Day after Xmas and the presents keep coming

Just when I thought I was done, here comes another one, a morning surprise just before breakfast by my lovely wife:

Yes, before you say it, I know....I already have two GT40 race cars. But this one's special. Why? Because it's a MKII [SICA20c].

When I asked my wife why she picked the Leyton House Porsche, she said because the color was pretty. I agree. When I asked her why she picked this one, she said because it was on sale. And GOLD. Gold isn't my color, but I do like the matching rims and especially the pink highlights. Strangely nothing in the way of stickering.

I could learn to love it.

This is an older model and isn't even on the Slot.it catalog anymore. I'd imagine not many people are seeking out a gold race car. I mean, it's gold.

Aside from that, let's get to it. I did my usual inspection/prep work on the car. Gears and axles lubed and oiled, pod adjusted, front end rebuilt so tires rest on the track, and sanded tires. About the tires, this is the first Slot.it car that I have received that had treaded tires, both front and rear. None of the other tires came with treads. They were the standard issue C1 tires. Anyhow, I sanded them until they were no longer treaded and nicely done.

Otherwise, the car was as clean as can be. In fact, it was one of the cleaner cars that I remember. Don't know what that says about it, but I felt I needed to remark about it.

__________

Before I took apart the track to prep and paint the new pieces, I had to run this car for awhile, and damn is it fast. The tires feel like urethane, but they can't be. I'm trying to find out info on what model number tires came with the car. Either way, they really take to my track. They love these bigger curves and rip right through them. Doesn't feel any different than the Paul Gage urethane tires.

Since adding the new larger-radius turns, I wanted to see what the cars would do on it. I needed to see what the tire situation was going to be like, as I need to place a tire order now-ish. But I can't wait for any of that. The cars are here, so let's see what they can do. Totally casual. Not a race. Just a thing.

50 Laps on the new layout. One split time recorded at 25 laps.

RESULTS

Car [Tire]           Time       1st         2nd       Offs

Gold [stock]      4:20.16    2:12       2:08         
LH [stock C1]   4:29.27    2:19       2:10             
Shell [PGu]       4:24.37    2:13       2:10           
Alfa [PGu]        4:23.42    2:11       2:12         1
Gulf [stockC1]  4:05.06    2:02       2:03


Okay, right.

No, really.

You're reading that right. The Gulf car...that poor guy that had so much trouble up until the last few races last season...came out of the gate and ripped it up. Unreal times.

I think the larger, faster track has taken some of the advantage away from the urethane tires. 

Going into today I was going to use the Gulf car as the standard time, thinking it would have come in towards the end, but it absolutely did not. It didn't struggle one bit throughout the track. The right section, with all the tight turns, is the only slower section on the entire track. I think this really suits this car. Suddenly I'm not so worried about tires.

And look what turned in 2nd fastest lap times. Pretty amazing, considering it's probably been sitting in some warehouse for three years. I mean, I did do some tweaking to it, but not much. This car may have just walked onto the scene a champion.

There's such a difference in the way a lap is run now. Well over half the track is really fast, so the fine edge is at a much higher speed. I think it's going to make for some great racing. I'm going to flip the 3/30 section to the front of the curve instead of the back, for two reasons. I think it'll be more gradual going in, and making it to the kink while drifting will be easier.

Meanwhile, the Alfa crashes and still pulls out a 4:23. It is going to forever be challenging for the top position.

Since this session is over prepped and painted the first layer on my track. I'll do the second layer tonight around 11 or so, and it'll be ready to run tomorrow.

Not sure why the Shell car wasn't up to its usual speedy tricks today. Just didn't seem to have it. The #5 felts much better all the way around.

Which brings us to the Porsche. I wasn't expecting much, because I think this is one car that will benefit from urethane tires. No doubt about it. It did, however, pull off a 2:10 split time, which tells me it has it in it to perform. I just didn't get off to a good start. I still want to do some tweaking to the car, as well as get some more time with it so I can get used to it. It doesn't run like any of the other cars, and I consider it a challenge to master it.

All in all, a really close bunch of lap times, separated really by not much. Every car was fast, and there were no real stragglers. I think I'd call the surprise the Gulf car, and that the #5 is running so well right out of the box. I'm curious about the tires, though.

Speaking of tires, I don't think I need to worry right now about tires. The two fastest cars were on factory stock tires, so I don't think urethane has a particular advantage.