Five locals showed up at Electron Raceway on 7/26/17 to participate in the third Triathlon of Summer. Track conditions were a bit tight but each race was fun and competitive. Records were challenged but none were broken.
On 7/23/17 I posted a thread on Slotblog entitled Prelude to Triathlon at Electron Raceway 7/26 (For details see the link http://slotblog.net/...26/#entry688021). In this thread I predicted the results of the Trans-Am, Mixed and GT1 races. How did I do? See the tables below for actual results versus predictions.
The Trans-Am race was a very close contest. Any of the five competitors had a chance to win the race. Cars were quite evenly matched (Fast laps varied between 5.153 seconds for James and 5.274 seconds for Bob). In the end Rich finished first with 88.8 laps. Bob was second with 88.4 laps, Ron was third with 87.8 laps and James was fourth with 87.3 laps. Below is a heat by heat breakdown of this very competitive race.
Heat #1- This heat set the tone for the entire race. Rich started on Red, James on Yellow and Bob on Black. Rich, on his favorite lane, took an early lead ending the heat with 22+ laps. Both James and Bob finished out with 21+ laps. I noticed that James Barracuda was chattering on several corners (not a good sign).
Heat #2 Rich rotated to Yellow, James to Black and Bob to White. Rich and Bob both ran 22+ laps while James ran 21+ laps. Through two heats, it was Rich with 44+ laps, Bob with 43+ laps and James with 42+ laps
Heat #3 Ron came in on Red for his initial heat, while Rich rotated to Black, James to White and Bob rotated out. Rich and James both ran 22+ laps in heat #3. Ron finished his initial heat with 21+ laps on Red (his least favorite lane) putting him in contention for a podium finish. Richs cumulative total of 66+ laps (an average of 22 laps/heat) put him in first place. James cumulative total of 64+ laps put him third overall averaging 21.33 laps/heat. Bob sat out heat #3 but was in second place averaging 21.5 laps/heat. In summary, through heat #3 Rich had a comfortable lead but the battle for the second and third was very close between Bob, James and Ron.
Heat #4 Rich rotated to White, James rotated out while Joe rotated in on Red. Ron moved to Yellow. Rich ran conservatively in his final heat believing that first place was assured (not so fast Rich) finishing with 88.8 laps (averaging 22.2 laps/heat). Ron ran 22+ laps on Yellow for a cumulative total of 43+ laps or an average of 21.5 laps/heat, very much in the hunt for a second place finish along with Bob and James.
Heat #5 This was a two man heat featuring Joe on Yellow and Ron on Black. I was watching Rons Camaro and he was pouring it on finishing with 23+laps for a cumulative total of 66+ laps. Rons 22+ laps/heat average put him squarely in second place and in a position to challenge Rich for first place. Joe finished the heat with 22+ laps and was in the hunt of a podium finish averaging 21.5 laps/heat.
Heat #6 This was a pivotal heat. Joe rotated to Black, Ron to White while Bob rotated in on Red for his third of four heats. All three had a chance to knock Rich out of first place. Joes 20+ lap finish in heat #6 put him out of contention for a podium finish as his average lap count dropped to 21. Ron finished out his rotation with 21+ laps for a total of 87.8 laps or a full lap behind Rich who was already in the barn. Bob ran a fine 22+ lap heat for a cumulative total of 65+ laps. Bob was now in a position to overtake Ron for second place and had a shot of edging out Rich for the win.
Heat #7 Rich was in the barn with 88.8 laps and Ron was in the barn with 87.8 laps. Bob rotated to Yellow, Joe to White and James rotated in on Red. Bob needed a 23+ lap final heat to overtake Rich and a 22+ lap final heat to overtake Ron. James needed 23+ laps to overtake Ron and not really a chance to beat Rich out for the top spot. Wow, what a final heat. Both James and Bob ran 23+laps. Bob finished with 88.4 laps, good enough for second place. James finished with 87.3 laps only a half lap behind third place Ron.
Observations:
- Rich was finally able to pilot his 70 Barracuda to a first place finish
- Bobs car was the slowest of all five competitors but his consistency of 97.13% put his solidly in second place only about a half lap down from Rich. Bobs lap total of 88.4 was a personal best for True Scale Trans-Am cars.
- Rons Camaro is a true contender. Ron ran a personal best of 87.8 laps and only a single lap behind Richs first place Barracuda
- James Barracuda suffered from LTS (large tire syndrome). The car chattered in corners and was a handful. Even so, James managed to finish fourth only a half lap behind Ron. James Barracuda is always a threat to finish in the top spot. As tires wear a bit, chattering will subside and handling will improve.
