The Bendigo Classic Education Series

 

There are always a number of new members / participants to the club that have never experienced a Bendigo Classic and sit there silently wondering what all this fuss is about.  Particularly when you've never competed in a large scale event, the rules and regulations around the Classic can be quite daunting and overwhelming.  What are "Control Tyres" and why all these extra rules around car heights and weight and scrutineering?!  What does it all mean??

To start with, the Bendigo Classic is the club's marquee event that draws many participants from other Victorian Clubs and in some circumstances, inter-state diehards too.  Racers are drawn to events that contain larger than normal (club day) fields as it gives them an opportunity to challenge themselves among a competitive field and to catch up and socialise with others they only occasionally get to race against too.  RC is a small but tight knit community and club marquee events are usually the ones people will strive to attend for these purposes.

The Bendigo Classic, from our point of view, aligns with our standard club day culture of welcoming all and enjoying racing in a somewhat relaxed context.  But things certainly change for the Classic.  The sheer volume of people and the number of races that need to be scheduled mean we have to run at a pace and this can be somewhat unforgiving if you don't plan accordingly!  The other aspect that changes is the emphasis on rules and the governance around ensuring everyone competes on a level playing field.  As mentioned already, one of the considerable drawcards to large events is the competitive drive among the racers and whilst everyone acknowledges we are not driving for Formula 1 scale prizemoney, people still like to know they are competing fairly and given the best chance to perform.

With this series of posts, we want educate you on the finer points of sanctioned national rules for touring cars and other relevant information for trucks, TCR and Kyosho classes too.  This information certainly isn't meant to deter you but instead, ensure you are comfortable with the process, including scrutineering of cars after each round.

So let's get into it.  

The Event

3 Days !?!  What? !  The Bendigo Classic has, historically, been aimed at other club participants to visit.  Most of which travel from Melbourne or further abroad.  So making the event over 3 days makes the journey worthwhile and allows for a "getaway" justification.

The Friday however is very relaxed and people usually only begin arriving later in the afternoon after work commitments to cut a few laps.  On this day, it is usually free-for-all where you are able to share the track with trucks, Kyoshos and Touring Cars all running around together.  If things start to get a bit hectic though, we will pivot to a "controlled practice" where we will allocate track time to certain classes or experience levels, as appropriate.

Most people however, begin arriving for Saturday and some even come just for the Sunday alone; we run a final qualifying round first thing Sunday morning to not disadvantage those that can't make it for Saturday.  

If you do come down for Friday, note that there won't be any catering.  We will have water and soft drinks available but any food is best dealt with via a walk to the APCO.

The Saturday essentially runs in the same way as any club day where there are rounds for each class in standard race time formats (6 mins / 5 mins for modified).  We aim to get through as many rounds as we can up to around 4:30pm.  So you are welcome to hop in and out of these rounds as much as you like throughout the day.

So if you have kids participating, don't feel it is an obligation to come Friday or even for the entire day Saturday if you think it is too much for them!  We recommend racing on Saturday for as much of the day as you can, because it is a fun day and still great racing despite it counting towards grid positioning for the Sunday only.  It's all about the participation and socialising

Saturday and Su day will have a dedicated catering tent with bacon and egg rolls available for purchase for breakfast and a bbq running until late afternoon.  There will be a pie warmer operating all day too and coffee in addition to the usual soft drinks, all at usual prices.

Saturday evening we will coordinate an event dinner and you're more than welcome to join us.  The RC community is pretty tight knit and has some amazing people who enjoy each others company and in a lot of cases, go back many many years.  So a few drinks and RC stories is a good part of the event too if you like a bit of company after the day's racing.  

Sunday morning is an early start!  It is a long weekend, so it is important that Sunday runs to an aggressive schedule so we can be doing presentations and letting everyone get on the road to head home as early as possible.  By then, you'll be exhausted but you'll go home with a smile on your face all the same.

Sunday kicks off with a final qualifying round before heading into 3 rounds of finals where you will start in the same grid position you qualified in for all 3 races.  An aggregate of your race results will determine your overall finishing position.

Catering for Sunday will also be provided

So let's talk now a bit about the rules and other considerations worth familiarising yourself with.  Starting with batteries.

Batteries & Battery Voltages

Batteries for touring car classes need to adhere to approved models on the ROAR, BRCA or RCRA approved battery lists.  If you don't have a ROAR approved battery, let us know.  Again, to re-iterate, these are for touring car classes only and we will only loosely be applying rulings here to 21.5T junior class too.  The list of approved batteries can be found at:

https://www.roarracing.com/approvals/print_lipobattery.php

LiPo capable chargers only, are able to be used, and batteries may only be charged at a maximum rate of 10A.

Overcharging is not allowed (voltage higher than 4.2v per cell) and can be subject to scrutineering prior to each race.  Any battery exceeding the allowed voltage will not be able to participate in that race.  

Let's unpack this ...  There are 2 cells inside your battery which is why it is called 2S.  These 2 cells wired in series offer you a total allowable voltage of 8.4 Volts.  That's why you do a balance charge; to ensure you equalise the cells to 4.2V each, giving you good steady power.  Balanced charging means you don't overcharge one cell and destroy the battery in the process.  So balance charging is very important.

