523 replies to this topic

[Jaak]

  They where waiting for me to enter the top 10 before they decided to allow the bottom 10 could have new tires and motors  

 

 

Looking forward to the next rounds and what they will bring!

[Lowrider]

The Lucky 13 cars are now safely with Jairus in Salem, Oregon.

Anyone currently in 11th to 20th place overall who wishes a new motor and rear tires should make their wishes known to Jairus as soon as possible.
Ben Kernan had his motor swapped with one from the 'series spares' bag by Steve Ploskunak and needs to find a way to replace it. Brian McP ought to be able to assist you there, Ben.

Looking forward to Rounds 10 and 11 when Jairus is able to schedule them.

Regards,

[Pablo]

That is great news, Thanks Steve   Anybody who met the original deadline and is hurting in the motor department, has my permission to use my spare motor with 7T pinion. Subject to Steve's approval.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to win the overall anyway, so have at it.

 

First paragraph, I'm totally serious.  The other comment is merely designed to make Steve-A-Roonie nervous

Thanks for doing this round, Jairus

[One_Track_Mind]

There are Demon motors with a pinion installed already, in my bag of parts, for anyone who made need a motor swap.
Just an FYI post.


Brian McPherson
REM Raceway

[Pablo]

You guys are actually going to let me get away with my trash talk ?

[Lowrider]

Just waiting to copy and paste your comment after the final round, Pablo. Dish best served cold, I've heard ...
Thanks for your generosity, by the way.

No sign of the Gator Bob-mobile?

Regards,

[Jaak]

Paul I feel a bit discriminated. 

 

It is similar to this age discrimination Thing(ie)   

[Pablo]

I was just trying to scare Steve-A-Roonie, but if you want to be scared also, that's OK Jaaaak

[macman]

Who do I send the motor to????

[Jairus]

To me if you want it installed in your car Ben.

Jairus Watson

500 W Hills Way NW
Salem, Oregon 97302

[Lowrider]

Ben had a new motor installed in PA by Steve Ploskunak, J.
If he sends the replacement motor to you it should be placed with the 'series spares' for the next car that needs one, thank you.

Round 10 is due to be held on Thursday, directed by Jairus at Edgewater Raceway in Oregon, by the way. Good luck to all the entrants, drivers and directorial staff.

Regards,

[Jairus]

I'll try to remember that.

;-)

[Jaak]

Looking forward to it.

Good luck to all the entrants!

[MantaRay]

Jairus, If you have time, please scrutinize the Last Minute Men entry and see what it may need. It was gangbusters at first. Even won a race. Lol........Will gladly pay for or replace any parts/tires/motor.
Thanks,
Ray

[Jairus]

Will do Ray. Plan to spend three hours prior to the race cleaning tires and examining brushes to make sure all motors will complete the race.  Steve sent a lot of replacement parts by the way. Motors, tires and pickups a plenty! 

 

One more day to go!

[Jairus]

 

We held the round 10 race yesterday evening at 6 sharp and finished up at 8o'clock.  
Format was a little different, as the power shuts off a few seconds after the first car in each heat runs 25 laps.
First place car receives 16 points. second 8 points, third 4 points and fourth two points.

The computer arranges the cars accordingly.  All 4 cars CAN receive 25 laps, but only the first place car gets full points.
Only two cars received full points.  I was considering a run-off, but decided that the computer chose due to lap times or speed so the results remain as they are.
Steve will post his updated points system later.

In my opinion that changed things up only slightly. But more on that later.....
The track.

 

Track is very quick. Sub 5 second times are the norm so if you fall off.... and you lose a lap or two depending on the turn marshal. That is just how it is.
There are two very tight corners, a sweeping corner and the esses.  Then a long straight, the bank and short straight that is hammer down all the way back to the first tight corner with heavy breaking.  
I can do it with my eyes closed now.
Some have said that is how I drive.... but more on that later.

The drivers.

Left to right we have Paul who built this track.  Tons of knowledge and a heck of a driver on red.
Dave used to have his own slot shop at one time, till the rent got too high back in the 80's on blue. Dave has been in the hobby since the 60's and if you notice, is using a vintage wet wound turbo controller. Yes,  he is that ol'school!

Bob on yellow is our team leader in points and number of races won.  That man lives to race! He would give Cukras a run for his money and if I had to put money on it... I would bet on Bob.  He has never met a car he couldn't master.
Last up is Scott the youngest member of the team on purple. Scott is a fantastic driver but gets frustrated easy.  Once he learns "the zone" thing he'll come around.  He won his share of the heats having the shortest lane. But he also de-slotted the most.

However, all 4 guys drove each car equally on all four lanes so the race is what it is.
We had no back up drivers unfortunately.  But they ran all 2 hours admirably and stoically.

