THE PINKY POINT SERIES

by Jean Pierre van Rossem 

INTRODUCTION: The most fantastic epos in slot-racing history

July 20, 2010 - After the unbelievable boom of slot-racing in the mid 1960s - where the turn-over of all American manufacturers of slot-racing products was even higher than the turn-over of the American coal industry - a dark period in slot-racing history followed. In the States, in England and in the most European cities, commercial raceways all closed their doors once the terrible boom was over. What remained in 1970 was a very marginal hobby practised by marginal survivors. The real Gods of the boom, such as Howie Ursaner, Terry Schmid, John Cuckras, Mike Steube, etc., had all quit the scene and a younger generation continued a kind of catacomb survival of what once was the brilliance of slot-racing.

CHAPTER 1: Ferrari 308 GTB as first prize at the Pinky Point I Series

1985. I am 40 years old and living in Antwerp where I run two own companies: one specialised in tutoring university students, another in building econometric models for stock exchange. In the first company I give myself lessons in economics and mathematics, in the second company I lead a team of highly specialised econometricians in building the famous Moneytron model. Each of them builds one bloc of the model. Personally I work out the financial block. The model is used for macroeconomic speculations and things are running well. In April I won my first 100 million dollars: not bad for a former Marxist and an actual anarchist.
I am since 1978 married with Nicole Annys. She is my second wife since my first marriage didn't stay longer than a couple of weeks. Nicole is a very intelligent woman with a great sense for art. She studied physiotherapy without practising it. Everybody calls her an extremely beautiful lady, and no doubt: she is at 100 per cent. Two days after our marriage on September 12, 1978, she gives birth to Piki. We live without problems, except one: I am not the most faithful husband, but she forgives me my short escapades with young female students. It's a postmodern marriage where both partners are totally free in their way of living. Nicole is two year older than me, but she looks at least fifteen years younger.
I work very hard, some days 20 hours or longer, and I have only one hobby: slot-racing with true model cars. It's my passion since the days I was a student at Ghent University. In order to pay my studies I work as an employee at BP oil products in Ghent. For them I have to calculate where in Belgium they can open new gas oil stations. The job is well paid and one day I decide to buy a large plastic slot-racing track, 6 lanes wide, from Revell. That's 1965. Since there is not enough room at my student's apartment, I install the new track at my cousin's home in Bruges. He - Jean Pierre Roos - is a really gifted model car racer. Later the track is moved to Ghent, where, after having finished my university studies, I rent an apartment in the Reigerstraat, big enough to install the track.
In 1967 my cousin and I decide to enter a big international competition at Saint-Denis, next to Paris. There are more than 10,000 entrants. First prize is a real 1/1 Matra Jet sports car. I qualify too low to enter the 64th finals with the 512 best racers. But my cousin does. Not only he survives that 64th finals, but he moves up to the 32nd finals, to the 16th finals, the 8th finals, the quarter finals, the semi finals and the main final with the 8 best survivors.
The competition goes with unmodified box stock cars of Cox, Monogram, Revell, Strombecker, etc. For the main final I do the set-up a Cox Ferrari Dino where I rewire the armature. I know it's forbidden by the rules, but I know also that the seven others did exactly the same.

The main final goes on a wooden Blue King track with its deadly banking. Roos does it extremely well and at mid-race he's in second position as lonely one to be still in the lead lap. During the fifth out of eight segments he can even move up into the lead. Two cars are already out, having crashed in the banking. The struggle for the first place is just gruelling. The difference between the two cars - a Cox Lotus 40 and Roos's smaller Dino - is less than one straight. During the sixth segment the Lotus is coming closer and closer and I see that my cousin becomes extremely nervous. And then at once it happens: in the banking, at full speed, he cannot stop for a deslotting back bencher. He deslots too and is hurt in back by another car. We still try to repair, but at not avail: the car doesn't work properly and falls back into fifth position. Our hope to win the Matra Jet is over.
It was our first international race. Shortly after, slot-racing totally collapsed, and their was no longer some international competition. Existing specialised magazines disappeared and in whole Europe commercial raceways had to close their doors. Although I had always a slot-racing track in the dozens of houses where I lived, I stopped competition. I just covered time by time a couple of laps for fun. In 1978 I was informed that there was a first world championships at Goteborg. Initially I was intended to subscribe, but since Nicole was highly pregnant I decided not to go. The seven following years I had no more time for slot-racing, and although I had always some track somewhere, I used them no more.
Early 1985 I met in Paris a famous French collector: Philippe Point. He had more than thousand old slot-cars and he told me that since a couple of years there was a kind of revival of slot-racing in Europe. Sad was the fact that there was a worldwide gap between 1/24th racers and 1/32nd racers. The first raced slot-cars with side dams, cars no longer looking as models of something, but having been created for speed. The other ones raced cars with lexan bodies and handcraft made chassis, cars being rough models at 1/32nd of existing race cars. Point himself is a manufacturer of stamped production chassis for 1/32nd production scale cars. When I tell him that we should do something to bring the two worlds together he is enthusiast. He agrees with me that the best way to bring the two worlds together is going back to their roots: in the late 1960s they raced all nice model cars out of the box. We think on a competition over 50 rounds with racers from all over the world. Some races will be contested with 1/24th cars, other with 1/32nd cars. As first prize I propose a Ferrari 308 GTB, as second prize a Peugeot 205 GTI. The series will be called Pinky Point. Point is a strange character. He draws a first rule book following his own stringent principles. When I tell him that some things seem wrong he maintains his viewpoints. I know that the co-operation last no long. But we start to work out the idea.

PINKY POINT 1985 (rounds #1 to #23)

