Australian Slot Car Racers Association

Well,..what an Absolute 'Cracker' of a Weekends' Racing !!!!

Look, I Know I can often 'Wax-On', about how Good the Racing was etc. etc, ...BUT, If you Weren't There, then You Really Did Miss some Truly Fantastic, Vary Fast and Extremely Competitive,..Racing,..Even the 'Party Going' occasional Spectators were enjoying it!,..

First Up,..I/We Really should Thank Both James and Wayne, for Making HSC just Generally, a pleasant, friendly and enjoyable place to be and Race at,..the group of locals from both Near and Far!,..lol are not only enjopyable people to spend a day racing with, but are also Damn Fine drivers!

Although I guess we did Not acheive the Overall Total Numbers that were Hoped for, somewhat of a shame some of those that attended from last year were Not once again present, as along with a few Others that couldn't make it,..we Would have had an even More Stupendously Excellent 'Field' of Drivers.

It Has to be said, I feel For ALL those that entered, (Oh and those that Just 'Helped' ) that Both the Standard of Driving and 'Courteous', but Intense racing and Quality of Marshalling, Helped to make this event so Enjoyable.

Quite Honestly, I am SURE that I Speak for Everyone by pretty much Everything I have said above and More,...(Yeah Yeah,..OK I know,..enough of that and Onto The Racing !!),...


GROUP C 2 Hour Teams Enduro

Firstly, as I Don't have the Results sheet in front of me, I Cannot give you any Accurate Details, but 'IlCavalino', has 'posted' some Results here; http://forum.ascra.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=289

I will 'Update' with further 'Info' as I have it,..but there are Plenty of Pics !!

Although the 'Real' number of 'Teams' that Registered for the event Wasn't as High as perhaps Hoped, there were enough to Need to have 2 Races, but in what was a Rather Wise move, (especially for the First time inter-staters, to Gain some Extra 'Practice'), it was decided to 'Allow' the Teams to Enter for the 2nd Race as well.

As many of the 'Team' Combo's, had More than one car, most chose to run their 'Other' Car and run in Both Races.

This Really made the Racing Much better,..as it's always Better for this level of event, I believe, to Have a Full Field of cars, on All Lanes.

The Racing in Both Races, was Unbelievably Close at times, with Very similar Laps etc in Both Races, making for a good Mix of Winners at the end.
At one stage in the 2nd race, we had 5 teams on the same Lap virtually for Brackets on end !!!

Compared to the Other classes of racing, one may argue that it was a wee bit 'scrappier', but I say this Only by comparison to some Damn Fine Racing in the Other classes.

I think what is Very Interesting and Great for the 'Sport' as such, is the Very Fine Performances put in by the 3rd and 4th Placegetters!
Both of these 'Teams' had an Interesting Pairing of Very Experienced and Talented drivers, Mixed with Drivers of Less Extreme capabilities and experience.

Both Rob G and Chris Drove Very, Very Well, with Cars they are rather inexperienced with and against a Very Good field and to see Just How close they Both Finished, was a Fantastic Outcome for Both Teams !!,..Reallly well done Guys !!

Mikey and Geoff Drove a Great Race for a deserved Win, with Barry & Gary really deserving Their 2nd place, with a similarly Fine drive,..(Hey Congrats to Gary as well, for his Concours Win, with a Very nice looking 'Kouros' Sauber C9.

Obviously, their Are teams who Have extreme Tales of Woe from the event, but was also a Great, New and a Learing experience for some of our Younger Racers,..like for Example, Young Declan, (who Wayne arranged for myself to drive with). Declan has been a somewhat Regular attendee at Pretty Much, Just Magnet Scalextric Racing, (which actually runs in the opoosite direction!), and has occasionally had a run with us in Retro, with a 'Loaner' car and apart from the concessions we Must All make (If we Honestly remember what We were like racing at the same age!!), put in a Pretty good performance, especially, as he had Worked out How to build the Car, Build and Paint a Very Nice Example of a Body and although Obviously Not a Leagl Entry, (It being a Toyota GTOne, from slighly later in the '90's), by taking the Realistic approach to a young Kid who has made a Fine attempt at building a competitive car, he was allowed to run and I think (or atleast HOPE ), he had a Great Time and I do Know,..Learn't a Lot.

