The Winter Cup at Brendale last Saturday was a fun day out for me.
I’m not a big fan of large tracks, and havent’ raced at Brendale much, but I did enjoy the racing, the socialising, and the early stages of getting accustomed to the venue for this year’s Nats.

Andrew Abbott, Andy Cooke and Anthony Atack were all quick in modified – with Anthony perhaps the unlucky one in terms of getting clean and clear runs. Abbot won from Cooke and Atack. It could have gone to any of the three of them and nobody would have been suprised.
Behind those three it was less clear.  Jay Dixon (Vic) had some good runs, Keith Mackrill was short on ponies but getting around in a neat and fast manner as usual. Leonard Lai was quick, Peter Dooley fast at times but struggling to find a handling gremlin and a couple of others were close to the pace as well.
My own day started with a practice run early – to try and learn the track and see just how bad a car setup for HObbystation would work at Brendale. The answer? It worked ok, but not great.
Round 1: Was one of those races. I was either making my own mistakes, or getting caught up in the mistakes of others and ended up on the grass several times. Needless to say I was a long way back.
Round 2: Much better. I found my way forward to about 4th and then shadowed Andy/Anthony/Andrew. Anthony had a spin, Abbott started getting radio glitches and I finished second – nice!
Round 3: A close few laps with Cooke and Abbott before they both snuck away a little from my still inconsistent driving. I trailed them home to finish 3rd
Round 4: Thought I’d try some RP30 tyres. I think I overheated them as they were ok for a lap or two then went horribly loose – like driving on a bowl full of custard. Oops!
Round 5: A good race – I worked my way forward and briefly reached 3rd before a massive brain explosion just after passing Peter launched my off the circuit. Recovered back to 5th but then tangled with Keith on the last lap to drop another spot. COuld have been good. Oh well.
Round 6: An exciting race this one. It was slow going working my way past some fast and competitive drivers. Leonard, Jay, Peter and finally Keith provided stiff opposition. The pass on Keith was exciting and a lot of fun. Let me say it was not necessarily skill related! Keith had limited horsepower available and I was able to drive around the outside of him down the pit straight and into turn one. Exciting pass thanks to the Novak 4.5!
What’s next?  Logan’s Winter Cup is on in two weeks and I should be there for the modified class day (Sunday). Should be some interesting race on their new layout which hasn’t seen a lot of modified action. Also a bit of an early form guide for the Queensland titles – the rumour mill continuing to suggest Logan as a possible new venue in lieu of Charters Towers withdrawal.  I’m tipping JOhn Perkins to be very tough to beat on home turf at Logan. Won’t stop us from giving it a red hot go though!
I’ll post an Mi2-EC setup that I used on Saturday later tonight – but it’s only an interim setup – still a lot of “Hobbystation” settings on the car that I didn’t have time to change. We’ll get back to Brendale some time soon and do a proper day of testing.