First thing to do is to find out who are the most famous wing car racers. Since the MRTU club of Uden in Holland is famous for 1/24th wing car racing I contact them. Club president is Hans van Es. He's not directly enthusiast. He tells me that those wing car racers are pros, that they make out their living by racing, and that they never will show without serious starting bonuses. But if I wish he'll contact the best wing car racers and looking after what starting bonuses they wish. I contact Raymond van Campenhout, famous for the good set-up of all kind of cars. I offer him a contract as employee in one of my firms. He works 10 hours per day in preparing the cars for the upcoming races. Goal is that the racers pick up one of the cars prepared by Raymond and that they can have fun in racing them. A first race is scheduled early May on my track in Antwerp. Philippe Point brings me the best 1/32nd racers without problems. The "champions" brought by Van Es are nearly all Dutchmen and Germans. Already at the first round Van Es acts as a race director, without someone asked him to do so. At a given moment he wishes to disqualify the duo Didier Moret and Marc Joyeux since the ground clearance of their car is too low. After some hot discussions the sanction is reduced to a 50 lap penalty. Strange is that another car, raced by Barry Magee and Jeroen van Es (son of), is dragging all the time and that they are not sanctioned. The race is won by two French racers, François Callat and Daniel Chanquet. First Belgians are Willy Heerwegh and Chantal Aerts, finishing fourth. My cousin Jean Pierre Roos and I drive our old Ferrari Dino from Saint-Denis, but now with a regular motor. We finish fifth. During the race I remark that my cousin is by far no longer the great racer he was two decades ago. Being a palfium addict he lost completely his quick reactions. Now he drives rather as some sleepwalker.
By the end of the year already 23 rounds are finished, two if them having been called world championships, a false one and a true one. Indeed, the second round was contested in the Antwerp Crest Hotel and was announced as a world champion-ship for model cars. But since there were two racers per car, not one, America's Joel Montague protested and by the end of the year it was decided that Montague was right. So the last race of the year (cf. Chapter 2) was declared to be the true world championship. The four first places at the "false" worlds went exclusively to wing car specialists with the Americans Csaba Szekelyhidi/John Strachan as winner. Another race (round #3) is won by Willy Heerwegh and me. A G7 wing car race is won by triple world champion Paul Pfeiffer (USA). A consolation race with hard plastic bodied old-timers goes to the Italians Giovanni Montiglio/Angelo Magnani. Montiglio and Razzano will be still present at the 19th IMCA Worlds. If them Montiglio noted the most entries at IMCA Nats. A demonstration race with 1/32nd production cars is won by François Callat (his second victory).
The next event is contested at Thoiry, the home basis of Philippe Point. It is a chaotic meeting, especially since Hans van Es doesn't stop to criticise the Frenchies. At a given moment one of them, Gérard Caupène, is so upset that he decides to sit on the track so that further racing is excluded. The tumult is beyond description and it ends with the definitive retirement from the series by Philippe Point and some French racers. That improves the power of Hans van Es, who wishes all the French racers out.  Up from now he acts as if the series is his series, as he is the man who pays for everything. I start to distrust him. Therefore he repeats too much that he is only interested in the sport and nothing but the sport, whilst time after time he comes to see me with new bills. Of the five rounds at Thoiry Philippe Point/Alain Clastres/William Ingelbrecht won the first old-timer round with the lexan bodies, Willy Heerwegh/Chantal Aerts won the two following old-timer rounds with hard plastic bodies, François Callat won the 1/32nd production race and Didier Moret won the G7 wing car race.
The fourth meeting goes in Volkel (NL) over three rounds (#12 to #14) with 1/24th old-timers. The Germans Axel Pomeranz/Erich Lorenz win the one with lexan bodies, whilst Willy Heerwegh/Chantal Aerts win the one with hard plastic bodies. A G7 race with low attendance goes to Hugo Glettenberg.
A fifth meeting goes at Van Es's own Uden, where five new rounds are contested. The meeting is such a success that I decide to continue with Van Es. One of those races is a 24 hour event with old-timers. Willy Heerwegh/Chantal Aerts win it and also the first prize: 200,000 BF = € 5,000. Even at the mid of the night I count more than 200 spectators in the commercial hall where the race is on. Since my cousin decided after the Thoiry tumult to stop racing, I have Jon Laster as team mate in the 24 hour race. We should have won the race if I should not have crashed the car in the banking. We finished third. There are also two races with 1/32nd production cars. Willy Heerwegh wins the first (already his sixth win), Csaba Szekelyhidi the second. The first G7 race counts for the European wing car championship and is won by Achim Burgmann. The second is a G7 Worlds Revenge Race where Jon Laster realises a new world record and wins.
The sixth and last meeting of 1985 is again in Antwerp. America's Dan Debella wins the first old-timer race, Willy Heerwegh the second one. Last meeting of the year goes with the new production chassis that we let made by Proslot (Dan Debella). Since the Crest Hotel Model Car Worlds were not legalised as a true World Championship we call the race later the first Model Car Worlds but pay no much attention on it. At those days model car racing is still a new experience, far behind the official Wing Car Worlds. By miracle I win that race (cf. chapter 3) ahead of Dan Debella, Csaba Szekelyhidi, Willy Heerwegh and Jon Laster. Sportive value of that victory can certainly not be compared by that of all later model car world championships.
After 23 rounds Willy Heerwegh is leader of the Pinky Point Series. Since I won the  last round of the year - and earlier another race with Heerwegh as team mate - I am third behind Chantal Aerts, but ahead over such favourites as Jon Laster, Csaba Szekelyhidi, Sergio Maresca and other Giovanni Montiglios. Nevertheless Pinky Point is for me a big deception. Instead of friendship among racers from all countries I met lots of hate, lots of profiteering, lots of quarrels. In a world of scale controversies are at real size, just as in the surrounding world. In one year we lost Philippe Point after the Thoiry quarrel introduced by Hans van Es, and several French racers having chosen the side of Philippe Point. Among them François Callat, an excellent racer, but with the pretension of the new Niki Lauda. Ten years later he'll come back, and now that model car racing is well founded he is no longer a star, but at once a simple back bencher. But his pretension is always even high, taking himself for the Ayrton Senna of slot-racing.

DURING THE GOLDEN SIXTIES slot-racing was completely different. In Europe it was essentially practiced by gentlemen in suit with tie. In 2006 Holland's Tamar Nelson remembered the old days and came with his team mates to the Alsdorf Farewell Race in dinner jacket. Initially tracks were short and only 4 lanes wide. But later they became longer and longer and 8 lanes wide?

MODEL CAR - My 1/24th Ferrari Dino by Cox with which my cousin, the late Jean Pierre Roos,  finished fifth out of more than ... 10,000 cars at the Saint-Denis international race with a real Matra Jet 6 as first prize.

WING CAR - A 1/24th wing car, made for speed. Already in 1985 top speeds of more than 100 kph were reached with such cars. One remarks the transparant side dams (air dams, wings). At high speeds they come open, tripling the surface and increasing the road holding. In 1985 the world record over one lap with such cars on a 48-metre Blue King track was down to .2"459, realised by America's Jon Laster at one of the IMCA meetings at Uden in Holland. Now the world record is 1"404 (realised by America's Paul "Beuf" Pedersen).

