Now that I'm packed and ready to go, I can talk of my Fray team.

We had a snafu about a month ago and this realigned the entire KC area team thing.Making a long story short, we got thing ready to go now.

We are a combination of team Overland Park, and team Independence.
We chose the name of... Team Overdependence.

Jack Rutherford (AKA Fandango, past champion, team champion,and co-captain)
Steve Nelson (Past champion and team champion)
Don Royal (The best car builder I know, Past team champion)
Hiram Durant ( AKA Durant and Ward cars, new owner of the "Shootout" and past shootout champion)
Tim Leppert, (Co-captain)

I will let you how we did on my return, or if you wish to keep tabs, you can look up the Fray message board at http://thefrayinferndale.yuku.com/

I'm shure there will be updates as the day goes on.

Tim Leppert

Never been to the fray. Had an offer to go one year but had to decline.:(
Work or play.Which makes me more...
Good luck at the fray.:thumbsup:

They have a strange race format.Even their rules are odd.

KC
So-Cal
Ferndale
Overdependence
FSMRA
?
?
?

Only 14 teams this year, after we were told that there would 18.
The indis were a split field afair with the odd numbered seeds running off on the purple table, and the evens on the blue.
The yellow table was the scene of the "A" main.
Andrew Keeling
John Habbernal
Steve Nelson
Mike Englage
Don Bourne
Clint Bourne

Keeling edged out Habby for the points total by about an inch.
Clint Bourne, andrew keeling and Habby were seperated by only three points going into the last heat.

I think this is all correct, if I got something wrong I appologize in advance.

Hi Tim
Looks like your team did pretty well! Congrats.
Could you explain the race format for the Fray? I'm interested in attending at some point in the future and am curious about Car/Team/Driver rotation, Lap/Time heats, Marshalling, Points structure, car repair etc. I've seen the rules for the cars that are posted but there doesn't seem to be detailed info on how the race format itself works.
Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bill

The race format at the Fray is frenzied.

This year there were 14 teams, averaging 5-6 guys each. Each team is allowed to tech in 15 cars.

For the racing, there were 7 different tracks, each track being a 6 lane lock and joiner or routed track. The tables are basically 4 sheets of plywood for a table about 8x16. there are three drivers stations on each long side of the table.

In each race between Team A and Team B you are given 35 minutes to complete a 5 man rotation (10 different individual heats), so that each man drives all 6 lanes of the track. Each heat is 10 laps, which is just over a minute of racing. Then you have about a minute to change lanes and bring the cars back to the starting line. Rotation is simple, you just move counterclockwise around the table. At any given time, each team will have 3 drivers on the track. Points are awarded as follows: 6 points for first place, 5 points for second place, 4 points for 3rd place, 3 points for fourth place, 2 points for fifth place, and 1 point for sixth place. The team scoring the most points wins.

Then Team A will move to a different table and race Team C, again with 35 minutes for 5 drivers from each team to race all 6 lanes. Repeat until you have raced all other 13 teams.

Tim
Congrats to your team on there 3rd place finish:thumbsup: you guys had a stout team and I read that all the lock and jointer tracks where in play this year ( that should have made you happy).

Travis

Thanks for the info MKing.

Here are some more questions that come to mind:
So I guess the free team members marshal? Who runs the lapcounter? Does the power stay on during heats no matter what? or is there a kill switch. Are there DNF's if your car breaks or can you pick another car during the heat? or wait til the next heat/lane change for a new car or not at all?
I presume you can fix any broken cars during the lunch break for use in the afternoon.
Does each guy on the team generally run the same car all day or do they swap around?
Does each guy on a team build 3 or so cars or do the teams generally have 1 or 2 guys do all the building?
Can you tune certain cars for certain lanes/tracks ie better handling gutter lane/twisty track cars versus faster middle lane/faster track cars.
Can team members use the same car in a gutter lane each heat or do they have to rotate their car with them as they change lanes?
Can you change cars between heats?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm really curious about the ins and outs of the race format
Thanks again

So I guess the free team members marshal? Correct. The tracks need at least 4 marshals.

Who runs the lapcounter? Does the power stay on during heats no matter what? or is there a kill switch. Generally the marshal closest to the computer runs the timer, but if you don’t need to pause the timer you can run all 10 heats without resetting the computer. You could have a track call (if multiple cars get stuck under a bridge) but track calls are very rare. The kill switch is the computer.

Are there DNF's if your car breaks or can you pick another car during the heat? or wait till the next heat/lane change for a new car or not at all? Each heat is 10 laps, and most tracks are 5-8 seconds per lap, so you really don’t have time to change cars during a heat. In between heats you are free to swap for one of the other cars that were teched in. 15 cars for 5-6 drivers means there are extra cars.

I presume you can fix any broken cars during the lunch break for use in the afternoon.
Within reason, like replacing a pickup spring or re-gluing a windshield. I am not sure you could replace an arm.

Does each guy on the team generally run the same car all day or do they swap around?
Depends on the team/driver. I ran 1 car on the routed tracks and another car on the lock and joiner.

Does each guy on a team build 3 or so cars or do the teams generally have 1 or 2 guys do all the building? Depends on the team. Some teams have 1 or 2 really good builders who build for the team. I imagine Tim’s team had lots of good builders.

Can you tune certain cars for certain lanes/tracks ie better handling gutter lane/twisty track cars versus faster middle lane/faster track cars. Very definitely you can optimize a car for lock and joiner tracks (which tend to be very rough) vs. the routed tracks. There may be some of the better teams that go so far to optimize cars for specific lanes.

Can team members use the same car in a gutter lane each heat or do they have to rotate their car with them as they change lanes? You can change cars between heats, and you can run different cars for different lanes. But you don’t have a lot of time between each heat, and you need to move to a different station and hook up your controller. So if your going to change cars you need to be organized. You need to hustle a bit to retrieve your car, clean your tires, clean your shoes, move to the next driver station and hook up your controller between heats. There are 5 other guys around you hustling to do the same thing. Fortunately, there is a lot of space between the tracks.

Can you change cars between heats? Yes

Thanks for all the answers there Mike!

Do you know when/where the drivers standings will be posted? The final print out I saw didnt have the correct ranking

Mike

Give those guys a couple of days, They need a rest.

Usually it will be posted on the Fray board within a couple of weeks.

Tim

Great info Mike.
Thanks again.
Hopefully we can round up a team from around here for next year.
If we start building cars now we should be reasonably prepared.

Thanks for the behind the scene answers to doing the Fray! :thumbsup: rr