22 replies to this topic

[James Wendel]

I haven't posted race results from my visits to Pelican Park since last November's Turkey Night Race, so it's time to play catch-up.

 

12/30/2015 - GTS - Modern Sports Cars the last race of 2015

 

The Consi

L to R: Deke's Ferrari F40 in the red lane, James' Diablo in white, Mike's Ford GT in blue, and Paul's Countach in yellow.  The 1/25th Diablo and Ford are noticeably smaller than the other two cars,

 

Deke's F40 was brand new this time out and seemed to have a "crash magnet" attached... every other car that crashed this evening seemed to hit Deke's Ferrari in the process, dashing his hopes of a Main Event finish.

 

Consi Final: James 1st in white, Mike 2nd in blue, Paul 3rd in yellow, Deke 4th in red.  Deke and Paul drop down to the Hooligan for a second chance at glory.

 

The Hooligan

L to R: Todd's McLaren in red, Dave's LMP in white, Paul in blue this time, and Deke in yellow.  Note that all four Hooligan cars are sporting rear wings. (!)

 

 

Hooligan final: Paul took the win in blue, Dave was 2nd in white, Deke 3rd in yellow, Todd DNF, mechanical failure.

 

The Main Event

L to R: Cully's Ferrari 458 in red, Basil's Ford GT in white, Leo's Enzo in white, and Tom's Bugatti in yellow.

 

Basil was freakin' fast all evening... the only driver to sweep the preliminaries.  Leo was 2nd in the premins and Tom & Cully were tied for 4th behind Deke... whose fortunes found him in the hooligan.

 

Main Event final: Basil 1st in white, Leo 2nd in blue, Cully 3rd in red, Tom 4th in yellow.

 

[rvec]

Some Good looking cars. Good job with a short wheelbase car. Perhaps your 458 would produced a better result
Rich

[James Wendel]

1/20/2016 - Clubman Lights - 1950's-60's production-based sports cars.  Maximum width 2.75" (coupes) or 2.50" (roadsters).  This is one of my favorite classes because of the wide variety of really cool cars that come to play.

 

Twelve guys racing tonight... a full field for all three classes; no one transfers from the Consi to the Hooligan, so the Hooligan runs first.

 

The Hooligan

L to R: Basil's 1/25th scale Ford GT40 in the red lane, in white is Bob S. driving Deke's Porsche 904 GTS , Tom's rare and very cool Jaguar XKSS is in blue, and Todd's E-type coupe in yellow.

 

Very nice group of race cars... all unique models.

 

The Jag SS has the narrowest track, its tires rear tucked inside the wheelwells.

 

Hooligan final: Tom 1st in blue, Basil 2nd in red, Bob 3rd in white, Todd 4th in yellow.

 

The Consi

These are the guys that won a spot in the qualifiers to race in the Semi-Mains, but did not finish in the top two in the Semis to earn a spot in the Main Event.... hence their consolation-race, "The Consi"

 

Dave's little Porsche RSK is in the red lane, Deke's brand-new Triumph TR8 is in white, Mike's Ferrari 250 in blue, and Paul's Mercedes Gullwing in yellow.

 

Deke's TR8 is a "triumph" of modeling artistry (sorry, couldn't help myself).  The Triumph's livery is based on an actual period racer.  The stripes are paint, not decals.

 

Consi final: Mike 1st in blue, Deke 2nd in white, Dave 3rd in red, Paul 4th in yellow.

 

The Main Event

L to R: James' C3 Corvette is in the red lane, Cully's C2 Vette is in white, Greg is driving Deke's Porsche 906 in blue, and Leo's Lusso drew yellow.

 

The last two times that I raced in the Lights class, three of these four cars made the Main Event.  The difference this time is the blue Porsche.  In previous races, Mike made the Main.  This time Mike had the misfortune to draw the red lane in the 2nd Semi-Main, with Cully and James.  They made the Main.... He raced the Consi, which he won.

 

The last time my Corvette won this class from the red lane.  This time it didn't fair so well.

