South Australian Scaleauto 1/24 Scale Endurance Championships

[BigMick]

A late night but a great night. That was a first for me (scale auto racing) and I hope not the last. As a last minute replacement for team Thunderbird I was not sure what to expect, needless to say everyone was welcoming and very supportive. Great to meet all the interstate guys. I have followed on the forum and its good to put faces to the names.

Well done to the Jokers what a top bunch of guys and a very fast viper indeed. To Chris what a treat it is to be a member of a slot club

based at your raceway, Cathy I think I had 3 of your BLTs they got me through the night.

And finally Shane what an effort you put in to slotcar events not just here in Adelaide but nationally as well, you are a credit and an asset to the sport.

Hope to see you all (going past me no dout) at the nationals in June.

 

Big Mick

[kash15394]

Shane once again you have done a great job organizing this event.Bill and Bruno and Garry great job on building and wiring a first class track.And big thanks to Chris and Cathy for providing such a brilliant venue and for all your time and effort to make this a truly excellent event.To all the teams it was a great race made better by the excellent competition and help given to other competitors. Hope we have many more to come.

Kev

[Robbo_sa]

Hi All,

You may be interested in some of our club uploads on YouTube. Look for slotmasters_slotcar_racing or Google the title of this event.

Here is the posting from the club website, FYI

http://www.slotmasters.org/?page_id=233

 

Congratulations to the "Jokers" team as well all competitors for making a great race.

[4orceracing]

Thanks to the SA guys for making us feel most welcome. The track is a great layout and and the driver etiquette was outstanding, For a very long racing going into the wee hours the damage was very minimal, Congratulations to all competitors!!

 

Chris and Cathy, you have great venue there and you should be proud. Shane, and all the guys involved in the organisation of the event, thanks mate and to all!!

 

Hope to see some of you make the return trip to QLD in 2015, we have a hard act to follow!

 

Mark

(Jokers)

[jphanna]

I would like to Thank Chris O and the Thunderbird team, (track builders, club members) for proving such a wonderful venue and a wonderful track.

 

To be invited to join such an icon event , by Frank, Kev and Sheppo was humbling. Thank you

 

to be amongst the racers at this event last night, I was not only surrounded by talented racers and car builders, more than anything I was amongst the very people that makes this hobby so enjoyable. its being part of a great FAMILY.

[Tim Tyler]

Thanks to everybody involved in this event. I am impressed beyond belief that you guys have built such a world-class track, and had a completely trouble free event striaght out of the box. It takes an enormous amount of effort and skill to build such a facility, install all the electrics and electronics, and organise such a smooth-running event. Major, major kudos to you all. I think a few 5-star commendations are in order:

• Shane, for organising the event and his generous contribution to the hand-out tyres;
  
• Chris, for making the whole place happen and being such a damn good all-round guy to oversee things;
  
• The local drivers who were exremely sporting when we were racing. Their good manners are an example to us all; and
  
• TEN STARS TO CATHY for those stunning BLT's! Best raceway food, ever.
  

I really enjoyed myself for the entire weekend, be it racing the ScaleAutos, rubbing shoulders with the Scalextric rookies, or just gazing at all the beautiful cars on display. I am looking forward to my next visit to Adelaide. It can't come soon enough.

[Garry J]

Ditto to everything Tim said. One of the most enjoyable days racing I've had in a long time, even if I was totally stuffed by the finish.

 

That track is going to be even better when the MCN comes around next year.

 

Thanks to Chris, Cathy, Shane and everyone else involved.

[espsix]

Hi All,

You may be interested in some of our club uploads on YouTube. Look for slotmasters_slotcar_racing or Google the title of this event.

Here is the posting from the club website, FYI

http://www.slotmasters.org/?page_id=233

 

Congratulations to the "Jokers" team as well all competitors for making a great race.

 

 

Looks like the viper is the car to have?

[Guest jazzbell]

Results for the weekend everyone.....

 

Team NSR TQ with a 5.7second (shane/jazzbell)

 

1st Jokers...4069

2nd NSR.....4020

3rd Phoenix..3981

4th Funhouse..3715

5th Thunderbird..3712

6th Sunset ..3693

7th Martini.3331

 

Big thanks to my team mates from Queensland Noel and Simon,great weekend with us driving in the same team.

 

Well done to the winners,jokers who all drove well. especially the new joker who could drive as good as the last. Mark held his own and was just as quick as Jan and Timmy.Tim went one better this time orange toe nails. Not much to say as they had a flawless race.Well done.

 

This was a great days racing and team NSR and Phoenix have got plenty of what if's to talk about.

 

Phoenix had a bad lane first up(slippery)then they broke a guide then come on super fast with a great drive from all 3 drivers. Most impressive was our local driver robert who doesn't race the scaleauto's was very quick. They caught team NSR and passed us and were coming home strong.