In Fact I must say, it Really made Me think, as the Car had some Rather unique Dimesions and interestingly, some Very Interesting Habits/capabilities!!,..Makes Ya think Doesn;t it!!,..lol) Apart from the Car Not being in what Many of us would call a Truly Race Ready level of Preparation, it was arguably Quicker than Anything around some parts of the Track,..which was actually a bit Annoying, especially after I worked out How to Drive it Quickly and Use Where it Worked, to Overcome where it Didn't. If it had been set up Really well, it May have been an absolute 'Weapon' !!,..Well Done Declan, I Hope you enjoyed the Whole 'Experience',..I did,..

I like Enduro Style events,..it Certainly Made the 2 Minute 'Heats' of the following day's events, Sure seem Real SHORT !!!,..

I got there after the Start of Race 1, so missed getting Piccies of the Cars up close Prior to racing, (Sorry Guys), and Walked in to a Literally 'Buzzing' raceway, in the Middle of the First Race.


OK,..Enough of That,..Onto 1/32 Modern GT and 1/24th CanAm/SportsGT

(Hang On,..Messing with Pics,..back with More Details Shortly),..

Good report and piccies Stoo.

It was certainly a buzzing place, and the racing was fast and pretty clean, but there were a few broken bits of plastic lost along the way.

A few cars ended up looking like they were going on Eurpoean holidays with spoilers, air splitters, and other bits stuck to the roof as part of the rules, where any major part coming off, had to be put back on somehow.

Many thanks to James and Wayne for running a great event, and on time as well.
And to all those who made the effort to build and enter cars. Great bunch of guys.
Very well done.

Also would like to thank James and Wayne for a very well run race meeting. Maybe earplugs should be part of the next rntry.

I really enjoyed my first visit to Hornsby slot cars in 25 years and will be back.

What a top bunch of guys raced at this event , some of the best driving I have seen in years and run hard but fair.

Thsanks once again and Plafit rules

Baz

OK,..Now for the Rest of the Report,..(Unfortunately,..Sleep got in the way!,..lol)

Well, a very early start was the order of the day,..for some of us lol, but may I say the Smell of Bacon & Egg rolls, (which Tatsed Great btw !!!,..THANKS !! ), helped get some of the Early arrivals 'Back on Track' as it were!

1/32 Modern GT.

We had 11 Starters, Not as Many as we might have had, but still not a bad turn out, and All Very competitive, as the Qual' times proved.

A fantastic New time was set by Troy Boldy, Top Qualifying, with 6.296, once again, I managed to 2nd top Qual, with Exactly the same time from the innaugural event, last year, 6.470, followed by Simon, with 6.488 and a Great time by "JJ" 4th with 6.646,..well done JJ.

Mind you, I Did manage to do a few Lap record times in the Semi and Main though!! I actually managed a 6.257 and a whole bunch of 6.3's in the ensuiing races,..Now if Only I could do that in Qualifying,..lol

So we start,..

Semi B, consisted of Myself, Andrew, Bevan (Great to see you back Bevan), JJ and Dale.
This race, showed what was to follow, as it was a very Fast and Clean race, with myself finishing 1st with 138 laps, Andrew 2nd with 136, JJ taking 3rd, with 130 and Bevan taking the Last Move Up with 128. Dale on This occasion, was unfortunate not to have made the main, finishing 5th, with 121.

Semi A, consisted of Barry, Simon, Geoff, Jimmy, Troy and Gary.
Troy took control of this semi at the start and it was another Fine, Clean and very Fast race, with Troy obviously coming out on top with 144, Jimmy 2nd with 132, Simon 3rd with 130 and Gary making the last Move up with 130 laps. Barry was 5th with 123 and Geoff's Ferrari having 'Steeriing Issues' coming in 6th with 109.

