Pete McKay
09-22-2007, 07:14 PM
Some clubs start small, F.A.R.T. (Fresno Area Race Teams) has only 5 members but we got together on a temporary floor track for our first event on Saturday morning. A couple of the guys had to share cars but everything worked out well.
Three classes were raced; Non-magnet Rally, Magnet GTC and magnet open wheel. Martin Simone came up from Bakersfield with a very fast Carrera TVR, and having remembered my last run in with the English marque I knew my work was cut out for me.
The track was set up on my living room floor. It featured a 10' main straight and a twisty technical section. Rally lap times were in the 4.5 second range, GTC was running about a second faster at 3.8, open wheel was running right at 3 second laps.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-234S.jpg
Qualifying was done by taking the total number of laps plus track pieces raced in a 1 minute session, the total of both lanes was used. Martin of course set fast time in GTC with the TVR, my F360 was second fastest only 3 track pieces behind. John Lewis was next in a borrowed F550, Taylor Marks was a distant last in a privateer Aston Martin.
Martin also set fast time with my SCX McLaren F1, I was somewhat further behind with an A1GP/GB car, James Hicks was third in another A1GP/CN car. Cars were drawn at random since I owned them all.
Rally was a very difficult race to qualify, the unmagnatized cars crashed frequently, and some very serious "out of the park" crashes occured. I was glad that this was on the floor and not an elevated layout, one car catapulted some 6' off the course grounds. In the end I set fast time with my SCX Focus, Martin was second in a Peugeot Pikes Peak car and John was third in a Puegeot 305.
The Racing
We did the Rally class first and Martin made very quick work of the Peugeot 305 in the 26 lap feature. At the lane change he was already 4 laps ahead, at the end he was 9 laps in the lead. After a 5 minute break Martin's winged wonder had the thrill of it's life while trying to pass my continually drifting Focus. At the lane change I had a 4 track piece lead, but he got around me in a corner that I failed to drift wide enough in and was gone. At the end margin of victory was about half a lap.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-231S.jpg
We decided to do the open wheel class next since we knew it would be over quickly, and pretty much it was. The only real racing was in the B Main between my A1GP car and James in the other A1GP car. The Scalextric cars have little in the form of dynamic braking but held the track very well in the corners. At the lane change I was half a lap ahead of James, after the change I opened it up to a full lap at the finish. These cars are fast and much less complex as the SCX F1 cars, well worth the cost if you can find them. In the Feature I knew Martin would run off and leave me, and he did. Margin of victory in the 50 lap feature was 8 laps even though I did not crash once.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-226S.jpg
The GTC C Main was between the Aston Martin and the SCX Ferrari 550, and was pretty good up until the time that the AM stuck the throttle and impacted the end of my entertainment center. It took 5 laps to snap the front axle back into place, and then the car continued with one headlight out. At the change the F550 was up 8 laps, at the end of the 30 lap race the margin had grown to 12 laps.
The B Main saw an All Ferrari battle, the F360 vs. the heavier F550, both from SCX. Keeping it consistant I did well, and at the switch had put John 2 laps down. At the finish John had made a lap back due to two crashes but I prevailed to meet Martin in the GTC Feature and meet my nemesis, the TVR T400R.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-230S.jpg
In the Feature Martin got first lane choice, taking the slower outside lane first. I knew I would have to put some serious distance between him during the first 50 laps to make it stick after the switch. I ran an absolutely flawless and crash free first half and was up two and a quarter laps at the switch. On the restart Martin picked up his car and taped his tires, and then set out to catch me, 3 laps ahead. I ran an absolutely flawless and crash free second 38 laps, then went off in the Esses, with Martin passing me. By the time I was back on he was licking my heals again, and passed me on the long straight with 8 laps to go. I know he couldn't make up almost 4 seconds in 8 laps unless I crashed so I slowed, got into a nice groove and waited him out.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-228S.jpg
On the last lap Martin passed me going into the dogleg, then promptly deslotted in the next corner, I simply pushed his stalled TVR off the track as I went by, completed the Esses and took the win. Ferrari had finally gotten it's revenge against the TVR. On my victory lap Martin caught me and put me in the fence in the big sweeper. Somewhere in the virtual world of slot car racing our pit crews were fighting, but it was all in good fun.
