Adelaide Model Raceway

Adelaide Grand PrixNov 5,6,7 2004

Race Report by Wade Farrell

For a small group of loyal followers, the Adelaide Grand Prix represents the big race of the year. It is a time when all people obsessed by 1/24 vintage and scratchbuilt slot cars gather for an indulgent weekend. It’s a slot car woodstock (as the AMR track owner, Bill Hollingsworth puts it). This is the 8th year it has been running and has quite a following. Races are spread over Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday day, with a post race concert by the local band Speedcar. Friday and Saturday nights are usually late as well which contributes to the endurance aspect to the weekend. The AMR grand prix weekend is primarily for vintage cars. There are 8 classes in total, 5 of which are meant to be original cars from the 60’s. The other 3 classes allow for any chassis.

Class CommentsStocker Scratchbuilt or original pre-70’s stock carsFX/FJ Holdens Scratchbuilt clear body carsRusskit Original russkit sidewinder sports carsCox Original fixed gearing Cox sports carsCox Iso-fulcrim Original Cox Iso-fulcrim cars (La Cucaracha)Tamiya Original Tamiya Sports Cars60’s GP Original 60’s GP Slot Cars50’s GP Scratchbuilt 50’s GP Cars, China motor, control tyres

This report is primarily from my own experience of the weekend and it is not aimed to be an unbiased and conclusive race report. So it was with great anticipation that I attended this year. Last year was my first year which was a great thrill. My background has been in 1/32 racing in various forms and only recently being getting into the big cars. With the 1/32 scratchbuilding club (Nostalgia Raceways run by John Bacon) ceasing operation early in 2004 due to lack of numbers I decided to concentrate my efforts into 1/24th. After scratchbuilding 1/32 for some years, building/restoring in 1/24 is quite a revelation given the larger number of kits and parts, coupled with the potential for greater detail and of course the greater freedom of when mating the body to chassis. Oh and of course, racing 1/24 cars is quite a different experience. The extra weight/size gives a more realistic feel, not to mention greater potential for damage. This year we had the following participants:

Competitor Origin CommentsBill Hollingsworth SA Owner of the track for the last 10 years. Been in the hobby for 40 years.John Clift SA Co-founder of the track. Dutifully performs a lot of the maintenance for

the track. Innovative slot car builder.Michael Davies SA One of the top drivers of AMR. Builds and races fast cars.Kym Vogelesang SA AMR Regular who nearly has a new car to run each week.Jason Burke SA From WA where he competed in flexi etc racing. Recent to vintage

racing.Wade Farrell SA Author of this article. Recent to 1/24 racing but has been in hobby since

1990. Avid scratchbuilder.Steve Kerr SA Recent to slot cars but is totally obsessed by them. Races (1/32 & 1/24)

where ever he can.Alan Collet SA AMR Regular. Quiet, unassuming individual and a good fast driver.

Also builds very nice brass chassis.John Ward SA A long time standing slot car racer/builder. Attends AMR about once a

month.Bob Crawford SA Been in the hobby for approx 50 years (yes 50!). Owner of Sunset

bodies. Doesn’t race at AMR regularly but joined us for this race meet.

Gedley Croughan Vic Owner of Melbourne Model Raceway. Makes a number of trips over from Melbourne during the year.

Jim I Vic Long standing member of the Victorian scene.Jim III Vic Another very active member from Victoria. Builds some very nice carsSteve Corneille Vic Another member obsessed by slot cars and the lure of Ebay.Evan Vic Only entered into the Friday night racesHenry WA Racer from WA. Builds some very nice carsColin WA Owner of Checkered Flag Raceway in WATerry WA Racer from WA. Also builds some very nice carsPhil QLD Racer from QLD. Produces repro parts for Tamiya, Cox etc.

