July 27, 2010  - Entries for this year's ISRA Worlds are going wonderful well. Organiser Roger Schmitt announces already now 109 subscribers from 17 different countries. Among them no less than 21 racers with the pro status. It are Vladimir Horky (CZ, 1), Nick de Wachter (NL, 5), 'Gugu' Bernardino (BR, 7), Paolo Trigilio (I, 8), 'Beuf' Pedersen (USA, 11), Brian Saunders (GB, 12), Petr Krcil (CZ, 15), Paul Gawronski (USA, 18), Paul Ciccarello (USA, 21), Chris Radisich (NZ, 26), Howie Ursaner (USA, 27), Charlie Gooding (GB, 41), Antónin Vojtik (CZ, 42), Jiri Karlik (CZ, 44), Greg Gilbert (USA, 72), Piero Castricone (I, 79), Mike Stahl (USA, 80), Janis Rage-Ragis (LV, 95), Pavel Flaisig (CZ, 100), Herman James (USA, 108), and Christer Helgesson (S, 135). Especially the entrance of the Americans is historical. Never before it happened that all the best Americans were at the start at an ISRA World Championship. Now Roger Schmitt succeeds what nobody could earlier, nl. bringing 'Beuf', Gawronski, Ciccarello (back from retirement), Ursaner and Greg Gilbert all five at the start! Very special is the venue of NDW, himself a model car racer, but now for the first time seen among the scale racers. If Mike Stahl prepares his car it's thinkable that we find Nick four times among the top-8. Although the entry field is spectacular we miss some top racers: Josef Korec (CZ, 2), Lasse Åberg (S, 10), Anders Gustafson (S, 29), Matti Fyhr (30, SF), Michael Landrud (S, 34), James Cleave (GB, 49), Dave Gick (NZ, 53), etc. Except for Gustafson it concerns nothing than former world champions. Other surprisingly absents up to now are Tim Tyler (AU), Nikolaij Dolzhanskij (RU), Peteris Taurins (LV). Countries as Germany, Spain, Russia, Norway, Australia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Lithuania, and Portugal are not represented. Let's hope that some of them will still subscribe, because the 2010 ISRA Worlds are on their way to be one of the best in ISRA's history.

Entry at the Trier Worlds, organised by Canada's Mark Campbell, is also more than O.K. with 36 teams for the endurance race and 70 racers for the Porsche sprint race. Here we'll find at least 17 pro racers at the start, nl. Nick de Wachter (NL, 5), Brian Saunders (GB, 12), Ralph Seif (D, 14), Anders Gustafson (S, 29), Kai Kivekäs (SF, 35), Gabe Inäbnit (CH, 36), Alexander Ortmann (D, 40), Dieter Jens (D, 46), Christian Schnitzler (D, 47), Tim Tyler (AU, 47), Mike Stahl (USA, 80), Andre Linberg (D, 82), Fola Osu (NIG, 97), Björn van Campenhout (B, 105), Peter Oberbillig (D, 121), Børge Haug (N, 127) and Christer Helgesson (S, 135). As Campbell works without travelling incentives, that may be considered as a very fine entry. At this year's IMCA Worlds there were 26 entries by pros, but of them 10 received travelling incentives.
Some racers having subscribed for the EEC Pro warned us that the date of that race collided with the date of the fourth round of the 2010 SLP. So we decided to organise the 2010 EEC Pro one week earlier, from Friday October 15 to Sunday morning October 17 instead of October 22-24, 2010. The EEC will be contested with 24 copies at scale 1/24th of the 24 FIA GT1 cars contesting the 2010 FIA GT World Championship. Actually still two cars have not yet be confirmed. It concerns the #11 Mad-Croc Corvette Z06-R of Ralph Seif (D) and Andre Linberg (D), and the Phoenix Racing #13 Corvette Z06-R of Geert Mertens (B) and Michael Philippaerts (B). No deal could be made with two teams from Czechia with Vladimir Horky and Josef Korec as most important racers; We received months ago a mail from Korec that he should investigate the possibility to show with four racers (all four former world champions), but there never came any confirmation. Some teams present at the EEC Pro will be one month earlier also present at the EEC Semi-Pro at Dison. [JPVR]

July 24, 2010  - When I asked the invited constructors who they want as Concourse Judge for the 2011 Constructor's World Championship, Matthias Parke was alone not to mention the name of Pit Schwaar as most wanted judge. He explained why he did so. He wrote: "Naturally Pit Schwaar is the best decision. However, as Pit is a friend of me, I know that he will not come, so I didn't mention his name." It seems that Matthias was not well informed. Indeed, yesterday I received the following mail from Pit Schwaar: "Hi Jean-Pierre, you called, so here I am. I'm very pleased with the level of appreciation by the constructors. Meanwhile Matthias told me, that he did not ask for me as he didn't believe that I would do the job. But I have to say that it would be a real honour for me to judge the cars. I will come, o.k.? From my side Peter Berg and George Kimber are absolutely accepted as co-judges. My appearance would be for one day when the concourse happens. I don't want any money. All the best. Pit". A very nice gesture. And all the honour is for me. Thank you, Pit.
I explained earlier that it is far from sure that the 2011 IMCA Worlds will be financed by the 12 teams involved in the 2010 1/1 FIA GT1 World Championship. So I didn't wish to take financial risks for my real last Model Car World Championship, and I decided to sell my complete collection of model cars in order to finance the 2011 IMCA Worlds. Yesterday I received a sublime mail by Paul "Split" Heath from New Zealand, the 2005 Concourse World Champion. Split wrote: "Hiya JP, I was just reading your update regarding not enough money to bring racers from overseas and having to sell your collection. I don't know if it will help any but you are most welcome to my McLaren from super concourse to sell. You have been  very generous to me over the years so i think that is the least i could do to pay you back. I have even my DTM car that i won concourse with that you may have also but it will need a bit of work by me as it got damaged when coming home from that event where i won with the DTM car.
Regards, Split Paul Heath, Managing Director, Kustom Fabrications Ltd." Is this not a wonderful mail, proving how far reaches international friendship in the slot-racers community?

