On request of some of the drivers, we once again combined the on road nitro & on road electric club races for April. It turned out a big success. The electric guys got to know the nitro cars and vice versa.  Our 48 entries are proof of the interest that it created. Even the spectators displayed an even greater interest than usually. We actually won over a couple of ‘onlookers’ as potential racers!

We were spoilt with extremely good weather, which we were grateful for.  Although we managed to get our prize giving done (just about) before sundown, we realize that we cannot continue with this combined racing in the coming winter months. We will however repeat it when summer returns.

Heat 1 – Electric Beginners:

We accidently entered Nathan Steyn into the beginner class, although this child was quite happy to compete in the TTO1 class this month. He subsequently won all his races, but will definitely move to the TTO1 class next time.

Richard Botes is of the drive-one-skip-one kind of racers, but he is getting better and better. He ended 2^nd overall for the day.

A real novice, Darryl Smith from Pretoria, ended 3^rd overall. He quickly got the hang of this RC thing… he started the day off with an average lap time of 65 seconds and by the time he drove in the last leg of the Finals, he reduced his time to an average of 35 seconds. I am sure that we will see him again in the future…

Lauren Winiecki started a couple of months ago and is now getting ever so close to lap times of 30 seconds.  One of these days she will clear the ever evading 25 second lap time..(Which is my personal goal for Beginners to aim for)

Louis Nortje is the last entry for this month’s Beginner class. He only purchased his first car two weeks ago and is already brave enough to enter into a club competition, although his car is still in the running-in phase…. He nevertheless managed to do several laps of less than 30 seconds. A very enthusiastic young man that was bitten by this RC gogga in a BIG way…haha

 Overall results:

1. Nathan Steyn
2. Richard Botes
3. Darryl Smith

 

Heat 2 - 540 Electric Stock Touring:

A mixture of 10 seriously experienced to a bunch of less experienced (or totally out-of -practice) racers. Jason Landsberg and Artur Winiecki were the only two drivers that were really consistent during all the qualifiers and the final legs. Jason’s quickest lap – 18.42 seconds.

Overall results:

1. Jason Landsberg
2. Artur Winiecki
3. Charmaine Wright

Heat 3 -  200mm Nitro (10^th scale):

Only two contestants, Jason Landsberg and Stephen Smith. Jason’s car broke down even before the race started and he missed the two qualifier rounds. But when he came back for the 30 minute Final, he did it with his usual flair. He gave Stephen a run for his money. These two rivals gave us an exhilarating performance.  After about 5 minutes into the race, Stephen had a breakdown that took him out of the race for more than two minutes. But then, close to the end of the race, disaster struck for Jason as well; a belt came off on his car and that caused him to lose almost 5 very precious minutes.  He then caught up nicely in a nail biting finish. It was with only two laps that Jason was beaten by Stephen. Jason achieved an impressive best lap of only 15.8 seconds. But this pursuit by Jason only inspired Stephen to go even faster himself. He boasts a fastest lap of 15.55s. Congratulations with a well deserved win, Stephen!!

Overall:

1. Stephen Smith
2. Jason Landsberg

 

Heat 4  -  21.5 Electric Touring:

Only three names were shuffled throughout the day for the 1^st three positions in this class; Rolan Ferreira, Piet du Toit and Kevin Gates. Henry Ogden stayed in a constant 4^th place.  Rudi Botes and André de Beer took turns to take in the 5^th and 6^th places respectively, with the exception of the one time when Tiny Wright completed the whole race with the rest of the drivers.

The final results put Rolan Ferreira in the lead, which I think was well deserved.  Congrats!  Rolan’s quickest lap – 19.18s.

Overall results:

1. Rolan Ferreira
2. Piet du Toit
3. Kevin Gates

Heat 5  -  Electric Mini:

Our undeniable Mini King at the local club races remains Jakkie Landsberg. He convincingly won all the races in this class. His son, Jason Landsberg ended 2^nd in every race. Piet du Toit ended 3^rd 3 times in a row and Janu Lombard took the 3^rd place in the last leg of the finals for the day.  Earlier in the day Janu and Jacques Brits took turns to DNS (did not start)

Best lap for the day: Jakkie – 21.16s. Well done!!!

Overall results:

1. Jakkie Landsberg
2. Jason landsberg
3. Piet du Toit

 

Heat 6 -  Nitro GT (8^th scale) :

8 very enthusiastic petrol heads.. Wow, didn’t Wayne almost see his…..uhmm…you know what..?!

No, just joking, I am sure that Wayne Smith is very happy to finally have such fierce competition from other drivers here at Meyerton Raceway. The fierce competition came from Jacque Brits and Jakkie Landsberg this month. Jacques won the first qualifier, Wayne ended 2^nd and Jakkie 3^rd.

Things went okay for Charmaine Wright and Henry Ogden, but no so well for André Steenekamp and Rolan Ferreira in this round. By the way: Rolan took part in this class for the first time ever.   

Piet du Toit did not start. In the 2^nd qualifier Wayne won the race, with Jakkie again in 2^nd and Charmaine Wright in 3^rd. Jacques did a couple of brilliant laps, before his car broke down.  Rolan moved into 4^th position and Henry was seen in 5^th again.

Piet came into action and did some really fast laps. He completed 17 beautiful laps. Unfortunately something came loose, which he had to fix quickly during the race. Looking at his lap times, he should have ended in 3d place. What a bummer!?  

André had car trouble again, this time even more serious than in the 1^st qualie.

Final  30 min GT race:

Wayne had a flawless race and boasts 99 laps. Average 18.32s and fastest lap 16.81s. Nice job!!  He certainly deserved the victory.

Jakkie completed 90 laps. Apart from one (seemingly) flame out of just 35 seconds he also enjoyed a trouble free race.  Best lap – 17.85s

Jacques wasn’t so lucky; he had been out of the race for more than 2 minutes, but he came back with a force. He even succeeded in doing still faster laps towards the end of the race; 16.74s, which was the fastest lap for the day in this class. Way to go!!!

André recovered adequately enough to complete 70 laps in the final – best lap 17.44s

Charmaine had a few hiccups and she managed to write 58 laps behind her name.

Piet du Toit quit racing after a drive shaft came loose on his cars diff. But not before he boasted a quickest lap of 17.38s.

Rolan (the new nitro guy) also retired early on, due to a brake down, but he showed huge progress; He started with laps of just over 20 seconds in the morning and ended his day with lap times of just over 18 seconds.  Rolan completed 31 laps.

Henry seized diff bearings on a rear wheel and had to quit after only 6 laps.

Overall result:

1. Wayne Smith
2. Jakkie Landsberg
3. Jacques Brits

 

Heat 7 -  TTO1 stock:

I think an honest reflection of the day’s race in this class, is to look at the overall results for the day:

1. Rolan Ferreira        Best lap - 20.75s in the 2^nd qualifier
2. Charmaine Wright
3. Janu Lombard

Francois Bam also raced in this class today, but when it became evident that he was driving with a wrong motor, he withdrew from the prize giving ceremony. Francois’ s quickest lap – 22.47s   We will probably see him in the 540 stock class next month.

 

Heat 8  -  17.5 Touring:

6 guys that knows the art of RC driving. The first round went well for all 6 guys.

Freddie Kotze and local Jason Landsberg took turns to take the 1^st place in the qualies and again in the final legs. 

Jp Sweeck took 3^rd place three times today. He did not take part in the 1^st final leg.                             Jakkie Landsberg DNS in the second qualifier and in all the other rounds he really battled with his car.. So sorry..

Kevin Gates and André Steenekamp were performing totally up to their own standards, but on this day it was just not good enough to end in the top 3 positions.  Maybe next month?

Fastest lap for the day :  Freddie Kotze – 16.20s 

Overall results:

1. Jason Landsberg
2. Freddie Kotze
3. Kevin Gates

 

Best presented Car of the Day reward:  

Louis Nortje  Congratulations!