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(1) IMCA Diary
Hopefully this thread is where I'll be
posting some race reports and photos from
the IMCA Worlds in Belgium and Holland next
week.
If Paul K. can put a sticky on it that would
be great. Paul, I also need to get the info.
on posting photo's to an album from you.
So, it's off to Europe. Myself, Chris
Radisch, Kieran Dale, and Paul, "split"
Heath are all leaving from Los Angeles on
Sunday morning. Split and Kieran are both
from New Zealand, they flew up a few days
ago and are going to race in our SoCal USRA
race this weekend before we leave. We'll be
thrashing all day and night at Buena Park
raceway and then catching some early morning
flights on Sunday.
Forrest Watchers, the only other So Cal
racer going, is apparently still in Hawaii,
he should be returning this weekend and then
it's off to Uden, Holland for the Grp. 7
race.
I haven't been in touch with any of the
other American racers yet, except for Paul
Ciccarello, last I heard he's working on
Flexi 4 chassis' at a feverish pitch...;^)
We leave Sunday morning, arrive on Monday.
Grp 7 practice starts at about 2 pm local
time in Uden. The rest of the races are in
Uden and then we move to Aalst, Belgium,
finishing with the 1/24 model car races.
I'll do my best to get race results posted
along with photos, I don't know what the
internet access will be like in Uden, it's a
new location for the IMCA races and it's
still unclear, there will also be some time
restraints as I'm racing in 7 separate
events over 5 days myself.
Wish us well, we'll be racing against some
of the world's best model car racers and the
Grp. 7 racers will be going up against some
of the best wing racers in the world.
John Emmons
OWH Correspondent |
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(3) off the road and at the track...
After what seemed like a lifetime of travel,
starting with racing all day at Buena Park
then getting on planes in Los Angeles and
Chicago, in Washington DC and Frankfurt,
Germany and flying all day and into the
night, we are here in Belgium. Actually
we're in Holland now, we flew into Brussels
this morning, got our rental van and made
our way to the lowlands.
I'm sitting in the race director's stand of
the MRTU Racing club at the moment,listening
to some of the finest spring steel and
aluminum being turned into trash by some of
the finest racers in the world.
Names like Ciccarello, Schone, Korec,
Okali,Horky, Landrud, Watson...world record
holders, national champions, world
champions, are all gathered here in Uden, to
try and solve the puzzle that is this track.
This unbelievable track that is turning cars
into pretzels and driving the drivers
slightly mad.
Will it be harder tires or a steel chassis?
The Vipor or the Peugeot? It's still a guess
and tech opens in less than 2 hours. And
once it opens, you don't get your car back
until tomorrow morning. And the racing
starts at 7 am, so if it ain't right
tonight, it probably ain't gonna be right
tomorrow. So the testing goes on. And
on...the doors close at midnight...
J.P. Van Rossem, who put this whole scene
together has informed the racers that in
just 40 minutes the track will close to all
but the 8 fastest drivers to finish their
practice...and so it goes on...
More to come as sleep is still not an
option. Photo's on the gallery as soon as I
figure out how to post them.
John Emmons
52 hours with little sleep, and counting |
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(5) about those photographs...
I promise they'll be up sometime. Problem is
as always, access and time.
I've been storing all of the ones I've taken
on my computer. If I can get better internet
access than the computer that I'm logged in
on right now, I'll try to get them posted
from here, otherwise, it'll have to wait til
I get back.
Today we're in Aalst, a small town between
Brussels and Gent, Belgium. We raced on a
small, 6 lane plastic track using TSRF
chassis on 1/32 hardshell LMP bodies.
Needless to say coming from a wooden routed
track racing background, the plastic 6 laner
was a big change. The 7 or 8 minutes I had
to practice didn't help much either.
The semi's and main are going on as I write
this. After racing in our Consi's, "Split"
Heath, Kieran Dale and I headed to the hotel
for food and sleep. We did our only
sightseeing for a couple of hours this
afternoon in Brussels.
Rumor has it that a very well know American
racer will be putting in an appearance over
the weekend. I'll let you know if and what
happens.
More stuff overheard.
" this is a complete pile of ****..."
" ah, more cheese rolls...yum...."
