A while back, 2009 to be exact, I reported on me and my son-in-law's exploits racing at Depot Bay Raceway.
Well... I am starting a new thread that is in some ways related to that previous thread. But different.
The racing lately is on two tracks.
"A Step Above Hobbies" in Albany Oregon which takes place every Wednesday night.
Two races with a revolving schedule of NASCAR, GTP, Super Trucks, Wing and the soon to come Can-Am. ALL FLEXI BASED!
The second track is "Edgewater Raceway" where we only run two classes NASCAR and Can-Am. Oh... sometimes we toss a JK go-kart body on the NASCAR chassis and call it different. (They do handle a little different) But all in all most of the racing on both tracks involves 16d motors and flexi chassis.
BORING!
Well.... at first I thought so. Till I found my "Zone"!
The reason for my post on this cold snowy December night is the Can-Am racing.
Because for me that is the most fun.
Synopsis of the rules is that it has to be Flexi based. I chose a Champion Turbo years ago and have been perfecting this car since 2009.
The motors are 13d, either sealed TSR, Evil 9, Demon or the Hawk and Pro-slot variants. I picked the Pro-slot 4002 with the American arm.
Bodies are suppose to be vintage repops of anything the racer chooses that was used during the era 1964 to 1974. I picked a later M.A.C. '73 Gulf-Mirage body.
Wheels, tires, gears and guide are open.
This car is one I built way back in 2009 to run as a wing racer, using the same motor.
Soon as we started talking about this Can-Am thing, I pulled the ol'wing car out of the mothballs, cut the wings off, oiled it up and it ran like stink!
Not bad for a car that is 5+ years old huh?
Found out early on that I had to dump the aluminum pans for the standard steel pan as it handles way better with some weight under it.
Gears are 64p with an angled pinion (ARP) at 8/40.
We have run maybe 20 of these races. Learned early on that weight can be your friend on that Edgewater track with it's tight corners.
Getting the braking points down and knowing when to hammer the throttle were the key for me.
Plus I tear my car down after every 2nd race for inspection. Checking pan flatness, bearing and axle wear, brush and com wear... etc.
Tires are glued and trued by me on various diameters of rims. I always have a couple sets ready depending on track conditions.
The results of the last race are as follows.
Gary T 215 laps
Jairus 210
Paul 206
Herb 202
Bob S 190
Lightning Larry 186
Hugh 171
Bob U 142
The track is 140 ft long in a paper clip sort of layout bending back onto it self with some esses at one end.
A solid lap time is 5.1. I have driven this car to a 4.9 a couple times.
But most of the time during a race 5.1 or 5.2 is good enough.
We run eight 2 minute heats, going through the 4 lanes twice.
This last race Bob S and I were pretty dead even till his ring gear got ground up. Gary managed to stay away from all the deslots blocking lanes so he won. I only had one bad heat where I shifted my weight from one foot to another, lost the brake point and the car ended up, upside down on the floor under the track. (fluke really) Lost two or three laps getting it back up on the track.
Gary never passed me during laps, so it had to have been the going off the track or.... the two times I stopped to keep from ramming someone deslotting in front of me that cost the race.
But! Big but, but it is not that you win or lose, but how you race.
I had a lot of fun last night. The friends I race with I would give my life for. They are fun to be around and nearly all of them wonderful racers.
This is the greatest hobby in the world if you have good people around you.
Soon, very soon I hope to get these guys into retro and hand built chassis. So far.. we are on the right track, so to speak.
Respectfully submitted,
