ASCC Club Meeting – Feb 2017

[BarkingSpyder]

Sat Feb 11 2017
MEMBERS
— Welcome Victor Vartanian from our Wynautskil NY branch!  Victor is apparently a semi-snowbird who occasionally visits Austin and joined a few weeks ago; after some spirited racing during practice.
We got Brian in Wisconsin, John in Beeville, Kyle in Temple, Mitch from Bastrop, and now Victor in New York; all we need is some guys from the UK, Japan, Australia …. or maybe Hawaii or LeMans so we have an excuse to go race there!
— We had a visitor (“Bobby”) who seemed very interested, he is experienced in 1/24, knows Alan etc. and we hope he joins.
— We also recently had a visit from the sysop/admin for  https://www.slotcars.net/    He’s also a 1/24 racer, lives in ATX but travels to PA’s in Houston, Magnatec, and Dallas Slots etc to compete.  He seemed really interested in trying 1/32 and we hope he returns.
Visit his site and try to strike up a dialog with the guy and encourage him to visit us to marshall or bench-race.

BRM SIDECARS
Only one member (Dave) has a sidecar and only four people were planning on racing them. Preliminary evals are that there a potential issues with the front wheel/tire, rear wheel rubber compound (marbles too easy), no alternatives for motors or gearing. Eight members voted to switch to a different series.  The club will buy Dave’s beautiful and cool sidecar Mule and sell it on E-Bay. Thanks for the research Dave!
Ary dug up our Oct 2016 voting records and some series we discussed including DTM, Modern Touring, LMP … but they were all repeats of recent series so we considered the new BTCC cars from Scaley – most available from Pendle with a PCR (slot.it compatible) chassis or have chassis available from Shapeways.

BTCC

About The British Touring Car Championship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Touring_Car_Championship
https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=scalextric%20btcc
There are lots of Scaley BTCC cars, but only 4 cars for our series (VW, MG, BMW, Honda …) – visit Pendleslot to see whats available, the ones with the free PCR chassis have a ‘pcr’ circle in the image of the car.
Rules:http://austinslotcarclub.com/2017-racing-series/2017-btcc-series/
This will be like other semi-open series where we must use the Scaley body, PCR or 3D chassis, with spec, but brand- and part#-open components. Motor is 25k (brand free).

BRM TRANS AM CARS
Bobby informed us that ‘the big news for US racers’ (we have been hearing teasers about this since the fall 2016) is that BRM is planning to release a set of 1/24 1969 TA Camaros and Mustangs in April.  No we have not discussed these as a potential series yet.

NOISE and RACE ETIQUETTE
A motion was made to ban work with the Dremel (my bad) and compressor during a race – to prevent distraction from the noise.  We voted (2 for, 5 against) against the ban but we suggest these guidelines:
— If you can wait, please limit noisy work to the 3-minute pits between races.
— If you must fix an emergency, go back in the packing room to grind or blast.
— If you are a racer very disturbed by noise (incl talkative visitors or chatting marshalls) take a cue from Mitch and rock out with phones/buds!
*  Marshalls *please* keep chatter to a bare minimum – it’s not only disturbing for racers, but as you talk to your buddy you are not paying attention to the track. Please actively marshall or socialize, not both.
*  Marshalls please don’t engage in chatter with visitors – if you want to be an ambassador, quietly talk to our visitors behind the line or outside the room, during the 3-minute Pit/Transition. Actively marshall or promote, not both.
*  These are already long-standing club rules. The four-five seconds you take to break away from a conversation and re-slot can drop a racer’s position for the whole race.
~~ A few people have requested that we leave politics outside the track – let’s focus on racing as friends and forget the other BS!

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