On selling my collection of model cars I came in contact with Jan Christoph Wiegel, a famous German collectioner, running a anti-aging cosmetics business (Nuskin, Galvanic Spa, etc.), and living in Mallorca. I knew that he was one of the costumers of Pit Schwaar, but I didn't know how fantastic his collection of slot cars was (as is proven by the above picture and the picture below). Most of his fine models are made out of resin and have been made by the for me total unknown Cédar Jiminez Carasco. Who knows more about him and his work? Information is welcome at jppro@pandora.be. Should it not be fantastic if Jan Wiegel created a model car centre for wealthy tourists in Mallorca, just as I did in 1986 at the ski-centre Font Remeu in France? Can you imagine a model car version of the 1962 Tourist Trophy at scale 1/24th with the fantastic Aston Martins DB4 GT Zagato of Jim Clark, Mike Salmon and Graham Warner; with the pale green Ferrari 250 GTO of Innes Ireland; with the GTO Ferraris of John Surtees, Mike Parkes, Graham Hill, David Piper and Chris Kerrison; with the Lightweight Jaguars E-type of Roy Salvadori, Dick Protheroe and Peter Lumsden; with the armada of Lotuses Elite Mk14 and Morgans Plus 4? More than once I had plans to organise a model car version of the 1962 Tourist Trophy but I didn't find the time to do so. And now the time is too short to do it any more.
Meanwhile the preparation of the 2010 Panam is going its way. Mark Campbell builds for this competition, with handout Formula Le Mans Courage cars, a chassis derived from the SLP2 following a concept by NDW. NDW himself developed his own chassis for the Trier Worlds as can be seen on the left picture. Several racers asked me if that NDW chassis fits also under FIA GT1 cars and if it will be commercialised. I think that the chassis fits well under Group C cars, but I have to ask more details to Nick. The 2010 Panam race will be the last race at this year's ISRA Worlds and is open for maximum 48 racers (16 cars with 3 racers per car). Already now 32 racers confirmed their entry and there can be no doubt that several others will follow. Among the starters we find NDW himself, Paul Gawronski, Mike Stahl, Kari Sinisaari, Dave Fiedler, Christer Helgesson, Chris Radisich, Fred Hood and Howie Ursaner, all racers with a pro status. Well done by organiser Mark Campbell. [JPVR]

This is the DTM Opel which Paul "Split" Heath built for the 2005 Worlds. He won that year's Concourse Worlds with it. Now the car is for sale. Interested? Mail us.

With this 1969 McLaren Paul "Split" Heath could have won the 2010 Superconcourse. Unfortunately he forgot to mark the tyres with "Goodyear". The car is now for sale.

July 22, 2010  - At my real last organised world championship (March 14-27, 2011) the race for the Endurance Worlds will be at the same time the 3rd edition of the Constructor's Worlds. For this race we invited 12 constructors who are asked to assemble each two 1/24th 2010 FIA GT1 Worlds cars. Each car will be raced by three drivers. On fishing in the top-15 they win for their constructor res. 40, 36, 32, 28, 24, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 points. Moreover the cars finishing among the top-10 at Concourse win a bonus of 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point(s). As we wished to avoid a vaudeville as in 2004 we sent the 12 invited constructors, asking them who are the three persons they want to see doing the concourse judgement. 
What happened in 2004 at Concourse? Three British journalists, pretending that they were specialists in 1970 race cars, proposed to do the concourse judgement. We sent them all the cars. Their judgement, however, was hardly more than a pure farce. Whilst it was obvious for anyone that Stephan Wiesel, Pitter Schwaar and Dieter Jens built the most beautiful cars, our three British fantasts gave the Concourse Super Trophy to Harald Uhl whose cars showed plenty of imperfections! When I opened the sealed envelop with the results I felt at least as scandalised as any other constructor than Harald Uhl himself. Uhl was a good builder of dioramas, but definitively not of slot cars.
A situation as at the first Constructor's Worlds of 2004 may never more happen. So, we send each of the twelve invited constructors today a mail with the question who they proposed as the three concourse judges. We received already seven answers. Except for the answer by Matthias Parke all others proposed Pitter Schwaar as one of the three judges. Schwaar himself won in 2005, at the second Constructor's Worlds, the Concourse Super Trophy at a meeting which was marred by a dubious lap counter (fortunately corrected by good computer files) and by a partial race director. Other names mentioned by the invited constructors at the 2011 third Constructor's Worlds are George Kimber (GB), Paul "Split" Heath (NZ), Jean-Marie Tillen (B), Dieter Jens (D) and Peter Berg (D). We wait the answers by the five other constructors before taking a definitive decision. However the unanimity is big enough to conclude that Pitter Schwaar will probably be one of the three concourse judges at the upcoming third Constructor's Worlds.

Superb diorama and 1962 TT Aston Martin which Pitter Schwaar sold to Jan Wiegel, a collectioner from Mallorca.

