Race 1 - Stratton Valley - 17/1/23
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Bruce Thomas
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Bruce Thomas
Race Report
Round 1
After an aborted attempt last week at Dave Grays which left 3 computer “whizz’s” scratching their heads, we finally got Round 1 of the RevoSlot GTs off & running this week at Stratton Valley.
Another 2nd running of another handout Class, this series has been eagerly awaited by many since its inception in 2019. The quick & well made out of the box cars in this class are (usually) a joy to drive & (mostly) lead to close & exciting racing…………
Having said this, I don’t seem to remember the sheer amount of body parts littering the trackside when we ran these cars the first time ? Tonight’s round, however, was more like a smash-em-up derby & marshalls were kept quite busy collecting spoilers & building up an accumulation of parts at the side of the track.
One advantage this class is the fully metal chassis that gives the car a nice balance of weight with little or no additional weight required to make this a great running car. One disadvantage of this series is the fully metal chassis which means the impact of any crash tends to be rather severe, and we saw a number of these impacts this evening. In fact one of our Marshalls was so distressed by the sight of repeated impacts on a particularly lovely looking Toyota Supra, that he offered to confiscate the car in question so as to preserve what little there was left of the livery.
There were some drivers who managed to avoid the worst of the carnage though. Callan Thomas showed what he is capable of with a well-balanced car (Marcos) and decent tyres to blitz the round & take out first place on 87 laps. This was 3 laps clear of the writers Marcos & the Supra of Bruce Thomas both on 84 laps. In this case 2nd place went to myself just pipping Bruce into 3rd on track position. Another very tight battle for 4th & 5th saw two cars end up on 83 laps with Rob Golleys Viper pipping John Batichs Marcos into 4th. Rhys Filbee was on his own for 6th on 81 laps.
Another three drivers battled for 7, 8th & 9th all finishing on 80 laps, and this time it was Dave Bantoft (Porsche) who took out 7th, just beating Adrian Gray (Marcos) & Phil Kalbfell (whose Viper finished with significantly less body work than it started with). On 73 laps & in 10th was the JPS Toyota Supra of Scott Wayman, ahead of Dave Schofields Supra in 11th on 69 laps. Dave Gray in another Porsche grabbed 12th on 68 laps from Thomas Males (who just survived Bruces threat of confiscation!) on 66 laps.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Also, in a general observation made about these these current two classes, it doesn't seem a co-incidence that recent Hand Out cars, with very few tweaks allowed, seem to offer some of the closest racing (over the entire field) in all of our many classes of cars...........Just sayin' :-)
Round 1
After an aborted attempt last week at Dave Grays which left 3 computer “whizz’s” scratching their heads, we finally got Round 1 of the RevoSlot GTs off & running this week at Stratton Valley.
Another 2nd running of another handout Class, this series has been eagerly awaited by many since its inception in 2019. The quick & well made out of the box cars in this class are (usually) a joy to drive & (mostly) lead to close & exciting racing…………
Having said this, I don’t seem to remember the sheer amount of body parts littering the trackside when we ran these cars the first time ? Tonight’s round, however, was more like a smash-em-up derby & marshalls were kept quite busy collecting spoilers & building up an accumulation of parts at the side of the track.
One advantage this class is the fully metal chassis that gives the car a nice balance of weight with little or no additional weight required to make this a great running car. One disadvantage of this series is the fully metal chassis which means the impact of any crash tends to be rather severe, and we saw a number of these impacts this evening. In fact one of our Marshalls was so distressed by the sight of repeated impacts on a particularly lovely looking Toyota Supra, that he offered to confiscate the car in question so as to preserve what little there was left of the livery.
There were some drivers who managed to avoid the worst of the carnage though. Callan Thomas showed what he is capable of with a well-balanced car (Marcos) and decent tyres to blitz the round & take out first place on 87 laps. This was 3 laps clear of the writers Marcos & the Supra of Bruce Thomas both on 84 laps. In this case 2nd place went to myself just pipping Bruce into 3rd on track position. Another very tight battle for 4th & 5th saw two cars end up on 83 laps with Rob Golleys Viper pipping John Batichs Marcos into 4th. Rhys Filbee was on his own for 6th on 81 laps.
