450 likes | 748 Views
NZ RC RACING. Brought to you for the Racers, by the Racers. Club Action Hear from clubs around NZ Up-coming Events Find out which events are Heading your way Event Reviews Read about events all over the country Car and Product Reviews F1 Racers on the Rise And Much More…
E N D
NZ RC RACING Brought to you for the Racers, by the Racers Club Action Hear from clubs around NZ Up-coming Events Find out which events are Heading your way Event Reviews Read about events all over the country Car and Product Reviews F1 Racers on the Rise And Much More… We talk to Ivan Ho View points from the Greater Sex And much more… South Island was the place to be in October South Island IC Off-Roads South Island On-Roads South Island EP Off-Roads
Editors:Amber Griffin & Scott Kendall Have you read the first two issues yet? • Club Action • Dargaville • Manawatu • Counties • Caravan Derby • Whangarei • Hawkes Bay • NZ Speedway • Capital Model racers • Kaipara • North Harbour Up coming Events 8. 11. 15. North Island On-Road Champs- Manawatu 27. 44. 16. CONTENTS North Island IC Off-Road Champs – Capital Model Racers 21. 25. 26. Dargaville Summer 500 29. 31. 35. 39. The Racing Lines International Event Reviews Car and Product Reviews 4. Hot off the press – Results from the IC Off-Road Nationals Give us your feedback Email us at: nz_rcracing@xtra.co.nz 6. F1 Racers on the Rise 12. South Island IC Off-Road Champs - Dunedin Ramblings of a R/C Junkie 20. More… Magazine Information page 22. South Island EP Off-Road Champs - Harewood 3. 36. Manawatu R/C Speedway Champs View Points from the Greater Sex 9. 4. South Island On-Road Champs – Canterbury 28. 17. We talk to Ivan Ho 32. Australian IC On-Road Nationals 40. A KIWI in OZ
This Magazine needs you This magazine is brought to you by the NZRCA, but the content needs to come from its members. We invite every club and individuals in the NZRCA to write race-day reports, event reports or any other information you want to share with other members across NZ. You need to advise us what you want on your page. Don’t worry about layout, just provide us with content (in word format please). Any information needs to be emailed to nz_rcracing@xtra.co.nz NZ Retail shops and registered businesses are welcome to advertise at a small cost. You can include any information on this page, but we do request you at least have both phone and email contact details included on the page. If you would like to know more about advertising, please email us. We would like members to submit reviews on products as well. This can be anything from chassis reviews, motors, engines, or anything RC related. Reviews can be up to 3 pages and include photos. Again, please just provide us with content, don’t worry about layout. Information needs to be received no later than the 1st of each month. So get writing.....ANYONE can send in. We welcome EVERYONE to write in So get writing and send your input to nz_rcracing@xtra.co.nz www.shirt.co.nz Page 3
Hot off the Press! 2009 I.C Off-Road National Champs The Harewood RC Car Club have just completed hosting the 2009 NZRCA I.C Off-Road National champs. The racing action was as hot as the weather. The drivers were greeted by an awesomely prepared track with lots of technical sections and great jumps. We will bring you full coverage from this event in the next issue of NZ RCRacing, but for now, here are some shots of the action and the results from both the finals. Page 4
Buggy1st – Tim McKay2nd – Peter Brimmer3rd – Jerry Davis4th – Graeme McDougal5th – Craig Underwood6th – Andrew Webber7th – Billy Looi8th – Dave Edhouse9th – Alan Looi10th – James Tacon11th – Zac Ryan12th – Jason Dyckhoff Truggy1st – Peter Brimmer2nd – Chris Banham3rd – James Tacon4th – Reece McGregor5th – Dave Edhouse6th – Scott McCreanor7th – Duncan Brown8th – Neil White9th – Alan Looi10th – Mike Stratford11th – Stephen Bowles12th -Nathan Toia Page 5
F1 Racers on the Rise It seems world wide, that the glamour side of International Motor Racing, Formula One, is making a steady return to the RC scene. Within the past 12 months, numbers ín both New Zealand and around the world have greatly increased in this class. At this years EP On-Road Nationals, there was a full A final of cars. This made for an impressive grid start on the Sunday’s racing. It seems that since the 2009 Nationals, companies have been releasing new cars and now there are more than 5 different options for those keen to get involved in this great fun class. Here we are going to show you pictures of what is currently available including Tamiya’s F103 & F104 chassis, 3Racing F109, HPI Formula 10, Cross Fire force & the Corally F1. Currently, only a few clubs around NZ race Formula One as its own class, but we know other clubs include the cars with others such as Pro12. One thing is for sure, these F1 cars certainly look just like their full size brothers of modern time or past. Internationally, F1 is being run at a lot of major events and often when reading magazines or even internet news updates, people have been noticing there is a lot more news from the RC F1 scene. If you haven’t seen these awesome cars racing, you are missing out. Even further than seeing them, if you haven’t ever raced one, I strongly recommend them as a great fun yet very fast and competitive class to get involved with! Page 6
Tamiya F103 Pro Corally F1 Formula One 2009 3Racing F109 HPI Formula 10 Cross Fire Force Tamiya F104
Dargaville Radio Controlled Racers Presents Caravan Derby 12th of December 2009 Venue:Nazarene Church Car park4 Grey Street by the big northern wairoa bridge. This is a chance to try something different, come tow and destroy caravans around our track. Not just your everyday racing, give it a go. TOW VEHICLE The Tow Vehicle is to be any commercially available 1/10th scale front or four wheel drive saloon or road car chassis. No Stockcars or Streetstocks Allowed. Only stock motors as per NZRCA Rule 66 may be used. These are a few of the rules, for the complete list of rules visit www.drcr.web.com. CARAVAN CONSTRUCTION Rear end of any commercially available 1/10th saloon car chassis may be used for the caravans axle. Caravan is not to be driven, braked or steered in any way. Caravan must be made of .8 balser wood. Any joins in the caravan can be made with .8 This is going to be a great event and there is sure to be lots of laughs. Page 8
