Having recently had one of our Local Club championship rounds for this class, I knew My trusty David Piper 'Porka' was up to the task at hand and was performing well.
In testing the previous night after the Group C race, I knew it was relatively on the pace as usual, although I Did have a New motor which I Could have fitted, but decided Not to, as atleast the one I was running was a Known entity and seemed to be good enough,..or So I thought !!
May I say,..it certainly was Close, but when Cody came by for the Second time in the First Bracket of the Final, I figured that perhaps a Fresh Motor might well have been 'the go',..but I'm getting ahead of myself,..lol
We had a total of 14 entrants for this class as in the 1/32 class, in fact, pretty much the Same people, with one or two exceptions.
Concours
Well,..I guess it has to be said, that although there certainly Was quite a few cars with some very Nice detailing, it soon became evident that Most of the drivers had decided that Jimmy's car certainly looked the part in it's 'Intent' and so became the almost unchallenged Concours Winner in this class. Well Done Jim.
I must admit though, considering the initial 'intent' of this class,..especially regarding Concours, it is perhaps a wee bit of a Shame that there Weren't More cars attempting to 'Replicate' cars from the Real World, that actually ran in real life!
Mind you that is Not to suggest that the overall standard of presentation was in any way Slack, as Virtually every car Looked really Good and was well presented, with a quite High level of Detail.
I guess personally I have always really Liked this Era of Real racing and am somewhat partial to the way cars Looked back then unlike many of the almost Modern MotorCycle Helmet like psychedelia cars of the Modern day lol
Qualifying
Well,..even though I was pretty sure I had collected ALL of the Race sheets, (and in fact am damn sure I had also picked up one of the CanAm Qualifying sheets, I must have left it lying around, as I certainly Don't have it Now to refer to,..Doh !!
If I can find one, I will attempt to Edit the details, but nevertheless,..Once again,..Young Cody, managed to TQ again !!,..although this time I was atleast Very close behind him in My Qual' times, which certainly was a Positive sign for the upcoming races,..so once again Congrats Must go to Cody for his TQ,..Well Done Cody.
Semi B
You Know, strangely, of recent times I always seem to be ending up in the B Semi ans so it was Again tonight.
So we had James, RobG, Barry, Brad, Gregg JJ and myself lining up for the start.
From the Very Fast start, Brad managed to get ahead, with myself making the break with him and motoring off together and here I really Must apologize to Brad for accidentally Just Clipping Him coming Out of the Triangle section of the track. As we were Both motoring along well and seemingly setting a Cracking pace, I was More than Happy to Just pace myself with him and had No intention of passing him where I did, so may I Once again apologize Brad for Very unintentionally 'Nerfing' you. I was both Pleased and a bit surprised and enjoying the company
Anyway, I managed to end the first bracket in 1st, with Barry in 2nd and James in 3rd, but as the race progressed, a Very Queit and Studious Gregg, was independently Motoring along Very effectively, by Himself.
I had started on Blue, which gave me a Good set of finishing lanes, whereas Gregg had started on Yellow, which meant he was to finish on Purple and Black.
By the 2nd bracket, Gregg had claimed 1st and continued to Hold that position almost race long, with myself pretty much owning 2nd after a 'dip' to 3rd on Purple and Black.
James was also motoring along very well and basically took ownership of 3rd early on and kept it to the end.
Barry managed to get hold of 4th and similarly hang onto it to the end, with RobG chasing him all the way to the flag, never more than a lap behind, along with JJ, who was also often on the same lap as both of them as well, the three of them having a great battle for the final moveup spot. Brad obviously must have had a bit of a shocker on Red and dropped down the order, unfortunately unable to make up the ground,..Very hard. Always a hard thing in a class So close, with only 2 minute brackets.
I was actually quite happy with my current 2nd place, when I noticed I had caught up to Gregg and realised he was on Black in the last bracket, so was really Only a matter of doing a Solid last bracket to overhaul him into 1st and so it transpired With Myself managing a 21 to his 20 in the last bracket, to finish one lap up on him at the Flag.
The Outcome of Semi B;
1st Stoo 157 laps
2nd Gregg 156 laps
3rd James 153 laps
4th Barry 148 laps
5th RobG 147 laps
6th JJ 146 laps
7th Brad 143 laps
Semi A
This Semi saw Troy, Jimmy, Cody, Garry (now running the one of HSC's Spare cars, as His was severely bent during Practice just Prior to the event), Jake, Wayne and John taking the start.
As usual this crowd drove an excellent race and both Troy and Cody showed perhaps a 'portent' of the immediate future, by turning some impressive lap totals and leading the field the whole way and eventually finishing in that order at the end.