 

Main Event final: Leo 1st in yellow, Cully 2nd in white, Greg 3rd in blue, James 4th in red.

 

 

[Tim Neja]

Fabulous looking cars!! They look like a lot of fun! Thanks for posting!!

[James Wendel]

Thanks, Tim

 

2/3/2016 - Monza class - open wheeled racers from the 1930's to 1960.  Tall narrow tires required.  Pelican Park's most challenging class... both to build and to drive.  Car contact in the corners almost always results in a crash for one or both cars.

 

Only eight racers this time... not as popular as most other classes, and not everyone has a car for the class.

 

The Consi:

Paul carefully lines up the racers L to R: Basil, Greg, Dave, and Tom

 

Basil was the highest qualifier of this group, finishing the preliminaries in 4th.  Greg was 6th in the prelims.  Dave and Tom were tied for last.

 

 

Consi final: Greg 1st in white, Dave 2nd in blue, Tom 3rd in yellow, Basil 4th in red

 

The Main Event:

L to R: James, Cully, Paul, Todd

 

Todd and Cull were tied as top qualifiers, each with three firsts and one second place finish in the qualifying heats.  Third place qualifier, James spoiled their perfect sweeps in the preliminaries.

 

The previous time I raced this class, I also got stuck in the red lane.  My Monza car is not happy in the red lane.  Ah-well *sigh*

 

Main Event final: Cully 1st in white, Todd 2nd in yellow, Paul 3rd in blue, James 4th in red.

 

[James Wendel]

2/10/2016 - Vintage Nascar:  1949-1959 full-size American sedans

 

Twelve racers came to compete... a full field for all three classes.

 

The Hooligan:

L to R: Mike's 1948 Chevy in the red lane, Paul's '57 in white, Basil's '56 in blue, and Bob's '57 Ford in yellow

 

The hooligans in the flesh: Mike, Paul, Basil, and Bob

 

Hooligan Final: Basil 1st in blue, Mike 2nd in red, Paul 3rd in white, Bob 4th in yellow.

 

The Consi:

L to R: Greg's '57 Chevy, Dave's '51 Mercury, Deke's '50 Olds, and Todd's 1958 T-Bird

 

A closeup of Deke's new 1950 Oldsmobile.  I like the flat finish.

 

Nice looking group of racers.  Todd had a lock on first in the Semi-Main when a mechanical failure DNFed his T-Bird, thus his spot in the Consi.

 

Consi final: Greg took the win in red, Deke 2nd in blue, Todd 3rd in yellow, Dave 4th in white.

 

The Consi racers: Greg, Dave, Deke, and Todd.  Deke appears to "face-palm" with the realization that he is fated to race adjacent to Wildman-Dave yet again.  Dave's car caused Deke grief in earlier heats.

 

The Main Event:

L to R: Tom's '55 Chevy, James' '50 Olds, Leo's Olds, and Cully's 1948 Chevy.

 

My red and white Olds has raced at Pelican 2 or 3 times, and while always fast, events have conspired to deny it a Main Event victory.

 

From my perspective, this was a near perfect race.  My car was fast, but not dominant.  Starting in an outer lane (white), I wasn't able to grab an initial lead and held back through the first few turns.  Later I worked my way through the field to second place, dogging Leo for the lead.  He obligingly deslotted, granting me the lead and smooth sailing to an easy win. 

 

Well, almost smooth sailing.  In the closing laps I was about to overtake Tom for the second (maybe 3rd) time and he wondered aloud if he could hold off the pass.  That did not go well, but it did not affect the final outcome.

 

Main Event final: James 1st in white, Leo 2nd in yellow, Tom 3rd in red, Cully 4th in yellow.

 

Main Event racers: Tom, Leo, and Cully.  (James is behind the camera)

 

 

[James Wendel]

Resurrection of the Z-28

 

Those who have read my post on last November's Turkey Night Race may remember that my Z-28 Dirt Modified won the race, but at the cost of massive body damage.