Friday Night

Stocker Race

First race was Stock Cars. With 19 cars entered, we were divided into 3 heats, 20 lap brackets, with each person racing once on each lane – maximum laps for the race is 160. The top 3 finishers of each heat were entered into the final. Note you cannot compare the number of laps between heats as the race time varies given the race duration is dependent on the fastest driver in each heat. Each bracket is stopped when one car reaches 20 laps, with the cars staying in their positions but moved to the next lane in the sequence.Results from the heats are as follows:

Heat 1 Laps PositionMichael 155 1st

Wade 152 2nd

Bob 144 3rd

Kym 143 4th

Colin 140 5th

Ged 133 6th

Heat 2 Laps PositionJason 152 1st

Jim I 148 2nd

John C 147 3rd

Henry 141 4th

Phil 138 5th

Evan 124 6th

Heat 3 Laps PositionSteve K 156 1st

Alan 151 2nd

Terry 150 3rd

Jim III 147 4th

Steve C 146 5th

Ian 145 6th

Bill 122 7th

Collection of all the Stockers that ran (with a few ring’ins)

From the heats it was clear that Michael and Steve K were the ones to beat. Both were running the best stocker chassis MJK produces (the sturdy heavy one) and were very smooth cars. During the final race, Steve K had a body mount break from an accident. This was repaired in between brackets but the car’s handling was affected which meant he lost a few laps on Michael. Concours was selected by Bob Crawford from the 9 cars in the final. It was won by Terry from WA who had a nicely prepared Ford Galaxie (sits a little low for my liking by still a very nice car). Bob’s car was well presented as well but he did the diplomatic thing by not considering it.

Final Car Laps PositionMichael Pontiac GTO 153 1st

Steve K Dodge Superbee 150 2nd

Terry Ford Galaxie 149 3rd

Wade Dodge Coronet 148 4th

Alan Ford Galaxie 146 5th

Jason Ford Galaxie 141 6th

Bob Plymouth Roadrunner 139 7th Jim I Chev Belair 136 8th John C Mercury Marauder 131 9th

Concours D’EleganceTerry

Stocker Final (order: Michael, Wade, Bob, Jason, JimI, John, Steve K, Alan, Terry(at the back))

FX/FJ Race

Second race was FJ/FX Holdens, using Sunset clear bodies, with any chassis underneath. Same format with 3 heats and then a final. The FJ’s are usually good fun due to the large array of liveries, resulting in quite a spectacle with 8 big bodied cars running on the track.

Each of the 3 heats had one driver a clear winner, but it was evident from most people that my car was basically shit-hot. During the final I pretty much cruised to victory. In the end I was a little embarrassed as I think anyone in the room could have won with my car, although Alan was second by only 2 laps which showed that I didn’t have it completely my own way. Alan is the sort of driver that goes under the radar but laps very quick, consistent laps. Next year we are going back to much tighter rules for the FJ’s which I think is a good thing. My car, which used an inline MJK chassis and super 16D, doesn’t quite fit the spirit of the FJs. Concours was won by Henry from WA, which was clearly the best looking car of the field.

The Collection of FX and FJ’s, again a few ring-ins were included for the photo

Heat 1 Laps PositionWade 157 1st

Michael 152 2nd

Ged 151 3rd

Kym 148 4th

Bob 144 5th

Colin 141 6th

Heat 2 Laps PositionJason 156 1st

John C 150 2nd

Henry 143 3rd

Jim I 142 4th

Evan 140 5th

Phil 125 6th

Heat 3 Laps PositionSteve K 154 1st

Alan 149 2nd

Jim III 147 3rd

Terry 145 4th

Steve C 136 5th

Ian 128 6th

Bill 125 7th

Final Laps PositionWade 153 1st

Alan 151 2nd

Jim III 148 3rd

Michael 147 4th

Ged 146 5th

Steve K 146 6th

John C 142 7th Jason 137 8th Henry 137 9th

Concours D’EleganceHenry

Final FX/FJ Race (order : Wade, Michael, Ged, Jason, JohnC, Henry, Steve K, Alan, Jim III)

Saturday Night

Russkit Race

There was some confusion regarding the Russkit race as originally it was to include cox iso-fulcrim cars which in most cases are much faster. In the end, each were run as separate races which pleased everyone. I ran with Kym as my car was not competitive. Kym prepared a very quick car which in the end won by only 1 lap from John W. John had a very nice and completely original Chaparral 2.

