Until then, I decided to give each car a quick checkup and oil change. I did the Ford #8 and the Alfa a few days ago, but in the interests of fairness and evenness I did them all again. They're all running on factory rubber tires now, so they might as well be put on the same tuning schedule.
The Gulf Ford didn't need much work as it had also been looked at right when I got my new cars, but I lubed and oiled it just the same. So I ended up spending most of the time on the new cars, check to see how they've been getting along on the track.
Leyton House Porsche
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| It's weird...I've had plenty of cars with inline motors before, but for whatever reason, this one just seems strange to me. Maybe it's because it's the first Slot.it car I've owned that's an inline and not a sidewinder. Don't worry, I'll get over it. |
I've been running quite a few laps on the Porsche since getting it. Probably something like 50% of the time racing just that car. I've spent a bit of time tuning it as well, and it's running quite nicely. It's still on a bit of a knife edge, but it's starting to stabilize. It's been nicely responsive to controller settings, and hasn't given me any problems in performance.
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| Overall the car is in really good shape considering I've been working it so hard since I got it. It picked up a bit of its own tire rubber dust, so I'll have to clean that out. Otherwise it's pretty much spotless. |
I think I need another Group C car so I have something I can really compare this to. As of now it sticks out from the pack due to its shape, inline motor and different gearing than the other cars, which are all Classics. Aside from having a Matra on my list, I think I'm ready to expand a bit.
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1966 Ford GT40 MKII #5
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| As clean as a whistle. |
While I haven't put on as many laps with this car as I have with the Porsche, the #5 has taken up quite a bit of the rest of the time. It runs very clean and quiet as it is already that I really don't want to do anything to it, especially if it doesn't need anything. It's running good times, so unless that changes I'm going to just keep it cleaned, oiled and lubed.
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| I removed the overhanging motor shaft. I did this to the other cars to eliminate high-speed tire rubbing. |
Yeah....I just said that.
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The Race
50-laps in 5ºC temperature.
Notes:
All cars running factory rubber tires from here on out until otherwise indicated. All cars lubed/oiled prior to the race. All tires taped clean prior to race. Each car ran 20-laps of warm-up on Drone setting 3 on the controller.
RESULTS:
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| How they finished. |
Car Time #1 #2 Lap Offs Points Total
#11 4:06.44 2:03 2:03 4.92 10 18
#8 4:07.70 2:04 2:02 4.94 8 12
#2 4:07.78 2:04 2:02 4.94 6 8
LH 4:18.41 2:11 2:07 5.16 1 4 14
#5 4:21.06 2:10 2:10 5.22 2 8
First, this was a very cold track. 5ºC is no joke. It gets to be like a refrigerator up there and it makes it really too cold for racing. Besides just being cold on the driver, it gets quite slippery on the track as well.
Now, on to the drama. The running order was:
LH
#5
#2
#8
#11
LH had a crash in Turn 3 at about 20-laps in. It effected both split times and was a dreadfully slow performance. It was quite slick and shifty, and I had to deliberately drive it on the edge to get it to perform. Gone was that firm grip going into the corners, replaced by an immediate fishtail. The tires had been sanded and cleaned prior to the race. I blame it on the temperature. In fact, I blame all of the race results on the temperature.
Next came the Alfa, and here's where it gets good. The car was incredibly fast, which I was really getting into. So much so that I had completely forgotten to record the split time at 25-laps. About 35-laps in, the Alfa crashed right about where it's pictured above [on the turn before the backstretch - Turn 6]. It took a ridiculous amount of time for me to retrieve and put back on the track.
Once I did it ran as though nothing happened. At the end of the run, the time was so completely faster than the other two cars that ran that I had to run the Alfa's race again. There was a particular amount of confusion there. Not only was the overall time suspect for possibly not being right [I count laps in my head as I go], but I didn't have a split time so I could still get a good representation of what the car could do. All I had was, ran fast, crashed massively which took forever to fix, ran fast again, set insane lap time.
So I ran it again.
I blame the whole thing on myself. My timing situation here is pretty spotty. I rely on my smartphone's stopwatch, but I still have to manually punch buttons, which means I have to sometimes take my mind off of the action, and that sometimes leads to problems. I want a lap counter, but I haven't found the right price yet.
Of course, only one other car crashed this race, and wouldn't you know it, once the Alfa got a pass to re-run his race, the Porsche wanted a re-run as well. Fine. Drama solved. One re-run and that one counts.
The Porsche ended up crashing in the same spot as the first race, a few laps earlier than last time. It suffered the most because of the cold, and never really found grip. It still ran the respectable 2:07 split, but I think that number is going to be raised as speeds increase.
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| Race winner receives a year's supply of Frozen Tundra brand Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, with vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy [microwavable]. |
The #11 Ford's showing in these last two races puts him at the top of the leaderboard. Well done and my wife will be proud her car is running first. The times for the #11, #8 and #2 are so close that it's almost silly to try to separate them. All three broke the 5-second lap time, which I'm kinda trying to wrap my head around. Reason being is the Porsche didn't have that kind of speed. Actually, more like grip. Also, taking about 4 seconds off that time due to the crash would put it in a more respectable light.
The #5 car, I don't know, I thought it was running okay, but not very exciting. Thing about this car being so clean is, it's hard to tell when it's really being pushed. The other cars have some sort of distinct whizz or whirl or whine to them when you accelerate, but this on has more of a whish. The #11, for example, is almost the opposite of that. It's full of whizzing and whirring.
Here are the results again:
Car Time #1 #2 Lap Offs Points Total
#11 4:06.44 2:03 2:03 4.92 10 18
#8 4:07.70 2:04 2:02 4.94 8 12
#2 4:07.78 2:04 2:02 4.94 6 8
LH 4:18.41 2:11 2:07 5.16 1 4 14
#5 4:21.06 2:10 2:10 5.22 2 8
Too early to tell, but I expect as more time passes the points total will start to even out. With some of the cars switching finishing positions and/or otherwise having a bad day, that should have an effect on the leaderboard. After all, the 2nd and 3rd place cars were both dogging it the first race, so anything can happen. This is basically where I want my cars to be.
Big Rubber ought to be happy with the results of this race as well, as it confirms my suspicions. The rubber tires ran great, and it was especially satisfying to have the whole field running on the same compound of rubber tires. Can't really argue against the fairness of something like that. Besides, with the urethanes struggling, maybe it's best to put them away for now. I always have them when I need them, and still can outfit 80% of my cars with Paul Gage urethanes when I need them. Just not all at the same time.
So there it is. I kind of like the PreRace stuff going with the Race post itself. Makes it more interesting at the end.
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