Bayside - 4 December

Our last appearance at Bayside for this year. A well attended meet with good numbers in all classes, but a very hot hot day with track temps over 58  degrees made for a difficult time for tyres.

Steve was running the Mi2 and chasing traction all day until he realised  that it was a day for not using tyre warmers - basically he was overheating  his tyres before the race even started.

I ran the G4 in Gas Tourers and ended up qualifying 3rd which I was really  happy with when looking at the depth of the field. The car is very good and  has a lot of potential that I am inadequate to unlock. In the 10 minute  final I made the mistake of going with 36's when I should have made the  change to 40's. With 2 minutes of warm up plus the race I was on thin ice,  the car was great until about the 8 minute mark and became very squirrelly  after that. I held first place for about 16 of the 30 odd laps but couldn't  hold on in the end and got bumped to 3rd at the finish.

In a very competitive stock class Adrian (Surge) and Bob (Thunder) bought  our motors home in a fine 1 -2 finish. Can't remember when Surge didn't win  stock at Bayside for a long time. Graeme was having a struggle a couple of  spots further back than customary - I think running out about 5th in the  final from memory.

All in all a good day with plenty of good spirit about it - certainly a  worthy close to the year. There is a race meet at Logan next Sunday which we  will be at but we won't be at Bayside again this year.

Logan - 26 November

Off to Logan  for our first visit in a while and what an enjoyable night it turned out to be.

For the first time in ages there were enough Nitro cars to split the pullstart and open classes - and the result  was some good racing.  Heavy started with the G4 sporting a questionable repair job, and was immediately on the pace.  Unfortunately in round 2 the front belt cried "enough" and  he discovered that a 2wd nitro tourer  is a handful!  The backup plan was Scott's CEN CT4-R.  The car hadn't turned  a wheel since the Tamworth Cup, but the Fantom  motor kicked over immediately and once 6 months of  dust was blasted off the tyres, the CT4 proved a ripper!  Sadly half-way through heat 3, car found pipe and the result was a broken pivot ball.

With not long to do it  we managed the impossible, extracting the broken pivot ball, replacing it with a  spare, finding the missing steering link on the track, slapped it all back together and dropped it on the start line for the A final with seconds to spare.  It was just as good as ever and Heavy ran comfortably 3rd until the 7 minute mark when "it" happened!  Half the flood lights, and half the electricity (including the race control computer) failed suddenly leaving the track in near darkness. The race was cancelled - but nobody stopped.  Try driving a nitro tourer in darkness!  Heavy has never had such fun!

The other class of much interest this week was 19T electric tourers.  The class attracted 10 entries including some pretty classy drivers from the 540, stock and modified ranks, and it  seemed a lot of fun was had by all.  Scott made a rare appearance and strapped the Surge 19T into Steve's Mi2 for a run. We experimented with gearing all night, ending up as high as 39.5mm/rev!!!  John Perkins and Rob Maycock were the fast guys, and sadly this was one final that  was cancelled due to the power failure. 

One more race for us this year - see you at Bayside next week! 

Bayside - 5 November

Rain rain go away come again some other day.

Was up watching Australia trash the Poms in RL and could hear the rain and thought it would be a wash out. Anyway we were scheduled to have our AGM before racing so thought I'd better take the drive.

You've got to admit that RC'ers are the most optimistic bunch - 7.30 they were all there standing around wondering if they should charge a battery or not, eventually we decided it might be a goer and everyone got stuck into charging etc. AGM was held at 10 and racing got under way about 1030. Due to the weather numbers were down 1 x 540, 2 x Stock, 1 x mod, 2 x gastourer, 1x Pro Tourer for 7 heats alltogether.

I raced the G4 and although done for speed these days with the 1hp rule and me running .58hp the car is still good enough and in fact is far better than I am. Qualified 2nd for the A final and in 10 minute final ended up 3rd - not bad for an old guy.

In Stock Adrian qualified 1st and Bob 2nd and Graeme 4th which put our motors and batteries up the pointy end. Only one Schumacher in the A and Graeme ended up 4th after running 3rd for most of the final. Surge/ Feral first thanks to Adrian and Thunder second thanks to Bob. Well done guys.