PINKY POINT 1986 (rounds #24 to #37)

One day after the last race of the year IMCA is legally founded before notary Ernest van Tricht. Founders are Hans van Es (responsible for the wing car section), Gérard Caupène (responsible for the 1/32nd scale car section) and me (responsible for the 1/24th model car section). Initially we use the name ESROC, but that is changed shortly after in International Model Car Association (IMCA). Names as "world championship" and "European championship" are patented in order to avoid that everyone can call a local race as such.
We decide to make an international rank order of slot-racers, based upon the top-8 results of all international races since 1970 and with a sub division for wing car racers, scale racers and model car racers. We call it the IOC-list. I forgot for what IOC stands. The name was an idea of Caupène. Since there were no international model car races from 1970 thru 1984 we decided to contest during the three first years two model car world championships per year (one for actual model cars and one for old-timer model cars) to give model car racers a chance to climb up in the overall standings. However, it was already too late in the year to organise still in 1985 the Old-Timer World Championship. So it was convened to hold the 1985 version early 1986 in Antwerp.
Meanwhile my life radically changed during the last months of December 1985. My relation with Nicole was not only troubled by the fact that I was not the most faithful husband on earth, it was also troubled with her alcohol problem. She had serious sleeping problems, despite the mass of Temesta pills she took every evening. The pills were no longer working and already much earlier she combined them with alcohol. To be honest I cannot exclude that she drunk too much to forget my stupid escapades. She had already followed two detoxification cures, the last one in September. After the second cure everything seemed OK with her. She started painting and things went much better. I warned her that, if this time, she should recidive, I should take a mistress. Since she really loved me, I believed that this was the right thing to do. Unfortunately it didn't work. Already in October I found everywhere hidden bottles and things went worse than before. I was too much an egoist, always busy with my own life, not enough open for someone else's problems, that I opted for the easiest way - a way Nicole didn't deserve. So at one of my evening outings in the new Mechelen Casino, I met an extraordinary young girl, only 23 years old. Her name was Rachida Bettar.  Before I realised what happened I felt in love with her. When I told Nicole what happened her live changed into a drunken bird in a golden cage. I loved her, and I loved at the same time Rachida. My live became complicated since I lived at two addresses at the same time. I bought a new Ferrari 308 GTB for Rachida and a Jaguar XJS for Nicole. Up from now the presents I gave were bought in double. I felt really unhappy with the situation, especially now that Nicole drunk more and more by my fault. So slot-racing became for me a kind of way out, a way to escape from daily stress.
At the first race of 1986 in Antwerp I was motivated as no one else to win. It was the postponed 1985 Old-Timer World Championship (cf. Chapter 3) and round #24 of the Pinky Point Series. Since the race was contested with 1/24th lexan Canam bodies on piano wire chassis, I asked Raymond van Campenhout to prepare me a car as good as the one which let me win round #23. The car was just a dream. I realised easily TQ ahead over Dan Debella, Jan Limpach, Willy Heerwegh and Csaba Szekelyhidi (Jon Laster was absent). I won the race, eleven laps ahead over Debella and twenty-one over Limpach. Heerwegh was fourth, Csaba fifth. Then followed Didier Moret (F), Chantal Aerts (B) and the young Leo Vogel (NL). The following round, at the same meeting, now with 1/32nd scale cars I lost from Willy Heerwegh.  
Since Raymond had only two hands to build the Canam bodies for the model car races, I asked Dominique Bellenger from Paris to help. He made pretty beautiful bodies in view of the next meeting at Châtenay-Malabry. For that meeting I was helped by Didier Moret and by a strange bird called Alain Lefèbvre. They had great plans for a race with several hundreds of racers and asked me a large budget to reach their goal. They made expensive advertisings in several autosport magazines, and even the evening before the race they were convinced that it should be a tremendous success. To contribute to the success Arie van Wijngaarden sr of the Hardinxveld club from Holland showed with a bus with no less than 36 young racers. But when on May 17, 1986 I entered the racing premises there were only 60 racers. The disillusion was complete. Lefèbvre, suffering from megalomania, a psychopathic character, was nowhere around, just as the promised hundreds of new racers. And that despite the fact that I promised a Peugeot 205 GTI for the winner over three rounds.

FIRST MODEL CAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ON DECEMBER 14, 1985 IN ANTWERP with f.l.t.r. Take Hirose (J), Didier Moret (F), Marc Joyeux (F), Jon Laster (USA), myself (B), Csaba Szeklelyhidi (USA) and the late Franco Gianotti (I). Initially the race was called the Benelux Cup, but after the complaints of Joel Montague and others against the Crest Hotel Worlds, the last race of the year was upgraded as the true 1985 Model Car World Championship. I won the race, one lap ahead over Dan Debella (USA). Csaba Szekelyhidi was third on 6 laps. Then followed Willy Heerwegh (B), Jon Laster, Didier Moret, Marc Joyeux and Arie van Wijngaarden sr. I certainly was not the best racer, but Raymond van Campenhout prepared me an unbeatable car.

From the States Jon Laster, Jan Limpach, Csaba Szekelihidi and Mike Swiss were present, but there were no Italians, no Germans (except for Ralph Klose), no Britons. Van Es - hating racing in France - stayed home. I was so furious about the wasted money that I failed to qualify for round #26, won by Dominique Bellenger ahead over Willy Heerwegh and Jan Limpach. At a given moment the tension was that high that I threw a bottle of Coca-Cola to Moret's heath. The second round saw three Americans on the podium: Limpach, Laster and Szekelyhidi in that order. I was fifth behind Moret. The third race was intended to be the 1986 Old-Timer World Championship, but since there were only 20 entrants conditions for an official world championship (minimum 24 entrants out minimum 6 different countries) were not respected. Jon Laster won the race (round #28) ahead of Jan Limpach, Willy Heer-wegh, Olivier Demoger, myself and Ralph Klose. After that meeting Moret disap-peared from the Pinky Point Series and I saw him never again.
Shortly before the Châtenay-Malabry meeting the first Pinly Point product is ready to be raced. Indeed, at the end of 1985 I asked Dan Debella to develop at scale 1/32nd a chassis able to pulverise the 1-0-1 chassis of Dave Harvey and the OPP chassis of Ian Jensen, at that moment the two most frequently used chassis in scale racing. The project is the first step up to the ES24 chassis which we later wished to launch as a big innovation in scale racing. Goal was to use the wing car technics on cars without wings, but going extremely fast with lowered lexan bodies. Debella launched the new 1/32nd chassis - called ES32, i.e. EuroSport 32nd - in three dimensions: a short chassis, a long chassis and a medium long chassis. The first issued chassis were called ProSlot PP Mk1, the later ones ProSlot PP Mk2 and ProSlot PP Mk3. Now, more than twenty years after Pinky Pont everybody seems to have forgotten that they were the basis for the later ES24 cars at a larger scale. Because that was the final result of bringing 1/24th wing car racers ans 1/32nd scale racers together via old-timer model cars. In the later ES24 cars the technique of both type of cars was combined in a total new concept. Since one week after Châtenay-Malabry there was in France a meeting for the European UES cham-pion-ship, reserved for 1/32nd scale cars, I asked Dan Debella, Jon Laster (a Camen boy!) and Jan Limpach to stay in France and to test the new cars in a real race. The results of the race at Le Mans were smashing. Laster won the race with a ProSlot PP Mk2B chassis, ahead over Jan Limpach and Dan Debella. The first OPP, Ehinger's came 15 laps behind (on a total of 267!), the first 1-0-1, Malherbe's, 19 laps. Up from now the ProSlot PP chassis was the most wanted on earth, however not for sale. The Le Mans race was no Pinky Point round. Another American, Jan Limpach, was asked to develop a stamped chassis for 1/24th production cars: the famous EuroToy, not already finished in May.

