A beautiful morning, a good start to a beautiful day for RC racing.  A group of very enthusiastic drivers showed up for a day of nitro RC fun. We surely missed Daniël du Plessis, who recently sold his 8th scale GT and we also missed Jason Landsberg who had to sacrifice this month’s racing to earn his bread and butter (and RC money) at work.

The Race:

Heat 1 Round 1 -  200 mm Nitro Touring:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Christo Meintjies  - 17 laps - won this race with Charmaine Wright very close in 2^nd place. Charmaine did some faster laps than Christo, but Christo had a better average lap time. Bjorn Boogaard ended 3^rd, but if I may say so, it was not due to his lesser driving skills, but rather due to some serious car trouble. Bjorn’s 16^th lap was an impressive 17.95 sec. In 4^th position, we had Ronel Bann, who completed 15 laps. Then in 5^th, we find Lucas Dillschnitter, who is also an expert driver, but with so much car trouble that he had to retire from the race after 11 laps.   Johan Barnard, Henry Ogden and Johnny Claes were also plagued with car problems James Boogaard did not start.

Heat 1 Round 2  -  200 mm Nitro Touring:

Christo won yet again, this time approving on his best lap with more than a second. Charmaine was hot on his heels again, ending 2^nd. This time Lucas ended 3^rd and doing some really fast laps. Bjorn, boasting the fastest lap again, once more quit racing before the end. The rest of the drivers, including our very young James Boogaard, had average results and Henry did not start, due to a seized front diff. Bjorn’s fastest lap – 18.46 sec.

Heat 1 Round 3  -  200 mm Nitro Touring:

Lucas apparently left his troubles behind him and jumped into 1^st position. Christo had a troublesome start to this race, starting almost a minute late, but still boasts the fastest lap – 18.71 sec. Well done! Bjorn again had car trouble, completing only 5 laps. Ronel and Johan Barnard used this opportunity to their advance and ended in 2^nd and rd places, respectively. Charmaine, James and Henry did not start.

30 minute Final - 200 mm Nitro Touring:

Henry did not bother to fix his car’s seized diff, leaving it to 8 drivers to race their hearts out in this Final 10^th scale race for this day. Bjorn Boogaard took revenge for all the bad luck he had through the morning and won this race with 10 laps more than his closest rival. He had several 18 second laps, 7 laps of less than 18 seconds and a fastest lap of 17.24 seconds! Awesome racing, Bjorn… you were a real star! Lucas, with 2 short flame outs and one LONG one during the race, ended 2^nd. He can however be quite proud of himself, because 18 of his 76 laps were of less than 20 seconds. Great racing, Lucas!   Johan Barnard completed 67 laps and ended 3^rd. Ronel, Christo, James and Johnny all raced pretty well and all of them improved on their best laps of the morning. Charmaine quit early on, due to her car having steering problems and also something wrong with the diff.

1st:  Bjorn boogaard

2nd: Lucas Dillschnitter

3rd: Johan Barnard

 

Heat 2 Round 1  -  1/8h Nitro Pan Cars:

Eish, these guys and their cars entertained us with some serious super fast racing! Nelis du Plessis (21 laps) won the first qualifier with Kevin Bann (18 laps) in 2^nd and Kobus(18 laps)  in 3^rd. Nelis’s fastest lap  - over the longer course – was a brilliant 16.07 seconds.

Heat 2 Round 2  -  1/8h Nitro Pan Cars:

Nelis won the race again, but this time Kevin presented him with stiffer competition than he would have liked. Kevin did 20 laps, many of which were less than 18 seconds and even one of only 16.62 seconds. Excellent racing, Kevin! Kobus had one or two flame outs.

Heat 2 Round 3  -  1/8h Nitro Pan Cars:

Nelis now came down to a staggering 15.68 seconds lap…jeezz, this is SO fast! Kevin equalled his 20 laps of the previous round and Kobus had a VERY late start, which caused him to lose some much needed racing time.

30 minute 1/8^th Pan Car Final:

Things didn’t go well at all for Nelis in this final…he lost a spur gear (which was picked up somewhere in the grass next to the track). In the process of fixing the gear, he lost more than 6 valuable minutes of racing. Although he caught up brilliantly, it was just too much lost time and he ended 3^rd with 81 laps completed. Kevin also had a longish flame out when his exhaust came loose early on in the race and completed 86 laps. Most of his laps were around 18 seconds. Although Kevin tried his best, he could not catch Kobus. Kobus on the other hand had a problem free race. Everything went just right for him and he handled his car very well, with the result that he completed 88 laps and won the race! Well done, Kobus! We are all very happy for you with this smooth race!

1st: Kobus Griesel

2nd: Kevin Bann

3rd: Nelis du Plessis

 

Heat 3 Round 1  -  1/8^th GT :

André Steenekamp took the lead from the start and kept it up through this 6 minute qualifier. He raced 18 very proficient laps.  Kobus Griesel ended in 2^nd place, only one lap down. Johan Barnard ended 3^rd. Tobie and Henry both had 11 laps, but Henry only joined the race 2 and a half minutes into the race. Kevin quit the race after 7 laps, due to his steering servo being damaged during a crash. Ronel did not start.      André’s fastest lap -  18.84 seconds.

Heat 3 Round 2  -  1/8^th GT:

Kevin overcame his car trouble and won the race. André had a flame out or two that cost him some valuable seconds. Henry had a good race and ended 3^rd. These top 3 guys all got 16 laps. Johan Barnard completed 15 laps and ended in 4^th place. Ronel had a flame out and ended 5^th with 13 laps.

Kobus joined the race more than halfway through… Tobie did not start.  Kevin’s fastest lap – 19.51 seconds.

Heat 3 Round 3  -  1/8^th GT:

Kobus won this round fair and square!! He and André both completed 17 laps and André had a faster lap time, but we all know that what counts is the best average. And that is what made Kobus the better racer in this round. Henry came 3^rd again. Ronel stood her man against the men and ended 4^th with average laps of 24 seconds. Lekker man lekker! Johan equalled her 15 laps and ended in 5^th place. Tobie and Kevin did not start. André’s best lap -  18.46 seconds.

1/8^th GT Final:

Although he has TQ’ed, André couldn’t keep his place in the top 3 positions, because his car broke down, after several flame outs. Kobus on the other hand had only one serious flame out during this final race and was fortunate enough to complete far more laps than any of his opponents. 78 laps. Henry ended 2^nd, with a car that was falling into pieces after 65 laps…… Ronel also just managed to complete the race, after completing 64 laps, with serious wheel alignment problems.  André had to retire from the race after 43 laps, but he still boasts the fastest lap of only 17.9 seconds. Kevin quit after 33 laps, due to his clutch bearing disintegrating. Johan Barnard only managed 12 laps before his car let him down and Tobie did not start.

1st: Kobus Griesel

2nd: Henry Ogden

3rd: Ronel Bann