Latest news from the team at NWRCCC preparing for the big end-of-year Redstar Hobbies Cup. It’s going to be a ripper day (remember, Sat 8th December!). Click through for all the details:

Redstar Hobbies NWRCCC Cup Update

With just under 2 weeks to go until the Redstar Hobbies NWRCCC Cup – Tasmanian Interclub Series Round 2 we are busy getting everything prepared for what should be an action packed event. Registration for the event has now closed and we have 78 cars registered to hit the track on the 8th of December.

The track is now CLOSED until the start of the Redstar Hobbies NWRCCC Cup as final preparation works are happening at the track today.

Below are a few things to help you out on the day.

Track
Here is a panorama for the current track layout. (Larger photo HERE)

1/10th scale classes will use the cut through after the small triple to avoid the larger 8th scale sized jumps. We will ask the Open Short Course drivers which layout they would prefer on the day so if you are registered to run Open SC have a think about which layout you would like to race on.

The surface is all clay and provides a moderate amount of traction and very minimal tyre wear. The most common tyres to use are the ProLine Calibers or an AKA Cityblock, but Proline Revolvers, AKA I-Beams/Impacts can also be successful during a race meet depending on track conditions. (the softer the better – tyre wear is low, go for super soft compounds if you can…Scott)

What To Bring
A generator is being hired to cater for everyone’s power needs so bring a long extension cable and a power board and expect to be sharing power with others. Unfortunately our undercover pit area has been delayed and won’t have been constructed by the 8th of December so bring some shelter with you if you have it as hopefully it will be a nice day.
Bring yourself a table for you to pit on, there will be some space for people to pit in the track area and then out onto the speedway parking area.

We will have the Kiosk open from 11am till 2pm serving cold drinks and hot food as well as raffle tickets, so bring some money along to spend in the Kiosk.

Don’t forget to bring the cars you intend to race, and the race fee to allow you to race them.
If you are using LiPos then they should be charged and stored in a Fire-Proof LiPo bag at all times unless they are in a car. LiPo fires appear to be few and far between these days but we will have a couple of buckets of sand on standby in case of a battery failure.

Race Format
We hope to have racing commenced by 9am at the very latest, the drivers brief will be around 8:30-8:45 at which time we will also do Concourse.

If we can get started at these times then we should have all the racing wrapped up by 5pm with presentations to follow straight after.

The Race order will be SC Stock, EP Buggy Stock, SC Open, EP Buggy Open, 1/8th EP Buggy, GP Buggy, GP Truggy. There will be up to 15 cars in each heat so the track will be quite crowded in some classes. There may be a large difference in speeds between different drivers so try and give everybody some room to go at there own pace.

The race format will be 4×5 minute qualifying heats and 3×7 minute finals for EP classes and a single 20 minute final for IC classes. We have decided that there will be no practise rounds prior to qualifying. There will be 4 qualifying rounds per class with your single best result to count. So in a way you could count the first round of qualifying as practise knowing you still have 3 more rounds to better your result. Practise was dropped to make it a lot easier to manage the computer.

Qualifying will be a staggered start. The computer will do a 10 second countdown to the start of qualifying, after the start buzzer goes, when you cross the line, your qualifying time will start. If you do not cross the line before the first car to cross the line completes a lap, your timer will be force started. During qualifying you are only racing the clock, so if a faster car catches you during qualifying, chances are you are already behind him in the timing and must let him pass cleanly.

Finals will be 2 out of 3 rounds to count for EP classes, with Qualifying position to count as a tie-breaker if needed. IC will race a single 20 minute final.

Scrutineering will be completed during Qualifying. The scrutineering area will be in the bottom container of the drivers stand and will be split into 2 sections. After you have finished your race, put your car onto one side of the container and then head out to marshal. Cars will be scrutineered while you are marshaling and will be ready for collection once you have finished marshaling.

Tasmanian Interclub Series
The Redstar Hobbies NWRCCC Cup is the second round of the Tasmanian Interclub Series, with the first round having been completed earlier this year at Launceston RC. Rounds 3 and 4 will be held at GOMCC and STMCC early next year. All four clubs competing in the Tasmania Interclub Series are different, and run different classes, and have different membership levels. The interclub points format takes these differences into account and has been worked out between the four clubs. It is as follows:

• Each class with entrants from more than one club will be scored on a 10/8/6/5/4/3/2/1 basis for 1st through 8th positions
• Each club’s TOP 8 drivers best result will count for the interclub series. If a club has less than 8 drivers present then multiple class results from their drivers may count. All other scores after the top 8 are counted will be discarded
• Drivers must be a member of their nominated club to be able to score points. Drivers who hold more than one membership must nominate their point-scoring club prior to racing commencing (we’ve recorded clubs on the entry list – please let us know if we have it wrong!)
• Points will be totaled at the end of the day to provide the Interclub Points.
• The same format will apply to all Interclub events with total points scored over the four events determining the 2012 Tasmanian R/C Club Champion and a perpetual shield awarded

Event Raffle
With thanks to Redstar Hobbies and HEI/Proline, we have some great prizes on offer in the raffle including 2 Atomik Hauler bags, ProLine Tyres and Venom Tools and Accessories split up in to 12 separate prize packs so make sure you head up to the canteen and purchase some tickets in the raffle. Tickets will be on sale for $2 per ticket or 3 tickets for $5. The raffle will be drawn at the conclusion of racing, raffle winners will be limited to 2 prize packs only.

Speedway Event
The Latrobe Speedway will be hosting the Wyllie Tiles Fireworks Spectacular on the evening of the 8th of December starting around 6pm. This will include Sprintcars, Super Sedans, Formula 500, Juniors Sedans, Amcas, Lightning Sprints, Modified Sedans, Karts and Sidecars so if you are up for some more dirt racing head over to the speedway after the Redstar Hobbies NWRCCC Cup. Spectators for this event will begin filing through the gates from 3pm, with the RC racing also on we will probably have some spectators from the Speedway crowd wandering over for a look so just be mindful of these spectators around everyone’s gear, we don’t want to have anything stolen.