So the stage was set for a Very good Main,..and so it Proved to be.

Final.
It must be said, that the car Troy was driving, was probably the class of the field 'On the Day' and as he Always drives very well, it was easy to understand him taking the lead at the start. Mind you Jim never let him get Too far away and even Held 2nd briefly.

3rd, 4th 5th and 6th though were extremely hard fought for the whole race, between myself, Simon, Bevan and Andrew.

JJ held 7th race lomg, as did Gary with 8th.

After swapping positions for almost the whole event, I managed to 'Wrest' 3rd in the 6th bracket and managed to hang on to it till the end.

The Final outcome being;
Troy Boldy 1st with 219 laps (A considerable number of laps above what was done last year), Jimmy Patterson 2nd with 209 laps amnd myself in 3rd, with 206 laps.
Andrew came 4th with 203 laps, Simon eventually taking 5th with 201 and Bevan falling away from his early 3rd place to eventually take 6th.

On a personal level it Was nice to atleast get a Podium, after being Oh So Close last time, just being 'pipped' by Jim.

All in all a Very good beginning for a Great days racing. Thanks to all those that entered, it was a pleasure racing with you all.
Grinning Winners,..lol
OK,..time for some Lunch and a quick Breath before,
1/24th CanAm.

See 'Post' Below for CanAm Report.

Hi Guys, The next Hornsby Plafit ( BIG RACE WEEKEND ) is on July 17th & 18th -2010. Hope these dates are CLEAR enough for some people. Who knows maybe we will have 24 teams for H.E.C ( Hornsby Enduro Championships ).
WB.

1/24th CanAm/Sports GT

The Local crowd of racers at HSC, probably already had Some idea just How competitive this class was going to be, with both Cody and Troy, (with Identical Cars), doing Amazing times all week and finishing within a Lap of each other in Our 'Warm Up' race, let alone doing Lap totals well in excess of what was previously Don.

Heck the Lap times they were doing were Exttraordinary, and are Close to the Early Retro times,..Quite Amazing Really.

As I had really Only intended running in 1/32 (being the Only Plafit car I own) and was simply intending to Take some pics for this report and to socialise with some long time friends etc,..I was given the opportunity to run one of HSC's cars,..(James' Car in fact, as he was heavily involved with the constant parties that were running over the weekend). This was I guess an OK idea, although I have NEVER driven one of the Plafit CanAm's before.

James said to me,."Hey No problems with the Loan,.."Just Win the Race OK, that's the Price" !!,..lol,..Oh Yeah,..Right,..Like that was going to Happen I though.

I had a Quick test of the Car on 3 lanes, Inside Outside and Middle and Knowing it Was a Very Quick Car, it was satisfying to see that I was Close to the required Pace.

Qualifying times were Faster than before, with Cody p[utting in a 'Blinder' with 5.576 !!
Jim Patt' took a fine 2nd, with his 5.607, the Venerable Dale A, taking 3rd, (also talked into a Loaner from HSC), with 5.714.
Almost Everyone was running in the 5.7 to 5.8 range, so it Looked like a Very close race to come,..and it was.

Semi B.
Well, this was an interesting Race, if Only for myself to realise I had a Rather Quick car on my hands!!,..lol

Jimmy took the Lead at the start and never looked back ending with 161 laps (a Hot lap total) and apart from one bracket where Andrew managed to wrestle 2nd from me I managed to follow Jim home in 2nd, with 158 laps. Gary J managed to wrest 3rd, with 154, with Andrew taking the Last Move Up in 4th with 154 laps also.
Rob G was happily looking at a 3rd until late in the race, but sadly Missed out this time taking 5th, with Simon ending in 6th.