Another three drivers battled for 7, 8th & 9th all finishing on 80 laps, and this time it was Dave Bantoft (Porsche) who took out 7th, just beating Adrian Gray (Marcos) & Phil Kalbfell (whose Viper finished with significantly less body work than it started with). On 73 laps & in 10th was the JPS Toyota Supra of Scott Wayman, ahead of Dave Schofields Supra in 11th on 69 laps. Dave Gray in another Porsche grabbed 12th on 68 laps from Thomas Males (who just survived Bruces threat of confiscation!) on 66 laps.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Also, in a general observation made about these these current two classes, it doesn't seem a co-incidence that recent Hand Out cars, with very few tweaks allowed, seem to offer some of the closest racing (over the entire field) in all of our many classes of cars...........Just sayin' :-)
Race 2 - Shelmore Park- 25/1/23
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
Race Report
Round 2
The 2nd round of the RevoSlot GT series, saw more of the same from the 1st round. More very close racing & many drivers ending up on the same number of laps all the way down the rounds results.
“More of the same” also referred to the overall winner on the night. Callan Thomas once again showed his liking for this class & his expertise in a car that’s even remotely well setup, something that he’s not usually used to having available for him to drive.
Callans total of 114 laps this week was 1 lap clear of 2nd place-getter (the writers car) on 113, which again was 2 laps clear of 3rd place-getter Phil Kalbfell on 111 laps for the night.
Bruce’s interest in slot car racing suddenly seemed to take an upturn once this class started on the night & his competitive 109 laps was enough for him to just outpoint John Batich into 4th spot, with JB missing out on track position & having to settle for 5th. The next two drivers also shared a lap total and with 107 laps it was Rob Golley grabbing 6th ahead of Rhys Filbee again on track position. Dave Schofield was next in line all on his own with 106 laps in 7th, and this even after Schoee insisted on trying to sabotage his own heats by leaving his car on the wrong lane at the start of his 3rd heat.
Schoee’s bewilderment as to the complete loss of car control was soon found to be caused by him not actually controlling his car.
Adrian Gray was next in line finishing in 9th on 103 laps, 1 lap to the good of Dennis Murray (10th) on 102. Yet another pairing of drivers were locked together on 101 laps in the battle for 11th & 12th. Dave Bantoft just grabbed the place over Scott Wyman on this occasion.
Thomas Males effort this was no doubt still impacted by Bruce’s threat of the week before, and he circulated very carefully to notch up 91 laps & finish 13th, just 1 lap ahead of Dave Gray in 14th spot this week on 90 laps.
Round 2
The 2nd round of the RevoSlot GT series, saw more of the same from the 1st round. More very close racing & many drivers ending up on the same number of laps all the way down the rounds results.
“More of the same” also referred to the overall winner on the night. Callan Thomas once again showed his liking for this class & his expertise in a car that’s even remotely well setup, something that he’s not usually used to having available for him to drive.
Callans total of 114 laps this week was 1 lap clear of 2nd place-getter (the writers car) on 113, which again was 2 laps clear of 3rd place-getter Phil Kalbfell on 111 laps for the night.
Bruce’s interest in slot car racing suddenly seemed to take an upturn once this class started on the night & his competitive 109 laps was enough for him to just outpoint John Batich into 4th spot, with JB missing out on track position & having to settle for 5th. The next two drivers also shared a lap total and with 107 laps it was Rob Golley grabbing 6th ahead of Rhys Filbee again on track position. Dave Schofield was next in line all on his own with 106 laps in 7th, and this even after Schoee insisted on trying to sabotage his own heats by leaving his car on the wrong lane at the start of his 3rd heat.
Schoee’s bewilderment as to the complete loss of car control was soon found to be caused by him not actually controlling his car.
Adrian Gray was next in line finishing in 9th on 103 laps, 1 lap to the good of Dennis Murray (10th) on 102. Yet another pairing of drivers were locked together on 101 laps in the battle for 11th & 12th. Dave Bantoft just grabbed the place over Scott Wyman on this occasion.
Thomas Males effort this was no doubt still impacted by Bruce’s threat of the week before, and he circulated very carefully to notch up 91 laps & finish 13th, just 1 lap ahead of Dave Gray in 14th spot this week on 90 laps.
Race 3 - Mornington Park - 31/1/23
1st - BruceThomas
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Rob Golley
1st - BruceThomas
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Rob Golley
Race 4 - Stratton Valley - 7/2/23
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Adrian Gray
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Adrian Gray
Race Report
Round 4
In preparing to write up this report I decided to do a bit of a walk through the history books and take a look at some of the results from the last time we ran the Revoslot class back in the dim distant past (2021). Given that this was a Handout car back in 2019, and that this is only the 3rd time the series has been run, one might have thought that the field of cars would be relatively similar, if not exactly the same (with one or two new car & driver additions perhaps).
