IMCA Diary

**stick** · 08-24-2004, 05:59 PM

Boy, I thought travelling from the boston area to schenectady was a haul! All I can say is it must be nice... by the way, did they race production 32nd's with falcon motors? Hey, I bet they would just love running womps of whisper jets.... Yeah, right!

**CruzinBob** · 08-24-2004, 09:51 PM

ANYBODY but that bully coulda won the G7....man o man...must've been a brutal race and thanks to Chicky n Beuf for making the show!

**zaprp** · 08-26-2004, 06:35 AM

Anybody got any tech sheet info?

**John Emmons** · 08-26-2004, 01:10 PM

It's been too long I know, blame it on very little spare time to do much of anything but work on cars, try to get some practice time in and maybe eat something. Sleep of course, is optional

It's Thursday night, the racing that most of you readers are most interested in is over. Rather than repeat the results that can be found at: www.imca-slotracing.com I thought I'd share some of the behind the scenes stuff that's been going on here in Uden.

Hectic starts to describe the scene at the MTRU center here in Uden. MTRU by the way is the acronym for Mini Track Racing Uden. It's a club type atmosphere, very comfortable in a lot of ways. There's way more smoking and drinking than would ever be allowed at any American track. There are monitors scattered around the place and folks can sit in the bar and watch the lap counters roll on. Eugene, the club manager, tells me that a camera system to see the tracks better is on the way.

The races themselves have been interesting to say the least. M. Van Rossem has a fascination with turning the power on as fast as humanly possible and he obviously doesn't care much for track calls. The race format is also subject to change very little if any advance notice at all. Some folks think that his antics are his way of trying to "adjust" the outcome of the races, I think it's more about trying to get the racers to pay attention to what's going on.

Some things that I may or may not have overheard the past few days at the raceway...

" TTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCC CCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

" Can I have my track call now, everybody else has called one...."

"what's up donut..."

"not bad for a myopic old wanker..."

" I tuned it to a standstill..."

" you don't use your tongue while kissing the trophy girl..."

"turn marshalling is not sitting.."

"didja notice all the foreigners here...?

" would it be legal if I anodised it...?"

" do you also race real slot cars, or just those plastic pieces of junk...?"

"I'd like to apologise now for what's about to happen..."

" are those the real rules or the internet rules..?"

" one racer asked me if it was legal to change their braid, I said no, so he did it when he thought I wasn't looking..."

"if you touch that car again, you will be disqualifed..."

"do you have waffles here or am I thinking of Belgium...?"

and so it goes.

More drivel to come from Aalst, as we race there starting tomorrow. Til then, I'm finally going to get a slightly longer night's sleep. I'm on my own tomorrow as all the other American racers have left the building.

John Emmons
OWH Waffle Correspondent

**R. Herrera** · 08-26-2004, 01:46 PM

I hope all our guys had fun, thats whats important.

**oldweirdherald** · 08-27-2004, 01:24 AM

The quotes are great - even better then the "Racing Excuses" thread we have going in the main forum!

I'm glad you were able to remember them or keep good notes - they are priceless (which is good, because it matches what you're getting paid, btw)

Sure brings back memories of my trips there a couple years ago - you have to keep on your toes, as the antics, rules, and schedule adjustments never seem to end.

Even though JP's health has not been so good, he is a firm believer that sleep is for wimps, and is considered optional. Takes a bit to adjust to all the smoking and drinking at the track too - as well as all those other "little differences", as noted by John Travolta in Pulp Fiction.... like the mayonaise on the fries.

LOL

Keep thrashing and have fun!!!

**Zippity** · 08-27-2004, 01:41 AM

**R. Herrera** · 08-27-2004, 07:38 AM

Where be the pictures??

**John Emmons** · 08-27-2004, 01:59 PM

I promise they'll be up sometime. Problem is as always, access and time.

I've been storing all of the ones I've taken on my computer. If I can get better internet access than the computer that I'm logged in on right now, I'll try to get them posted from here, otherwise, it'll have to wait til I get back.

Today we're in Aalst, a small town between Brussels and Gent, Belgium. We raced on a small, 6 lane plastic track using TSRF chassis on 1/32 hardshell LMP bodies. Needless to say coming from a wooden routed track racing background, the plastic 6 laner was a big change. The 7 or 8 minutes I had to practice didn't help much either.

The semi's and main are going on as I write this. After racing in our Consi's, "Split" Heath, Kieran Dale and I headed to the hotel for food and sleep. We did our only sightseeing for a couple of hours this afternoon in Brussels.

Rumor has it that a very well know American racer will be putting in an appearance over the weekend. I'll let you know if and what happens.

More stuff overheard.

" this is a complete pile of ****..."

" ah, more cheese rolls...yum...."

" if you have any questions, I speak 5 languages...there shouldn't be any problems..."

"we're not from around here..."

"on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best, I'd give it a good 4..."

"stop, I am driving someone else's car..."

"I've eaten lasagna, and that's not lasagna..."

that's about all for now. More to come later.
Tomorrow we race some pretty cool scale model cars, I'm sure the guy who built mine was having second thoughts if he saw me drive today.

John Emmons
OWH Roving Correspondent
John Emmons

**agt001** · 08-27-2004, 05:10 PM

Hey John

Did Chris Radisich get lost along the way? I assumed he was still with you guys? Sounds like the same type thrashing we go through racing here in the states. Have fun, looking forward to the photos and more stories when you get back.

Barry

**purple haze** · 08-29-2004, 10:07 AM

Originally posted by John Emmons
"I've eaten lasagna, and that's not lasagna..."

Too funny! Bet it didn't even taste like chicken!

**John Emmons** · 08-29-2004, 10:16 AM

Yep, it's all over except for the blowout dinner at "the black cat" that's starting in just a few minutes.

Team America finished 16th overall in the model car races which we ran today. Some really nice looking cars built by local model makers. I had tons of help driving them with Kieran Dale from New Zealand as none of the other American racers stuck around to race on the plastic track.

Photo's will have to wait til I get home as downloading them is problematic. I'm using a computer at our hotel but I can't download anything on it. Trust me when I tell you that you're gonna wanna see at least some of the pics.

I'd like to thank J.P.Van Rossem for the opportunity to come over here and try something new. As I said to the other racers, this was my first effort racing on plastic tracks since racing on my HO homeset about a hundred years ago.

I'll post more later.

Thanks for reading, if you think I didn't post enough, consider what you paid for the coverage...;^)

John Emmon
Retired plastic track racer

**brassy** · 08-29-2004, 12:49 PM

John wrote:

". . . if you think I didn't post enough, consider what you paid for the coverage. . ."

Were you speaking to me, John? 8-)

**Zippity** · 08-30-2004, 02:27 AM

**John Emmons** · 08-31-2004, 08:17 AM

After some delays in England and a long flight over the Atlantic, I'm home safe and sound. I hope to have the pics I took posted sometime later today.

Thanks to those of you who helped me make this trip a reality, you know who you are.

Thanks to those readers who have read about some of our exploits along the way. I'll be posting a final wrap-up either later today or tomorrow.

John Emmons
Jet Lagged slot car racer