221 replies to this topic

[Mark C.]

(Sigh) aerodynamics are everything with Formula 1.

[Jairus]

Mark,

You cannot force a hobby on people who are not interested (locals) but... you can get those who have had a past interest back into the hobby!

How about some advertising?

Will the owners put out some $ for flyers? Salem has had a whole bunch of tracks come and go over the last 40 years. A lot of guys have cars and equipment in the closet that I bet they would like to use again. Someone just needs to spread the word.

If I had some flyers I would/could tack them up in a number of key locations that might help get the word out.

Just a thought...

[J-Sull]

Look Jairus I can post Cant wait for the 3rd.(crashfest)

[Jairus]

Welcome to Slotblog Jeremy!
How's my favorite granddaughter?

[J-Sull]

Ready to go home eat(her favorite thing) Play ball(her favorite thing) See mom from a hard day of work(NAPPING... Her favorite thing)

[Jairus]

Give her a hug for me... !

[J-Sull]

Will do signing off time to go home (My favorite thing...)

[J-Sull]

Here is my quality paint job from Jairus (awesome painter/racing bud) and my chassis.

[Jairus]

Well, one week left before the next big race.
I sit here working on other peoples projects while my race car still requires my attention to prep it for the race...
Is that typical of a racer or a modeler? Just wondering.




Cheater, I see you have relegated Mark to guest. I can only suspect that he failed to put HIS name in the signature box and has not responded to your emails. His full name is "Mark Faccone" and I doubt that he will be back until after the race next week. If you could please find it in your heart to help out us poor Oregonians.... it would be much appreciated.
Thanks Greg!

[J-Sull]

Race...Race...Race Cant wait. Beer Fish and chips SWEET

[J-Sull]

One day left before the race!Can't wait for friday night.It will be another trial for my car to see how it does with some drastic changes from my big winnings of last race( $1 for last place )Though that was with a sloppy parma s16 stock motor.We(Jarius and I) put different motors in and changed my pan to allum. and changed my gears and shaved 2 secs of my other lap time,probably a combination of all that and better driving.JAIRUS YOU READY FOR THIS Kenny will probably beat us and his car is the same.

Win or lose it is all for fun,beer and fish & chips!!!!!

[Jairus]

[idare2bdul]

Having a race car ready before the night before the race might be possible but it is against tradition. Thrashing the night before the race to ready your car and then showing up at the race sleep deprived is standard operating procedure.

[J-Sull]

Having a race car ready before the night before the race might be possible but it is against tradition. Thrashing the night before the race to ready your car and then showing up at the race sleep deprived is standard operating procedure.

That is so true, a car is never ready allways something to do

[Jairus]

July 3rd 2009 Race report.
Depoe Bay, Stock Flexi Wing cars.


Although the temperature in Salem had been hovering at 92 degrees for the last couple of days,… it was a balmy 59 at the coast by the time we arrived. Jeremy, Ken and I came loaded for bear this time with well sorted out and tested cars that we felt – after practice two weeks previous – should be very competitive.

But reality is sometimes very different in practice than it is in theory…

Ken’s car, which was near perfect during practice, turning in some of the best lap times just couldn’t find any traction. It also lost the washer under the pan pin providing way too much slop and seemed to be dragging in the turns NOW! Plus… for some reason the motor started developing a scream so I swapped the ring gear and tires and still it slipped and slid around the corners. Ken simply said he would rather corner marshal so his car went into the box.

Jeremy, who held the fastest lap time in practice lowered his gear ratio prior to the race and started out strong with a good qualification time. But had a bad heat where he lost a body pin and spent about a minute searching for another, which cost him dearly during the race. Sorry Jeremy.

My car was the most troublesome during practice two weeks ago and so I figured I would end up DNF. Turns out didn’t do so bad – missed 3rd place by 4 laps. Car ran very well…. And I will post pictures of it post race next post (wow, bad sentence structure that!)



I was stressed by the drive over and by having to fiddle with Ken’s car before the race so… was close to packing it in even before qualification. You see… it took us three and a half hours to drive the 70 some miles to Depoe Bay because at least one third of all of Salem decided to take the weekend at the beach. Most of the drive was traveled at 15mph down hwy 20 listening to the radio station lose it’s reception and telling stupid jokes….
After that nerve wracking experience with a full bladder I decided that I didn’t the hell care and simply slapped my car on the blue lane and went balls out to a 4.3 qualification time. Top time was 4.1 and lowest 4.8.
In fact I drove the car with the thought that a puff of arid smoke would be the perfect excuse for a couple of nice cold beers after… but I have to give it to that little PS 4002C… it really held together! No smoke.

Car actually handles like it is on rails! By the end of the race I was nearly holding down the trigger on all but the very tightest of corners. Just a quick blip of the brakes prior to a tight inside on Red or Black and then balls out the rest of the time was all that was needed to drive it! Kept up with most of the rest of the field nearly the whole race and rarely deslotted. Got nerfed once and hit the floor once but with Ken and Mark marshaling again deslots were very short experiences. Even so I was in second place after the first and second heat. But slowly dropped each successive heat until I just stopped looking at the screen….

