There is something beautiful in watching a car and a driver that are perfectly matched and balanced with each other. It looks so effortless and natural. There is no wasted effort or extra car movement, just a smooth line in and out of every turn. Almost like the two are one. Like Rick Mears and his Penske at Indy, Senna in the McLaren at Monaco or Kristensen in the Audi at LeMans. Add to the list Russell and his custom Fly/Slot It Ferrari GTO.
The first round of the Austin Slot Car Clubs Classic GT series saw Russell add his name to the list of drivers and cars above. He was typical Russell – very smooth and fast. It was one of those drives that you really enjoyed watching even as a competitor. How good was his performance? He set the fast lap time with a 4.295, totaled 201.45 laps, turned more laps in each lane than anyone else and set fast lap in each of the three lanes. That’s not to say he didn’t have any de-slots but even those looked smooth and graceful. He has definitely set the bar for the others to follow. Congratulations Russell on a great drive.
What about the rest of the field? Second place was won by Marty and his Racer Toyota GT2000 with a total of 198.44 laps. The Toyota looked good but was not as smooth as Russell’s Ferrari and had too many de-slots trying to keep pace with the leader. At the end of the day the Toyota was a massive three laps behind Russell. Looks like there is still some development work to be done on the Toyota to make it a winner.
Third was Ary and his MRRC Porsche 911. The car was super fast on the straights but looked a little difficult to control in the turns. The rear of the car was swinging as Ary accelerated out of the turns.
Fourth was Jim and his Ferrari GTO. Jim had good speed but the GTO was difficult to control under braking causing the car to de-slot numerous times entering the first turn. Jim did a great job adjusting his driving style and his controller to handle the prancing and bucking horse.
Fifth was Brian and his new Jaguar XKE roadster. The car was beautiful but lacked the development needed to make it competitive. Brian knew after the warm up secession that the car was not fast enough to compete with the others but ran the car to pick up some valuable run time. It was a valiant effort and it helped him better understand what he needed to work on to get his car ready for the next round.
It was a great race to watch and lots of fun to drive. The bar has been set and its time for the competitors to get to work to match the pace of Russell. Good luck to everyone in the next round.
Here is a video of Marty’s crew preparing his Toyota for the first round of the Classic GT series.
