Special Delivery - New Additions

 First things first, I picked up quite a bit of odds and ends over the last couple of days. But before we get to those, here's the new car to add to the lineup:

NSR Porsche 917K Lucky Strike Kyalami 9hr 1971

I have taken this thing out and run it and it's fantastic. Plain and simple. The most dialed-in car out-of-the-box that I've gotten so far. More in a bit.

I also got my big order of Ortmann tires and replaced the rubbers on the entire lineup, all the way down to the Carreras. Everything is fitting great so far. 

Also on the order were some things to help make tuning easier: a setup plate, long tweezers, applicators for oil and lube, and spare parts from Slot.it. Screws and stuff.

So I got right to it. Changed the tires on the Lucky Strike car, lubed it and tuned it, setting ride height and body float. I thought I would take it and a few other cars up and see what kind of laps they would do on the Ortmanns. The tires came in two types; slicks for the 917 and 908 and treaded tires for the rest. The Alfa's tires were slightly different. 

I got the tires and the car from Overdrive Slotservice. They're a very nice company and are friendly, helpful and courteous. They're a full-service company, so if you don't have it in you to do upgrades, but need them done, they'll do it for you. They'll also install and run motors, digital, tires...a whole bunch of stuff. 

So how did the cars do? Well, most did very well, some amazing, a few went a little bit in the other direction, but overall I think it was an improvement. 

Car                           Time           Lap

Matra                      2:17.32       5.48       

Shell GT40             2:17.46       5.48       

Alfa                          DNF            --    

Tergal908               2:17.30        5.48            

Gulf 917                 2:18.62        5.52

Lucky Strike 917   2:16.66        5.44

Sunoco 908            2:19.32        5.56

The Lucky Strike car ran great with sanded tires, fast and nimble. The Gulf Porsche was also fast, but not as fast as the Lucky Strike as I had left the tires unsanded on it. I sanded it afterward and it was already running better. The Matra, holy cow. I know it's got a recently discovered unadjustable ride height, but that doesn't mean it's giving up. It absolutely loves the new tires. Laid the 3rd fastest lap time at 2:17.32. 

Since I've gotten this car, I've been struggling with what to call it. At first it was the 908, but then I got another 908. But saying Escuderia Montjiuch was a real mouthful. Then I thought about it. I have a Gulf 917, Rothmans 917, Leyton House 962C, Sunoco 908, etc., all sponsors. So, by looking at this car, one things sticks out as the obvious sponsor: Tergal. So it'll be called the Tergal 908 from now on.

So, the setup plate. It's impossible to setup these cars on an uneven surface like a track piece. You end up compensating and sometimes missing real issues. A setup plate is going to help set ride height, look for problems, and balance the car so it's ready for everything. I put each car on to see how close it was and while it was pretty close on most cars, some weren't, and the Rothmans 917 has a warp in the chassis. It's pretty bad, and I'm surprised I hadn't noticed it earlier. It flattens a bit when I attach the body, but it's still there. It still hauls ass, so it doesn't seem to be much effected by it. I'm definitely going to have to look into fixing it, though. I really like that car. 

I got the long tip syringe applicators because I was really making a mess trying to apply oil and lube directly from the tube like before. This way is much more precise and efficient. You don't end up wasting it on places that don't need it. The long tips can really get in tight places and get the job done without making a mess. 

I also ended up getting some long modeling tweezers, as I was struggling with little pieces and my last pair gave up on me, I also got this great magnetic bowl to catch screws and whatnot. Stroke of genius, that thing. And lastly I picked up some blades for my art knife. 

So one more car coming and that will be the last of the purchases. I'm especially happy to have the Ortmann tires sorted, and I'm glad that they are fitting without trouble. I'll be sanding and testing over the next few days, and we'll see how far we can get. It's still Lockdown, so we're not going anywhere for at least the next week. By then I'll have that last car and anything can happen after that. 

