Whilst it Was 'typically' the Usual crowd of 'Hardened' regulars, it Was good to see the return of two of the 'extra' regulars, Jacco and Rob also return to join us.
There was may I say one other there on the evening, who managed to Take the Win in His class without even needing to 'Turn a Wheel' as such, but whose presence is always a welcome addition to an evenings racing, being Craig,..(I had considered running myself, but did Not have the opportunity to re-build a Fresh Motor, although it would have been a bit pointless, as there Really would have only been 3 of us running), Now if we can only convince him to join US occasionally, we could have even more Fun !!,..."Gumby for President" I say !!!,..ROFL,..but I digress,.......onto the Non Wing racing.
1/32 Modern GT
Firstly, I must admit to being a bit disappointed with how this class is developing, Car choice wise, as can be seen from the photos, it is sadly turning into what perhaps should be called and Scheduled as Plafit Mosler Racing!!
It Is I suppose, Part of the Real Problem of racing with This Style of Car. Although there Is a 'Theoretically' large selection of cars on the 'Homolagted' List, Many of the 'Listed' bodies are NOT Really sensible choices, or in Fact really even Possible choices, either due to Unavailability or suitability and even among the bodies that are 'Vaguely' suitable in a truly Competitive sense, if one is chasing Outright Performance and handling, then the 'Choice' becomes even More Limited.
As we aren't actively running the two Divisions of Car/Bodies, Most have navigated towards the Division 1 cars. A Few of us also have Division 2 cars, the Performance difference between the two divisions is considerable and if one is 'angling' towards a possible Win on the evening, leaves one with Virtually No Choice.
I guess mainly due to the 'Available' choices of cars sold at HSC, it is arguably inevitable. There IS a damn lot of Work and Modification necessary to prepare almost Any of the Suitable bodies for this class, with the Ninco Mosler probably being one of the Easiest to 'Mod' and make effective. The Fact that it also provides a Very 'Light Weight' car, with a suitably Low C of G has as mentioned above made it Almost the 'Default' choice of Car.
Whilst I initially had some relative success with My Carrera Maserati MC12, one could argue that it Needs an exceptional Motor to Make Up for it's inherent Weight 'Disadvantage'! As an Example, My MC12 weighs in at 153 grams, Jacco's similar Carrera MC12 at 155grams, my Scalextric Bodied MC12, which required a Huge effort in Modification (and is an arguably Less effective racer compared to the Carrera), weighs 133 grams.
Whereas, after weighing three of the Moslers running last night, they were All between 123 and 127 grams !!! Quite a Considerable difference!
The 'Performance' difference 'On Track', IS noticeable and if one IS Looking for Outright Race Winning performance, kinda leaves you with Little choice really,..Perhaps providing an argument for having a Unifying Overall 'Minimum' Weight Rule for the Class!!
I Too also own a more recent Mosler, (purchased to Race at SlotShop's Club Racing), so I guess I will Have to also Join the Mosler Ranks, but personally I find that a bit sad, as there is also a somewhat Limited choice of paintwork in the Current Ninco Moslers, unless one happens to already Own one of the Older Models or goes Searching on ePay to Find one which then also could perhaps make it an even More Expensive option.
Maybe I will Have to attempt making a 'Custom' set of Decals and get a 'White Body Kit' to atleast 'Stand out from the Crowd',...If I Can actually get Hold of One,..or be Bothered!!,..lol
It Is something that I think may need looking at in the Future, if this Class is to continue,..with Some Variety!
Anyway,..enough of that for now,..onto the evenings racing and results;
For once, we actually had enough 'Spare' people to act as marshals, which meant all the Entrants could run together and therefore have the One race, instead of Two heats with Fewer cars.
The Race, was Very Much between, Cody, Troy and Dale, with Myself holding onto 4th place almost race long.
The Top three, changed places throughout the Whole race, all of them taking turns at the front, with all Three of them either only a lap apart or for Most of the time, ALL on the same number of Laps, as they were, at the end.