" if you have any questions, I speak 5
languages...there shouldn't be any
problems..."
"we're not from around here..."
"on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best, I'd
give it a good 4..."
"stop, I am driving someone else's car..."
"I've eaten lasagna, and that's not
lasagna..."
that's about all for now. More to come
later.
Tomorrow we race some pretty cool scale
model cars, I'm sure the guy who built mine
was having second thoughts if he saw me
drive today.
John Emmons
OWH Roving Correspondent
John Emmons |
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(2) On the road...
Or close to it anyway. First we've got a
race at Buena Park raceway today.
Kieran Dale, Paul "Split" Heath, Chris
Radisich, and I take off for Belgium and
Holland in the morning. As I write this
they're down at the raceway while I finish
my last minute organising.
For those who haven't flown anywhere with
racing gear in your luggage, let me tell
you, it ain't a lot of fun. Limited to 2
checked pieces of baggage it's an exercise
in paring down your piles of stuff into one
semi-managable pile that will fit into a
suitcase or other case that will survive the
trip unscathed. And of course there's the
always pleasant security checks. One tip for
those who are planning to ever travel by
air, be prepared to have your slot car box
or bag opened several times, I take a copy
of Slot Car Bulletin with me in my carry-on
bag, when I get asked the inevitable
questions about what all this crap in my
case is, I show them the magazine.
This will be by 3rd airline trip with slot
cars, first international one. I've traveled
quite a bit with camera gear and it's a
similiar kind of deal, you've got to trade
off what you'd like to take with what will
fit. Both Split and Chris have already
purchased new, larger roll-on bags, I've
changed my choice of case twice already.
At any rate, a bit more packing here at home
and then it's down to Buena Park to meet up
with the boys. Our flights all leave early
tomorrow, should be fun to fly all day after
spending the night before racing.
More to come...
John Emmons
OWH IMCA Correspondent
Rolling Suitcase Tester |
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(4) Back again...
It's been too long I know, blame it on very
little spare time to do much of anything but
work on cars, try to get some practice time
in and maybe eat something. Sleep of course,
is optional
It's Thursday night, the racing that most of
you readers are most interested in is over.
Rather than repeat the results that can be
found at:
www.imca-slotracing.com I thought I'd
share some of the behind the scenes stuff
that's been going on here in Uden.
Hectic starts to describe the scene at the
MTRU center here in Uden. MTRU by the way is
the acronym for Mini Track Racing Uden. It's
a club type atmosphere, very comfortable in
a lot of ways. There's way more smoking and
drinking than would ever be allowed at any
American track. There are monitors scattered
around the place and folks can sit in the
bar and watch the lap counters roll on.
Eugene, the club manager, tells me that a
camera system to see the tracks better is on
the way.
The races themselves have been interesting
to say the least. M. Van Rossem has a
fascination with turning the power on as
fast as humanly possible and he obviously
doesn't care much for track calls. The race
format is also subject to change very little
if any advance notice at all. Some folks
think that his antics are his way of trying
to "adjust" the outcome of the races, I
think it's more about trying to get the
racers to pay attention to what's going on.
Some things that I may or may not have
overheard the past few days at the
raceway...
"
TTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCC
CCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
" Can I have my track call now, everybody
else has called one...."
"what's up donut..."
"not bad for a myopic old wanker..."
" I tuned it to a standstill..."
" you don't use your tongue while kissing
the trophy girl..."
"turn marshalling is not sitting.."
"didja notice all the foreigners here...?
" would it be legal if I anodised it...?"
" do you also race real slot cars, or just
those plastic pieces of junk...?"
"I'd like to apologise now for what's about
to happen..."
" are those the real rules or the internet
rules..?"
" one racer asked me if it was legal to
change their braid, I said no, so he did it
when he thought I wasn't looking..."
"if you touch that car again, you will be
disqualifed..."
"do you have waffles here or am I thinking
of Belgium...?"
and so it goes.
More drivel to come from Aalst, as we race
there starting tomorrow. Til then, I'm
finally going to get a slightly longer
night's sleep. I'm on my own tomorrow as all
the other American racers have left the
building.
John Emmons
OWH Waffle Correspondent |
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