I'm going to hopefully run other cars tomorrow and see how they're doing with the changeover. Overall I'm pleased with the results.

Can I just talk about a few cars?

 I've been going back and forth between cars like crazy. 20 laps here, switch cars. 20 laps, switch again. Next. Right down the line. But there are a couple cars I keep coming back to for reasons. 

The Porsche 962C Leyton House

If you went back and looked at results of this car in previous races, you'd find a lot of middle-to-back of the pack racing. It was not a very impressive car for quite some time. It was tail-heavy, tended to be slow through tricky parts and didn't have much in the way of instant throttle. It also weighed more than the other Slot.it cars, and was the only inliner of the bunch as well. I wanted it to perform well. I worked on it. But it wasn't until this latest batch of slot cars upped the game. Adding the weight was a huge benefit to the car. But what really helped was the Ortmann tires. This car took to them and it's been solid racing ever since. Gone is the fishtailing, gone is the slow technical stuff. Now the car drives like it's supposed to drive; high up in the power band almost steamrolling its way through the track. It makes sense now that it's got the right equipment on. 

The 962C shown here with the Ortmann tires on the rear. Mighty fine looking set.

So naturally this has me excited about the future and the tire situation. And it may not benefit all the cars. We'll have to find out about that. I suspect it will help almost all of them. And no, the tires haven't arrived yet. They're sitting in a box somewhere between the shop and the shipping hub. I'm expecting something tomorrow, but it's not tires. It's other tools and parts. 

But if any of the other cars respond like the 962 has, then that's going to be pretty great. Hopefully they'll all take to them and we'll live happily ever after. If a car doesn't like them, I'll run a/b comparisons on that car to get an answer on whether it'll make the switch or not. Ultimately, I want all cars on urethanes now that I'm invested into it. 

I did mention that there were a few cars I wanted to talk about. This one's easy...the Gulf Porsche

Tuning and testing these new cars has been a lot of fun, with some being handfuls while others came together like a sweet symphony. This car is that opus. It has gotten faster, smoother and quieter every day, and is the first car I start a race session with. It needs very little special attention. And since giving the tires the fine sanding yesterday after doing a rough sanding yesterday, it is handling extraordinarily. Very well balanced race car. 

Special notice should be given to the Sunoco 908, which is running a very fine lap time these days. It handles so well I'm pretty sure it's got glue in the tires. 

Test Laps with the Montjuich Porsche 908/3

 I wanted to get this car on the track since last night. I almost got out of bed to run it, but then got a chance to do what I wanted today. I grabbed a few cars and headed upstairs. 

My main concern was the 908. I grabbed a few cars that turned interesting times last race to compare times with. The Playstation GT2, the Gulf 917K, and the Sunoco 908 as the matched car. None of the other cars had been updated or messed with since the last race, but the track has changed, so new times are needed. Since this is primarily a test of the 908, I'm not going to make a big deal out of any of the other lap times run. 

There is also the matter of finishing the tire sanding on some of the cars. I've been waiting for the Ortmanns, but they haven't gotten here yet. So today each car gets the treatment if needed. Down to smooth. Crazy that the Sunoco car had been running pretty much with untreated tires. Last night I saw a video Harry did about the secret to NSR tires, so I thought I'd try that today. Turns out is a slower rotation and a little dampness. Wet sanding. I'm going to experiment with it.

Laps: 25

Car                                 Time        Lap

Montjuich 908/3           2:25.29     5.8 

Gulf 917K                    2:22.33     5.68

Playstation 911GT2     2:29.78     5.96

Sunoco 908/3               2:21.74     5.64

A couple of things about this race. First, while the Montjuich handled better, the front end was still light, causing it to come off twice. The same issue occurred with the Sunoco car in the same spot. It was so bad on the Sunoco Porsche that I originally DNF'ed it. I think it's time to add a little weight to the two of them. I ended up re-running the Sunoco car and finishing with the above time.

