So I’ve just spent the weekend at Penrith District Nitro Racing for the annual Winter Champs event. It’s perhaps the biggest and best non-sanctioned on-road event in the country, with history dating back to Racing Lines magazine days when the event kicked off in Bathurst in 1997. The last time I was at a Winter Champs it was in Tamworth – nearly 20 years ago.

There are a couple of daily summaries, some photos (more to come), videos etc over at the PDNR – Penrith District Nitro Racing Inc. Facebook page, but I couldn’t let the opportunity slide to make a few personal observations.

INTRODUCING PDNR

PDNR seems to me like an awesome club. They setup a temporary track every Tuesday night on a patch of carpark, crafting the layout from purpose-designed boards and rubber kerbs, and setting up a purpose-built towable driver’s stand each week. The whole club chips in to get set up and packed down each week. For the Winter Champs they go all out, adding a heap more facilities, signage, trackside fencing, and of course marquees and pit areas for visiting drivers. When we rolled into the complex it seemed like a permanent facility – and a well-equipped one at that. The presentation on the weekend was, without question, worthy of a national-level event.

The layout looked great, decent length front and back straights, connecting by a superb high-speed central sweeper, and a technical section of bus-stop style chicanes. It would test every part of a car’s handling. Lap times were around 15 seconds for EP modified and the faster nitro classes, a little higher for lower powered classes.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY

And speaking of classes, there’s something for everybody – 12 different classes catering for everything from 1/12th and F1, all the usual EP touring, nitro touring, open 1/8th and the big GT and GTE classes. And best of all…a dedicated Junior EP Touring class and a (completely bonkers) Short Course Truck class for which timber jumps were added. The 17 truck entries lined up in a single row and a heads-up start every time. The result? Carnage, and laughter.

LEADERSHIP MATTERS

It’s an impressive place and a great event, and I’m reminded that these things don’t happen by accident. It’s my first visit to PNDR, and the first time I’ve met most of the club’s leadership team and volunteers – but it’s immediately obvious that it’s an excellent group of people committed to not only great racing, but a great community vibe. It’s the kind of thing every RC club should be aiming for.

A SNEAKY DRIVE (OR TWO)

Thanks to a couple of generous (and brave) racers, I got a sneaky few laps on the track after racing each day. Saturday night Brayden Stanley put me behind the wheel of his nationals winning nitro touring car – the first time I’ve driven one since Tamworth in maybe 2005 – and it was a blast. And then Sunday night Rick Seymonsbergen let me have a steer of his Hong Nor GT car – a 1/8th on-road racer loosely based on 1/8th off-road buggies. That thing was insane and I loved it. I’ll write more about both those experiences later – but for now – Brayden and Rick, thanks so much! The track was just as fun to drive as it looked – and just as challenging – to hold a narrow line at high speed through tight chicanes…tricky!

THE VALUE OF A TEAM

I’ve said before how much I’ve enjoyed working with Tony Firth, Matt Seckold and of course, Scotty Ernst on the Asian Buggy Championship series. For this event, we also had Tate Firth and Chris Mitchell (perhaps the best RC commentator Australia has ever produced). Working with those guys continues to be a real blessing to me – and reminds me just how good it is to be part of a team, and to watch people from up close do what they’re great at. Especially this weekend when I was a bit under the weather, and the team (and the wider PDNR) crew were good to me even when I couldn’t quite keep up.

We’ll go at it again for the next five days at Pine Hills for Round Three of the ABC series – another excellent club filled with great people. It’s a real blessing to get to do what I do, with the people I do it with, to do fun stuff in RC.