Despite the absolutely horrible weather on Saturday afternoon/evening, our first test day on the "new" FRC went ahead as scheduled. We first vacuumed and cleaned the track surface then tested running some cars without powering-up the lane changer electrical circuit. I was given the privilege of being the first to drive a car on the track and it immediately proved to be a really enjoyable experience. Despite not having yet applied the new magical rail treatment liquid, there was good power and the cars felt very quick indeed. All who were there can tell you that the elevated sections are a dream to drive and I particularly like the first climb to the top of the hill and the following downhill straight, braking into the Island Hobbies corner.
We then connected the separate power supply that O'Brie had loaned me to the lane change circuit only to find that it would blow its fuse as soon as it was powered up. After blowing four fuses (and opening it up in between to see whether we could find the problem), O'Brie again bailed us out by loaning a standard "wall wart" Scalextric power supply. This worked as soon as we connected it, so at that time we got into full car testing and practising which didn't stop till we eventually closed up shop after midnight.
All in all it was a successful session and we can now all look forward to our first racing event on the new FRC planned for this Thursday (details in an upcoming post in the "Racing" section of this forum).
Here are just a few pics from the evening at the only time that I had the camera out, all focused on the Porsche Cup contenders:
The Porsche Cup machines posed on the starting grid. None of these have been chipped as yet.
View from the back of the grid. These are the cars that we all will be driving against one-another. Reminds me of the Carib 2000 stock car series!
My new home-made pit building stars in this shot. One pit for every two cars.
The Porsches lined up on display along the grid. The crowded paddock filled with some of the cars being tested can be seen in the background.
The cars that sparked the Porsche Cup class - Luke's analog machines from 6-lane competition.
Hope to see you all soon.
Gordon