I believe the only thing I was lacking this time around was track experience. Jeff admitted to Jeremy that he Jimmy and Carrie have maybe over a thousand hours on this track. They could probably drive it in their sleep so… it is pretty much Home team vs. Away team whenever we show up! Carrie, who just barely beat me… lost a pinion in the 4 or 5 heat and grabbed her back up car. BACK UP CAR! What the hell is that….? Damn thing was blisteringly fast! Prior to the back up car I was able to keep up with her… but after – forget it! “Some back up car”! I think we need a tech inspection prior to the race… but then I would need front wheels and have to remove the ball bearing. (sigh)

Next time I plan to show up to just to have fun… but first. I am planning to take a few more practice trips to the beach… just to get in some more track time you understand...
As for the car, I don’t plan on doing much to it except build up a correct PS2105 motor with the American arm because I think they can and DO out-pull the little 4002C.
Ken’s car on the other hand needs a complete new center section and re-build using Cheaters tips. LOL!

See you next time!


Addendum: I am a little disappointed at the attitude of a few of the members here at Slotblog. Mark Faccone is a really nice guy! He and I have had lots of great discussions about the hobby and despite the fact that he is not a professional racer, is a real advocate for the hobby!
But, he mentioned last night that he had to take down the Youtube video and pull his membership from Slotblog due to the many rude responses he received from members of SB. Seems more than a few of you guys feel that racers should remain standing while driving and more than a few decided Mark should know this via private message! While I may agree... anyone with a brain has to admit that it takes all kinds to drive and NOT everyone HAS to stand while driving! Some, including those who know this track for thousands of hours seem to be able to drive it to the podium while sitting on a damn stool. If it works for them then who are you to disagree and insult Mark and company with your singular opinion?
I was frankly embarrased to no end when Mark told me about the PM's and of course it only added to my stress level Friday night prior to qualification.
If Mark ever comes back it would be nice if at least one of you apologized to him.

As for my promoting this forum to anyone else at Depoe Bay... I may have to think twice....

[Jairus]

Underside shows that the pan is touching in all the right places. Only thing I can think of is to block sand the leading edges slightly with some 320 to round them off a bit. Very little track goo collected on the chassis even though it is less than .020 from the surface in the front. Body actually hits first and the bottom edges of the wings hit before the diaplane. But the body is really low I will admit.


Top shows dirt but little wear. Tires are JK treated and narrowed. Maybe a year or two old… I turned them down to .078 dia and the rubber was like new deeper down. Never had a problem with traction and I believe I could narrow them further due to the fact that Jeff spread GLUE on his tires each heat and during qualification. By end of race there was so much glue on the track surface in all lanes that it required two hands to pry the little suckers off the track!!! I kid you not…
I am going with way narrower tires next race day.


All you racer nuts… what is happening when the inside of the tire is getting torn up like this?
Really, I want to know what I am doing wrong. If anything.

Regardless, I am sold on JK tires! I have tried just about everything, full width hub, tuna… everything. I just LOVE those treated JK’s!!!

[J-Sull]

I Won my dollar If I hadnt lost 3 out of my 4 body pins I would have lost my dollar. Car did well, I need a new controller.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

Jairus, in any group, there are always going to be a few bad apples. That your friend cares what they think, or that either of you think that you can control them while explaining you care seems like a waste of time to ME.

I have raced sitting down most of the last 50 years. but that is me. I have no way of knowing what the problem was here, or if it even matters. There are racers who have tried to ORDER me not run my collectables! If you let people crimp your fun, you are making a mistake.

Glad you had fun with the flexi. I haven't been around a flexi race in a long time, and all my cars are set up for more(required at the time) clearance than now. Unlike a lot of my old cars, I haven't bothered to keep them in runnable condition when there is no local program.

Fate

[Bill from NH]

I Won my dollar If I hadnt lost 3 out of my for body pins I would have lost my dollar. Car did well, I need a new controller.

Jeremy, are you putting a slight bend (curve) in the middle of your pins so they'll stay in the pintubes better? When you do, you may need to use a bit of force to put them in the pintubes, but they'll need some force before they come out too.

[Hworth08]

If there is as much glue as you're thinking, wonder tires should really cut lap times. If you HAVE to use treated naturals to have enough grip the surface is only "about usual".

With the motor you're using there is no need for an up-right brace. ANY weight behind the axle really hurts an anglewinder

[J-Sull]

Jeremy, are you putting a slight bend (curve) in the middle of your pins so they'll stay in the pintubes better? When you do, you may need to use a bit of force to put them in the pintubes, but they'll need some force before they come out too.

Yes I am bending them. I think I got nerfed and that was when I hit the foam and they came out. Thankyou for the tip I may need to try tape.

[grego]

quote : "Only thing I can think of is to block sand the leading edges slightly with some 320 to round them off a bit. end quote"

on a couple of my chassis the front edges are just a teeeny weeeny bit bend upwards. I think it was something that was a recommendation out of the "Cheaters manual" but would have to read up to confirm 100%

Nobody has yet answered your tire chaffing problem, i will follow this thread and see if somebody will have an explanation for that, my tires normally are wearing the other way, with the outer rather than the inner edge going.

As far as having the car ready for the race : "Iv'e got 6 of them ready, 4 with falcons, 1 with a D can- and 1 with a C can motor. All ready to go BUT everybody here just wants to race plastic.......