The Austin Slot Car Club went all out for the 2012 El Piloto Series; three, highly coveted, 1/24 scale BRM Renault Meganes were purchased, along with a few upgrade parts.
| The El Piloto Series is our club’s version of a drivers challenge. Each car is prepared identically and placed on its according lane; drivers race each car once, whoever combines the most laps is the winner |
This year, every round of the series will be raced the same day as our monthly club meeting, round one was no exception. After discussing some club business (we are getting a new power supply for our pit area – huhu!), everybody got ready to race.
The Meganes handle a little differently than BRM’s Group-C cars; narrower tires, shorter track and wheelbase contributed to a car that fishtails when pushed in-or-out of a corner. Jim, Roy and Marty were the first ones to race and experience a few “tail-slap” induced deslots. After the initial heat, drivers became aware of the problem an eased on the turns.
Racing any 1/24 scale slot car on a 4″ wide lane spacing is difficult, you really have to time an overtake, combine that with evenly performing cars and you definitely have a competitive series. After eight heats, less than three laps separated first and third place finishers.
Congratulations goes to Marty, Shawn and Jim! I would also like to congratulate our newest members, Kevin and Brett for a very clean run, just continue practicing and a podium will come.
Here are the results:
| Position | Driver | Laps | Points | Fastest Lap |
| 1 | Marty Muehlegger | 204.30 | 11 | 4.198 |
| 2 | Shawn Gordon | 202.20 | 8 | 4.296 |
| 3 | Jim Johnson | 201.82 | 6 | 4.311 |
| 4 | Ary Barbarosa | 200.92 | 5 | 4.284 |
| 5 | Brian Harriger | 197.72 | 4 | 4.372 |
| 6 | Roy Martz | 195.74 | 3 | 4.206 |
| 7 | Kevin Farless | 195.35 | 2 | 4.394 |
| 8 | Brett Lindsey | 159.90 | 1 | 4.638 |
We are still having a few problems with our ustream.tv broadcast. What was recorded from this race can be viewed here:
Part1: https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19765766
Part2: https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19766830
Until round #2.