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| The Class A cars liked this track so much I had to bring it back for this endurance race. It's got just the right amount of everything the cars like for a competitive track. The lack of a pure straightaway means the cars will have to rely on a higher overall track speed. |
Team Orders:
#2 Alfa - body float only
#11 Gulf - body float only [flipped spur gear back to the outside]
#8 Shell - body float only
Garage Notes: Each car was tuned and oiled the night before the race, and tested prior to make sure they were in running condition. This will be a challenge for me as a driver, since I'm going for best time off a lap count, much like a real life race, and 300 laps will be the longest race I've run yet. Fastest to 300 laps wins.
Results [Race 8 of 20]:
Car Time [300 laps] Offs Points
#2 Alfa 17:45.56 0 1
#11 Gulf 17:31.23 3 3
#8 Shell 16:31.53 0 5
Seems like whenever I race, whichever car I start with suffers from me not being completely up to speed yet. The last four races featured the prior winning car coming in last the next race. It's keeping the competition close, that's for sure.
The #2 Alfa starting things off, getting warm tires around the 25th lap and not letting up. It felt fast, was a little twitchy in the corners, but otherwise ran very smoothly. Was surprised by the end result, however, as I thought beforehand that the Alfa was going to win. It won yesterday's race on the same track, and I expected a repeat. That didn't happen, and I feel it's due to the handling.
The tight pod didn't help matters. There is also no stabilization in the front end, as I need underside grub screws for the axle. It's flopping around a bit, and that's causing speed loss. I've had four rollover crashes since I got the cars a week or so ago, and three of them were with the Alfa.
There's also the issue of the with the rear end of the Alfa. If the pod is anything but tight, the spur gear rubs on the chassis. I need spacers so I can get all the cars' spur gears correctly setup.
The #11 Gulf, despite coming off the track three times and having a very loose tail, still was 15 seconds faster than the Alfa, giving it a firm 2nd place. It didn't feel as fast as the Alfa, nor as easy to handle. It got its tires at around lap 40, after already coming off once. I thought it was going to come in after the Alfa did.
The #8 Shell car handled again like a dream, and is starting to grow a lead in the championship due to this race. Whether it can keep up the winning is another matter, although it has been a stronger car as of late. It got warm tires around lap 35 and refused to come off.
It's strange that the two Fords are nearly identical, yet drive totally different. They even sound different. The #11 is quiet, while the #8 has what sounds like a grinding sound. I've run both cars with the bodies off and they are equally quiet, so it's coming from #8's body somewhere. I noticed part of the engine housing under the rear windshield was loose, and the tabs for it are located directly above the spur gear. It's possible that it's making contact due to body float, as it isn't so noticeable when everything's tightened down.
I liked this timing system better than the one I was using in previous races, as it's more exact and will not allow for a tie. I'm considering changing the timing format of the races from set time/lap limit to stopwatch time/lap limit. The results are also more defined. There will be no question over which car ran the best race.
Team Standings [Race 8 of 20]:
Car Points Total
#8 Shell 5 29
#11 Gulf 3 25
#2 Alfa 1 23
Post-Race Inspection:
After the race I loosened the pod screws and ran the Alfa for awhile, and it improved in the corners. It didn't sound nearly as smooth as before, especially in the corners. In the cleaning and tuneup afterward I'd noticed that there was significant lateral movement in the rear end, causing the spur gear to [grr] rub on the chassis. This isn't a simple fix on this car, as it's a slightly different construction than the GT40 chassis, and there isn't that .005" space that clears it on the Alfa. I NEED spacers to fix this. I can't flip the spur gear and put the teeth outside because it sits halfway off the pinion if I do that. So I either need to add a spacer or move the pinion. Once costs 3¢ and one costs $120, so I'll probably start off with the budget option and see how that goes.
Truth be told, I didn't check the pod float on any of the cars before the race, and went with Team Orders that were already there. Had I thought of it, I would have loosened the pod prior to the race enough to just keep the spur gear off the chassis as much as I could.
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