2003 IMCA NATS REPORT
'PIKI' RULES DESPITE KOREC & FYHR BROS
Borras, Gonzalez, Kivekäs, Dohogne, Welter, Stassen surprise

September 3 - The 18th IMCA Nats were dominated by 'Piki' van Rossem who won the three world champion titles (124 Model Cars, 132 Model Cars, Mello Yello Junior Worlds) and the European Model Car Championship, despite a very strong opposition. Josef Korec and the Fyhr brothers were his strongest opponents. Belgium won for the second time in history the Nations Cup and succeeded to stop the Czech supremacy. Czechia finished second, the Belgium B team third, Finland fourth and England fifth. Biggest deceptions were the weak performances by the Italian team and the complete failure of such teams as the USA and Germany, collecting not one single point.
Public attendance could have been better, but was far from disappointing. Response in the press was beyond expectations, with, among others, a complete page on the 132 Model Car Worlds in a French newspaper. Best race was the one with the 132 model cars, exactly the one which seemed as well as impossible before the start. That is exclusively the merit of NSR: having equipped the nearly undrivable TSRF chassis with ultra soft tires and with a total new gear ratio, the cars were at once very enjoyable and could be driven without ballast and without traction magnet. At the 132 Worlds all racers had exactly the same cars (except for the DTM bodies by Ninco, Scalextric and SCX), so that the driving abilities of all racers were the decisive factor. Here 'Piki' van Rossem gave full evidence that he's not for nothing the #1 model car racer in the world. He finished two laps ahead over his most direct opponent Josef Korec (CZ), heading Daniel Gonzalez (E), Josef Miskolci (SVK), Jordi Borras (E) and Einari Fyhr, finishing nearly in the same lap. Later 'Piki' won also the Mello Yello Junior Worlds where the surprising Gilles Dohogne and Matti Fyhr were his only direct opponents. By winning the main event, the 124 Model Car Worlds, after a gruelling combat with Josef Korec, Yannick Demeyer (B), Frantisek Poledna (CZ) and Einari Fyhr (SF) he not only won his third world title at the same meeting, but did even better than Korec last year. Eventually 'Piki' won also the European Championship ahead of Jean Pierre van Rossem, Yannick Demeyer, Youri van Rossem, Josef Korec and Poledna. The Open G12 race was a brilliant spectacle where Poledna could beat country mate Poledna by a couple of inches. Einari Fyhr was third, Brian Saunders fourth. Concourse (the Modeller's Worlds) went to the grandfather of British slot-racing Georges Kimber, offering his country its first official world champion title.

The 18th IMCA Nats were essentially a combat between Belgium's 'Piki' van Rossem and Czechia's Josef Korec. 'Piki' won four races out of six, Korec finished three times second. In the world ranking of slot-racers 'Piki' closes up to Korec. The difference is now down to 52.5 points.

The 18th IMCA Nats were contested on three different tracks: the 132 Worlds were reserved to the 42-metre Carrera six-laner of Dison; the Team Race and EuroNats were contested at the Grimbergen 16.50 metre short track; the remaining races went on the extremely viscious new 36-metre NSR wooden eight-laner. At the three locations the organisation was nearly perfect. Under difficult circumstances - a shortcoming in the rulebook concerning front wheels and body weight - race director Bob Demeyer proved his integrity and did a great job, assisted by Henk Visser and Andy Brown-Searle.
The races on the short track and on the NSR track with short curbs proved the limits of the MoMo chassis, last year still so successful. The succession of accelerations under 18 Volt result in a heating Bison Mk3 motor. Having no cooling possibilities all MoMos lost speed during the last segments. That's why wizard Philippe de Vries, having prepared four of the six cars of the Belgian teams, made a good choice by using the older PlaFit springsteel chassis. Another serious shortcoming of the MoMo was its front suspension, bending at serious crashes. The Schoeler chassis as driven by the British and the Americans was a pure disaster: on the NSR track those cars were absolutely nowhere. Eventually four of the (only) five PlaFits reached the final of the main event, where they finished 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th. At the Mello Yello the PlaFit domination was even greater, resulting in a 1-2-4.

