Season Two: Race 3 - 50-Lap Sprint Race

It's been a few weeks, but now the second wing has been added to the table, and we can resume racing. I've built a satisfactory layout for the race, and have cleaned and checked all three cars. I added four turns to the course, so I expect longer than 5 second lap times.

Race Notes: The Gulf Ford will be using the tires from the Shell Ford for the entirety of the season.

Layout

Add caption

RESULTS

Car                     Time                Lap            Offs            Points
Gulf Ford          4:38.83             5.56              0                  3
Shell Ford        4:34.53             5.48              1                  5
Alfa Romeo      4:44.13             5.68               1                 1   


Standings       Points
Shell                11
Alfa                 11
Gulf                  5

__________

Shell Ford

What has become my go-to car. the Shell Ford is running like a champ. The off it had wasn't even that bad. It runs quiet, fast and confident.

Great race for the Shell car. Even though it came off once, it happened on the last turn before the home straight, so basically right in front of me. This car just keeps getting better and better. 

__________

Gulf Ford

The Gulf car is in what I'm calling a restoration phase. It's absolutely competitive now, but it's still not quite there yet in regards to tuning. I think I can get more out of it. It needs a few pod screws, and one or two other things. It's noisier than the Shell car, so I want to get a handle on that.

Since cleaning up the car and borrowing the urethane tires from the Shell car, the Gulf #11 has been kicking ass. It's tighter handling, and not completely like the Shell car. 

__________

Alfa Romeo

I'm going to write this race off for the Alfa. There's really only me to blame for it not doing better. The crash took awhile to reset compared to the Shell car's crash, as it took about 4.5 seconds to re-slot it and get going again. I attribute this to me not being more cognizant of the fact that the further the cars get away from me, the more careful I need to be regarding cornering speed if I want to stay on the track.
I also didn't do any kind of post-race inspection, which I should start doing each race, as I've had issues with things in the past. There could very likely be a screw loose somewhere...

What happened to the Alfa? Well, it came off at the end of the back straight, and just didn't have the overall pace to keep up. Perhaps it's because of the longer track length, or cold weather, or something. Either way, completely shocked it was so far behind.

Overall the track is pretty great. I'm not sure if any of the cars could beat a 5 second lap time, but it's going to be fun trying. I could even get used to the tightness of the 1/60 curves, even though I'm hoping that'll change.
And within seconds my attitude about 1/60s has changed. While I like lap length, I'm not a fan of having every single curve on the track exactly the same. It requires no effort or strategy. All you have to do is find the fastest speed through one turn and you've got them all figured out. I want to make turns that will require thought to get through it the fastest.

Good race. Good table. Good everything.