39 replies to this topic

[Bryan Warmack]

   The last race before the Parma Checkpoint at BPR yesterday saw some unbelievably close racing in both classes.

         F1 saw John Cukras TQ and the results were Bryan Warmack 1st, Alex Freund 2nd and Philippe deLespinay 3rd. Bryan just edged Alex by 3 feet at the end and they were nearly that close the entire race.

           Duran Trujillo was TQ in Can Am and the winner was Mill Conroy over Jay Henry and Bryan Warmack. Great run Jay!! I think the top 6 were separated by 5 laps!

          More to follow and pics in the race report ASAP...............

[TSR]

The Can Am race was the most competitive I can remember, all 8 "A" racers withing 5 laps, the first FIVE in the same lap most of the race. At the end, except for yours truly with a split guide that would no longer retain a braided contact, there are only 7 laps separating 1st from 7th place! Unbelievably competitive, and another display of the wise decision to keep or motor formula the way it is, the way it has been. ALL the cars in the "A" race appeared to handle equally, with a slight edge for Duran Trujillo's car, able to go those 2" deeper everywhere. Duran's motor lost power and he did well to get back to 4th spot at the end. Many cars were running side by side for entire heats, unable to gain an inch on their competition... unbelievably competitive racing. Mill Conroy's Warmack chassis and Kirby Ti22 body had a very slight edge at the end, but not much! Every car had an edge on at least one of the lanes... Bryan Warmack's car did not like the black lane and that made the difference at the end. Jay henry drove a superb race, his best I have seen. His car was simply nailed, just like the others. Talk about pressure on the drivers to gain any advantage, inch per inch!
Looks to me like a winning formula.

The F1 race was just as great, ultra competitive and lots of fun for all. Some were a bit unlucky: Marc Franco lost a guide nut, and that took him out of contention in the very busy "B" race marred by plenty of track calls due to the inexperience of some of the racers. I also think that Dennis Samson had a mechanical issue of some kind, not sure exactly, and so did Mike Aguirre, and let's not forget the intense stupidity of Yours Truly connecting his controller in reverse at the very beginning of the F1 race, losing me enough laps between controller change to to another controller to take me out of possible contention. How dumb can one get? I guess I can consider my pure luck to come back from dead-last for 6 segments back to 3rd place at the end... only because poor Mill Conroy's car did not like the track conditions.

 

All in all, the competition is very close and should make for a fun Parma Checkpoint Cup event.

[MSwiss]

  and let's not forget the intense stupidity of Yours Truly connecting his controller in reverse at the very beginning of the F1 race, losing me enough laps between controller change to to another controller to take me out of possible contention. How dumb can one get?  

Didn't that happen before?

 

I have a solution to that.

 

I can't believe guys would sooner blow up controllers and/or lose laps than spend $8.

[Gator Bob]

I have a solution to that.

 Senior' tested and approved product.

[Tom Eatherly]

[TSR]

Didn't that happen before?

I have a solution to that.

I can't believe guys would sooner blow up controllers and/or lose laps than spend $8.

 

I reserve the right to be as dumb as a mule.

Fact is, I have a kit to make sure of a proper connection, somewhere in the huge box of "stuff to do ASAP".

I guess I will put it together before the second weekend of January... as age creeps us and brain cells get voided by positrons decay.

[redbackspyder]

Thanks again for everyone in the SCRRA for making another great racing day at Buena Park Raceway, the home of South California Retro Racers .....

 

Thank you to Greg Carter, for all his help with the track and the race control system,  thanks to all of our volunteer race directors, Dennis, Alex, and myself.   Big thanks to Debbie and Jim Watterson for Buena Park, and a GIANT HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JEFF EASTERLY,  a guy who we all love and respect !!!!   We all gathered for a birthday song and cake, and Jeff was smiling ear to ear...

 

Great turn out yesterday for both the F1 and Can Am races.   Especially the 11 man round robin B Main in Can Am, with Dennis Samson winning the move up, and I believe John Cukras and the vaunted team of Nesta/Phil Nyland filling out the podium in the B Main.   After an interesting first heat, the racing settled down to be incredibly competitive, and Dennis drove well to the win. 