The financing of the upcoming Model Car Worlds - where the Constructor's Worlds are a part of the meeting - will perhaps not be done by sponsorship, as was always the case in the past. For the moment it's far from sure if a deal with the twelve racing teams of the 2010 FIA GT1 Worlds will be all or not materialised. So, to give uncertainty no chance, I decided to sell my whole collection of model cars. It concerns the 80 1/24th cars used at the Pinky Point Trophy IV (2004-2005), all copies of race cars having been seen at the 1970 FIA Constructor's Worlds (Ferrari 512S, Porsche 917, Alfa Romeo T33/3, Matra MS630 & MS650, Corvette L88, Porsche 908-02, Porsche 910, Porsche 907, Ferrari 312P Berlinetta, Porsche 911S, Porsche 914/6, Ferrari 365 GTB-4, Ferrari 250 LM, Ford GT40, etc., etc.) Former winners and cars assembled by the late Stephan Wiesel or by Pitter Schwaar will not be sold under 1000 euro.
Also for sale is the complete collection of 1979 Procar BMW M1 cars, 32 in total, but not sold separately, but as a whole of 32 cars. Three perfect model cars, destined for the true collectioner are also for sale (the Ferrari 250 GTO and 1971 Martini Porsche 917K by Michael Niemas and the 1965 Fein Design Lotus 40 Ford by George Kimber. Last but not least 16 simple cars, pictured below, made for this years IMCA Worlds by Michael Niemas, - some of them having even not raced at all - will be sold at 500 euro each. 
The income will be used to pay the travelling incentives of the Americans Paul Gawronski, Howie Ursaner, Dave Fiedler, Ron Hershman, Jay Kisling, Mike Stahl, Herman James, Matt Bruce, George Russell, Rande Marshall and Tracy Chin (the last invited at the semi-pro worlds), of the Kiwis Chris Radisich, Tim Tyler, Paul Heath and Chris Dillon (the two last invited at the semi-pro worlds), of the Canadian Terry Dalton and of the South-Africans Gustav Heymann and Al Paterson (those three last invited at the semi-pro worlds): 18 racers in total. [JPVR]  

July 8, 2010  - In order to be able to finance the driver's travelling incentives for the 2010 worlds I published last year two books, edited by the new publishing company Uitgeverij Lampedaire of Antwerp. Although both books sold well I received only an advance of 2,500 euro per book. Following the contracts with the publisher I should have received by March 31, 2010 the well-detailed statement of the number of sold books. Payment should then have followed on June 30, 2010. Just as many other authors of Uitgeverij Lampedaire I received neither the statement, nor the money. Indeed on June 22 one of the printer offices having not been paid by Uitgeverij Lampedaire decided to a seizure of the publishing company's assets. Two days later the Centraal Boekhuis - distributor of all books in Belgium and The Netherlands - having also not been paid stopped any further distribution of the books edited by Uitgeverij Lampedaire. Even one of the co-founders of the publishing company, Luk Alloo, who wrote three books, was never paid by Valérie Lempereur, a Dutch transsexual, who was the real founder of the company. She - or should I say he? - disappeared with all the money. Impossible to reach her/him.
A part of the income from my books was intended to serve as a guarantee for the case that our sponsors of the 2010 Worlds did not pay. And that is what happened. At IMCA we still wait on the payment of two sponsors, and chances that they'll pay seem rather small. At once IMCA is in financial problems and will probably not be able to pay travelling incentives for the racers coming from overseas to the 2011 IMCA Worlds. If the situation will stay what it is there will be only travelling incentives for Paul Gawronski, David Fiedler, Howie Ursaner, George Russell and Chris Radisich.
The actual financial problems contributed to my decision to close immediately the IMCA centre at Herentals. It's too stupid to pay 1,250 euro rent per month for a location that's only used as a stock-room of the MTT track. The 32 tables, the 64 chairs, the flags, the sound installation, etc. will be shipped to Barcelona to the club of Francesc Reyes at Les Franqueses. Immediately after the 2011 Worlds the MTT track will also be shipped to Barcelona. [JPVR]

In 2006 the IMCA Worlds were contested at Barcelona. Here the racers in the R/C room. Probably the IMCA MTT track will be installed in that room. It's not impossible that the 2012 Worlds will be organised here.

July 5, 2010  - The last months we received several mails by semi-pros feeling them-selves unhappy with the proposed format of the 2011 IMCA semi-pro Worlds. Main objection came from racers being unhappy that they had to fight with GT2 cars of 2009 against the wider and faster FIA GT1 cars of their fellow racers. Furthermore their was an obvious grievance that at the endurance worlds there was only room for 48 racers, whilst more than 70 racers wished to enter. A third objection became only obvious the last week, nl. why semi-pros have to drive old Ferraris F40 and not Porsche Supercup cars as presented to the pros. The general feeling seemed that IMCA does not the same efforts for semi-pro racing as for pro racing.
Most of those complaints are justified, however not the allegation that IMCA should invest less money in the semi-pro worlds as in the pro worlds. For the rest we accepted to use the same format at the semi-pro worlds as at the pro worlds. Both meetings will be restricted to three races, nl. on Saturday the endurance worlds with 24 cars, on Sunday morning the 1/32nd worlds with handout cars and on Sunday afternoon the 1/24th sprint worlds with 32 cars. The semi-pro worlds will be contested one week earlier than the pro worlds.
For the 1/24th sprint worlds this implies that the Ferraris F40 will be replaced by 32 copies of the Porsches 911 GT3 Cup (997) as seen at the 2009 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup (2010 for the pros). It also implies that only 32 racers will be allowed at the start of the 1/24th semi-pro sprint worlds. In order to find the best semi-pros at the start the IMCA rule book has been changed, putting that entrants need to be racers with less than 120 IOC points but ranked among the top-500 of the IOC list (with only a small exception for maximum two racers, not ranked in the top-500). In order to be sure that there will be enough nationalities at the start the IMCA rule book states that no more than five racers of the same nation can be allowed at the start.
For the endurance worlds - where already twelve 2010 FIA GT1 cars were scheduled for semi-pros and where four IMCA cars are available - it implies that only the GT2 cars need to be substituted by 2010 FIA GT1 cars. With 3 racers per car there is now room for 24 x 3 = 72 racers at the endurance worlds.
For the 2011 semi-pro worlds we invited Manfred Stork & Oliver Stork. In the past Manfred entered several IMCA races. He was present at the 1995 IMCA Worlds in Darmstadt and at the 2000 IMCA Worlds at Roeselare. Also invited are Sascha Kuss and Peter Höhne of Slottec. Their Slotline S-GT seems to me a wonderful chassis that deserves promotion. Moreover both perform well at the SLP series and finished sixth O.A. at Oeps #1. From the States we invited George Russell who ruled at the recent USRA Div I Nats and also ex-world champion Tracy Chin who was already present at this year's IMCA Worlds. From Canada we wish to invite Terry Dalton who let such a good impression at the 2007 IMCA Worlds, despite the fact that he had to struggle with an impossible car. From South-Africa we invite Gustav Heymann, who finished already on the podium at the 2001 1/24th Sprint Worlds at Diepenbeek and who we saw also at the 2002 IMCA Worlds in Ostend and at the 2006 IMCA Worlds in Barcelona. At the last named meeting he won the European Sprint Championship with Brian Saunders as team mate. From New Zealand we wish to see back Chris Dillon who is a much better racer than his IOC ranking suggests. (Dillon and Dalton are our two wild card racers for 2011). Last but not least we invite Tobias Münchberger (several top results at the DPM) and following NDW actually the best young racer in Germany. [JPVR]

