Race report #226 - Thursday Feb 2nd 2017 (HS, APC, VS6075)

[gordon]

RACE REPORT #226 - February 2nd 2017 (HS, APC, VS6075)

Our second event for 2017 featured new Historic Saloon class regulations, the brand new American Pony Car class with similar requirements and our Vintage Sports '60-'75 class with minor regulation changes. These revisions promised some close and action-filled racing, particularly in the first two classes and they didn't disappoint, with tightly matched cars and drivers having to concentrate hard to keep their tail-happy cars in line. Qualifying in HS and APC saw the grids separated by 0.8 sec and in VS by 0.6 sec, fastest to slowest. Pretty close stuff! We even had drama before proceedings started when O'Brie's HS Escort crashed off the table in pre-qualifying practice. The driver and passenger were lucky to survive with just a bit of shock as the car disintegrated around them:





Results



HS third race starting grid:


The racing had many wild moments. Here I try to make an unorthodox passing manoeuvre on Dougie (NSU TT) and Peter (Capri) in my Escort:






Our first ever APC starting grid - Chevys and Fords prepare to do battle:




Just like the real Trans-Am series from 1966-1972 upon which the APC class is based, we also have a manufacturer's championship (there wasn't a driver's championship for the series in those days). Here are the APC manufacturer's points by race - 1 win for Ford, 2 for Chevy:






VS 60-75 starting grid. Three GT40s line up ahead of a McLaren and a Chaparral:


Another crazy moment in the night's racing saw this 4-car pile up:


Dougie had some offs which put the Chaparral into the scenery. This first one the result of a spin exiting the second-to-last turn:


Here he's looking for fruit in some of the trees:










All in all it was a promising start to a year of many battles to come in these three closely-contested classes.

Congratulations to the winners!

Next event's classes: Class grouping C - Mini Challenge IROC (avg of 6 races), Rally Car (3 stages of avg of 6 cars), Slot.It Challenge (3 races).

As usual, don't forget to see the updated fastest times for the FRC classes to know what the benchmarks are for your cars, the updated class average qualifying times and the updated fastest times for 2017.

See you on the circuit...
Gordon

[obrie]

Thanks guys for a great night unfortunately my escort was made of GLASS!!! I have never see a car shatter like that.
Thanks Scalextric
However the pony class was great!! The cars certinally behaved like V8s. Great fun!

[RameshB]

Thanks guys lots of close racing and fun, slot car racing has really been something created just for guys just like us, thanks again O Brie and Gordon for your insight in making this a reality. O Brie , when i heard you share how you got restarted , i saw the passion in your voice, i think thats why we all can sit and share racing experiences that not much people can understand. Love it, bye Ram.

[steveaca]

Great night of racing as usual at FRC. I really enjoy racing these classes although I need to do some homework to be able to keep up with the leaders. It was really a pity that O'Brie's Escort didn't make it onto the grid as it seemed to be running well in practice. The bodyshell seems like it came from the 'bamboo' as one of those welded-together specials that fall apart in an accident ! Nice to see both Peter and Dougie for the second race meeting in succession. Looking forward to seeing them on a regular basis .Also nice to see Luke getting back into car preparation. Hopefully we'll see more of his cars in action in the near future.
Congrats to Ramesh on winning all classes raced and to Luke on taking the Index Of Performance accolades.
Looking forward to the next event.
Steve

[Luke]

Hello Gordon and other 1/32 racers,

Here is my modest version for 2 Scalextric cars that I (finally) took some time to work on (with this class grouping) and then testing them at the circuit just before qualifying.

These were their displayed lap times ...

• APC class / Camaro - 8.1xx lap times
  HS class / None available
  VS class / Ferrari P3 - 7.1xx lap times

The lap time differences above was expected because of their RMP (21.5 and 22.5) ratings and while observing other neatly performing APC and VS (as well as HS) cars before racing conditions - recognized my simple Camaro build was somewhat a contender but with my one of a kind green Ferrari P3 (which was well complimented for the livery looks) car was way off the competition pace. Which was later understood by a good 2 seconds - compared with the other slotcar brands.

At the same time - the 1mm ground clearance rule for cars in this (VS6075) class only ... I should have gone ahead & make the (much needed) modifications to the Ferrari P3 chassis because after the required (wheels, axle, tyres and guide flag) racing car modifications ~ it was a notable 2-3mm ground clearance compared to the other very lower cars.

Anyway, concerning the car's downforce and complying with the required USD rule, magnets was put in one standard location but lap times was nowhere near the times set by other intricate (under-pan) looking cars.

So maybe next time group B racing comes around - I may consider getting this Scalextric slotcar brand - lower to the track ...

All in all ~ had a very enjoyable time at FRC

Luke