Girls of RC Racing Girls of RC Racing Girls of RC Racing View points from the greater sex Here from the Girls in RC from around the country. What’s it like being the Partner or Mother of a RC racer, and we here from some of the few females involved in RC Racing around New Zealand. What do some of the Partners to RC Racers have to say? Jamie's a bit Obsessed, but he’s not as bad as he used to be but if he doesn’t race well he get moody. He is serious as! But if he earns the it he can spend it and more then ever its on RC Stuff. The bad weather definitely gets to him and if he doesn’t race for awhile he gets withdrawals. On a bad day he’ll say he’s going to leave the sport and take up carting but I don’t think he will. *Ang* (Manawatu) My husband, Blair, has raced RC cars for around 2 years and over that time I have been to many races. RC racing is his main hobby and I really enjoy supporting him. Most meetings I bring the children along as it has a nice family vibe and one day they will race too! One benefit of RC racing is that Blair has learnt heaps about the mechanics of cars and is more willing to fix our cars now which is awesome. I love it because he loves it. *Andrea Ray* (Hamilton) Geoff’s pretty good, not obsessive but dedicated. I don’t really mind that he races for the day gives me time to study and its good that he does his own things. I sometimes wish he’s be more dedicated to a sport not cars but its what he likes and enjoys. *Jane* (Manawatu) Scott loves racing and made me well aware of it when we first met, assuring me that he wasn’t obsessed of course. Well here I am now. own a touring car and a swift so if he still claims to not be obsessed, I don’t know the right word for his love towards the sport. Its great to see him so dedicated to something and really enjoying. When you know someone who is serious about RC Racing the only option is to support them because you sure aren’t going to have any luck pulling them away. Scott’s often the one telling me its only a sport and not to stress so I would have to say he definitely does it for fun. Girls out there give it a go, its fun and something you can do together. *Amber* (Manawatu) Page 9
Girls of RC Racing Girls of RC Racing Girls of RC Racing Hear what some of the mums had to say about their Kids Racing Mum can you find my washer / spring / screw. That has just popped off my car and flown across the floor! This is while I’’m having a nice quiet read. It can be fun watching the racing, frustrating when he keeps crashing and not taking my ‘expert’ advice. But mostly nice seeing him doing a hobby that he enjoys, enables him to meet new people and helps keep him off the street and out of trouble. And I always laugh when he brings a friend to watch and totally loses it. (Anonymous) It’s introduced me to a whole new sport that I didn’t know existed. I’ve learnt lots about batteries, circuits and radio gear. RC racing for me has had many frustrating moments too! Flat batteries, broken parts, bits and pieces left at home. It teaches patience, responsibility and organizational skills. (Anonymous) From some of NZ’s female RC Racers A female racer is quite the learning experience as is driving and knowing the car itself. The dirt Truggy is wicked but you have to and take it apart and clean it up when you bring it home but otherwise its pretty wicked. (Anonymous) RC Racing is definitely dominated by men. At events I sometimes feel like I’m not taken seriously because I’m ‘just a girl’ but in saying that, It just makes me want to race better then them. It’s a great sport and there is usually a bloke around that is willing to help you out. I think there needs to be more promotion aimed towards children and females but hopefully that will happen over time. *Amber* (Manawatu) Hear from the girls every month and see what they have to say
October was a month of rain rain and more rain. Both of the scheduled On-road club days were cancelled due to the weather so when the forecast looked good for the Monday of Labour weekend, we decided to go for it and hold a club day. Numbers were poor but the racing was pretty good for most. Jamies luck of recent continued unfortunately and by the end of the day he was considering options about other types of motorsport. All the racers have really started focusing on upcoming North Island Champs. Setups are being tested and changed and new gear seems to be appearing on pit tables. Entries are starting to come in a bit more steadily now for the North Islands, and by the time you read this, entries will be closed and hopefully numbers will be great. Formula one seems to be a standout class with numbers already looking to fill a full A Main. Super Stock is the other big numbers class at this stage. On the 1st November, we had a visiting group of drivers from CMR Club some up. They all raced in the Super Stock class giving us enough cars to have a great days racing. Qualifying was split into 2 groups to give everyone a clear track. Scott took TQ with Jason from CMR in 2nd and Jamie looked like he had his cars handling sorted taking 3rd. In the finals despite others chasing hard at the starts, it was Scotts day again. There was lots of traffic for the faster guys and this often played in part in deciding the lower positions. It was great to see Jesse giving Super Stock a go, and while he wasn’t the quickest, given time racing with the fast guys and he will be up there. Amber is now really wanting to join Super Stock from next club day on. In other classes, once again Shane had a clean days racing. After car issues in qualifying, Amber got her car sorted and took all 3 finals in M03. Now there is only 1 more club day till get our cars sorted for the North Islands. Page 11
South Island I.C Off-Road Champs Held at the Extreme Farm Dunedin October 2009 We were absolutely stoked to have the South Island champs allocated to Dunedin for the first time this year. We as a club sought out to set a new standard in RC events and I believe we bettered all expectations. Our track has been completely constructed with the purpose of a dedicated Off-road track. We had 5000 tons of clay dropped onsite to turn a unused hillside into a level platform from which to construct our track on. With the track base down , compacted and watertabled, we could finally work on the layout. Because the outfield was a undisputed design we concentrated the next 400 tons of clay forming the Big Daytona, triples, small Daytona and bridge sections. After the Rc pro series we got a few more ideas on the infield and came up with our third and final infield design. The track has the biggest jumps in Nz and a very technical infield. Qualifying for the South Islands proved no easy task, the mental game of weather or not to commit to the triple played heavy on all the racers minds. A moment of brain fade could see you holding the trigger pinned and going the big triple. This stopped many drivers from putting down fast qualifiers. At the end of qualifying we had Tim McKay top qualify in Buggy and Mike Stratford top qualify in Truggy. They were really flying on a track that hadn’t been used before the race meeting so it was even ground. The battle then ensued to find the final 7 drivers for the A mains. Written by Juan Gasper Page 12