Meanwhile, upon decision of Hans van Es of IMCA's Wing Car Division, the rounds for the European wing car championship, as well in G7 as in G27, were counted as Pinky Point rounds. In Vienna Martin Gramann (A) won G27 (round #29) ahead of Achim Burgmann (D) and Alf Zoder (A), whilst Lasse Åberg (S) won G7 (round #30) ahead over Achim Burgmann and Martin Gramann. Nobody of the traditional scale and model car racers was present. There were 31 entries from 7 different countries.
The Châtenay-Malabry disaster cooled my enthusiasm for Pinky Point. The two following rounds in June in Antwerp were low profile. They were contested on the now wooden 6-laner which was built by Raymond van Campenhout and Willy Heerwegh for me. Dan Debella won rounds #31 and #32. Limpach finished second and third, Heerwegh fourth and second, I third and fourth. There were only 26 entries at both races. A consolation race for non qualified racers was won by Henk Scheffer (NL), ahead over the late "Smette" and my cousin Jean Pierre Roos who tried his come-back. After 32 rounds Willy Heerwegh, having already won 8 rounds, was leading the provisional Pinky Point Ranking with 248 pts. I was second with 195 points. Then followed Csaba Szekelyhidi and Jon Laster with 159 points. But after the Châtenay-Malabry débâcle I was no more motivated to fight for it. For me the series could already be stopped tomorrow.

My beautiful Cox Lotus 30 which I raced at the Châtenay-Malabry meeting. I was so furious about all the wasted money by Didier Moret and Alain Lefèbvre, that I even failed to qualify.

The 220' Engleman track of Châtenay-Malabry is the longest one having been used at the Pinky Point Series. A Blue King is only 155' long.

Totally demotivated I asked Jan Silverentand to organise the 1986 IMCA Worlds in the casino of Valkenburg (NL). There should be a World Championship for G7 wing cars, a World Championship for ES32 scale cars (the first in history), a World Championship for actual 1/24th Model Cars and a World Championship for 1/24th old-timer Model Cars, resp. the rounds #33 to #36 of the Pinky Point Series. Raymond van Campenhout was asked to supervise the construction of a new track, especially built for the event, whilst Hans van Es was asked to transport the Uden WR-holding Blue King from the MRTU to Valkenburg. With Silverentand we agreed that after the race he could keep the brand new track (a copy of the former Champion track), and with Van Es we agreed that we should pay the trans-port costs. Silverentand and Van Es had one thing in common, nl. that they didn't stop to repeat that they did it for the sport and only for the sport. Their idealism became obvious when less than one week before the event, at once, they were talking no longer in sportmanslike terms, but at once in hard currency terms. Silverentand calculated how many hours he should be absent at work on organising such event - not only for himself but also for his co-workers. A quick calculation let me see that they made their calculations on hour wages even not earned by the prime minister. But I had to understand: there was their loss on social security (bull shit), and there were the taxes, tremendously high in Holland, they confirmed (again bull shit: they never paid one single florin of taxes). If I looked well at the bill, they were even loosing money on it, but they did so, only for the holy sport. Same story with Hans van Es who at once needed a complete army to transport the MRTU Blue King.

When I told them that I refused to pay such crazy work indemnities my answer was very short: "O.K., then we have to cancel the event." When I told Silverentand that I fully agreed with that this was the best solution, he really didn't know what to answer. I said: "Good evening" and drove to Belgium in my Ferrari. Still the same evening he hung on the phone: we should speak each other. "Why, we have already spoken, there is nothing more to be said." Big panic among the two profiteers, living only for the sport and not for the money. They made a big mistake, since I am totally unpredictable. They didn't know that the same evening I contacted several other casinos to see where we could find an emergency solution (there was no!). I preferred to buy somewhere a Blue King track rather than paying the crazy amounts they were claiming. One day later Van Es is hanging on the phone. We should see each other. He had a cheaper solution: not to pay Silverentand and to let him, Van Es, do everything at a price which was only 50 per cent higher. When I told him that I didn't need his King track, that the wing car race was cancelled, that I found a solution to hold the race in another casino than the Valkenburg one, he really was in tears. How could I be so intransigent with a man as him, a man who gave his life for the sport and nothing but the sport. I was so disgusted that I wished to stop the whole comedy immediately. But the plane tickets for all the racers were already paid, the contract with the Valkenburg casino was signed, and the model car track was already in place. At the end of the discussion Silverentand and Van Es accepted that their bills should be diminished by half of what they expected; Even then they made extremely good money.
But the misery was not ended. Then there was Dave Harvey, acting in name of the British racers. Due to all the troubles with Van Es and Silverentand I forget to wire him the £ 2,400 as starting bonus for the 12 best British racers. So in my absence he phoned Raymond van Campenhout what to do. Raymond told him that it was too late to swift the money, but that it should be paid cash upon arrival. That he could never accept. My reaction? "Let them stay home, I have more than enough of that complete comedy." At once I hate slot-racing more than anything else on earth. Pinky Point should be stopped.

1986 VALKENBURG G7 WORLDS on the MRTU track, main final. F.l.t.r. the 8 finalists are Henry Pena (USA), John Strachan (USA), Paul Pfeiffer (USA), Tom Hansen (USA), Lasse Åberg (S), Jon Laster (USA) and Csaba Szekelyhidi (USA). The eighth finalist, Martin Gramann (A), is not in the picture since he sits in his wheelchair on the other side of the Blue King track.