 

In both the F1 and Can Am races, you saw fantastic, close racing and I personally tried to stay out of the way of Alex and Bryan fighting it out in the A Main,  and they ended feet apart.  I had a rough black lane and went from third to sixth in the last heat, but mainly did not want to influence the close outcome of Bryan and Alex..... Great racing you guys....

 

In the A Main of Can Am, one of the closest A Mains I can remember....   Duran definitely had a great motor, but somehow it started playing electrical tricks about four heats in, and would start to die, only to come roaring back with authority.....  When Duran was On, the car was ballistic, and he and I would run really close, but the difference between Duran and the rest of us is his incredible knowledge of tire choice on the track for that particular day.   He and I  were the only guys to qualify in the 4.2 's, and we both joked about how many laps we would run before parking the car in qualifying.....

Bryan and Jay both had rocket cars, as did Alex and Gary, Doug was ballistic, and anyone who was in the A Main had a good shot at the top.....  Congrats especially to Jay Henry, as that was the best drive I have ever seen him have, and Jay drove as if the Music Police were chasing him !

 

In the B Main, Jimmy Bling continued to drive better and his improvement in the last year as a driver is really noticeable..... Now if he only can understand when we are joking .... Great to see new racer Don Campbell with us, and with Foamy's help he will be a contender really quickly....

 

Thanks to John Cukras in advance, as well as Nesta / Jairus / FlyGirl and all the others who are helping to make the upcoming Parma Checkpoint Cup the Premier Event of Retro Racing on the West Coast ....  We are expecting a HUGE turn out, so come prepared, and it will be good to see our old friends from the East and Midwest....

 

You all had better be prepared to bring your A game on Friday, as Phil Nyland was turning 4.5's easily on the Flat Track with his Coupe car in practice yesterday........  

 

On a side note,  Thank God that Nesta was OK, his windshield of his Toyota Scion being smashed in due to a collision on his drive up from San Diego when a piece of sheet MDF flew out from a car in front of him, completely  demolishing his front windshield,  Greg had to vacuum the glass off him when he arrived yesterday at the track...... 

 

Track conditions were really funky yesterday on the King, next time we should clean it before racing, but next time will be different anyway..... 

 

Hope everyone has a great New Year,  come out to join us the second weekend in January for a true classic, and safe travels for all our friends coming from other parts of the country

 

My new motor for the Checkpoint Cup !

[bbr]

is that red thing a supercharger? i want one for my prius?

[Tex]

I got one o' them, Mill; you should get the NEW one like me!

[gascarnut]

It was Gary Donahoe that moved up from B to A in CanAm, with a great 309 total. John C was about ten feet ahead of me for second, and I snatched the last podium spot with what was one of my best King track totals ever. You know it is great racing when 308 laps in the B Main only gets you to 3rd.

[redbackspyder]

Sorry Dennis, you of course are right.  I remember how you had the 308 , and were awaiting the outcome of John and Gary's finish.  Great races all day long !

[Grammy Winner]

And... I finally got my XL SCRRA t-shirt! I'm stoked!

[TSR]

Gary Donahoe put up a good fight in the "A", but was a bit underpowered by that time so even with his car handling as good as any in the race, could not do much more than he did, meaning losing about 3 seconds or so per each 3-minute heat... or the 7 laps he was behind at the end. that's how close the racing was all day. Anyone knows of closer racing for that kind of financial outlay? I don't know of any.

[DCR]

...I wanted to thank everyone at the Checkpoint warmup race,the SCRRA puts on a fun "Low Stress" race,and make new racers feel welcome,and even though I was stinking up the race in the "B" I had fun and learned a lot.

I need to thank my great friend of over 35yrs Dennis"Foamy"Hill,for his support and lots of help,I also want to thank Dennis Samson for the great chassis,and help,if you need a nice chassis contact Dennis Samson,he's a class act.

Debbie,Jeff and Greg at BPR are always nice hosts and willing to help in anyway they can.Thanks everyone

......Don.....