With that said, all the NSR cars handled better after sanding. Turns out it's not that much longer of a process than high-speed tire sanding, although this is a method for NSR tires, and not a general method. The idea is that you get the tires spinning at a slower rate so that the tires don't overheat, causing them to come off in chunks. Slower wins the race this time. It works and sharpened all the cars right up.

Seeing the Montjuich car up there is good, but it still needs work. It's 2/10ths off the Sunoco pace. But that the 908 put in a better lap time than the GT2 shows me that it has improved from that second to last place finish. 

There's every reason in the world why these two cars should be running neck-and-neck right now.

So it continues. Any minute: tools, tires, stuff. Until then, add weight and run laps. I'll tell you something, though. If the weight stops these cars from deslotting in the front, they are going to be INSANE. 

__________

LATER THAT EVENING:

So I'm sitting here, reading over this entry up to this point, and thinking, "okay, I got the Montjuich 908 up to speed, sitting there looking pretty good. Even though it's a different layout and I am running other cars that I haven't done anything to in awhile...."

I don't really know how good the improvement may or may not be. I have no way to tell. Running on a different layout with no reference numbers to go by makes it impossible to tell if the car is improving. Sure, if you have a pack of cars, and they're all running consistently, it's possible to tell when cars are running better or poorly in different layout conditions, but when you're doing tuning and testing, you need to have a reference point that doesn't go anywhere until you're at a satisfactory position. So for me to say that a car is running better isn't really truthful. The car might feel better, but that doesn't mean it's going faster.

So I decided to rebuild the layout how it was for The Grand Meeting and run laps from there. That would reset my reference laps back to the race positions. Anyhow, so I ran the two 908's and the Gulf 917 to see how they would run. Before I did that I did a finer sanding job to my tires, taking out the fine sandpaper and smoothing out the smoothed out parts of the contact patches. 

The last race had the hill on the beginning of the backstretch on the upper right [I run counter-clockwise], which completely threw off a number of cars. I mostly put it there for the enjoyment of my daughter. She's 3.

I also added a little bit of weight to the 908's right under the front axle. I think the problem is that both cars are lifting on acceleration and not correcting until they're hard-breaking. There's a spring in the guide flag pin that keeps a stable contact with the track, but it's also quite springy, so it's helping bring up the nose on the cars. Adding a little weight makes the spring act more like a shock absorber and less like a spring, so the car doesn't want to come out of the slot so easily. 

I went ahead and ran 25 laps, and we can look right at the race finishes to see how we did:

The Grand Meeting Finish Times:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap     

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60          

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64         

15.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12  

Today's Test Laps:

Car                              Time             Lap        

Sunoco 908 #6           2:18.36          5.52                          

Gulf 917K #19           2:17.69         5.48                    

Montjuich 908 #83    2:18.58         5.52             

So each car improved their time over the race time, the Montjuich 908 considerably. I knew it had it in him. It was just a matter of finding it. I think that weight really helped, though. I had this similar problem with the Alfa Romeo 33/3 and the Matra. I'm finding that some cars are made so lightweight that they need a little weight just to act right. 

I don't have a proper timing system to really nail down these numbers, which is why both 908's running identical lap times is a little curious. But I swear I'm doing what I can. Besides, I'm looking to shave tenths, not hundredths. And since I have so many new cars and I'm doing little things all over the place to them, I'm not looking for little improvements. 1/10th is a small number. 3/10ths is an improvement. These cars all sitting at 5.4 / 5.5 and right in line to me. The little numbers would only matter at the end on race day. Otherwise I'm aiming for a larger improvement. So the Montjuich cutting a half second off it's lap time is a HUGE improvement. That's exactly what I was looking for, and I'm satisfied with the result.

Re-Tuning the Montjuich Porsche 908/3

 Coming in second to last, and getting beaten by a Carrera, no less....it's the NSR Porsche 908/3!

