Ninco Porsche Cup 2023
Race 1
Race 2
Race 3
Race 4
Race 5
Race 6
Final Race
Final Points
Podium Photos & Race Reports
Race 1 - Shelmore Park - 25/1/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Dave Bantoft
3rd - John Batich
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Dave Bantoft
3rd - John Batich
Race Report
Round 1
Another year, another series of the ill handling, bone rattling, sluggish little beasts that are the Ninco Porsches.
The upside to all of this is that we are usually treated to some very “interesting” racing and all the marshals are kept very much on their toes……apart from maybe Bruce, who finds the very existence of this class tedious & was seen possibly having a doze at one point …..while he was still driving.
Anyway, the first round this year was even more littered with carnage than usual, and it was not all car related either as we shall read about shortly. I’ll come to the results later, but there was one certain episode on the evening that must attract comment first. All was progressing quite nicely (well, as nicely as these cars will allow anyway) through the majority of the heats, with only the standard run of the mill issues cropping up. Ie – Numerous De-slots, vanishing body parts, drivers calling out wrong lanes, marshals returning cars to wrong lanes & complete mechanical failure. All pretty standard for a night of racing.
However, towards the tail end of the racing for this series a most unsavory incident occurred. It was just as yours truly had commenced his first heat & was circulating without too much drama, when – BAM!!! All of a sudden, out of the blue there was blood everywhere & the writers nose needed immediate attention leading to his forced withdrawal from the heats racing. Now, I still don’t quite know what happened, but I can only assume a certain other driver saw my driving as a threat and in the blink of an eye must have lashed out delivering a nasty blow that obviously had the desired effect. Who could do such a thing? Well, only someone with intimate knowledge of the proximity of the driver positions for a start…..and as such it was no co-incidence that the driver immediately to my left was none other than the track owner himself. I will make no further comment on this & leave it up to the reader to make their own judgement of these events.
Anyway, in the racing it was a clear win to Phil Kalbfell (after taking care of the competition) by 2 laps on 103 from the ever-reliable Dave Banoft in 2nd on 101. DB even had the good manners to jump in and drive the writer’s car after the aforementioned emergency to at least minimise the damage caused, which says much of his character and was greatly appreciated.
John Batich grabbed the third podium position on 98 laps, 1 lap ahead of Dave Schofield (who drove very consistently) on 97 laps for the night.
In 5th, and in a 2-way battle, Callan Thomas came out on top on 95, just pipping Rhys Filbee also on 95 laps. Adrian Gray & Rob Golley shared the same total as well (94) but it was Adrian who snuck ahead for 7th with Rob having to settle for 8th. In 9th was Dennis Murray on 90 laps, 1 lap to the good of the writer whose sorry tale ended on 89 laps for the evening & 10th position overall. Scotty Wyman totalled 87 laps for 11th, 1 lap ahead of Dave Gray in 12th (86) with Thomas Males in 13th on 84. Bruce Thomas’s love for these cars would have only been heightened by his 47-lap total & 14th place for the evening.
Only 11 rounds to go Bruce 😊
Round 1
Another year, another series of the ill handling, bone rattling, sluggish little beasts that are the Ninco Porsches.
The upside to all of this is that we are usually treated to some very “interesting” racing and all the marshals are kept very much on their toes……apart from maybe Bruce, who finds the very existence of this class tedious & was seen possibly having a doze at one point …..while he was still driving.
Anyway, the first round this year was even more littered with carnage than usual, and it was not all car related either as we shall read about shortly. I’ll come to the results later, but there was one certain episode on the evening that must attract comment first. All was progressing quite nicely (well, as nicely as these cars will allow anyway) through the majority of the heats, with only the standard run of the mill issues cropping up. Ie – Numerous De-slots, vanishing body parts, drivers calling out wrong lanes, marshals returning cars to wrong lanes & complete mechanical failure. All pretty standard for a night of racing.
