink'.
- Finally Correct F1 Race Chart
- F1 Race Chart.jpg (58.7 KiB) Viewed 11020 times
Mark seemed to have some difficulties in the main and never really Got off the blocks as it were, Rob G, just really needed a few more recent Race miles under the belt to get back to his Previous 'Form',
Chuckie did very well against the Hot Shots of F1 whilst James, after a Tough week and The Stress and Elation of taking the Win in CanAm, seemed almost Depleted and had a Most forgettable Race !!!,..lol, with only 3 laps turned in the 7th bracket and None in the last.
Whilst Cody for Once didn't just 'Cruise Off Into the Distance' with this one,..He DID manage to gather it all back up and take a Very Fine and well deserved win, with Troy,..strangely, seemingly Happy with My New chassis and Keeping Cody Well and Truly Honest this time taking an also Fine and Worthy 2nd, with ofcourse Who else, would Just Have to be a Fixture of atleast One Podium placing at a major event, but the 'Stealthmeister' himself, Dale Anderson,..Taking a Very Fine, (This one or That one,..No That one,..No the Other one) 3rd.
having had an almost Dream run in the canAm final, I did Not have the same luxury in this race and had a really hard run and a Tough Battle with Chuckie for the last 4 brackets, managing to Grab 4th in the last bracket.
It was a real Tough race and there Were many sighs of almost relief when it concluded!
At the Kind of Pace and closeness these races were run at, it was both exhilirating and exhausting !!
Great Stuff !!
Final Outcome for the F1 Podium;
1st Cody Bramble 257 laps
2nd Troy Boldy 253 laps
3rd Dale Anderson 252 laps.
Thanks once again must go to All the Great racers who turned up to race and to Wayne for a Good race direction and to Our New National CanAm Cha,pion James,..for Putting on the Race,..Congrats and Well done to All,..look forward to some similar and possibly Even Hotter racing at the State Tiltles!!,..See you There !!!
Hopefully Pics soon,..