IMCA 124 MODEL CAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Most important meeting at the IMCA Nats was the 124 World Championship. Absent were Philip Helmuth (USA), despite the fact that IMCA paid for him his plane ticket and hotel, and John van Hoornaar. At the last minute JPVR decided not to start so that his youngest son could race his #43 Dodge STP Cheerios and that Youri's own #5 Chevrolet Kellogg's could be raced by Belgium's most promising young racer Yves Welter jr. Four fastest qualifiers were 'Piki' van Rossem (5"7452), Yannick Demeyer (5"7558), Yves Welter jr (5"8156) and Josef Korec (5"9381). It were the lonely racers staying under the 6 seconds. They made directly the move to the Semis. Biggest surprise, however, came from the 11-year old Youri van Rossem, realising the 5th best time in 6"0066. Then followed Luis 'Gugu' Bernardino (BR), Juanma de Torres Perez (E), Matti Fyhr (SF), Frantisek Poledna (CZ),Francesc Reyes (E) and Tamar Nelwan (NL). Of the 5 fastest cars only Korec's was not a Philippe de Vries set up!
Then followed 5 Consis, where only the 2 first could make the move to the Semis, together with the the 2 best thirds. Here we lost all racers from Portugal, the 2 Americans (Fred Hood and Herman James), 3 of the 4 Britons (Aynsley even didn't start), the 3 Kiwis, Hugo and Desmond Dekker (having not practiced on the difficult track), the 2 South-Africans, and surprisingly also Kai Kivekäs (SF), Antónin Vojtik (CZ), Daniel Gonzalez (E) and Matti Fyhr (SF). The non-qualification of former world champion Geert Mertens (B) was a big deception for the public, standing behind the Belgian ace. Dramatic too was the elimination of Juanma de Torres Perez, leading his Consi until the last stages, but loosing 5 laps in the pits, enough to be eliminated.
Qualified for the Semis were the 2 Belgians of the B team (Youri van Rossem, having won his Consi, and Yves Welter jr), 2 Belgians of the A team ('Piki' and Yannick Demeyer), 2 of the 4 Spanish racers (Borras and Reyes, having been the fastest man at the Consis), the 3 Italians, 3 of the 4 Czechs, Einari Fyhr for Finland, John Brown for England, and Miskolci (SVK) and 'Gugu' (BR) for the International Team. Of the non-European racers 'Gugu' was the lonely one to make the move to the Semis.

Semi B went with Yannick Demeyer (B-1), Yves Welter jr (B-2), Frantisek Poledna (CZ), Salvatore Noviello (I), Daniele Malangone (I), John Brown (GB), 'Gugu' Bernardino (INT) and Jan Korec (CZ). Here Demeyer and Welter were setting the pace immediately after the start. They were followed by 'Gugu', Noviello and Poledna. After 4 segments we found Demeyer and Welter at the 2 first places, followed by Noviello, Poledna and 'Gugu'. Malangone, Brown and Jan Korec followed already 5 laps down to qualification. Towards the end Poledna and Noviello could pass Welter (saving his car for the main), whilst 'Gugu' missed the move for 5 laps.
Semi A went with 'Piki' van Rossem (B-1), Josef Korec (CZ), Francesc Reyes (E), Jozef Miskolci (INT), Einari Fyhr (SF), Youri van Rossem (B-2), Jordi Borras (E) and good old Giovanni Montiglio (I). Here 'Piki' was setting the pace, surprisingly followed by the 11-year old Youri and Josef Korec (CZ). Up from the second segment Francesc Reyes joint that trio. Montiglio was early out with technical problems. When 'Piki' increased speed, nobody was able to follow. Youri maintained his second place, one lap ahead over Reyes, Korec and Fyhr. Miskolci tried to follow and Borras was loosing field. At mid-race 'Piki' had already a 5-laps lead over Youri and Korec. One lap further came Reyes, heading Einari Fyhr. Positions remained unchanged until two segments before the end. Then Reyes, on his way to a certain move, had to come into the pits, offering Einari Fyhr the fourth place.  Youri lost during the two last segments on the difficult inner lanes 2 laps, but finished as fourth, 2 laps ahead over Miskolci. By qualifying for the main he let note a unique historical perfomance, being the youngest racer ever having qualified for the final of a world champ-ionship.
Among the 8 finalists we found 4 racers from Belgium ('Piki', Youri, Yannick Demeyer and Welter jr, all driving Philippe de Vries cars), 2 racers from Czechia (Josef Korec, Frantisek Poledna), 1 Italian (Noviello) and 1 racer from Finland (Einari Fyhr). 'Piki' and Korec stayed until the two last segments in the same lap, leaving no chances to the others. Welter maintained 3 segments long the third place but was then passed by Poledna, Demeyer and Noviello. Demeyer came back after a brilliant race to the third place. Noviello was eliminated with technical problems. Eventually 'Piki' won, 5 laps ahead of Korec who lost those lap at his 2 last runs on the inner lane. Poledna was fourt, Fyhr fifth. Youri was eliminated with braids problems and finished eighth.