Final Laps PositionKym & Wade 153 1st

John W 152 2nd

Jim III 144 3rd

Jason & Steve K 143 4th

Henry 140 5th

Bob 139 6th

Colin 137 7th Terry 131 8th

Russkit Race (Grid Order : Bob, John W, Jim III, Jason & Steve K, Colin, Kym & Wade, Terry, Henry)

Cox Race

The Cox Race was the main event for the Saturday night. It is structured as a teams race, with a maximum of 8 teams. The 2hr enduro was run as 125 lap brackets with everyone deciding to only swap drivers in between brackets. Cars were restricted to the standard fixed gear cox chassis, thus we had a mix of Lotus 40’s, Ford GT40’s and Chaparrals, but unfortunately no Cheetah’s (they are getting harder to come by). Since most people wanted to run their own cars it was decided that teams could run multiple cars. Strangely enough it was the three teams that ran single cars that took out the top 3 placings. If you look at the starting grid photo, 2 of the teams had multiple cars but decided to stick with the one car. Their choice was probably based upon performance. The race itself wasn’t without incident. Half way through it was clear that one of the cars to beat was Ged and Michael’s Chaparral. However on the 2nd to last heat, a marshalling incident meant their car stopped working. They accepted a loaner while the car was fixed (a wire needed resoldering) but the damage had been done. That and the fact they finished the race on the slower lanes meant that Steve C & Jim III went from 16 laps down after 5 brackets to be 19 laps ahead of Ged and Michael by the end of the race. Jason and Steve K performed well for a reasonably close 2nd. Jason was extremely relieved at doing well given such a tough race, although admitted they had perhaps lost about 5 laps from deslotting near the dead-strip of the lapcounter, or was it 6 laps? Missed laps are just one of those bad luck race incidents at AMR.

Final Car Laps PositionSteve C & Jim III Lotus 40 974 1st

Jason & Steve K Lotus 40 969 2nd

Ged & Michael Chaparral 2 955 3rd

Kym & Wade GT40 & Lotus 40 941 4th

John W & Bill Lotus 40 936 5th

John C & Phil Lotus 40 & Chaparral 2 912 6th

Henry, Colin & Terry GT40 & Lotus 40 879 7th Jim I & Bob GT40 851 8th

Concours D’EleganceHenry(from Memory)

Cox Race (Grid : Steve C & Jim III, Jason & Steve K, Henry & Terry & Colin , Ged & Michael, John W & Bill, Kym & Wade, Jim I & Bob, John C & Phil)

Cox Iso-Fulcrim

After some delay in deciding whether the Cox Iso-fulcrim (La Cucaracha’s) race would run, it was decided a short race would suffice given the reduced numbers. Eight brackets of 10 laps were run with Kym taking honours just ahead of Steve (lucky given Steve K was driving one of Kym’s cars). Kym ended up taking out both Russkit and Cox Iso races showing he likes building and racing the fast stuff. Hopefully next year will result in a larger field. Sorry no photos as I was busy chatting away during this race.

Final Laps PositionKym 74 1st

Steve K 74 2nd

Jim III 73 3rd

Jason 66 4th

Phil 60 5th

Colin 60 6th

Sunday Day

Tamiya Race

The Tamiya race must be considered a favourite amongst many of the drivers. It is a race where the drivers really respect their cars and the other cars on the track (or at least meant to) given the market value of the cars. As a result there is usually less carnage on the track, giving the marshals a rest and a chance to watch what is usually an exciting race. There are only 8 cars allowed on the grid and thus is a teams race. Although we probably had more than 8 cars available, it worked out reasonably well with only 8 people putting their hand up for their car to be on the grid. This year the 8 car owners were given the chance to select their co-drivers in an adhoc order. A bit like the team selection at a school lunch-time football match and would you know it, I was the last to be picked. To add salt into the wound, Henry, who had the honour of the assistance of my driving would not allow me to drive the car. Luckily I did have my half-complete Lola T-70 available and it was in ok running form, so we drove our own individual cars.

On to the race, and after the first few brackets it was clear that the Lotus of Jim III/Michael’s and King Cobra of Steve C/Steve K were vying for top honours, with the King Cobra of Phil/John W not far behind. After 5 brackets, 1 lap separated the top two but a marshalling incident in the 6th bracket resulted in the King Cobra of Steve C/Steve K being cracked at the front as they hit a car being incorrectly placed on the track. So much for less carnage in the Tamiya race. This also resulted in the front wheels being bent out of alignment and they fell back to 3rd overall. So it was the Lotus of Jim III/Michael which took honours, winning 6 out of the 8 brackets and only dropping 3 laps in the other 2 brackets. Phil & John W did well to place their King Cobra in second place.