Graeme proved that the Mi2 is still capable of mixing it in stock. Steve qualified 8th in his Mi2 but they split the 12 remaining drivers into two races which put him 2nd in the B and thats where he finished as well beating home a clutch of Xray and doing a PB at the same time.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the EC to get our Schumacher team back on competitive wheels. Ian Schwartz and Scott will be running them in Mod and myself and a couple of others to be confirmed in Stock - can't wait - I need a break from Nitro.

No racing for me next week, got a wedding so it will be back to Wynnum again on the 20th.

Logan - 1 October

A smaller than average meet following two full two day weekends. A full heat of 540, 7 Nitro, a full heat of Mod and 12 Stock. For me one of those meets that leave you scratching your head. I had the RDX working well, on the right tyres, a reasonable motor and good batteries but still was well of the pace - qualified 6th so made teh A final but still a lap down on TQ - as I said a bit of head scratching to do - maybe it's time to retire from night racing. Kenny Nham had his RDX on the podium alongside Scott Harris and Johnny Hyde so that was a good effort and proof that the car is good enough.

John Perkins TQ'd mod with the RDX and Iain had the Schumacher Mi2 flying in the final, made a slight mistake while in the lead dropping him back to second - a good effort.

Interclub Round 2 - Bayside 23-24 September

With over 100 entries this was always going to be a great weekend of racing. I was amazed at the turnout considering this was the second full weekend in a row. the weather was kind to us and the weekend was nearly as good as you could wish for in every respect.

From a Schumacher perspective this was a great event - In mod Iain Schwartz not only TQ'd but also was the first and only electric driver to go 19 laps. (Jason Dorn also did one in Open Gas) Iain's was even more amazing when you consider he was suffering speedy thermal shutdown on his last lap. With TQ out of the way he then went one better and won the finals as well - long live SCHUMACHER. In stock both the Mi2's placed in the A finals Graeme 4th and Steven 8th to top off a pretty good day. Adrian Beggs put his SURGE motor and FERAL batteries to good use to TQ and win Stock.

In nitro my troubles continued - the car was great and I was happy to qualify 3rd for the finals. In the finals I missed the start and started last but managed to get back up to 4th by the 7 minute mark - unfortunately a refuelling incident saw my receiver get a gut -ull of fuel and shut down - oh well next time.

With Schumacher set to release the EC version of the Mi2 it looks like the Schuie will be BACK!

Logan - Qld Titles - 17-18 September

Well the Qld Titles are run and won for 2005 and what a great weekend's racing it was.

Joel Gartland was in great form to take out the 540 Championship with 3 very strong drives in the finals.  Andrew Abbott won a tension packed modified final after being pushed to the very limit by Michael Sherman in his Corally RDX. Andy Cooke was third (also in the RDX). 

In stock we were delighted to see Bob Vardy take the championship - particularly given that he chose Feral Matched Intellect batteries and SURGE Monster Stock motors to power him to a great and popular win.  Leonard Lai was right at the pointy end as well - and plenty fast with Team Thunder R/C stock motor power and Feral Intellect cells on board.

In our camp things weren't quite so happy. Steve had an off day saturday with minor glitches before improving with two good drives on sunday and finally finishing 2nd in his final. Scott just missed the A in modified after being on the pace a number of times.  Certainly we had the car speed with the Mi2 and horsepower - just have to find a little extra driver speed!

Unluckiest man around town was Iain Schwartz. Iain had his Mi2 absolutely flying in the leadup to the event but had every possible thing go wrong over the weekend (and a few things that just aren't possible).  Unfortunately it ended up as a case of what might have been.  Better luck next time Iain - your time will definitely come.

Next up is the Bayside Cup/Interclub and a return to electric racing for Heavy D.  Can't wait!  Watch out too for a special surprise guest appearance from our very good friend Big Mac - who might just drag some more surprises along with him.  Sunday could be very, very interesting!

Bayside - 28th August

Another race meet which , for me at least, was an exercise in frustration. The G4 is raring to go and it's all these little things that are holding it back - today it was a crystal issue that prevented me racing in two heats. Fortunately I did enough in the first heat to qualify 4th for the A final. A flame out at the start of the final meant I was slow away and was therefore pleased with 3rd place at the end of the 10 minute final. The car is running very stock except for a steering upgrade and I contend is still very good.

