A day at St Ives/Sydney,AUSTRALIA- 'heaps of pictures!'

[Bormac]

Working nights at the moment definately has its advantages and one of those advantages would be the fact the St Ives race track is kind of on my way to work. I decided to make a nice afternoon of it and Ive been wanting to test drive my JRX-2 since i did the rebuild. Well today was going to be that day!
Its hard to put into words the kind of sentiment this circuit has for some of us. It has been Australia's one and only shot at running an electric off road world championships and it certainly was a very successful event with all the big names of the day turning up and making it such an awesome event. The track has changed little and it has by far possibly the nicest feel to it with all the trees creating so much shade across the track. When ever ive been here it has always been such a pleasure and Im very keen to get in a couple of race meetings before i move back up north.
I thought it would be cool to give my Zerda another run only this time I bolted in a 19 turn Komodo Dragon motor and some fresh black rims with new tyres. Also had to bring one of my Cougar2 buggies and ofcourse how could i forget my favourite - the 'Procat!'
I managed to get all my cars running and turning out some nice laps with only my Cougar's servo stripping its gear (damn cheap servo!). The Procat was predictably perfect to drive while the 14 trun motor in the Losi wasnt the best and ended up overheating. I might add though that running 5000Mah lipo's till the car stops will most likely over heat many older motors
In the end the weather one out with showers bringing my day to an end. It wont be the last these cars see of this track as Im heading back again soon

[Mr. ED]

4 pics only??? I kinda expected alittle more reading 'heaps'.

Tell us a bit more about the Zerda please.
It looks very nice proportioned and all, but how does it run, how was the build, what's thequality of the material and finnish of the parts...
Actually is it a new-built or does it have a story?
WE WANT MORE, WE...

[Bormac]

SHEESH Erik!!! I have been uploading pics on photobucket while i was typing in my story. There are plenty more coming - ha ha.
The Zerda was brought from a friend of mine up north at my old club. He was intending to race it in the vintage class that never really got up and going so he sold it to me. It has a few little mods, not much really. It is incredibly quiet to drive with its twin belt drive system. The car is not going to be the strongest car ever put on the track but it is fast and handles well when set up correctly. It had far too much toe out and it was turning in far too early sending the car into a spin on some of the looser corners. I am very fond of this car as it has to be one of the earliest cars I remember being raced at B.O.R.M.A.C. all those years ago. I had a new built car previously but was too afraid to drive it so I ended up selling it. I wish I didn't ofcourse as I never had the opportunity to drive one till now. It is well suited to the St Ives track and a pleasure to watch going around too.
I havent had too much time with it yet but I can see this as being one car I would like to drive often.
Here are some pics of the grounds themselves. This place rocks! You can back your car right up to the side of the track and there is 240volt mains power available all the time. It really is the nicest place to run your r/c buggies!!

[Mr. ED]

Zerda...ok, I need to start making a whishlist
How did these fare when they hit the scene?

[Bormac]

In Australia they did quite well in their day. They are quite light and handle well enough from what i remember and have seen recently. A friend of mine used to race one back in the day and recently raced his again at the Vintage meet a few weeks ago and he won with it. He was unstopable and his driving skills were great. He told me he was very impressed with how well it drove.
I also took the time to get some 'blow by blow' or 'corner by corner' pictures in a clockwise direction going around the track so those who were wondering what the surface and angles are like around this track. They are all in order with my JRX2 beginning the main front straight. Enjoy.

[Mr. ED]

I'm bad in remembering dates: what would a zerda have been up against in 4wd when it was released?
(given it had been spread a ittle further around the world )

[Bormac]

I'd be guessing but I'd say the Tamiya Hot Shot's and Super Shot's, Kyosho Optima's, Schumacher CAT's,Mugen Bulldog's etc...maybe the Rocky aswell.

[RETRO R/C]

AWESOME pics Jason.

This track was my home track in Sydney back in the day - I love it dearly. I fully intend to start running there again soon as it is really only 3 hours drive from me now - a small price to pay for driving on a pristine track with so much history. There cant be to many of the original off road world title holding tracks still running - at this second - only the Yatabe arena springs to mind.

Erik - I wrote a review in R/C Car magazine back in January 2004 on the4 Zerda - I will see if I can dig it up for you - and post in Jasons other thread....Love Zerda's.

Cheers

Darryn

[uzzi]

I expected better lines through the turns

[Mr. ED]

There cant be to many of the original off road world title holding tracks still running - at this second - only the Yatabe arena springs to mind.

Actually Yatabe made some changes last year and re-opened the off-road track again ealry this year. I never saw the original track, but the wbsite showed some heavy equipment going around in it.
The new track is very 3-dimensional, I don't think much of the original was left.

[justinspeed79]

Very cool!

[Bongo Fury]

Not sure what a heap is, but I think you’re close. j/k.

This was the first worlds I followed in the day, and being a Losi slappie, these pictures are quite enjoyable. And thanks again for the info in the other thread.

[Bormac]

With the fiance's bridal shower on today I wasn't going to sit around and watch all the girls get 'clucky!'
Instead I packed some more buggies into my ute and headed for the St Ives track again....YAHHH!!

[Bormac]

Finaly got a race meeting in at St Ives yesterday and it was great. I have been told of the relaxed atmosphere this club has but couldn't quite realise it until I got to se it for myself.
With my Procat,JRX2 and cougar2 packed into the car I aimed to make the track around 9.30am.
I thought i'd be one of the first to be there but actually ended up being one of the last. The turnout was great and after recently puting up a post that I had intended to run vintage cars on an Australian forum I was shocked to find others turning up wanting to race old buggies aswell.
The track was fantastic and there was alot going on. With 2 Procat's,an 870C Dogfighter,Bugle's 'Black and Gold' RC10 and my X2 I was lending to M.Harlow for the day. We were all sporting mod motors too which was cool knowing there'd be some high speed vintage action in store.
Everyone drove well with only a few niggling problems for some of us along the way but the racing was quite fierce. My Procat held its own very well turning out some nice laps. Oh yeah and the last pic below is Bugle's insanely fast B3 sporting an 8 turn motor-this thing is lethal!! It kinda reminded me of something out of 'Mad Max'. Ha ha
Anyway here are some pics-enjoy!

[Mr. ED]

woohoo the paintjob on that Yz-10 is mean! Rats are cool