But no, it seems on reflection that so many drivers were that unsatisfied with their handout car that half the field has been changed & drivers actually running the car that they were given seem to be in the minority...........Take this picture as an example. The final top three from the 2021 series:
Round 4
In preparing to write up this report I decided to do a bit of a walk through the history books and take a look at some of the results from the last time we ran the Revoslot class back in the dim distant past (2021). Given that this was a Handout car back in 2019, and that this is only the 3rd time the series has been run, one might have thought that the field of cars would be relatively similar, if not exactly the same (with one or two new car & driver additions perhaps).
But no, it seems on reflection that so many drivers were that unsatisfied with their handout car that half the field has been changed & drivers actually running the car that they were given seem to be in the minority...........Take this picture as an example. The final top three from the 2021 series:
From this, only Callan has remained true to his team, with both Bruce & Phil are running different cars.
And going back further to 2019 (according to Schoees excellent memory) we would have seen another 3 completely different cars run by these three drivers. They seem to change cars more often than they change their minds. Anyway, from the 2021 photo above Callan obviously has lost nothing since then & his car remains a top contender. Bruce, after swapping his Viper for a Supra this series, has taken a little to get his new car up to speed, but results in the last two round suggest that he is well on the way to making this choice a good one. Phil seems to have slipped backwards a little with his new Viper (or maybe it’s the same one with a repaint?) and his results haven’t been consistent top 3 as yet.
Anyway, interesting to take a look at this against a background of the talk of making the Revoslot Porsches the default class for the Porsche Cup as of 2024. It might stimulate discussion from those running Porsches in this series if they wouldn’t be better off swapping to one of the other marques (Supra, Marcos, Viper) as the Porsches do seem to be ever so slightly off the pace compared to the other three. Perhaps another point of discussion might be whether we allow one more model into this class to allow for more choice, something like the Ferrari F40 (shown below) perhaps ?
And going back further to 2019 (according to Schoees excellent memory) we would have seen another 3 completely different cars run by these three drivers. They seem to change cars more often than they change their minds. Anyway, from the 2021 photo above Callan obviously has lost nothing since then & his car remains a top contender. Bruce, after swapping his Viper for a Supra this series, has taken a little to get his new car up to speed, but results in the last two round suggest that he is well on the way to making this choice a good one. Phil seems to have slipped backwards a little with his new Viper (or maybe it’s the same one with a repaint?) and his results haven’t been consistent top 3 as yet.
Anyway, interesting to take a look at this against a background of the talk of making the Revoslot Porsches the default class for the Porsche Cup as of 2024. It might stimulate discussion from those running Porsches in this series if they wouldn’t be better off swapping to one of the other marques (Supra, Marcos, Viper) as the Porsches do seem to be ever so slightly off the pace compared to the other three. Perhaps another point of discussion might be whether we allow one more model into this class to allow for more choice, something like the Ferrari F40 (shown below) perhaps ?
On to this week’s racing, and it was Bruce Thomas (as mentioned earlier) whose final heat took him past 2 drivers & into the top spot on the podium. His 84 lap total was the same total as 2nd place-getter (myself) & 3rd place-getter, Adrian Gray. A great battle for the top 3 this week & every week in this series it seems.
Just 1 lap back on 83 another great battle for places 4 & 5 between Phil Kalbfell & Rob Golley. Phil took out the honours this week. Dave Schofield drove a very good bracket of heats to finish in 6th on 81 laps, 1 lap clear of Rhys Filbee (7th) on 80. Dave Bantoft (78) and Nick Golley (77) filled positions 8 & 9 with Scott Wyman rounding out the top 10 on 73 laps for the night.
Thomas Males was 1 spot back in 11th on 69, Dave Gray in 12th on 66 & John Batich, with a very unfortunate mechanical affecting his night, 13th on 65 laps. Deserved a far better result than this JB.
Just 1 lap back on 83 another great battle for places 4 & 5 between Phil Kalbfell & Rob Golley. Phil took out the honours this week. Dave Schofield drove a very good bracket of heats to finish in 6th on 81 laps, 1 lap clear of Rhys Filbee (7th) on 80. Dave Bantoft (78) and Nick Golley (77) filled positions 8 & 9 with Scott Wyman rounding out the top 10 on 73 laps for the night.
