Saturday's test session

[gordon]

Hi Guys,

The test session on Saturday went quite well. We started around 2:30 PM and did not close up till around 9:00 PM, giving those present a fair amount of "un-pressured" time in which to test and tune cars. For me the biggest revelation was how badly my rally Subaru handled! It was extremely difficult to drive magnet-less as the class stipulates, with the rear end stepping out wildly at every turn. As I had no better tyres that fit the Sebring chassis' rims, I swapped out the whole rear end for a Slot.It one and installed some silicones and this gave a slight improvement. I also added some weight and then went crazy adding even more along the outer underside edges of the chassis the result of which was total lack of brakes. Trying to stop a car with all that lead and no magnets is an interesting experience. Real fun tuning these rally machines!

Other than that, I chipped my brand new MRRC Cobra and found the chip doing crazy things, as was the Subaru's chip. Both cars would at times suddenly take off at full speed even with my finger of the throttle and also sometimes change controller ID. It just happens that these were two new Greg Myers "modified" F1 chips, but its not clear whether the problem was with the chips of some other interference, as both were mounted right up against the motor lead wires. I have to do some more testing with them before drawing any conclusions.

At one point in the afternoon we had two Cortinas belonging to O'Brie and I as well as an Escort of Luke's doing some fierce on-track battling. The cars would do lap after lap next to one another, one quicker here another quicker there, until someone would eventually de-slot. Steve had a car running in there at times too. Very competitive stuff and a preview of some close racing to come.

One attendee was, surprise, surprise, Kerwin who arrived early with Luke and stayed to the end. He was testing a very interesting gold and black Mustang and says we'll be seeing more of him in the future. Speaking of Mustangs, you should have seen the one Steve brought along to test for the Modified Production class. A lower Mustang you won't find anywhere and with its flared fenders and Slot.It chassis and running gear looks like a future class front-runner.

All in all it was a very productive and helpful session and a suggestion was made that we have more of the same in the future. I have to agree that its a lot better than trying to get cars working on a race night when time is always against you.

See you on the circuit...
Gordon

[steveaca]

Can't wait to see the rally cars in an actual race.

[boo]

Morning all. ,,,, Yes. Remember I suggested that testin on thurs. & racin on Sat. But to get these guys committed to slot car racin is hard. ,,, so cars hav been tested, wat classes werunnin & wen