However, towards the tail end of the racing for this series a most unsavory incident occurred. It was just as yours truly had commenced his first heat & was circulating without too much drama, when – BAM!!! All of a sudden, out of the blue there was blood everywhere & the writers nose needed immediate attention leading to his forced withdrawal from the heats racing. Now, I still don’t quite know what happened, but I can only assume a certain other driver saw my driving as a threat and in the blink of an eye must have lashed out delivering a nasty blow that obviously had the desired effect. Who could do such a thing? Well, only someone with intimate knowledge of the proximity of the driver positions for a start…..and as such it was no co-incidence that the driver immediately to my left was none other than the track owner himself. I will make no further comment on this & leave it up to the reader to make their own judgement of these events.
Anyway, in the racing it was a clear win to Phil Kalbfell (after taking care of the competition) by 2 laps on 103 from the ever-reliable Dave Banoft in 2nd on 101. DB even had the good manners to jump in and drive the writer’s car after the aforementioned emergency to at least minimise the damage caused, which says much of his character and was greatly appreciated.
John Batich grabbed the third podium position on 98 laps, 1 lap ahead of Dave Schofield (who drove very consistently) on 97 laps for the night.
In 5th, and in a 2-way battle, Callan Thomas came out on top on 95, just pipping Rhys Filbee also on 95 laps. Adrian Gray & Rob Golley shared the same total as well (94) but it was Adrian who snuck ahead for 7th with Rob having to settle for 8th. In 9th was Dennis Murray on 90 laps, 1 lap to the good of the writer whose sorry tale ended on 89 laps for the evening & 10th position overall. Scotty Wyman totalled 87 laps for 11th, 1 lap ahead of Dave Gray in 12th (86) with Thomas Males in 13th on 84. Bruce Thomas’s love for these cars would have only been heightened by his 47-lap total & 14th place for the evening.
Only 11 rounds to go Bruce 😊
Race 2 - Stratton Valley - 28/2/23
1st - John Batich
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - John Batich
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Race 3 - Mornington Park - 29/3/23
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Rhys Filbee
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Rob Golley
3rd - Rhys Filbee
Race Report
Round 3
Well, my how time flies. It’s March already (nearly April), and this means that it’s time once again for the next installment of the Porsche Cup. Like other much loved things such as; Phone bills, Council Rates and Health Insurance payments, the Porsche Cup round comes along like clockwork every month and is always highly anticipated from the moment we finish the previous months racing.
However, there are always those naysayers who like to be negative nellies no matter what, and quite frankly there are even such people among our group that are inconceivably unsupportive of the wonderful Ninco Porsches that make up this class. Now I’m not going to name names, that would be unhelpful to Bruce. However I do think that we need to make some effort to help him feel as though his concerns are being taken seriously & support him as far as we can in understanding his feelings on this matter.
So, as a first step along this path I’ve put significant thought into possible solutions to the allegations of a small minority who see this class as; noisy, slow, ill-handling, inconsistent & boring.
What we’ve come up with is a wonderful solution that should really inject some enjoyment into the racing. What we propose is that track owners undertake some minor works & incorporate one of these devices (shown below) into each lane with buttons located at each driver station.
Round 3
Well, my how time flies. It’s March already (nearly April), and this means that it’s time once again for the next installment of the Porsche Cup. Like other much loved things such as; Phone bills, Council Rates and Health Insurance payments, the Porsche Cup round comes along like clockwork every month and is always highly anticipated from the moment we finish the previous months racing.
However, there are always those naysayers who like to be negative nellies no matter what, and quite frankly there are even such people among our group that are inconceivably unsupportive of the wonderful Ninco Porsches that make up this class. Now I’m not going to name names, that would be unhelpful to Bruce. However I do think that we need to make some effort to help him feel as though his concerns are being taken seriously & support him as far as we can in understanding his feelings on this matter.
So, as a first step along this path I’ve put significant thought into possible solutions to the allegations of a small minority who see this class as; noisy, slow, ill-handling, inconsistent & boring.
What we’ve come up with is a wonderful solution that should really inject some enjoyment into the racing. What we propose is that track owners undertake some minor works & incorporate one of these devices (shown below) into each lane with buttons located at each driver station.
