Six slot-heads showed up to race True Scale Sports Cars and Can-Am/Endurance cars (Gran Sport Class) at Electron Raceway on a spooky Halloween evening. The track was cleaned and sprayed prior to the current race and track conditions were quite good for both classes of cars. However, with only two marshals, lap counts were suppressed.
- In the Sports Car race it was Rich, Ron and Mike for first through third respectively.
- In the Can-Am/Gran Sport race it was Rich, Ron and Mark for first through third respectively.
The True Scale Sports Car class dates back to 2015 and was one of the first scale wheeled classes to run at Electron Raceway. Many sports car bodies fit the H-bracket production chassis including the Corvette C5R, Ferrari 458, Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari F430, Ford GT etc. Most, but not all competitors have migrated to the Ferraris. Power is supplied by Proslot 16D motors.
The last Sports Car race was held at Electron Raceway on 9/19/22. In that race, Bob won with 92.7 laps, besting Rich by 1.6 laps. Ron and Joe battled for the bottom step of the podium with Ron coming out on top. See the table below for details.
Last week, I had the chance to take a close look at Marks 458 and made a few changes which improved handling, the most significant of which was to move the guide much closer to the front grill of the car.
Mike might be the dark horse for a podium shot this week. He has improved his lap count by nearly three laps since his first outing with the Ferrari F430. An additional three would put him in the hunt for a podium spot.
Editors note prior to the race:
Unfortunately, Bob was under the weather and unable to attend. Get well soon Bob! In addition, Joe had Halloween duty and was also absent. With these two competitors absent, all of the podium spots will be up for grabs and their might be some surprises.
The initial heat included the top three seeds (Rich, Ron and Mark) and the fifth seed, Scott. Rich took the lead by 2+ laps in the initial heat and never looked back, cruising to a win with his red Ferrari 458. In the initial heat, Ron, Mark and Scott all finished with 20+ laps and it became obvious that there was going to be a battle royal for the remaining two spots on the podium
Mike entered the race as the number 4 seed in heat number 3. He scored nearly 21 laps and, as a consequence was in the hunt with Scott, Mark and Ron for the cherished podium spots.
It all came down to the final heat. Ron entered the final heat with 63.4 laps; Mike with 62.9; Mark with 62.8 laps. Throughout the heat, the gap between Ron and Mike remained essentially constant, so in the end, It was Ron for second place and Mike for third. It is interesting to note that Mikes lap total of 84.8 was a personal best by a whopping two laps and that this was the first time that Mike scored a podium spot in the Sports Car class. Unfortunately, Mark had a braid issue in the last heat and, as a consequence was unable to keep up with the other competitors and finished fourth.
Below are tables illustrating all of the details, an image of the grid, images of the top three finishers cars as well as an image of Lowells brand-new Ferrari F50.
To see images of all of the True Scale Sports Cars, see the link below
http://slotblog.net/...way-sports-car/
In the handicap competition, Mikes personal best vaulted him into first place followed by Lowell and Mark
The Can-Am Series began in 1965 featuring unlimited, purpose built, two seat sports racing machines. Because the Series posted big prize money, it attracted talented drivers and world class race teams. Few rules allowed designers to use unbridled imagination to develop powerful and sometimes unique machinery. The Chaparral and Shadow come to mind. The former achieved a modicum of success while the latter was, in its initial concept, an abject failure. The most successful teams migrated to big block motors and monocoque chassis. These beasts shook the ground and challenged the ear drums of spectators.
At Electron Raceway, I have combined the Can-Am class with Endurance machines of the 60s and 70s (Class is formally called Gran Sport) including the Porsche 917, GT40, Corvette Grand Sport and others. The Can-Am and Gran Sport cars have similar wheelbase and width. Maybe the biggest difference is that the Can-Am cars are open cockpit and the Gran Sport cars are closed. Competitors can select either True Scale spec or OSCAR spec rides. The True Scale cars feature production H-Bracket chassis. ProSlot 16D sealed motors are utilized and mounted in an angle-winder or sidewinder configuration. The OSCAR based cars feature in-line, scratch-build, hinged chassis coupled with 16D or Hawk/Falcon motors. I expect that neither will be at a big advantage and racing will be close and competitive.
In the inaugural contest at Electron Raceway, Rich cruised to a win with his True Scale GT40 Mk IV. Bob was second with his OSCAR based Can-Am Lotus and Ron was third with his True Scale GT40. It must be said that Bobs car was geared much too high for the short straights of Electron Raceway as the chassis was geared for a recent contest run at Springwater Raceway, a track with very long straights. Re-gearing would make the Lotus much more competitive. See complete results of the inaugural race below.
Since that event, Can-Am cars competed at our sister track, Spare Time Raceway on October 10, 2022 (see table below). Although True Scale Can-Am or Gran Sport cars are permitted to run alongside their OSCAR counterparts, none were selected. The tighter corners of Spare Time Raceway put the OSCAR cars at an advantage. Since several regulars were absent from the Electron event, I thought it would be useful to look at the Spare Time event in order to get an idea of how absentees might fare in the upcoming race. Mark had a fine race with his Lotus finishing less than a lap behind Bobs Lotus. Other absentees finished four or more laps behind. Not shown in either race is Joe who has a very competitive Can-Am car which, in the recent past has turned 90 laps at Spare Time.
The upcoming race at Electron will feature a few new and competitive cars. Rich plans to enter a GT40 Mk I and Ron plans to enter his Porsche 917 (both are True Scale cars). Others will be relegated to their OSCAR based rides (none have chosen to build True Scale cars for Can-Am or Gran-Sport classes)
Looking ahead, I think this will be a very interesting race. I think that all of the podium spots are up for grabs. The True Scale rides of Rich and Ron will have their hands full with Can-Am cars fielded by others. It should be a great race.
Can-Am/Gran Sport Current Race
The initial heat featured the top three seeds (Rich, Ron and Mark) and the fifth seed, Mike. Although Rich won the first heat with 23.0 laps, Mark was second only a single section behind and Ron less than a half lap behind Mark. Mike also had a pretty good heat scoring nearly 22 laps (about a half lap behind Mark. This was shaping up to be a very close race featuring both True Scale and OSCAR based machines in the mix.
In the successive heats, Rich managed to pull away a bit from the field. Again, all was not settled until the final heat. Rich entered the final heat in the lead by about two laps and won the race by a similar margin. It was the fight for the second and third steps of the podium that was a nail biter. Ron entered the final heat with 66.8 laps while Mark was only three sections behind. As the heat progressed, Mark began closing the gap. In the end it was not quite enough. Ron edged out Mark for second place by a single section.
See below for details of the finishing order and images of the first through third place finishers.
For images of all of the Can-Am and Gran Sport Cars, see the links below.
http://slotblog.net/...way-gran-sport/
http://slotblog.net/...r-can-am-class/
