A couple of days on, and it’s time to tell a little more of the story of the weekend.  Full results are not yet available, but as soon as they are I’ll post a link, and full driver and club points. Keep your eyes here.  Anyway, read on…

The Venue
Bayside’s track hasn’t changed much really. The club did a good job to remove a couple of bumps that were getting nasty, but some other bumps are starting to appear as well – so conditions remain challenging. Grip was reasonable (particularly late in the day and when clouds covered the track) and some very old lap records were finally beaten (more later).  Aside from the track, the rest of the facility is developing fast. The new roof on the driver’s stand is excellent and well appreciated in the hot midday sun. Well done BRCCC!
540
I’ve already said it elsewhere, but I thought it was fantastic to watch 540 this weekend. The class was filled with young and inexperienced drivers (just as it should be) and we saw plenty of new faces. In particular the Sunshine Coast club are to be congratulated for the way in which they are encouraging young drivers in their 540 ranks.  Chris Hyde was a standout and came back from being run over in the first corner of one final, and a bizarre stop-go penalty in the second to win anyway. It was an excellent performance.  Nicholas Orr has been around for a while now but had by far his best performance away from the Sunny Coast to finish a deserved second ahead of Bayside’s Michael Murmane.  These guys probably suffered the worst from the very strange lemans grid – with carnage at each of the starts.  The grid was just way too close together – particularly for electric cars that all take off instantly and together (where the nitro cars seem to accelerate at different rates depending on clutch settings and idle performance etc)
19T
I always think 19T is an interesting class as it brings together the best from stock and modified and a few 19T specialists.  For example we had Keith Mackrill and Karl Yeung defending the honour of the stokers and a bunch of regular Mod drivers (Anthony, Martin Nichols and myself being the quickest) plus some that are regular 19t drivers (Tim Weier springs to mind).  On this day however, none of us could get near enough to Anthony who was very strong.  Keith was his usual neat and impeccable self and Martin was very fast at times during qualifying.  I actually thought Martin was unlucky only to qualify 4th – he looked for a while like he might line up behind Anthony.  The other interesting part of this class was the inclusion of the Novak 4300 brushless units. I ran one, and I know Karl did as well.  I found the motor to be excellent, though I did thermal right on the finish line in one of the finals.  I also struggled a little from the lack of brakes that is a feature of brushless motors running the standard rotor. I could drive around it but ended up burning tyres up a little faster as a result.  I thought in terms of HP it was a pretty fair match. One last note – in the last final with conditions excellent, we are all pretty sure that Anthony knocked off Keith’s 5 minute race record from October 2005. By less than a second. (pretty sure, because nobody could remember exactly what Keith’s time was!).
Gas Tourer
Jason was unstoppable.  John was really strong as well. Heavy got to the podium by staying out and circulating. We had one mid-race scare when the car seemed to lock up, but after losing a couple of laps while I fiddled, it seemed to free up again and away he went – holding on to third by one full lap.  I thought it was nice to see Heavy finish his on-road racing with a podium finish.
Pro Tourer
It always amazes me that the guys can manhandle these cars around this track.  Michael Redmond, Jason Dorn and John Taynton were the fast guys (as usual I guess) and put on a heck of a show in the final before Jason eventually broke and was gleefully passed by the deserving Nigel Brokenshire.  It was a long overdue and popular win for Redmond though who got there in the end. Of passing interest was the day long battle between these guys and the mod electric drivers for bragging rights. Fastest race run and fastest single lap went to the EP guys. 2-0.  😉
Stock Tourer
If you are a young or beginning driver and you want to see what driving r/c cars should look like, you could do a lot worse than sitting trackside and watching Keith Mackrill steer his ride. Keith has all the experience in the world for sure, but he wins because he is extremely controlled, consistent and smooth.  He had it on a string all day and despite the speed shown by Karl Yeung at times, was never threatened during the finals. Keith missed the 5-minute record (Damien Barnier went 17:5.098, but bagged an astonishing 16.98 second lap time during the finals.  Karl Yeung showed why he is definitely the coming man in stock racing around Brisbane and had bags of speed today – but suffered a little with some “clashes” during the finals, and a bit of overdriving when trying to catch Keith.  Barger somehow snagged third. Go figure. (kidding Bob!).  Tim Weier was unlucky to blow a motor while sitting second toward the end of the first final. It was also interesting to see a few newcomers to this class – I think Andy Gibson thoroughly enjoyed his outing on the “quiet” side of the hobby.
Mod Tourer
Surely be now, he must be sick of it. Honestly. It’s time for someone to beat Anthony.  Today lots of us tried. None of us succeeded.  Not only that, but after nearly 18 months of trying since Iain Schwartz famously first cracked the 19 lap barrier at Bayside, Anthony became the second man to do so – and took away the track record by going 19:5.15.  In the last final he also became the joint one-lap record holder with a 16.07 second lap (joining Peter Scott and I think Karl Lee). That is fast.  Behind Anthony, I managed to stay within shouting distance, and then was followed by an unholy battle between Martin Nichols, Leonard Lai and Drew Crawley. It was close and at times willing, and as far as I know, after three finals, the three of them tied and had to be split by qualifying.  Somehow Drew was announced as the third placegetter at the presentation, but it should have been Martin, then Leonard, then Drew (again – I think this is right, to be confirmed when results are published). John Perkins was next and struggling all day with his car, while Arjin and Addam came from the gold coast to tackle the tough bayside layout and rounded out the field. Both will be much more competitive on home turf at the Gold Coast Challenge this weekend.
As I drove home Sunday night I reflected not for the first time on just how tough it is to go fast in modified at Bayside. The track layout is challenging, the bumps make car setup very difficult, and the slippery & dusty nature of the surface means constant sliding – and consequently it’s really easy to overheat the tyres and make the car undriveable. It’s very rewarding, but it’s very hard to get it just right. Kudos to those who ran mod with minimal practice on the track and did well.  It’s certainly no easy.
My Weekend
I really enjoyed the weekend. I’m still learning about r/c racing, and this weekend was no exception. I pulled one setup change that made my car nearly undriveable; I got overexcited and overheated my tyres regularly; I finally after two days put a successful pass on Anthony only to spin off the track on the same corner; and I rolled on the last corner of the last race and just missed a 19 lap run.  But my car was good, I enjoyed the company immensely, and very much enjoyed the racing.  There are two things I will miss badly when I hang up my transmitter next weekend (for a while at least). The first is definitely the social aspects of being at the race track with an enjoyable bunch of blokes. The second is the competitive aspects of racing – pushing the car and yourself to extract the maximum, the adrenaline of a close race, the unmatched feeling of making a clean pass on a fast opponent, or putting together a series of fast laps. These things I was lucky to experience again this weekend and I really enjoyed it all.  Like any “true” racer you always want more, and I was a little disappointed not to be able to be closer to (or beat) Anthony, but (a) he is very good; and (b) there’s always next Saturday at the Gold Coast.
There’s my thoughts on the weekend. How about yours?