July 1, 2010  - The IMCA approach of model car racing with hard bodies differs from most other approaches of this kind of racing. IMCA model car racing tries to remain the link with 1/1 autosport as close as possible - a link which completely disappeared in scale racing (with lexan bodies) and in wing car racing. If one analyses the unbelievable success of slot-racing, mid of the 1960s, it stirs that the passion of the Ford-Ferrari combat, with the Chaparral 2D as third party, was at the same moment translated in slot-racing. At those days nearly all slot-racing manufacturers released copies of the Fords, the Ferraris and the Chaparrals seen at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring. Another pole of attraction was formed by the very popular Canam racing in the States. Here too manufacturers did what they could to release 1/32nd and 1/24th copies of those "big bangers". At the end of the boom, in 1968, slot-racing never could recover: it went underground and number of practitioners was at once less than 0.1 percent of what it was three years earlier. That situation remained at least until 1978 - year that Swedish racers decided to organise  with great success (125 entrants) the real first world championship for wing cars.
FROM UNDERGROUND RACING TO PINKY POINT
Until 1985 there were only a few international races. Travelling remained restricted. Meanwhile we noted a serious split in slot-racing. In the States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Germany slot-racing was nearly exclusively oriented towards 1/24th wing car racing. In the U.K., South-Africa, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Malta, Belgium, etc. the majority of the racers opted for 1/32nd scale racing with lexan bodies. In 1985 there was a bottomless pit between the two clans of racers, where 1/32nd racers had not the smallest idea about what was done by 1/24th racers and vice versa. Still in 1985 IMCA organised the famous Pinky Point Series with such prizes as a 1/1 Ferrari 308 GTB, six vintage Hondas S800, four Peugeots 205 GTI, etc. Main goal was bridging the gap between 1/32nd and 1/24th racers. The best way to do so was going back to the roots, i.e. racing again box stock slot cars with a polystyrene hard body. It was the start of what is called since "model car racing". At those days there were no adjustable universal chassis (Plafit style) fitting under each type of hard plastic body.
THE BIRTH OF HARD PLASTIC BODY MODEL CAR RACING
In 1989 Dieter Jens (D), originally an excellent wing car racer, discovered that there existed successful model car racing in Japan. He started to import splendid 1/24th hard plastic models from Japan. The same year the Fall of the Wall made that Western countries discovered that there was also a variety of slot-racing is such "communist" countries as Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Russia, the Baltic States, etc. Early 1990 Kurt Petri (D) and Juan Basas (E) discovered the adjustable Plafit chassis in the States. They started to distribute it in Europe, whilst Dieter Jens imported the adjustable Sakatsu chassis from Japan. So model car racing received a serious boost.
Very few are the organisers of model car races doing an effort to maintain the link between model car racing and autosport as close as possible. That, e.g., was done in North-Germany by Matthias Parke (D) when he organised a 1/24th version of the 1999 Le Mans 24 hours. At IMCA we followed since 1985 a policy to maintain the link as close as possible. During nine years we organised a 1/24th model car version of the Winston Cup in Nascar racing, later a 1/24th version of the DPM, a 1/24th version of the Procar 1979 races, a 1/24th version of the Ferrari F430 Challenge, a 1/24th version of CANAM 1969, a 1/24th version of the FIA GT series, etc.
MODEL CAR RACING AND SERIOUS SPONSORING
Main experience on organising 1/24th copies of existing races is that it offers a direct way to sponsoring. That however is only possible on organising races with actual cars, much more difficult on organising historical races. Especially on organising a model car round of an actual series (e.g. FIA GT1 Worlds, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup)  one can contact the organiser, the race teams, the event sponsor(s), etc. and ask them for money sponsoring. Amounts around 5,000 euro are easily to get and some sponsors agree with sums as 25,000 euro or more if they can function at the model car version as main sponsor. The best example was Mello Yello (an American fresh drink, popular among youngsters). From 1995 to 2004 they paid IMCA year after year $ 25,000 US to be the event sponsor of the former junior worlds (called Mello Yello Junior Worlds). Another main sponsor was Winston Cigarettes. They paid us during eight years serious amounts for our model car versions of the Nascar Winston Cup. For the 2011 IMCA 124 Sprint Worlds we'll start negotiations with Loctite, Tudor, Michelin, Mobil 1 and BBS in order to find a substantial budget for the 2012 Worlds on the new MTT that we'll offer to the club of Barcelona (Francesc Reyes). There too we'll race exclusively FIA GT1 Worlds cars, Porsches 911 GT3 Cup (and Canam retro cars).