A stunning drive by James Tacon (Team Extreme) saw him dominate Truggy for the win with Pj Jones(Team Rust) and Shay Taylor taking 2nd and 3rd Buggy saw Tim McKay (Team Xray) Take the win having not done the triple until the last lap!!! James Tacon (Team Extreme) in second and Jake Botting (Team Rust) in 3rd. Best Lap times of the weekend Hunter Burt Buggy 30.624 Mike Stratford Truggy 29.764 Concours Mike Stratford (Ryan O’connor) A great race meeting was had by all. We hope the success of this event will follow on to holding the nationals next year. We would like to thank Our Sponsors Kyosho NZ Blackwoods Engineering Digital Print Shop Extreme Hobbies Adidas NZ Red bull NZ And all the other guys who put time and money into building our track Page 13
IC Truggy A 1st James Tacon 72/45m23.900s 2nd Pj Jones 71/45m18.634s3rd Shay Taylor 68/45m28.154s 4th Mike Stratford (TQ) 66/44m59.653s 5th Scott McCreanor 64/44m57.289s 6th Andrew Gregge 64/45m11.659s 7th Craig Lamb 48/35m52.644s 8th Paul McBreen 46/31m36.572s 9th Juan Gasper 15/31m31.478s 10th Jake Botting 11/6m37.658s 1/8th IC Buggy A 1st Tim McKay (TQ) 75/45m16.133s 2nd James Tacon 69/44m58.783s 3rd Jake Botting 68/45m21.718s 4th Juan Gasper 62/45m16.338s 5th Hunter Burt 60/40m6.253s 6th Keith Maultby 52/45m22.970s 7th Kris Mundy 43/30m33.188s 8th Jamie Buttolph 27/18m22.148s 9th Mike Stratford 25/14m43.337s 10th Shay Taylor 17/13m32.420s
Racing at Counties is starting to get interesting with summer arriving soon [Yeah Right?] and the club coming up to the last two rounds of our 2009 Club Championship. The World Famous only in Pukekohe “Red Clay” is coming up a treat as usual thanks to the few but regular members that attend our working bees. Our last meeting had a good turn out of racers who got to try first hand our new purpose built “Table Top” put in the day before. The quick and the brave could take the jump before, and land on the Table Top- mess it up and you would smash into the up ramp [ Ahy Shane!!] anyway its an exciting new edition to the track and as well as a great challenge I’m sure it will provide a great source of entertainment. The Clubs new Transponder system is also now well up and running without any problems and has now solved the issues of past years failures. Lipo Batteries are now well and truly entrenched in our club members racing and have proven there worth way beyond expectations. No problems in there use have arisen apart from a lot of Buggies needing several attempts to reach the legal NZRCA weight limit. With a lot of the older and heavier cars now coming down in weight to match some of the other machinery out there the racing can only get closer and harder. December see’s us running the 3rd Annual Counties Grand Prix, and this year Counties has opened entries to all NZRCA members. Counties would like to thank our sponsors for this event, Attwood’s Packaging and JConcepts’ for there support of our Club and Sport. Entry forms are available from our web site www.countiesrc.co.nz and we’d love to see you all on the 5th and 6th of December for some great outdoor Electric Off road Racing. CORR Trucks is making a splash and we had 5 racing the other day. Looks like this class will take off nationally in a big way, so let’s hope we see a lot more of these beasts on the track. Thanks to all the visiting Drivers turning up to race with us and we hope to see you all in December. Page 15
January 2010 Dargaville Radio Controlled Racers Presents the Summer 500 Date: 16th of JanuaryVenue: Nazarene Church Car park4 Grey Street by the big northern wairoa bridge and will be 500 laps. There will be a new Tamiya M03 mini raffled off to one lucky driver. There will also be painted,detailed and signed M - Chassis body shells (3 or 4) given to the winning team. BBQ Provided at the end of the day For more information and entry forms check out: www. drcr.webs.com and go to the Summer 500 page Page 16
NZ RCRacing Talks To Ivan Ho When did you first get involved with RC Car Racing & Why? It was back in 1991 when I first arrived in New Zealand, and it was my dad that pushed me into this as he thought that it will help me to speak English better, and that worked very well! Do you still remember what your first RC Car was? I still remember the first RC car was the Tamiya grasshopper. What are you racing with now? I’m racing with the Yokomo Touring car these days. I think everyone knows about it, race Mod, and I’m going to race’super stock to support the new class. Over the years you have competed at a number of New Zealand events. Is there a single event that stands out as a favourite of yours? I think it was the 2008 Racing Line International, as I was racing with Peter from OZ, and I was trying the hardest to win that, and in the end I came 2nd, but I was still very happy with it, because I have never been so close at that race with someone, from the start to finish, I tried everything I had that time! What about a favourite track & why? NHRCCC I will say, because with that track, you just about need to know everything about your car to get the right set up. This month we interviewed the 2009 NZ Touring Modified & Pro-Stock Champion, Ivan Ho. We asked Ivan to answer some questions about his racing history and about some of the events he has attended. Ivan has placed well at many events, and would have to be considered one of New Zealand’s top racers. Ivan represented NZ at the 2008 IFMAR Electric On-Road Worlds where he spent the week with Team Yokomo who helped him gain car and driving knowledge, knowledge he put to good use to win this years Touring Modified national title. We would like to thank Ivan for his time, and for the great photos. We hope you enjoy reading the interview, and look forward to reading about other racers in future issues. Page 17
