Pyramid #29
The 2047 AADA Racing Championship was held at Origins 97 in Columbus, OH. The arena, specially designed for the event, was called the "Dogbone" for its more than 1/4-mile (scale) straightaways, with two tight donut loops at either end.
Leery of the tight curve awaiting them, none of the finalists gunned it off the starting line, and made it through the first turnaround with ease. David Kristensen drew first blood, punishing Tim Gould with his rear-mounted Vulcan MG and setting the tone for a race that was a perfect mix of speed, maneuvering and combat.
Brandon Lanich was the first to see 200 mph, and that development caused panic among the contestants. Geosh Fathauer, realizing that his design didn't have enough top speed to remain in the running, pushed his gas engine to 170 -- and promptly blew it up. More VMG fire from Kristensen took out Gould's engine as well, and before a single lap was completed, it was already down to a two-car race.
Lanich and Kristensen were well-matched, but Lanich took one of the donuts a little too fast, and he had to resort to emergency braking. Two successful control rolls kept him in the race, but the time lost to Kristensen could never be made up. Fathauer and Gould tried to make it interesting, coasting with their blown engines and then stopping so that their immobile vehicles would block the donut turn, but it was to no avail.
David Kristensen won the 2047 AADA World Racing Championship, with Brandon Lanich second, Tim Gould third and Geosh Fathauer fourth.
Pyramid contained photographs with the following captions:
Picture #4 -- From left to right: Brandon Lanich, World Racing Champion David Kristensen, Tim Gould.
Picture #5 -- David Kristensen plans his angle of attack on the donut turnaround at "The Dogbone"
Picture #6 -- Brandon Lanich screams down the straightaway.
World Duelling Championship
Space limitations kept us from showing you some of the 2047 AADA World Championship tournament. Here¹s a peek:
Pyramid contained photographs with the following captions:
Picture #1 -- From left to right: 2047 AADA World Champion Garth Anderson, Mike Garrity (2nd place) and Grady Elliott (3rd).
Picture #2 -- Champion Garth Anderson makes his move.
Picture #3 -- Tim Jacques checks the range during the World Championship finals. From left to right: Garth Anderson, referee Norm McMullen, Mike Garrity, Jacques, Grady Elliott, Phil Swim, Darrin Marquez, Jim Beecher.
New Club
We failed to list a new AADA club last issue:
Oxbow Downs Autoduelling Club
Sponsored by: Little Wars
3036 College Drive
Baton Rouge LA, 70808
501/924-6304
President: Shane W. Petersen
Welcome!
AVRO Club Championship
We get this report from AVRO of their 2047 Club Championship:
Despite the best efforts of hatchet-wielding maniacs and suicidal race car drivers, Randy Jung has emerged as AVRO club champion for both racing and duelling. In AVRO's first test of speed and might, competitors were subjected to a simultaneous Div. 40 racing and Div. 30 duelling events that were both held within AVRO's second 3-D generation arena, ³The City.² In a brief 23 seconds, Randy cleared the field of his opponents, leaving only smoking remnants. Randy's duel car, ³Tank Buster,² was a station wagon with 2 ATGs with APFSDS, 1 HMG, and a driver. Randy's racing car, ³Swift,² was a Formula One/Indy Car with 200 cid GE with Superchargers & VP Turbocharger, 2 Nitros, 350 lbs. Rocket Boosters, and a driver.
A more colorfully detailed report is available at AVRO's new website (http://avro.simplenet.com). The basics are as follows:
The racing event was Division 40 that allowed only racing vehicles with 2 spaces of limited weaponry. Race cars started at a speed of zero from the center of the arena. No tire shots were allowed. Race cars had to cover three of the corner checkpoints, return to the center checkpoint, cover any of the corner checkpoints, and finally return once more to the center checkpoint.
The duelling event was Division 30 that allowed standard AADA duelling vehicles and weapons. Duelling vehicles started at a speed of 30 mph from the corners of the arena. No tire shots against racing vehicles were allowed and dropped weapons were not allowed within the checkpoint areas. Points were awarded for maneuver/firepower kills (against duelling vehicles only), jumping at high speeds, creating building breaches, and destroying buildings.
The arena is a second generation custom-design of a tiny city. It was 36" by 30", covered with an inch by inch grid, and dotted with about 36 buildings. In the center was a pyramid-like structure. Two pit stops were also present. Creating a breach in a building required 6 DP, and 3 breaches would destroy a building. Points for duelling vehicles were as follows:
Mobility kills -- 5 pts/-5 pts Firepower kills -- 5 pts/-5 pts Destroy Gas Pump -- 1 pt. Building Breach -- 1 pts. Building Destruction -- 3 pts. Jumping at 30 mph or more -- 1 pt.
