Tether Car Section Anniversary Championships

26 October 2008

This year’s Anniversary Championships for the Sydney Society of Model Engineers were held on a warm Spring day in late October. A strong field of over 50 cars was present, a great showing given the limited attendance by the Queensland club due to ill health and other reasons.

With the recent drought compounding some soil instability, we have discovered the track surface has tilted by some 45 mm, and as such our speeds were a little down on regular performances. The results of 10 cc A grade (Class V) illustrated this with Bob Buckley taking first place with a modest 315 km/hr, closely followed by John Walker’s 312 km/hr and Scott Clydesdale in third place at 310 km/hr. It was good to see Lou Curto back in the fray, coming in at sixth place with his late father-in-law’s rainbow painted FTL Picco car.

Tony Peacock romped away with the 5 cc A grade (Class IV), taking top honours with a 286 km/hr run. Glenn Bransby and Craig Tulloch covered the remainder of the podium spots.

And this year 1.5 cc A grade (Class I) was a mixed affair, with Karl Sepetauc taking first place with 207 km/hr, while Allan Barnes and Kevin Barker struggled to achieve fast runs.

It was also good to see Dale Larsen attending and running her late-father’s beautifully presented Meteor powered car. She won the day with an impressive 207 km/hr, followed by Tony Peacock and Doug Sinclair. Tony continued his recent run of bad luck by breaking his engine’s 45 year old crankshaft, giving him some work to do before the car’s next outing.

As always 10 cc C grade (unpiped) was a tough battle, with John Walker’s Rossi powered car taking top spot at 225 km/hr, followed by John Uden’s very well presented OPS car second and Scott Clydesdale’s ‘Silver Bullet’ edging out his father Ron from third place.

There were a couple of new cars run on the day, and more on display that are not far off completion. Owen Wuillemin had his billet milled, front-wheel-drive OPS car on the track for the first time, as did Scott Clydesdale with his Picco RC60 powered car. Both cars performed reasonably well before the inevitable teething issues ended their runs. Owen’s car lost a drive wheel and Scott’s loosened a flywheel taper, but it looks like C grade will continue to become more competitive. New member John Waldock had his nearly finished Dooling F on display and Tony Peacock’s Hornet powered King Lightning car was also on show.

The times in 5 cc B grade (unpiped) class were unusually sporadic, with Glenn Bransby recording an impressive 200 km/hr to win, followed by Ron Clydesdale’s 185 km/hr run. Scott Clydesdale came in third at 165 km/hr after running out of fuel a couple of laps from the end of his timed run. Tony Peacock and John Weston had some issues with their usually reliable cars and both finished the day without recording a time.

And a huge field of 3.5 cc cars vied for the top spot in the 3.5 cc M class. It was taken by John Walker and his Picco powered car at 181 km/hr, closely followed by Rick Munro 177.3 km/hr who edged out Ron Clydesdale.

The Harold King Trophy was won by Glenn Bransby for recording a time that was just 0.094 km/hr from his nominated speed.

The event would not have been the success it was without the assistance of the members and wives who provided the meals and snacks. Thanks to Lyn Peacock, Dale Larsen and Wendy Sinclair for their efforts catering and time keeping throughout the day. Thanks also to the various members who spent time on the centre pole and those who managed the cables and gate marshalling for the event.

Karl Sepetauc and his Picco  powered Denneler car.	Bob Buckley and his Picco powered Holliday car.	Section leader Doug Sinclair and race organiser Scott Clydesdale.

John Waldock and Glenn Bransby.	Kevin Barker 1.5cc and M cars.	Owen Wuillemin and his OPS car.

By Scott Clydesdale

Many thanks to Scott for the report and pictures.