13 replies to this topic

[ravajack]

Some of you may remember this thread from a few years back.
I've now managed to digitize this old and quite scratchy record.
Here's the result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot0tY6v2dTQ

This is side one, track one of the record:
Introduction and interview with Don Seike (Regional Executive SCCA).
Enjoy!

More to follow.

[ravajack]

Side one, track two:
Interview: Les Golding, SCRAMP President.
(SCRAMP = Sports Car Racing Association of Monterey Peninsula)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvNbiOgA7JA

Here's the backside blurb of the record:



More to follow.

[slotbaker]

<sub>Interesting bit of motor racing history.

Many thanks for sharing.</sub>

[ravajack]

Side one, track three:
Track 03 - Interview: Otto Zipper of Russkit Porsche Racing Team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FO1GR__GHo

The backside blurb in a bit more readable shape:

Situated in the rolling hills of Fort Ord, California, Laguna Seca Raceway hosted the third race in the United States Road Racing Championship series.

Charlie Hayes won his first major professional sports car race driving the 500 hp Nickey McLaren Chevrolet. Hayes broke the track record set in 1965 by Jim Hall's Chaparral, averaging 95.5 mph in the 152 mile feature event.

For the 21,000 spectators, the absence of the Chaparral team was barely noticeable. Thirty-two of the world's fastest sports racing cars thundered around the 1.9 mile course for more than an hour and a halt.

Charlie Hayes won the pole position on the qualifying day, (1:08.98), but did not break the one lap record set by Jim Hall in 1965. Four cars were less than a second apart in qualifying, with the two car Nickey team placing first and third. Lothar Motschenbacher qualified his McLaren Olds at 1:09.16, John Cannon was third in his Nickey Chevrolet (Vinegaroon) at 1:09.70, and Denver's Bud Morely was fourth at 1:09.82.

Under two liter cars placed 10th and 12th on the grid. The Russkit Porsche Carrera Sixes, driven by Ken Miles and Scooter Patrick, were timed at 1:12.89 and 1:13.21 respectively, both new records for under two liter cars.

Laguna Seca is translated as "dry lake" but it was anything but dry on race day. A light mist during the morning hours found drivers and crews worrying about the right tires for their cars.

A preliminary race for big bore production cars found the Cobras and Sting Rays spinning on literally every corner of the course. A sleek Porsche 911 proved to be the ultimate winner in the amateur event, marking the first time a D production car had ever won the big production race at Laguna Seca.

By the time the sedans took to the course, the misty overcast became just another overcast day and the course dried out.

At three o'clock, 32 cars were waiting on the false grid. As the cars are moved up to the racing grid, Hayes has his car in neutral and the flag drops.

More than a halt dozen cars get by him on the way to turn one, with John Cannon leading Lothar Motschenbacher and Bud Morely to the crest of the hill. Hayes delayed start causes three minor collisions back on the grid, but everyone makes the first lap.

Cannon won the Las Vegas USRRC and has improved immensely over last year. The leaders start moving away from the pack, and only two cars are really charging on Cannon, Jerry Grant and Charlie Hayes. Grant is entered in the All American Racers Lola, but without the new Gurney-Weslake engine. He blew it the previous weekend at Riverside, had a stock 289 Cobra installed for this race, and started dead last.

On lap seven, Hayes is in second place and Grant has moved up into tenth.

As the leaders cross the finish line on the eighth lap. Hayes is the new leader, and turns a 1:10.00 lap (97.71 mph average), pulling away from the field by four seconds. As the cars parade around the track, it's Hayes, Cannon, Motschenbacher, Jordan, Parsons, Hudson, Miles and Grant.

Grant continues to charge, finally passing Miles, Hudson, Parsons, and Jordan, but the head gasket has blown and Grant is out.

Late in the race. Motschenbacher gets by Cannon and starts to close the gap on Hayes. Cannon lost oil pressure and stopped on the track, giving third to Parsons. Eight laps from the end Motschenbacher is on the heels of Hayes, but snaps the half shaft and failed to finish.