THE SPECIAL POSITION OF SPRINT RACES
It's a secret for nobody that endurance races with several racers per car are much more popular in model car racing than pure sprint races with one driver per car. In endurance racing "team spirit" is always present: it's a group's affair. This may explain the success of races as the DPM in Germany. Sprint races are much more individualistic as each entrant has to assemble his own car. The last years building of cars for a sprint race became more and more a group's business. The best example was given in Germany by the Slot-Ringer of Bernd Huvendiek. Team members as Andre Linberg, NDW, Sven Manti & Cie co-operate to build the best sprint cars. Other examples were given by Racing for Holland or more recently by the Bad Boys at the recent IMCA Worlds. Here Michael Niemas and "Piki" developed a race tactic resulting in a 1-2 at the Sprint Worlds and a first place at the Endurance Worlds.
At the 2011 Sprint Worlds we'll introduce a new approach in order to install a "team spirit" in sprint racing. As explained here that race will be contested with 32 Porsches as seen at the 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. At this series the cars are spread over 12 race teams with 2 or 3 cars. For the model car version we grouped the racers very similar to what was done at the Endurance Worlds. That implies that racers have to work together to do the set-up of their sprint cars. At the end of the sprint race the 2 best results per team will be considered. Racers of the team having scored most points will be rewarded with a super trophy. We hope that this may contribute to a better team spirit in sprint racing. This can be a small but interesting innovation in sprint racing.
THE DIFFICULT GROWTH OF RETRO RACING
Retro racing with chassis as used in the late 1960s originated three years ago under influence of Philippe de Lespinay & Cie. Former glories such as Mike Steube, John Cukras, John "Tore" Andersen, the legendary Howie Ursaner, Tony P., etc. were all excited by the formula. Especially at the West and in Mid-America retro racing had some success. The economic and financial crisis, the high prices for plane tickets and the long distances to be covered, made that there was no real all-American retro racing, but rather regional retro racing, with hard cores at Buena Park, Chicago and Colombus. As there was nearly no retro racing in the East Joe "Noose" Neumeister - the IRRA founder - and friends worked hard to promote the first important retro meeting of the East, the Palooza Retro event. Months before the event organisers published a flyer speaking about "The biggest retro event of the east". I was highly interested in those races as I wished to see how performing Mark Craven was as a retro racer. Earlier this year I invited him for the retro worlds in Brussels, but later a couple of specialised American retro racers mailed me that Craven was perhaps not the best choice. So I cancelled the invitation of Craven. Understandably he was very unhappy by that decision and he mailed me that he had already made costs for his international visa. We answered him that we were willing to pay the costs for the visa, but there came no further reaction. So we decided to wait the Palooza event to see if we could invite him as sixth American for the 2011 Worlds. Although the quality of the entrance at the Palooza was rather low (Hershman, Fiedler, Warmack, Doug Matthes, Trujillo & Cie did not show, due to the high travelling costs to the East) Craven could not convince, so he will not be invited as sixth American at the 2011 Worlds [the six invited Americans are Paul Gawronski, Howard Ursaner, Dave Fiedler, Mike Stahl, Herman James and Fred Hood]. Our budget is too low to cover the high travelling incentives as wanted earlier this year by Ron Hershman & Cie (incl. Jay Kisling). Of course they are welcome at the 2nd Retro Worlds, but only if they show at their own costs.
I was not really impressed by the entrance at the Palooza Retro. Living in a free Europe where the sense of critical approaches belong to a tradition in journalism, I thus wrote that the announcement of "The biggest retro event in the East" was exaggerated (except if one admits that in the country of the blinds the one-eyed man is king). Followed thus the fully predictable reactions of the American racers who still stick with an approach that everything is magnificent, splendid, great. Some of them went even so far that I was insulting retro racers of the East, and that I had to keep my mouth concerning races where I was not present. Of course I read the report by "Noose", but I considered it as old style journalism as in the old days. The truth is that retro racing is not a real success in the States. Number of practitioners remains low, certainly if one compares this with the mass of model car racers in Germany (where an entrance of more than 100 racers and at least a minimum of 15 pros is common use) and the formula seems not attractive for youngsters. At IMCA we did serious efforts to promote retro racing, especially as European model car racers have no problems to beat the best American retro racers. But in countries where the majority of racers is under 25 years, the retro formula is certainly not the cup of tea of young racers. They consider it as a nostalgic reflex of old slot-racing crocodiles. What a pity. [JPVR]

June 29, 2010  - What's the perfect model car race? It's a copy of an existing race in 1/1 autosport with exactly ALL the same cars, now at scale, as in the 1/1 race. Up to now nobody succeeded to organise such race. [The BMW M1 races at the 2009 and 2010 IMCA Worlds were no perfect model car races as there were more 1/24th model cars at the start than in any round of the 1/1 Procar Series of 1979.] If we restrict ourselves to recent 1/1 races there are three possibilities to organise a perfect model car race with 1/24th models: (1) one of the rounds of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup of this year or former races (with 24 cars if, e.g. one opts for the 2010 Monaco GP version); (2) one of the rounds of the FIA GT1 Worlds (with 24 cars); and (3) one of the rounds of the 2009 Formula Le Mans series (with 13 cars if one opts for the 2009 Le Mans version).
This year Mark Campbell (CDN) can be the first in history to organise the perfect model car race. Indeed, for the 2010 Plafit Panam he let make NDW perfect GFK copies of the Oreca-Courage LP75 FLM09. In 2009 those cars ran together in an apart series over 9 rounds - all contested in Europe. Liveries of those cars can be found here. This year FLM cars race no longer in an own series. Now they are seen among the LMP1 and LMP2 cars, as well at the LMS and at the ALMS. Some of the American LMP cars are certainly more flashing than the European cars. We don't know in which colours the handout FLM cars (we see the unpainted bodies on the right picture) will be painted, but it should be great if it could be done in the 2009 FLMS series colours. 
Later this year the 5th EEC will be contested with 24 1/24th copies of this year's FIA GT1 World Championship. As there exists no correct copy of the Nissan Z350 GT-R, that event cannot be the perfect model car race as the four Nissans will be replaced by the R35 version of the Autobacs series in Japan. Perhaps only in 2011 a perfect model car version of the FIA GT1 Worlds will be possible, but only if someone (who? NDW? Fola? Niemas? DiTech?) will do an effort to make a GFK version of the Nissans. Another possibility to organise the perfect model car race could be the 2011 IMCA sprint worlds with 2010 Porsches 911 GT3 Cup cars as seen at the 2010 Porsche Mobil-1 Supercup.