MELLO YELLO JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
In total 18 racers under 25 years were selected for the Junior Worlds. Fastest qualifier was surprisingly Gilles Dohogne in 5"6433, the fastest time of the week-end. He and 'Piki' (5"7268) made the move to the main. The 16 others had to go to the Semis. There we lost surprisingly Kieran Dale (NZ), Andrew Aynsley (GB) and Yves Welter jr (struggling with a car with a wrong set-up). Youri van Rossem took a bad start and insisted no longer during the following segments. Antonio Pihno (PT) and Desmond Dekker (NL), having not practiced, couldn't follow the pace. That Czechia's Antónin Vojtik came no further than a 14th place was totally unexpected.
Among the finalists we found 3 racers from Belgium ('Piki', Demeyer, Dohogne), 2 racers from Spain (Gonzalez and Borras), Matti Fyhr (SF), Daniele Malangone (I) and John Brown (GB). The last maintained long time the fourth place before being eliminated with technical problems. 'Piki' van Rossem was leading from start to finish. Struggle for the second place went between Demeyer, Dohogne and Matti Fyhr. Malangone and the two Spanish racers were unable to follow the pace. Having lost precious time on the difficult inner lanes Yannick Demeyer failed to pass Matti Fyhr for the third place. The young Gilles Dohogne caused a stir by holding Fyhr of the second place. At no moment he was in trouble, even not on the two inner lanes, and finished a brilliant race as vice-world champion behind 'Piki' van Rossem. The cars of the Spanish racers seemed to be handicapped by overheated motors, enforcing them to make short but fatal pit stops. Daniele Malangone, tipped to finish as runner up, was never in the race and finished not higher than sixth.

OPEN G12 BENELUX CUP
Second most important race at the IMCA Nats was the Open G12 Race, where Poledna (twice G12 winner at Minden) was the main favourite, with Korec, the Fyhr Bros, Noviello and Brian Saunders as most dangerous competitors. Main attraction was the presence of Gemany's Bernd Möbus, back after 18 years inactivity. However, during free practice it became evident that his car missed speed. Nevertheless Bernd lost nothing of his driving abilities, since he deslotted less than several racers with good reputation. In total 33 racers entered the qualifications. TQ went to Matti Fyhr in 3"4787, ahead of his brother Einari in 3"5214,  Frantisek Poledna in 3"5310 and Brian Saunders in 3"5615. Then followed Malangone, Josef Korec (who refused to finish in the top-3, a question of having time to recognise the new track), Fred Hood (who had to replace his Kelly can, not accepted under BSCRA rules), Antónin Vojtik and Chris Radisich.
At Consi D 'Piki' van Rossem lost valuable time during the two first segments due to a borrowed controller. The lost 18 laps held him out the Semis. Möbus and Jorge da Cruz had cars being too slow. Andrew Aynsley and Malangone were setting the pace, with Kieran Dale and Herman James struggling for the thir place, the last giving access to the Semis. After 8 x 3' Aynsley and Malangone finished at the two first places. Initially it was believed that Kieran Dale was third, but after consultation of the computer Herman James was the lucky guy, not the Kiwi.
Consi C, much slower than D, saw Chris Radisich dominating all others. At the finish he was 8 laps ahead over runner-up Robert Stassen. Until the one but last segment the Spanish amateur Luis Sanchez was a solid third. Unfortunately he missed the move with a blown up motor. Eventually third place went to John Brown, ahead of Yves Welter jr and Portugal's Ulisses Relvas, who started fast, but collapsed duriing the second half of the race. Another Spanish amateur, Rafael Romero, finished last.
Consi B was again faster. At no moment Tim Tyler, Andy Brown-Searle, Xavier Morante or Juanma de Torres Perez gave the impression being able to win the third place. Winner was good old George Kimber, finishing 8 laps ahead of Fred Hood and Salvatore Noviello.
Fastest Consi was the A where Josef Korec played with the complete field. Struggle for the second and third place went between 'Gugu', Vojtik, Miskolci and rookie Kivekäs. Shortly after mid-race 'Gugu' was out. Youri abandoned earlier after only 20 laps, whilst Gilles Dohogne and Francesc Reyes were no match. The struggle between Miskolci, Kivekäs and Vojtik was fatal for the young Czech, missing the third place and the move.

