My visit to TSCC's Marabella Speedway
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:57 pm
Guys,
While Luke and I were in South at Arden's home for Eid, Arden offered to show me the TSCC 6-lane track in Marabella as I had never seen it. I didn't need a second invitation, so we took off to check it out for "15 minutes" (which eventually turned into about 1 hour!). Well it was great to finally see what I must describe as a slot car "speedway". Compared with FRC's narrow, winding road circuit, the TSCC track is a wide (6 lanes), long and extremely fast speedway. Both luke and I tried out a couple of cars and I have to say that, despite its appearance, it is very challenging to go fast.
The first thing that struck me was how long I had to keep the throttle open to traverse the main straight before backing off. Significantly more than at FRC. The next shocker was the amount braking that the cars achieve, which made me have to adjust my driving by keeping the throttle open for even longer!! Both of us drove on the two extreme lanes (1 and 6), so there was a definite difference at each end of the big figure-of-eight where at one end the turn was a tight 180º, at the other a very fast and wide 180º. Add to this the two slight kinks, one entering the other exiting the overpass, plus the slight downhill slope coming off the second kink and the speedway becomes even harder to master.
TSCC Marabella Speedway. That's one long straight.
This gives an idea of how wide the track is. It also shows the variation in radii of the different lanes. I discovered how effective the chequered padding is!
Back in the '60s when F1 drivers took part in many other types of motor sport, my all-time hero Jim Clark became the first "foreigner" to win the Indy 500. Jimmy was a true driver who was challenged by any type of car competition and he saw the fast, wide American speedways as another thing to conquer. I liken the TSCC Marabella Speedway to the American speedways just as I compare FRC with the famous European road circuits like Spa. Like Jimmy was with real cars, I am challenged by the idea of getting a slot car to go as close to (or under) the class lap record at TSCC, so I know I'll be back. How about you?
Gordon
While Luke and I were in South at Arden's home for Eid, Arden offered to show me the TSCC 6-lane track in Marabella as I had never seen it. I didn't need a second invitation, so we took off to check it out for "15 minutes" (which eventually turned into about 1 hour!). Well it was great to finally see what I must describe as a slot car "speedway". Compared with FRC's narrow, winding road circuit, the TSCC track is a wide (6 lanes), long and extremely fast speedway. Both luke and I tried out a couple of cars and I have to say that, despite its appearance, it is very challenging to go fast.
The first thing that struck me was how long I had to keep the throttle open to traverse the main straight before backing off. Significantly more than at FRC. The next shocker was the amount braking that the cars achieve, which made me have to adjust my driving by keeping the throttle open for even longer!! Both of us drove on the two extreme lanes (1 and 6), so there was a definite difference at each end of the big figure-of-eight where at one end the turn was a tight 180º, at the other a very fast and wide 180º. Add to this the two slight kinks, one entering the other exiting the overpass, plus the slight downhill slope coming off the second kink and the speedway becomes even harder to master.
TSCC Marabella Speedway. That's one long straight.
This gives an idea of how wide the track is. It also shows the variation in radii of the different lanes. I discovered how effective the chequered padding is!
Back in the '60s when F1 drivers took part in many other types of motor sport, my all-time hero Jim Clark became the first "foreigner" to win the Indy 500. Jimmy was a true driver who was challenged by any type of car competition and he saw the fast, wide American speedways as another thing to conquer. I liken the TSCC Marabella Speedway to the American speedways just as I compare FRC with the famous European road circuits like Spa. Like Jimmy was with real cars, I am challenged by the idea of getting a slot car to go as close to (or under) the class lap record at TSCC, so I know I'll be back. How about you?
Gordon
was an exciting and pleasant one, plus (to come & read now) this very detailed account/visit written by Gordon himself. There was no way I could have written about this visit any better. Great Job GG... 
