Things are starting to look a little better……….
UPDATE: 10-10-14
I have my babysitter. My aunt and cousin will be at the house to take care of baby J and make sure nothing blows up while I am gone. Yea! All I need now is some time to get the cars prepared.
UPDATE: 10-13-14
After spending time over the past few days to prepare a Porsche 917, a Sauber Mercedes C9 and rebuild a Porsche 962 with an angle-winder chassis I have more questions about the rules than ever. All of these cars uses different bushings, axles, wheels, tires and motor wires and guides. I have no idea what will be allowed or if anything BRM is allowed to be used on any of the cars. I am currently setting them up to be as fast as possible with the BRM parts provided. I even ask Alan on the forum thread about the rules that were to be posted two weeks ago and he came back with
Megane will run basically STOCK. Pink/Purple motor no weight added, BRM sponge tires.
917’s will run similar, no weight added same motor as the Megane.
Both will run BRM sponge tires. Group C will allow both in line and angle winder cars, Black motor S-021SS tires minimum weight 180 grams
Well that clears things up?
Update: 10-15-14
Now that I am going I have to think about how the heck I am going to get all of the tools, parts and cars up to Tacoma. Traveling with everything can pose some difficulties. If you have ever been to a race you understand how much gear, tools, parts and cars I bring and that is for just a series race. I think we will have to borrow the McLaren race transporter to haul up all our equipment.
I decided on a Pelican case to bring up all the shelves from my tool box and ship the box, empty, to the race site. This way all the valuable items stay with me and the box goes UPS insured.
Update: 10-22-14
The fifth Beatle……..
Now that I can go and figured out a way to get all my stuff up there I am wondering if we can do it with three drivers. I’m thinking one person drives, one person marshals the track and the other one can rest or sleep. This should give us plenty of rest if a driver races for two stints or two hours. Not so I am told by co-driver Ary. The third guy has to be awake in the pits ready to take care of any emergency that might pop up during the race and there will be emergencies. So this means no one sleeps if we have a team of three drivers. Time to add a team member. We called Alan and he said he would have someone for us when we get there. Not that we don’t trust him or anything but we would rather not wait to get there to find out he doesn’t have anyone or we are taking the last man standing. Time to take matters into our own hands. The team from Atlanta pulled out at the last minute so maybe we could get someone from that team? There is also a racer from Atlanta that visited the track about a year ago and was a solid racer. Maybe we could get him?
Nope. Everyone from the Atlanta team had things come up at the last minute and they are no longer available. They recommended another driver from North Carolina that they had raced with before – Steve Acesta or sacesta on Slot Car Illustrated forum. We reached out to him and he said he couldn’t do it financially. Now we have to sweeten the offer. I am sure this is the way Vettel’s agent did it with Ferrari. We call him back and tell him that everything is paid for and all he would have to do is cover his air fare. Done deal. We are proud to introduce our newest club member: Steve Acesta.
Now if Alan has someone that is decent we can make sure everyone will get enough rest during the race.
Update: 11-5-14
The cars have arrived in Tacoma and are ready for us to start working on them. They are absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to run them on the big tracks.
I sent my slot box via UPS to Alan’s. I hope everything shows up in one piece. I plan on taking the rest of the tools and parts in my luggage and carry on’s. Packing has been challenging and I hope I have the tools and supplies I need once I get there. This is a hell of a first test for racing away from the clubs home track.
Hey guys,
I’m posting this many months late but I want to say thank you to Ary, Marty and Shawn for having me on their team. (And, as I just found out, making me an honorary member of the Austin Slot Car Club.)
I tried to get a local SCANC (Slot Car Addicts of North Carolina) team together but that didn’t pan out. Atlanta had two drivers (and me) but couldn’t get a fourth and so I gave up looking.
Then I got an email from Ary saying ASCC had three drivers and needed a fourth, but I had already resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to go and made other plans. I emailed Ary to tell him I was sorry that I couldn’t go. Well, that’s when he called me and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He said the lodging, rental car and entry fees were already taken care of and that all I needed to pay for was my plane ticket there and back. Plus, he said, he had a $100 voucher for American Airlines that he couldn’t use and he offered it to me!! How could I refuse? I booked a flight online with Ary still on the phone, flew through Dallas and met Ary at the Dallas terminal. Shawn met us in SeaTac a few hours later and Marty arrived the next day. I bought breakfast groceries, paid for a few pizzas and filled up the tank of the rental car upon departure.
Ary, Marty and Shawn are great guys, competitive racers and excellent car tuners. We had a few rough heats early on and clawed our way back to a respectable finish. There were several battles for position up to the last seconds of the race. It was one of the best times I’ve ever had racing and I’d do it again in a heartbeat!
Thanks guys, and especially to Ary, for making it possible for me to participate. Maybe we can do it again!
Cheers,
Steve