One couldn’t but doubt one’s own sanity when you are out at the track at 6 in the morning with a -3 degrees temperature reading….and still call it FUN! But since when are RC drivers sane??? Haha. Henry came back to the house several times to put on one more layer of clothing. But came 9 ‘o clock, he has already stripped down to only one long sleeve and by 12 o’ clock almost everyone at the track was in short sleeves only! This is actually very customary for Gauteng winter days, although it keeps on surprising me.

The regular crowd, doing their regular thing. Uhm, that is if you can call Kevin Bann’s competing in 6 classes either REGULAR or  NORMAL…. Decide for yourself! The only stranger (visitor) was Jonathan Wilken, although he says he has been here before, apparently many moons ago. It was nice to have seen you (again), Jonathan.  A pleasant guy with a dead calm personality, is what I’ve gathered... 

Best presented RC body of the day:  

Congratulations to Paul Langenhoven, your car is a beauty!

 

THE RACE:

43 entries split into 7 classes.

3 x beginners

 9 x  10^th scale electric mini’s

5  x  TTO1’s

8 x 540 touring

5  x 21.5 Electric Touring

8 x 17.5  Electric Touring

5 x 13.5 Electric Touring

Beginner class:

I think it was a very pleasing day for both Dana Cato and Henk Grootherder. I always tell newcomers that the day when they can do several laps of less than 25 seconds, they can be called RC drivers. On this day Dana had 28 laps under that; best lap 22.19 – NOT a mistake or a corner cutting! Dana’s car is a pretty fast car, but it is still up to the driver to keep it on the track, so well done, Dana!

Henk Grootherder did 15 laps under 25 seconds. Henk’s car is VERY slow. ( I’ve driven it on Saturday afternoon.) Henk’s fastest lap – 23.73 seconds. I am sure that in one month’s time Henk will kick ass in a car that is not ‘tuned down’ anymore. Johnrique only turned 5 two months ago, so he has a lot of time to improve on his 34 second laps. Watch the 21.5 class in two year’s time!

Above:

Overall results for Beginer class:

1. Dana Cato
2. Henk Gootherder
3. Johnrique Claes

 

Electric TTO1:

JP Sweek had no real competition in this class. Kevin COULD if he WOULD, but he didn’t want to, so it was up to Anette and Marika to race for a 2^nd position. But Anette (that’s me) was so anxious after several encounters with Marika’s car, that she could hardly do her thing….and what a pity, because for once the car was in an excellent condition. (my opinion)  She still has LOTS to learn about keeping her line. Maybe André’s scolding and 10 second penalties will pay off in future….

JP’s best lap: 20.10 sec

Kevin’s best lap: 22.65 (?)

Anette’s best lap: 22.77

Marika’s best lap: 23.94

Colleen’s best lap: 23.48

Overall Results for TTO1:

1. JP Sweek
2. Anette Ogden
3. Marika Claes

 

Electric Mini:

Of the 9 competitors, the main question was who was going to achieve podium places amongst Paul Langenhoven, Piet du Toit, Jannie Holzhausen, Lucas dillschnitter and Daniël du Plessis. The short version of all the drivers’ ups and downs are :

Best lap belongs to Paul Langenhoven  - 21.21 seconds.

Mini Overall Results :

1. Daniël du Plessis
2. Lucas Dillschnitter
3. Paul Langenhoven

 

Electric 540 :

Lucas succeeded in doing laps of less than 20 seconds 5 times. His fastest lap – 19.62 Well done!  Paul came close to it with 20.49 seconds……almost there, Paul!  And the surprise of the day was Johan van der Merwe who did pretty well for a relatively new driver. Two 3^rd places and one 2^nd place are better than anyone could have anticipated. Well done!

Overall results for 540 Touring:

1. Lucas Dillschnitter
2. Paul Langenhoven
3. Johan vd Merwe

 

21.5  Electric Touring:  Kevin Gates  was the undoubted victor in this class. He deserved his 1^st place on the podium. But I am sure that Ronel Bann is also very pleased with her frequent 19 second laps in this class, on this day. Schalk did well with his best and average laps so close together (about 1second difference) and that resulted in his 2^nd place on the podium.  

Overall 21.5 Results:

1. Kevin Gates
2. Schalk Vorster
3. Ronel Bann

 

17.5  Electric Touring:

Here – in this class - one doesn’t  see laps of 20 seconds anymore. Even 20 seconds as an average is very uncommon. . . Okay, so Jonathan Wilken dominated this race and his participation urged us to lower the minimum lap time for this class. You are very welcome, we don’t mind at all! At least you DID have to work for it, didn’t you? Harry, Marius, Daniël and Kevin all were at your heels. Good for you, my ‘regular’ friends. And Jonathan, you are more than welcome to also become one of “my regulars” Haha. Jonathan’s fastest lap – 15.80 sec. Great stuff!! 

Overall  17.5 Touring results:

1. Jonathan Wilken
2. Danël du Plessis
3. Harry Wilesmith

 

 13.5  Electric Touring:

Again the visitor in the lead, right through all the qualies and final legs. Well done, Jonathan! Congratulations to Harry with achieving your 1^st ever lap of less than 16 seconds in this class. 15.94 sec.  The final results is, according to me, a good indication of the drivers’ performance on this day.

Overall 13.5 results:

1. Jonathan Wilken
2. Harry Wilesmith
3. Kevin Bann

An unusually early end - due to 2 qualies only -  to a successfull racing day at Meyerton Raceway. ...enjoyed by all, I am sure?