Tamiya Sports Car Race (Grid : Phil/JohnW,SteveC/SteveK,JimIII/Michael, Colin/JohnC,Terry/Bill, Henry/Wade, Kym/Jason,JimI/Ged)

Final Car Laps PositionJim III & Michael Lotus 40 157 1st

Phil & John W King Cobra De Tomaso 151 2nd

Steve C & Steve K King Cobra De Tomaso 149 3rd

Kym & Jason Lotus 40 147 4th

Colin & John C King Cobra De Tomaso 146 5th

Henry & Wade Lotus 40 & Lola T70 146 6th

Terry & Bill King Cobra De Tomaso 144 7th Jim I & Ged Lotus 40 138 8th

Tasman Cup (60’s GP Race)

The 60’s GP cars are very well suited to the big flowing corners of the AMR track. They are great fun to drive if you’ve got good power and the right amount of track. The class is restricted by the need to have a vintage hard body coupled with a vintage chassis and vintage motor. They are not required to be of the same manufacturer so many hybrids existed, e.g. cox bodies with dynamic or russkit chassis. The nicest car in the field was Jim 3’s very rare Revell Lotus 38, fully restored by himself to a very high standard (It came 2nd in the restored vintage concours class at the recent Melbourne Model Raceway meet, note Jim also took out 1st as well with a beautiful Cox Lotus 40). My car was a ’62 revell body with dynamic chassis. I was quite pleased with it prior to the race, being able to keep up to the other guys during practice (hmm maybe ..). I thought it was quick and quite stable to drive – although that changed during the race. For some reason it didn’t drive as well as it did the night before and I was off the pace. In heat 1, Kym blitzed the field with 158 laps from a possible 160. In heat 2, it was a much closer race with Steve C and Alan finishing both on the lead lap. The final proved to be a very close race indeed with only 3 laps separating the top 6 placings. In the end it was John C taking honours over Kym and Michael by 1 lap. John C was the 9th qualifier so it begs to question what was he doing in his heat? During the final, when I was the 9th driver of the bracket and had to stand out, I actually noticed how quick John was driving. I imagine John was quite pleased in taking out the 60’s GP with an original Cox Ferrari beating the quick 26D cars of Kym, Michael and SteveC.

Heat 1 Laps PositionKym 158 1st

Michael 152 2nd

Wade 148 3rd

Ian 147 4th

Ged 141 5th

Bob 140 6th

Terry 140 7th Colin 135 8th Henry 115 9th

Heat 2 Laps PositionSteve C 154 1st

Alan 154 2nd

Jason 152 3rd

John W 150 4th

John C 146 5th

Jim I 145 6th

Jim III 142 7th Phil 132 8th Steve K 132 9th

Final Car Laps PositionJohn C Cox Ferrari 154 1st

Kym Cox BRM + Dynamic (26D) 153 2nd

Michael Cox BRM + Russkit (26D) 153 3rd

Steve C Nichimo BRM + Dynamic (26D) 151 4th

Alan Midori Ferrari 151 5th

Jason Cooper + Dynamic (16D) 151 6th

Wade Revell BRM + Dynamic (16D) 147 7th John W Russkit Cooper 145 8th Ian STP Turbine 133 9th

Concours D’EleganceKym

60’s GP (Grid Order : Kym, Michael, Wade, Ian, Steve C, Alan, Jason, John W)

Adelaide GP (50’s GP Race)

At AMR, the 50’s GP Race is declared as the Adelaide GP and considered the big race. The race has quite a history, being run since 1996, although it was 60's lexan bodied cars that were used early on. The 50's cars are difficult cars to drive and the challenge is to set one up that is easy to drive but still fast enough to win. I think some of the guys prefer and concentrate on the other races given the nature of the cars. Previous winners include John Ward (2003) and Michael (2002, 2001). So with 18 cars entered we got the heats under way. In my heat, it was myself and Michael vying for the lead. With the heat being a tough race I knew the final would be very tough. My car was quick to drive as I had geared it to accelerate out of corners well however it made the car sensitive and a little stressful to drive. In heat 2, it was John C taking honours with Jim III, John W and Jason not far behind. On to the final and from the first number of brackets it was clear that Michael and I were going head to head for the win. As far as I could tell we were within 1 lap of each other for the duration of the race. Come the last bracket, Bill mentioned that the 2 lead cars were on the same lap which meant that I was ahead of Michael by about 2/3 lap. This meant my task was to keep ahead of Michael for the next 20 laps. After 2 small moments where I lost some speed (once when the car was on 2 wheels going through a corner) and the fact that Michael was slightly faster given the lane assignments (and maybe he was just driving quicker), I managed to stay ahead with the final distance being 3 feet. This compares to last year where John W won it from Michael by 6 feet. John W took out 3rd, only 1 lap ahead of Jason. The concours was taken out by the same top 3 winners in the same order, which is strange especially given that Bob deliberated for quite some time over the first 2 places which seemed to mirror the race.