In electric things were looking up for the Schumacher brigade. In Stock Graeme was qualified 3rd but after a disastrous final ended up 4th. Steve qualified 7th so 2nd in the B for the final but easily won the final. in mod Iaian was TQ but again couldn't make it stick and ended up 4th in the final. The mods he has done to the Mi2 certainly seem to have moved it into a more competitive zone.

Kenn Wightwick mad his debut performance in the RDX and drove very well considering the number of years he has been away - watch for big improvements here.

Not long now till the Qld titles followed a week later by the Interclub at Bayside - two big weeks to look forward to.

Logan - 20th August

After several frustrating weeks of trying to unleash the potential of the G4 I finally got my act together and made some changes to the engine area and surprise surprise the car ran faultlessly for 3 x 5 minute heats and the 10 minute final - not a flame out in sight. In a composite race of Open and Gas Tourers I was able to run well ahead of all but Jason Dorn in his open car - not bad for a puny .6 hp OS CVX. The G4 really handled well all night - and that was on rubbers as well - really looking forward to Wynnum next week and the Interclub at Wynnum in a few weeks now - YeeHA.

The action was all in stock and mod with two full heats of both and some very competitive drivers as well. The 540 was reduced to one heat but there was still plenty of competition there as well - great racing all you electric guys. Keith Mackrill was dominant in the Mod with both Anthony and John Perkins having good goes at serving it up to him but to no avail. It was good to see a couple of RDX's make the A final and also 2 Schumacher Mi2. Scott had his second run in our RDX and made plenty of adjustments throughout the night to finally qualify 7th and run 6th in the A final.

Bayside - 14th August

A great day for racing. How blessed are we to live in South East Queensland and have such great winters days. Numbers were down a tad on the usual and a few went home early due to a computer glitch which was actually fixed quite quickly and a trouble free day from there on.

Iain Schwartz has done his homework well and has upgraded the Mi2 in a few areas and has it absolutely flying - he was untroubled to win all mod races - 2 with a spool and 2 with a diff - great stuff.

In stock the team were in there with a good shot Graeme Maidens qualified on 2nd and unfortunately had a motor let go in the final. Interestingly Graeme uses no tyre warmers and no traction compound - worth thinking about. I ran Scotts Mi2 at the last minute and had to use an unprepared motor but the car was still very competitive. In the final I came from 8th up to third behind Kirk and Michael and then had an unforced error which allowed Rex and Bob through with just a couple of laps to go. Still 5th wasn't too bad and enjoyed the six minute racing immensely.

That my two races (Stock and Gas Tourers) were one after the other all day did little to help me. The engine in my G4 is still not quite on song and for some reason insists on stopping after about 3 minutes resulting in me coming of 10th in the final. The car is very good though and after 4 laps I was running 2nd. ran 2nd or 3rd till lap 16 and then had a flame out - took a while to restart then ran strong to the end finishing in 8th. The G4 is very good now apart from the motor and I am more than happy with it.

Had a good look at a Yokomo BD today and very impressed - mainly with the ease of maintenance - a lot of good time saving features on that car.

Blast from the Past: Heavy's Hobbies Grand Prix Brendale - June 23 1996

In 1996 the Electric Touring Car as we know it today was just starting to make it’s presence felt (called Scale Touring cars). Dying out were the Pro 10 class and 1/12^th as well.

The strongest class at the above event was what we called ‘Super Tourers” in those days – basically 4wd Offroad buggies converted to run onroad with wide touring car bodies and foam tyres, modified motors etc etc. These were impressive machines – wonder how they’d go against the Touring cars of today.

Interestingly enough  there were quite a few entries from guys who are still very acdtive in the sport today. You might recognise these names:

F1 Stock

Brad Hall                        Tamiya

Iain Schwartz                  Tamiya

Tak Woo                        HPI

F1 Pro

Brett Ryan                    Tamiya

Darren Perry                Tamiya

Adam Snook                Tamiya

Scale Sedan

David Guyatt                Schumacher SST2000

This class also included HPI RS4’s and Tamiya TAO1 and TAO2 the forerunners of todays touring cars – at this event they ran stock motors.