Jessica Ho - Ivans Wife & Team Manager Ivan Ho & Masami Hirosaka Naoto Matsukura & Ivan Ho You travelled to the IFMAR World Champs in 2008 to represent New Zealand, what were the standout memories from this trip? Meeting The Team Yokomo Japan and other Yokomo team drivers. Also other top and famous drivers in their own country or in the world such as Masami. I did not think we can see them face-to-face, and they are very kind to sharing their skill, & helping each other. Not understand why and how I drove rubber that was not fast at all compared with others also very close racing but not touching each other. That was so amazing!! They gave me BIG HELP for my car set up that made me gain 2 Seconds per lap in those few days. That helps to improve my set up and driving technique as well. Again, hard to think so many Drivers in only one class in this BIG EVENT. All the staff, drivers, and the visitors enjoyed the event, that’s the most important thing. Very good experience, I think everyone that loves RC Cars should go at least once. With an impressive number of wins, you would have to be considered one of New Zealand’s best Electric Touring Car racers, which win has meant the most to you and why? The Racing Lines International 2009. Learning a lot of skill from the IFMAR WORLD CHAMPS that gave me more confidence on racing and it work very well, and breaking the track record big time, just about ½ sec faster than everyone else on each lap. What would you like to see change in RC Racing in New Zealand? Follow the IFMAR rules. Because that would be good for someone wanting to travel out of New Zealand for racing, and someone coming in. These days, most of cars available are already designed for rubber tyres which means a standard set up from factory will be not too bad for a basic set up for any track. Is there anything you do not like about RC Racing? Too many Touring car classes, should be only 2 in my opinion.
What goals do you hope to achieve in your own personal racing future? May try to attend the next IFMAR World Champs, as I can learn a lot of new stuff for RC racing, and also I like to be able help to other racers (Back up/ Team Manager, technician), like how to set up the car, maintain and the driving skill. If there was any advise you would give to RC Racers what would that be? Keep practicing, as you never get better without it. Try different set ups and make sure you make note of them so you don’t forget what you changed and what effect it has on the car. Watch the movement on the car to see the grip of your car! Watch playback, and others racing videos. Away from the racetrack and RC Cars, what other things do you like to do with your time? TV games, watching TV, Internet, and have a rest, because sometime I’m too tired from work Thank you very much for your time Ivan. Good luck with all your future racing, and maybe we will be interviewing you sometime as a World Champion.
Ramblings of a R/C Junkie Welcome to hopefully the first of many columns where a grumpy old bugger has a look at what’s new and shiny in the RC Car World First of all, id like to congratulate all the competitors who took part in the IC Off-Road Nationals at Harewood and wish all the best to those attending the EP On-Road North Islands in Manawatu all the best of luck, and a safe trip to and from the event. In general news, Xray have announced the new Xray T3 EP Touring car. www.teamxray.com Ryan Maifield continues his trail of woop ass, I would dare say he has won everything he has entered since winning the ROAR Nats in Truggy last month & in his current form, he would be a strong contender for the IC worlds next year. Watch our Hara, your days as number 1 could be numbered! Speaking of Hara, I see he has just won the 2009 Japanese IC Off-Road Nats…. again…. for the 3rd time. From the pictures I have seen, the qualifiers were only just finished before the rain came knocking on the door. From the “Bling Files”we have the new brakes from Z-Car in the US. http://z-carstore.com These look awesome don’t they. If they were work as well as they look then SH/Z-Car should be raking it in, if it wasn’t for the $59US plus shipping that is… If all the other generations of Xray touring cars are anything to go by, then the T3 is bound to be a hit! Having already placed 3rd in the hands of young Alexander Hagberg at the Rebellion race over in Finland, with current world champ Marc Rheinard second. Well, that’s all for this month. Stay tuned for more action, more bling and more BS! Page 20
Want some real fun this Summer? Whangarei hold the Summer Corrs Three Hour Race Where is this race?Whangarei R/C Clubs Track When? Saturday 23rd January 2010 What is it for?Corrs Trucks and good old fashion fun Why are we having it?To promote R/C racing as a something that is fun Whocan race? Anyone who wants to enter (open to anyone NZRCA membership not required) Rules As few as we can this is just fun but will probably something like this 2 Classes run together these will be out of the box Corrs trucks and Mod Corrs Trucks You can have 3 or more Drivers per team Batteries are open Motors are open in Mod Corrs tyres and wheels to be used only And the good news is using our Transponders we can run more than 10 entries so get a teams together Other features on the day: 30 minute race for Under 10s before the main event Longest jump Compition at end of Event Entry Forms will be in the December Issue of NZ RCRacing Page 21
South Island E.P Off-Road Champs Report by Jerib Robertson The stage was well set for the inaugural NZRCA South Island Electric Off-Road Champs held at Harewood RC Car Club. Over the weekend of 31st October and 1st November the weather was scheduled to be fine, and it was fantastic. We had a new clay track, freshly groomed and prepped, and some very excited drivers!Classes were running for 2wd Stock, 4wd Stock, 4wd Modified, and a demonstrator class for the SC10 Corr Trucks. Entry number weren’t high, but we went for quality over quantity, and there was definitely some quality driving out there.Saturday was four rounds of qualifying after having the morning for practice. A few nutters got into the swing of Halloween and dressed up for the occasion, with some great costumes and a few excellent photos up on the drivers stand.With the heat in the air the track was driving fast between watering, and so tyre selection was the key. There was some fast driving with the stock guys almost keeping up with the mods at times, but when the moisture built up the mod guys were flying. Stand-out performers on day one were Daniel Thompson in 2wd Stock, Connor Robertson in 4wd Stock, Malcolm Lester in modified, and James Tacon in the Corr trucks. Sunday was another fine day, with a bit of rain scheduled, which didn’t arrive, thankfully. We had one more heat, then straight into the three rounds of finals. The finals were fiercely fought throughout the classes. In the morning the track was very damp with huge traction, and as the day heated up again, the track was drying out fast. The SC10’s were first up and the guys were having a ball. James had some really tight driving and cruised in for two wins, which was fortunate as the guy who lent him an ESC had to go so he couldn’t run the last race! Malcolm and Dayaram were having a good drive in cars that look like quite a handful on a track primarily designed for 1/8 nitro! In 2wd Stock Daniel Thompson couldn’t be touched. His experience and former national champ credentials were showing through, and that was in a Losi XX which was older than some of the drivers at the track! Brandon and I were having some good tussles for second, but in the end the young man who has been racing 2wd stock for a few weeks ran away. Reilly was showing some good progress with a car he had built just for this event, and Dean was unfortunately having demon issues with his steering servo that had a mind of its own. Maybe the witch that was at the track on Saturday put a hex on it? Page 22