The Valkenburg Worlds were run in an atmosphere of complete hostility with both Silverentand and Van Es. The Model Car Championship with actual cars (round #33) was won by Giovanni Montiglio, ahead of George Baikry and Sergio Maresca. There were 227 entries and both Willy Heerwegh and I (no longer interested in racing) failed to qualify among the top-24 (cf. Chapter 4). At the 1/32nd EuroSports Worlds round #34), the Italians wished to,prove that their handcraft chassis were at least as good as the revolutionary ProSlot PP, whilst Jon Laster came with a complete new Camen ES32 chassis with open motor can. There were 82 entries and no less than 6 Italians reached the main final, with Dan Debella and Tom Hansen as the two non-Italians. Of those Italians Sergio Maresca was the lonely one driving the new ProSlot PP chassis. He won the race ahead over Giovanni Montiglio, Bruno Novarese and Dan Debella. Pinky Point leader Willy Heerwegh came not further than a 32nd rank, out of the points. I didn't start at all. The G7 World Championship (round #35), since for the first time in history the winner was not an American but Sweden's Asse Åberg having won ahead over Henry Pena and the legendary Paul Pfeiffer (already three times G7 world champion). I had so enough of anything that I proposed to cancel the Old-Timer Worlds: the sooner I could left the insane world of Van Es and Silverentand, the better. It was decided to postpone that race to 1987. 
The two remaining rounds were not organised by myself. It was the G27 round for the European Championship at Sinsheim, won by Martin Gramann, and  the USRA G7 Pro Nats in Chicago, won by P-A Watson.

PINKY POINT 1986 (the 6 final rounds)

My first idea after the Valkenburg Worlds is to stop the Pinky Point Series immedia-tely. This is no longer a micro copy of the real world, this is worse. Essentially it's a bunch of poor devils, having never received the smallest starting bonus at a slot-race event, having never won something more than a cheap trophy, but becoming drunk by the smell of money. This should be stopped as soon as I can. This is so disgusting that I need to find a way out. Immediately. "Money, it's a gas!" Pink Floyd. Money kills everything: idealism, friendship, sport, relationships, morality. I curse the day I started making money with my Moneytron stock exchange model. Before I was a hard working private teacher of university students. But now, with those millions of dollars on my Swiss bank accounts I am even worse than all those small profiteers together. I am thousand Van Es in one person. Thousand Silverentands. Thousand Alain Lefèbvres. Nothing is left from the social idealist I was ten years again. I am the rich bourgeois whose life is dominated by only one thing: money. Once you are a money maker you have no more friends. They are hanging by thousands around you, not interested in you, Jezus no, only interested in the money you have.

Initially the Pinky Point Series was intended to go over 50 rounds and to continue until end 1987. Since too many racers did only show for the money I decide to stop the money incentives (except for plane tickets of non-European racers) and to finish the series with two last meetings in Antwerp, one in October over two rounds and one in November over four rounds. At the last meeting the points will be increased just as 50 rounds instead of 43 were raced. Since the provisional leader - Willy Heerwegh - scored no points at all in Valkenburg, his advance on several other racers seriously diminished. At the start of the one but last meeting he counts always 248 points, against 225 for Jon Laster and 195 for me. Laster is now the major favourite to win the Ferrari 308 GTB. However, something goes wrong with his plane ticket and he doesn't show at the October meeting. The first race of that meeting (round #38) goes with 1/24th Production cars equipped with Canam bodies. Racers can choose between G20 and G15 motors, with equal points to win in each division. Shortly before the race Limpach's EuroToy Big Brother chassis is ready. Since the chassis lacks competition nobody, except me, dares to race it. All others race the old ProSlot stamped chassis. There are 34 entrants, 22 in Division 1 with G20 motors and 12 in Division 2 with G15 motors. Since Heerwegh starts in Division 1, I opt for a Group 15 motor and drive the EuroToy Big Brother in Division 2. The new chassis is so fantastic that I finish ahead over all Division 1 racers except two: winner Jan Limpach and his runner-up Willy Heerwegh. But famous racers as Montiglio, Dan Debella, George Baikry, Bellenger - all with stronger G20 motors - come behind. Up from now everybody wishes to drive an EuroToy Big Brother at the last meeting. The new chassis is so fabulous that equipped with an open can motor (as in wing car racing: a ProSlot U640 G7 motor) it will be measured at an American Blue King track - without side dams! - at 3"80 for one lap. ES24 racing is definitively born.

At the Valkenburg Worlds there was a fashion show for Piero Vannucci, being an unexpected success. Moreover sandwichmen announced in the shopping streets that any newcomer, showing at the Casino, receives a free RTR 124 ProSlot slotacar plus a free controller if he or she entered the public's race with a Peugeot 205 GTI as first prize. Some 156 newcomers, all giving their word that they never entered a slot-racing compe-tition. Although they all confirmed that this was the case, more than half of them were real racers.

At the second race of the October meeting, where racers could opt or for 1/32nd scale cars (ES32) or for 1/32nd production cars (with separate standings) Limpach entered in the production class his EuroToy Lil' Brother, the 1/32nd version of the Big Brother. He ensured world champion Montiglio that over a race of 500 laps his new car should be never more than 10 per cent behind Montiglio's own ES32 MontiFlexi. His runner-up at the Worlds, Georges Baikry, comes at the start with the ProSlot PP Mk5A chassis (ES32). Dan Debella and I show with the latest ProSlot PP, the Mk6A. Montiglio is fastest away. Debella tried to follow him at the short track, but the Mk6A was overpowered for such short track. On the other Mk6A I lost 12 laps during the first segment. In the second segment I plugged in my controller in the wrong way and I lost 16 more laps, having dropped in the last position of the six main finalists. But up from the third segment I started one of the best races of my long career. Nearly the complete segment I turned around in low 2"550s, reducing my arrears on Montiglio from 28 to 13 laps. I succeeded to pass Debella, Baikry, Heerwegh and Patrice Dohogne. Eventually I finished second overall, only nine laps behind winner Giovanni Montiglio, but four laps ahead over Debella and Baikry, finishing third and fourth. Best performance however came from Jan Limpach, achieving 531 laps with the Lil' Brother (against 563 for Montiglio - thus less than 10 per cent as predicted). Heerwegh had a bad race, finishing only 11th. With one last meeting to go provisional standings for the Ferrari 308 GTB were: 1. Heerwegh 263 points, 2. Laster 225 points, 3. JPVR 220 points. Then Casaba, Debella, Montiglio, Leo Vogel and others.

