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I wanted to add a couple of comments about possible series. One is that I think we should take a break from running Thunderslot. That has been one of my favorite series and the cars have been very fast right out of the box, but I think we should run other series this year.
As I said in my above post, I had forgotten about the BRM mini 1/24 cars. There are a lot of models and liveries available and these cars should be a lot of fun to drive. They are a great size and have an attractive (to me anyway) chunky appearance.
I am going to leave my Alfa at HQ for everyone to look at and try out on the track, keeping in mind that it is right out of the box and I have done nothing to it.
Russell
At the Zoom meeting today, Marc, John, and I discussed race classes for next year. It would seem that the way we are going we will be doing proxy races for a while. We thought starting with Group C as usual would be a good idea.
The NSR Formula 1 racers look like a good prospect. The one David had drove well and the front end looks fairly sturdy. The modern Policar Formula 1 is an unknown and we would need to test it out to try it.
The NSR Porsche 908 was also discussed; we only got to run one race with it last year. It would be a good candidate to run on both tracks to give some variety.
We talked about the variety of cars that the Tourist Trophy produced and thought it would be a fun builder series, perhaps with car track limits or some way to reduce the dominance of the Racer 250LM.
A Group 5 Racer Sideways series was brought up, as well as a Slot.it GT40 series.
I had forgotten about the BRM/TTS small 1/24 cars. My Alfa is a great looking car and the smaller size of these metal chassis cars should make good running cars.
I also like the BRM 1/24 Trans Am cars.
Also requiring some thought would be the order in which we would run any proposed series, considering that, at least to start the year, we would continue with proxy races, so for early series choices, it might be good to consider classes in which we would not mind some one else driving our cars. For a car that we would really want to drive ourselves, later in the year would be better.
Russell
Mark
Thanks for the info. It is very helpful, especially with new cars. So David put some weight outboard on the chassis; now that would increase the roll resistance at that point, like a heavier anti-roll bar. It’s the difference when you are spinning in an office chair whether you extend your arms and legs or pull into a ball. And so you could further tune the suspension by changing the roll resistance front to rear…..
Russell
Thanks, Marty
I did not see the attachment on the first post. I only saw the original Q4 rules.
Russell
Marty
Clarification, please. The wing rule you refer to above is not the DTM race rule. The DTM rule states that wings must be replaced during green flag running. The rule you state is only that the wing has to be on at the START of a heat. Which is it? We have race rules written both ways.
Also, you previously stated that the ends of the wings cannot be reinforced by tape. So, they can’t be reinforced by tape, but tape can be used to re-install it?
Russell
Marty
Will the cars be in Parc Ferme for the duration of the series; that is, the owners will not be allowed to work on them between races?
RussellWe have different rear wing rules for different race series; some only require the wing to be on at the start of the heat, and some race series require that wings have to be re-installed during the green flag heat. Also some race series allow taping the ends of the wings, or reinforcing the wings, and some do not. My comments before were just a statement of fact. Having to replace a wing during a race (unless it is a snap-in wing) means that heat and that race are done for the car. Even if the supplies were ready and available at the driver’s station, it would take a minute or more, and would probably not last. I would rather that a quickie, futile attempt to repair a wing, which might complicate a later, at-home repair, not be attempted.
Clear enough. If my wing breaks during a race, please withdraw the car immediately. Make no attempt to repair/replace the wing. A broken wing means that race is over for the car.
Marty
The Alfa rear wing mount is pretty spindly; what is allowable for reinforcement? Can the ends of the wings be taped to the body? What about reinforcement with plastic?
Russell
Mark
I agree; that is crazy! I have been using CA for 50 years and never heard this. I did a search for “CA glue fire danger” and your post was the #4 result, after articles about California fires. Further research also said in addition to cotton, it can react with wool. I looked it up on Wikipedia and saw that it was discovered at B.F. Goodrich in 1941.
Russell
I had a post ready yesterday, but apparently did not hit SUBMIT. I had proposed Group C for the next proxy race, but I understand Marty’s comment about continuing the tradition of Group C being the first race series each year. I had thought that Group C might get the greatest number of entries for a proxy race. We could quite likely still be running proxy races in January.
Between Slot.it McLaren and Group 5, I would personally prefer the McLaren. I assume the Group 5 Marty mentions is the Group 5 in 2017. Although technically not a Racer series, that was the car needed to be competitive. Not having a Racer, I would rather not have to purchase one.
I also await member’s thoughts on what series to run and which series they have cars they would be willing to enter.
Russell
There will be an LED readout at each station. Ary demonstrated at last video conference. the assembly was 3 or 4 inches square, a couple of inches tall.
I would think that some experimentation would be required on this topic. It will be simple enough to try running various cars at different voltages (using the voltage adjustment on the Pyramid power supply) and comparing lap times versus drivability. This will take some work. Say with a Group C car, try it at 12 volts and see how it runs. Is it faster? Is it faster but much twitchier? Put a numerically taller gear in it and see if you can get a faster lap speed than the baseline but still have it drivable. Try it at 13 volts and test it some more. I think we will need time to have everyone do this experimentation. It looks like adjusting the voltage could be an easy fix to help a car with a weak motor but it might make setup more complicated because it could also work with a “normal” or “hot” motor but require different gearing, which would raise the bar and the “weak” motor would be outclassed once again. If this is the case, we could require a specific gear and let everyone choose their voltage.
For this testing we may need to wait until safer track access is available. It sounds like Ary’s voltage regulators would cost $30 plus for each lane, plus the time to install them. With club dues now due once again, and the possibility that some members may be short on money, I don’t think we should spend the money for the regulators right now. Except for the cost and labor I do not see a down side for installing the regulators, whether we use them, or limit their use, or not. It does give us more options.
