Saturday, January 7th marked the inaugural day for the 2012 Race Season for the Austin Slot Car Club at our home track located at King’s Hobby Shop. Drivers had prepped and tested their new steeds for the Q1 opening round of the Slot.It Challenge Series for several months. Q1 features 60’s Classic Cars, the Ford GT40 coupes and the Chaparral 2E open cockpit, winged speedsters.
Opening day drew 7 competitors, all driving Ford GT40 coupes. Where were the Chaparrals? Word has it that Team Russell was still working on setups for the Chap stable, and decided to skip Round One and devote further test time to wring out additional speed and handling for the then ill-handling Chaps.
It has been rumored Team Russell contracted with the Arywerkes Racing and Development Group to act as a consultant and tweaker for the inconsistent Chap chassis. I can now report Team Russell will be entering a 3.9 second lap Chaparral at future races that will give the GT40 boys a run for their money. It will be nice to see a Chevy- powered car back in the fold.
Here are the final results for Round One:
|
Position |
Driver |
Laps |
Points |
Fastest Lap |
|
1 |
Ary Barbarosa |
220.27 |
11 |
3.783 |
|
2 |
Roy Martz |
220.15 |
8 |
3.891 |
|
3 |
Shawn Gordon |
219.76 |
6 |
3.891 |
|
4 |
Jim Johnson |
218.26 |
5 |
3.912 |
|
5 |
Kevin Farless |
213.16 |
4 |
3.993 |
|
6 |
Marty Muehlegger |
211.40 |
3 |
4.092 |
|
7 |
Brian Harriger |
183.75 |
2 |
4.020 |
Roy Martz had won the coveted award for fastest racing lap in the second to last race of 2011, but Ary, driving his Gulf- liveried Ford GT40, shattered Roy’s record with a 3.783 lap in the yellow lane during his 3rd heat. Drivers were happy for Ary, but at the same time shocked that Roy’s record fell on the first day of racing in the New Year.
It wasn’t all that long ago a 3.9 second lap was considered quite an achievement, but we can only guess what 2012 will bring in the way of fastest lap time during a race.