At the Semis we found the 3 racers of Finland, 4 racers of England, 2 racers of Czechia, 2 Italians, the 2 Americans, the Slovak Miskolci, the South-African Stasssen and the Kiwi Chris Radisich. The last one was a strong leader in Semi B, heading Einari Fyhr, George Kimber and Kivekäs, when shortly before mid-race the abrasive track let him alone with a broken jet flag. Another racer, Brian Saunders, was at list 10 times victim of braids-up on the caroussel. He was continuously in fifth position until Radisich disappeared. Eventually he had to fight until the real last seconds with Kai Kivekäs to make as fourth the move. He was preceeded by winner Einari Fyhr, Salvatore Noviello and George Kimber. The Britons Aynsley an Brown were victims of technical problems.
In Semi A four racers let the other four far behind. Here Poledna won with 349 laps, one more than Matti Fyhr and 3 more than Josef Korec. Daniele Malangone was a strong fourth, letting no chances to Stassen, Herman James, Jozef Miskolci and Fred Hood - both last having been victims of prolonged pit stops.
Eventually 8 top-racers reached a dream final: Korec and Poledna for Czechia, Einari and Matti Fyhr for Finland, Noviello and Malangone for Italy, Saunders and Kimber for England. That final was essentially a combat between Korec and Poledna going after the two first places, and netween Matti Fyhr, Einari Fyhr and Brian Saunders going after the third place. Of those 3 Matti Fyhr was during several segments the go-between in the mid of 2 duos (Korec and Poledna in front, Einari Fyhr and Saunders behind). At several occasions Matti gave the impression that he was able to catch the 2 leaders. At the very moment that this was happening he had to go to the pits with technical problems, to join the track in sixth position, behind George Kimber. He still succeeded to pass the Briton, and even Italy's Salvatore Noviello, but died one lap behind Brian Saunders at the fifth place.
In front the combat between Korec and Poledna raged until the last second. Continuously they were in the same lap, giving the third placed man, Einari Fyhr, not the smallest chance to come back. His arrears slowly increased from 2 to 5 laps. All Fyhr could do was to outdistance Brian Saunders who continued having problems to pass the caroussel at full speed. Towards the real end of the race Josef Korec and Frantisek Poledna had to take serious risks to pass each other. Mostly Poledna was found a couple of inches ahead of Korec, but never enough to conclude that he was in a safe position. The several attacks of Korec were a beautiful spectacle, full of thrill. An explosion of joy followed when Poledna passed the finish line, just ahead of Korec. Einari Fyjr had not the smallest problem to conserve his third place ahead of Saunders.

EUROPEAN MODEL CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
On Friday evening 38 racers showed for the IMCA EuroNats, contested with 1/24th scale WCS Nascar cars at the viscious Grimbergen short track. At the Qualifications the 4 first places went to 4 Belgian racers with Yannick Demeyer as fastest, heading Youri van Rossem, JPVR and 'Piki'. Of the 12 racers reaching the Semis no less than 6 were Belgians, nl. the 4 first named plus Yves Welter jr and Geert Mertens. The other 6 were 3 Czechs (Josef Korec, Poledna and Jan Korec), the Slovak Miskolci, the Finn Einari Fyhr and the Dutchman Tamar Nelwan. Of them Nelwan missed the move to the main by 1 lap, Einari Fyhr by 3 laps. Top favourite Geert Mertens struggled with the wrong set-up of his MoMo and was out, just as Miskolci, Jan Korec and Yves Welter jr. The last was a big surprise, since Welter was long time leading his Semi, but could not insist when, after a couple of deslottings he was passed by 3 cars. Four of the 6 finalists (Demeyer, 'Piki', Youri and JPVR) drove the fantastic PlaFits Springsteel, prepared by wizard Philippe de Vries. The two other finalists (Josef Korec and Poledna) started on MoMos. Immediately after the start JPVR and his youngest son Youri collided twice at the end of the straight, mading JPVR loosing 4 laps. Meanwhile 'Piki' and Youri were pulling away from the rest of the field, with Yannick Demeyer in last position, after his motor failed to start. He and JPVR realised a terrible come-back, passing Korec and Poledna, as if they were air. Shortly after mid-race JPVR conquerred the second place, always 4 laps down to 'Piki'. Youri conserved his third place until the last segment, when he was passed by Demeyer. Final standings gave the 4 Philippe de Vries cars at the 4 first places: 1. 'Piki', 2. JPVR, 3. Demeyer, 4. Youri van Rossem.