Super Tourers

Leonard Lai                  Schumacher

Scott Guyatt                 Schumacher

Graham Clarke            Yokomo

Andrew Lyons              Schumacher

Darren Perry                Yokomo

Grant McDonald            Schumacher

Keith Mackrill              Yokomo

Adam Snook                Yokomo

Peter Dooley                Yokomo

The rest of the entrants seem to have disappeared over the years – wonder what they are doing now ?

Bayside - 31st July

With the State Nitro Titles on at Brendale and several regular racers recovering from a raid on the Winter Champs at Illawarra we were expecting to be down on numbers and were pleasantly surprised to still have 45 racers.  It was 540 which suffered the most with only 3 or 4 entries. 2 heats of gas Tourers, 1 of Open Gas, 10 modified and 2 heats of stock.

I ran the G4 and for another frustrating day was unable to show the true potential of the car for a variety of reasons. Race 1 I did no laps with a radio interference problem. Race 2 The crystal kept ejecting from my receiver - weird.  Race 3 and a tuning problem caused continual flame outs. Finally I was last for the B final.

At the start of the B final I lost the first 4 laps while I spent some time retuning the motor finally got things right and in spite of my late start managed to win the B final and do some worthwhile laps, I feel I am now ready to start working on the suspension / handling side of things now that I have got the motor /clutch/gearbox working well. think I have got the spring/damper combination about right but need to try without roll bars or at least minimum roll bar settings. Roll on next two weeks.

We were pleased with the electric results for the day with Iain Schwartz (Mi2) winning the Mod final and with Leonard Lai (Surge motors and Feral 3600 packs) easily winning the stock final.

Winter Champs - Illawarra - 30 July

While we didn't race, we made it down to the Winter Champs at Illawarra for  a look and to help out a little.  What a great day's racing on a very good electric tourer track.

Adam Linnan driving the Corally RDX was unbeatable in stock.  He set a cracking pace and ran away with the finals.  Darren Mathews, Rodney Patch and Tom Leahy all made the A final and were very competitive, while Jason Elton and Chris Schoenfisch had enjoyable days and both ended up in the C final (big field).

Darrin Campbell showed his intelligence and determination to win Modified on a day when he didn't seem to be the quickest.  Both Ari Bakla and Andrew Abbott were quicker but ultimately Campbell's consistency got him home from Bakla with Vercoe third.  Keith Mackrill did a great job to finish 6th in tough competition, and Iain Schwartz was fast as well - ending up well up in the B final.

In the HPI Challenge, with the winner picking up a trip to Thailand for the Thai International, the pressure was well and truly on.  Standing tall was Brisbane's Anthony Atack - winning the first two A finals to put it beyond doubt.  Iain Schwartz and Keith Mackrill both also made the A final of this class, finishing about midfield.  Jason Elton and Chris Schoenfisch finished well in the B final. 

The Brisbane drivers all did a great job and learned many valuable lessons.  Firstly: Never, ever race two classes on such an important day. Secondly, Chris loves kerb-hopping in hire buses.  I had a great day out with the guys and enjoyed their company immensely.

Hobby Station - 29 July

Finally found a free Friday night to go race Hobby Station. Since I was last

there the track has been totally redesigned and the drivers stand is now down one side rather than up on the mezzanine floor.

There were 2 heats of 540 rather a composite class with Mini, F1, Touring cars and included a 1/12th Xray - first one I've seen - I reckon a full heat of those 1/12th touring cars would be perfect around Hobby Station or Beaudesert.

There was one heat of mod and their final was a great race in 2 with Scott McBride (my old Mi2) coming out just ahead of Stew Milton in a race long nose to tail duel.

I started out at 26mm per rev rollout and ended up down around 22 by the end. Qualified 3rd but managed a second in the final, behind a dominant Martin Nichols. Running rubbers and getting plenty of grip. There is no time to draw breath around that track so if you can't hold your breath for 5 minutes you'd better start practicing.

Quite an entertaining night

Logan Winter Cup - 23-24 July

DAY 1

Dizzily conditions met the 50 racers that fronted for Day 1 - 540, 19t and Gas Tourers. 19t was the largest of the fields with 25. The club had laid on a great effort with a marquee, a porta-toilet, and great organisation for the two day Cup event - which also doubled as round 1 of the 2005 Interclub.