This car should not have been anywhere near the back of the pack. It's match ran a 5.60 compared to its 6.12. That's a huge huge massive gap. It shouldn't have run any slower than about a 5.8 or better. This is an NSR car, and NSR cars are supposed to be good right out of the box. 

Whenever something like this happens with a car, I take that car and reset it to its default position. I usually blame myself for how it performs, and resetting it helps get it going better faster. I tend to experiment sometimes, so that also means some experiments backfire. That's okay. With this car, I don't know what's up just yet. 

I've had difficulty setting up the ride height since I got it, and I think I've gotten it pretty dialed in, but the front still feels light. I had a bit of looseness vertically and tightened that up. I also worked more on the tires, even though I kinda wanted to wait for the Ortmanns. They could be here as early as tomorrow. But I do want to get this car going.

I did a few changes to my track, so I can't use the last times for comparison. So I'm going to run some times with this car and a couple of other ones in the next few days to see what happens.

__________

Something's wrong with the Matra. The top grub screw on the left front has stripped through the hole. I can't adjust ride height on the car anymore, which is catastrophic. I don't know when it happened, although I seem to remember fishing a grub screw out of there some time ago. Either way, this car will never be the same, and will likely be hindered by the fact that the ride height can't be adjusted. I think this car has had its heyday and may very well be headed to the back of the pack. There's no telling what's going to happen when the tires get here, and even though it's running fine now, we'll have to see what the future holds. 

The Grand Meeting [Part Three] - Also Rans

 The slot gods gave me the time and wherewithal to finish up the race today, which I was completely surprised by. I've been spending a couple hours daily with my daughter racing cars, so I've had some good track time over the past few days. She wants to go every day, so I know I have time to do stuff. 

So here it is, the last batch of cars to see just where everybody stands at the end of 2020. Here's where we are so far:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

9.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

The fact that there are two Slot.it cars in the Top 5 so far is pretty cool. There are still more cars to go, so lets not go party without our masks on just yet. I wasn't sure how much time I would have, so I just ran cars until they were all ran out.

__________

Today's Entries;

Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2

Again with this car!

I ran this car yesterday and it posted a dismal time. So bad that I needed to look at the car to find out why. It's normally a performer, not a slug. The only things I changed were the Paul Gage tires and the extra weight. I looked at the tires and they didn't look right. So I changed them back to the Slot.it rubber tires and ran another one. I decided that I'd take whatever result I ended up with and be fine with it. 

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93 [6.24*]

9.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

10.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

* on Paul Gage Urethanes

That was a little better than before. Faster with the rubbers by 8 seconds total, or .3 faster lap time. That's why I like posting both lap times and total race times, because I think it helps put into perspective just how far a car has to go to get to contention, and it'll also show how far off cars may have been from each other, even if they had matching lap times. I know that the Alfa can run faster than it just did, say nothing about the previous attempt. It has Top 5 capability. When you look at it, that only means it needs to go a tenth faster to get there. But it needs to go 3/10ths faster to get on the podium. And that's just at this stage in the race. There are still more competitors to go. 

__________

Carrera Audi R8 Safety Car

Blurtastic photo, Mikey!

Weight: 98.3 grams

Tires: Ortmann Urethanes. I needed to get new tires for both Carrera cars as the previous ones had turned to rocks about 4 years ago. They had been sitting on the shelf collecting dust all this time, and I decided to get them out when I recently expanded brands. I figured, why not? I'm going to be buying tires for all the other cars, and these ones really only needed new tires to go, so I did on the provision that they would get back into the race, whether they could keep up or not. 

This is all going to evolve into one giant slot car psychological experiment, I'm sure of it. And I'll be messing with myself, having a bad run with a good car and then getting a lucky run by a slower car. That kind of stuff. 

Okay, so the history of this car is this: jumpy, light, a little draggy, loose on straights. All standard tuneups have been done, just like any of the other cars. Let's get on with it:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

9.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

10.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

11.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

This car needed Ortmann urethanes in order to post this lap time. This car will forever be in last place, unless the Audi R18 drives a bad race. Just like the old days.