Ralf "Streethawk" Wernery (D) - one of the entrants at the 2009 & 2010 IMCA Worlds - informs us that there are at least two more wooden 8-lanars in Nordrhein-Westfalen. The one on the left picture is a 30-metre version is installed at Ruhrpott in Essen, but is exclusively used on a rental basis. The red bordered one on the two pics below is a 44-metre 8-laner at the 1-A Slotpiste of Swisttal-Heimerzheim near Bonn. It must be the WR-holder in track calls with a curb under the bridge. Links to both locations are: www.1a-slotpiste.de & http://www.gapps-event.de/live/Slotcar-Bar/slotcar-bar.aspx. 1-A Slotpiste was believed to be the buyer of the famous ex-Achim Zanders Alsdorf Spa track, but that news was never confirmed.
Jiri Micek sr (CZ) informs me that a Czech team improved the 24 hours world record for 1/32nd cars at the wooden 8-laner of Brno. The winning team was composed by Daniel Hameta, Marek Jaska, Kvetsoslav Masita & Jiri Hameta. They achieved 11,033 laps in 24 hours. As Micek forgot to communicate the length of the track it's not obvious what exactly was the achieved distance. We have also no information who realised the former world record. 
American retro-racers seem unhappy with my remark that the Palooza Retro Race didn't deserve the title of "biggest retro event of the East". I came to this conclusion not so much because there were only 18 racers per race (91 entries for 5 races), but because there were only 3 pros, which is very low for the "biggest retro event of the East". JPVR