 

The entire back of the car was...

 

... reduced to rubble.

 

The body and pieces weight 1.07 oz.  This will tell me how much weight the repair adds.

 

The pieces arranged in the orientation in which they belong.

 

The first three pieces have been super-glued on.

 

... and a tail light.

 

I must be done because I have run out of pieces.

 

It ain't beautiful, but hey... it doesn't need to be.  It's a Dirt Devil.

 

For reinforcement, I have recently started using Devcon Flexible Epoxy.

 

After scraping the interior surface clean & rough, I applied a light coat of epoxy, then laid on strips of carbon-fiber cloth, cut from the large piece in the background.  Sorry... I don't remember where I bought it.  Google "carbon fiber cloth" (That's what I did.)

 

A little smear of epoxy goes on top.

 

The key trick is the strip of waxed paper.  (You know, the stuff they used to wrap sandwiches in before baggies.)  They still sell it.  It's right next to the "Handy Wrap".  Press the wax paper into the patch, forcing the epoxy into the carbon weave.  Then smooth it out and wait.

 

In the morning, peel off the paper, trim off the excess, and it's ready to rock.  Added weight: 0.06 oz (1.7 grams)

Note: carbon fiber is somewhat dangerous to work with.  Use appropriate safety precautions.

[James Wendel]

2/24/2016 - Dirt Modified: 1950-79 short oval "modified" stock-cars... The return of the Z-28

 

Eleven racers came to play, although Todd left at the break to deal with car problems (his Toyota, not slots), and Paul missed most of the preliminary heats due to a work-related emergency.  Ah well, life gets in the way sometimes.

 

After the prelims, the first semi-main found Cully and James sending Basil and Bob to the Consi.  In Semi #2 Leo and Greg got the transfers and Mike & Tom were off to the Consi.

 

The Consi:

Tom's big T-Bird in the red lane.  I believe that Tom won the Dirt Modified Main the last time around. 

Mike, in the white lane, drove a handsome Mustang fastback from the Haynes collection.  It sported a "Thunder-Buggy" chassis, an old Deathstar motor, and ancient Tuna tires that Mike ground down to semi-fresh rubber.  It was pretty fast.  Upgraded, it should be a Main Event contender.

 

Basil's red GTO is in the blue lane and Bob S, in yellow, drove a black '55 Chevy.

 

Consi final: Bob 1st in yellow, Basil 2nd in blue, Tom 3rd in red, and Mike 4th in white.  Tom and Mike drop down to the Hooligan for another chance at glory.

 

The Hooligan:

Here we find Paul's AMX in the red lane, Mike's in the white lane again, Tom drew the blue lane this time, and Dave's tall Rambler is in the yellow.

 

All the cars are feelin' blue.

 

Hooligan final: Tom 1st in blue, Mike 2nd in white, Dave 3rd in yellow, Paul 4th in red.

 

The Main Event:

James' Z-28 in the red lane, Leo's Olds 442 in white, Greg's Mustang coupe in blue, and Cully's new/old 1970 Chevelle in yellow.

 

I was not too pleased to get the red lane again, this makes three out of the last four Mains for me in red.  And I wasn't optimistic about my prospects for a win against this group.  For what it's worth, Cully also complained that yellow had not been good to him recently... still I doubt that he would have willingly swapped lanes with me.

 

When the race began, I was on the outside of the first set of corners.  As the pack swarmed through the deadman, my car made contact with Leo's car.  I backed off and trailed the leaders.  When they hit the donut, Leo came off and took out Cully from two lanes away.  I slipped through the wreckage unimpeded and set off in pursuit of Greg who was now leading.

 

Passing Greg, I had the lead, but could I hold it?  Cully had beaten me in our semi-main.  He is always fast, and I was stuck in the red lane.  But my car is a proven winner.  I settled into a fast pace and ticked off the laps.

 

Playing catch-up is a tough game.  I could see that Cully was faster than me, but then he came off again.  The hole got deeper.  I finished the race on a lap of my own against a faster car.