__________

Porsche 911 GT2 Playstation

Playstation.

Weight: 98.9 grams

Tires: Revoslot rubber. 

One of two aluminum cars. I haven't been running these as much as the others lately, mostly due to the others needing more setup time. The Revoslots are kind of tighten and go. These cars still need work, and will be the only two still on their factory tires until I figure out which ones replace them. Until then, we'll keep running them. They're really fast, so the 70% power limiter keeps them down to a competitive level. Balance Of Power and everything, old chum. Has to happen. Here's the result:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

6.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

7.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

8.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

9.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

10.   Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

11.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

12.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

What a hunk of a slot car. This thing is just planted to the track. I know there's more in it than that, and maybe enough to compete for 1st. We'll have to see, but this car ran this race easily. It's such a different feeling racing an aluminum chassis slot car when you usually race plastic chassis. It just feels so durable and able to be run really hard. 

__________

Ferrari Momo 333SP

I was very butthurt when the wing popped off and wouldn't stay back on, but I got over it by the pure speed it laid down.

Weight: 104.6 grams [heaviest car]

Tires: Revoslot rubbers.

This car was my fourth pick of the first round of the expansion draft, where I got four cars. It also came before any of the other ones, so I had time to run it around first. Once the other ones came, this one took a bit of a backseat, mostly due to its best setup being the tighten up. Pretty easy.

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

9.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

11.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

12.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

13.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

There isn't anything at all bad about this car. It's running great, yet I still feel like I need to tune it. Or maybe I am tuning it and don't know it? Like, maybe there's snug, tight, supertight, bedbug, etc. Maybe there is no loose. That would make sense, considering there's not all that flexible plastic around. Just the hard stuff. But this car doesn't need any of that. 

__________

Audi R18

Weight: 102.4 grams

Tires: Ortmann urethanes.

If there's going to be a toublemaker, this would be the car. Not fast enough to overtake you, but fast enough to pass you if you spinout in the corner. One wrong move and you'll see this car in your rear view.

Other than that, it's slow as F. 

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

9.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

11.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

12.   Audi R18                            2:32:67       6.08

13.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

14.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

Well, there ya go. That answers the big question - can a Carrera slot car beat an NSR slot car? The answer is yes, but only under extreme circumstances, and on a Tuesday. 

__________

Chaparral #65

 

Weight: 64.8

Tires: Slot.it rubbers.

Out of the two Chaparrals, this one is the lesser tuned. I'm not sure what it's going to do, so let's get right to it.

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

9.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

10.   Chaparral #65                     2:28.04       5.92

11.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

12.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

13.   Audi R18                            2:32:67       6.08

14.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

15.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

Okay, a Chaparral in the Top 10. I never thought I'd have 10 cars, much less a Top 10. One more car to go.

__________

Chaparral #66

Weight: 58.7

Tires: Slot.it rubbers.

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap        Manufacturer

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60               NSR

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64              Slot.it

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64               NSR

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72              Revoslot

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80            Revoslot

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84              Slot.it

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84               NSR

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88              Slot.it

9.     Chaparral #66                     2:27.67       5.89              Slot.it

10.   Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92              Slot.it

11.   Chaparral #65                     2:28.04       5.92              Slot.it

12.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93              Slot.it

13.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93             Slot.it

14.   Audi R18                            2:32:67       6.08            Carrera

15.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12               NSR

16.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40            Carrera

Okay, a different Chaparral in the Top 10. I'll take it. 

So let's talk about this race. What we know is that we're waiting on tires. That'll make things a little more even. Also, the newer the car, the less tuning it's been through. The NSR and Revoslot cars don't have near the amount of attention paid to them that the Slot.it cars have had. So while a bulk of the Slot.it cars finished mid pack, there were a few standouts. The Shell #8 was especially impressive, as was the Leyton House 962C. 