This was really the biggest hit out in Qld for the new 19t class and all eyes were on it. I don't think there were too many disappointed, certainly the regular stock drivers were keen, maybe the regular mod drivers thought it was a bit ho hum. Whatever anyone thought certainly there was plenty of close racing.

I ran the RDX in 19t and learnt a lot about tyres. I learnt how to shred a set of 28's in one run. I learnt how to shred a set of 32's in one run. I learnt that if you put hammered 32's on the back with better 32's on the front you can do the most donuts and that was qualifying.. I learnt that if you use 36's and don't treat them or heat them then they are useless for the first 4 laps and that was the final. The car was good, the motor was good, the driver was ordinary. Ended up in the B and ran out 4th behind 2 Schumachers and an X-ray. memo David .. don't use the Paragon FX Cap formula on Sorex tyres.

DAY 2

This was the big day for the team with me running the G4 in open Nitro and Scott in the Mi2 in mod and Steve running his Mi2 in stock. in the end it turned out to be less than we had hoped.

The G4 never got to show it's potential due to a troublesome engine however the OS is back in place ready for Gas Tourer at Wynnum this weekend, Steve improved with every run to finish 3rd in the B with the Mi2- not his best but not bad considering the depth of talent in the class. Scott and Iain were both in Mi2 and qualified 6th and 7th but neither had a brilliant finals series with Scott finishing in 8th and Iain in 6th. All in all a very good weekend of racing in spite of what the vocal minority can always find to whinge about.

Logan took the interclub points ahead of Bayside.  Roll on Round 2 of the series at Bayside in October to see if the Baysiders can extract some revenge.

Bayside 17th July

Again a great day for racing, fine ,warm and lots of promise.

The debut of the G4 was not spectacular. I missed the first race as I went off to drop my good wife at the airport. The second race was spent on getting engine tuning somewhere close to right. The third race we struggled with a mystery that prevented the steering from turning right - fixed it before the final. After all those things I found myself in the B final and last. Got a good start to the final and decided to pit early as we were running rich and worried about fuel consumption - after pitting and before 2nd place pitted we were still 1 lap and 10 seconds in the lead and going well. Passing a back marker caused troubles and in a rather messy incident I had my pipe joiner broken - end of race. Did enough laps to know there is definitely potential there for the future - very happy - must get the steering upgrade ASAP.

Steve was running the Mi2 in stock today and had drama as well - broken aerial in round 1. Broken suspension in round 2. Put the wrong C hub in for round 3 (My Fault) which caused the car to be very loose in right hand turns, fixed it for the final - again the C final. In the final the car was good and Steve did his PB happy to do a reasonably quick 16 and looking enthusiastically to a 17. Also in stock Graeme had his M12 (Surge) comfortably in 2nd until the last lap - maybe even the last corner when there was a fracas resulting in Graeme coming in 4th but still managing a PB. Shane represented the team well also with a 2nd in the mod final after some pb's in qualifying.

All eyes turn to Logan now for the Winter Cup and round 1 of the Interclub next week. Practice Tuesday night and Friday arvo and racing Sat and Sun - another iron man weekend.

Logan 9th July

What can I say - 62 entries of which 52 were electric - where have all the petrol sniffers gone ?

I think it was a good night of racing in spite of threatening rain which stayed away. I had a very busy night and didn't get to watch much of the fun except most of my own races. It was a first for Logan in that we had a 19t heat of about 8 cars. The racing was better, in my view than, stock - just a bit faster and very easy to drive. I had some handling troubles with the Corally which turned out to be a broken lower shock mount which kind of ruined the last two races but the first two were good a 3rd and a 2nd - not bad, I think the Atlas 19t is as good as any. Still waiting for an exhaust manifold to appear so I can debut the G4 - maybe next week.

Scott and Steve both had ordinary nights as well with a variety of woes - not a great night for the team at all - but pleasant enough all round and good company with Big Mac also dropping in for a most welcome visit.

Bayside - 3rd July

Well at last we got a race day in without rain or even the threat of rain.  71 drivers enjoyed a fine, cool day where the track produced plenty of grip and some great races. There were some races that were a bit scrappy and hacky but in the main they were pretty good.

The full results will be up on the club web site but from my point of view the interesting points were as follows.

