The Queensland ‘Slotcar Legends’ descended on Graceville courtesy of the SEQSCC and their generous benefactors Mark and Julian for a slotcar extravaganza, second only the nationals in Melbourne. With a seventy metre plus four lane Scaley sport track to race on, the lap counters weren’t going to be over worked. Racers started arriving at 4.00 pm and within a short while they had set about the task of fettling their race choices for what can only be described as an ‘unnerving’ card!
I took the opportunity to go to fellow legend Paul ‘S’s house to check the progress of his new baby. I can only say it is going to be a highly drivable drivers circuit with thought going into track and lane layout. Paul is an architect and took the opportunity to draw the track out in CAD form. This was then passed on to a timber machining shop who faithfully reproduced the track and lanes with a cnc router. The result is some beautifully smooth corners and some gun barrel straights. The track has a coat of paint on it and the tape has to be the next venture.
Back at Graceville there was a settling in period. Most of us have raced Graceville but on this day some where going to love it...... and others hate it! No names, no pack drill, or maybe later! Time ticked on to six pm and with some of us availing ourselves of some good tucker at the fish and chippery across the road and after a late arrival in the form of newcomer Kim, we set off on our epic journey.
First up was to be four door sedans with a good selection of models. This was my choice of class and as the proxy track owner I had the opportunity to choose a contrived class. This keeps the racers on their toes so there is no fervent model race preparation on the lead up to race day. No one was sure of what the winning model and setup was going to be. Cars started arriving for the first heat and it was clear that the Aussie V8’s were a popular choice, but was it the right one. Mmmmmmmm...................?
A good DTM turn out too and a smattering of other touring cars. No mods to chassis or anything in this class but it was open ended enough for people to run a few unknowns. Bob as always, chose a selection to run and the Fly BMW’s were blisteringly fast down the straights but a bit of a handful in the ‘car park’ and its environs. As the heats progressed, it was down to V8’s and DTM’s. I chose an SCX Volvo (stop laughing at the back!) with a Wixwacing blueprinted motor which was potentially very quick and kept up on the big straights, but an oversight on my behalf saw it struggle in the technical sections with the pod system allowing the tyres to rub hard on the rear arches!! I have since glued the pod in and intend to run it with a loose chassis!!
It wasn’t long before the shenanigans began and Bob chose to jump the start in his first heat, leaving him a lap of at least twenty four seconds adrift!! New comer Kim was struggling with his brand new Carrera DTM and it was to be a troubled heat and some frantic pit work that would get him successfully on the right track in later heats. One of the old Carrera traits came in to play and on a downhill section of track, the track joint continually flicked his polarity switch into neutral and stopped the car. Some well placed masking tape was to alleviate this in later heats.
I have to here say that it was becoming painfully obvious that at least one competitor was struggling with the magnitude of the event, and the track. It was about this time that his expletives could be heard carrying far into the night. I don’t know what the ballet dancers in the church hall next door must have thought of it!! But persevere he did and I have to admit this showed me the dark side of a great racer which chilled me to the core!!.......... But you have to laugh don’t you!!
A heat or so later, Alan took a well deserved win with his Carrera DTM and Kim came good and made it a one, two for Carrera on this difficult track. After some more fettling and lubricating the sides of the tyres, I managed to get the Volvo home second in heat seven. By now the V8’s were causing mayhem, ending up in places I didn’t even know slotcars could go. We had one wedged on top of another in one level of the car park and they were deslotting at such great velocity that marshalls were reslotting them some distance from the event and giving them half a lap extra to do!!
Heat eleven saw Kim and Rob battle it out inch for inch for most of the race until Rob finally overcooked the top end which left Kim to romp home victor in this heat. Well done guys, some excellent spectator moments. In the same heat Ken and Bob traded places for the entire race and after three minutes racing Ken just beat Bob to the line by a cars length. On an upbeat note, I felt that by now, Justin was developing an affinity with the track and I thought I saw him smile just for a brief moment.!!
All home and hosed and what would the computer say (metaphorically, of course) well it said this:
Event One Four door Sedans – restricted motors. 7 laps Position Group B place Driver min.sec 1. Kev 13.19 2. 1. Alan 13.20 3. Rob 13.25 4. Chris 5. Paul 6. ` Phil 7. 2. Jordan 8. Justin 9. 3 Ken 10. Kim 11. 4 Bob 12. 5 Peter Fastest lap Paul 20.669 secs
Event two was Classic Trans Am and it was to be the fastest race of the meet. I took one lap off the overall race but it really wasn’t necessary as the times tumbled from the word go. Once again a good variety of model with some owners not afraid to put a few bucks on the table, literally. Chris raced an immaculate first issue Bob Jane Camaro, these currently command the equivalent price of a small suburb of Brisbane. Another desirable was again, an immaculate Alan Moffat Mustang. Something most would leave well on the shelf.
These models are a bit more stuck down and heats were more competitive. Kim took command of his first event and led the pack home in style. Paul and Justin were the favourites and unless they raced each other they were going to have to push themselves to stay at the head of the aggregate pack in other heats. My old warhorse which has many campaigns behind it, was struggling with a slow motor and new tyres. On top of this it seems that, like ocean going liners, it needed five minutes notice before you could slow it down, which Rob so eloquently pointed out on his first outing with it.
