Can Am Series - Mornington Park (17-11-20)

There’s 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 aren’t.  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 wasn’t 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 1^st 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 he’d 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.  I’ve 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 it’s 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 4^th 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 5^th.  Dave Bantoft again had a very good consistent run for 6^th on 117, ahead of Phil (7^th) on 116, Chris Priest 8^th in the 917 on 115 & Dave Gray (9^th) 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 11^th 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 2^nd 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

1^st – Mal, 2^nd – Rob, 3^rd - Adrian