At the last meeting, again in Antwerp there are 4 races with 100 points per race to win (plus 10 per race for the pole position). It's the invasion of the best Italian and British racers, realising that for the Ferrari 308 GTB (first prize) and the Peugeot 205 GTI (second prize) anything re-mains possible. The Italians show with Giovanni Montiglio (151 points), Sergio Maresca (100 points), Michele Scarpato (70 points), Corinna Gianotti (47 points), Franco Gianotti (36 points), Alberto Capra, Giogio Brenna, and Silvio Giacobbi. The Britons were present with Tim Ryan (16 points) Ian Jensen, Dave Harvey, Monty Yarnell and Steve Walker. Americans were in with Jon Laster (225 points), Dan Debella (159 points), Jan Limpach (120 points) and Mark Lowrie (4 points), but no Csaba Szekelyhidi. The Canadians came with Chuck Ingram (8 points), Bruce Adamson and Tracy Adamson. Brazil was present with Celso Duarte (16 points). France had Olivier Demoget (82 points), Marc Joyeux (67 points), Dominique Bellenger (66 points), Sylvain Pigny (35 points), Jean-Claude Ehinger (4 points), Laurent Cardin, Fréderic Humbert and Thierry Pigny (7 points). François Callat (79 points), Didier Moret (133 points) and Gérard Caupène (24 points) were absent. Holland was present with 16 racers. Among them Leo Vogel (140 points) and Hugo Dekker (66 points) as best. Initially there were five Dutch racers more, but after his misconduct at a former UES race Perry Dekker (42 points) was suspended for two meetings. Hearing that he was refused at the start he was just furious and returned without racing to Holland with four of his club mates. Germany was present with Ralph Klose (49 points) and Markus Schnier, but no Axel Pomeranz (113 points), no Achim Burgmann (104 points) and no Erich Lorenz (53 points).  The rest of the field was made up by the Belgians, standing up as one man behind the provisional series leader Willy Heerwegh (263 points). Best Belgian entries came from Chantal Aerts (132 points), Georges Baikry (46 points), Jean-Luc Orban (15 points), Henri Roufosse (11 points) and me (220 points). Since the Belgians were only seven, against the eight Italians having dominated the Valkenburg Worlds, they made a coalition with Chuck Ingram and Dominique Bellenger to defend Willy Heerwegh's first place with all legal means. 

THE EUROTOY BIG BROTHER was a revolutionary chassis and could be raced even with open motors and without side dams. A production of at least 10,000 copies was planned, but despite splendid race results the car made by Jan Limpach could never conquer the American market, at those days not interested in serious scale racing. The production was stopped early 1987. Sales figures never reached more than a couple og hundreds..

The first of the four final rounds (round #40) is contested with 1/32nd production cars equipped with lexan Group C bodies at true scale. There are two divisions were points can be won: Division 2 goes with the Plus chassis of Philippe Point, Division 1 with the Italian Club chassis or with the new EuroToy Lil' Brother chassis. Before the start nobody believes seriously in Heerwegh's chances. In Valkenburg he had not the smallest chances against the superior Italians: in the 1/32nd race he finished only as 32nd and in the 1/24th race as 29th, always far behind the Italians. Never-theless he deserved more than anyone else to win the Ferrari, because of all racers he entered most Pinky Point rounds (32 out of 39). As no one else he went for it. Since Maresca and Montiglio started in Division 1, Heerwegh tried to avoid the direct confrontation, so he opted for Division 2, where Laster was his most direct opponent. To stop the Italians Debella, Limpach, Canada's Chuck Ingram all opted for Division 1 cars. At the qualifications Maresca realises the pole (good for 10 points). Heerwegh comes not higher than the 13th position. The race is completely dominated by Maresca, with his 548 laps more than 33 laps ahead over everybody. Biggest surprise however is that a hyper motivated Heerwegh finishes second overall as winner of the Division 2 class. Ingram is third, Debella fourth, Limpach fifth. Laster misses completely his outing and finishes only tenth (third in Division 2). Ian Jensen is best Briton on rank 13 (eighth in Division 2). After round #40 things are at once much better for Heerwegh: he leads the provisional standings with 363 points, against 285 for Laster, 220 for me, 210 for Maresca, 209 for Debella, 162 for Limpach and 151 for Montiglio (who scored no points).
Next round (round #41) goes with ES32 cars equipped with Group C bodies. Maresca opts for the ProSlot PP Mk6B chassis, Heerwegh for an OPP chassis. Fastest qualifier is Laster with a new Camen Flexi chassis, ahead over Maresca and Montiglio. Heerwegh qualifies as 23rd out of 50 entrants. He knows that it will be extremely difficult to score points in this round, but counts on the Britons (great specialists in ES32) and the Americans to beat wonder boy Maresca. However at no avail. With the superior ProSlot PP Mk6B chassis Sergio Maresca wins again (359 laps), eleven more than runner-up Dave Harvey (on 1-0-1), 19 more than Montiglio. Ingram is fourth ahead over Jan Limpach, Ian Jensen (OPP), Chantal Aerts and Steve Walker (1-0-1). Finishing ninth Laster scores again no points. Heerwegh is a fine eleventh, however without scoring points. With two rounds to go provisional standings are: 1. Willy Heerwegh 363 points, 2. Sergio Maresca 310 points, 3. Jon Laster 285 points, 4. JPVR 220 points, 5. Giovanni Montiglio 211 points, 6. Dan Debella 209 points, 7. Jan Limpach 202 points, 8. Csaba Szekely-hidi 199 points, 9. Leo Vogel 151 points. Since there are only 220 more points to win over the two last rounds, the winner of the Ferrari 308 GTB has to come out of those nine racers. Montiglio, Laster, Limpach and Debella all disappointed up to now.
The one but last race (round #42) is a 3 hour endurance race with hard plastic 1/24 bodies of 1964 GT cars fit on fully standard K&B chassis. There are 3 racers per car and 18 cars can enter (3 heats of 6 x 10 minutes). Heerwegh has vice-world champion Georges Baikry and Chantal Aerts as team mates. Maresca starts with Montiglio and the young Michele Scarpato as team mates. At the start there is a splendid Aston Martin 214P, raced by Dominique Bellenger, Marc Joyeux and Jean-Claude Ehinger. They'll qualify as sixth, enough to race the A Final with the six fasted cars. The Porsche 904 GTS of Heerwegh qualifies only as eighth, what implies that he has to race the B Final. Pole position goes to the other Porsche 904 GTS, shared by Chuck Ingram, Henri Roufosse and Jean-Luc Orban. Of them Canada's Chuck Ingram realised the TQ time good for 10 points. 

FERRARI 308 GTB, first Prize at the Pinky Point Series.

