Slot.it Group C Series – Round 2

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Slot.it Group C Series – Round 2
The second round of the Slot.it Group C series was another good one with the competition being faster and closer than ever. After the first round there were two weeks for the competitors to spend doing some additional tuning and reflection on how they were going to get quicker in this round.

This round had a solid field of 13 racers. With everyone from the previous round joined by one of the club founders – Ary.  We were also joined by a visitor from Pueblo, NM who was in town to visit family and run a couple of laps with the club.  It’s always great to have visitors and even better when they can stick around and run a few laps with us.

Pre-Race Inspection
The 13 cars all went through tech inspection with no issues. The main thing that stood out about the cars in this round was the wide range of set ups, gearing, and tires the racers were using. The track was almost perfect with the surface temp at 75 degrees, an ambient temp of 75 degrees and low humidity. The stage was set for some fast times and close racing.

Why was there such a wide range of gearing?
In past years, almost everyone was able to run a 23t crown with a 9t pinion without too many drivability issues. This made this series more of a “who had the best motor” series than a driver’s series. To turn it back into a drivers series the voltage was increased to 12.5. Why 12.5 volts? This was just enough voltage that only the most experienced racers would be able to run 23t crown gears. This will help make sure this series rewards good car setup and driving. Winning in this series is no longer as easy as throwing a 23t crown on your car and holding the trigger down. As a result, racers are forced to use a wide range of gearing depending on their car set up and their driving skill and style.

New Runner?
This round of the series welcomed one of the clubs fastest and longest standing runners – Ary. Ary has missed months of racing while he focused on his job and a couple of building projects. It was great to have him back running with the club. Ary is infamous for being able to pull a car out of his box and run at the front of the field – no matter how long he has been away from the club. It will be interesting to see how he does in his first race back.

Race Summary
The front three drivers from the last race – David, Marty, and Lance – were all still running at the sharp end of the field. David had a difficult first heat with five very uncharacteristic de-slots. Even with them he finished the heat with a total of 74 laps. That either meant David was running crazy fast between his de-slots or the corner marshalls were on top of their game. Either way, it was enough for him to stay in the hunt for the top podium spot.

 

Marty had three solid heats with only two total deslots and even though he was not as quick as David’s last two heats his consistency won him the race. Marty also took the fastest lap with a time of 3.722.

Lance was not as quick as he was in the last round after he did some Thursday night tuning that did little to improve his pace on race day.

Ary finished just 0.02 of a lap behind Lance. Ary once again picked a car out of his box and once again ran at the front of the field and almost took a podium place. Ary was running a long tail Porsche 962 which traditionally does not run great on our track. It was a good run for Ary even though he probably won’t see it that way.

Brian took fifth and headed up a group of five racers that were all running close together. Brian had a good round with his Lancia as he is still working on his Mazda.

Steve was sixth in is Nissan. Another great result for a car that is running with a once broken and now repaired chassis. Nice run Steve.

Erik was seventh running a Lancia in the Martini livery for this round as his Mercedes C9 was not on pace. Erik ran a super consistent race with few deslots but his Lancia was down on power and could not keep up with the front runners.

John finished in eighth even though his Lancia ran almost the same laps as he did in the first round of the series where he finished in 5th.

Russell finished in ninth but his car showed signs of real brilliance with a fast lap time of 3.824. It was keeping the car in the slot that proved the challenge for Russell in this round.

Randy finished in 10th to lead the B Group of racers. Randy’s Porsche completed seven more laps than the first round but was still having trouble keeping up with the front runners.

Marc was in 11th in his custom Lancia. Marc ran two fewer laps than he completed in the first race which is not a good thing in a round where everyone seemed to be quicker.

Jay was 12th in his Lancia running almost the same exact laps he ran in the first race. No big issue as Jay was doing a great job as one of our newest members getting used to running the track and his car.

Melvin was lucky 13th with his custom painted Lancia. Melvin ran almost 20 laps more than his last round in the series. He is doing a great job learning how to prepare and drive. If he continues to add 20 laps per round he will be on the podium in another two rounds. Good luck Melvin.

 

 

YouTube Visitor
It was great to have the clubs good friend Dave Kennedy from Slot Car New join our YouTube feed to check out what we have going on here in Austin. We love having people check out the racing action and we are working to make the video even better in the near future.

Next Race
The next round of the series will take place February 4th at 1:30pm central time. Please log into the clubs YouTube channel to catch all the action. I can’t wait.

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