June 7, 2010  - In slot-racing the months June-July-August are normally considered as the "silly" season, where there is nearly no competition. The RetroPalooza next week, the Italian PlaFit early July, the USRA Div I Nats early August and the 5L Summernight Race end August, are the lonely IOC-events during the upcoming three months.
Meanwhile the situation of wing car racing in the world is at least alarming. Wing car racing was since the 1970s a typical American formula, having later been exported to Brazil, Scandinavia and Germany. At the recent worlds, however, number of American entrants was lower than ever, and only one American - "Beuf" Pedersen - was able to make the main. It seems that Brazil is now the first wing car nation in the world. In Europe wing car racing disappeared completely in France, in Switzerland, in Italy, in Spain and in The Netherlands. In such countries as Austria, Czechia, and Slovakia wing car racing is restricted to Oliver Sonnbichler, Vladimir Horky, Petr Krcil, Josef Korec, Zdenek Benes and Vlado Okali. After having nearly completely disappeared in Germany, there is a small revival after Brühl opened its doors for wing car racing on the new Blue King track. In England there is still wing car racing at Millstream, but restricted to Group 12. In the rest of the world wing car racing survives difficultly in Australia, whilst Canada and Sint-Maarten have only one notorious G7 racer: Brad Friesner and Reggie Coram. There is also some wing car racing in Argentine but without international appearance at major events. In general number of wing car racers in the world decreased with more than 50 percent during the 10 last years. The introduction of such new classes as G27 Light and OMO G7 seems not able to stop the erosion of wing car racers in the world. Number of new wing car racers (except in Brazil and Finland) remains extremely low. It's perhaps time to make uniform rules for Group 12 wing cars and to stimulate it as the step-in class. But even then, no success seems guaranteed, as the number of Blue King tracks in the world goes down. 
Contrarily to wing car racing scale racing is still developing, although number of important international scale races is too low. It seems difficult to promote other international scale racing events than the ISRA Worlds, the USRA Div II Nats and the N.E.C. This year there were hardly 20 entrants at the German Masters at Minden, and one had to wait more than a full week to find the results of those races at the internet. Group 12 is still not regulated internationally, although it could be, just as in wing car racing, a good step-in class. Only at the Eurocup (where the venue remains high, as recently was proven at the ex-Zlin Blue King in Vienna) Group 12 is attractive for scale racers from Germany, Czechia, Austria and Switzerland. The venue of retro racing seems restricted to the States, Australia and England, and counts hardly more than 200 practisers worldwide.   
Model car racing is booming, but seems to be restricted to Germany, Spain, Belgium and Holland, despite the progress in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Austria and Switzerland. Especially in Germany number of organised races is extremely high. In Gruppe 2-4-5 there are six races per year for no less than six classes (30 races in total). In DSC racing there is a national championship over 5 rounds, whilst there are regional championships for Nord (5 rounds), Mitte (5 rounds), West (5 rounds), Ost (4 rounds), Süd (5 rounds) and Euregio (3 rounds), thus 32 rounds in total with each time two races, 64 in total. In SLP there are four rounds in three types of SLP races, SLP Cup, SLP Challenge and Slot-Langstrecken-Pokal organised since 2004 (12 rounds). In classic racing there is an endless series of DTSW races, with the Le Mans Legenden, organised since 2007, as extra.  
UPGRADING OF THE LE MANS LEGENDEN
After we decided to upgrade the BSCRA Nats in scale racing - a typical national race without non-British entrants - to an IOC-event, several German racers asked us to upgrade the SLP Fahrerwertung and the Le Mans Legenden to an IOC-event (also two very national events with only a very small international entrance). For the Le Mans Legenden, organised since 2007, that was no problem, as each edition is a single race. After updating Matthias Parke won 27 extra IOC-points, Rüdiger Krieger 20.5 points, Uwe Günther 20 points, Gabe Inäbnit 18 points, etc. Here 41 racers won additional IOC-points after the upgrading. A report on the 2010 LML, incl. complete result and pics, can be found at our model car pages. Thanks to the extra points at the LML Gabe Inäbnit mounted from rank 42 to rank 36, Matthias Parke from rank 68 to rank 61, etc.
UPGRADING OF THE SLP RACES
The SLP Langstrecken Pokal is organised since 2004 over 4 rounds, in principle two team races and two individual races, plus, at the end of each season an "SLP Fahrerwertung".  Here we decided to consider for the period 2004-2008 - when the entry was not so outstanding as the two last years - only the final ranking as an IOC-event, but not the individual races. Up from 2009 we consider ànd the four rounds ànd the final ranking as an IOC-event.
The level of the SLP is extremely high, as here we find all the best racers of Germany in the same competition. If one realises that absolute toppers as Nick de Wachter (5 times world champion) and Christian Schnitzler (twice world champion) could not finish in the top-10 last year, that the famous Slot-Ringer André Linberg, Ramon Trimborn, Sven Manti & Marc Kurella finished even not in the top-20 last year, and that another absolute topper as Ralph Seif was only seventh last year, one realises how high the level of racing is at the SLP. By upgrading the SLP we hope to achieve that other Dutch racers than alone NDW will enter the SLP, also that the Bad Boys "Piki" van Rossem, Michael Niemas & Philipp Kremer will enter the SLP this year or in 2011, to be followed by the best Belgian, Swiss, Nordic and French model car races. SLP racing is a unique experience where non-German racers can improve seriously there racing abilities, just as NDW did the last years.
In the above table in the right column we see that up to end 2009 no less than 46 racers won extra IOC-points. Of them Alexander Ortmann won 67 extra points, Sebastian Nockemann 48, Peter Oberbillig 43.5, Jan Uhlig 35.5, Jan Schaffland 34, Ralph Seif 30, etc. If we look at our model car page of this year, we see also that those racers won also extra points at the two first rounds of this year: 17.5 for Jan Schaffland, 16 for Pierre Stein, 12.5 for Alex Ortmann, 10 for Mike Hampel and Joachim Welsch, 9 for Ralph Seif and Christian Schnitzler, etc. Although the upgrading of the SLP gave NDW only 13 extra IOC-points for the period 2004-2009 and 4 extra IOC-points for this year, it was enough to jump in the IOC-list over Michael Niemas and to conquer the fifth place overall. Alexander Ortmann mounts from rank 53 to rank 40, Sebastian Nockemann from rank 76 to rank 60. The upgrading of the SLP resulted also in the fact that Peter Oberbillig, Kevin Krollmann and Jan Uhlig could join the historical elite of the 135 pro racers since 1964. Oberbillig enters even the Hall of Fame, restricted to only 90 racers in the history of slot-racing. And Jan Schaffland is now at only 3 IOC-points from the elite of pro racers (as can be seen from the updated IOC-list.
Meanwhile I received a mail from our slot-racing statistician Stefan Törnfeldt from Sweden. He found that the real first OMO G7 Worlds were not organised in 2005, but in 2003 (in Brazil). That race was won by Vladimir Horky (CZ) ahead over Josef Hajek (CZ) and Eduoardo "Dracula" Gazoni (BR). That implies that Saint Horky won not 29 but 30 world championships. That too has been adjusted in the IOC-list. [JPVR]

HALL OF FAME OF RACEWAYS

May 30, 2010  - One week after the 9th German Masters in Minden I didn't see the smallest result of that race. But what a bad idea to organise it when the best German racers were in the States for the Wing Car Worlds. I even don't know if the race was effectively organised or not.
This week-end the ISRA N.E.C. is organised. As my wife offered me a trip to Barcelona for my 65th anniversary (yesterday) I'll only be back in a week. I hope to see in Barcelona Francesc Reyes, Antonio Ortega and Dani "Giesse" Gonzalez and to see if I can convince them to come to the 2010 EEC PRO, contested with 1/24th scale models of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship.
At this 2010 EEC PRO I still wait on Ralph Seif and the Slotringer of Bernd Huvendick. I am negotiating with Vladimir Horky (29 x world champion), Josef Korec (13 x world champion), Petr Krcil (4 x world champion) & Antónin Vojtik (2 x world champion) to bring them at the start of the 2010 EEC. And I seriously miss Jozef Miskolci who was since 1994 a regular entrant of IMCA races, but who was not at this year's IMCA Worlds.

I received an interesting mail by Mike Swiss. Mike wrote me: "Dear J.P., Unlike some of the slot racers on Slotblog, I appreciate all you do for slot racing, especially in the form of archiving the history of it. That said, with Lenore Gallegos selling Buena Park Raceway, I think it would be a nice gesture for you to start a Raceway Owner Hall of Fame category on your website and as the first inductees, have the late Chris Gallegos and his widow, Lenore. They truly were the benchmark for raceway owners in the U.S., holding many  USRA National Championships, along with some World Championships. Sincerely, Mike Swiss."
I think already a couple of years on this. Unfortunately I was only in the States for my studies, more than 40 years ago, and I have no good knowledge of the most important raceways. Here I'll need help of Americans. For the ranking I think we''ll need the number of years a raceway exist(ed) and the number of top races having been organised there. I'll also need good pics. For Europe it will be more complicated as, apart from Millstram in England, there are no commercial raceways. There have been several in the mid 1960s, but they all disappeared. Font Remeu in 1986-1987 and Mini-Racing Toulouse in 1987-1988 were important European raceways, but disappeared too early. [JPVR]