Now that all profiteers were out the atmosphere was much better than in the days that Hans van Es was hanging around. Point's system for the one but last round is slightly different with res. 100, 75, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 15, 10 and 5 points for the top-10. Convinced that they can win no longer the Americans Dan Debella and Jan Limpach promise to do what they can to hold Maresca off a new victory. Heerwegh/Baikry/Aerts won the B Final with 752 laps. In the A Final we find the TQ-ing Porsche 904 GTS of Ingram/Orban/Roufosse, the AC Cobra Roadster 289 of Franco Gianotti/Corinna Gianotti/Celso Duarte, the yellow 7-litre AC Cobra Roadster 427  of top favourites Maresca/Montiglio/Scarpato (three of the four 1986 world champions!!!), the Ferrari 250 GTO/64 of Debella/Limpach/JPVR, the Porsche 904 GTS of Laster/Lowrie/Bruce Adamson and the Aston Martin DP214 of Bellenger/Joyeux/ Ehinger. 
At the start the French Aston is fasted away, but passed by before the end of the first lap by the Ferrari 250 GTO/64 and the yellow 7-litre Cobra. After a couple of deslottings by Marc Joyeux the Aston will drop into sixth position to finish at a disappointing tenth place overall. The Porsche 904 GTS of Laster suffers from a poor road holding (too hard tyres) and has to let go the four other cars racing close together during the two first segments. During the third segment Maresca takes over and in less than no time he takes a first lap over the three others. Trying to follow him the drivers of those cars all make mistakes. At mid-race the yellow Cobra is already six laps ahead over the Ferrari, having realised ten laps more than Heerwegh/Aerts/Baikry at mid-race. The TQ-ing Porsche 904 GTS of Ingram comes in problems when two screws, fixing the body to the chassis, come off. The 289 Cobra of the Gianottis is at mid-race at once ten laps behind the leader, with exactly the same number of laps as realised at mid-race in the B-final by Heerwegh. The Italian clan now supports the Gianottis: they should abso-lutely finish with more laps than Heerwegh to make him loosing more points on Maresca. The fourth segment it's my turn to drive the Ferrari 250 GTO/64 whilst Montiglio drives the yellow Cobra. I loose two laps more, making it eight with two segments to go. During the fifth segment Maresca makes his second stint, so we decide to put Limpach against him. During the complete segment he can keep up with the Cobra, however without winning one lap back. The last segment I do my stint against Scarpato on the Cobra. We loose two more laps, to finish second. On making the overall standings it appears that Heerwegh is third overall with one lap more than the Gianottis. That implies that he wins 60 points, 40 less than Maresca. Since Laster - at the start of the meeting still the top favourite to win the series - scored only 15 points with his eighth place - he's definitively out.  With one last round to go the Pinky Point standings are: 1. Heerwegh 423 points, 2. Maresca 410 points, 3. Montiglio 311 points, 4. Laster 300 points, 5. JPVR 295 points, 6. Debella 284 points, 7. Limpach 277 points, 8. Aerts 202 points, 9. Csaba 199 points, 10. Scarpato 190 points.
With one very last round to go the maximum of points which still can be won is 110. That means that or Heerwegh or Maresca will win the Ferrari. Montiglio and Laster can still win the Peugeot, but only if Maresca scores no points at all during the last round. Since the difference between Heerwegh and Maresca is down to 13 small points, and since Maresca won the three preceeding rounds, nobody still believes in Heerwegh's chances to win the Ferrari. The last round is again contested with 1/32nd production cars, again in two divisions. So it is a question of tactics. If Heerwegh wishes to keep the lead he should absolutely start in another division than Maresca's. The Italians - as one man behind him - try to keep the secret until the real last minute which division he'll race. But so does Heerwegh. He has one excellent car prepared for the both divisions. Thirty seconds before the closure of the entries Maresca shows with the same Club Car having won round #40 (with Ford C100 body). So Heerwegh comes just behind to subscribe in Division 2 the Alba AR6 having finished second overall at round #40. At once Franco Gianotti, Michele Scarpato and Alberto Capra queue up, all three with a Division 2 car. Their team tactics are perfect. How Heerwegh will be able to beat and Capra, and Scarpato and Gianotti in his Division 2 class? Nobody believes that he'll make it against them.

The one but last Pinky Point round was contested with 1964 GT cars at scale 1/24th fit on original K&B chassis with the original rear wheels. Here the AC Cobra Roadster of Sergio Maresca, Giovanni Montiglio and Michele Scarpato who won the 3 hour race. The chassis were delivered by Arie van Wijngaarden sr of the Hardinxveld-Giessendam club in Holland, where such chassis were still raced in 1986, twenty years after they came on the market.

At the one but last Pinky Point round twenty 1964 GT cars came at the start. Of them two failed to qualify for the 18 free places. There were no less than five Ferraris 250 GTO/62 at the start, but the fastes, shared by the amateurs Françis Bogaert (B), Rens Vuik (NL) and Fréderic Humbert (F), finished not higher than eighth overall. A Ferrari 250 GTO/64 was second. Among the other cars we noted three Porsches 904 GTS, three AC Cobra Roadsters, two Jaguar E Lightweights and one Corvette StingRay, all with hard plastic bodies fixed with screws to the K&B chassis. An AC Cobra Daytona Coupe and a fourth Porsche 904 GTS failed to qualify. But eye-catcher of the race was the French Aston Martin DP214.

