IMCA Worlds Feedback

Hi All

Well the 2008 Worlds has come and gone. Unfortunately we were not as successful as we would have liked. The guys here have a huge advantage, in that they run these cars on a regular basis with stiff competition, so they are leaps and bounds ahead of us in terms of developing these cars.

Alan Paterson managed a 3rd place in concourse, and I managed to grab 6th place. So we are at least not coming home empty handed. I will post a full report with pictures as soon as I get back to SA. There are results up on the IMCA website.

The beer here is excellent!! :-)

Regards,

Whizzkid (in Belgium)

More on the economy transistor controller

Whilst cheap and cheerful is the name of the game for these economy transistor controllers, some concerns had been expressed regarding the long term wear associated with running the brass trigger tube on the sharp thread of a 2.5mm bolt. The test unit, packed with ceramic grease, seems fine so far but it was decided to also re look at the stock system of a 3/32 (2.4mm) tube inside the brass trigger tube. The biggest issue was to then source a 1/16 inch (1.5 or 1.6mm) bolt to support the 3/32 tube and uncle Lance of Durban Model Centre came to the rescue with the suggestion of cannibalising the "Radio Active horn" kits for the thin brass bolts and nuts. At R17 for a dual pack, yielding four bolts and eight nuts, there is little hardship in tossing out the plastic horn parts. The bolts fit perfectly in to the K&S 3/32 tubing and the vernier revealed these bolts at exactly 1.6mm diameter - perfect! This will be built in to the other Gordan unit to give a long term test comparison. The other upside is that one may be able to squeeze in the diminutive anti wobble nut without grinding a space on the bottom of the trigger.

Another issue was that it had originally been envisaged to retain the stock Parma three core cable but watching the 12 band diode unit built for Jacques/Daniel in action suggested that there may well be an element of full throttle power loss. An old article on the net on thin wire resistance had also supported this view and a visit was make to A1 radio to look for a much thicker although also cost effective alternative. There was a nice large core high strand but not uncomfortably thick clear shield dual speaker cable (part 140072) that fitted the bill at R14.95 per metre. This soft cable stripped apart beautifully, thus giving a twenty-two buck three core option. Soldered and braided lovely but obviously no where near silicon for heat resistance and life. Looks real larney, though!

All squeezed in!

Cheers

Dave

Hobby Fair with new Ecurie portable digital track - Phil reports

The fair was a huge success. Pity more of the Club members didn't make it.

Thanks to Mike and Costa for a sterling effort. The whole concept proved successful. We proved that the track can be transported in one car, set up and manned by 3 people, though it would have been nice to have one or two extra to rotate the duties and to give others a break to look around and grab some refreshment. We had a never ending queue of kids. Costa did a particularly excellent job on race control and driver management. Mike and I marshaled, one at each end, took cash and issued tickets. We learnt a lot and will be even better prepared and organised next time.

The digital system worked flawlessly and is loaded with features. Great having the race time etc controlled automatically.

For much of the time we ran only 4 cars, but with better preparation we can comfortably run 5 or 6 cars and thereby increase the revenue. We did run 5 for some of the time. Had to shut down twice for about 15 minutes each time to grab a bite to eat. The Fair ran from 9am to 3pm with a bit of a slow start so all things considered, we did well.

Thanks to all who helped with the project. Next date is Saturday 2 August at Thomas More School in Kloof. Diarise now. Just to spare an hour or two of your time would make a huge difference.

Regards - Phil

Mike spreading the word and Costa sorting the drivers.

Neat Ninco layout with the framed Ecurie club track pictures in the foreground.

The Ecurie cars that have served the club so well....

Mike chatting to Dieter and Joseph Schauerte of Camperdown Model Car (RC) Club.

Home brewed Porsche 917K

Dave prompted me to put these pics on the blog. The body and all other bits and and pieces like interior and engine detail are available from me to those interested.

At the last meeting I raced the red number 23 car and got down to 6.1 sec lap times.

The green Sandeman car I built for Mike.

The Decal sets for both cars and more are available from Craig Stydom.