Heat 1 Laps PositionWade 156 1st

Michael 155 2nd

Kym 146 3rd

Alan 145 4th

Ged 144 5th

Colin 138 6th

Henry 134 7th Bob 131 8th Terry 126 9th

Heat 2 Laps PositionJohn C 156 1st

Jim III 153 2nd

John W 152 3rd

Jason 150 4th

Steve K 147 5th

Steve C 145 6th

Jim I 142 7th Phil 126 8th

Final Car Laps PositionWade Talbot Lago 153 1st

Michael Talbot Lago 153 2nd

John W Alfa Romeo 158 151 3rd

Jason Alfa Romeo 158 150 4th

John C Indy Racer 148 5th

Jim III Mercedes 146 6th

Kym Talbot Lago 141 7th Steve K Alfa Romeo 158 139 8th Alan C Aussie Special 116 9th

Concours D’EleganceWade 1st Michael 2nd John W 3rd

50’s GP Final (Grid Order: Michael, Wade, John C, John W, Alan, Kym, Jim III, Jason)

Summary

Overall the weekend was a great success although the marshalling situation got a little messy at times. All races were won by the locals except for two main teams races; the Cox Enduro and the Tamiya race. Given that the Victorians are big on vintage slot cars it is not surprising that they took out those events, having prepared quick cars. In all it was local track knowledge which probably made the difference. For those who don’t know, the secret to winning races at AMR is first to keep from deslotting as much as possible whilst still keeping good pace. Bit of an obvious statement, however in most cases it is quite difficult to get ahead of your opponents by pushing hard given the track design is quite simple. Each time you come off you lose approximately 1 lap (often much more if the deslot involves other cars) given the track is difficult to marshal. One lap penalty is quite difficult to make up. The second secret is to do your best on the slow lanes as this is where you can make a difference by concentrating and maximising your speed. You will nearly always lose laps to other drivers on the slow lanes but the aim is to minimise the loss.Having said all this, winning is definitely not the aim for the weekend although we all like to do well. Like any good slot car racing scene, the primary goal is the social side whilst also having a blast in participating.

The fact that there are 20 odd individuals who are obsessed by the same hobby, come together from 5 states across Australia, makes for a great weekend.

Everyone has an opinion of how things should be run. Here’s my spin on a small list of possible improvements:

• When it comes to the teams races I would like to see a little more organisation to attempt to keep 8 cars on the grid and not mix up cars which moves away from the spirit of the teams/endurance races. To do this, teams could be formed prior and between themselves agree who runs which cars. The main problem with this is you will probably be teamed with the same person for the weekend. This is ok if your team member is a fast driver who will look after your car but not all drivers will live up to these expectations.

• Secondly there is a slight issue with respect to what motors you can run. Some people were running modern motors in their vintage cars, others went to town improving their vintage motors or just ran nice 26Ds, others put modern arms in vintage cans etc. Should we allow super 16Ds in vintage cars like Russkits?

• Marshalling an 8-lane track is very difficult but more attention needs to be made to improve the level of marshalling.

General Photos

Stocker Heat(From left to right : Michael, Alan, SteveC, Jim III, Phil, Henry, Colin, Mystery Man, Evan,

Jason, JohnC)

Stocker ActionTerry’s Ford Galaxie is leading Steve K’s Dodge Superbee into the final corner

Action during the Tamiya Race. Looks like Phil was pushing the limits on lane 8.

Post-race Collection of Tamiyas.

Bob Crawford performs his concours duties for the 60’s GP finalas JohnW, Jason, Alan and SteveC wait patiently

Bob selecting the top 3 concours cars before the Adelaide GP Final(From left to right : John C, Michael, Evan, Bob, Terry, Lou, Ron, Colin, Phil)

Adelaide GP Podium finishers