The day before the race, we had terrible weather, but came Sunday morning, we were pleasantly surprised - and spoilt - with excellent weather.

We were happy with the turnout of 32 entries, but we were saddened by the absence of a couple of our regulars that were missing in action. Andre Steenekamp, Anzea, the Van Straaten brothers, Derek Sardini, to mention a few. Hope to have you back next month..?

 

We’ve recently met another father-and-son team. Flip Strauss and his son Jason acquired some good racing cars, with the help of Big Daddy Graham Wright. Also know as Tiny, …or sommer Father Christmas.

Jason is about 16 years old and is already a phenomenal driver!! His mom brought him to the track one day, and he practiced a bit on his own..not willing to make ‘a fool of himself’ in front of others. After seeing him handle his car for the very 1^st time EVER on a track, I told his mom that he is going to turn out one ‘helluva’ driver. And I wasn’t wrong. Most drivers take months to reach a lap time of less than 25 second, but Jason achieved numerous laps of 21 and 22 seconds in his first ever race meeting. Good job, Jason! And although his dad isn’t close to the performance of his son, he seemingly enjoyed the racing just as much as Jason. Glad you like it here with us, Flip. You don’t have to excel; just enjoy!

Best Presented RC car of the Day award:

So many beautiful cars, and only one trophy…..

This week’s trophy went to Tyronne Visser with his green Mini. But his silver car is equally smart and so is Piet du Toit’s freshly painted multi colored car.

 

 

Beginners:

Jason overlapped most of his rivals many times during the races and boasts victories throughout the qualifiers. Unfortunately his car’s engine came loose in the last leg of the Finals, which cost him a guaranteed win. What a pity… Jason’s best lap – 21.35s. Excellent!!!

Victor Fourie –my grandson who pays us a visit every now and then – achieved three 2^nd places and one 3^rd place, which earned him a 2^nd overall.

Erich van Rooyen, also a very young boy, made his way to the top steadily… He started with two 3^rd places, advanced to 2^nd and ended the day with a win. Best lap – 24.39s. Lekker man, lekker!

Manie Pretorius joined us for a 2^nd time, all the way from Pretoria. He is still ‘getting the hang of it’, but with a bit more practice, he will soon get there.

Richard Botes had various degrees of success on this day. Or maybe not…? Better luck – with your brand new car – next month. Mmm and less ‘refreshments” please?

Flip Strauss, as I’ve said in my intro, enjoyed this RC thing very much. Flip, your 31 seconds laps are not too shabby for a total novice, so just keep on practicing.

Overall:

1. Erich van Rooyen
2. Victor Fourie
3. Jason Strauss

 

 

Electric Mini:

Paul Langenhoven won this class convincingly. His best lap – 21.8s Great stuff!

Louis Nortje got three 2^nd places and his quickest lap – 22.55s . More than satisfying, Louis.

Tyrone Visser earned two 3^rd places, one 2^nd place and he then went on and won the last leg of the Finals. Good driving!

Gert Fourie had more car trouble than he could handle, so he quit racing in this class after the 1^st leg of the Final. Hope it will go much better next month, Gert.

While typing this race report, it becomes evident again that the bbk –system has a glitch. Paul should have been 1^st overall, but the computer gave Tyrone this status…. Sorry about that. On the day Henry and I had too many things on our minds to have noticed this mistake…

 

Overall:

1. Tyrone Visser
2. Paul Langenhoven
3. Louis Nortje

 

 

 

540 Touring:

Artur from Yeah racing seems to be back after a 6-month recess.. Sharp-sharp!

He had three uncontested wins behind him, when his car gave trouble before the last leg of the Final. Artur’s fastest lap – 20.07s

Leon van Rooyen had himself a brilliant race day. Three 2^nd positions and one win. And he also boasts the fastest lap in this class – 19.45s. Whoop Whoop!!

Piet du Toit didn’t come late this time and was RTR…(ready to race) hahaha Quickest lap – 21.4s.. He ended 3^rd overall.

Charmaine Wright had one troublesome race, but for the rest she was giving her usual much-better-than-average performance. Best lap – 20.15s You go, Girl!!!

James Theron had a raggedy start, but things went better from then on. In the end he managed lap times of low 22’s. Wow, a huge improvement. Congrats with that. (James is still relatively new to RC )

Henry and Tiny both participated a bit in this class, but gave it up as a bad job quit early…

Overall:

1. Leon van Rooyen
2. Artur Winiecki
3. Piet du Toit

I stand under correction, but according to me it should have been:

(Artur got zero laps in the last leg of the Final; and only final results are supposed to count)

1. Leon van Rooyen
2. Piet du Toit
3. Charmaine Wright

 

 

 

21.5 Touring:

Our biggest/busiest class of the day. It was clear from the start that it would be Piet, Kevin or Paul that was going to be the overall winner of this class. But just to make things interesting, Gert and Francois moved into the top three places, just to keep them on their toes…

Esmarie Geyser fared exceptionally well today. Her best lap - 20.99s Well done, Girl!!

As usual Henry and Francois were each other’s biggest challenge. But it seems like Henry had a bit more car trouble than Francois and Francois subsequently ended 3 places above Henry in the overall score.

Tiny backed out after the qualifiers…

Best laps:

Paul – 19.44s

Piet – 19.8s

Kevin - 20.15s

Francois – 20.25s

Gert – 20.25s

Esmarie - 20.99s

Henry -   20.7s

Tiny - 22.21s

Overall:

1. Paul Langenhoven
2. Piet du Toit
3. Kevin Gates

 

 

 TO1 class: 

All 5 are experienced drivers… The day’s results were determined by the driver with the least car problems.

Charmaine won 3 out of 4 races, and I am sure that says a lot… her quickest lap – 22.3s

Tyrone had very little, if any, problems. Best lap – 21.6s

Louis experienced trouble in the 1^st leg of the Finals. Best lap – 23.08s

James had been successful in all 4 his races. His best lap – 24.54s

Nathan had trouble in the 1^st qualifier, but still boasts three 3^rd places. His fastest lap – 22.24s Well done!

Overall:

1. Charmaine Wright
2. Tyrone Visser
3. Nathan Steyn

 

 

13.5 Touring:

Only Kevin and Freddie this month. What a pity. These guys are a real treat to have watched. I advised the novices to watch them race.

Freddie Kotze in particular displays such extraordinary neat driving skills.

But Kevin also knows how to handle a RC car..! His car is probably faster than Freddie’s.

However, there can only be one winner and that was Kevin Gates. Congratulations!!

Freddie’s best lap - 16.92s

Kevin’s best lap – 16.28s

Great job, both of you!!!

Overall:

1. Kevin Gates
2. Freddie Kotze

 

 

Let us make the September race, with hopefully VERY NICE weather, a really BIG one??