[The Bugman]

good to see you joining THE GANG at SCRRA Don,
there's many of us that'll give ya a hand when/if you need anything,
you know i'm one of them.,we've been friends for many years,,
if ya need,just ask,if i have i'll help ya

O.M.

[Tom Eatherly]

Did some tuning yesterday at BPR with Oscar on a few Can-AM's. The car that came form Preston Meyer is very quick and smooth around the King, just like my trusty Warmackmobile. Now, if I can pick a bullet hand-out motor or two, I may be in pretty good shape.As for Oscar, his F-1's were all very quick and he had a bunch of 'em. Heck even I drove a couple of them , and actually liked them! Also, Oscar had a couple of FAST Hanada Can-Am's, so he's gearing up More testing and practice!

[TSR]

Tom,

Do not expect miracles with the handout motors, the miniscule advantage you MIGHT get from a "fast" one will be miniscule indeed. A well set up gear mesh and chassis, a well setup body applying just the right amount of down force will make more difference in your car's performance than the difference between the fastest and slowest handout motor.

[Tom Eatherly]

Yep, of course you're correct Dokk. But, us part-timers hope anything.

[TSR]

Us too!

[bbr]

Tom,Do not expect miracles with the handout motors, the miniscule advantage you MIGHT get from a "fast" one will be miniscule indeed. A well set up gear mesh and chassis, a well setup body applying just the right amount of down force will make more difference in your car's performance than the difference between the fastest and slowest handout motor.

PDL... you usually bring one or two cars (instead of having a bunch of cars and try to find one that works) when you race... you know what a good setup is and prepare well!

[TSR]

Mike,

Indeed, why would you have more than one per class? Either it works or it does not. If after beating on it, it still does not, back to the "forgetaboutit" box, and to the next. And the next must take in consideration the previous failed experiment, evolving the design until it works satisfactorily...

[The Bugman]

Did some tuning yesterday at BPR with Oscar on a few Can-AM's. The car that came form Preston Meyer is very quick and smooth around the King, just like my trusty Warmackmobile. Now, if I can pick a bullet hand-out motor or two, I may be in pretty good shape.As for Oscar, his F-1's were all very quick and he had a bunch of 'em. Heck even I drove a couple of them , and actually liked them! Also, Oscar had a couple of FAST Hanada Can-Am's, so he's gearing up More testing and practice!

we need practice making laps,and NO OFF'S that what win races,,yep "most" of the
motors will be close in performance,a couple "lucky guys" will find that
xtra 5% faster ones,,
but Tom,,,,,NO OFFS & MAKIN LAPS,will make a podium it whatever MAIN we're in

[Preston M]

Did some tuning yesterday at BPR with Oscar on a few Can-AM's. The car that came form Preston Meyer is very quick and smooth around the King, just like my trusty Warmackmobile. Now, if I can pick a bullet hand-out motor or two, I may be in pretty good shape.As for Oscar, his F-1's were all very quick and he had a bunch of 'em. Heck even I drove a couple of them , and actually liked them! Also, Oscar had a couple of FAST Hanada Can-Am's, so he's gearing up More testing and practice!

You have a good ride... make sure you become confident in its abilities... know when and where to push it. Practice, practice, practice

[redbackspyder]

Oscar, how did the new Kamo's work ?   I think that it will be very interesting on race day to see what the fast people are running, because as of yet, all the clones seem to be the fastest, rather than the originals.....  Also will be interesting to see if the Van Peenan type chassis that are coming to the Checkpoint Cup will be as fast ......

 

Last Saturday I think that Jay had a Kamo car, although I am not sure, maybe Jay will chime in and tell us.   Jay's best race of the year, and at 89 grams, very light....

[Tom Eatherly]

Again, this is why I race[when I can!]. I always get info here and there that might just place me a bit higher. And now, a confidence booster from the fella who sent me a car to run from the East! All you guys are the greatest, young and old. I am stoked to be part of this damn fun hobby of ours. See you racers at the Checkpoint, or sooner.