4wd Stock was a one horse race really. Connor ended the competition winning all of his qualifiers and races with some very clean and smooth driving with his B44. Jesse Woods was another stand-out performer, and all of the young guys driving in this class are improving every race meet and will be a force to recon with in the future. This class was frowned upon by some of the young guys prior to the event, wanting to be faster, but with the big grins on their faces after the racing it shows out-right speed isn’t necessary for great racing. Last but not least was the 4wd Mod. We had split the class into two for heats, but as we had 10 cars for the finals we combined them into a single group. The competition was always going to be tight going by qualifying times, and the racing didn’t disappoint with the top driver going toe-to-toe most of the day. Turn 1 through 4 were chaos on every start with more carnage than a demolition derby. It was clear that the driver that could sneak through was going to have the upper hand. With two races down, Malcolm, Darren, and myself were all tied for points. You could have heard a feather fall in the seconds before the final race, but in the end Darren and his 501X were too much for the rest of us. After getting away clean at the start it was pretty much a one horse race, with Malcolm and I tied, and Malcolm getting the win based on fastest heat in the finals. Alec Dunstone won Concours for his rather swish looking B44, which was not an easy win with a lot of good looking cars out there. Some nutter won the Turkey of the comp for calling “Marshall” more than once BEFORE he had even crashed ( me ). Premonition or inevitability some would ask.The weekend was brilliant, and we would like to thank all of the drivers, helpers, and spectators for making this a fantastic weekend. Congratulations to all of the drivers who entered, and James, Daniel, Connor, and Darren for their performances. Results are available for viewing at http://electric.harewoodrc.com/Results/results.php
Bit of a mixed bag of racing for the month with the wet weather, the A & P show and Bathurst. Some of us are heading out of town in the next month or so for what’s becoming a very busy schedule of Nationals and major events including the Manawatu champs and the Counties Grand Prix. After an excellent turnout for the Mid-Winter 300 meeting, poor support for on road over the last couple of meetings has made us go back to the drawing board for next year. We welcome any new ideas members may have – just talk to Chris or I. At this stage we are planning on one big “finale” for the year to wrap up on road. Probably outdoors at the showgrounds one Saturday afternoon. We are hoping to use the large area of smooth seal outside the Exhibition Hall. Offroad has been a mixed bag too with the continued growth in the CORR truck class a highlight. If we could just get them all there on one day it would be even better. Another highlight is the rise of the “Young Guns” – Chris McGaffin in Truggy and Dalton Barber in the CORR and 4WD Stock – giving the old guys (including their Dads Bruce and Duane) a run for their money. Sonny Pearce continues his good form for the year – regardless of what car he’s driving (Okay, maybe we won’t mention the short wheelbase REVO). Sonny’s wife Amanda deserves a round of applause too for doing the Pizza run last Sunday. And watering the track whilst holding the offspring. Report by: James Dale Page 25
NZ RC Speedway 1NZ Profile – Doug “Shrek” Angus How I got into stockcars A member of CMR did an interview on the RC Stockcars for his magazine and he told me about it. After trying to find it for a while I managed to catch up with them. It just so happened that it was 3 weeks from the first nationals in 2006. I built my first car, managed one race day and entered the Nats. I missed on 1nz due to some strange circumstances. Interests I have been into RC cars since the mid 80's with my first proper rc car being a Tamiya Pajero. Drags, used to compete until Wanganui March 2000 where I spat a rod out the block and could not afford to repair it. Anything with props or pistons generally I will watch if they race it, wife, kids, dog, bourbon and racing seem to take care of all of my time at the moment Sponsors – Id like to thank the following people/businesses for supporting me: Celeste(ring leader), Colin (lil terminator) Jack(hammer)and Jordyn Angus, yes my family JP Chassis and Bodies K&J Streetstocks Shrek Motors WD Signs Petone Radiators HRS Action Plumbing and Drainage Mustang Concrete Pumping Wired Earthworks Race results 2006 2nz 2007 Team champs winners, 1NZ 2008 3rd GP, 4th teams champs, 4th NI 2009 3rd Teams champs, Auckland Champ, 1NZ, NI Streetstock champ, GP Streetstock champ Car Tamiya TA05 IFS with some TA05R parts Page 26
Classes: M03 Stock Touring Super Stock Modified Pro 10 Pro 12 Formula 1 2wd I.C Saloon 4wd I.C Saloon For more information visit www.mrccc.org.nz or email mrccc@live.com Kawakawa Road, Feilding Page 27
South Island On-Road Champs http://www.crccc.co.nz/Results/2009_South_Island_Champs/Reports/Print_Meet_Report.html Labour weekend saw the running of the 2009 South Island On-Road Champs at the Canterbury RC Car Club. Unfortunately, we have received no information or photos from this event to report on, however, the link to the final results is above. Congratulations to all the competitors who won their respective classes. We hope to bring you more about this event in a future issue of NZ RCRacing. Page 28