Semi A.
6 Drivers faced the start and was an extremely Clean and fast race, requiring almost No marshalling.
1st place was taken by Cody from the First bracket and held it till the end, with the following places being very hard fought, with places changing all through the race.

Final outcome for the Move Ups was Cody taking 1st with 160 laps, Troy taking 2nd with 157, Dale getting to grips with His 'Loaner' taking 3rd with 155 and the last Move up going to "JJ" !!,..Way to Go Digger well Done !!
This left Geoff in 5th with 146 and Mikey also missing the final with 142.

Some Hot Laps and totals meant the Final would be Hot and it Sure was!

Final.
Although the Final Lap totals might suggest the field was a bit drawn out at the end, it should be noted that every Place (apart from 1st), changed hands almost race long.

Cody, who not only is an exceptionally quick driver, but also had a damn quick car, took the lead in the first bracket and held it to the end,..although, somewhat Amazingly, especially after James' request of me to Win, I managed to get to within 1 Lap of Cody in the 6th bracket,..(Close, but No Cigar!!,..lol)

I started on Purple and was quite honestly quite pleased to see that I was back in 4th after Yellow (3rd Bracket) and grabbed 2nd in the 5th bracket,..Hmm me thinks, this is looking pretty cool, so Don't Blow it,..Keep Calm !!,..lol), which, amazingly I managed to do, eventually Taking 2nd !!!,.Yey !!

Behind was an amzing fight for the Other podium spot, with Jimmy, Dale and Troy all wresting for 3rd, in fact it ALL Changed in the Very Last bracket !!, Troy Grabbed 4th, Dale did a Great job to grab 3rd and Poor Jimmy got knocked back to 5th.

Poor Gary had Not such a great day, pretty much holding 6th race long, with Andrew Similar holding down 7th, with Good Old JJ, bringing up the rear.

It has to be noted that this was an extremely Clean Race,..there being almost No De-Slots for the Whole event,..Truly Fantastic racing !!!

As I had said earlier, the overall driving standard of All competitors was exceptional, from the Most experienced to the Least. Very enjoyable racing conditions !!!

'So,..the Final outcome of the 1/24th CanAm race;

CodyB 1st 243 laps
StooA 2nd 240 laps
DaleA 3rd 236 laps

TroyB 4th 236 laps a very close finish between Dale and Troy, it being Mere fractions of a second.
(the Local HSC boys taking a Clean Sweep !! )

Jim Patt 5th 236 laps (showing Just How close the Finish was in the Minor places and the Chase for 3rd)
GaryJ 6th 229 laps
Andrew 7th 223 laps
JJ 8th 216 laps.

What can I say other than What a truly Great weekend of Fantastic racing.
A great Slot car centre, with Great people running it and Great drivers and individuals turning up to Race and enjoy the whole event,..and in That regard, I am Sure that Everyone Really Did have a Great time, both in the Racing action and in the personal interaction.

On a personal level, I ended surprisingly Much Happier with the weekend than I had imagined, especially after being given the opportunity to have a run in the 1/24th CanAm class (Once again, Thank you James, much appreciated! I am just glad that both Dale and myself managed to 'Do the Right thing with the HSC stable of Cars !!,..lol).
The fact that I managed a 2nd and 3rd, along with setting the Fastest Race laps in BOTH 1/32 and 1/24th, along with the also unexpected Run with Declan in Group C, made for an Extremely satisfying weekend !!
Seems there is Still Life in some of us Old Curmudgeon 'Wing Car' Drivers after all, Having recently turned 55, it was shall we say a rather Nice Birthday Present to Myself !!,..ROFL


OH !!,..I forgot to mention that Andrew managed to Take out Concours in Both 1/24th and 1/32 classes !!,..Well Done
Obviously, there Will be More of these events and I for one Genuinely look forward to all those that turned up for this race and the innaugural event last year, Returning to Make aneven Bigger and better event,..Great to see you all again.

Great Racing guys !!



More Grinning Winners