Hayes took the flag in a record drive over the nine turn circuit, and Charlie Parsons is second, 25 seconds back.

Hayes takes the win, and Parsons takes the points lead in the 1966 USRRC Parsons now has 16 points, with a second at Las Vegas, a third at Riverside, and a second at Laguna Seca.

For this year, the Laguna Seca USRRC is over, but it you listen carefully ...

Notes by Jerry Smith

[ravajack]

Side one, track four. Interview: Ken Miles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbBqBxjIf5w

Enhanced view: Race results from the back of the record:

[ravajack]

Side one, track five: Pre-Grid and start of the 150 Mile Laguna Seca Classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVEGtF401xA

Enhanced view: Content listing from the back of the record.

[slotbaker]

The siren is a good waker upperer....
Some great sounds in that one.

[ravajack]

Side two, track one: Interview: Scooter Patrick.

[ravajack]

Side two, track two: Interview: Jerry Grant.

[ravajack]

Side two, track three: Interview: John Cannon.

[ravajack]

Side two, track four: Sounds and finish of race.

[ravajack]

Side two, track five: Winners Circle Interviews, Overall winner Charlie Hayes - Class winner Ken Miles.

[Dave Fiedler]

Just wonderful, Thank you Bertil.

[ravajack]

Some anomalies about the "Russkit Signature Car", the Porsche Carrera 6 (aka Porsche 906) that have been mostly unnoticed and uncommented over the years:

Ottos Zipper campaigned a team of two Porsche Carrera 6 (aka Porsche 906) during the 1966 USRRC season. The cars were driven by Scooter Patrick (the #33 car) and Ken Miles (the #34 car) and were partly sponsored by Jim Russell and his then-prosperous slot car racing company Russkit.

The cover of the Laguna Seca Russkit Record shows Ken Miles #34 car, while the Russkit "signature" Porsche Carrera 6 (naming a whole Russkit "Carrera" series of cars and aluminum pan chassis) is the #33 car, apparently driven by Scooter Patrick. The #33 car is also featured on the box cover art for the Russkit 1/24 slot car.


The box cover art for the Russkit signature car, a silver #33 Porsche Carrera.

This #33 Russkit Porsche Carrera is a true classic role model for a 1960's slot car, before scratchbuilding became the norm for success.

But while Ken Miles' #34 car was raced in "German Silver" livery, Scooter Patricks #33 car, well known also in silver color throughout the slot car world then and now, was actually — white!


Scooter Patricks white #33 car, here with Otto Zipper himself and a period young racing fan.

Why did the Russkit company choose the #33 decals on a silver Porsche car, and not the "correct" #34? Or vice versa, why not make the featured body for the #33 in correct white?

Another oddity is that Ken Miles #34 silver car also had it's headlights covered in silver, while Scooter Patricks #33 car had black covered headlights. The Russkit #33 silver car is featured with clear headlight lenses, a double anomaly. Both cars can be seen in the picture below, from the USRRC Laguna Seca race 1966:



How this discrepancy came to be we'll probably never know, as Jim Russell is no longer with us. (Unless PdL has some explanation up his sleeve in the upcoming Book.)

Ken Miles drove the silver #34 car (chassis 906/104) in only two races in 1966, in Las Vegas on April 24 (placement 6 in race), and Laguna Seca on May 8 (placement 5 in race).

Scooter Patrick drove the white #33 car (chassis 906/121) in a twice as many races: Riverside on May 1 (placement 5 in race), Laguna Seca on May 8 (DNF), Bridgehampton on May 22 (placement 4 in race) and Mosport on June 4 (placement 8 in race).

Finding period pictures of these cars on the Net is no easy feat. Despite this "uneven balance" in featured races, pictures av Ken Miles #34 silver car is far more "abundant" than Scooter Patricks white #33 car. As seen above, I've only managed to find two pictures of the real #33 car, both showing a car in white.

Several more pics can be found of Ken Miles #34 car, despite running in only two races:









Several more pictures than the above can be found of the #34 car, including this record cover picture:



As for the Russkit Porsche Carrera slot car, these are nice representatives of a true classic: