The 4 hour Scaleauto endurance race in Garland at Dallas Slot Cars with the Dallas Slot Car Club and the Tyler Slot Car Club was filled with much pre-race controversy due to issues with the rules and the format for the race. The controversy put the decision to go for me and the rest of the club up in the air. In the end I decided to go.
Why? After all the issues with trying to get this race going I finally decided since it was my idea in the first place I should attend and see how it would play out. It was also important to me to have some presence from the club at the event. Finally I sold myself on the idea getting to race for at least two hours on the big track.
I sent out multiple e-mails to let everyone in the club know I had decided to go to the race. I only heard back from Mark letting me know he was headed up to watch and to run his drag cars. Other than that the only person that expressed interest was Alejandro who had talked to me the prior Saturday letting me know that he wanted to go. So it looks like we will be brining one team with two or three racers depending on how things go and look when we get there.
Alejandro and I left Austin at 5:30am and arrived at the track at 9am just as it opened. By 9:15am Alejandro and I were putting in laps. Alejandro was running my BMW Z4 race car and was getting his head and trigger finger around how to drive the big track. While Alejandro was practicing I was focusing on trying to figure out what car to run and what the set up should be.
I tried both my light weight practice BMW Z4 and my newest and heavier Audi R8 LMS along with a well run Porsche 911 for comparison. My practice BMW Z4 was the fastest car of the three due to its better grip. The Audi was slightly faster on the straights but was a handful to drive in the corners. The Tyler club was having the same issues with all of their Audi R8’s as well. After spending time with each car I decided to run the BMW Z4 with the better traction but slightly less speed. I also figured I would get less tire wear with the lighter car.
I didn’t know how many teams had registered but it didn’t look like there would be enough people to make eight teams. It turns out nine teams said they would attend but there were only six teams that showed up. One team from Tyler didn’t make the trip due to one of the drivers being ill, one of the teams from Dallas didn’t make it for the same reason and another team from Dallas failed show. There was a bit of a last minute panic centered on the fact that there would only be six team competing. I mentioned that we had one additional driver that could pair up with someone but the only problem with that is there was not anyone else for him to pair up with. They told me that in light of not having any one to pair up with our spare driver could do the entire race solo. I then asked if it was OK if I raced solo. They all said “sure”. Not wanting to upset the apple cart and piss anyone off I went to talk to all the other teams to see if they were good with me going solo. None of the teams cared and it seemed like they didn’t really think we would be any sort of competition so why care. So the decision was made to run the four hours solo. Now the Austin Slot Car Club had two entries in the race.
At ten minutes to 11am the call came out for scrutineering. The cars were turned in and it was time to see what was going to be checked and measured. When I dropped off my car I noticed the person doing the scrutineering was carrying a copy of the official Scaleauto Rules. Having said that, the only things that appeared to be measured were the tire diameters and ground clearance. I didn’t see that anything else was measured or checked for compliance. In fact, the bodies of the cars never came off the cars. The question of “will the wings have to be attached during the race” was answered with a “no”. I wasn’t happy about this at first but considering the way the race went I was happy not to have to worry about coming up with a way to reattach my demolished rear wing.
Now let’s go race.
My goal for the race was to finish in the top half of the teams. To accomplish this I was going to have to be as consistent as possible, stay out of trouble and not have any mechanical delays.
My starting lane assignment had me in the fastest lanes which was a bit of a bummer as I was hoping to have some additional run time before getting into the fastest lanes. It would also mean that my final heats would be in the slowest lanes. Not a great but it is what it is.
Right from the start the racing was very close between all the cars with many cars running on the same lap or within one lap for a large part of the race. I was not running as fast as the others but I wasn’t loosing too much time either. I was having some issues with my trigger finger as it was blistering and then popping throughout the race. My wrist was also swelling up with the pressure to the point I had to remove my watch because the band was so tight. I know I don’t need to pull the trigger that hard but I just can’t stop myself. It’s almost like I feel faster if I am mashing it down with all my might.
I seemed to get caught up in numerous wrecks that were not mine. Being in the right place at the right time is critical and some of this can be controlled and other times it is pure luck. With seven cars running so close together at full tilt wrecks can and will happen. My big wish was that the marshals would be better about re-slotting the victim of a wreck first and then worry about the car that caused the crash. Too many times my car was the last one re-slotted and this cost me more time than I could afford to lose.
My car ran fine but did seem to lose some power around the two and a half hour mark but it seemed to get better after another forty five minutes of running slow. My only mechanical was a rear axle carrier screw that backed out during the final heat. That cost me at least one minute to repair.
The race continued to be very close right up to the final three heats where the eventual winner was able to open up a gap. The winning team from Tyler ran 2191 laps . The rest of the filed was very close considering the time and distance covered. The second place team from Dallas ran 2145 laps, the third place team from Dallas ran 2143 laps, while the fourth team from Tyler ran 2140 laps and then there as me.
I ran 2107 laps and was 36 laps or 4 minutes behind the second place car. I won two of the eight heats but didn’t win by enough to pull back enough of the laps I had lost at the start and in the red and white lanes when my motor was down on power.
At the end of the day I had a blast. I didn’t get the result I was shooting for but it was easily one of the best slot car experiences I have had. I love all things endurance so running the four hours straight was tons of fun. I would do it again tomorrow.
The car didn’t appear to have as good of a time as I did as it looked decidedly different at the end of the race than it did at the start. I heard Chris Tanner from Tyler say that you just have to know going into an endurance race that you are going to write off the car body at the end. Truer words were never spoken. Both BMW Z4’s had significant damage, damage that went way beyond a broken wing or wing mount. In fact, both cars are beyond replacing parts to put make them meet the rules. They will both make good training/runners for practice and for my four year old to use.
Component Wear
Tire Wear – the rear tires started the race with a diameter of 26.5mm and ended the race with a diameter of 25.7, still within the rules. I believe if this were a six hour endurance race you would either have to start with a larger diameter rear tire or plan on changing them during the race.
Braid Wear – Mark and Alejandro’s car started the race with a new set of standard Scaleauto braid that was almost completely worn out by the end of the four hours. The car I was running was using the ProRace braid that is used my most OEPS runners. They showed very little wear and looks like they could easily go twelve hours if not more. Very impressive.
Axle Holders – The screws in the axle holders were
Guide Wire – The stock guide wire used on the car Mark and Alejandro raced did break at the guide during the race and it is suggested to run a higher quality wire during for any endurance race.
Next Race – At this point I am looking forward to the next event that will hopefully be held this fall and with strict adherence to the ScaleAuto rules and race format. From the excitement of the other drivers after the race I don’t think it will be too difficult to get them all back to participate again.