All I could do was drive around and Try to be consistent, (perhaps I should have fitted the Better Motor I had, although I doubt it would really have changed the outcome,..lol).
Jake, although having a relatively Quick Mosler as well, seemed to be having a slightly Less than truly Memorable race and had a bit of a 'tussle' with Rob, who, once again, probably Really Needed more race running in both This class and around this track, to be once again 'On the Money' as he had often been previously.
Jacco, sadly, once again struggled with His Maserati and Definitely had one of those races you would really rather Forget !! He, like Myself, is considering Other Body choices,...did I hear the Word Mosler mentioned???,..
The Final outcome;
1st Cody 140 laps
2nd Troy 140 laps
3rd Dale 139 laps
4th Stoo 134 laps
5th Jake 128 laps
6th Rob 121 laps
7th Jacco 115 laps
1/24th CanAm;
We had 9 starters for this class and so, had 2 x heats.
Heat 1, saw Jacco, Jake, Rob, Newcomer Dave and Myself take the start.
Whilst I guess it could be said the Green David Piper Porka, was 'the class of This field' it could also have arguably been driven a bit better 'On the Night' by it's driver, as the Car really almost does Not want to de-slot and IS Very Quick, but it can often be difficult, trying to 'pace' Yourself for the Whole race to try and get the kind of lap total you Know the guys in the following Heat most undoubtedly Will achieve!!
I guess I did, just OK, although the 'altercation' with a 'Part time' marshal in the last bracket certainly didn't help, managing Only 16 laps for the bracket on Yellow!!,..Ouch.
Young Jake and Jacco managed to have a great race with each other, race long, the Two of them swapping places frequently. It has to be said that young Jake has Really come on like Gang Busters of late. Not Only is he proving to be generally Pretty damn Quick, he is also managing to be consistent and fast !!
His Improvement over these past few months is Very Impressive and is Now arguably a regular force to be reckoned with at every round, whether it be Plafit or Retro racing. Jacco also drove very well and had his rather Nice looking McLaren running well, to Just finish ahead of jake at the end.
Rob, (or was it Troy?),..lol, also had an OK race, considering he hasn't raced these cars for quite a while and finished close behind Jacco and Jake, whilst Dave, Also put in Another creditable performance, for what is I believe Only his 2nd ever Plafit race, turning many More laps than previously and seems to be getting into the Swing of things as such and is also a very Nice, courteous and clean racer.
The Outcome of heat 1;
1st Stoo 153 Laps
2nd Jacco 147 laps
3rd Jake 146 laps
4th Rob 143 laps
5th Dave 126 laps
1/24th CanAm Heat 2;
This heat, as could be expected from the entrants, Was going to be Fast and Close and so it Proved to be!
We had Troy, Cody, Wayne and Dale taking part and it has to be said, once again, that Cody showed Everyone the Way home and managed to set a New High Lap total in the Process!! A most credible performance that makes it difficult to imagine just How one could manage to Outrun young Cody !! Congrats and Well Done!
Wayne also had a good run and it was good to see Wayne actually having a 'Run', instead of just running the race and marshaling as usual.
Dale and Troy also 'typically' Duelled race long with the Final outcome once again being Stupidly Close, as is quite often the case, in this class and many others!
With only the four of them running, it was an extremely Clean and Very fast Race, with All four of them finishing Well ahead of all of us in Heat 1.
Even if I had Not had difficulty in the Last bracket of My heat, I still would Not have amassed enough laps to finish any Higher overall than I did !!
It has to be said, that not only are the 'Regulars' that race both Plafit and Retro an enjoyably friendly and jovial bunch of humans, they are also arguably some of the Best racers in the Country, so it Sure makes the racing extremely good and also a Lot of Fun !!,..a sort of Double Bonus I guess !!,..lol
The outcome of heat 2 and also the Overall placings in this class on the Night being;
1st Cody 165 laps
2nd Wayne 161 laps
3rd Troy 160 laps
4th Dale 160 laps
1/24th Group C;
I guess in reality, this race could almost be described as a Race Long Practice and Testing Session by almost everyone!