www.rcracing.co.nz CMR Report for the month of October As with most clubs over this month racing has been sparse so it was time for some track maintenance for the on-road track. This started with Jason Marshall and the family getting out there with Brian Luey and doing the new track barrier down the Main Straight, they used the old plastic Barriers (that some punks for the area had broken) as moulds for the concrete, (big thanks to Nadine and Jesse while on holidays to cut them in half to leave the rounded end). It was decided at the time to then leave the plastic there as a little bit more protection for the cars and now they were full of concrete that couldn’t be broken. The following week racing was once again called off owing to the fact that the forecast was the weather was going to be shit and Bathurst was also on. Of course in the morning the weather dawned fine with blue skies everywhere to be seen. It was then I decided at very short notice to try and finish the rest of the barriers. We now have 95% done and all painted and it is starting to look like a real race track. The next job is to finish the painting and get the track surface sorted out. The next week after lots of rain it was reported that there was a small slip blocking the road up to the track, so I grabbed my son, threw the shovel in the boot and headed my way up to the track. Once I opened up the gates and proceeded up the road I encountered the slip. Seeing that the slip blocked the road and we couldn’t get a car through and knowing that racing was going to happen in a couple of days I set to work on the shovel with the boy on the broom and within a couple of hours managed to clear the slip so as to get a car through. Hopefully the council will remove the rest of the slip in the next few weeks. Page 29
So we now get the racing for the onroad points series on the 25th. Today was going to test the new AMBrc 3 timing gear and the new track barriers and I am glad to say that they came through by all accounts very well. The new barriers were very user friendly and easy to race on and no cars reported any major damage from them. Racing started at about 1230 with only two classes being run; we run a pro-stock class (using 27turn motors) and a superstock class, (using 13.5 brushless motors). The day got off well with about 7 drivers in pro-stock and about 9 drivers in superstock. Racing was tight in pro-stock with Glen and Ed racing back and forth for position and Pete coming in third. It must be said that Ed made his first 18 lap runs today and came first in a couple of the runs. With tight and close racing throughout the qualifying Glen came out on top to TQ and start the finals from 1st spot. In the finals it was a close run thing with Ed coming out on top. Qualifying for the superstock class was a three horse affair with Duncan, Russell and Jason all in the mix. It ended up being a very close finish with Jason piping Russell by ½ a second to claim the TQ spot. In the final everyone got off to a good start with Jason leading into the first corner, only to be turned around by a fast charging Duncan. Two corners later Russell was turned around by Duncan and leaving a clear way Duncan took off into clear track ahead of him having regained third position on the track. Jason started to hunt down Duncan to claim second place and after a few tense and close laps Duncan made a mistake allowing Jason to get through, with a bit of clear track Jason proceeded to try and catch up to Russell leading to Jason pushing a bit too hard and clipping one of the new track barriers, then another and then another ending up on his roof and waiting for the Marshall (Kelvin)to come with his Zimmer Frame (he is getting on in age)from the other side of the track and Marshall him. Even though this mistake cost about 12 seconds Jason still managed to hang onto Second with Duncan in Third and with the deserved win Russell in First. All in All a great days racing. Because of Labour Day the Off-road Drivers decided to have a fun day, the day started at about 11am with the truggys, PJ, Malcom and Paddy, with a little bit of luck and misfortune PJ and Malcom swapped places throughout the day and this ended with PJ taking out the final For the first time in a long while CMR had some electric Off-Road drivers turn up to try their luck on the track, some of these guys was the first time that they have raced and it is hope that these guys make it a regular thing, also to note for the first time there were 2 SC10’s racing and they looked to be very realistic and very fun, PJ had his electric Truggy out there but within a couple of laps it was back to the pits after the motor wasn’t tight and it slipped the mesh with the spur gear, not long after that it stripped the spur gear and PJ was out for the rest of the day. They buggy’s started with a full field but it was decided to split them into two and have five cars per race, racing started out well with most drivers having some good racing but some of the drivers having nothing but troubles and ending up with either having to replace broken bits or having to sit out the rest of the day without spare parts to fix them. With lots of time between races and about an hour for lunch with branchie cooking up a mean feed on the BBQ we only managed to get 3 rounds of qualifying in before having to get into the finals, So well done to all the guys and a big thanks to everyone who help on the day, hopefully it was a good testing day for the guys going down to the Nats in Christchurch
Kaipara Models R/C Club 2wd Stock 2wd Modified 4wd Stock 4wd Modified In Association with Truck Stock Whangarei RC Car Club & ARCCC Truck Modified Presents Junior Corrs Truck Corrs Truck 2010 EP Off-Road Nationals 9th - 11th April 2010 ARCCC Race Track, Savill Drive, Mangere, Auckland For more info, contact: Murray Macdonald or Darren Johnson Entry forms out late December 2009
2009 Australian I.C. On road Nationals Daniel Burrows & Scott Robinson It started off badly for us, as due to the large number of entries this year (145) we were advised before we left they would have to change the schedule. We were due to arrive on Tuesday night giving us plenty of time for practice as qualifying was due to start on Thursday afternoon. This was then changed to qualifying starting on Wednesday afternoon, with two 20 minute controlled practice by heats in the morning. Meaning no free practice on a track we had never been to before. Despite this the first heat went all right for us with the cars feeling good straight away, this is where it all went wrong. In the next heat we were both struggling for run time to finish the final lap and to make things worse I blew a plug. Later that night we found it had badly damaged a new JP engine. The next day we were then forced to resort to making two pit stops in the 10-minute heat just to get a time in. We used the third heat to make some changes to the engine to try and get run time. So the forth heat was when we had another go, Scott was up first and didn’t risk running out so with two stops put him in 12th position. Then during my race the car felt very good in the warm up and we thought we were on top of the runtime issue, everything was fine up until the 4th minute when I clipped a curb and rolled, then flamed out. It turned out that if I finished this time would have been good enough for 5th or 6th position. Then the rain started, we sat and watched it rain for two and half days. This meant there were no more qualifiers and with us both in the even Semi, it was going to be hard for both of us to get in the A Final. Page 32