2010 WORLDS: TRACK OPENS NOT EARLIER THAN 6PM ON THURSDAY

Enduro Worlds: no racing in the dark, no lights obliged

March 31, 2010 by JPVR - In total 77 racers will show at the 22nd IMCA Worlds. Of them 25 belong to the historical elite of the 121 pro racers, and 12 of them have the status of "God", i.e. having collected more than 250 IOC points. 15 other racers have the status of Semi-Pro, having collected more than 40 IOC points. There are 24 racers with the status of amateur. That means that they earlier won IOC points but less than 40. Last but not least there will be 13 rookies at the start: it concerns racers having won no IOC points up to now. On the personalised t-shirts spectators can always see who are the Gods, the other pros, the semi-pros, the amateurs and the rookies, especially as it is marked on the backside and as the colour of the lettering is different for each group. There will be 12 former official world champions at the start. Of the 78 racers 23 are from Belgium, 18 from Germany, 9 from Holland, 7 from the United States, 4 from Finland, 4 from France, 3 from England, 3 from Spain, 3 from New-Zealand, 1 from Brazil, 1 from Switzerland, 1 from Nigeria. Except for Christian Schnitzler (D) and Sebastian Nockemann (D) all the best model car racers will be at the start. 
Enry fee is up to € 100 for racers doing the complete program (Sprint Worlds plus Endurance Worlds), € 60 for racers doing only the Sprint Worlds, € 50 for racers doing only the 1/32nd Sprint Worlds and the Enduro Worlds, € 40 for racers doing only the Endurance Worlds. On Monday, as annex to the IMCA Worlds we organise also the Canam races for the Franco Gianotti Trophy. Here entry fee is € 25. The meeting will be concluded with the 1st Retro World Championship. Here entry fee is € 20.
The 1/24th Sprint Worlds for pros and the warm-up race for pros (the 22nd Benelux Cup) will be contested with 30 handout BMW M1 cars assembled by the reigning world champion Michael Niemas. Attribution of the cars will go by lottery where nobody will have the smallest advantage. Contrarily to last year all motors have been well broken in and nobody will be allowed to change his motor. Nothing on the received BMW M1 cars may be changed by the racers.
The 1/24th Sprint worlds for semi-pros (including amateurs and rookies as well) will be contested with own Ferrari F40 cars. Of the racers having been selected for the pro races Fola Osu, Mike Stahl, Marc Kurella and Tracy Chin - having not the historical pro status - will be allowed at the start. For other non-pro racers having received a wild card for the 124 pro worlds (it concerns Chris Dillon, Paul Heath, Graeme Stephenson and Andrew Ainsley) we have no Ferrari F40 available. There will be 37 starters at the 1/24th Sprint Worlds and at the Benelux Cup Semi-Pro (being the warm-up race for semi-pros). Entrants at the 1/24th Sprint Worlds for semi-pros receive for free a handout motor. They have to mount a couple of handout rear tyres (cost: €12.50).    

At the 1/32nd Sprint Worlds for pros - contested with handout NSR Moslers 900MT - only those racers having a full pro status can enter. As of the 25 historical pros Nick de Wachter and Alexander Ortmann enter only the endurance race, there will be 23 starters.
At the 1/32nd Sprint Worlds for semi-pros - contested with the same NSR handout Moslers - the wild card "pros" have to start with the others. It concerns Chris Dillon (NZ), Paul Heath (NZ), Graeme Stephenson (GB), Andrew Aynsley (GB), Fola Osu (NIG), Marc Kurella (D), Mike Stahl (USA) & Tracy Chin (USA). Including Joan-Gladys Deschamps (B) there will be 42 starters for perhaps the most thrilling race of the whole event.
At the 9th Endurance World Championship 72 racers will start, spread over 24 cars (thus with 3 racers per car). Of the 77 subscribers for the Worlds Nick de Wachter (NL), Yves Welter jr (B), Alexander Ortmann (D), Alex Vandenbempt (B), Stefan Kuhn (D) & Pierre Jung (D), enter only the Endurance Worlds, no other races. Initially it was scheduled that the night section should go in the dark, with lights on the cars. However, on the cars Michael Niemas assembled for Racing for England (Nissan 350Z GT-R), for Racing for America II (Saleen S7R) and for Benelux Racers (Corvette C6.R) he forgot to mount lights. Now it's to late to add them. To avoid any discrimination the race direction decided that no functioning lights are obliged on the FIA GT cars.
Several teams encountered the biggest difficulties to obtain in time the parts they ordered for their cars. Especially Cursa Models, manufacturing the body of the Saleen, and Resilient Resins (manufacturing the Canam McLarens M6B) have given full evidence that they are nothing more than swindlers. Radisich and Niemas never received their Saleen body, ordered months before. So, for America II, Niemas had to find at the last minute still a body from a German racer. The body is still to be painted in the correct colours. George Kimber and others ordered McLarens M6B at Resilient Resins, but it seems as the firm even doesn't exist any longer. Spare parts could be paid at e-commerces, but the pieces never arrived and will be shipped... after the Worlds. Most e-commerce is just a shame and makes promotion for model car racing nearly impossible. The problems with Cursa Models made that Michael Niemas, who assembled 16 cars for the Worlds, will only be able to show on Friday morning. That implies that no free practice with the handout cars will be possible on Thursday.
So on Thursday there will be only free practice for racers coming from overseas and for entrants at the Retro Worlds. No other cars than retro cars will be allowed at the Thursday evening free practice. Racers showing at the Thursday evening retro practice should keep in mind that doors will not be opened earlier than 6 pm.