PINKY POINT: FINAL ROUND, THE MOST DRAMATIC IN SLOT-RACE HISTORY

At the very last round things went really wrong for the poor Willy Heerwegh. Indeed not Chuck Ingram (2"805), as initially was believed, realises TQ, but Sergio Maresca, intitially credited with 2"845, which was his second best time. His best time, however, was 2"795. The six fastest finalists in Division 2 are thus Maresca (Club), Ingram (EuroToy), Debella (EuroToy), Giacobbi (Club), Corinna Gianotti (Club) and Bellenger (Club). Ian Jensen (Club) and Jan Limpach (EuroToy) miss both the fastest final. In Division 2 Alberto Capra is with 2"893 much faster than all others. Heerwegh is second with 3"000, followed by Scarpato (3"007) and myself (3"008). That means that Maresca wins 10 points for TQ so that at the start he is only three little points behind Heerwegh. All racing strategy fails since Limpach and Laster - the lonely ones able to beat the superior Maresca - are both in the slower final. Debella, Ingram and Bellenger all promised to do what they can to hold Maresca off a fourth win, but nobody believes that they can do so. In Division 2 Heerwegh has to beat both Capra and Scarpato, a nearly impossible task. I am not enough a good racer to hold Capra or Scarpato from the two first places in Division 2.
The main final for Division 2 racers is for Heerwegh a real tragedy. Yet during the first segment he looses three laps on both Italians and is only third (good for 60 points where he need 100 since nobody believes that Maresca can be beaten in Division 1). One segment further he drops even in fourth position when Franco Gianotti completes the Italian top-3 runners. Scarpato seems on his way to class victory when after 155 laps he deslots, cutting his body in two halfs. Being beyond repair Scarpato has to retire and Heerwegh moves up to third position. At mid-race he is already eight full laps behind Capra, three behind Gianotti. After 420 laps the Alba AR6 of Gianotti slows down, but so does the similar car of Heerwegh. The motor of his Plus Mk2 is seriously heating. A third place is for Heerwegh a disaster, because there are no two man on the world able to beat Maresca so that he too comes no further than third in his class. At the last rotation Heerwegh is still two laps behind Gianotti. Then he finds an emergency solution. His dad installs airco and Willy came to Antwerp with his dad's van. During the fifth segment he asks George Baikry to run to the van. At lane rotation Baikry gives him a freon-boiler to cool the motor. So, he can continue his race during the last segment. Franco Gianotti however falls out after 483 laps with a smoking motor. Eventually Willy finishes second in Division 2, ten laps behind winner Alberto Capra.
Things are now very simple. If Maresca wins Division 1 he'll be the winner of the splendid red Ferrari 308 GTB before the door. At the start none of the Italians doubts one single second that Maresca can miss the first prize. With Montiglio and Giacobbi they are three in the final to hold up Debella, Bellenger and Ingram. At the first segment Maresca is flying away from the rest of the field, just as if the rest stands still. Then follow Montiglio and Giacobbi, with Debella as fourth, Ingram as fifth and Bellenger as sixth. At the end of the first segment Maresca has three laps over his both country mates, and five over Ingram and Debella. The two last have with the EuroToy Lil Brother a faster car, and during the second segment Ingram succeeds to pass Giacobbi. One segment later Debella does the same. At mid-race Maresca has six laps more than Montiglio, seven than Ingram and nine than Debella. During the fourth segment Maresca has the outer lane to Bellenger. The Frenchman, a very experienced racer, lets his car slipping wide out in the turns, and Maresca fails to pass him. So Ingram, now on the fastest lane, can take five laps back on Maresca during that segment. With two segments to go Maresca leads Ingram by two laps, Montiglio by twelve, Debella by fourteen. During the one but last segment, Ingram, now loudly supported by all racers other than Italians, can keep up with Maresca, so that with one last segment to go the difference stays on two laps. However there is little hope that Ingram can beat Maresca, since the Italian is going to the fastest lane, Ingram to the slowest. One minute later the difference is already up to four laps. Game over and out for Heerwegh. But ... look what happens: Bellenger deslots and Maresca can not avoid the collision. His car must to the pits with gear problems. Meanwhile Ingram goes for it. When Maresca resumes the track, he is eight laps behind Ingram. During the last minute he can take one lap back. Not enough to win. Chuck Ingram is for ever the Pinky Point hero. Maresca wins only 75 points, just as Willy Heerwegh. He wins the Ferrari, Maresca the Peugeot.  The Britons Jensen, Walker and Harvey finish as 5-10-11 in the last round. The final standings of Pinky Point are: 1. Willy Heerwegh (B) 498 pts, 2. Sergio Maresca (I) 495 pts, 3. Giovanni Montiglio (I) 371 pts, 4. JPVR (B) 325 pts, 5. Dan Debella (USA) 324 pts, 6. Jon Laster (USA) 300 pts, 7. Jan Limpach (USA) 295 pts, 8. Chuck Ingram (CDN) 273 pts, 9. Chantal Aerts (B) 212 pts, 10. Csaba Szekelyhidi (USA) 199 pts, 11. Michele Scarpato (I) 190 pts, 12. Alberto Capra (I) 165 pts, 13. Leo Vogel (NL) 150 pts, 14. Olivier Demoget (F) 147 pts, 15. Georges Baikry (B) 139 pts, 16. Didier Moret (F) 133 pts, 17. Corinna Gianotti (I) 132 pts, 18. Silvio Giacobbi (I) 130 pts, 19. Franco Gianotti (I) 126 pts, 20. Lasse Åberg (S) 125 pts, 21. Laurent Cardin (F) 121 pts, 22. Axel Pomeranz (D) 113 pts, 23. Ian Jensen (GB) 105 pts, 24. Achim Burgmann (D) 104 pts, 25. Jeroen van Es (NL) 100 pts, 26. Jean-Luc Orban (B) 95 pts, 27. Celso Duarte (BR) 86 pts, 28. Martin Gramann (A) 85 pts, 29. Dave Harvey (GB) 85 pts, 30. Rob de Hek (NL) 84 pts, 31. Paul Pfeiffer (USA) 84 pts, 32. John Strachan (USA) 83 pts, 33. François Callat (F) 79 pts, 34. Marc Joyeux (F) 72 pts, 35. Dominique Bellenger (F) 71 pts, 36. Ralph Klose (D) 69 pts, 37. Hugo Dekker (NL) 66 pts, 38. Henk Scheffer (NL) 63 pts, 39. William Ingelbrecht (F) 57 pts, 40. P-A Watrson (USA) 54 pts, 45. Arie van Wijngaarden sr (NL) 48 pts, 46. Bruno Novarese (I) 44 pts, 49. Perry Dekker (NL) 42 pts, 50. Tom Hansen (USA) 42 pts, 54. Bernd Möbus (D) 36 pts, 56. Steve Walker (GB) 35 pts, 58. Angelo Magnani (I) 35 pts, 61. Mike Swiss 32 pts, 63. Philippe Point (F) 31 pts, 66. Gérard Caupène (F) 24 pts, 73. Ray Nunes (CDN) 20 pts, 77. Tim Ryan (GB) 16 pts, 91. Joel Montague (USA) 12 pts, 97. Janne Ekman (S) 10 pts, 113. Samy Béraha (F) 8 pts, etc. [395 racers ranked].

TURNING POINT IN THE RACE - With less than 20 minutes to go in the real last Pinky Point round Willy Heerwegh has definitively lost his Ferrari 308 GTB. Indeed, in his own division he's only third behind Capra and Scarpato, what means: 60 points. In the other division his direct opponent Sergio Maresca is leading, good for 100 points. Since at the start the difference between both racers was only 3 points, Heerwegh had not the smallest hope to win the Pinky Point series. But then at once Scarpato's Alba deslotted and the body was split in two parts, so that he had to retire. Heerwegh was now second in his division (75 points), but too far behind Alberto Capra to hope that he could still win the 100 points he needed. So his real last hope was that in the other division someone could perform the miracle, beating the unbeatable Maresca, so that he too won only 75 points. Only in that case the Ferrari 308 GTB could be Willy's at the end of the series.