Mark from Grants Pass joined six locals to compete in the third Triathlon of the Fall Series held at Electron Raceway on 10/4/17. Welcome back Mark! Also, slot car racing made a new friend. Jamie Miller from Winchester stopped by to check out the track and cars. He showed up a bit early. Rich showed off the track and Jamie tried out few cars. Jamie couldnt believe that scale cars could be so quick! He seems interested in building and we hope to have him competing regularly in the near future.
Track conditions were excellent. New records were set in the Mixed race. James turned 93.1 laps while Rich ran a 4.857 second lap. Bob scored personal bests in the Mixed and Trans Am races. Scott set a personal best in Trans Am.
With the third event in the books, below are the standings followed by the details of the Trans-Am, Mixed and GT1 races in Triathlon #3 of the Fall Series. In the Series, James opened up his lead on the others and Rich put a bit more distance between Bob and himself.
In race #1 of the series, James ran away from the field with his 70 Barracuda, setting a new high lap total for the class. Race #2 was a different story with Bob (69 Barracuda) notching his first win with a very consistent race and personal best performance.
Heat #1 set the stage for what was to come in race #3 of the Series. James (black) ran 22+ laps while Rich (red) and Bob (yellow) both scored 21 laps. Joe (white) ran 19 laps putting him out of contention for a podium finish.
In heat #2 Ron (67 Camaro) rotated in on red while James rotated to white, Rich to yellow and Bob to black. The top three positions were unchanged with James, Rich and Bob all turning 22 laps. Rons Camaro is quite competitive and capable of running with the leaders, however; Rons nemesis has always been the red lane and race #3 was no exception. Ron posted 20 laps and a fast lap time of more than .2 seconds per lap slower than the top three.
Heat #3 featured Rich (black), Bob (white), Ron (yellow) and Mark (red). Bob increased his lead over Rich by turning 23 laps on white while Rich turned only 22. At this point, Richs hope of a second or first place finished was very much in doubt.
In heat #4 Rich finished strong with a 23 lap performance in the black lane which appeared to be a solid third place finish. Ron (yellow) challenged Rich turning a fine 22 lap heat. Ron also turned 22 laps in his final heat (#6) for what appeared to be a solid fourth place finish
James rotated back in for heat #6 and maintained his 22+ lap average to remain in the lead. So, it came down to the final heat (#7) which would determine the podium. Rich was in the barn with 88.0 laps. Bob rotated in on red for the final heat having logged 66.3 laps. James rotated to yellow (his favorite) with 66.8 laps. Both were in a great position to move ahead of Rich for the top two steps of the podium. Bob would have to make up a half lap to catch James for the win. Those hopes were dashed when Bob had an off early in the final heat. In the end, James won the race with 89.9 laps, Bob was second about a lap behind James and Rich finished third about a lap behind Bob.
Rons 67 Camaro finished a solid fourth behind Rich and would have presented a strong challenge for the podium had Ron been able to run well on the red lane. Watch out guys!
Joes OSCAR based Firebird T/A was very quick turning fast laps within a whisker of the leaders; however, Joe made too many unforced errors to challenge for a podium finish.
Scott scored a personal best of 77.3 laps with his 2010 Mustang. The late model Mustang is not the best body for the Trans-Am class because it is taller and heavier than historic Trans-Am rides. A body swap might yield better performance.
Mark selected a great looking 2010 Camaro instead of his 68 Firebird (The Firebird would have been a better choice). Mark was a bit rusty after a five month layoff. Look for better finishes in upcoming races.
Rich collected a win in the mixed race #1 with his ballistic Porsche 917. In race #2 Rich switched to his Ferrari 458 and collected a second win. Race #3 featured four True Scale Ferrari 458s (James, Rich, Bob and Ron), a Ferrari Modena (Mark), Ferrari Testarossa (Joe) and a Honker (Scott).
The four Ferrari 458s populated the grid in heat #1. Richs 458 seemed a bit faster than the group but performance was hampered by an unfortunate off. Even so, it was James, Bob and Rich for first through third respectively in heat #1 all turning 23+ laps and within a few sections of each other. Rons 458 was in the mix, however a few unforced errors left him about a lap down from the leaders.
Heat #2 saw James and Bob both turning 23+ laps and opening a gap between them and Rich who turned only 22+ laps. Rich rotated out for heat #3. Bob (black) and James (white) battled it out for dominance in heat number three. James turned in a fine 24 lap performance to pull ahead of Bob by about a lap.
Bob finished his rotation in heat #4 with another 23 lap heat to finish with 92.3 laps. Both James and Rich sat out during heats #4 and #5. James turned 23+ laps in heat #6 setting up the final showdown for the podium which was to occur in heat #7.
Through heat #6, Bob was in the barn with 92.3 laps. James and Rich both had posted 69+ laps through three heats; however, James was very close to the 70 lap mark while Rich was about a half lap behind James. With a good final heat, Both had a shot at besting Bob and both ran good final heats. James maintained, but could not increase his half lap lead over Rich in the final heat. In the end, James finished first with 93.1 laps (a new lap record for a Mixed race). Rich finished second with 92.3 laps only inches ahead of Bob.
Ron finished a solid fourth. Mark and Joe were in a pitched battle for fifth place. In the end, Mark bested Joe by about a lap.
James, driving his record setting Jaguar XJR8LM collected wins in both Fall Series events. Both Bob (Enzo) and Rich (Toyota GT-One) have challenged but fallen a bit short. After a plastic shattering wreck with his Toyota GT-One, Rich selected his #1 ride, a Porsche 962 for race #3. In an effort to make his Toyota GT-One more competitive, Ron added a bigger front pan, extended the guide flag to its fullest extent and increased the front track to take advantage of the Toyotas extra-large wheel openings. The improvements seemed to work as Ron was able to turn his first sub five second lap in GT1 with the Toyota.
Prior to the GT1 race and in practice, James crashed hard entering the lead-on. Even after a quick fix, the car seemed to suffer a bit in the handling department. As a consequence, James was forced to drive a more conservatively than usual in order to keep the car in the slot.
Heat #1 set the tone for the race with Rich turning 24+ laps besting James, Bob and Ron by about a lap. Since Rich started heat #1 on the red lane, he was first to complete his rotation in heat #4 running a clean race and finishing with 94.4 laps. Entering the final heat (#7) Bob rotated to yellow and James came in on red both having completed 69+ laps; however, James was about a half lap ahead of Bob. In order to overtake Rich, James or Bob would have to turn 25+ laps in the final heat, quite a tall order considering that both competitors had averaged 23 laps over three heats. Bob began to close the gap on James immediately turning laps about .1 seconds quicker than James. About midway through the heat, Bob passed James. Realizing that Bobs Enzo was quicker, James settled into a conservative pace hoping that Bob would make an unforced error or get involved in a wreck. That did not happen and Bob finished second with 93.5 laps with James third about a half lap behind.
Rons Toyota GT-One is quite a runner and boy does it look great. That has inspired Rich to build a new Toyota GT1 but this time address the weaknesses of this body before assembly (the weak front end and the rear wing). Watch for an upcoming article regarding the build.
Both Joe and Mark have competitive Enzos. Joe managed to turn a fast lap of 4.899 seconds, within a whisker of the top three cars. Marks Enzo has run a fast lap of 5.089 seconds. As Mark begins to race on a regular basis his times should improve