We envisage that this option will provide much hilarity, merriment and amusement for all participants as each driver has the opportunity to “take out” the driver in a lane next to them.
Imagine the potential uses.
We feel that the introduction of this function will have an immediate effect on the enjoyment of the Porsche Cup and will result in even stronger bonds of mateship among the group…..
In other news, there WAS some racing last night as well and it was Adrian who coped best with the Ninco Porsches this week to take out the win in a tight finish from Rob Golley in 2nd (both on 110 laps). In third this week & jumping up the results was Rhys Filbee on 109 laps, 1 lap ahead of Callan Thomas in 4th on 108.
It was a two way battle for 5th between Schoee & Phil on 107 laps each, but it was Schoee who took out the place from Phil in 6th.
Chris Priest made a good comeback in his pet event to grab 7th on 101 laps, with Thomas Males in a very solid drive next in line in 8th (99 laps).
Dave Gray grabbed a top 10 spot in 9th with a 94 lap total ahead of a trio of unfortunates, all of who had mechanicals in varying forms of seriousness.
Least serious of those was John Batich who managed to get through 2 complete heats before his problems started & this allowed him to grab 10th on 85 laps. In 11th with technical issues starting halfway through heat 2 was myself on 75 laps, ahead of Scott who suffered similar lead wire issues with just as drastic effects to finish 12th on 73 laps for the night.
Bruce, as punishment for his whinging about this wonderful class, was relegated to 13th despite his lap total of 109.
Bring on April………
Imagine the potential uses.
- Being held up by a driver? slam the button & try to get rid of them without the potential danger of overtaking.
- Have you been punted off by a particular driver? punch the button to hopefully gain a most satisfactory revenge.
We feel that the introduction of this function will have an immediate effect on the enjoyment of the Porsche Cup and will result in even stronger bonds of mateship among the group…..
In other news, there WAS some racing last night as well and it was Adrian who coped best with the Ninco Porsches this week to take out the win in a tight finish from Rob Golley in 2nd (both on 110 laps). In third this week & jumping up the results was Rhys Filbee on 109 laps, 1 lap ahead of Callan Thomas in 4th on 108.
It was a two way battle for 5th between Schoee & Phil on 107 laps each, but it was Schoee who took out the place from Phil in 6th.
Chris Priest made a good comeback in his pet event to grab 7th on 101 laps, with Thomas Males in a very solid drive next in line in 8th (99 laps).
Dave Gray grabbed a top 10 spot in 9th with a 94 lap total ahead of a trio of unfortunates, all of who had mechanicals in varying forms of seriousness.
Least serious of those was John Batich who managed to get through 2 complete heats before his problems started & this allowed him to grab 10th on 85 laps. In 11th with technical issues starting halfway through heat 2 was myself on 75 laps, ahead of Scott who suffered similar lead wire issues with just as drastic effects to finish 12th on 73 laps for the night.
Bruce, as punishment for his whinging about this wonderful class, was relegated to 13th despite his lap total of 109.
Bring on April………
Race 4 - Gotham Park - 26/4/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Dave Bantoft
3rd - Rhys Filbee
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Dave Bantoft
3rd - Rhys Filbee
Race Report
Round 4
It’s April! and we all know what that meant. Time for this months edition of the Ninco Porsche Cup. To make matters even more interesting than usual, round 4 was run on the newly opened Gotham Park track. So it was with some degree of trepidation that these little monsters were unleashed on Bruce’s pride a joy. Luckily scenery at this track is non-existent, so there was no danger of any being damaged by the plentiful de-slots that always accompany this class. If ever there was a class that’s crying out for the addition of magnets on a magnabraid track….this is it.