When the weather finally cleared up on Monday afternoon, finals got underway. A lot of people had gone home due to this being the rain day and they hadn’t made plans for it. Our Semi final started fine with both cars looking good in the warm up but the on lap one my engine became sluggish and at the first pit stop died due to another blown plug. Scott however drove a perfect race, taking out the Semi A. All of this was then stopped as the forecast thunderstorm came in with fork lighting and heavy rain. The meeting was then called on qualifying with Scott ending up 12th and me in 18th. Overall we were on the back foot from the start with no practice then engine issues made us go in to damage limitation mode. The club did an excellent job with the meeting considering the large number of entries and bad weather. We would highly recommend anyone to go to an Australia champs in any class due the high level of competition over there. Results 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 1/8th: Micheal Kerr Jeff Hamon Chris Reade Peter Jovanovic Ric Bartolozzi Steven Jovanovic Stewart Grant Darrin Cambell Christopher Bozich Leigh Dytor 1/10th: Phil Woodbury Ryan Maker Peter Jovanovic Jesse Davis Dallas Gardiner Steven Jovanovic Kyle Hazell Darrin Cambell Timothy Lee Andrew Bardetta Story & Photos courtesy of Daniel Burrows
October Race Report – NHRCCC October was another good month of racing for NHRCCC. Both indoor and outdoor are continuing to grow, with cool classes like the Short Course trucks really taking off in popularity. Our outdoor meeting on the 25th was great. Finally some fine and reasonably warm weather, a pretty good turn out and just a generally relaxing day at the track. Dave and crew arrived early with the race trailer and setup the track – and before long the rest of car park was full. Racing started at 10.30am – 3 rounds of qualifying with 1 round of finals. The racing was pretty competitive in all classes, with a lot of racers electing to use turbo points (meaning they gain double points for that meeting) as the season starts to draw to a close. The best racing (or most spectacular at least!) had to be in the Modified class though. With a full field of cars it was a busy race. The grip on the track wasn’t quite there, but it didn’t stop some great battles up the front between Ivan Ho, Brad Congdon, Sam Cooney, Mathew Trotman and Stephen Li – wherever you looked, there was a dice going on. November has us racing on the 7th Indoor, and then we finish the month with our Club Classic Championship on the 22nd. See everyone there! Page 35
Manawatu R/C Speedway Champs Sunday 25th October Written by Karlos McKay Streetstocks... Twenty four Streetstocks competed in the 2009 Manawatu Streetstock champs. The field included several stars such as defending champion Aaron Young 47s and current North island and grand prix champion Doug Angus. The field was split into two qualifying groups who then competed in two races to find the eighteen finalists. The first two races were dominated by Young 47s and he was top on points going into the last race. Dwayne Martin 7b, Daniel Lockwood 58p and Doug Angus 302w were tied for second place. The final race was full on from the start and must of resembled a three way team race between Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Manawatu. Getting most of the attention was defending champ Young 47s and he was held up on several occasions. Lockwood's 58p car was immobile, while Martin 7b was also having his progress hindered. While all of this action was going on Angus 302w was clocking up the laps and seemed to stay well out of trouble. Once the race had finished and the points were tallied from the three finals Angus 302w was the new 2009 Manawatu Streetstock Champion. Second placing was Martin 7b with Young 47s third. Page 36
Stockcars... Thirty eight Stockcars competed in the 2009 Manawatu Stockcar champs. They were split into three qualifying groups. A very star studded field with current and defending Manawatu champ John Van Beers 22s from Taranaki. 2007 and Current New Zealand champ Doug Angus 302w and 2008 North Island Champ Ray Torrance from Wellington. 2009 Wellington champ Karlos Mckay 96p from Palmerston North. Hawkes Bay were well represented with 2008 New Zealand champ and current Grand Prix champ Richard Alexander 971b, Current under sixteen New Zealand champ Clay Alexander 961b and 2008 Grand Prix champ Dwayne Martin 7b. Once the qualifying rounds were completed and the eighteen finalists were found the finals started. The first final was won by Mckay 96p. Second was Alexander 971b and Van Beers was third. The second final saw the same three finish in the same position's! Top points going into the last race was Mckay 96p on 36, Alexander 971b had 34 points and defending champ Van Beers on 32. The third and final heat was full of action with Mckay 96p being held up by the Taranaki and Hawkes Bay block cars and surviving a spectacular rollover by Aaron Young 47s. Van Beers won the final race and once the points were added it was found that three cars were tied on 50 points. A run off race was required to separate the top three Mckay 96p, Van Beers 22s and Alexander 971b. At the start Mckay 96p and Alexander 971b clashed in the first corner which saw the 96p car spin while Van Beers 22s got a great start. Mckay 96p waited for Van Beers 22s and tried to slow him while Alexander 971b was catching slowly. With the race nearly over Van Beers 22s went around the outside of Mckay 96p who guided him into the wall and half way around the first and second corners but Van beers 22s escaped and went over the finish line followed closely by Alexander 971b. John Van Beers 22s successfully defended his 2008 win and is the 2009 Manawatu Stockcar Champion. Richard Alexander 971b finished second with Mckay 96p third and the first local car.
