RACE REPORT #314 - Feb 17th 2024 (HSnm, FCnm, APCnm, MPnm)

[gordon]

RACE REPORT #314 - Feb 17th 2024 (HSnm, FCnm, APCnm, MPnm)

With a turnout of nine competing drivers, we had the largest number of drivers at an FRC event since March 2020, almost three years and twenty-nine events ago! It was also great to welcome Dominic Besson to FRC. He had his first experience of digital slot racing, driving against five other competitors in a Ferrari F430 magless IROC race. Kent also dropped by for a while, but couldn't stay on to race. We had a long practice session that lasted about two hours before starting qualifying for our first class, Historic Saloon. By the time things were shut down, we had completed three qualifying sessions (Historic Saloon, American Pony Car and Modified production) and four races, the second race of the afternoon being for the Ferraris, which did not qualify.

With minimal race management software issues, things went quite smoothly and, despite some cars issues, O'Brie having the most of these, everyone had an enjoyable time. Thanks as usual to Luke for taking and providing several of the pictures shown here. The last of us packed up and left the track at 8:00 PM.

Here are a few pics:

Historic Saloon practice session in progress:



Peter, Warren, Ian and Steve have a drink and snack break:



Some of the boys, including FRC first-timer Dominic (left), smiling at the camera. In the background O'Brie glances up from the workbench area:



Sorting out a software issue. O'Brie is actually holding up a small computer monitor to allow us to read the tiny on-screen print rather than trying to do so from the main, wall-mounted screen:



Ian brought along yet another brand new car, this time an NSR McLaren F1, pre-chipped by Electric Dreams, and it's a very fast beauty:

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The results




Historic Saloon

Historic Saloon race 1 grid - Gordon/Ford Capri, Steve/Ford Escort MkII, Peter/Ford Falcon, O'Brie/Ford Capri, Warren/Ford Capri, Ian/Ford Escort MkII:





Computer Historic Saloon race 1 results:










Ferrari Challenge

Ferrari Challenge race 1 grid - Warren, Ian, Luke, Peter, Dominic, Liam:



Computer Ferrari Challenge race 1 results:








American Pony Car

American Pony Car race 1 grid - Liam/Shelby Mustang GT350, Steve/AMC Javelin, Gordon/Dodge Challenger, Peter/Mustang Notchback, Ian/Mustang Notchback:





Computer American Pony Car race 1 results:








Modified Production

Modified Production race 1 grid - Steve/Peugeot 406, Gordon/Zakspeed Capri, O'Brie/BMW 2002, Warren/Renault Megane, Ian/Ford Mustang Turbo, Peter/Zakspeed Escort:





Computer Midified Production race 1 results:

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(How this is computed: https://frcforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=393)

Congratulations to the winners.

Next event's classes: Kitbash, Vintage Sports 60-75 GT, Vintage Sports 60-75 Prototype.

Don't forget to see the updated overall fastest times and the fastest no-magnet times by driver and class to know what the benchmarks are for your cars. Older stats can be found in the Archive area of the forum.

See you on the circuit...
Gordon

[obrie]

What a great way to enjoy an evening! Liam and I had a blast in spite of the frequent car problems. He qualified well with the new mustang but the engine sucked up a grub screw and screwed the windings!! Yep and it is a thunderslot grub screw and none are missing from the car. So must have been like that when I bought it? I think that Fried the chip as well because I had to change that too. The MP class Toyota was weird with it’s uncharacteristic hopping so back to the drawing board with that as well But the evening was great and we look forward to Challenging the guys with a better stable of cars in the next event. Congrats to the winners and welcome to all the new guys! Hope to see more of you all again soon!

[gordon]

What a great way to enjoy an evening! Liam and I had a blast in spite of the frequent car problems. He qualified well with the new mustang but the engine sucked up a grub screw and screwed the windings!! Yep and it is a thunderslot grub screw and none are missing from the car. So must have been like that when I bought it? I think that Fried the chip as well because I had to change that too. The MP class Toyota was weird with it’s uncharacteristic hopping so back to the drawing board with that as well But the evening was great and we look forward to Challenging the guys with a better stable of cars in the next event. Congrats to the winners and welcome to all the new guys! Hope to see more of you all again soon!

It really was a great time! Not just the driving of slot cars which brings us together there, but also the social aspect, with the chat and camaraderie, as well as the snacks and cold drinks. I’ve already made notes on how my cars performed, including those I didn’t race, and am getting ready to start working on my Kitbash, VS GT and VS PR in preparation for the next event.

[steveaca]

Great day of racing as usual at FRC ! Nice to see such a good driver turnout for this event, including those new to FRC and those new to FRC at the new location. It is always nice to see new machinery turn up and in th this case, there were five new cars ! O'Brie's Mustang and Celica, Luke's Capri and Ian's Mustang and McLaren. All looked great on track and two (both Mustangs) were actually raced. Pity that the Celica had that hopping issue to start with and couldn't be raced. The races were all exciting and in most cases, close. American Muscle was the most eventful with Liam driving O'Brie's lovely Thunderslot Mustang (which he qualified brilliantly on pole) having issues which unfortunately forced his retirement from the race. Only now seeing the extent of the damage ! My Javelin performed great for the first part of the race but then suffered a motor pod issue, possibly from an impact, which led to me losing the lead and falling down the order. I even thought that I as well may have had to retire but took the opportunity when another racer de-slotted , to have a look at the car and was able to kind of sort out the problem, the car then running well enough to claw my way back up to second place at the end.
Was nice to see the IROC cars in action again and everyone who took part in the race seemed to have enjoyed it thoroughly.
One other memorable moment for me was while testing one of my Mod.Prod. Peugeot 406s. It was going well but suddenly stopped on track. While trying to reset the powerbase after a suspected electrical short, someone saw smoke billowing out the windows of the car ! Guess who now also needs a new chip ! Thankfully my other 406 ran faultlessly and was actually able to pull off a pole position in qualifying. It wasn't able to handle Gordon's amazing Zakspeed Capri in the race however, and had to settle for second place.
Congrats to Gordon on winning all three classes raced and of course taking the event's overall victory.
Congrats also to Peter and Ian on the joint Index Of Performance accolades.
Looking forward to the next event.
Steve

[gordon]

Steve, I’m sorry you had those issues with your cars. The only good thing for me is that I was able to win largely because of them! You always give me the biggest challenge, however we’re seeing some new cars, such as O’Brie’s new Mustang, potential to be serious front runners at upcoming events.