Hobart Miniature Car Club
Subtitle
Can Am Series - Mornington Park (17-11-20)
Theres always a bit more excitement in the air around the start of a new series and this week was no exception with the first round of the open slather Can-Am series for cars that ran in the Can-Am from 1966 to 1974. However, prior to starting it seems that no matter how open slather the rules seem to be, there will always be the usual discussion as to what cars are technically OK & what arent. Always makes for some interesting banter
Whatever the technicalities, this series certainly made for a great variety of
cars & styles of chassis when the full grid formed up on the start line.
From plastic podded off the shelf chassis, to weighty brass ones & bodies
just as varied to match
.all with a different take as the what the scale 1/32
actually means 😊
So to the racing, and it was decided after witnessing the results that a new award should be implemented as shown below:
Yes, the Rare as Hens teeth prize will be awarded to any driver who puts in a performance (driving or marshalling !) that is voted to be as Rare as Hens Teeth and this week we had an obvious standout to receive the initial award .the end result that saw yours truly take out an actual win in 1 single round of any series was certainly a rare as hens teeth moment. However it wasnt all plain sailing as comments about dealing with pressure were flying around freely after the second heat. I put all these comments in their place though by promptly driving the final heat like an old woman on her way to the shops to ensure no de-slots at all. This was enough however to grab that 1st place with 131 laps. I can only say this in my defence Thunderslot make a good car. Highlighting this point was the second place run of Rob Golley in another Thunderslot Lola T70. Equally rapid but as hed only taken delivery of this car in the last week or so Rob did have slightly more trouble keeping it on for all of his brackets. Ive no doubt though that he will be the big improver in the next week or two. His total of 125 laps was just 1 lap to the good of Adrian Gray who probably produced the drive of the round in his tiny Alfa. It flew its way around wanting so much to swap ends on every corner that it took Adrians considerable skill to squeeze this into third sport with minimal offs.
John Batich was next up in 4th and also in the first of the handbuilt models, a good run that saw him log 118 laps, which was the same number as Rhys in 5th. Dave Bantoft again had a very good consistent run for 6th on 117, ahead of Phil (7th) on 116, Chris Priest 8th in the 917 on 115 & Dave Gray (9th) on 112 also with 3 good heats. Thomas Males was certainly not disgraced and managed to slot into the top 10 on 96 laps, with Bruce Thomas in the SCX Chaparral 11th on 92. To say that Bruce was slightly outgunned was an understatement. Last this week was the unlucky Callan in the very quick Slot-it Chaparral. After a horrid first heat breakdown, which took him until halfway through the 2nd heat to fix, he finally managed a full run in lane 3 for his third heat. He certainly showed enough pace to suggest that this car will be a top 3 contender in future rounds.
***And in breaking news, Armchair Racer have just released a statement to say that their entire current stock of Thunderslot cars have all been sold, they are not expecting replacement stock until well after Christmas. Something about a large order from a place called Swansea in Tasmania***
Top 3
1st Mal, 2nd Rob, 3rd - Adrian
