December 19th 2017: Was our annual ‘Wacky Racers’ contest. The rules remained the same with club members having to build independently powered vehicles for racing over a set course. Normally its separate categories for Wheels or Tracks, but by weird co-incidence this year it was Wheeled or Legged categories, which sadly also reflected a smaller turn out in the contest than usual. It was non the less a great night with mulled wine and mince pies aplenty, and the racing itself much more closely fought then on previous years. Richards Tiger 1 was raced against Don’s Muscle car as despite appearance the Tiger was wheeled. Sibo’s bizarre legged tank raced against Mick Ellis’s Tamiya Horse bot.
Despite a magnificent start from Don, his friction powered muscle car lacked endurance letting Richards Tiger take the win. The second race of the night pitted Sibo’s 8 legged T64 hybrid against Mick and his very skittish Horse. The Horse set off at speed and looked to be 3 times as fast as the hybrid until it suddenly spun around and headed in all manner of directions. This could have left the field wide open for Sibo’s walker but as the distance mounted so did the realisation that the legged tank had a distinct vear to the left and its curved route would not see it to the finish line un-aided. Both racer owners were permitted to ‘tap’ their vehicles back on course with the horse and tank romping toward the finish literally neck and neck, colliding together at the same time as breaking the finish line. There was nothing for it but a re-match, which was convincingly won by Mick’s Horse, leaving the Walking Tank well behind. However the walking T64 did manage to win the best finished category so Sibo picked up a bottle of wine, Mick also won a bottle of Red for coming first and Richard a bottle for winning the wheeled event. As always a great bit of competitive enjoyment on the night as well as a great bit of un-demanding fun for the builders, a nice break from more involved building projects.
Lets see what 2018 brings for the Wackey Race night- the more entries the better.
