The opening race at Jan's new track will be held this Saturday 10th, April. Although we've been club racing on the track for a few weeks this will be the official opening race.
The race is a team enduro consisting of 3 x 1 hour races on Jan's 4 lane track with teams of 3 drivers so we each get to drive 15 minutes on each lane.
This is a sponsored event and each team only has to supply axles, tyres and gears which they can retrieve after the race. The body's and chassis ball bearings were supplied by Jan (2 x Ferrari 512 and 2 x Porsche 917 lexan body's painted by Dave Newton), Werner from Ace Hobbies is supplying the Plafit FoxII motors and I'm supplying the spec chassis so we're all on an even footing going into the race.
Here are some pictures of the chassis we'll be using and I'll post some pictures of the finished cars after the race on Saturday.
I saw one of these chassis in the flesh (Dave's) tonight & Garry they are very well made. I also saw the bodies Dave has done & they are up to his high standard..
I hope the event goes well on Saturday & I will pop in for a look in the morning...
Gary,
These chassis look really nice. They look like ~2-3mm anodised aluminium? (I use this for electronic racks/cabinets manufacture).
Would be interested to see what the weight and other engineering aspects are. They certainly look like a lot easier to work on than the Plafits, which have so many parts, with a lot of screws needing replacement due to wear (unfortunately, not all are hardened steel).
Hope you can send more pics and details of the performance on the night (track times, etc) and with the bodies on.
regards,
js
The main plate is 1.6mm brass and the all up weight of the cars was 137 grams.
The race(s) today went very well with many compliments about the drivabilty of the cars and after 3 hours of racing we all know our way around Jan's track a little better.
Werner took a lot of photos today, I'll see if I can get some to post soon.
What can one say when you've just had a great bunch of blokes around to christen your new track ....................... thank you guys, you were great!!! A special thanks go to Andrew our scrutineer and race director, Werner for the motors, Dave for painting the bodies and Garry for providing the chassis. Not forgetting that everyone contributed bits and pieces to complete the race cars and have them race ready. Oh and yes, thanks Kim - for the Krispy Creams.
The idea of having an opening enduro for my new track has been something I've been working over in the back of my mind for sometime. The main reason for wanting to do this was to help all my regular racing buddies to get to know my track as soon and as best as possible. Why, you may ask - because that way we will ALL enjoy our racing much more. If one can lift the driving standard for ALL drivers on a track, the racing experience always result in a better one for everyone. Obviously we will always have the better and quicker drivers, but at least this way we can also help the slower and inconsistent drivers to get more comfortable and confident on a new track. I also wanted to 'choose' the teams myself for the 'opening' race as this way I could try to get the teams as equal in collective performance as possible - anyway, that was the theory.
Unfortunately Andrew developed an eye issue and had to withdraw from the race. At that stage I was also two drivers short of making up 4 x three men teams. What now to do? Do I exclude one of the entered guys and only run with 4 x two men teams - no way, this way one guy will not get the experience. I tried to get more guys to enter but unfortunately could only do so if I was prepared to team up specific drivers who had requested that as a precondition to entry. Well, the only way was to enter my son, Revel and myself. As for Revel, he has no slot racing experience other than a bit of plastic car racing some 7 years ago. And myself, well I knew the track well already and promised myself that I will try to find a way of reducing my own influence somehow.
The teams ended up as follows:
Teagal - Werner, Revel and Dean, Cinzano - Garry, Simon and Stu, Sunoco - Dave, Kim and Norm, Gunston - Stew, Barry and myself.
After some good practice the (now appointed chief scrutineer cum race director) Andrew 'one-eyed' all the cars and declared them fit and equal for the race. So after a quick lunch it was time for qualifying. Andrew took a 'view' that the qualifying will be on the blue lane, BUT all the drivers will qualify, then the aggregate of the total team will decide both the qualifying position and determine the index of performance for each team.
The 3 hour enduro would be run in 3 one hour stints with each lane being driven for 15 minutes at a time by each team. Again Andrew 'glanced' at this and declared that between minute 6 and 8 there will be a compulsory driver change. Each team having to first substitute one of their marshall, which in turn will then take over the drive - all under green. Some of the big boys were making sure they marshalled closer to the driver stand when it was their turn to swap for the drive - all worked well, all day long.
The first session ended as follows:
Cinzano - 557.70 laps, Teagal - 568.60 laps, Sunoco - 576.45 laps and Gunston - 586.30 laps
Then the second session followed with teams starting on different lanes, which resulted in and aggregate of:
Cinzano - 1138.50 laps, Teagal - 1143.40 laps, Sunoco - 1156.50 laps and Gunston - 1173.80 laps
The third session started with me deciding to play my trump (after discussion with Andrew). I withdrew from the Gunston team, which left the boys to retain the lead. In the end places changed, but not much:
Teagal - 1713.05 laps, Cinzano 1723.00 laps, Sunoco - 1740.50 laps and Gunston - 1754.75 laps.
I have to admit that the two drivers whom I totally underestimated during my 'team choosing', both drove fantastically well and surprised one and all. Norm did very well considering he was the only driver who had not driver the track except for the bit of practice before the event. But Stu was the BIG SURPRISE - once he discovered the brake pot on his controller, he drove with the front runners and had everyone in awe. Well done Norm and Stu, you guys did great.
So all that remain is to see who won on index:
First - Sunoco (97.0%), second - Cinzano (96.6%), third - Gunston (94.3%) and forth - Teagal (93.6%).
Next year we will do it again, just watch this space.
As the team leader for Cinzano I have to say it was very satisfying to work our way back from a bad start. Once we convinced Stu to turn his brakes off he took off like a scalded cat and we never looked back. We even managed to win the last race in spite of losing a braid (my bad) and having to re-glue the fan in the top of the Porsche. And we managed the fastest lap of the day on 3 of the 4 lanes. Many thanks to Simon and Stu; great team mates.
Thanks also to Jan, Andrew and everyone involved for a most enjoyable day.
My highlight for the day - holding half a lap on the Ax for the last 5 minutes of the last race for the win.
Last edited by Garry J on Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.
