6 June 2010 - Mildura, Australia.

Report by Michael "The Doctor" Salis, photos by Peter Brady

This years event saw 87 entries across 8 classes raced on a new track layout – with most of the track preparation work being done by Simon Ryan. Hats off to Simon as the track was very good – the only exception being a few nasty bumps at the end of the main straight. One part of the track that caught out many drivers was the tabletop at the rear of the track – if you carried too much speed over it you would miss the corner straight after it. Gone was the section commonly referred to as the “swimming pool”, replaced by what shall be known as “humpback bridge” from this time onwards. The esses were still there and were great if you got the line right.

The track was soft to walk on in the morning but as the day went, it hardened up and began to generate a black groove in paces by the time the finals started.

All in all the track held up very well, the only niggle I had being that it was only blown for qualifying and not for the finals – a fine dust started to form on top but it didn’t seem to affect the excellent grip the track was producing too much.

At the drivers meeting, it was clear that the single fastest time of day would be used to decide qualifying order for the finals. I don’t think this was a good choice and I still don’t understand why this method was used given that track was changing every round and consistent driving was not rewarded.

It was also great to see sunny weather compared to the rain which plagued last years event. There was a sun shower on Saturday afternoon which moistened up the track but that was all - a far cry from the weather in Melbourne on the same day!

Tyres

Some of the tires being used early in the morning when the track was sticky were the JC Goosebumps in blue compound. The Proline Calibre tires were also working well and some people were even trying the JC Barcodes. As the track started to black groove, out came the Losi X-2000’s. I would personally like to see a control tyre introduced for the Coleman Cup.

In The Pits

There was not a heap of new gear on display, however I did notice the following:

Team C Racing

Team C was out in force at the race finishing 1st in 2wd stock and 2nd and 3rd in 2wd modified. Leigh Cheeseman, now driving the Team C car (I wonder if the C stands for Cheeseman) was sporting lots of new parts including new front/rear hub carriers, a great looking alloy front bulkhead with a removable brass weight, and a rear carbon pivot plate. The car looked excellent on the track and was getting faster every run. It also looked the best over the bumps at the end of the straight.

Team C also has a truck and all the above parts fit that as well.

The 4wd car looked good but rumour had it some cars were running Hotboddies transmission parts. Lets hope they fix the gearbox problems as the car looks really good.

Kyosho

Spotted on Matt Griffin’s RB5-SP2 was the center motor mount modification which moves the motor to the center of the car by 8mm. Looking at the car on the track, it seemed to jump straighter and looked a lot happier in corners.

Durango

Nothing new could be seen on Jeff Primmer’s car however he had it working very well. I believe the Durango is the best jumping 4wd on the market and look forward to driving one myself later in the year.

X-Factory

Michael Salis was the sole X6. Spotted on his pit table was the Brian Kinwald front end modification which moves the front hubs 13mm forward. Not only does this extend the wheelbase but it also results in less wheel scrub. The steering race is also reversed to give true Ackerman angles. Due to time constraints, Michael did not have time to test the modification but stay tuned to see whether it provides a noticeable improvement.

Schumacher

Surprisingly only one Schumacher was running and that was the 4wd CAT SX car belonging to Gerry Maya. Nothing new could be seen but the car looked good. No Cougar SV 2wd’s were running but after seeing the car, all I can say is it looks like a weapon. Expect to see many more at the next big race meet.

Hobbywing V2 Speed Controller – 120 Amp

Many drivers were running the new stock firmware in their speedies and they looked extremely fast. At $190 RRP they are a great buy.

Losi / Associated

Nothing to see here but I have heard that a new B4 is coming with a new LiPo chassis and refined parts.


Jeff Primmer's Durango		Cheeseman works on his Team C special

Symes car is tuned to perfection		The other half of Team C - Thiel and Cameron

2WD 540

This class was strange as there were two or three different types of motors being used and some were a lot faster than others – some even fast enough to make the Stock A final. Lets hope this class can be cleaned up before the Coleman Cup and everyone is running a Jonson 540 with silver end bell as per the rules.

This class was eventually won by David Engledow with his fastest time being in Round 1 – a 10 laps 5:25s. Ant Howard was running an immaculate Cougar II team car from the early nineties and it took the race to its more modern competitors, finishing in a respectable 5th overall.