Justin Hughes used an ageing Surge to TQ in stock. Leonard Lai proved the value of our IB3600 matched packs to easily win the stock final. My day was rather patchy but I was pleased to be in the A final and was holding down 5th till the last minute when a screw fell out of the RDX front end and that was that. Graeme salvaged some Schumacher pride with a fine 3rd in the final.

The racing in mod was worth watching as Adam Xray (TQ) and Karl Xray and Iain Mi2 went at it from the jump I think all qualifiers produced a different winner with Adam just too good in the final - our co-tent dwellers Andrew (RDx) and Shane (Mi2 but soon Tamiya) both had varying degrees of success during the day.

Great fun, great weather, great company, does it get any better than this?

Bayside - 5th June

Due to rain a month ago this was the rerun of the trophy day scheduled for then.

There was a good crowd with good entries in all 5 classes although a few familiar faces were missing for one reason or another.

I had decided to run mod just for a change and in the absence of any mod motors I decided to run the Surge 19t spec motor - just practicing for the forthcoming emergence of Seniors(over 45) 19t class. The motor was very good although certainly couldn't match it with the 7 and 8 turns that were being run. Started the day in the RDX with a front one way but changed to a diff for the last couple of races. Think the diff was better for me, qualified 9th in the A final and finished 6th - very happy with that and a lot of fun. Andrew Lyons (RDX) and Shayne Pearce (Mi2) were both ahead of me in the A.

In most classes the times were down a bit I think on the usual although there were some exceptions. In stock both the Mi2 drivers Jason Wakefield and Chris Schoenfisch went particularly well finishing 2nd and 3rd. Steve bombed out today with handling troubles plaguing him right through the heats and into the B final.

The club now has the go ahead to put up the pits (at least the western end) and that work will proceed very quickly. Also the club has ordered there transponders and they should be here this week.

I couldn't run gas tourers today as my R12 has gone to a good home in WA - I am in the process of building a new Nitro tourer - it will probably hit the track at Bayside next time and I'm very much looking forward to it!

And a good fun day was had by all.

Logan - 28th May

Well club meetings don't get much better than this for me these days. Friday night I went to Brendale with the half hearted intention of running pullstart with the R12. During practice I broke the car in a continuation of the problems I was having at Tamworth so went home without firing a shot.

Saturday morning I decided to return to the old Schumacher and Associated idea of running the fuel pressure line direct from a hole in the pipe and no nipple. This always seems a bit rough but there is no denying that it works well it certainly did tonight.

There were about 50 drivers lined up for a late start (2 heats and a final) after continuation of the power fluctuations of the previous meet 2 heats of stock and one heat of 540, mod and nitro. The nitro was a mixed pro/sports affair and as I was driving a sports tourer with just a CVX I was expecting to get run over by the open guys.

I can't say what happened to the other races - I had a fairly busy night talking to a few new guys - Leonard Lai is back - and didn't get to watch too many. I think the only Schuies were Jason Wakefield (A final stock) and Steve (great drive to 2nd in the B behind Joel Gartland after a troubled night of qualifying due to maintenance lack after Tamworth)and Shayne in mod - could have been a Schuie in 540 as well not sure. Andrew Lyons made a surprise visit to Logan and ran consistently in the Mod.

Now the main event Nitro. The R12 felt good in practice and I thought I would be half a chance, added to that I had found some enthusiasm as well. First race I cleaned up and was the only car to go 14 laps about 16 secs ahead of second place - I was out of my tree. Second race more of the same improved my time by 11 seconds and was half a second of lapping second place - how long has this been going on - fantastic TQ and not a spanner laid on the car and it felt good. Final time and Michael Sherman had taken the wheel of one of the open cars and was set to be the main threat. Off the start I got away ok but into the chicane I got tangled with Andy and we got shot back to last, picked up a few on the rest of that lap and the following and was back to second behind Michael by lap 3. Going great and catching 1st place slowly for the next 5 laps (at lap 5 I was 6.5 sec behind and by lap 8 it was down to 2.45 secs and closing. Sadly he blew his motor and from there I cruised to an easy win by over half a lap from Andy Gibson and Ryan Stagg in 2nd and 3rd and separated by only half a second on the line. Naturally I was pumped - the R12 was going great, handling like a dream and the little OS was screaming - a great night and one to remember and savor for awhile.