The 2010 Racing Lines International January 8th, 9th & 10th Entry forms available soon……….watch this space
A Kiwi in OZ Introducing Peter Thompson (Perth, WA) As a close friend of the editors of NZ RCRacing, we decided to talk to an ex Kiwi about his racing days in OZ and some of the comparisons between the 2 countries. We hope to hear more from Peter in future issues as he competes both in Western Australia and across the country. When did you first get involved with RC Car Racing & Why? Geez, um… I got involved with RC car racing back in NZ about 10 years or so ago by joining the Palmerton North club. At that time I was involved in RC planes and helicopters. I remember being fed up with the lack of decent flying weather and being a regular visitor to Galtech models I heard about this indoor RC car club in Palmy. So I thought “ RC car racing indoors would be a good idea, the weather can’t affect that, I’ll do that when I can’t go flying!” One race day later and I was hooked! Planes and helis quickly took 2nd place. Do you still remember what your first RC Car was? Yes, it was a Tamiya TA-03 and I modified it to the max to try and compete with the faster cars, by doing so I fell into the trap of buying a cheap car and throwing money at it when I should have just bought a competition ready on-road car to start with, I’m plenty of people can relate to that! Therefore it wasn’t long before I moved onto a Schumacher 99 Pro. What are you racing with now? Well… where do I start? At the moment I’m concentrating more so on the Nitro off-road scene and I’m racing both buggy and Truggy, the buggy being a Hot bodies D8 and I’ve also just started racing the O’Donnell Truggy which on its first race outing helped me place first in the Pro-Am cup held at the local Whiteman Park Nitro track. I also race electric Off-road, I run the Associated B44 4wd and I run the Losi xxx-tcr truck, also have a Losi xxx bk 2wd buggy. Have not really been doing much On-road, but still have an HPI pro 4 and a Yokomo BD Masami edition. You won the New Zealand 2009 Off-Road Nationals in truck, how did that feel? Felt pretty good! Especially after working at my driving so hard here in Australia, I was really pleased with how well I did considering the previous NZ nationals I only managed b finals. The track in Palmy is a great fun track to drive, fast with good jumps so I really enjoyed racing there. Page 40
What is a favourite track & why? Well for on-road in NZ its got to be the New Plymouth track, I have some fond memories of that, and some great road trips to go and race there. And the Ultimate open is a great event! Here in Australia it would probably have to be Whiteman park 1/8 off-road track, it’s a very big track, (lap times are around 45-50 second mark) a technically difficult track, and if you can drive this track well, you can drive any track well! How does the Australian Racing scene compare to that of New Zealand? The level of competition is a lot higher in Australia. There are many good drivers, clubs are bigger with good numbers of drivers on club days. Because the competition here is high it really makes you improve quickly. Some of the top drivers in the country live where I am in Perth so you can get good help with car set-up and driving tips. Everyone is friendly here in the Perth racing scene with good support from fellow drivers. Tell us about racing in Australia – week by week? What’s it like, how’s it different? Um… it’s a lot busier! The frequency of racing is weekly and there are several different clubs racing every week so if you want you can race electric off-road on a Friday night under lights, and then race 1/8 nitro on a Sunday. Unfortunately here in Perth, on-road racing has not much interest in it anymore, but they do have indoor racing on Wednesday nights. I’m sure it’s probably still strong in other parts of the country. Because there is so much racing going on, if you’re racing weekly, you have to be on top of the maintenance, you spend more time on maintenance and parts, it costs more to race cause you’re racing so frequently. What goals do you hope to achieve in your own personal racing future? I’d like to improve my driving as would everyone, mainly the consistency of my driving needs to be improved. My driving is either on form or no where near it! I’d like to be at a level where I can compete against some of the top drivers in the Australia. And win! Ha ha. West Coast Club Off-Road Track XXXT-CR Truck in Action West Coast Club On-Road Track
Is there anything you do not like about RC Racing in OZ and NZ? Not really, maybe the rules in NZ and OZ are different and the Aussies think NZ is behind the times, but at the end of the day its up to the racers to decide what rules they want. I would like to say though that control tyres are a great thing to have, takes all the guess work out of what tires to buy for an event and everyone is on the same level footing. Also maybe NZ needs to adopt the cross entering rule used here (if you enter mod in one class you can’t enter stock in another). If someone was going to OZ to race, where would you suggest would be an experience and why? Well I can only really comment on the racing here in Perth and also when I was living in Brisbane I did the 2005 Australian Off-road electric championships, the track in Brisbane was really good, and I’ve heard they’ve got a nice new 1/8 Off-road track as well. The On-road scene was strong as well with quite a few clubs. If anyone wants to come over to Perth to race, you can guarantee a good time in the Off-road racing scene. I for one would like to go over to the Sunshine Coast track that was used for the recent RC Pro event that was held there. And there’s a pretty good track in Darwin as well I hear. Whiteman Park 1/8th Track Pro-Am Ryper Cup Truggy A Finals
3rd Annual Counties Grand Prix and Prize Giving www.countiesrc.co.nz Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December 2WD Stock Buggy 2WD Modified Buggy 4WD Stock Buggy 4WD Modified Buggy Stock Truck Modified Truck CORR Truck COUNTIES RADIO CONTROL CAR CLUB AMP Showground’s Station Road Pukekohe
Lap Counting Scoring will be by AMBrc3. Yes we finally have our own Friday Drinks/Meal at Trax Bar Wellington Railway station – Accommodation suggested will have handy station access (2-5 min walk) for transport to and from this event 10 Min Qualifying rounds. 15 – 45 Minute Finals Cost $35 for 1* Vehicle $15 for 2nd