Ant Howard's Cougar		The drivers line up

Old vs new		And old prevails

2wd Stock

This class was super tight and all drivers who made the A final should be very happy. The A final had some of the best stock drivers in Victoria in it and it was a real battle.

Shaun Thiel TQ’ed with his Team C car from Logan Symes and his B4 in 2nd and Jeff Primmer in his Losi XXX-CR in 3rd. In the finals, it was Shaun Thiel 1st from Logan Symes and Andrew Crowe (just edging out Michael Salis on count back).


Jeff Primmer puts it on two wheels		Pete Crowe's RB5

Primmer's Losi XXX-CR		Salis's X6

Salis from Primmer and Symes		Thiel's Team C weapon

2wd Modified

The Matt Griffin show rolled into town with his Kyosho RB5 getting faster and faster with every race (thanks to his new sponsor Panadol). Matt was fastest all day with his fastest time coming in Round 1 – 11 laps 5:22s. Final positions were Matt Griffin 1st, Scott Cameron 2nd, and Leigh Cheeseman 3rd – both Scott and Leigh driving Team C cars.


Drivers ready to race		Griffin's RB5

Over the step down section		A clean start

Full lock		Drivers take the jump three wide

4wd 540

TQ and overall winner was Jai Davis with a fastest time of 10 laps 5:24s in Round 3. Daniel Sims was 2nd and Chris Davis 3rd.

4wd Stock

This class has been dominated by Logan Symes in recent times and nothing changed at this meet. Logan TQ’ed with a super fast time of 11 laps 5:13s which would have put him 3rd on the grid for the 4wd modified final. Logan cleaned up in the finals, with Shaun Thiel in 2nd and Jeff Primmer in 3rd.

4wd Modified

Once again Matt Griffin was TQ with a fastest time of 11 laps 5:03s in his Laser FS. Mark Rogers was a man on a mission and looked like the only driver to really push Griffin all day. Griffin ended up taking the win from Rogers in 2nd and Scott Cameron in 3rd.


Start of qualifying		Cameron's Team C

Chisholm's D4		Griffin's Laser FS

Stock Truck

Truck was the biggest class for the weekend with 20 drivers competing. TQ went to Shaun Thiel and his Team C truck. 2nd was Nigel Spokes and 3rd was Michael Salis. Marcel Morton, a relatively newcomer to the class was 4th with a great drive.

The first final was close with the top three drivers fighting it out for position. At the start of the second final, Nigel Spokes truck had so much power it popped a wheel stand which continued down the straight and off the end of the track. In the end, it was Shaun Thiel 1st, Salis in 2nd and Matt Thurling in 3rd (on count back).


Thiel from Spokes and Salis		Salis goes nose up

Thiel's truck took the jumps beautifully		Wooster looks on as some trucks get airbourne

SC Truck

This was the cleanest SC Truck racing I’ve seen so far with drivers racing and not bashing into each other – great to see! The SC’s looked really good on the track with drivers starting to sort out shock oils and springs which actually work. Associated, Traxxas and Losi’s were the most popular chassis and all were equally competitive. 17.5’s were the motor of choice.

Racing was very close all weekend with Luke Smith TQ’ing in Round 3 with a flying 10 laps 5:15s. Luke went on to win from Bruce Shoemark in 2nd and Bradley Mathesson in 3rd.

Drive of the day in SC was Belinda Thurling who finished 4th. It was good to see the girls handing it to the boys – well done Belinda.

Wrap Up

So Mallee Madness is over for another year. With most of the best drivers in Victoria, perhaps it worth comparing the fastest times across the classes to see how big the difference really is.

Chassis	540	Stock	Modified
2wd	David Engledow 10/5m26.530s	Shaun Thiel 10/5m3.897s	Matt Griffin 11/5m22.636s
4wd	Jai Davis 10/5m24.495s	Logan Symes 11/5m13.766s	Matt Griffin 11/5m3.527s
Truck		Shaun Thiel 10/5m7.963s
SC Truck			Luke Smith 10/5m15.815s

Well done to all that ran the event and a big thank you to the Mildura Club for their hospitality. All in all it was a great event....

View the full results here.

Until next time, thats all from The Doctor...