Heavy

Tamworth Cup & Interstate Challenge - 22nd-23rd May

We made the trip down to Tamworth on the weekend for the annual Tamworth Cup, and the re-born NSW vs Qld Interstate Challenge.  Classes were GP Pullstart and Pro-Tourers Saturday and 540/Stock/Mod EP Tourers Sunday.

Saturday started with Pullstart and at times it seemed like a Bayside club race meeting.  Phil Ward (Sr), Neale and Russell Stonely, Ryan Stagg, Heavy D, Jason Dorn and Scott Guyatt all made the A final.  Heavy D had a shocker with anything and everything going wrong and not managing to finish a single race.  He didn’t start the final after we pillaged parts from his pullstart mechanism to repair Scott’s broken unit.  The final was a great race.  Local gun Alan Cederblade led from Big Phil and Scott (driving the CEN CT4-R) for a frantic first couple of minutes before Scott got to the lead and moved away.  An overenthusiastic arrival in pit lane at the 22 min mark resulted in an engine cut and two more quickly followed to allow Cederblade back to the lead and put Scott back to second just in front of Phil.  That’s how they finished.  The CEN was amazing – straight out of the box and running the Fantom Fr12 it was great on-track and easily matched the Kyosho/Associated cars of other drivers.  Great results from Queenslanders put us up by 1 point at this stage!

Pro Tourers was a NSW rout.  Ric Bartolozzi was just too fast and won easily in the end from Dallas Gardiner.  Jason Dorn, Phil Ward (Jr) and Grant McDonald (Team Magic G4) all put their cars into the A final but had various woes in the race to finish down the order.  Sadly this class put us out of action with a 19 point victory to NSW.

540 Tourers was a great battle between Brad Palmer and NSW’s Bob Deeth. Brad did a great job to drive to a good win ahead of Bob.  Gold Coast’s Kenny Nham was third to setup another class win for Queensland.

Bob Vardy was awesome in Stock Tourers and drove to a great win over Peter Joyce.  Highlight for Queensland was Jason Elton’s 4^th placing.  Steve Guyatt did a great job to make his first major A final in Stock tourers – and when we strapped in some of the new matched IB3600 Feral packs for the finals the horsepower being pumped out by his Surge stock motor was too much!  Heavy D had another one of those days – again not finishing a race thanks to a variety of weird and wonderful problems.  He did manage to comprehensively demolish the B final field to show what “could” have been.  Good results from Queensland meant we lost this class by just 1 point.

Mod was all about Andrew Abbott and Anthony Attack.  They went at it all day with qualifying and finals very close.  Scott was a solid third in the Mi2 ahead of lone-ranger NSW Josh Kemp.  We played with rubber and foam tyres and switched between spool and one-way in the Mi2 and it was pretty strong in just about every run.  Highlight of this class was the battle between McDonald, Mackrill and Guyatt that raged for lap after lap.  Grant had the RDX really going well in this run with some Orion V2 6 double power!  Another class win to Queensland.

We really enjoyed the weekend – you should put it in your diary for next year. Good racing, great track, enjoyable “off-track” socialising.  Unfortunately the NSW team won on the back of their very strong GP Pro-Tourer performance.  Next year, however will be a different story.

Logan 14th May

With Tamworth only a week away lots of the guys showed up for a chance to try out the machinery on tar again. The event held lots of promise with a good roll up in all classes - but alas it was not to be. Just after the completion of one round of heats the power started to go out and in spite of all the efforts of the willing Logan crew nothing could be done and the meeting was abandoned. Logan club have matters in hand to have things rectified ASAP so look forward to better nights ahead.

From the one race we had I re-learned a couple of lessons that I should hang my head about but I don't get that serious.

Lesson 1. If you aren't going to use some tyre additive or warmers on your rubbers don't expect a great performance on the first lap - first to last in 3 corners oh well.

Lesson 2. When you fit your esc switch always make sure that "on" is forward. That way when you have a hard impact with the rubber hose your switch won't turn off.

So there ends the lessons for today.

Scotts Mi2 performed ok in the first race after Scott got used to the new layout etc but a few changes saw it really humming in the post race practice session - lucky he had my white body to use otherwise he wouldn't have been able to see it.