 

Our luck(NSR) i opted for the other slippery lane. Long story short we had 2 trye changes(still got me farked with our tye wear) ,body off the car to many times and a gear that sounded like a chain saw. Car had some big hits,in the end it was held together only by pink body wrap on the front .

Second half of the race saw us come home strong passing Phoenix . In the end Phoenix give us some breathing space due to breaking another guide.

 

I could go on,but thats enough of my spelling to read. All and all great weekend for all and the club at Thunderbirds .Thanks Chris and Kathy .

 

Thanks again everyone and looking forward to the MCN 2015. Next year will be having great drivers like Jan,Mark and Timmy racing too.

 

regards shane a

 

team NSR

[Springbok Racer]

 

Tim went one better this time orange toe nails.

 

regards shane a

 

team NSR

 

 

.....how could Garry bunk down with this guy on Saturday night......?

 

On a more sane note, here are the final word on the results, hot off the Thunderbirds press..

 

 

Cheers,

 

Jan

Edited November 9, 2014 by Springbok Racer

[Springbok Racer]

Hi all,

 

It has all been said before, but I would like to add my appreciation to all of the comments. This was a great event, in a great slot center with a great bunch of blokes. The driving etiquette was the best I have ever seen and the general race behaviour was absolutely fantastic. All of these elements are what make this enduro series such a pleasure to be part of. Specific thanks to the track builders, to Chris and Cathy, to Shane for organising and to each and every competitor. To my team mates, Tim and Mark - thank you guys for having me on your team.

 

This certainly was a Viper race. However I believe it was due to three reasons; it was new and long awaited, it was the car of choice for Shane and the locals took his lead and finally, it is a well balanced car and easy to set up. But I hasten to add, my Porsche felt just as good and I would have driven it without hesitation.

 

I have decided to share the 2014 Joker car setup's and after-the-race conclusions with you all. This will be done under a different topic in this forum section where I trust you will all feel free to contribute and ask questions. By doing this I hope to remove some of the myths that exit regarding the setup of these cars and how to anticipate handling changes throughout the race, whilst staying legal to the end. Perhaps some of our top drivers can also share some of their driving techniques and specific track driving hints during that discussion. Allow me a week or so to gather my thoughts and take some photo's for this thread.

 

All the best till 2015 when we all meet again at Hornsby in NSW.

 

Cheers,

 

Jan

Edited November 9, 2014 by Springbok Racer

[kash15394]

Hi all,

 

It has all been said before, but I would like to add my appreciation to all of the comments. This was a great event, in a great slot center with a great bunch of blokes. The driving etiquette was the best I have every seen and the general behaviour was absolutely fantastic. All of these elements are what make this enduro series such a pleasure to be part of. Specific thanks to the track builders, to Chris and Cathy, to Shane for organising and to each and every competitor. To my team mates, Tim and Mark - thank you guys for having me on your team.

 

This certainly was a Viper race. However I believe it was due to three reasons; it was new and long awaited, it was the car of choice for Shane and the locals took his lead and finally, it is a well balanced car and easy to set up. But I hasten to add, my Porsche felt just as good and I would have driven it without hesitation.

 

I have decided to share the 2014 Joker car setup's and after-the-race conclusions with you all. This will be done under the 1/24th discussion thread on this forum where I trust you will all feel free to contribute and ask questions. By doing this I hope to remove some of the myths that exit regarding the setup of these cars and how to anticipate handling changes throughout the race, whilst staying legal to the end. Perhaps some of our top drivers can also share some of their driving techniques and specific track driving hints during that discussion. Allow me a week or so to gather my thoughts and take some photo's for this thread.

 

All the best till 2015 when we all meet again at Hornsby in NSW.

 

Cheers,

 

Jan

Hi Jan,

Your setups from the weekend will be greatly appreciated.I have new Viper that is ready to be worked on so I will waiting with anticipation to see this.

Regards Kevin..

[Ratracer]

Hi all just wanted to say what a fantastic event and echo all of the above comments.

 

A big thank you also to Jan for sourcing parts for our Viper without your help we would not have made it onto the grid.

 

This event is getting bigger and better every year.

 

We had the most inexperienced team with Big Mick only just starting Club racing this year (not that you would know it), and the two youngest runners in Rhyse and Iain. Iain came in at the last minute to replace Trevor (First Corner Crash) and was a little bit overwhelmed when he realised the level of competition on the day but drove like an old pro.

 

We finished a close 5^th although had we not played it safe by making a tyre change in the last minutes of the race we would have finished 4th, Sammi (Team Funhouse) was looking a little worried there for a while.

 

Our car did not have the speed of the top runners but ran consistently with the only issue being a guide replacement being required, so Jan’s suggestion above will be gratefully received.