Thomas Males was 1 spot back in 11th on 69, Dave Gray in 12th on 66 & John Batich, with a very unfortunate mechanical affecting his night, 13th on 65 laps. Deserved a far better result than this JB.
Race 5 - Shelmore Park- 15/2/23
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Bruce Thomas
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Bruce Thomas
Race Report
Round 5
Another round, another Thomas. That’s been the story of the RevoSlot series so far. After a two week break from Callan, during which Bruce stepped in for 2 wins, Callan returned for round 5 & took up exactly where he left off with a 3rd win out of 3 rounds for the series. Despite the handicap of leaving the extensive preparation of his car up to Bruce (ie, glueing in a bit of weight), The missing weight didn’t seem to have too great an effect on Callans driving & his lap total of 115 was enough. Things were slightly closer than in previous wins though and two drivers were only 1 lap back on 114 fighting over 2nd place. In the end it was the writers car which managed to pip Bruce Thomas for 2nd place leaving Bruce to settle for 3rd. This despite some “sandwiching” tactics on behalf of Bruce & Phil for lap after lap designed to unsettle my driving in 1 heat………which worked in the end. Mind you, its just as well the scrutineers don't insist on scrutineering race numbers to identify the cars by hey Bruce !
In a clear 4th this week was Phil on 112 laps in his latest Viper Livery (that’s three isn’t it ?), 2 laps clear of 5th place-getter Adrian Gray on 110. Ever consistent in this series, Rob Golley was next in line just 1 lap back on 109 & finishing in 6th. A battle royale over 7th & 8th was fought between Dave Bantoft & John Batich each racking up 107 laps, but it was DB who took the points over JB in the battle of the “Bs”
Dave Schofield was next in line (9th ) all by himself on 106 laps, 1 lap ahead of Dennis Murray in the very well presented orange & black Viper on 104 laps for the final top 10 position. Rhys Filbee totalled 102 laps for 11th, Scott Wyman, 97 laps for 12th, Dave Gray, 95 laps (13th) & Thomas Males rounded out a great field of 14 with 92 laps for the evening.
Round 5
Another round, another Thomas. That’s been the story of the RevoSlot series so far. After a two week break from Callan, during which Bruce stepped in for 2 wins, Callan returned for round 5 & took up exactly where he left off with a 3rd win out of 3 rounds for the series. Despite the handicap of leaving the extensive preparation of his car up to Bruce (ie, glueing in a bit of weight), The missing weight didn’t seem to have too great an effect on Callans driving & his lap total of 115 was enough. Things were slightly closer than in previous wins though and two drivers were only 1 lap back on 114 fighting over 2nd place. In the end it was the writers car which managed to pip Bruce Thomas for 2nd place leaving Bruce to settle for 3rd. This despite some “sandwiching” tactics on behalf of Bruce & Phil for lap after lap designed to unsettle my driving in 1 heat………which worked in the end. Mind you, its just as well the scrutineers don't insist on scrutineering race numbers to identify the cars by hey Bruce !
In a clear 4th this week was Phil on 112 laps in his latest Viper Livery (that’s three isn’t it ?), 2 laps clear of 5th place-getter Adrian Gray on 110. Ever consistent in this series, Rob Golley was next in line just 1 lap back on 109 & finishing in 6th. A battle royale over 7th & 8th was fought between Dave Bantoft & John Batich each racking up 107 laps, but it was DB who took the points over JB in the battle of the “Bs”
Dave Schofield was next in line (9th ) all by himself on 106 laps, 1 lap ahead of Dennis Murray in the very well presented orange & black Viper on 104 laps for the final top 10 position. Rhys Filbee totalled 102 laps for 11th, Scott Wyman, 97 laps for 12th, Dave Gray, 95 laps (13th) & Thomas Males rounded out a great field of 14 with 92 laps for the evening.
Race 6 - Shelmore Park- 21/2/23
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Mal O'May
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Mal O'May
Round 6
The Bruce & Denny show (whoops sorry)……
The Bruce & Callan show ........
......continued again this week in the return to Shelmore park for round 6 of the Revoslot series. Only 1 round to go of these wonderful cars & the prospect of packing them away for another 2 years seems hard to contemplate. Hopefully the proposed changes to next years Porsche Cup car specs may allow us to revisit a Revoslot based class sooner rather than later.