WORLD CUP MODEL CAR TEAM RACE
The model car team race at the Grimbergen short track was hardly more than a warm-up race to test the Nascar WCS cars under race conditions. Having full confidence in team mate Geert Mertens, famous for the set-up of his cars, 'Piki' preferred to start with Mertens's #22 Dodge Caterpillar. The choice was a disaster, since Mertens's car missed elementary speed. Associated with two talented young Belgian racers (Yves Welter jr and Gilles Dohogne) JPVR had no problem to win. During his 2 stints he realised 111 lap records, enough to keep Yannick Demeyer and Youri van Rossem and their #36 M&M's Pontiac 10 laps behind. Third was Tamar Nelwan, having to start without team mates on his #90 Ford Duke's Sauer, since John van Hoornaar didn't show, as well as the second Dutch team with Hugo and Desmond Dekker. Again the 3 first cars were all PlaFits prepared by wizard Philippe de Vries. Then followed the first team of Czechia (Josef Korec/Poledna) coming ...35 laps behind the winners. Team Finland (Einari Fyhr/Matti Fyhr/Kai Kivekäs) was fifth, heading the Britons Andrew Aynsley/John Brown. The fast #30 Chevrolet AOL of South-Africa's Al Paterson/Robert Stassen, still sixth after the Qualifications, finished after several problems on the very last place. Problems too for both Spanish cars having had to start on new (and no conic) front tires. Those conic tires, initially also found on the cars  tuned by Philippe de Vries, were the center of a very long controversy, where race director Bob Demeyer (correctly) obliged all racers to respect the rule book. Several cars, among them the Italian and American cars, came at the start with a total wrong set-up. They finished deep in the overall standings.

MODELLER'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Never before, even not in the highdays of the Boxus entries, so many splendid cars were presented at Concourse. Under the new rules anomalies as at previous years were excluded. One person per national team could vote and three model car specialists had exactly the same number of votes. After this initial round the 10 cars having scored the most points, went to a very detailed control on base of 20 objective criterions. Normally the #22 Caterpillar Dodge of Geert Mertens (presented on a complete diorama) should have won. However the steering wheel of the driver was not linked to the dashboard, making Mertens loosing all chances on victory. Difference between the three first cars, nl. the #71 Realtree Chevrolet of George Kimber (GB), the #97 Sharpie Rubbermaid Ford Taurus of Einari Fyhr (SF) and the #29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Jozef Miskolci (last year's winner) was infinitesimal small. Eventually the title went to England's George Kimber having entered a nearly perfect model car. The #17 DeWalt Tools Ford by Kieran Dale and the #28 Havoline Texaco Ford by Chris Radisich could have finished 2 or 3 places higher if some details of the interior had be respected.