The results:


The results are how the computer placed them based on points rather than laps.  At ASA Hobbies in Albany for the 11th round we will run a purely lap race. But for this race it was fun to shake things up a bit.
The one caviat was that I was watching the wrong line on the computer screen and placed a car that was slated to be "on deck" Steve King, rather than Jaak's car so those two ran in each others positions and thus the correction.

All the cars ran between 5.26 and 5.8 consistently (not counting de-slots).  All the cars are very close together on this track. But... someone has to lose.  I was going over the gear ratios and weight to see if I could figure it out. But then realized that all it takes is a pile up or deslot to change things and there were a few of those. So... it is what it is.
Would have been more pictures but we were short on turn marshals as it was.

Observations:

 

 

As you can see Jaak's car is tilting to the left. (political statement Jaak?)  No broken solder joints and I almost sidelined the car because I was afraid it would harm the track surface.  But his showing was good, so I'll take a look at it later on the jig.  I suspect the rear axle bracket is soldered-in a bit off.

 

Gary's car on the other hand was super fast, but tail light.  Nose was planted and it never deslotted.  But the tail wagging a lot and that hurt the performance a bit.
However, I noticed that he milled the Parma front wheels to install a set of ball bearings (sealed) in each wheel.  Well DONE GARY!  Nice bit of fabbing there!

 

 

 

 

Inspection of all motor brushes suggests that Team "Last Minute Men" , Andy Brown-Searle, Steve Kempson and Ray Fellows all will need new motors soon as the brush is getting dangerously short.

All cars recieved a "once over inspection", pickup and tire cleaning and motor oiling. 

Andrew Brown-Searle, Graham Walker/Weldon, Jaak BK and Steve King all received new tires to bring clearances back up to minimums.
 

I placed guide flag washers on more than half the cars to make sure that the guide was down in the slot for the race.  Only one car needed the guide tongue adjusted.... and that one, I forgot who I did that to.
But none had any major problem with handling that I could see.

In fact... all the cars are fantastic in their performance on this track.  If it were re-run purely by laps, only feet between would determine the winner it was that close.

 

Dave loved driving Ray's car.  Both he and Bob won their respective heats with it.

 

But then Bob said he WANTED to keep Tony Davey's car.  He kept picking it up between heats to examine the chassis. 

 

I personally drove all the cars prior to the race for 5 to 6 laps to ensure nothing was wrong.  All the cars are easy to drive and all are quick.  The differences between the cars is so slight as to be hardly noticeable.  No glaring issues other than with Jaak's pans... which didn't hurt his run so... 

Respectfully submitted,

[Pablo]

  What happened to me on Purple ? I had the worst heat of anybody the entire race ?

[Jairus]

Short story: driver error most likely.
Nothing wrong with your car Paul.  It had plenty of grip and fast as heck. A nice car and admired by the drivers.  But... a couple of the cars did pop off in those tight turns and managed to end up in the wrong slot.
There were quite a few track calls and I didn't/couldn't make a note of everything each car did what the entire race because I was marshalling two corners and moving the cars to and from the track.  
But it is a "RACE"!  Which means that the drivers are giving it their all to make as many laps as possible. And stuff happens.

Personally I watched as my car, the last one placed on the track by the way, (when the guys are the most tired as well) deslot three or four times.  One time it seemed like the turn marshal took a long time to put it back and I know that cost me. 

But, those are the aspects of a race.  It's not black and white on which car is the best and hopefully the outcome of a long series like this evens it all out.

[slotbaker]

Thanks J for organising the race, and to the guys for driving the cars.

 

Dissappointing result for Team SSME, but that's racing and there has to be a few to help make the podium winners look good.

 

Well done to Ben+Mike, Ron+Dennis+Steve P, and Jaak.  Way to go...

[Pablo]

Thanks Jairus, fair enough.

[Jaak]

Whooohoooo another good position.

Congratulations to Ben & Mike, Ron & Dennis & Steve P

 

Thanks to Jairus for hosting this round and Paul Dave Bob & Scott for racing the cars.

I see that my car is uneven now but I am pretty sure it was straight when it started the rounds so I think something may have bend.
Doubt that the axle bracket is soldered in off.

Never understood this left and right thing but if left is good then it is a political statement.  
 

[Jairus]

Jaak, I was at the track when I noticed the pan dragging so I changed the tires.  That brought it up to where you see.  With-out a jig and "professional tools" I couldn't do more than make it legal for the race.  
But with your permission I'll pull the wheels off, jig it up and go over the joints with the iron to make sure everything is straight.
Of course we need Steve's permission too.

 

Not touching any of the cars with-out permission, other than cleaning and basic maintenance.

[slotbaker]

You can "touch" my car J.

It needs sumthin doin' to her.

[Rick Moore]

With that pathetic of a run the car looks more like an "Evil Floater", so feel free to touch, poke, prod, twist, bend, fold or mutilate. It's just a slot car, and that's part of the fun.

[macman]

SHOKK!!!!!! Are you saying I actually won this round???
If so, interesting format... Raced something similar in '91, but it was 50 lap heats... Lots of fun