 

Main Event final: James 1st in red, Cully 2nd in yellow, Greg 3rd in blue, Leo 4th in white.

 

[James Wendel]

Bonus photos !!!  -  Cully's Chevelle

Cully said that he built this body many years ago and used to race it in the Super Stock class.

 

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Tell Cully his Chevelle looks great. I could pick up that orange color while out on a track.

 

I liked the repair job done on your Camaro. Could that carbon fiber cloth & flexible epoxy also be used to reinforce a hard body so it wouldn't come apart like that in a crash? Or wouldn't you want to be carrying the extra weight around until you needed it? Could those two materials also be used for resin body repairs?

[James Wendel]

Hey Bill - sorry for the late reply... my computer has been sick.

 

Most times, I do reinforce hardbodies before their first race... at least in the nose.  But you are right, extra body weight is not good, so I use as little as possible and only in vulnerable spots.

 

I think that this product would work on resin bodies.  It seems to adhere better than regular epoxies, although not as well as Devcon Plastic Welder.  The problem with that product is very short working time, nasty-sticky consistency, and fumes that smell like they will melt flesh.

[n9949y]

Tourist Trophy race, 3-30-16. Resilient Resin bodies modeling 1950's Limited production/prototype cars built primarily for the FIA's endurance World Sports car Championship series. Many of these cars were imported and raced in The USAC Road Racing Championship which was a sport car series staged from 1958 until 1962. The series was organized by USAC as a fully professional alternative to SCCA's stuffy amateur racing.

 

With 11 racers the "Win to get In," format was used- 8  fifty lap elimination heat races with the winner of each going to the fast Eight, the remaining racing in the Hooligan. Lane assignments for all races are determined by racers blind drawing numbered poker chips matching lane colors, Red, White, Blue, Yellow. After 8 prelims, 2 semis and the Hooligan, Main event qualifiers pictured here were James' 1956 Ferrari 860 in Red lane; Deke's 1958 Lister-Vette, White; Todd's 1958 Maserati 450S, Blue, and Leo's '58 Ferrari 250TR.

 

 

 

Todd's Maserati while not the fastest was driven with commensurate skill (age and treachery upstages youth and exuberance) to win the Main (twice, kinda) because half way through with Todd leading the Main had to be restarted and re-run when a small strip of red lane came undone shutting off power to a stretch of red lane. Agony for Todd, leading, then having to restart all over again, but he pulled it off by charging into the first turns ahead of the field.

 

The Maserati is a model of a 1957 450S purchased by Temple Buell a famed Denver architect. The car was entered in the February 1598 Havana, Cuba Gran Prix and was to have been driven by Juan Fangio. But the night before the race a band of not so merry men swept out of the nearby hills  and snatched the famous driver out of the hotel, the kidnapper making a political statement. who? Fidel Castro!

[James Wendel]

Okay, Todd has shamed me by posting pictures of the current race when I have yet to post race-pics from several weeks ago.  Dang-it.

So.........

 

3-16-2016 Trans-Am class.  Eleven racers came to play... over the ten-man limit, so it's the "win to get in" format.  All of the usual suspects were in attendance, plus half-time regular, James (yours truly), who made the drive up from from Roseburg. 

 

A brief word about the lanes (again)....  It appears to me that "The bar has been raised" at Pelican Park.  People are getting faster.  All people, not just the "fast guys".  In fact, I will take the position that the competition is getting closer.  Smaller differences separate the winners from the "also-rans".  I know that it is harder for me, personally, to score a main event win than it was just a few months back.  So why is that?

 

I think that a big part of it is the ProSlot motors.  They seem to be more consistently fast than the Parma Deathstars were.  Everyone has a fast motor (or several) now.  As for the rest of it, I will attribute to sharing of information.  No one at Pelican is secretive about their cars.  All are happy to show you how they go fast.  And that makes for close competition... and fun. 