IMCA 132 MODEL CAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Although already scheduled in 1985, at the subscription of the World Champ Act before notary Ernst van Tricht, the 132 Model Car Worlds (earlier called "Scalextric Worlds") were never organised. Main reason was that no universal chassis, fitting under Scalextric bodies, and bodies of other makes, could be found. When America's PdL launched his 132 TSRF chassis, it was found to be THE solution. However, the 132 Worlds were scheduled at the Carrera plastic 6-laner of Dison, and there the improved competition verson was found to be undrivable without traction magnet. Following PdL it was all Salvatore Noviello's fault, his tires were no good and the tuning of the club car was not better than done by PdL himself. All earlier received reports of tests with the undrivable TSRF-NSR resulted in a serious panic from the side of the organisers. PdL from his side, furious that we dared to write that his chassis was undrivable, used the lowest attacks, proving what a poor character he is.
Behind the scenes JPVR was in continuous contact with NSR's Salvatore Noviello. The Italian fully admitted that the TSRF was hardly more than a nightmare. However, creative as he is, he developed in one week time a complete new pinion and spur gear and let make 200 pair of so called "magnetic" tires. The result was just dumpfounding. Test-driver Georges Baikry could simply not believe his eyes when he made his first tests with the NSR. Contrary to the American club version the Italian version, with the ultra soft tires and the very special gear ratio, could be raced and without ballast, and without traction magnet. At once it was a very enjoyable car allowing perfectly a competition among strict similar cars.
The race started with a serious handicap: the 10 controllers, specially developed by NSR to drive this car, were forgotten at Brussels. A lot of improvisation was necessary to find 6 controllers allowing to drive this cars at the 42-metre track of Dison.
At the qualifications over just one lap Georges Baikry, the 1987 model car world champion, realised the fastest time (11"30), heading Einari Fyhr (SF), Yannick Demeyer (B), and Daniele Malangone (I) . Earlier 8 of the 16 racers having to start at the prequalifications were eliminated. Among them John Brown (GB), Andrew Aynsley (GB) and the local star Gilles Dohogne (B). Twelve racers survived the Consis, where close racing was the general rule, nl. the 4 fastest qualifiers plus Daniel Gonzalez (E), 'Piki' van Rossem (B), Jordi Borras (E), Jozef Miskolci (SVK), Salvatore Noviello (I), Kieran Dale (NZ), Yves Welter jr (B), and Georges Baikry (B). Normally Patrice Dohogne should have been among the last 12, however at the very end of his Consi, he was eliminated by technical problems.
At the Semis we lost also Georges Baikry under similar circumstances. Most surprisingly was the eliminations of the Belgian youngsters Yves Welter jr, Yannick Demeyer and of the two Italians, Noviello and Malangone, who had the most experience with the NSR 132 chassis. Kiwi Kieran Dale missed the main for less than one lap. The six finalists were 'Piki' van Rossem (B), Josef Korec (CZ), Einari Fyhr (SF), Jozef Miskolci (SVK) and the 2 Spanish youngsters Jordi Borras and Daniel Gonzalez. Following the article on the very respectful web site of Stéphane Martin, the surprising results of the Spanish racers were the consequence of illegal practices: they prepared their rear tires, which was absolutely forbidden. The main final was dominated by 'Piki', deslotting not once over 6 x 5'. Then followed in the same lap Josef Korec (2nd), Daniel Gonzalez (3rd) and Jozef Miskolci (4th). Jordi Borras, having to fix his rear spoiler during racing time was 5th, heading Einari Fyhr. All by all a very enjoyable race, thanks to the creativity of NSR's Salvatore Noviello, having been blamed without any reason by the vinegarish PdL.

NOMINATIONS FOR 2004 IMCA NATS

THE 2004 IMCA NATS
Number of splendid Nascar model cars at the start is increasing year after year. That eventually resulted in the decision that next year all IMCA 124 model car racing will be restricted to Nascars. The 132 formula with the DTM/NSR cars will be maintained. The Open G12 race will be raced under USRA Rules, being more liberal than BSCRA/EEC rules. Two wing car races will be added to the program: Cobalt G12 and Open G7. Number of entrants will be restricted to 48, spread over 16 teams, to know: the 10 first of this year's classification, a second team for Czechia and Finland, plus a wild card for Sweden and for 2 American teams. Failing race directors such as Fred Hood and Hugo Dekker will be replaced by others. Team coaches for 2004 are JPVR for both Belgian teams, Josef Korec for both Czech teams, Einari Fyhr for both Finnish teams, George Kimber for the British team, Tamar Nelwan for the Dutch team, 'Gugu' Bernardino for the Brazilian team, Jozef Miskolci for the Slovakian team, Chris Radisich for the Kiwi team, Salvatore Noviello for the Italian team, Francesc Reyes for the Spanish team, Paul Ciccarello for the American teams and Anders Gustafson for the Swedish team. Portugal (too weak) and Germany (always problematic) will no longer be invited. For the 124 Worlds, Mello Yello, Open G12, Cobalt G12 and Open G7 track will be a new Blue King made in Czechia under control of Josef Korec and Vladimir Horky. The remaining races (132 Worlds, team race and EuroNats) will be contested at the Grimbergen short track. Race director for all model car races will be Bob Demeyer, for all wing car races Jean Pierre van Rossem. Model car races will go under the slightly modified IMCA rules, revisited by Bob Demeyer, Tamar Nelwan and Henk Visser. Wing car races will go under USRA rules.