The car park proved a weak link in this class with an innocent deslot in the lower levels and a couple of inattentive marshalls bringing the pack to a halt. On more than one occasion the track was very quiet for several second as nothing was left running. I could almost hear strains of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the sugar plum fairy’ wafting in on the breeze from the church hall as the dancers evening was reaching fever pitch, then it was on again as the marshalls got their act together!
As race organiser it is my duty to investigate any suspicious circumstances or incidents of non compliance. Lo and behold whilst photoing the starting grid, there, blatant and unashamed, was a model with NO INTERIOR!!! as all who race Legends knows, the only models not allowed interiors are the V8’s and Minis in their classes. So what was this. The miscreant was called to book and with the intention of placing them last for the felony I realised that the driver would probably come last anyway and in true Legends tradition, we all turned a blind eye. And sure enough he came last.
This is a before and after shot. Ken demonstrates the precise art of repainting an extremely valuable Alan Moffat Mustang, using the finest techniques and materials, to turn it into a highly collectable ‘avant garde’ masterpiece!
Ken impressed me with his body tuning skills. In a magnet race where you want the model to be as light as possible, there in the back of his car, was a huge piece of lead??!! I’m only glad that it didn’t come loose and take the drivers head off or pass through the windscreen! Justin did smile a little more in this event but he was still adamant that the controllers and the lanes and the stickers and just about everything to do with the race except him or his model was at fault. A sentiment strangely unechoed by the gathered masses?? With my little Camaro I was unable to take the race to anybody so it may be time to put it out to pasture! Mmmmmmmmm..............!
Event two Classic Trans Am 6 laps 1. Paul 9.37 2. Justin 10.08 3. Kim 10.19 4. Chris 5. Kev 6. Rob 7. Phil 8. 1. Bob 11.51 9. 2. Alan 11.52 10. 3. Ken 12.03 11. 4. Peter 12. 5 Jordan retired Fastest lap Justin 18.406 secs.
Now this is one I DID come prepared for. A new NC5 replacing the old Red NC2 which had been in the model since I bought it somewhere in the fourteenth century. Some new rubber tyres (not MJK’s!) well treated before hand and a non alcohol evening which had me buzzing on a razors edge! Just the cod and chips driving me on! Paul and Justin were once again the foe and with a stunning first heat by both of them, returning 27 second laps, I would just have to stay on.
Chris was becoming too consistent and like a few of us older ones, he relishes non magnet racing anywhere and just has the knack to do it. Kim struggled with a Scaley front motor which he was erroneously advised to purchase by someone outside the group, but by the end of the evening he found the solution and it left the venue in someone elses racebox!! But, he did ingeniously lubricate the band drive to give the wheels a bit of differential from the fronts and to act more like castors!! Clever thinking! Ken was once again putting in some good times and at one stage was giving Kev a run for his money until the inevitable visited itself upon him.
After a good start, both Paul and Justin drifted into marshall miasma, both finding it hard to stay focussed for the twenty seven or so seconds a lap! Justin developed further affinity for the joys and pleasures of racing firstly non magnet, secondly, on plastic, and thirdly, at Graceville! And no doubt the adjacent ballet dancers picked up some new vocabulary! An extreme, and I can not under stress the term ‘EXTREME’ amount of marshalling to start with. and by the halfway heats people were slowly realising what this event was about!!! ‘STAYING ON!!’ And those who did were duly rewarded. Ken put in some exceptional performances and Kev, even with his controller hand in ‘full stealth’ mode was hard pressed to get a result. In one heat Bob found it to be all too much but in fairness too him he is a formidable plastic track magnet racer and the smooth surface of the Sports track was to be too much of a challenge on this occasion.
Paul pulled his act together to return some good laps but was still dogged by some unnecessary deslots and Justin, well, Justin showed he was at one with the universe,....... but Graceville was another story! And at the end of the story the computer pointed the fickle finger of fate at us all and told us that slotcars were winners on the night!
Event Three Subaru Challenge (non magnet) 5 laps 1. Chris 9.40 2. Phil 9.48 3. Paul 10.06 4. Kev 5. 1. Ken 11.00 6. Justin 7. Kim 8. 2. Alan 12.06 9. 3. Peter 12.10 10. 4. BobFastest lap 29.84 sec. I failed to record the fastest lap driver so If anyone knows they might like to pass it on.
Rob running through a ‘Kata’ with his slotcar equivalent of ‘nunchukas’. He is a black belt, fifth dan of the slotcar-marshall art ‘No-Kendo’
So that is how it was. We all came away enlightened and some more enlightened than others. Justin couldn’t contain himself and pleaded with me to return soon to the ‘Valhalla’ of slotracing (I think that’s what he said?). Anyhow, the track and the classes were a great leveller and results showed how unprepared you could be to the advantage of the steady driver! Once again, many thanks to Mark and Julian for the grateful use of Graceville. I for one look forward to our return next season with some more off beat classes!
... it's just some handle the pressure more than others 