- Joes OSCAR based Firebird Trans-Am is capable of a podium finish. Two poor heats put the Firebird out of contention.
Four Ferraris battled it out with a single Porsche in the Mixed race. In the end, Richs Porsche 918 outdistanced the field finishing with a near record 92.4 laps. Bob put in a very consistent performance (97.32%) to finish second with 90.3 laps. James was third with 88.9 laps. Below is a heat by heat breakdown of the race
Heat #1 and #2 Rich took the early lead with a cumulative lap total of 46+ laps for the two heats. Bob and James both finished two heats with a cumulative total of 45+ laps (an average of 22.5 laps/heat)
Heat #3 Ron rotated in on Red, Rich rotated to White, Bob to Black and James rotated out. Rich ran another 23+ lap heat for a cumulative total of 69 laps (an average of 23 laps/heat). Bob ran a 22+ lap heat for a cumulative total of 67 laps (an average of 22.33 laps/heat) and two laps behind Rich. It was going to be very tough for Bob to overtake Rich
Heat #4 Rich rotated out, Joe rotated in on Red, Bob rotated to white for his final heat. Bob ran a fine 23+ lap heat to finish with 90.3 laps (average of 22.57 laps/heat). Ron had a poor heat on Red putting him out of contention for a podium finish in the Mixed race
Heat #6 James came in on Red, Ron rotated to Black and Joe to Yellow. James ran 22+ laps on Red for a cumulative total through three heats of 67+ laps (average of 22.33 laps/heat). At this point James was out of contention for the top spot. However, James had a shot of overtaking Bob who was already in the barn with 90.3 laps.
Heat #7 - Rich came in on Red, James rotated to Yellow. Rich ran 23+ laps on Red to finish first with 92.4 laps. James had a poor heat of 21+ laps on Yellow. That put Bob in second place with 90.3 laps and James in third at 88.9 laps.
Observations:
- Richs Porsche 918 is quite competitive only falling short of a class record by about a half of a lap.
- Bobs consistent driving (97.32%) put his slower 458 into a solid second place.
- James Ferrari 458 is better than his 88.9 lap finish would indicate. The car ran 92.0 laps in May of 2017. Large tires may have hampered the 458 in the latest contest.
- Rons black 458 is a fast machine turning a fast lap of 5.064 seconds. His fast lap time is right in line with the top finishers. A poor finish on Red put Ron out of contention from the start. Also, in the last heat, Rons 458 de-slotted and became a rider. The car crashed at high speed into the barrier in the keyhole corner tweaking the front end. Ron finished the race with his Ford GT40.
- Joes Testarossa is capable of finishing on the podium. The cars fast lap time is in line with the leaders. Joe needs to improve his consistency.
The race for top spots on the podium was between James, Bob and Rich. All three cars turned fast laps in the 4.8 second range. In the end, James won the race with 96.3 laps. Bob was second with 95.4 laps and Rich was third with 94.1laps.
The race came down to the final heat. James was in the barn with a fine finish of 96.3 laps. Bob and Rich were both within a section of 72 laps and had a chance to overtake James. Bob and Rich were in a pitched battle for most of the heat. Both cars were running well with Rich about a half lap ahead of Bob with about 10-15 seconds to go. Suddenly, without warning, Richs Nissan stopped dead in its tracks. Even after a track call, the car would not run. Bob easily overtook Rich for second place, but could not catch James, who finished in first place.
After the race, Rich took a good look at the car and could find nothing wrong. The car was placed back on its final lane of the rotation, Yellow and it ran flawlessly. Apparently, an automatic circuit breaker on Yellow lane tripped and took about a minute to reset. It would have been interesting to see if Rich could have overtaken James (not likely, however). Oh well. Thats racing!
Observations:
- James Jaguar XJR8LM is a very competitive ride with several wins under its belt. The cars best performance of 96.8 laps is a single section shy of the class record.
- Bob is back. With some wear on the full size tires, the car ran very well and was in contention for the top spot.
- Richs Nissan R390 was in the thick of it until a tripped breaker ended its shot at a better finish
- It seems that Rons black Nissan R390 is not his best GT1. The Nissan turned only 88.3 laps while Rons Jaguar XJR8LM was able to log 91.2 laps in the July twelfth contest.
- Joe ran a personal best of 89.1 laps with a fast lap of 4.918 seconds (nearly a 5 lap improvement from the prior race). I think that Joe will be fighting for a podium spot in the near future,
