If you can imagine the weather to be absolutely perfect, then that was the scene that greeted the modeling enthusiasts who arrived in Albury on the first weekend in April for the Racing & Speed weekend. Not a cloud in the sky, around 20 C and just a gentle breeze.

Combined Speed was flown first with Ric Justic’s 10cc beast putting in some impressive runs. Noel Wake also put in some fast flights and Harry Bailey’s Rossi .21 Class 2 racer was timed at an amazing 14.1 for 7 in when in the pylon. However, it was the Vintage Proto models that got the results with John Hallowell’s Irvine Rocket making 97% of Lance Smith’s old record with a B25R to win from Chris Sculley and Paul Stein.

F2F was also provided some really good racing.  Only four teams competed, but it was quite close.  It was again Justic/Stein who set the pace with a cracking 4.02 heat and 8.02 final. In second place was Hallowell/M.Wilson on 8.28.29 and G.Wilson/Ellins on 8.40.10

Name

Classic B Teamrace

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, the weather was a carbon copy of Saturday. CLASSIC B was soon away after the 7 teams had their practice flights on the magnificent hard circle at the Twin Cities Aero Club.

Again, Justic/Stein set the ball rolling with a speedy 3.03.34 with the PB Enya .25 and decided to sit on that time. Rothwell/Scully were also right on the pace and knocked them off with a scintillating 3.03.15 with the OS 25FX. But it was the Irvine .25 of Hallowell/M.Wilson that took FTD with a blistering 2.56.47.

Now we’ve been saying for ages that Classic B provides the closest racing around…. So believe this. Paul said he thought our time was a new heat record. Murray and I were very happy! Checked when I got home and found Paul & Rob Fitzgerald’s time at the '09 VSC was 2.56.46! That's 100th of a second!!! According to Lance’s calculations, the linear distance equates to 2.024 inches in the 5 mile race! Paul is a very hard man to get in front of!!! We'll just have to try a bit harder....

As we didn't use a battery person in Albury, (gentleman's agreement with all teams) there's a good chance we can improve on that time by a few secs with Lege & Oppy at the helm on Easter Sunday.

Of the others, Harry Bailey and Ken Hunting had a best of 3.13 with the B25R. Harry is saving his Irvine for the upcoming Victorian State Champs and Graeme and Mark could not stop their Brodak from going lean in both heats. Mark has just brought a Lance Smith prepared OS 25 FX, so expect them to right back on the pace very soon.

The Classic B final saw a very close race with all 3 teams deciding on 3 stop tactics. The Irvine Rocket was clearly fastest and forged an early lead with Murray working brilliantly in the pits. Without battery assistants, all the pitmen looked as busy as one arm wallpaper hangers… Steve Rothwell’s vast experience as a pilot saw smooth landings for Chris Sculley and they flew into a credible second place on 6.30.93, 4 seconds ahead of Ric and Paul on 6.34.91. It was a win for the Irvine Rocket with John and Murray crossing the line on 6.22.88 despite a glide for the last half lap!

Name

Vintage A Teamrace

VINTAGE A was run after the very tasty BBQ lunch organized by Graeme Wilson and the CLAMF lads. There was more of a competition as to who could get that last refreshing bottle of iced sarsaparilla than there was on the flying field… and it was World Champ Mellins who missed out! Not a happy chappy.

With Ric Justic on the handle, Paul Stein set the ball rolling with a remarkable 3.09.46 in round one. This is a new record for an 80 lap heat on the FAI length 52’s. What is even more surprising is how Paul did it. While all the other 6 teams were practicing and fiddling around with compression and needle settings, Paul and Ric sat back and relaxed. Paul didn’t practice at all before his record heat and went straight into the warm up.

Speaking with him later, I gained some insight into why he has so much success in racing. Paul doesn’t fiddle! He says he has not touched the compression on his R250 “in years”. He uses 1.4 IPN all year round and adjusts only by a slight tweak of the needle. Many of us could learn from this.

Steve Rothwell has been telling us for ages not to be moving the compression up and down all the time. That’s real good advice.

Although they are the reigning National Champs, Rothwell/Sculley missed out on the final three at this meet with G.Wilson/Ellins on 3.22.81 and Hallowell/M.Wilson on 3.23.18 making up the numbers. Harry and John both swapped the handle for a finger guard and kneepad and found a new appreciation for the art of being a race mechanic.

It was also great to have the current World no.1 pitman at your side giving helpful advice. Thanks Mark.

Almost as expected, Justic/Stein and the very fast Dimpled Dumpling blitzed the final to come home first in 6.48.15 with daylight between G.Wilson/Ellins on 6.57.53 and Hallowell/M.Wilson who needed some adjustments along the way to record 7.17.28.

OPEN RAT was next, a scary event strictly for Bravehearts. Although a couple of teams practiced in the low 11 seconds for 7 laps bracket which is around 160 mph, small problems with the gear prevented the race being run.

It was then back to the Motel to get refreshed and then down to the nearby pub for a great night out. Those there will be talking for ages about the huge meal Chris Sculley ordered…perhaps by mistake! Paul Stein grabbed his camera phone for a picture.

All in all, it was a really top weekend. For those that didn’t make it, please try and get to the next one. Even if you have no pilot or pitman, still come along. It is not a problem to mix and match pilots and mechanics for a fun event such as this. We have a magnificent facility at Albury and must use it. There will be another Racing and Speed weekend soon. Watch the newsletters for details.
John Hallowell
AUS 1984