With the 2012 Summer Series now run and won, I have to say it was one of the most well contested series I have seen. With nearly every class coming down to the last meeting to get the final podium positions sorted out. Congratulations to all those who have driven well and earned themselves a podium spot. It is a massive effort on behalf of the entire SERCCC team to put together a series like that, especially running every weekend. The hours in setup and packing up etc are especially gruelling, but at the end of the day, we are all there to enjoy the atmosphere of the race meeting and try our very best.

The autumn series will be kicking off on the 11th of March, with round 2 following the following weekend. This was unfortunately due to a conflict with the Dandy Councils GAME ON- sports and recreation fair being scheduled on the 4th of March. So we will have to back up again for 2 weeks in a row.

The Good Friday Dash and the Mini Nats will be the next big events that the club will be hosting this year. The Good Friday Dash being on April 6th and the Mini Nats on April 27th to the 29th. I will be sending out an email to all members over the next week or so to see how many of you will be available to assist with some of the organisational duties involved with the nationals. It is going to be a huge 3 day, so the more help we can get, the easier the tasks will be for everyone.

The trophy presentation for the summer series will be on Sunday the 11th of march, at the first round of the summer series, so if everyone could be there nice and early, we will have the BBQ fired up for egg and bacon sandwiches at about 8.30am, with trophy presentation to follow and drivers briefing before we kick it all off for another series at about 9.30am. Hope to see you all there.

I would like to start by welcoming all the new members to SERCCC. It is great to see that there is an ever increasing interest in the club. The summer series is well underway, with some of the biggest numbers the club has seen in a few years. We have had in excess of 50 entrants to the first 3 roundsof the summer series, and with nearly 70 for round 4, it is shaping up to be a hotly contested series.There is little between the top 3 places in nearly every class, and with 3 more rounds to go, it will be on for those sought after podium positions.

With the new lights that we have this year means that we can now run the full sized track under lights in the evenings, and thus far we have had no issues with being able to see the cars from the drivers stand. Many thanks have to go to Damien Kent for making this happen. It has made a huge difference from last year. This has also made for much closer racing with drivers confidence as the sun goes down.

The confirmation of dates for the Mini Nationals for 2012 has is now done, and the advertising is out there, with entries already starting to come in for the event. It will be from the 27th to the 29th of April. The Friday is an open practise day, with qualifying and finals to be held on the Saturday and Sunday. For all those members who are thinking of running at the Nationals, get your entries in early. I am hoping that we can make this the most successful Nationals to date with the magic 50 entries in the Mini class being achieved for the first time.

The Nitro Stock Class is looking like it will start at the beginning of the autumn series. SERCCC is taking the steps to try and make this entry level class more affordable and enjoyable for everyone with the introduction of this one motor class. The STS 0.12 motor has been chosen for the class, and with some of the current Nitro drivers running them already, and finding good pace and reliability with them, it looks like we are on a winner. If you are interested in running in this class, see Trevor Waye or Luis Sola for all the relevant details.

The first quarter of the year is the busiest time in RC racing with many title meetings and big events scheduled. Recently at Lilydale, the Victorian state Nitro titles were held. There was a strong presence from SERCCC drivers there. Trevor Waye took out 2nd position in the Pull Start finals, and Brendan Sola 5th in Pro tourer, these along with great drives by Patrick Arena, Gavin Grey, Derrick Miller and Enver Jappie saw the SERCCC flag flying in almost every class.

The Good Friday Appeal Dash will be on again this year, April 6th, so mark it in your Calendars and come along and support a worthwhile charity and help us raise some more much needed funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital. Keilor are holding the KROMA cup again this year, check their calendar for dates, and our friends at Mornington have just about got there new track up and running. The first race meeting down there will be the 25th of March, so if you are interested in coming down and giving it a go, do so. I would like to see a big contingent of SERCCC members going down to have a run. They have been great supporters of us over the years and with a great new venue, and alternate weekends to us, MPRCCC will be a great alternative track to drive.
Roll on round 5 of the summer series; let’s see if we can’t break the 70 mark for race entries this week...

There has been a few changes within the classes with the coming of the new season, to those who have taken the plunge and gone up a class, good luck, but be sure to take it easy, it is a big transition and a big speed differential, something that will take a little time to get used too. It is all down to making sure your car setup is on the money, and that you are not just racing to be the first into the first corner, but first to the finish line at the end of the 6 minutes.

With the date changes for the Dandenong cup, now the 17th and 18th of September, I hope you all get your entries in early, we are looking to have a huge turn out this year. I have my fingers crossed for fine weather and good racing. The classes we will be running will be as per club meetings with the inclusion of OPEN TOURING and possibly 4WD MINI if the interest is there. I know that a few of them are keen to come down and try out our track, just to get an early start on the Mini Nat's setup's.

We have confirmed the dates for the Mini Nationals for 2012, the meeting will be held from the 9th to the 11th of March. This is the labour day weekend. Control tyres will be available during scrutineering on the Friday, also on the Saturday morning. For all of you who are thinking of running at the nationals, it will be a huge event with drivers from all over the country coming down to compete, with the local knowledge that some of you have, it will be a definite advantage over the course of the weekend. Control tyres are for the M-chassis class only, all other classes have open tyres.

There have been several discussions recently with regards to some rule changes to the 540 class. It has come to my attention more recently that this is a very competitive class, and there is certainly a need to update the class rule to fall in line with current trends and availability of components. With the limited availability of brushed speed controllers, the proposal for 2012 is to introduce the use of brushless 21.5 motors with brushless speed controllers running the ROAR approved STOCK program. This will mean that the motors will have no variable timing, no supercharger or turbo functions, just the preset timing etc that the program has been configured with. Any alterations to this program will be easily detected with the default telltale for this particular program being a set of blinking lights on every speed controller. Scrutineering will be easy to do as the blinking lights are either on or not. This will work to the benefit of nearly all drivers in the fact that if they so choose to have a run in 21.5 touring class, it is as simple as a change in program, not a complete and costly component change for all of the electrical. More information will be available on this over the coming weeks.

With the Dandenong Cup fast approaching, there is a working bee planned for the weekend prior. Saturday the 10th of September. On this day we will only have a couple of tasks to get done, concrete the area in front of the container and around the back under the stairs where the compressor goes, plus erect the timber on the drivers stand in preparation for summer. If you are available on this Saturday, the more hands we have the faster we will be able to get it all done.

I look forward to seeing you all at the next race meeting on the 21st of August.

Shaun Peters