Anyway, there were none, and so the usual driver and car combinations filtered toward to top of the results. Phil took out another round after a rare drop in performance last round and his total of 95 laps was a clear 4 laps ahead of 2nd placegetter, the consistent Dave Bantoft, on 91. Grabbing third for the 2nd round running was Rhys Filbee. Rhys has been on the improve in recent rounds & his 90 lap total was yet another good solid drive. In 4th, and lucky to be there quite frankly, was yours truly on 89 laps. Battling a recalcitrant car (and controller as it turns out) the only thing positive I can say about this drive is that its finished. On 88 laps & grabbing 5th was John Batich, 3 laps clear of Adrian Gray in 6th on 86 laps for the night.
Rob Golley slotted into 7th with 84 laps, ahead of a tight battle for 8th between Scott Wyman & Thomas Males both finishing on 78 laps. Scott grabbing the track position in this case.
Dave Gray grabbed the last spot in the top 10 this week with a total of 75 laps, and in 11th & last spot this week Bruce Thomas.
Bruce was this week’s victim of the Ninco Porsches “reliability” of which there seem to be at least one or two each week, and this well & truly put paid to Bruces promising start by the time 2 out of his 4 heats had been destroyed.
Round 4
It’s April! and we all know what that meant. Time for this months edition of the Ninco Porsche Cup. To make matters even more interesting than usual, round 4 was run on the newly opened Gotham Park track. So it was with some degree of trepidation that these little monsters were unleashed on Bruce’s pride a joy. Luckily scenery at this track is non-existent, so there was no danger of any being damaged by the plentiful de-slots that always accompany this class. If ever there was a class that’s crying out for the addition of magnets on a magnabraid track….this is it.
Anyway, there were none, and so the usual driver and car combinations filtered toward to top of the results. Phil took out another round after a rare drop in performance last round and his total of 95 laps was a clear 4 laps ahead of 2nd placegetter, the consistent Dave Bantoft, on 91. Grabbing third for the 2nd round running was Rhys Filbee. Rhys has been on the improve in recent rounds & his 90 lap total was yet another good solid drive. In 4th, and lucky to be there quite frankly, was yours truly on 89 laps. Battling a recalcitrant car (and controller as it turns out) the only thing positive I can say about this drive is that its finished. On 88 laps & grabbing 5th was John Batich, 3 laps clear of Adrian Gray in 6th on 86 laps for the night.
Rob Golley slotted into 7th with 84 laps, ahead of a tight battle for 8th between Scott Wyman & Thomas Males both finishing on 78 laps. Scott grabbing the track position in this case.
Dave Gray grabbed the last spot in the top 10 this week with a total of 75 laps, and in 11th & last spot this week Bruce Thomas.
Bruce was this week’s victim of the Ninco Porsches “reliability” of which there seem to be at least one or two each week, and this well & truly put paid to Bruces promising start by the time 2 out of his 4 heats had been destroyed.
Race 5 - Mornington Park - 23/5/23
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - John Batich
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - John Batich
Race 6 - Gotham Park - 27/6/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Race Report
Round 6
A momentous point was reached this week with round 6 of the Porsche Cup series. The 6 month mark means that we are now officially halfway through the series.
There were many reactions to this news – Despair, Dejection, Desperation - and these were among the more positive. However, THE most notable reaction was one involving a complete about face in their thoughts on this class from one of our drivers which tended to coincide with their car performing quite well about halfway through heat 1 of round 6.
Lets look into this phenomenon a little more closely.
SO, in the first 5 rounds this year this particular drivers’ comments on the Ninco Porsche cup cars have tended to mirror his results quite closely. Comments such as “I hate these horrid little cars” seemed to bear out with round results of:
14th, 10th, 13th, 11th, & 8th………
Come to round 6 however, and despite shedding a rear spoiler quite early, his little Ninco Porsche performed exceptionally and even pushed the series dominant car of Phils hard all night. His eventual 2nd place, 1 lap behind Phils 99 lap winning total, represented a huge jump in placings. Interestingly, he seemed to have nothing but praise for these cars for the rest of the evening. Don’t know if this had ANYTHING to do with a home track venue or not…..time will tell.
As far as others went, the much more reliable Dave Bantoft performed in his usual manner & logged 96 laps for 3rd, with Dave Schofeild 4th on 93. A two way battle for 5th & 6th saw myself & JB both finish on 92 laps with the writer just grabbing the position this time round.
