The third round of the Austin Slot Car Clubs Slot.it Group C series took place on Saturday the 19th of February. The conditions were almost perfect with the outside temperature a comfortable 72 degrees and inside the track was at 75 degrees. This was the second race of the day with the Thunderslot series being run earlier. This earlier race would have done the work of cleaning the track and putting down another layer of rubber for additional traction for the Group C cars.
There were nine club members present with eight cars entered for this round of the series. One club member was running for the first time in the series while another member choosing not to run as his car was not fully prepared.
Many of the cars were the same we have seen in the past two rounds with the exception of Brian’s beautiful Toyota 88C in Taka-Q livery and Randy’s new Porsche 962KH in the Jim Beam livery. Randy’s car is one of the latest from Slot.it and had the most recent body and interior that are the lightest currently available from Slot.it for a Porsche 962KH.
From the first heat, the racers discovered the track had more grip than they had experienced in previous rounds. This additional grip made the cars nervous under braking and created unneeded wheel chatter in the turns. It would be interesting to who would be able to deal with the challenging conditions.
All of the drivers did their best but the lap times and lap totals were nothing other than what could be considered slow. The cars all ran without issue except for Steve’s Nissan. During his first heat his pinion began to slip but he did all he could to keep it moving. Finally in his second heat he pitted and soldered the pinion. Although the work was done quickly it was impossible for Steve to make up the lost time. Steve definitely won the award for perseverance. No give up in that racer.
At the end of the day it was Ary and his Lancia LC2 on top with almost 224 laps. Marty was two laps behind but was quick enough to take the fast lap with a time of 3.853 in his Porsche 956KH. The podium was completed by David in third with his Lancia LC2.
John was fourth in his Lancia LC2, Mark fifth in his Porsche 962KH, Randy was sixth in his new Porsche 962KH, Brian was seventh in his Toyota 88C and Steve was eighth in his Nissan.
The overall results effectively stayed the same with the top five racers staying in the same positions.
The next round – round 4 – will be fun to watch as the race for the overall champion gets closer. The track temps will be up and all the racers will have a couple of weeks to get their cars prepared for the next round.
I can’t wait to see how it goes!