48 RACERS NOMINATED FOR 2004 IMCA NATS
As always we publish the list of invited racers for the next edition immediately after the current edition. Among the 48 invited racers there are 26 wing car racers (with names in purple)and 16 youngsters (with name in blue). Six racers - Mike Swiss, Forrest Watchers, P-A Watson, Yuha Yli-Sipola, Vlado Okali and Peter Dight - are free from model car racing, all others are expected to enter the 124 Worlds, 132 Worlds, EuroNats, Team Race and (if young enough) the Mello Yello Junior Worlds. Three teams will have a foreign racer whose country was not invited: Greg Mills (CDN) joins Team Brazil, Mario Schöne (D) joins team Slovakia, and Peter Dight (AU) joins team New Zealand. The 48 racers on the list will receive free transport. Only at the wing car races (Cobalt G12 and Open G7) and at Concourse other racers than the nominated 48 will accepted at the start, however at their proper charges. A $ 10,000 US award for the winner of the Ultimate G7 race will be remained, also a $ 5,000 US award for the racer going the deepest under 1"5 in G7. The Audi TT-R will go to the winner of the Pinky Point Ranking where the won IOC-points of 2003 and 2004 at the IMCA Nats will be added to the points won at the 6 rounds for Historic Autosport Quiz. Nominated racers having failed to enter at least one form with 5/10 will be replaced by others.

INVITED RACERS AT 2004 IMCA NATS

'Piki' van Rossem (B-1)	Geert Mertens (B-1)	Yannick Demeyer (B-1)
Yves Welter jr (B-2)	Gilles Dohogne (B-2)	Youri van Rossem (B-2)
Josef Korec (CZ-1)	Vladimir Horky (CZ-1)	Frank Poledna (CZ-1)
Jiri Micek jr (CZ-2)	Erik Kimmel (CZ-2)	Zdenek Benes (CZ-2)
Einari Fyhr (SF-1)	Matti Fyhr (SF-1)	Juha Yli-Sipola (SF-1)*
Jari Porttinen (SF-2)	Anti Immonen (SF-2)	Kai Kivekäs (SF-2)
Brian Saunders (GB)	George Kimber (GB)	John Brown (GB)
Tamar Nelwan (NL)	Nick De Wachter (NL)	Oosterling Marcel (NL)
'Gugu' Bernardino (BR)	Antonio Texeira (BR)	Greg Mills (CDN)
Vlado Okali (SVK)	Jozef Miskolci (SVK)	Mario Schöne (D)
Tim Tyler (NZ)	Chris Radisich (NZ)	Peter Dight (AU)*
Salvatore Noviello (I)	Daniele Malangone (I)	Pierro Castricone (I)
Francesc Reyes (E)	Jordi Borras (E)	Daniel Gonzalez (E)
Paul Ciccarello (USA-1)	'Beuf' Pedersen(USA-1)	Mike Swiss (USA-1)*
F. Watchers (US-2)*	P-A Watson (USA-2)*	Herman James (USA-2)
Mikael Silén (S)	Anders Gustafson (S)	Stefan Törnfeldt (S)

