Whilst for myself it proved to be an Interesting 'Testing Session', (as I had decided to run Both of the New cars I had prepared, being My Ferrari F40 1/32 Dov' 2 car and a New !/24th Elfin 400, modelled after the Re-built as it looks Now, of Frank Matich's Elfin, before he built the SR-3, that occasionally runs in Historic events. I raced it in somewhat 'Unfinished' Mode,..as it has yet to have All the Extra Detailing added/finished, but hopefully Should end up looking OK and a Reasonable copy of the current SA based car.
BUT,..apart from the fact that I was Most Pleasantly Surprised by the Performance of Both of the New cars,..it was in All Honesty and 'ABYSMAL' turnout.
Considering How Clean the subsequent 'Racing' ??,..lol,...was, we I guess had a surfeit of Marshals, which was in fact a Shame, as James chose to Marshal and therefore, did Not Race !!
Somewhat Sadly, young Stephanie did not join us, due to an Unscheduled Trip to the Hospital and subsequent Surgery!!
All OK though,..Apparently,..So Get Well Soon Steph and Hope to see you back racing again soon,..We Were ALL Concerned for your Helth and well Being,.."Go Girl", !!!!,...
Sadly therefore,..we had a Sum Total of ONLY 3 People actually in the Raceway and interested in racing Plafit cars Tonight !!
Strange how I seem to recall being told that these Plafit 'Scale' type cars were The MOST Popular class, and were the Future of Slot Racing,..etc,..etc,....
Plafit's or Not,..it is Still somewhat Sad simply for the Popularity of the Club racing at HSC and I for one Certainly Hope it is NOT a 'Harbinger' of Doom regarding Future Attendances.
For myself I find it Particularly Sad, as over the last couple of years, both the standard of Car Prep and their relative performance and the driving quality and standard at Both the Plafit and Retro races, has Really Improved and provides for quite simply Fantastic FUN Racing and whilst agreeably Fiercely competitive, it is and has Always been with a Good 'Sprit' and FUN has been 'At the Fore' !!
There Aren't Any Sheep Sations 'On the Line' Here !!,..
ANYWAY !!,..lol,..Even With ONLY the Three of Us,..we Did have some Great, Fast and Obviously Clean racing,..BUT perhaps More Importantly,..we Had FUN !!!
At times,..both Troy and I were Waiting for each other, to Continue and Enjoy a Great, Side by Side 'Dice' !!!,..Overall,..being Also Extremely Happy with my New Cars Performances and having a Lot of Great racing with Troy,..I had a Great time !!,...
1/32 Modern GT
I ran My New Fly Bodied Ferrari F40 Div' 2 car tonight and as reported elsewhere,..proved to be a Surprisingly Quick and Efficient car,...capable of being competitive with a decent Div' 1 car !!
As mentioned above,..we Did have Fun,..but Drove Hard Race Long !!,..I was Driving as Fast as I could,..wanting to Test the Outright capabilities of the 'Fazza',..lol
Troy and I were NEVER More than 2 laps apart and were invariably on the Same lap !!
We swapped First ans Second Places Race Long and were on the Same lap at the end of the 7th bracket, Each with 183 laps, with Jake a bit behind with 176.
The Last bracket was Intense, with both of us making an unforced error and as I had Regularly been able to get through the last couple of corners quicker than Troy and get to the Line ahead of him, I felt relatively confident of being able to 'Snatch' the Win, as we Raced Flat Out Side by Side for Most of the Last bracket.
BUT,.....On the Very Last Lap,..I 'Faltered' going though those Very Same corners I had Been previously So quick through and had a 'slight Enough Wobble' (and that was All that was Needed as it was So close), which Meant Troy and I crossed the line in a True,..'Photo Finish' !!!,..Both Ending up with 209 laps, with Troy managing to 'Pip' me on the Line by 800ths !!!,...Not to Bad for a Div' 2 car !!!,..
Overall Outcome;
1st Troy 209 laps
2nd Stoo 209 laps
3rd Jake 202 laps
1/24th CanAm/Historics
Same three Humans,..Jake, Troy and Myself here,..with myself running a previously started 'Work in Process' Elfin "Replica" (as mentioned above), Instead of My 'Trusty Porka 917',..
And,..arguably,..Not such a Bad Outcome having Decided to run the car instead of my Usal and arguably effective Porka,..as the Elfin,..when Driven Very Tidily,..Proved to Be an Extremely Fast and Effective car !!
Like the Ferrari F40 I ran in the 1/32 class, the Elfin is Also a Very Short in Both Wheelbase and Effective 'Available' guide lead (due to the Basic Design of the Elfin), and Also a relatively 'Narrow' car, which required Very Tidy driving especially On Corner Exits !!,..BUT when Driven 'Accurately',..was Very Fast and effective getting out of some of the Harder Corners around HSC and it Went through the last few corners coming onto the straight, like a Wing Car !!!,..
So,..I was Most Pleasantly Pleased !!!,..
To be Honest, Troy was Not putting in His Best Ever driving Performance and a Slight Issue with his Gears, but he was still Pretty damn quick and so Once again,..we at times had some great Side by Side 'Dicing' for Many Laps/brackets.
But to be Honest,..I was Driving the New Car as Fast & Hard as I could race Long,..if for Nothing Else but to Test the New Car and was as I have mentioned somewhat Pleasantly surprised by it's Speed and Handling !!
Very Few De-slots at all to be Honest,..one of Mine being Most unexpected and managing to Completely Clean up poor Jake happily Minding His Own Business right across the Other side of the track !!!,..(Sorry about that Jake !!!,..
).As mentioned even though there were So Few of us racing,..it was I think Still an enjoyable evening which atleast,..for myself had some surprising and enjoyable outcomes !!!,..and was,..Once again,..a LOT of FUN !!!
Overall outcome;
1st Stoo 234 laps
2nd Troy 222 laps
3rd Jake 216 laps
Once again,..a Great thanks Must go out to James, the Wayne's,..lol and everyone else that marshaled and I for one seriously Hope that the Future rounds are more well attended.
Hopefully,..see you ALL,..!!,...
,..at the Nest Round,...Cheers,
Stewart