OK...........Wednesday the 15th I got some time on the Motherlode with some F-1 cars. Eddies is only open for 3 hours on this day so I had to divide time between finishing up the King track testing and starting to sort out things on the motherlode. Since we haven't raced on this track in some years and never with the current motor format, everything was an unknown. Since I had no real idea of a target, I just took all 6 of my F-1s and picked a lane (blue) and just ran 'em all to see what felt sort of good. Despite the King being really dirty, the ML was in pretty good shape and bite was not bad. I was running with the charger off like we normally do on the King.
With 11 turns in the 140' length the ML is sort of two different tracks. I think of it like this......
The twistys:
- Looking right from the panel you have a 3 turn ess at the end of the straight.
- Then the "squiggle" going over the bridge
- Then the downhill donut....short straight under the bridge, then....90 to a short straight going drivers left....
The finger:
- After the short straight, you have about a 110 then a really short straight bit.
- Then a 15* kink right........short straight........
- A 180 with a slight fallaway.......short straight...........
- A 15* kink left......short straight..............
- A 100* leadon to the drivers panel and the main 25' straight.
Naturally, the goal is get the car to work on both sides of the track. Today, I got one car to do that with potential for some others. Here are the four that I'll work with and start to tune. I didn't fine tune much just got an idea of what's what.....sorta
- All cars ran 8-29
- All cars ran Parma Matra
- Ran assorted tires from full width untreated to narrowed treated
This is the 3 rail .047 (with space) running 112 gr. that I have run the last three races. This car gave the fastest time of the day......but!
- Very fast in the straights
- Very good in the finger
- Fast in the twistys but touchy (had to hit the twisty bits just right)
- Fastest lap, but not a great average time...not a great race car.
- Tire was JK 8713 ET (probably needs narrower) and maybe some weight.
Here is the 4 rail .047 brother not fast yet.....but good tuning potential. As with the above car, both were built with pans, bracket, and nose from R-Geo.
- Moderate in the straights.....moderate motor.
- Very good in the finger
- Good in the twistys but still a little grippy
- Ran JK 8783-T and some lead for......121 gr.
- Needs tire tuning/motor testing
This is an R-Geo tuning fork. Not the fastest of the day but the best over the whole track.
- Very modest speed in straights probably could use more motor
- Really snakey in the twistys and forgiving.
- Good in the finger
- Ran JK 8713 untreated and weight of only 108 gr.
Wild card: Brand new car yesterday, all 1/16" brass, no rails 115 gr. Shown stripped b/c I totally re-built it today.
- Yesterday-Car was similar but the axle support was riding on the pans.
- Pans were sprung from center section on .032 wire.
- This was by far the best in the twisty bits. Absolutely planted.
- However....out of the twistys, the nose would lift straight out on turn exit in every turn in the dogleg.
- Tried nose weight, different tires, guide height, guide angle......nothing worked.
- But.......it was so good in the twistys that.....
- Today I rebuilt it with the axle support on the center section and conventional pans.
- If this ^^^^ improved it, I'll tune it.........if not, I'll shelve it so I can work on the others.
I hope to get in another session with these and expect that the 3-rail is probably just too bitey. The 4 rail and the Tuning Fork showed the best potential. The wild car car may be great or a total bust....we'll see.
