2008 1/32nd New Zealand Slot Car Championships
Thanks to Chris Dillon and Gill Andrews for this report.

2008 1/32^nd Nationals at Wellington 

Despite a small turnout of only a dozen racers the weekend was much enjoyed by all who raced and we gave a big hand to Dereck who gave up his weekend to do his usual excellent job of race control 

Class Five – Falcons

Having won this “novice” series last year, 2007 champion Allan Tucker from Wellington had but one chance to defend his title and defend he did.  Using his winning car from last year, but with a new Falcon 7 motor fitted, Allan was in a class of his own, setting times 3/10ths faster than last year with the Falcon 5, and achieving racing lap times significantly faster than the 16D powered standards.

Kenneth Mobberley achieved two seconds and a third to take out second overall, and local 1/24^th scale racer Ron Thornton, (Zippity on the OWH) improved throughout the meeting to take two thirds and a second, winning third place overall. Graeme Mitchell and Alan Robinson came in fourth and fifth. 

Class Three – Standards

Each of the three A Finals saw a close battle between Falcon winner Allan Tucker and defending standards champion Chris Dillon. Chris provided Allan with a car that was just as quick as his, and some good racing ensued.

In the Saloons A final, Chris tq’d but Allan got away to a strong start with errors from Chris gifting him over a lap lead in the second heat. For the next three heats Allan maintained the advantage, then in the last heat a couple of incidents for Allan saw Chris get past to finish just 99 segments ahead. Keith Cheeseman came home third with Brad Emmott taking fourth from the B final. Graeme Mitchell, Kenneth Mobberley, Chris Wong and Alan Robinson placed fifth through eighth.

GT followed a similar pattern. Allan Tucker tq’d and disappeared into the distance while Chris Dillon took a while to settle down, then chased hard. A racing incident in heat five caused Allan to check his car for damage, letting Chris and Keith Cheeseman slip by for first and second. Allan took third and Brad fourth. The B final saw Graeme Mitchell, Chris Wong, Alan Robinson and Kenneth Mobberley place fifth through eighth.

In Sports Allan tq’d again, but this time Chris got off to a clean start and held a half lap lead over Allan for most of the race while Allan chased strongly as they both ran at almost identical lap times. In heat five it looked like Allan might reel him in but offs eroded his progress, and at the end Chris was just 80 segments ahead Third was Keith Cheeseman, while Kenneth Mobberley took fourth overall from the B final. Brad Emmott, Graeme Mitchell Alan Robinson and Chris Wong placed fifth through eighth. 

Class Two – Group 12

In Saloons Chris Dillon tq’d and proceeded to pull out four laps in the first two heats, Kieran chased hard and reeled him in a little but the buffer was too great and Chris took his first ever G12 Saloon win by four laps from Kieran with Keith Cheeseman third, Chris Wong fourth and Brad Emmott fifth.

In GP Chris looked very quick in practice, with a car that appeared to have excellent grip while Kieran and the rest of the field struggled for traction. Chris tq’d and scampered away from the resr of the field, winning by over seven laps from Kieran with Brad another eight laps back. Keith Cheeseman suffered breakdowns and retired part way through the fifth heat to finish fourth.

Sports was much more of a cliff hanger. Chris ran off at the start with a clean run on white to put two laps on the field in the first heat and built up a lead of six laps after four heats. Then he had some unexpected offs and it became apparent he was running out of rubber. Going into the last heat, Kieran was flying while Chris had a five lap lead but was slowing every lap and dropped another three laps with his car hanging up – another minute of racing and he would have ground to a halt.

Class One – Opens

Only a three man field, and from the outset Gill Andrews looked pretty dialled in.

Saloons

Right from the start qualifying showed that this was going to be a tough one. Kieran Dale tq’d letting his intentions be known. Gill Andrew’s set a solid first heat of 28 laps on white with Kieran hot on his heels, with Paul deLatour in for a close 3^rd. A fast run on orange for Gill put him over a lap on Kieran who had been bitten by white lane, but from there on for the next two heats Kieran was not letting go (like a dog with a bone) staying hot on the heels of Gill, these two went lap for lap until the last two heats when Gill was able to pull away a bit more from Kieran, bettering the old record by 5 laps. While this battle was going on Paul Delautour followed in for third with a car struggling to keep up with the fierce pace.

GP

In GP, Gill tq’d, and at the end of heat one had put down a 29 lap run while Kieran struggled with white lane battled with Paul. Heat two saw the exact reversal with Kieran pounding around for 29 laps to be right beside Gill, Game on, once again for these two, Paul was a little off the pace but was putting together consistent runs. From heat three on Gill pulled away to finish 7 laps ahead of the pack bettering the old record by a massive 21 laps. Both Kieran and Paul also bettered the old record.

Sports

Sports saw Gill tq again and once he had white lane out of the way he proceeded to pull away from Kieran by a lap each heat. Going into the heat five Paul was too far off the pace to be in contention while Gill he had a lead of 4 laps over Kieran, but rapid tyre wear had been occurring and Gill slowed dramatically and began to nurse his car home. Kieran also was battling with a car that had worn braids and was slowing but was still able to eat away at Gill’s handy lead. Going into the last heat it looked like this one could go to the wire. With just a minute to go Gill and Kieran tangled heavily on the entry to the main straight, and everyone wondered if a mashed 80 pitch gear would decide this race, but both were still running, and despite Kieran’s gaining 52 segments in the sixth heat, Gill held on to a lead of just over a lap to take the Open Championship with three straight wins.