No one else really came Close to challenging then during this Semi, although the fight for the other places was certainly close enough.
Wayne pretty much had 3rd in the Bag until the last bracket, when for some reason he Only managed to turn 12 laps dropping him to 5th.
This allowed John, who had been running in 4th for virtually the Whole race moved ahead into 3rd, Waynes demise also allowing Jake to creep into 4th in the last bracket, with Garry really Not having a Fun time running along in 6th, with Jimmy pretty much just Cruising with his concours car to take the last spot finishing 7th.
The outcome of Semi A being;
1st Troy 162 laps
2nd Cody 160 laps
3rd John 155 laps
4th Jake 148 laps
5th Wayne 147 laps
6th Garry 147 laps
7th Jimmy 145 laps
Final
Boy Oh Boy,..What a Race !!
I say this Not so Much for How close it was as such, but I guess after a Weekend of constant racing, with pretty much All the same drivers competing and by Now having had Plenty of practice, it was an Absolute Pleasure to end the Weekends events, with Such a Fine, Supremely Fast and Incredibly Clean race.
De-slots were extremely infrequent !! I really don't recall there being Many de-slots at all in fact,..perhaps one or two, but to be honest, I did Not notice them myself. It seemed like the eight of us just Zoomed around virtually flawlessly, which must have been perhaps a bit boring for the marshals, but atleast they got to watch a Truly Fantastic race unfold.
As mentioned earlier on, I was Somewhat 'Stunned' when Cody Came by to lap me for the Second time,..In the First Bracket !!
Cody Troy and Myself, all managed to make a Great start and began to Pull away from the field, although even motoring Quite Quickly myself, I had No answer to either of them, as they Both Pulled away from Me.
The three of us Pretty Much secured our places up front from the beginning, with Cody, Troy and myself holding down 1st, 2nd and 3rd for the Whole race,..but it has to be said that both Cody and Troy, were setting an absolutely 'Cracking' pace, with None of us 'Mere Mortals having any answer to them!
Behind us it was perhaps a slightly different story, with some incredibly close and hard racing happening, with Gregg and James being on the same laps for 4 whole brackets, with John at worst only being a lap behind.
The three of them basically held almost the same positions on the track for about 5 brackets, with none of them really being able to make a Break, or Gain any ground on each other, leaving Barry and Jake to have their own little 'tussle' for the Lower placings.
It really was quite a 'Torrid' Pace being set by everyone and was one of the Most satisfying races I have had in a while,..Very Similar to the Retro F1 Final a few days previously!!
For the Serious Slot Car addicts that this Usual bunch of suspects most definitely are, it was virtually Slot car racing Nirvana !!,..
It has to be said, that there was a Great and extremely friendly Vibe and Jovial rivalry between all of the racers, all weekend, but as many of us have been racing with each other for many, Many years now and are all pretty damn good friends and Pretty damn good drivers as well, it really did make for a Truly 'Fitting' end to one of the Best 3 day weekends of Slot racing I have experienced in a Long, Long time.
Kind of reminded me of the Hey Days of the NSW Association Waay back when we were all a lot younger and the quantity and quality of the drivers was fantastic.
As mentioned Now many times, I know,..it really was a Most Exceptional bunch of races resulting in a most Worthy State Title Championship Event !!!
Quite Simply,..Just Fantastically Great FUN.
The Final Outcome being;
1st Cody 243 laps
2nd Troy 242 laps
3rd Stoo 237 laps
4th Gregg 232 laps
5th James 230 laps
6th John 230 laps
7th Jake 224 laps
8th Barry 220 laps
I'd like to thank ALL of the racers that attended and made this Whole event so Damned enjoyable. As is usually the case, it was a pleasure to spend the weekend with you all and to have such enjoyment competing against you all,..i for one Look forward to Many more future events of this Calibre!!
Thanks Guys !!!
It was a Hoot !!And ofcourse once again, it Must be stated that James and Wayne have really made the racing and track environment and facilities very pleasant and having been racing at Waitara, since I was a Very Young Teenager,..All those Many years Ago, I think it would make Kevin Thurston and his Wife Marge, (who started the Centre and built the original tracks), both Happy and Proud to Know the Place is not only Still running, but providing the same friendly and Fun place to race at as it was all those years ago,..Well done guys and May Waitara, aka Hornsby Slot Cars continue on in this fashion for many more years to come !!
Keely's Food was Great and helped us all survive through this last long day of racing!,..
Ofcourse, once again thanks must go out to Werner of ACE Hobbies for Providing the 'Booty' to Add to the great Trophies, for All of the race Winners, I am sure it was appreciated by all.
Cheers guys, may you all have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year and Hope to see you all again for the same event Next year.