I’ve no doubt this mooted proposal would get full support from both Bruce and Callan, given their domination of this years Revoslots. Callan turned up for his 4th race of the series, and typically notched up his 4th win for the series. The only reason that the overall winner of the series is not done & dusted already was Callan's 2 round sabbatical during rounds 3 & 4. The advantage of re-attaching the missing weight in Callans car was obvious this week & he managed to total 115 laps for the evening…..exactly the same total as the weightless car the previous week! Anyway, about the only thing this proves is that his results are more about the driver than the car.
2 laps back & moving up 1 spot this week was the “other” Thomas. Bruce wasn’t without some slight troubles during his heats, but his 113 laps was still enough to take 2nd from myself by the length of the finish straight. Sadly the finish straight also includes the lap counter, so I was also a lap down on 112 laps. A good battle for 4th was also fought between Phil & JB on 111 laps this evening, but it was Phil again who grabbed the position, just ahead of JB in a very much improved result. JB finally showing what his car is capable of notched up an impressive 29 laps during his lane 3 stint and this saw him finish in 5th this evening.
Rob, more consistent in this class, totaled 110 laps for 6th, ahead of Adrian Gray in 7th on 109 laps. Adrian's lap times were among the quickest of the night (behind only Callan's) but suffered some unfortunate offs across his heats to put paid to a top 3 result.
Rhys found some better form this week, and his Porsche was the quickest of the 2 on show to jump into 8th on 108 laps. 3 laps back in 9th, Dave Schofield in his Supra, has shown good consistent pace over the whole series, but just hasn’t quite managed to put an entire batch of heats together in any given round. Dave Bantoft's Porsche had its struggles this week and he filled the final position in the top 10 on 103 laps ahead of Scott Wyman in 11th on 97 laps & Thomas Males in 12th this week on 93 laps. Thomas might have some repairs to undertake on the lovely Marlboro Supra as the rear wing was dealt a savage blow towards the end of his last heat and was seen spinning to the edge of the track just after the Dunlop Bridge.
The Bruce & Denny show (whoops sorry)……
The Bruce & Callan show ........
......continued again this week in the return to Shelmore park for round 6 of the Revoslot series. Only 1 round to go of these wonderful cars & the prospect of packing them away for another 2 years seems hard to contemplate. Hopefully the proposed changes to next years Porsche Cup car specs may allow us to revisit a Revoslot based class sooner rather than later.
I’ve no doubt this mooted proposal would get full support from both Bruce and Callan, given their domination of this years Revoslots. Callan turned up for his 4th race of the series, and typically notched up his 4th win for the series. The only reason that the overall winner of the series is not done & dusted already was Callan's 2 round sabbatical during rounds 3 & 4. The advantage of re-attaching the missing weight in Callans car was obvious this week & he managed to total 115 laps for the evening…..exactly the same total as the weightless car the previous week! Anyway, about the only thing this proves is that his results are more about the driver than the car.
2 laps back & moving up 1 spot this week was the “other” Thomas. Bruce wasn’t without some slight troubles during his heats, but his 113 laps was still enough to take 2nd from myself by the length of the finish straight. Sadly the finish straight also includes the lap counter, so I was also a lap down on 112 laps. A good battle for 4th was also fought between Phil & JB on 111 laps this evening, but it was Phil again who grabbed the position, just ahead of JB in a very much improved result. JB finally showing what his car is capable of notched up an impressive 29 laps during his lane 3 stint and this saw him finish in 5th this evening.
Rob, more consistent in this class, totaled 110 laps for 6th, ahead of Adrian Gray in 7th on 109 laps. Adrian's lap times were among the quickest of the night (behind only Callan's) but suffered some unfortunate offs across his heats to put paid to a top 3 result.
Rhys found some better form this week, and his Porsche was the quickest of the 2 on show to jump into 8th on 108 laps. 3 laps back in 9th, Dave Schofield in his Supra, has shown good consistent pace over the whole series, but just hasn’t quite managed to put an entire batch of heats together in any given round. Dave Bantoft's Porsche had its struggles this week and he filled the final position in the top 10 on 103 laps ahead of Scott Wyman in 11th on 97 laps & Thomas Males in 12th this week on 93 laps. Thomas might have some repairs to undertake on the lovely Marlboro Supra as the rear wing was dealt a savage blow towards the end of his last heat and was seen spinning to the edge of the track just after the Dunlop Bridge.
Race 7 - Stratton Valley - 28/2/23
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Rob Golley
1st - Callan Thomas
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Rob Golley
Overall Series Results - Top 3
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Rob Golley
1st - Bruce Thomas
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Rob Golley
