Slot.it Modern GT Race 1
Last Saturday saw the arrival of a new class in our Slot.it Challenge series, the Modern GT cars. This class consists of the McLaren F1 GTR, Nissan R390, and Ferrari F40. While there are several liveries of all the cars, the McLaren seemed to be the predominate car. We had 8 racers competing in this race and just like all firsts in the series; it was a learning experience for all. The race all marked the addition of a new racer and the youngest, Austin. He did very well holding his own again the vets in his first race.
Heat 1 consisted of Austin, Kevin and Roy. Austin brought his Jormo sponsored ’98 Nissan R390 LT, Roy with his McLaren RAW converted to inline, and Kevin with a Pilot sponsored Ferrari F40 which Shawn made him put silver on the roof so as to not have the same EXACT car. Unfortunately for Austin, on lap 10 his car experienced electrical issue causing the car to halt on track. Barbosa Skunkwerks stepped in to fix the problem. So after losing about 20 laps, Austin was back in the hunt. Kevin and Roy started off really going after each other, but a couple of deslots caused Kevin to fall behind. Kevin also experienced some drivetrain issues which cost him about 15 laps. Roy, at this point, was all on his own for this heat. Roy finished with 71 laps in green with a 4.000 fastest lap, Kevin finished with 58 laps in blue with a 4.023 fastest lap, and Austin finished with 48 laps in yellow with a 4.092 fastest lap.
Heat 2 consisted of Austin, Roy and Shawn. Shawn bringing in the other Pilot sponsored Ferrari F40 without all the silver paint. Racing was pretty clean with Shawn still coming to grips with the new car. Steve was confused on a couple of reslots and put Shawn’s car in the wrong lane twice. Austin finished with 63 laps in green with a 4.234 fastest lap, Roy finished with 73 laps in blue with a 3.944 fastest lap and Shawn finished 71 laps in yellow with a 3.893 fastest lap.
Heat 3 brought Russell into the mix with his original El Piloto series McLaren F1 GTR reconfigured to meet race spec. Another really pretty clean heat without car issues with some deslots across all lanes. Shawn finished with 75 laps on green with a 3.870 fastest lap, Austin finished with 62 laps on blue with a 4.100 fastest lap, and Russell finished with 72 laps on yellow with a 3.924 fastest lap. Austin completes 171 laps total for his first race. Congrats Austin!
Heat 4 brings in Marty with his McLaren F1 GTR RAW also reconfigured to meet the race spec. This heat had Marty and Shawn fighting for fastest lap. It was back and forth until the end where Marty just kept getting faster and faster. Racing was clean with a few deslots. Shawn feels he could have hit the 76 lap mark if not for deslots. Russell finished with 72 laps on green with a 3.933 fastest lap, Shawn finished with 75 laps in blue with a 3.859 fastest lap, and Marty finished with 73 laps in yellow with a 3.850 fastest lap. With Shawn coming out, Marty was fairly certain he would keep the fastest lap time. Shawn completes 221 laps and Marty has his work cut out for him.
Heat 5 had Brian joining the fray with his rented ToTip sponsored Ferrari F40. I’m not exactly sure how much he paid Marty for the rental, but he only needed it this race as his Gulf McLaren F1 GTR was still in the body shop awaiting paint. This was a really close heat between Russell and Marty with Russell just managing to stay ahead of Marty. Brian was struggling to come to grips with the bizarre handling of the Ferrari F40 that likes to two wheels around most corners. Marty finished with 73 laps on green with a 3.868 fastest lap, Russell finished with 73 laps on blue with a 3.924 fastest lap and Brian finished with 66 laps on yellow with a 4.069 fastest lap. Russell completes 217 laps total for this race.
Heat 6 brings our final racer to the start line. Steve brings a custom black and neon green liveried ’97 Nissan R390. Marty feeling up against the wall to pull a win, unleashes some amazing speed and hits the holy grail of laps counts with 76 and down into the 3.7 second lap times! Steve is really showing some speed being the newest member and really starting to come into his own. Brian finished with 70 laps on green with a 4.052 fastest lap, Marty finished with 76 laps with a 3.793 fastest lap, and Steve finished with 68 laps with a 3.962 fastest lap. Steve is going to be someone to look at for as his consistency improves along with his speed. Marty crushing that last heat completes 222 laps total and fastest lap putting him on top of the leader board and moving Shawn down into 2nd place. Congrats, Marty!
Heat 7 brings Kevin back in to finish out his last couple of heats. Kevin really struggling with his F40 and leaving bits of car parts all over the track. Just like in real life! Steve improves in this heat really focusing on his consistency and it shows. Brian finished his last heat and looking forward to having his McLaren done and ready for the next race. Steve finished with 71 laps in green with a 3.977 fastest lap, Brian finished with 68 laps in blue with a 4.003 fastest lap, and Kevin finishing with 63 laps in yellow with a 4.019 fastest lap. Brian completes 204 laps total for this race.
Heat 8 is the final heat of the race and Roy comes back in to race his final heat. This was a pretty clean heat but Kevin’s F40 keeps spilling parts on the track again. Roy was fast and consistent and turned in a solid lap count. Steve had a spectacular crash on the main straight and even after watching it twice I still can’t see how he managed it. Kevin finished with 66 laps in green with a 4.106 fastest lap, Steve finished with 68 laps with a 3.979 fastest lap, and Roy finished with 73 laps with a 4.003 fastest lap. So, Steve finishes with 207 laps total just beating out Brian for 5th place. Kevin finishes with 187 laps total due to the driveline failure in heat 1. Roy has a solid finish with 217 laps but gets edged out by Russell for 3rd place with the fractional lap count.
Another great race for the club and good start to the series and it’s still anyone’s series at this point but Shawn and Marty have set the bar pretty high with their fast laps and total lap counts. Can’t wait for the next race to see who has massaged their cars to get more speed and who has improved their consistency.
Nice summary of the race Sean. Thanks. I re-lived it while reading it.