Looks like Porsche just set a new record on the way up:

Here is Marcus Gronholm in a Ford Fiesta last year:

And the ultimate Climb Dance with Ari Vatanen:

Enjoy!

The first race of the second quarter of the Championship series saw racers testing and tuning right up to “lights out.” Several new liveries debuted this weekend, all Porsche 956 and 962’s. We saw a Warstiener 956, the new Marlboro “Bar Code” 962, and a custom Shell livery take to the track. (A new Camel is rumored to be hitting the grid for our next race.)

Predictably, the back of the pack was separated by only a handful of laps, with Russell, Jim, and Brian separated by only 3 times around the ring. With only two marshals on the track for the race, deslots, especially in the Esses, had significant impact on lap counts.

As the tuning continues, and we add missing racers back to the grid things are going to get interesting!

[attachment=1]Q2_Slot.itChallengeLeaderBoard.png[/attachment]

Everyone was at the track early making sure they had time to get the track and the their cars prepared for what was promising to be a great day of racing. The entrants consisted of Ary and his Porsche 956KH, Brian and his Porsche 962KH, Shawn and his Porsche 962KH, Russell and his 956KH, Jim with his Jaguar XJR12 and Marty with his Jaguar XJR9.

While everyone was putting the final touches on their Challenge cars Marty was busy trying to figure out what was causing the power in his Jaguar XJR9 to be so intermittent. After a few more laps the issue went from intermittent to terminal. The car’s motor was finished. The normally reliable Jaguar 12 cylinder had dropped a valve. In the frantic moments that followed a factory fresh motor was purchased and installed, gearing adjusted and nerve settling refreshments consumed.

All cars went through the more stringent pre-race inspection process with some cars needing to make some last minute adjustments in order to comply to the rules. Once all final adjustments were made the competitors for the first heat were called to the starting line.

The clock ticked down – five, four, three, two, one, GO! Then all hell broke lose as Ary’s car lifted out of the slot under acceleration and caused the race to be immediately red flagged. The race was soon restarted and was run with few issues other than Marty’s Jaguar wanting to run wild. It didn’t make much difference though as the timing and scoring tower had a computer issue that would not allow the normal rotation of racers. The Austin Slot Car Club IT department was called in and after a few minutes it was determined that the system had suffered a non-recoverable error and it was agreed that the race be run again.

With all of the excitement out of the way the rest of the races were run mostly without incident. It was very obvious that everyone is getting better with car set up and preparation as the de-slots were minimal and the times from first to sixth were closer than we have ever been before. One of the highlights was watching Ary and Shawn race each other in two of the heats. It was great seeing these two fast guys running at the same time.

The only exception was Brian’s Porsche 962KH. His car seemed to be possessed by some evil slot car gremlin. No matter how many adjustments Brian made to the controller the Porsche was impossible to control under breaking. The car was hooked up in the turns and was keeping up with the fastest cars on the straights but when he went to use his brakes the trouble occurred. The unfortunate mechanical can be part of any racers weekend. It’s good to know that everyone has one race they can drop for weekends just like this.

The races finished with a similar look at the top – Ary and Shawn. Ary captured the fastest lap with a time of 3.983 which was only 0.012 faster than Shawn. Great racing! The rest of the racers had lap totals closer than they have ever been before.

It will be great to see what happens next. Will Ary continue to capture fast lap, will Shawn beat Ary to the fastest lap, will Brian get his car’s brakes sorted, will Russell quietly beat Marty, will Jim beat continue to climb the lap chart, will Roy come in with his Lancia and beat everyone, will the bourbon and beer run out? There are so many story lines for the next race. I can’t wait to see what will happen.

[pre]Driver Laps Position Points Fastest Lap
Ary B. (+1 Fastest Lap) 216 1 11 3.983
Shawn G. 215 2 8 3.995
Marty M. 207 3 6 4.179
Russell M. 206 4 5 4.162
Jim J. 205 5 4 4.167
Brian H. 184 6 3 4.313[/pre]

Leader Board

[pre]Two rounds run, four remaining.
Position Driver Total Laps Points Change
1 Ary B. 432 22 –
2 Marty M. 417 14 –
3 Russell M. 407 11 –
4 Jim J. 405 9 –
5 Shawn G. 215 8 +1
6 Brian H. 382 7 -1[/pre]