Aussie Retro

Race Results;

AR10 - 6th December 2008 - Hornsby.

NSW State Championship.

Still to come; Tech Sheet

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Here is another report from Stoo, as seen on SlotBlog

Well, What an Event That was!
So many people, old friends, stories, laughter, racing and reminiscing, I think I am still digesting it!

Although the 'Hoped For' 33 to 35 starters didn't actually eventuate, we still had a very strong field of 22 starters, which made for some absolutely great racing, which could only have been bettered by the inclusion of those extra few racers who have joined us in the past but unfortunately did not make this event.

It was so successful, that all the interstate drivers were calling for the inclusion of another Retro race at the upcoming and Annual Australia Day Classic Race meeting, also always held at Hornsby Slot Cars, on, appropriately, Australia Day, being held as a Public Holiday on or as close to the 26th January.

To say that all those that were involved in this event had a great time I would have to suggest would be an Understatement! It was Fantastic!

Thanks must go to all those involved in making the event such a great one, so to James Colfax, the new owner of HSC, Wayne Bramble, Cody and to Peter Hopkins as well, for His attempts to make the 'Old Girl' even Better to Race on, Thanks a HEAP!

In regard to The Track changes, Well, along with the level of grip provided by the cleaning and conditioning of the track, it had completely changed the character of the track, to the point Where local knowledge, may Not have been much of an advantage and the testing that Fox, Hutcho and myself put in, may have helped contribute to the great times done in qualifying, well, by FOX that is!

Now if we can just get those two corners leading onto the straight back the way they were, everything will be just fine!

The Racing?
What can I say? It really was very, very good. Unbelievably close and competitive, but, managed to all happen, with a really great 'Spirit' and true sense of fun and great enjoyment.

For many of us, it was also a great chance to catch up with some very great and old friends which some of us had not seen since our youth.

Mark Fox was re-United (along with many others who had known him), with his great friend Kim Axton, who was also a previous national and state champion on many Occasions.

I managed to get Charles Frost to have a run and he had a fantastic time, managing to qualify straight into a semi, after not touching a hand control in nearly 30 Years!

In fact one would have to suggest that if Charles had Not been So Courteous to Other drivers, (I imagine not wanting to affect the locals, lol), he may have actually have made the move up to the Main, which would have at least got one of my cars to the Main, as I 'Bombed Out', (Too many unforced errors!, lol, DOH!)

Another past champion, Martin Renwick, also turned up for a look see and thoroughly enjoyed himself, catching up with old mates!

I guess also technologically, it was also both interesting and in some ways for Us, (well Mark and myself, plus those that remember it), Truly Retro.

Mark Fox, Who has always been somewhat of a chassis innovator here in Australia, apart from being a damn fine and very fast racer, has always made Unique and very effective chassis and for this event, He 'resurrected' the Style of a design, which Mark invented way back in 1976, which back then, we called 'Ice Cream Cones', as the main rails looked like a typical cone Shape.

This eventually became known as the 'Tripod' Chassis, which in a new inline format, has also Proven to be extremely effective around the Johnson 110 footer!

His TQ time of 4.772 easily showing its superiority over the field on the day!
If only I had pushed just a wee bit harder, I too might have gone under 5.00 seconds, my best was a 5.006! DOH!

One would also have to say the standard of preparation and presentation on virtually the Whole field was also excellent, as was the driving and marshalling, which always helps make a great event.

Concours for this event was judged by Kim Axton and came down to 3 cars, two painted by Wayne Bramble for Himself and Cody and Peter Hopkins' car.

Peter’s car was rather special. Peter had really gotten into the December spirit and as he figured his Concours car would probably not win the race, he provided his driver with some light reading material!

Take a closer Look at the magazine on the passenger seat and one will find it is the December 1972 edition of Playboy, complete with the Centre-Fold!

Oh Yeah, the racing, sorry, was distracted, lol

Hey, as many of you also experience, this event was another one of those events where if you blinked, you missed the move up! I blinked, Doh! as did a few others, lol

But it really was just so close, all day!
The Semis were very hard fought, with only feet between places and many on the same Laps!

The Main was just another great race, with, to be honest, everyone in it realistically having a Chance of the win, it was a very good field.

Pre race possibilities of people like Troy Boldy, Bevin Halloran and Mark Fox doing well, proved to be the case, but it really was anyone’s event, until about the 4th or 5th bracket, when Troy managed to take the lead, with a couple of extremely fine brackets on the notorious outside lanes black and purple, mind you, Troy’s lap totals on all lanes were very good.

Behind Troy though, it was still up to about 4 people as to who would fill the remaining podium places, with, I would venture to say, it coming down to the very last bracket for 2nd to 4th being decided.

It really was huge smiles all round and I would venture to say that everyone really enjoyed the experience, no matter Where they ended their days racing, as the 'Vibe' on the day was really great, with everyone just having a lot of laughs and as noted before provided a great opportunity to catch up and have a few 'Yarns'.

Plus the "Barbie Que", was Great! No Shrimps OR Prawns, just plenty of 'Snag 'n Sauce Sammitches'

I think the great thing from this event, was the opportunity of our interstate friends to sample and enjoy the Retro/D3 concept and one would have to say from the smiles and comments re their enjoyment, will I think bring about some great interest and uptake of this class of racing in Queensland and Victoria, with people already planning to include events in their Racing Calender!

Woo Hoo,..Retro Rules !!!,..ROFL
Stewart Amos

Qualifying, 2 heats and 2 Semis determined the final line up.