Six slot heads showed up to race Can-Am, True Scale Sports Car and True Scale GT1 at Electron Raceway on March 21, 2019. It had been a month since we last raced at Electron. Inclement weather (mega snow and cold) and scheduling conflicts were the issues. Because of this, more wrecks and unforced errors punctuated the event. No single competitor dominated the Triathlon; in fact each race featured a different winner.
- Bob won the Can-Am race with his Hawk 7 powered Lotus
- James won the Sports Car race with his Ford GT
- Rich won the GT1 race with his Nissan R390
Can-Am
This Triathlon included the first race of the Can-Am series. Since OSCAR Can-Am cars have not been run at Electron Raceway in some time, seeding was determined by qualifying. Each competitor, in turn, selected a qualifying lane and was allotted a minute of run time. The competitor with the fastest lap time was top seed and so forth down the line. Below are the results of qualifying and starting lane or sit-out positions. As you can see James, Bob and Rich were the top seeds. Each drove a Lotus and turned laps in and around the 4.7 second range. In the end, James Lotus was the top seed followed closely by Bob and Rich. None of the other competitors broke the five second barrier.
The initial heat featured the top three seeds. Rich managed to win the heat; running clean while others were impacted by offs. Still, the finish was close with Bob only a couple of sections behind - Fast forward to the final heat. Bob rotated in on the red lane having completed 69.7 laps. Rich rotated to black having completed 68.1 laps and James rotated to yellow having completed 67.8 laps. Neither competitor had a real chance of catching and passing Bob for the win. With a win in the bag, Bob ran a conservative final heat winning the race with 92.3 laps. Meanwhile Rich and James battled it out for the second step of the podium. Early in the final heat, Rich made an unforced error and James flew by. Rich began closing the gap but was unable to overtake James. So it was Bob with the win, James second and Rich third.
Sports Car
The Sports Car race was punctuated by two major wrecks forcing Mark and Rich to swap rides. Mark started the race with a True Scale Ferrari 458 and switched to an OSCAR based Ferrari Modena Spyder after the 458s motor was dislodged. Rich started the race with a True Scale red Ferrari 458. A severe hit caused the soldered tip of a front axle to fracture. Rich then switched to his green True Scale Ferrari 458. Both problems were not serious and will require only minor work to address, but in the interest of time, swaps were in order.
James Ford GT was the fastest ride turning a fast lap of 4.902 seconds. Both Rich and Bob were in the hunt but more than .1 second per lap slower. Forced and unforced errors by each of the three top seeds kept the racing close. The final result was in doubt until the last heat. In the end it was James, Bob and Rich for first through third respectively.
GT1
Rich and James turned fast laps of 4.775 and 4.820 seconds respectively. The nearest competitors, Bob, Joe and Mark were at least .1 seconds per lap slower. After a poor first heat total due in part to unforced errors, Rich put together three very good heats to win the GT1 race with 94.1 laps. Meanwhile, James and Bob fought it out for the second step of the podium. Entering the final heat, James led Bob by about a lap. Joe was only a half lap behind Bob. In the final heat Bob was unable to close the gap but Joe closed on Bob to make an exciting battle for third place. So it was Rich, James and Bob for first through third respectively. Joe finished fourth only two sections behind Bob. Mark was fifth only a half lap behind Joe. A shout out goes to Scott who turned a personal best of 84.0 laps as he continues to improve lap times and total laps at Electron Raceway.