Initially we had 5 starters, but for some reason, Cody dropped out very early on in the first bracket and then marshaled and tested some of His Wing Cars in the Lane changes !!,..lol, which was actually rather good, as the racing was Very fast and Furious and as we were by that stage slightly short on marshals, certainly helped.
Once again, young Jake showed his competitiveness and general improvement in Speed and consistency, virtually Owning 1st place after the 2nd bracket, right up to virtually the Last few seconds of the race, eventually JUST being 'Pipped' for the Win, by a Fast charging Troy. the two of them finishing within Feet of each other on the same laps !!
I guess it does have to be said that Troy was trying two quite different Sauber cars during the event, as was Wayne, swapping between Cody's Jaguar and James' Toyota, with Dale running His newly acquired Toyota for the first time, instead of his 'Venerable' old hard Bodied Porka.
The cars are definitely Looking Good and are certainly running Very Quickly, although as I have mentioned before, are in my Opinion, Extremely Expensive, compared to other forms and classes of cars, even amongst Plafit classes, with the Older hard Bodied class possibly being even More expensive due to the Donor 'Kit' price.
Whilst the cars are certainly OK to drive etc, it makes for a difficult financial argument, when comparing the relative Performance/Cost comparison to the Other Lexan Bodied CanAm/Sports GT Class!
There Really is No Cheap or cost effective solution, as whether one purchases the arguably NOT RTR assembled chassis OR a 'Bag of Bits' the EXTRA and Required Parts add up to a Quite Expensive car overall, in fact actually making some 'Wing' Cars seem almost Cheaper and More affordable, (let alone How cheap a self made Retro car is by comparison which arguably provides easily as Much Fun and is faster and Could also be made to look as good, if one bothered to add the extra detailing Items!).
I must admit, I am surprised just How many people have purchased these cars, Especially as I think ALL of them have been Built/assembled and painted/detailed by Wayne Bramble, increasing the Overall cost understandably due to his arguably quite cheap charge for doing so and providing his usual excellent standard of Preparation and appearance.
With My somewhat limited budget, this is a difficult Choice for myself and possibly Others to Invest such Capital expenditure on.
Anyway,..the final outcome of the Racing;
1st Troy 153 laps
2nd Jake 153 laps
3rd Wayne 146 laps
4th Dale 140 laps
As perhaps one Final note, in the Post race Post Mortem, it was Noted there were Quite a Few 'Bent' Cars/bits, this being arguably somewhat 'Typical' of almost all of the Plafit cars, even those with the Extra Carbon Fibre Parts, suggesting that Maintenance and regular rebuilds and attention be required to Keep them at their best. This being somewhat of an 'Issue' for Wayne, as at the end of this evenings racing, I helped him pack 13 cars into a box to be taken home for repair/rebuild etc, let alone all the Other cars he has Yet to build/repair in all the Other classes!!
On that Note, I think from many of my previous 'posts' and my general attitude to slot racing, (being of the Do it Yourself persuasion), it makes for a rather strange situation really, as it makes you wonder just how well represented these classes would be if it were Not for Waynes' inate ability to 'Pump Out' So many well made and presented cars with such speed and regularity.
It could perhaps be argues that it Would NOT have happened otherwise !!!,..but I guess That is Another story altogether!,....
Once again though, it was just Another Great Night of Fun and socially enjoyable racing at HSC,..may it Continue to remain so !! (our usual great thanks to Both James and Wayne for providing the opportunity to enjoy ourselves as we always Do at HSC).
Now if Only we could encourage a few more of the often infrequent racers to turn up or (Perish the thought), get some New racers involved, it would be even Better!!!
See you all again at the State Titles