Below is a basic play-by-play of the event. (A more elaborate description will be on the AVRO website).
Total point spread:
Race:
This combined racing and duelling championships allowed duellists to enjoy the full confusion of crowded battle conditions, while providing racers a dangerously unpredictable race course. High speed and careful handling class marked the race portion of the championships. The duel portion merely involved mass destruction of the entire arena.
Bruce's duelling car surrounded the center checkpoint with proximity-fused radio-controlled mines, making it virtually impassable to the race cars and trapping Randy's race car within. Bruce's race car tried to pass through this barrier, but he crashed, rolled and burned. Randy found an interesting method of opening this barrier by disabling Bruce's duelling car and then pushing the car over top of the mines. Rather distressed by this turn of events, Bruce jumped out of his vehicle and jumped onto the top of Randy's duelling car, and proceeded to attack with a hatchet. Randy scraped this annoying pest off his roof by ramming through a building.
Randy's duel car was then rammed by Andrew's duel car, thus disabling Randy. Randy then resorted to taking potshots at Andrew's tires. Randy's race car joined the fray by ramming Andrew's duel car; this was an unwise idea as he nearly confettied himself. However, the distraction proved effective as it allowed Randy to destroy 2 of Andrew's tires, thus immobilizing it as well.
Realizing that he had little chance finishing the race course before Randy, Andrew's race car attempted to ram Randy's race car into a building. Fortunately, Randy was able to speed away to the finish with the help of nitrous oxide, leaving Andrew to crash through the building.
Gateway '97 Report
The folks at Gateway '97 ran a Car Wars tournament and sent us this report:
This is Michael Hayden welcoming you to the Southern California Division 10 finals, held here in Los Angeles, CA.
This years event was a "Bonneville Salt Flat" battle, in which four of the finest Division 10 drivers competed on a totally flat area that was devoid of barriers or obstacles. The match area was a rectangle 480' by 720' (30 inch by 48 inch tabletop). The vehicles were allowed to approach the area at any speed the driver wants. Once all four vehicles were inside the arena, the battle began.
Chuck blazed into the arena at 120 mph from NE, while Emilio entered from the NW at 90. Erik and Tom entered from the SW and SE at speeds of 30 and 50 mph.
There was gunfire right from the beginning with Chuck and Emilio firing at each other three times in the first three turns, but with the speeds involved neither could manage a hit.
Both Chuck and Emilio were approaching Tom's car from either side and in turn 4 were close enough to fire upon it. Chuck fired at Tom, hitting his right side and doing 9 points of damage. However the metal/plastic armor shrugged off the damage easily. Emilio unexpectedly turned his attention to Erik who was slowly making his way toward the three cars. However, his HMG failed to do any damage to Erik's vehicle.
Suddenly, Tom cut his wheels sharply and slammed his car into Chuck¹s. This caused Chuck to lose control of his car and spin sideways at 105 mph. The two left tires on Chuck's midsize then exploded, causing his car to vault into the air and fly for 45 feet before coming down. The resulting impact shredded the once mighty car into a pile of parts and debris. (Can you say confetti? . . . Knew you could!)
This gave Tom the first, and most spectacular, kill of the day.
For the next four turns Emilio (at 90 mph) and Tom (at 20) traded shots. Emilio's speed protected him from the deadly effects of the ATG, while Tom enjoyed the fact that Emilio's gunner couldn't hit the ground if he fell from a tree.
Emilio and Erik then turned their guns on each other for three turns, neither one doing any damage. It was in turn 11 that Emilio's gunner finally scored a hit upon Tom's front right tire. The HMG, doing a feared 2d-2 damage, managed to do absolutely nothing to Tom's tire (rolled two 1s). They exchanged two more shots at each other, with neither hitting.
It was in turn 13 that fortunes changed, Emilio finally hit something, Erik's rear tire doing 5 points of damage. Which was quickly followed by Tom blowing open the side of Erik's car with a direct hit from the ATG, which killed Eric.
Kill number two for Tom.
It was at that time Emilio finally got his range down and blew open Tom's thin back armor. With HMG slugs pounding into the component armor that was protecting the driver, Tom surrendered giving the kill to Emilio.
Points were awarded as follows: Full kill +5; Firepower kill +2; Mobility kill +2; Death of Driver -3
The final point tally was as follows
Tom received a prize ribbon, an award certificate, a copy of Car Wars Compendium, and $5 cash prize. All in all it was a spectacular event, with everyone having a fabulous time.