 

Which brings me back to the lanes.  When the competition is close, small differences become critical.  AND THE FREAKING RED LANE IS (slightly) SLOWER THAN THE REST.   In this evening's racing, in the eight qualifying heats, the red lane had four 4th place finishes, one third, two seconds, and one first.... Yes, it's just part of the Pelican experience, but it would bother me less if I didn't spend a statistically improbable amount of time in the red lane.  (grumble, grumble, grumble)

 

Back to our program:

 

The Consi:

Tom's orange Mustang is in the red lane, Todd's Firebird in white, Greg's blue Mustang in blue, and Basil's smaller 1/25th scale 1968 Firebird in yellow.

 

A nice looking mix of cars.

 

Consi Final: Todd takes the win in white, Basil 2nd in yellow, Greg 3rd in blue, Tom finishes 4th in red but gets another go in the Hooligan.

 

The Hooligan:

In the red lane (again) is Tom's Mustang, in white, Mike's Firebird, Deke's red Firebird drew the blue lane, and Dave's Mopar (Cuda?) sits in his favorite yellow lane.

 

The tail-end of Dave's Cuda is red gaffer's tape because, you know Dave just has one speed.... eleven.

 

Hooligan final: Tom got the win in the red lane (way to go, Tom), Dave found his groove and got 2nd in yellow, Mike was 3rd in white, and Deke 4th in blue.

 

The Main Event:

Main Event racers: Cully in the red lane with his killer Smokey Yunick Camaro, James' "veteran" T/A in white, Paul's 1/25th blue Camaro in the blue lane, and Leo's green Cuda in yellow.

 

Cully showed the crowd that he is still "The Man", taking the win in red.  James 2nd in white, Leo 3rd in yellow, Paul 4th in blue. 

Main event guys all win a donut. 

 

[n9949y]

I'll give credit where it's due.....you would have won the Tourist Trophy Main even on red had I made the slightest error. As you point out when the competition is as close as it is (most of us have been racing on this track for 20+ years now), small differences become critical, so even going just slightly too fast into a corner causing excessive sliding, bleeding off a tiny amount of speed but not de-slotting, you would have passed me and I could not have caught you as your car was a bit faster than mine-on red.  Of course had I drawn red and you drawn another lane you would have won absent some other driver getting in your way. "Chicken one week; feathers the next."

 

Next week it's Big (modern) NASCARs.  I anticipate not doing too well because I'm using the the new Revell 1/24 Snap-Tite Max 2016 Ford Fusion which is a bit taller especially in the front than the earlier Monogram-Revell NASCARs we've been racing. Takes me a couple of race events to get a new body dialed in, given our fiercely competitive cars.

 

[James Wendel]

3-30-2016 Tourist Trophy.... 1950's front engined, limited production, roadster, race cars.  All Resilient Resin bodies by the late Doug Haynes. 

Of special note this week: many of Doug's personal cars have (finally) been distributed among the Pelican Park faithful and several have re-emerged from the shadows to take their place on the racing grid once again.  And the world is a much better place for it. 

 

Eleven racers in attendance... the same group from my previous report of two weeks prior.  It's "Win to Get In"  And again the red lane saw few victories.  In fact the only win in the red lane all evening was my fourth-round, preliminary heat victory.  I think that smaller cars, like these TTs, are particularly unhappy in red.  Getting tired of me grousing about the red lane?... me too.

 

The Consi:

These guys were all fast and had things broken out slightly differently, any or all of them could have made the Main Event.... but they didn't.  In the red lane is Cully's Aston Martin.  Cully is a perennial Main Event racer, but a red lane draw in the semi against Leo and Todd sent him to the Consi.  And here he's in the red lane once again.

 

The white Chaparral One in the white lane is Paul's entry from the Haynes collection.  It has one of Doug's famous custom drivers.  It's a beauty and it's fast.  In our Semi-Main, Paul challenged me for the transfer spot.  He edged past me on the inside of the donut, only to be clipped and sent into the weeds as he was caught on the outside of the lead-on to the main straight.  It was purely unintentional on my part... yet I couldn't help but smile just a little.  Sorry, Paul.