I already started work on the Montjuich 908. It has absolutely no business coming in 15th when it's virtual twin came in 1st. It doesn't make sense. I'll re-tune it and see what happens. Probably run a make up session so see if I can improve the lap time. 

I'm not all that worried about the Rothmans 917K. While it came in 7th, it's a tire change away from kicking ass. 

Speaking of tires, if I'm looking at this as a rubber comparison, while I find Slot.it stock rubber totally fine and functional, but NSR tires are a bit softer and feel like they can grip better. Hard to say what's happening on the Revoslot cars. Their tires are fine [?]. The Carreras are already loving the urethanes. It's not going to magically propel them into any wins, but they'll be fun enough to compete.

The urethanes will probably bring some of the cars that struggled into more competitive positions. Should tighten up the field a bit. 

I don't think I need to make any class separations. A majority of this field was within 3/10ths of each other. That makes for a tight enough field for me. I'm running 25 laps and taking average lap times. So these cars can't just set a fast lap, they have to be consistently fast throughout. 

The Grand Meeting [Part Two] - Familiar Faces

 Now is when it starts to get interesting. The NSR cars, in all their glory and awesomeness, are really only one of the stories going on here. Another is a hot and pretty serious competition between a number of cars that have been racing here awhile. These cars are no slouches. If you think about it, an out-of-box NSR is probably going to be faster/smoother than an out-of-box Slot.it. Thing is, these Slot.it cars are not out of the box. They've been tuned and worked on, each with its own story to write. 

So this batch of cars should look familiar to anybody who's been around here awhile. But before we get to the entries, let's see where we stand so far:

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

The Sunoco 908 and the Gulf 917 ran pretty good runs, while the other two felt a little sluggish. I'm going to be digging in to the Montjuich #83 tonight. It should be comfortably in the 5.7 or less area. The Rothmans 917 should also be going a little faster. But remember, we're waiting on tires. This race will be a good gauge to see what they do on their own tires, though. 

All cars are running at a set power limit of 70%.

Today's Entries

Ford GT40 #5

This car's M.O. is it's a good, solid race car that occasionally impresses with flashes of brilliance. An accidental podium finisher, but still mostly running mid-pack.

Weight: 70.3 grams

Tires: Slot.it well-tuned.

The three GT40s I have have all been very consistent runners for a long time. They don't run the same speed with each other, but they're all three spirited in their own way. This is the baby brother of the three, picked up three years after the first two. It ran the track well today, not getting overly pushy or wiggly. Weight seemed to help the car through the curves better, although it still felt middle of the pack. Here's the result:

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     GT40 #5    2:28.02      5.92

5.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

Like I said, I didn't expect the Slot.it cars to lay down. I expected them to bring the heat, and that's what they are doing. The #5 set a good lap time that scored above the 908. Good on ya, Ford. Nice work.

__________

Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2

It's Johnny Racetrack!

Weight: 64 grams

Tires: Paul Gage PGT Urethane tires. I thought I would test these tires against the Ortmanns since I had them. I figure the Alfa is a podium finisher on the rubbers, so we could use whatever that time is for a rough idea of what it would run. 

The car ran a little rough. The added weight seemed to make it twitch a bit more. Not sure if the Paul Gage tires helped at this point, but I'm pretty sure the weight didn't. Maybe a bit too much. I think getting it down to 58-60 grams would be better. Here's the result:

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     GT40 #5    2:28.02      5.92

5.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

6.     Alfa #2      2:36.79      6.24

Okay, no. It's either the tires or the weight. I think I'm going to have to go with tires first, then cut the weight down a little. But now it's just wrong and feels that way. This isn't the Alfa I know. That thing should be right up towards the front.

__________

Matra Simca #10

Party crasher.

Weight: 68.4 grams

Tires: Slot.it well tuned.

No special tricks with this car. The weight seems to be sitting nicely. I don't think I want to add any more at this point. We'll see what happens with the Ortmanns.