 

The track was excellent and will be even better when the Scale Model Nationals come around next June and I must say that the OAPR cars that Jan and the other Queenslanders were punting around were seriously fast and stunning to watch.

 

Well done Shane & Chris for a great event our wonderful track builders (Bruno, Bill J and Garry) and to a Gary Johnson for a well-designed track layout and to Cathy and friend for the BLT’s.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Ray

[axman]

A big congratulations to the Jokers "franchise" for this years consistent 1st place results in every event they participated in. All the teams are no doubt having post race discussions of what could and should of happened but I'm sure everyone has come away from this event revved up ready to do to better next time. This type of racing is fantastic because it gives Am drivers/ constructors the chance to drive cars prepped by the pro's and be coached on how get on the podium. I'm sure Jan's "how to build a Viper" will be a very popular thread.

[Chris @ Thunderbird Raceway]

Thank you to everyone who participated and helped to make our event a resounding success. Well done to the 'Jokers' for an excellent win and being a great bunch of blokes and, with Tim in the team, the name is very fitting. Well done also to NSR and Phoenix for strong second and third places and the other teams (Funhouse, Martini, Thunderbird & Sunset) who displayed great driving skills as well as good etiquette and manners on and of the track, as did all drivers and teams in general.

 

Thanks to Bill (Team Sunset) for providing the best laugh of the event by accidentally pulling out the controller plug of the driver next to him instead of his own during his driver change. Gold! Bill has now gone into rehab and driver / controller changeover training.

 

From all the great positive feedback about the new track and raceway in general, it looks as though we are headed for a 'Bigger than Ben Hur' Scale Model Nationals in 2015 and another great Scaleauto 8hr next November. And guys, Cathy is already planning the food menu for next year so, If are competing or just spectating, you won't go hungry

 

Chris O

TSR

[BigMick]

 

Thanks to Bill (Team Sunset) for providing the best laugh of the event by accidentally pulling out the controller plug of the driver next to him instead of his own during his driver change. Gold! Bill has now gone into rehab and driver / controller changeover training.

 

 

 

Chris O

TSR

I missed that one sorry to say. But I cant say much I marshaled Franks car off red thinking it was a rider only to find it was on red after all. Must have been that stunning paint job that blinded me, or old age, or Tims Toes

 

Big Mick

[Springbok Racer]

 

..........or Tims Toes

 

Big Mick

 

No doubt about it.....had to be the toes!!

[Sports Racer]

Some stats that may interest you.

 

The winning team (Jokers) did 4069 laps at an average of 7.077 seconds per lap. NSR averaged 7.164 seconds per lap and Phoenix did 7.234.

 

All these teams plus a few others managed to do sub 7 second laps on each lane so (in theory) if they had driven slower, kept out of trouble and had no problems with their cars (or tyre wear) any one of them could have won the enduro.

 

Sounds possible on paper but we all know in real life these numbers go out the window but it does prove a strong case for building a tough car that can do 8 hours without any problems.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[Springbok Racer]

Hi Paul,

 

Another interesting fact is; if we exclude the BLUE and ORANGE lane results, then Phoenix would have beaten the Jokers by one lap.

 

Cheers,

 

Jan

Edited November 12, 2014 by Springbok Racer

[Garry J]

I never want to do one of those fast trips again, it was a bit hectic, my recollection of the weekend is a bit like the last 20 minutes of Goodfellas.

 

Finish building a new car on Friday night, Saturday morning up at 4.00am after a very few hours sleep, drive to the airport and on a jet to Adelaide, Greg and I meet at Adelaide and arrive at the track about 11.00am, meet our team mate Rob, time for practise, try a few cars, new Viper feels good, drive around a bit, fall off a lot, play with the setup, drive around a bit more, fall off a bit less, Rob is bloody good, check the car before tech, front tyres have worn and it's a poofteenth too low in the front, strip the front end out of the car and remove a spacer, put it back together and straight to motor and tyre hand out, test the car and it's not straight, braking sideways, fix it just in time for tech and qualifying, made a stupid decision and started on blue, broke a guide before I even get a drive, only took 30 seconds to change the guide but took ages to find the tools and another guide, no time to get a pit set up properly before the race, lose 2 body screws, my bad, 50 laps down now, next 3 heats go by without problems, have a couple of good runs with Tim, learning each lane as we go, get to the last 2 heats, damn we haven't driven these lanes at all, starting to get tired, up since 4 and it's after midnight, the second guide has been getting smaller and smaller and finally breaks cause I'm having a shocker on orange, another guide change, last heat Greg and Rob are going well and I get a bit of a second wind but still losing concentration, buzzer sounds and it's all over, 3rd place is OK, could have been worse, back to the hotel, a few hours sleep, back to the airport, on a plane and back in Brisbane in time for lunch on Sunday.

 

Sorry but I didn't take any notes. I'm not even sure I was really there.