Hey Hi Geoff,..others
Yeah,..I Guess, in reality, if you look at the Larger body of people for whom Retro here and overseas is popular with, it is Older Racers,..who I guess it could be argued,..'Found' Retro, Not so Much the Other way around.
It being What it was , isn't, wasn't and I doubt would Ever be envisaged as a 'Beginners' Class as such,..although,..Way Back when I started, This Would have made sense, because there was Nothing you Could buy that was actually Worth Racing.
Competition Cars HAD to be built.
I guess Sydney was a slight 'Anomaly' in that there Was a Body of Humans who WERE interested and Either had Already 'Built' cars, from Scratch, or from Kits.
When strangely a Few Extra Old Bods Like Fox and Myself, Hutch and Others showed interest and with Wayne 'Madly' Building a Whole 'Bunch' of Cars,..it Wasn't Hard to end up with Enough people either 'Vaguely' interested in 'Having a Run', or had or were seriously Building cars.
Here in Sydney, Cars Aren't a Problem even for the 'Casual' Racer, as Many of us have Spare "Good' Raceworthy Cars we can Loan and HSC has a Few as well.
At the Moment,..we are Lacking Racers,..and there Are People who DO have Cars to Race.
As to Chassis availability etc,..Well,..There Were R-Geo bits and Pieces and 'Kits', JK 'Kits' and the Venerable Warmack 'Kit'.
Like Many of the Guys who started Retro here, I got some of the Bits I needed from Overseas, after chatting with people on SlotBlog, I tried to get what I figured I needed here, but (At the Time), it Was difficult
It's fairly Obvious, even as a Casual Observer, that 'Those Steeenkin' Kits', actually go Bloody Well and the JK, Built Plain and Simple IS surprisingly a Damn effective Chassis, with Many Build Possibilities, for those inclined to Experiment.
So,..as Steve King has Often Commented, the Increased 'Interest' Here, Happened, because People were actually Running Good cars around and People got to have a Drive of them and Liked them, after a While a few more had them,..and Then it Grew.
There has been a Lot of 'Jabber' about 'Kits' overseas,..but I don't think that Will prove to be an 'Issue' here.
RudyG's Slick7 Chassis,..apart from being probably a Damn good series of Chassis for Any Class/Form of Racing, could probably also Help with numbers Especially as He will Soon have
Built Chassis available.
CharlesR built and raced one Recently in a Round and TQ'd with it !!
It Looked Good, but Didn't Wipe the Floor with us,...so,...
Seeing as Everyone these days just wants a RTR,..the Slick7 cars could Very well be an Option,...as would I most Graciously suggest could have been Cars built by Yourself,...
I am Damn sure Wayne made some Good 'Beer Money' out of His 'Builds',..
Motors ??,..Yeah,..well we have discussed this Before.
As I didn't Create OR Choose these Motors, (the CheetahII), I DO Have to 'Applaud' the Choice,..(Thinking Purely HSC Locally here btw), as They Do 'Suit' the smaller Johnson Road Course track, Very Well.
Sure it could be argued that a Faster Motor May have been a Better Choice,..BUT,..a Lot of the Guys who were 'Initially' interested in Racing these cars Came from a Flexi/Vintage/Scale car background and interest and I guess arguably Wisely, it was Figured if they Weren';t Too Fast, they would be 'Accessible' to Most,..Especially around that Damn Tricky Little HSC Track !!
I think Racing These Cars around a King or even Kingleman,..Much like the Prospect of the Same on the Big track at Waitara, would be Extremely Dull,..lol
Obviously in Melbourne, as in 'The States', a More Powerful Motor would be the More sensible Choice.
Mind you, compared to the CheetahII and comparitive Longevity say to a Falcon 7, the Cheetah !!'s have Definitely provided Good Performance, Bang for the Buck and Have Lasted Well.
As to CanAm,..Well, I would have to Argue that The Whole 'ERA' of Sports/GT/Endurance AND CanAm was Extremely Popular.
How can ANY serious Car Racing 'NUT' Not Love Hugely Powerful Extraordinary Looking Cars Like the Later McLarens and CanAm Porsches,..let alone cars like the 917.
MY bedroom wall as a Child was Covered in those Cars, with I guess McLaren Orange being a 'Prominent' colour !!!,..lol
I used to 'Sweat' on Copies of Road & Track to arrive to Read about the Latest CanAm races
Personally My Own interest in Local Racing was Also in 'Real' Racing cars,..sure there Was some Fantastic Sports/Sedan style races back then,..but I have Truly Lost Interest in the current V8 Supercars.
In regard to the Nat's etc,..well,..Yes,..One Would Like to Know about these things.
I am simply Reporting the Dates 'as supplied' and Modified from HSC's Calendar (which IS available for download from their site), BUT, I Seriously agree with you in That if I was going to be Holding a Race, I would be Making as Much Noise about it in as Many Places as I thought suitable.
In that regard as well, may I say I am somewhat amazed that so Few people Have made use of either This Forum, or the ASCRA site to either Place Information or Advertise Races or Products etc.
It is ONLY a Very small Group of 'Regulars' that Post on Here Many of Whom aren't racing Retro's at HSC.
Most of those who have stopped turning up aren't even Members here.
I was kiund of hoping some Healthy interest and discussion may have occured amongst the interested local racers, but that has Not been the case, Many observe invisibly, few comment Creatively.
So one Would kinda Have to argue that it's Going to be Damn Hard to have 'Input',..lol
As to whether it IS a Nat's and or should be called that and Why,..ls an 'Issue' I have seen raise it's Ugly Head many times before and IMHO has Never been resolved..
I'd Venture, that as it can be understood WE are running (Modified IRRA rules), which are easily accessible, if It's Called a Nat's and people from a Number of States Turn up to Race with suitable cars, then it Could be Argued that the Event was a Nationally accepted event.
Makes you wonder about the US's "World Series" Baseball eh,...ROFL
Hey Lindsay !!,..Poor Excuse,..
Heck You even have an F1 That requires a Different Chassis AND Body.
Do you Really think that after All the BS that went down over the Coupe Body question that Anyone Would have Cared if you had turned up with ONLY a CanAm body to Race?
Mate You Know as well as I and Could I am sure have assured yourself of same with a call to Wayne, that You Would have been welcome to race,
This is about Having FUN,..NOT being Rule Nazi's,...
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