 

In the blue lane is another of the Haynes collection cars, this a baby-blue Ferrari Monza driven by Basil.  This car was fast, but must have some unresolved handling issues.  Basil is too good a driver to come off as often as this car did.  But hey, it sure looks good.

The red car in the adjacent lane is yet another Haynes personal build as evidenced by the driver's green jacket and bow-tie.  Tom is the new owner of this beautiful Ferrari Testarossa and drives the yellow lane.

 

Consi Final: Paul's Chaparral wins in the white lane, Basil is 2nd in blue, Tom 3rd in yellow, and Cully is demoted to the Hooligan from the red lane. 

Haynes cars sweep the Consi 1-2-3 in their second-coming debut

 

The Hooligan:

The Hooligan is an all-Aston Marton race, with the single exception of Greg's Ferrari. 

Mike drew the red lane.  As I have said earlier, everyone was fast.  Mike had three 2nd place finishes in the preliminaries, but you need a first to avoid the Hooligan.

 

Greg's Ferrari TR is in the white lane.  That's Cully's A/M next to him in the blue lane this time.

 

This is Dave's very nice A/M in the yellow lane.  Aston Martins are very popular as they are the lowest of the TT cars, but they are also quite narrow in the rear.

 

Hooligan final:  Cully wins in blue, Mike is 2nd in red, Dave 3rd in yellow, and Greg 4th in white.

 

The Main Event:

In red is James' Ferrari Monza, in white Deke's Lister, Todd's Maserati is in blue and Leo's Ferrari TR is in yellow. 

In the first lap of the race, Leo deslotted in the "76 turn" taking out James from three lanes away.  This gave Todd and Deke a solid lead which they extended as Leo and I struggled to play "catch-up".  It was going to be a runaway win for Todd with Deke a solid second.  But then I noticed that my car was acting odd... unresponsive in the dog-leg under the bridge. 

 

I slowed to a stop there and the car was dead... no power.  The corner marshal pushed my car ahead and it took off.  It wasn't a car problem.  TRACK CALL... track repair and restart.  Leo and I were all smiles.  Deke and Todd didn't look quite so happy.

 

The second running of the Main Event was similar, but very different.  This time it was Leo and Todd crashed out.  James with the lead... racing hard in the red lane... trying desperately to hold off Todd who was clearly gaining.  But to no avail... with five laps remaining Todd was within a few car lengths.  He would easily cover that and more in the remaining laps.  I pushed just a little deeper into the corners.... yeah, too deep.  I was off and Todd was by for the win.

 

Main Event final: Todd 1st in blue, James 2nd in red, Deke 3rd in white, Leo 4th in yellow.  Good racing guys !!!

[n9949y]

New 1/24th  Revell Snap Tite Max 2016 NASCAR Fusion

 

 

 

[James Wendel]

5/26/2016 Grand Sport - 1960-70 prototype, GT cars.  Jeez, it has been 8 weeks since I last drove up to race with my good friends at Pelican Park.  That's way too long.  I must try to do better. 

 

Nine racers were in attendance: most of the regular-regulars.  Missing were Greg and Dave.... although Dave showed up half-way through the evening and helped out with the marshaling.

 

The new computer was up and running, sort of.... although it was only used for lap counts and fast lap times.  And it had intermittent problems recording laps.  I think this was due to a problem with the physical counter positioning.  That, and cleanliness of the counter and cars' pickup braids seemed critical.

 

It took a l-o-n-g time to get through the preliminary heats... fiddling with the computer and the lap counter, stopping to allow people to repair broken cars.  The guys are Pelican are always an easy-going bunch, but this evening no one seemed too concerned about keeping the program moving.  If there was a delay, people would just wander outside and seemingly forget that WE WERE HERE TO RACE SLOT-CARS.