Tamworth get ready we are on the way.

BAYSIDE 8th May

In spite of it being Mothers Day and the weather being inclement there was a fair roll of about 55 entries for the mid-season trophy day. We were to debut the new team RDX and there was plenty of excitement in the pits about that, but Schumacher news first. Not long before the start Steve discovered that his motor brushhood was all bent up and we began a frantic fix, took the brushhood off an old monster and put that on, when we bolted it back in the car we found that it wouldn't sit at 90 degree to the car and had to look for the problem. Found that a screw hole in the top deck had pulled out and we thought that the hit that bent the motor had pushed the motor mount across and ripped the rear screw out of the top deck. Ripped the top deck off Scott's car and replaced it on Steve's thinking "problem solved" - not so the motor was still bolting up at a weird angle. Had a closer look and sure enough bent motor plate so there you go. 1crash - must have been a hit right on the end of the motor at a particular angle and result 1 x motor, 1 x motor plate, 1 x top deck - Steven gets no pocket money for 6 weeks and made to stand in the corner for an hour.  Quite possibly the freakiest accident damage we've ever scene - except for an old Tamiya Grasshopper that broke in half but that's another story!

Anyway the RDX went very well - had it a bit high geared and went down a bit for the next heat but the rain came and everything was washed out - oh well, we need the rain.  Look forward to running it again next Saturday at Logan and then off to Tamworth.

Till next time.

Heavy

LOGAN 30th April

The Saturday night of a long weekend, The Rocky Cup and doubtful weather all combined to diminish the numbers that turned out to race at Logan. It was a huge day for me - I was in Hervey Bay for a wedding at 9.30 am culminating in a wedding lunch there finishing about 2pm - the mad dash home and into the van to get to Logan in time for a late start to racing.5 heats - 2 heats of stock, 1 of mod, 1 of 540 and a combined gas heat.

After three qualifiers down came a brief shower which wet the track and made further racing doubtful so the decision was made to pull the plug and we all had an early night. Jason Wakefield was third in stock in the Mi2 and Steven was about 8th I think. We had no-one in mod but I watched John Perkins and Keith have a couple of good battles - Perkins getting a good win. Interestingly, all mod drivers, except John, were on rubbers and John has indicated he is going rubber as well - I reckon that makes it a rubber tyre class by default - my prediction may be coming true. In the gas I was running the R12 on rubbers - too lazy to change the Wynnum setup - and they were 36's as well - not the ideal choice but they worked ok - I managed 3rd in each of the three races but overall qualified mid-field and I think first of the pullstarts (?).

The R12 is well past it's use by date now and really overdue for the rebuild I am giving it for Tamworth. I am looking to head in a new direction with Nitro in the near future and looking to sell, support and drive something that can compete on a performance and price basis with the pullstart class leader (V1S). Need a car that is not currently pushed in Brisbane and that  can take a pullstart and preferably be half a chance in open as well as the drivers are ready to move on. Naturally whatever I do I will support with parts as well (mmm G4 can you take a pullstart?).

Next meet will be the Mothers Day Trophy meet at Wynnum and I will run the RDX for the first time - will I be able to drive the oneway ?

BRENDALE 28th January

Another great night of racing 19t rubber. After two night of this formula I am very excited about it - sure it's not modified but it's quite a bit quicker than stock and very entertaining. Easy on teh batteries as well - my old batteries are giving me runtime quite close to the pace

I managed to qualify for the A final again "5th" and finished third a lap behind Anthony and Adam. Anthony and Adam were the standouts last night and have really notched into teh right gearing etc very quickly.

My gearing is all over the shop - I ended up going down 3 pinion for the final but it was the wrong move and my car was slow as.

Was running the spool in the Mi2 last night and really liked it - well worth a go.  

BRENDALE 14th Jan 2005

This was the first race meet of the year for Brendale and also for me. Was the first race meet of the new 19t rubber class and was eagerly awaited. 15 drivers turned up to race the new class which was an excellent start. There were a few traction issues for some of the drivers but certainly teh extra speed and power over stock was welcomed. A great night for most I think and most will be back - roll on 19t rubber. I was pleased to have made the A final and finished in 6th. Should really have rebuilt my diffs over the holidays - oh well I'll have to get it done before the next race in 2 weeks.