Adrian Gray flew around the track in some heats and flew off the track in others to notch up 90 laps and 7th place, a good 4 laps clear of Rhys in 8th on 88 laps for the night.
Thomas Males drove a well-controlled bracket of heats for 82 laps & 9th spot, 1 lap ahead of Scott Wyman in 10th on 81. Dave Gray drove a good 3 heats of 21 laps but faltered on the rather less grippy lane 4 to finish in 11th with 80 laps.
Despite the very sudden change of heart for these cars by one driver, post-race discussion centered on whether we finally ditch the Ninco Porsches for the Porsche Cup, and move to the upgraded class of the RevoSlot Porsche GT2. It seems as though this discussion was well received & a possible mid-year switch may be on the agenda. Keep your eyes on the website for announcements.
Round 6
A momentous point was reached this week with round 6 of the Porsche Cup series. The 6 month mark means that we are now officially halfway through the series.
There were many reactions to this news – Despair, Dejection, Desperation - and these were among the more positive. However, THE most notable reaction was one involving a complete about face in their thoughts on this class from one of our drivers which tended to coincide with their car performing quite well about halfway through heat 1 of round 6.
Lets look into this phenomenon a little more closely.
SO, in the first 5 rounds this year this particular drivers’ comments on the Ninco Porsche cup cars have tended to mirror his results quite closely. Comments such as “I hate these horrid little cars” seemed to bear out with round results of:
14th, 10th, 13th, 11th, & 8th………
Come to round 6 however, and despite shedding a rear spoiler quite early, his little Ninco Porsche performed exceptionally and even pushed the series dominant car of Phils hard all night. His eventual 2nd place, 1 lap behind Phils 99 lap winning total, represented a huge jump in placings. Interestingly, he seemed to have nothing but praise for these cars for the rest of the evening. Don’t know if this had ANYTHING to do with a home track venue or not…..time will tell.
As far as others went, the much more reliable Dave Bantoft performed in his usual manner & logged 96 laps for 3rd, with Dave Schofeild 4th on 93. A two way battle for 5th & 6th saw myself & JB both finish on 92 laps with the writer just grabbing the position this time round.
Adrian Gray flew around the track in some heats and flew off the track in others to notch up 90 laps and 7th place, a good 4 laps clear of Rhys in 8th on 88 laps for the night.
Thomas Males drove a well-controlled bracket of heats for 82 laps & 9th spot, 1 lap ahead of Scott Wyman in 10th on 81. Dave Gray drove a good 3 heats of 21 laps but faltered on the rather less grippy lane 4 to finish in 11th with 80 laps.
Despite the very sudden change of heart for these cars by one driver, post-race discussion centered on whether we finally ditch the Ninco Porsches for the Porsche Cup, and move to the upgraded class of the RevoSlot Porsche GT2. It seems as though this discussion was well received & a possible mid-year switch may be on the agenda. Keep your eyes on the website for announcements.
Race 7 - - 25/7/23
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
Race Report
Race 7 FINAL After 20 years the Ninco GT3 Porsches have run their last race. Back in 2003 we ran the seconf year of Porsche Cup and adopted the Ninco GT3 as the car for the class,at the time they were one of the better quality cars. After 3 years of them we changed cars BUT in 2021 we decided to reserect the Series again using the Ninco Porsche. Earlier this year is was decided that the Ninco's had reached their use by date and will be replaced with more modern Revo Porsches. While many are glad to see the end of the Ninco cars it is sad to see them now relegated to the shelf. Last night was the last race before they are replaced BUT it is ironical that one of the biggest hatters of these cars won the final Race. Bruce was easily the class of the field last night followed by Callan with my self in 3rd place. John Batich was close behind in 4th from Adrian.Dave Banort struggled to fish 5th from Rhys with Rob and Dace Gray on the same lap with Thomas rounding out the field. |
|
|
|
Series Results - - 2023
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - David Bantoft
3rd - John Batich
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - David Bantoft
3rd - John Batich
