Stockcar action in miniature

STOCKCAR team racing returned to Stratford over the weekend but it was speedway with a difference.
The Stratford Scrappers and the Stratford Stormers had teams competing on the track, but these cars were one-tenth the size of their big brothers and they were radio controlled, with the drivers were standing in a row alongside the track.
Nineteen teams from all over the North Island were competing in the New Zealand Radio controlled teams champs at the TET Stadium and a good crowd turned up to watch the action. The cars, with steel chassis made from furniture steel tubing, were crashing into each other, blocking and getting a fair speed up on the steel 50-metre oval track.
The sport began in New Zealand about five years ago and it is getting very popular. The Stratford Scrappers, set up four years ago ,won the day, with the Stratford Stormers, racing for the first time as a team, took second place. Third place went to Gisborne.
A few drivers of full size stockcar were also competing. They find the sport a lot of fun and keeps their fighting spirit going in the off-season.
A Stratford team won the national title last year and hence the event being held in Central Taranaki this year.
The average weight of a car if four kilograms and the shape of the track, owned by the Taranaki Radio Controlled Speedway, is based on the full sized Stratford track.
Racing tactics and strategies are the same as full sized cars. Drivers were of all ages at the event, from teenagers to old hands.