And because they are practically the same car with a different paint job, they both use the same size tires. In fact, I won't even have to do anything to them except switch them out and put them on properly.
So from now on the Gulf Ford will run on the Shell Ford's tires. Other than that the two will have individual tuning approaches.
The Track
The other day I added the first of two wings to the track, and found an interesting layout to take advantage of it. It moves the technical section more to the left side, which balances out the rest of the track. The straight away isn't as long on this track, and there are 4-less turn pieces being used. This meant dialing my controller back to a small-track setting, with max power at 4 instead of 6 like the last track.
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| [racing counter-clockwise] Turn 1 is a quick and relatively flat S-section, going into two slight uphill left turns before getting out on the 10-piece back straight away. |
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| [still counter-clockwise] Coming off the main straight and working through a high-speed shimmy section, into a slightly-banked 180º left turn. A short straight, a short flat shimmy and into the last right-hander before heading out on the 5-piece home straight. The new 2" extension [w/winglet] gives me even more space than I was expecting. Now I obviously need more track. I have the four unused curves there, but most important I have only one unused straight. Adding that second winglet will be more table than track. I didn't even go all the way out to the corner on this one. |
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| Current layout, including the as-yet-built right table extension. Once I get that finished and get some more track, I'll be in perfect shape. |
The Gulf GT40
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| The #11 Ford GT40 Gulf Car, pictured in the back [much like how it comes over the line], is finally getting the attention it deserves. As mentioned, it's going to share the tires that are currently on the #8 GT40 Shell car. |
The Gulf car hadn't been worked on for quite some time. I hadn't given up on it, but I also hadn't paid as much attention to it, given that the rubber tires meant pretty much a guaranteed 3rd place. Since I was going to use the urethane tires now, I wanted to give it a cleanup, oilup and lube-up to get it in line with the other cars.
There's a definite difference between the two types of tires, with the urethanes being much grippier, smoother, quieter and more confident, while the rubbers simply are not. So, it's either put all the cars back on factory rubber in the interest of fairness, or put both Fords on the same set of tires, which makes more sense and is way more fun. Sure, I could stop being a cheap bastard and buy another set of tires, and I will, but not until after I see what the holiday haul might bring. If I get any more cars, I'll need more tires. I'm pretty much in the urethane family, if there is such a thing.
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| On the left, the Shell car. On the right, the Gulf car with the Paul Gage urethanes. The two cars are similar, although the Shell car is apparently a year older than the Gulf car. The Shell car has the luxury of all four pod screws, while the Gulf car hasn't. Motors are screwed down. |
Anyhow, the race. 50-lap sprint race on fresh layout.
RESULTS
Car Time Lap Offs Points
Shell 4:08.56 4.96 0 3
Alfa 4:06.09 4.92 0 5
Gulf 4:08.59 4.96 1 1
STANDINGS [Race 2 of 20]:
Car Points
Alfa 10
Shell 6
Gulf 2
Now we're talking! Putting the urethanes on the Gulf car...best idea ever. Now we've got a competition on our hands. The fact that the two Fords finished so close to each other, especially given that the Gulf car crashed once, tells me we've got a race going on. The track times have a certain amount of human error, since they're timed by hand, but they are what they are.
The Gulf car reminded me what it was like at the beginning. Speed, power, able to whip through tricky sections, yet still having enough tail to make the driving challenging. You always feel like you can take it to its natural limit. With the urethanes it's as smooth to drive as the Shell car is, and maybe even a bit quieter. The Shell car always had a bit of a vibration sound that isn't present in the Gulf car. Probably something like the pod vibrating against the chassis or something like that. This little tire-share arrangement between the Fords will work out for the time being. It gives me a chance to take a look at each of the cars prior to racing...something I sometimes overlook.
The Alfa loves this type of track. Anything small and technical and the Alfa will shimmy right through it. It's got just the right length so that if it feels like it's coming loose, you let off a little and it straightens right up. It really helps keep the speed in the corners, and the car will rip through them provided not too much gas is applied too late into the turn. This causes overall infield section speeds to be better, and I'll bet if it was all properly timed out it would show that in the results. This is an Alfa track. This kind of thing has cropped up before, especially in the early races. The Alfa just loves the tighter, twistier tracks, and this one really isn't all that twisty.
POINTS SYSTEM
It might seem steep, but I think it needs to be. 5 for first, 3 for second, 1 for third. This way there will be less chance of a tie at the end of the season, even though it might mean that the cars aren't neck-and-neck throughout.
By the looks of it, the Alfa has already started to run off, although one or two wrong moves and he can find the Shell car passing it. The Gulf car will be burdened with getting out of third for the time being, but now has no excuse. I don't expect many third-place spots out of it from here out, and had I not crashed it would have certainly come in 2nd, maybe even 1st. It has some ground to make up, however, and it'll require the other cars to be cooperative.
So now we've got some racing. Pretty exciting, as I was a bit bummed for having to finally put the Carreras out to pasture. Sure, I'll pull them out to remind myself what used to be, but not that often.
Meanwhile, I'll be changing up the track as I go, since the table is big enough to do a lot of stuff.
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