Australian Slot Car Racers Association

Well,..having actually expected My old Racing Mate Mark Fox to have Won a Few races by Now,..Last Nite,..he Finally Did,..and somewhat convincingly as well !!

Mark's New car, certainly 'Looks the Goods' and looks Fast, smooth and settled on the Track.
It was interesting to note just How well it ran on the Track prior to Traction being applied, so it seems to handle both conditions Very well.

First up,..I would once again like to thank Kim, for his 'Enthusiastic' marshalling !!,..Joined this time, Very 'ably', by James,.(who must have found it a bit like a Gym workout at times) and Christopher,..Thanks guys, it Seemed like we all had a lot of Fun !!

Fortunately,..MOST of us are actually driving well enough, to run races without Marshalling and if we keep getting turnouts like Last night, then we WILL Need to Race that way !!,..

From what was looking like a really good Fun developing New Class of Great racing,..we have Now experienced Dwindling fields, to the point where, if it continues, one would wonder Why as a Track owner, you would Not think about scheduling different races,..sigh,..such a shame really, as there Really Has been some damn fine racing and some Great cars built.

Maybe it will get better in the Next Series and perhaps a bit of interest from Drivers at the Other tracks as well as possible Racing Visits to other tracks might Re-Generate further interest,..I Sure Hope so, as I for one do Prefer racing and More Particularly, "Building" these cars!

Anyway,..on to the Racing.

Luckily, both Fox and myself had spoken with Peter Hopkins and Must have inspired him to turn up, which was good, else I doubt we would have raced,..so, there were 4 of Us and with James deciding to 'sit this one out', WayneB made 5.

No qualifying, just pick a lane and Off we Go.
It WAS a Very Good thing, that just seconds from the start we noticed the Race was set for 8 x 51 Minute Heats, with a 20 second Lane Change !!!,..Now That WOULD have been interesting, Talk about an ENDURO !!!,..

The Lineup, Myself, Fox, Wayne, Peter and Daniel, headed off into what actually was a Very Funny AND enjoyable Race,..there WAS a LOT of Laughter, with at Times,..Unbelievably, ALL of us Off the Track,..But Mostly,..Very Good driving and some Really enjoyable almost Bracket long 'Dicing'

I started on White,..which was a bit of a bummer, as No one had run on it Prior to the start, so was Real Stuck, providing me with one of Many 47 lap totals,..DOH !!,..Fox gained the lead and then Tussled Race long with Peter (also running one of Fox's cars) chasing Him Very Hard to the End.

Red was also a bummer for me, as I kept finding errant cars parked across my lane !!,..Doh !!,..thanks Wayne !!,..
I Did manage a 54 and a 55, but another 47 on Yellow, Ouch !! along with the same on Black and Purple, Left me Fighting Race long with Young Daniel, who was driving typically well and even amongst thge Laughing and Carnage, managed to Pip me in the last two brackets.

Fox and Peter Raced off, with Peter trying Hard to catch a 'Flying Fox',..sorry,.. , Leaving Wayne by Himself in the Middle.

And so it ended, with Fox, Peter and Daniel managing to turn some 56's, the First 2 doing Many 55's and 54's, with Fox 'Creaming' us all with Not a single bracket below 51 and ending in 1st, with an impressive Total of 427 Laps !!
Peter finishing 2nd, with 416 laps, Wayne 3rd, with 409 laps With a Had charging Daniel Creeping closer with 401, Myself bringing up the Rear, knowing I Should have run the Other car, with 396.

All in all, a Very enjoyable evenings Racing, with some Very Nice, Friendly and Fun people,..Exactly How it Should be,..AND Was,..!!!

I Really DO Hope, we see some Larger fields turning up in the forseeable future, especially as there Has been Some Commitment by James and Wayne. Thanks guys,..it Really was Looking Good there for a While.

Guess we will just have to see how the Next few races go,..

See ya at the Next round !?

As always it was worth the effort to make the trip down to HSC for a retro race and after all theres not much else to do on a rainy afternoon

I gonna have to pull my finger out and revive one of my own chassis but when fox lends you one of his lovely little peices of brass its does leave you wondering why bother

I don't know what happened on the last bracket as I was only 2 laps down on fox but after all the shouting lauging and crashing I ended up 11 laps down which didnt reflect how close the racing was for most of the race

Last night was just what I needed as someone whose enjoyment levels about slot cars rise and fall with the level of goodwill around the track

It was an easygoing light hearted event that I enjoy the most

With all of the debates and disagreements that have taken place both in public and private my take on the spirit of retro is keeping it fun

Pete

The cars look pretty boring considering the intended nature of the class.

Maybe you guys should rename it "The Ti22 Class".

Congratulations Mark.
Neat looking traditional frame.
What happened to flat boy, or the ice cream cone frames?

Thanks for the report and piccies Stoo.

Gary,

> Maybe you guys should rename it "The Ti22 Class".

I opt for something like formula libre where if you can get a body from the right period onto a chassis you can run it. Coupes, sports cars, Can Am, sports sedans, even open wheelers if you can suffer them.

None the less I can't be bothered being a "voice crying in the wilderness", just let it roll on regardless and hope people turn up.

Regards,

hutch at movsd dot com

SlotBaker wrote:Congratulations Mark.
Neat looking traditional frame.
What happened to flat boy, or the ice cream cone frames?

Thanks Steve,

Re 'Ice Cream Cones' and 'Flatboy' I still have these and am also developing them further but 'Fatboy #2' is my current favorite - it is a direct descendant of 'Fatboy' which Peter Hopkins ran to second place (Kim Axton also took this car to the NSW Retro Titles main where I was running my first Ice Cream Cone).

I like loaning my spare cars out as it gives me an opportunity to see my cars go head to head in race conditions - obviously I cant run all my cars at once and having now built about 7 chassis which are all competitive it's great to be able to loan a spare to a very classy driver such as Peter.