BUT ... not all chargers are made equally.  Some chargers are set to the right voltage cut off at 8.4V.  However, they may still charge a little over that as they are not calibrated and electrical components have varying tolerances.  If you are found to be charging above 8.40v (intentionally or unintentionally), you will be asked to try and reduce it to 8.4v before you can take to the stand and race.  At voltages 8.41 to 8.44, you will be asked to throttle up your car to use some power and then come back for another check.  The objective here is to ensure everyone has the same power output from their batteries and no-one has an advantage by having a battery capable of delivering power beyond the defined accepted amount (8.4v).  

Voltages above 8.44 and less than 8.50 will not be able to run a battery down and will not be allowed to enter that round.  Any voltages over 8.50V at a sanctioned title event would mean disqualification from the event.  Yes, that's right ... 0.1V over 8.40 is an offer to pack up your things and go home.  It is generally interpreted as an intentional act to gain an unfair advantage (ie. cheating) and there will be no sympathy for you, if your batteries hit those sorts of levels.

So how do you manage charging when you already thought your charger did all that automatically for you?

At the next few club days we will have a multimeter on hand so you can check the voltage of your charged battery.  It will offer you some insight into what you need to do to keep yourself within the charging limits.  Lets say you have charged your battery to the limit of 8.40 volts on your charger, but the multimeter reads 8.50 volts.  You should take steps to lower the charger cut off to 8.30V in this instance to allow for this difference.

For added insurance, you may even choose to go a little lower, say 8.28V.  Then, use the multimeter to test your battery again.  You should be under the max limit and this should mean you have no difficulties during the Classic or any sanctioned events you may attend.

Finally, all charging needs to be done in Lipo safe bags!  This includes club days and not just larger events like the Classic.  We have been a little too lax in enforcing this of late, but will begin doing spot checks at club days too.  It's just important for the safety of everyone!

Control Tyres

So what are “control tyres” all about?  And why can’t I use the ones I already have?  Why do I need to buy more?  And why those ones?  That’s a lot of questions.  So let’s unpack it.  Big events (they don’t necessarily have to be sanctioned events) usually run a control tyre which means everyone is obligated to run the exact same tyre as everyone else over the course of the event.  Tyres can have a significant difference in performance and also create an unfair advantage to those that are prepared to spend up big on many sets.  So keeping it contained to a number of sets you can use and determining the type of tyres and additives you can apply to them, eliminates the potential of “buying a result” through spending lots of money!

When you buy your tyres, they need to be unopened when you submit them to the event as part of the marking process.  This tells us they have not been altered in any way.  If you present tyres that have been opened, we have no way of ensuring you have not manipulated them in any way and as such, we can’t accept them. So please, ensure the tyres you buy and plan to submit for the event, have the factory seal still in tact on the packaging!

Whilst it’s actually sad to write this, people will tend to push the boundaries when things are competitive.  Marinating tyres in additives or otherwise trying to manipulate them to gain a competitive advantage, is actually a thing!  This is why we check tyres and mark them as part of the event as it ensures racers only use the allowed quantity and type applicable to their class and can’t replace them with others during the event.

It’s also important to understand that at the end of each day, you need to return them to race control before you leave.  You can’t leave the track with them!

The tyres that will be used for this event vary based on the class but are variations of Sweep tyres the club has determined as suitable for our track conditions based on testing we have done.  There will always be a number of people who have a preference for one brand of tyre over others and some of these opinions are passionately debated.  It’s not unheard of for people to not enter an event because they do not like the control tyres used!  For clubs determining their control tyre of choice, you can’t get bogged down in this as it doesn’t matter what you choose; there will always be people upset by that choice.  At the end of the day though, everyone has the same performance and experience, irrespective of whether you like them or not.  Plus, this year we have our own club branded ones and they look super cool ;-)

Our tyres for this event are stocked and supplied by Hearns Hobbies who are also our club primary sponsor and the main sponsor of the Bendigo Classic.  The links for the tyres in each class are listed on the event page for your convenience.  You can purchase as many sets of tyres as you wish and this is common practice as people like to buy extra sets in the lead up to events to test them out.  Just remember to set aside those unopened that you want to allocate to the event.

To finish off the conversation, we’ll talk about tyre additives (sauce).  Just like tyres, in the interests of standardisation and fairness, we also designate a tyre additive for the event and this is provided for you to apply at a designated  “goop station”.  You can only apply tyre additive at this station and cannot goop your tyres at your pit table.  This ensures everyone uses only the provided additive.  Tyre cleaner application is not quite as strict.  However, we will also be providing Simspec non “Toxic” tyre cleaner at the goop station for cleaning your tyres.  Simspec, another valued club sponsor, are providing the Grip Hack tyre additive for the event’s control tyre additive.  The club also has stock of both Toxic tyre cleaner and Grip Hack tyre additive for sale on race days too, should you wish to get used to them prior to the Classic.  Make it part of your race routine!  Note that only tyre cleaners are allowed in Kyosho and junior classes and no additives are allowed.
 

Next update, we'll cover off scrutineering in a bit more detail.

 

Feel free to ask any questions at the next club day if you need any more clarification.