 

By the mid-race break, Paul had to leave.  Morning comes early and he had to go to work in the AM.  He was a bit perturbed and I could sympathize.  So we were down to eight for the finals: a full Main & Consi.... no Hooligan race tonight.

 

The Consi:

In the Consi, we have Tom's yellow GT-40 in the red lane.  Tom's car is yellow with a red stripe and it was marshaled into the wrong lane twice this evening, which is probably why it has an extraordinary amount of lane tape on it.

 

In the white lane is Deke's Chaparral 2d.  Deke was next to me in the preliminary rotation, so we raced together three times, plus once in the semis.  His car was fast... faster than mine down the straight.  But racer's luck put him in the Consi.

 

Mike's Gulf-blue & orange Porsche 917 is in the blue lane.  The 917 is arguably the best body for the class, but Mike's car was just not packing its usual punch.  Frequently a Main-Event car, tonight it belonged in the Consi.

 

And in the yellow lane is Basil's black and silver GT-40.  This is the coveted, John Wyer wide-body model.  Long out of production, examples of this model can sometimes be found on E-bay. 

 

Consi final: Basil 1st in the yellow lane, Mike 2nd in blue, Tom 3rd in red, Deke DNF, his car got ridered into the lead-on wall at full throttle.... pieces of his car littered the track.  I am sure that he will have it repaired and running next time the class comes around. 

 

The Main Event:

In the red lane is Leo's orange GT-40... another rare wide-body model, built and painted by Deke.  The Grand Sport cars did not seem to be handicapped by the red lane this evening .... More points were scored in the red lane during the preliminary heats than in either the blue or white lanes.  And Leo was the "man to beat", having won several of the most recent week's races.

 

In the white lane is Todd's beautiful, pre-painted Porsche 917.  His car is running closer-to-scale sized wheels/tires on 1/8" axles.  It looked great but was racing at a disadvantage to it's smaller wheeled competition.

 

Cully's voluptuous Ferrari P4 is in the blue lane.  Cully is always a threat and finished 2nd in the preliminary heats.

 

And in the yellow lane is James' white Porsche 917.  My car is a proven Main Event winner, but the competition has caught up with it.  Although I did finish the prelims as top seed, my Porsche was barely as fast as Cully's Ferrari and perhaps a tick slower than Leo's Ford.  The top three cars were all really close... the race would come down to steely nerves and racers' luck.

 

Well... mostly luck.  When the race started, Leo jumped out to an immediate lead with James, Cully, and Todd in pursuit.  With his first lap, Leo set the fast time for the evening at 4.174 seconds (I think).... then he crashed in the donut.  There was more crashing... was it Leo?  Cully?  I don't know, I was focused on my car.  And suddenly I'm on a lap of my own and right on Leo's tail.  I can't quite catch him, but why bother?  I pace him to the finish.

 

I never really saw Cully's car.  He was somewhere ahead of Leo.  Todd's car was just over-matched.

Main Event final:  James 1st in the yellow lane, Cully 2nd in blue, Leo 3rd in red, Todd 4th in white.

 

[James Wendel]

Bonus photos - the winning car

 

I believe that makes three Main Event wins out of four starts for this car, and the body has held up pretty well.  It did get its nose cracked this evening when it hit Mike's car, which had deslotted in the tunnel.  A little nick is just visible on the lower edge of the nose, under the last letter in "Austria", indicates the cracks location.

 

I held the crack together with tape over the top of the body for the remaining two heats.  The body survived, but what about the decal?  Concerned that the decals would come off with the tape, I washed naptha under the edge of the tape with a small paint brush, while lifting gently on the tape.  SUCCESS... the tape came away and left the decal and a sticky residue on the body.  All cleaned up now. 

 

Reinforcement is in order to the underside of the nose before it goes back into battle.

 

The chassis is my universal Can-Am chassis, with the track widened and the wheelbase shortened.

[n9949y]

Thanks, James, for another well written and photoed recap of PPs's Gran Sports class. And congratulation, again, on your win.