After the races we sat down and decided a few rules changes, talked bout portable layouts and bad mouthed my wifes divorce attorney. By 2PM the party broke up and everyone went home, promising to do this all again in a couple of weeks.
Three classes were raced; Non-magnet Rally, Magnet GTC and magnet open wheel. Martin Simone came up from Bakersfield with a very fast Carrera TVR, and having remembered my last run in with the English marque I knew my work was cut out for me.
The track was set up on my living room floor. It featured a 10' main straight and a twisty technical section. Rally lap times were in the 4.5 second range, GTC was running about a second faster at 3.8, open wheel was running right at 3 second laps.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-234S.jpg
Qualifying was done by taking the total number of laps plus track pieces raced in a 1 minute session, the total of both lanes was used. Martin of course set fast time in GTC with the TVR, my F360 was second fastest only 3 track pieces behind. John Lewis was next in a borrowed F550, Taylor Marks was a distant last in a privateer Aston Martin.
Martin also set fast time with my SCX McLaren F1, I was somewhat further behind with an A1GP/GB car, James Hicks was third in another A1GP/CN car. Cars were drawn at random since I owned them all.
Rally was a very difficult race to qualify, the unmagnatized cars crashed frequently, and some very serious "out of the park" crashes occured. I was glad that this was on the floor and not an elevated layout, one car catapulted some 6' off the course grounds. In the end I set fast time with my SCX Focus, Martin was second in a Peugeot Pikes Peak car and John was third in a Puegeot 305.
The Racing
We did the Rally class first and Martin made very quick work of the Peugeot 305 in the 26 lap feature. At the lane change he was already 4 laps ahead, at the end he was 9 laps in the lead. After a 5 minute break Martin's winged wonder had the thrill of it's life while trying to pass my continually drifting Focus. At the lane change I had a 4 track piece lead, but he got around me in a corner that I failed to drift wide enough in and was gone. At the end margin of victory was about half a lap.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-231S.jpg
We decided to do the open wheel class next since we knew it would be over quickly, and pretty much it was. The only real racing was in the B Main between my A1GP car and James in the other A1GP car. The Scalextric cars have little in the form of dynamic braking but held the track very well in the corners. At the lane change I was half a lap ahead of James, after the change I opened it up to a full lap at the finish. These cars are fast and much less complex as the SCX F1 cars, well worth the cost if you can find them. In the Feature I knew Martin would run off and leave me, and he did. Margin of victory in the 50 lap feature was 8 laps even though I did not crash once.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-226S.jpg
The GTC C Main was between the Aston Martin and the SCX Ferrari 550, and was pretty good up until the time that the AM stuck the throttle and impacted the end of my entertainment center. It took 5 laps to snap the front axle back into place, and then the car continued with one headlight out. At the change the F550 was up 8 laps, at the end of the 30 lap race the margin had grown to 12 laps.
The B Main saw an All Ferrari battle, the F360 vs. the heavier F550, both from SCX. Keeping it consistant I did well, and at the switch had put John 2 laps down. At the finish John had made a lap back due to two crashes but I prevailed to meet Martin in the GTC Feature and meet my nemesis, the TVR T400R.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-230S.jpg
In the Feature Martin got first lane choice, taking the slower outside lane first. I knew I would have to put some serious distance between him during the first 50 laps to make it stick after the switch. I ran an absolutely flawless and crash free first half and was up two and a quarter laps at the switch. On the restart Martin picked up his car and taped his tires, and then set out to catch me, 3 laps ahead. I ran an absolutely flawless and crash free second 38 laps, then went off in the Esses, with Martin passing me. By the time I was back on he was licking my heals again, and passed me on the long straight with 8 laps to go. I know he couldn't make up almost 4 seconds in 8 laps unless I crashed so I slowed, got into a nice groove and waited him out.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/MVC-228S.jpg
On the last lap Martin passed me going into the dogleg, then promptly deslotted in the next corner, I simply pushed his stalled TVR off the track as I went by, completed the Esses and took the win. Ferrari had finally gotten it's revenge against the TVR. On my victory lap Martin caught me and put me in the fence in the big sweeper. Somewhere in the virtual world of slot car racing our pit crews were fighting, but it was all in good fun.
After the races we sat down and decided a few rules changes, talked bout portable layouts and bad mouthed my wifes divorce attorney. By 2PM the party broke up and everyone went home, promising to do this all again in a couple of weeks.