The last of our raffle prizes from our sponsor, Action RC arrived last night and adds more goodies to our massive raffle prize pool.  The new items are:

• Schumacher Off Road Wing – Black
• Schumacher Off Road Wing – White
• Speed Passion Ultra Sportsman 17.5 Brushless Motor
• Speed Passion Ultra Sportsman 17.5 Brushless Motor

There is only three sleeps untill Friday Night practice, so make sure that your Trucks and buggies are all primed and ready to go, because very soon it will be racing time! Not sure what you should be doing, try have a look at our article about Preparing for a Major Meet.

There are a few things that you need to remember on the day of racing as well, we will post up a few of these through the week this week.

Marshalling
As soon as you have finished your race, take your car to the table at race control, along with your radio transmitter, and leave them there while you head out to your marshaling position on the track.  If you have broken something, fix it after your marshaling or arrange for somebody else to marshal for you.  This is YOUR responsibility.  While you are marshaling there may be scturineering checks to ensure that your vehicle complies with the regulations for your class.

While marshaling on the track your eyes and mind should be on the race in front of you, and the area of the track that is your responsibility.  Your primary focus should not be who is winning, or the conversation that you are having, but on helping any stranded vehicles on the track in your area of responsibility.

If you are being marshaled, please ensure that you wait patiently for your marshal.  Do not keep your finger on the accelerator as your vehicle will not be marshaled until the wheels have stopped turning.  Marshals will hold their arms in the air above them and wait until you have stopped.  This is for the safety of marshals, not to show your impatience.  Do not yell at marshals across the track, this may result in a penalty being applied to you during this race or the next. For more information on Marshaling look at this article about how to be a better Marshall.

Penalties
There are a range of penalties that can be applied to you for a range of offences.  Offensive language and abuse of any kind will not be tolerated as per our Code of Behaviour / Ethics.

Hacking, or deliberately forcing cars out of your way, is not tolerated, and will result in a penalty being applied.  The same goes for regular cutting of corners or taking shortcuts.  If you come off and find yourself ahead of where you should be, pause until the time when your car would have reached the same point.  The same goes for if you knock out another vehicle, you should pause until that vehicle has been marshaled so that you gain no advantage from the accident.  Failure to do so can result in a penalty being applied.

Penalties range in severity and time.  The most common penalty is a Stop/Go penalty where you have to come to a complete stop in the penalty box near race control before moving off again. The next most sever is being Black Flagged, which means that you are removed from the race, and your result for that race forfeited.  Qualifying points can also be docked, right through to being asked to leave the premises in extreme cases.  However Launceston RC has always been a family friendly event, so we hope that none of these penalties will be needed.

More hints, tips and news tomorrow, Richard