Race #2 of the Group-C series was held on May 2, a moderately warm spring day that prompted us to turn on a few fans. We had 7 racers, again with one Porsche 956, one Nissan, one Lancia and four 962s. Most of us were running Slot.It F30 tires but their stickiness seemed to come and go, probably due to the fine dust being kicked up by the fans. Russ sat out as he prepped for his trip to Indy, Kyle was sick and Rich was in a re-enactment.
Heat-1 included Shawn, Steve and Ary, matching a 962, Nissan and Lancia. We had a fairly smooth start with Shawn leading for several laps followed very closely by Steve; Ary lurked close behind (like a shark) as he posted very consistent laps and a low ET of 3.88. After five minutes, (and maybe 3 deslots total), the finish was Shawn, followed by Steve and Ary tying with 69 laps each.
Heat-2 added Dave and again there were very few deslots. For most of the early part of the heat Shawn and Ary were neck-and-neck with ETs in the 3.8-3.9 range. Dave consistently chugged behind the veterans who posted a few 3.7s. In the end it was Ary, Shawn and Dave.
Heat-3 rolled in Marty; Shawn out. For a few minutes Dave let Marty know he was still in the race as they went neck-and-neck. About mid-race we started to see fishtailing and a few deslots and the guys started to complain about the wavering traction conditions. Dave continued to match Marty until the last two minutes when Marty and Ary decided to dance, ending up with a finish of Ary, Marty, and Dave. Way to give it good fight Dave!
Heat-4 rolled in Brett and we had an all Porsche field with two 962s and Dave’s 956. Marty took an early lead leaving most of the action up to Dave and Brett, who not only battled each other but had to fight increasing traction problems. We had an extended yellow or two where tires were cleaned in a quest to find more traction. No upsets occurred as the end saw an order of Marty, Dave and Brett.
Heat-5 added Mark and gave Dave a well-deserved rest from the traction problems. We now had an all 962 field but not all cars were equal. This was one of the more problematic heats with more deslots which seemed to come in waves. It got interesting in the last few minutes as Brett and Mark were neck-and-neck while Marty sped off into the sunset and a final of Marty, Mark and Brett on his heels.
Heat-6 brought back Steve who seemed to have a problem knowing what lane to race in; after Marty stuck a yellow sticker on his shirt he was good-to-go. For a few laps all three racers were neck-and-neck then it got to Mark and Steve tracking each other with Brett on their heels. Brett remained very steady overall but Steve was alot steadier and consistently posted very low 4s. Near the end Mark and Brett traded paint with each other and the track, letting Steve pull well ahead with a finish of Steve, Mark, and Brett. At this point we were pretty tired of the finicky traction problems from normally reliable F30s.
In heat-7 Shawn rolled back in and began battle with Steve as Mark kept deslotting in the hairpin at 0.75. Regardless, everyone was posting low 4.1 ETs with Shawn and Steve posting several 4.0s. At 3 minutes in we had the most drama of the day as Steve and Shawn had some contact. Along the way Steve broke 4 with a 3.995, which was notable because of the squirrely traction of the track at this point. In the end it was Shawn and Steve with Mark following behind. Final standings were no surprise: Ary, Marty, Shawn, Steve, and the B team lead by Dave with Mark and Brett finishing the field. Both Dave and Steve posted 207 laps.