Assignment of the cars for 2004 IMCA Nats

        CAR ASSIGMENT EXPLAINED
Most racers understand nothing about the way IMCA works with sponsors. Nevertheless a top-event as the IMCA Nats costs yearly between € 50,000 to € 75,000. In the months September-October-November of the year preceding the following IMCA Nats we make deals with autosport sponsors. The very essence of those deals is ALWAYS that IMCA will organise a model car version of an existing race series in autosport. For 2004 that will be a 1/24th model car version of the 2003 Winston Cup Series (NASCAR) with 43 cars, and a 1/32nd version of the 2002 DTM Series with (twice) 21 cars. Those cars must ALWAYS be 43 different cars seen at the Winston Cup and (twice) 21 cars seen at the DTM. In ALL CONTRACTS that's an essential clause! It is enough that one of the cars is missing in order to make IMCA loosing lots of money. This year that will be the case with our Nascar sponsors since two very essential model cars were missing, due to the absence of Philip Helmuth and John van Hoornaar, res. Jeff Gordon's #24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Dupont (which should have been raced by Philip Helmuth) and Mark Martin's #6 Ford Taurus Viagra (supposed to be raced by John van Hoornaar). If racers should have been well-educated, there should never be a serious problem. But what happened? Having received a free plane ticket Helmuth could not find his passport three days before the meeting. Instead of informing IMCA by phone or by mail that he should not show - offering us the time to find a substitute driver with a substitute #24 - Helmuth told his team coach that he should come one day later (however without show!). As worse was the behaviour of Van Hoornaar, telling team mate Tamar Nelwan that he should only show on Saturday and Sunday, but eventually staying home. This IRRESPONSIBLE behaviour costs IMCA this year $ 15,000 sponsoring money. So one may understand why NEVER more we'll invite Helmuth and Van Hoornaar. [Earlier this year Van Hoornaar was also absent at the Gasking Speedweek, having cost us a plane ticket and 11 days for a not used hotel room.]
It is absolutely impossible to let choose racers their own cars. So we are obliged to do the assignment ourselves. On doing so we try always that racers having been invited the previous year can use the same bodies the following year. However for 2003 Winston Cup Cars that was not always possible. The #18 and #20 Pontiacs of 2002, e.g., became Chevrolets in 2003, the #32 Ford Tide became a #32 Pontiac Tide in 2003, the #4 Chevrolet Kodak Film became a #4 Pontiac Kodak Film in 2003, the #36 Pontiac M&M's of 2002 became a #38 Ford M&M's, the #28 Ford Texaco Havoline of 2002 became in 2003 the #42 Dodge Havoline, the #23 Dodge Bross Hill Coffee of 2002 became in 2003 a #23 Dodge Stacker 2, etc. If we assign to some racers other cars than the previous year, that's not to oblige them to make again another car, but only to meet the conditions in our sponsoring contract.
For the DTM cars there is a problem that in 2002 there were only 21 DTM cars at the start. We solved that by organising a Prequalification Race with all 21 cars, where only the winner can move to the main DTM race, where he'll find the same 21 cars, now driven by the best ranked entrants. The winner of the Prequalification Race has then to start with a white neutral car with only publicity for Vodafone.

       NOMINATION PRINCIPLES
Nominations for the IMCA Nats are no easy task, especially not now that two wing car races - among them THE ULTIMATE G7 RACE - have been added to the 5-day program. Among the 48 nominated racers we have to find 43 doing the Nascar races (124 Worlds & EuroNats), 16 racers under 25 doing the Mello Yello, and 28 doing the Ultimate G7 Race. Moreover they need to be spread over 16 national teams with 3 racers.
First base of selection is the continuous World Ranking of Racers. In principle we try always to nominate the Top-20, except for those racers who didn't show after having confirmed their entry. Of the actual top-20 racers this is the case for Philip Helmuth (#10), John van Hoornaar (#14) or Dave Gick (#17). Since IMCA lost lots of money, due to their absence in the past, they are excluded from nomination, at least as long as I am fundraiser for IMCA. I can only hope that my successors respect that principle. The non-nomination of Greg Gilbert is linked to the fact that he has not enough free days to show.
Racers making continuously troubles (style Cédric Gridelet) are not welcome at the IMCA Nats. For the wing car racers I based my selection essentially upon the IOC-ranking of wing car specialists. The non-selection of Lasse Aberg is not definitive, but was inspired by the fact that Lasse was no more seen in wing car racing this year, so that I suppose that he stopped G7 racing. Should this NOT be the case, he'll take the place of Stefan Törnfeldt.
It's not possible to do miracles. Plane tickets for Australian or New Zealand racers are extremely expensive, so that we can invite only a restricted number. The same holds for racers of South-Africa. Eventually the selection for 2004 is well equilibrated, with at least the absolute top of wing car, scale car and model car racers being present. Each year I adopt the principle that only half of the entrants at a previous IMCA Nats are again invited at the following IMCA Nats. In 2004 no less than 23 of the 48 invited racers are new.

 LINK IMCA NATS & PINKY POINT-2
The 2004 IMCA Nats take over the basic principles of Pinky Point II: the $ 10,000 for the winner of the Ultimate G7 Race, the $ 5,000 for the new world record holder, the Audi TT Cabrio for the winner of the ranking (spread over 2 years) and the possibility to win extra points at the Historic Autosport Quiz. That implies that the 2004 IMCA Nats are the essential part of Pinky Point II, together with this year's IMCA Nats. The actual point standings for Pinky Point II will be published on a separate web page. The 2004 IMCA Nats will be the real last I'll organise. Due to health reasons and family problems someone will have to continue my job in 2005. I can only hope that IMCA finds a good fundraiser, because without sponsoring money such annual event is imossible. [JPVR]