 

James who lives in Roseburg 70 miles to the south of Eugene is a most dedicated racer, not only frequently driving  the 140 miles round trip to PPS’s Wednesday racing but more importantly he supports and reports on the racing at his hometown's two tracks, Bob Hanna’s challenging Spare Time Raceway and Rich Veccio’s handsome track. We Oregon racers owe much for James insightful dedication.

 

My pre-painted Porsche 917 body is from a new B.R.M. #025 (from Italy)  RTR car purchased from Alan Smith's 132slotcar.us store in Tacoma, WA. Thanks to Alan for introducing this slot car line and other authentic, accurate scale model RTR slot cars. Along with Carrera's 1/24th products they are  good sources for our hard body custom built chassied cars.

 

Interesting to note  how and why racing fortunes at Pelican Park evolve. In 2008 I introduced to the Gran Sports class (roofed models of 1960-71 prototypes) a 1970-71 Porsche 917 using a body from a 1/24 Fujimi kit (Japan) which accurately measures in width, at the side and wheel openings 78" 1:1, or 3.25" in 1/24th. The 1/24 Heller shelf model Ferrari 512S version and the new Ferrari 512M B.RM. (Italay) RTR slot car also measure out at 3.25 inches width.

 

Before I introduced  the '71 917 Porsche body the widest PPS eligible Gran Sports body was the John Wyer 1968-69 289 CID Ford GT 40 at 70," or in 1/24th,  2.9" width at lower door sill, with an additional,  in 1:1,  5 more inches that translates to a 1/24th 3.1" body as measured at the rear fender well, made wider than the predecessor GT-40's because rubber technology then produced wider tires. However all the 1960's Ford GT-40 versions still had narrower bodies than the '70-'71 Ferraris and Porsches.

 

With my Porsche body mounted on a Deke custom brass 3.25" wide chasis made from .90 K&S brass plate mine was a dominent class winner- until in the last year others have employed Porsche 917's bringing creeping parity once again to the class with my Porsche now sometimes rendered  a mid-pack racer. At PPS, "chicken one week, feathers the next."

 

By the way Carrera (Germany) produces a line of 1/24th Porsche 917's with different paint schemes. While the Carrera's are accurately and beautifully detailed for some unknown reason their 917 bodies measure less than 3" wide  giving away some performance potential against the Fujimi and B.R.M. kits/bodies.

[James Wendel]

Thanks, Todd, but you have overstated my contributions.  It's Rich Vecchio who does the vast majority of the Roseburg area reporting.  He also maintains a database of entries, lap counts and fast times for all of the local races.  His extensive SlotBlog content can be found here:

http://slotblog.net/...ctivity&mid=167

 

I do some feature articles on slotcars, occasional OSCAR race reports, and of course photo-essays on my races at Pelican Park.

[n9949y]

Well, what you and Rich write/post on Slotblog plus what we other Oregon hard body racers also post better covers the state’s hard body racing scene than do some of the printed hobby focused magazines.

 

Ironic- with  monthly/weekly 1/24 hard body racing  occurring in Bend (1 track),  Roseburg (2 tracks), Eugene (1), Portland (3), Oregon may have more 1/24^th hard body racers per capita than in most other states.

[rvec]

Congrats James,

The Pelican crew is hard to beat on their own turf. Thanks Todd and also thanks for running and letting us run some of your Scaleauto cars at Electron Raceway in Roseburg. Ron and I will have ours ready for testing in the next few weeks (home projects may cause delays)

[n9949y]

9/14/16 Tourist Trophy race for 1950's open cockpit sports racing cars factory built for the FIA's endurance World Sports car Championship racing. I.e.,  Le Mans, Monza, Nürburgring.

"Age and treachery trumps youth and exuberance." Just past my 87th, won the Main- they crashed; I didn't. Our TT cars were getting around the PPS 66 foot track at about 4.35- 4.68 secs according to our new computer track hookup.

 

 

 

 Winning1957 Maserati 450S. It's a model of the car entered in the Havana Cuba Grand Prix, 2/57 race