Pos     Car             Time          Lap      

1.     908 #6         2:20.77       5.60

2.     917K #19    2:21.35       5.64

3.     917K #9      2:26.89       5.84

4.     Matra #10   2:27.17       5.88

5.     GT40 #5     2:28.02       5.92

6.     908 #83      2:33.00       6.12

7.     Alfa #2       2:36.79       6.24

Interesting how this is starting to shape up. While I had a clear speed control of 70% on all the cars, that's still plenty power to get into trouble. It's good to see the Slot.it cars rise to the occasion. The Matra is such a good runner. If there was a car in the Slot.it line I was going to recommend, it would be that one. I think it is a very sneaky car, and one that will always be up front. And being 3/10ths off the leader? I'll take it.

__________

Porsche 962C Leyton House #11

Big race car on a big track. What could go wrong?

Weight: 71.5 grams

Tires: Ortmann Urethane.

This is the first Slot.it car I outfitted with the Ortmann tires as a test to see if they were worth buying for the line. I like the results so far, but this is the first timed test. Result:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

3.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

4.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

5.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

6.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

7.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

I eagerly await our Ortmann Tire overlords. If that's what I'm going to end up with, then I'll take it. That's a fantastic lap, by the 962 no less! Guys, this isn't a normal occurrence. You know this car; sluggish, needs more power and is butt heavy....all that stuff. But put a little weight in and some urethane tires and it comes unglued! It just split the NSRs right up the middle! Granted, it squeaked by the Rothmans 917, but it still beat it. 

I'd have to look back, but I can't remember any time prior to this that the 962C beat the Matra. 

__________

Ford Shell GT40 #8

If there are any cars that I own that are comfortable in their own skin, this one is it. It has run so reliably that it requires almost no adjustment.

Weight: 68.3 grams

Tires: Slot.it well tuned.

This car is in the zone, especially with the added weight. After running 8 or 9 cars you can feel which ones are doing better than the others, and the Shell #8 is just breezing through every section of the track. Nothing bothers it in the least. Results:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

9.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

The Shell car just squeaked by the Gulf 917K, pretty much beating it by a couple car lengths. Very impressive run by the #8 today. The added weight looks very good on the car and just makes it run even better. I'd say by now that it is without a doubt that a well-tuned Slot.it car could compete against an NSR car. Maybe not a fully-tuned NSR, but out-of-box certainly. And mine are no longer out of box. I've started work on all of them. 

__________

Ford Gulf GT40 #11

Up until as recently as today my ex wife refers to this as "her car" even though she's only driven it once. My 3 & 1/2 year old daughter, who is ripping up the lap times these days, is claiming it as hers. She's going to win that battle.

Weight: 68.3 grams

Tires: Slot.it well tuned.

Aside from adding about 5 grams of weight, this car is mostly awaiting tires. It's in pretty much the same boat as the other cars. I haven't given this car any other treatment lately aside from the standard lube/oil I give to each of the cars. So here we go:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

9.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

Displaying a bit more health than the two cars below it, it could still use some work. We'll see what happens when the tires come. Not that I think this car's problem is only tires, but I have a feeling we'll see a more even playing field on the urethanes than we're seeing on the rubbers. I'm not saying this car is going to get better. It might get slightly better, but it's not going to pull off times like the #8. 

Interesting result so far. Kinda goes right up against my thoughts that I'd need to run different classes, when clearly there is no separation here. I've got NSRs going as slowly as 9th place right now. Neither of the 917s, which I thought were going to run away with this event, are leading, and one of them isn't even on the podium! And the other is at risk of being run off! How dramatic this is. 

Very impressive showing by the 962C and the Shell #8 so far. Quite unimpressed with the Alfa. Still probably haven't figured out the Monjuich 908 yet.

So we still have to run the Chaparrals, the Carreras and the Revoslots. There are still plenty of challengers and spoilers left to come. Holy crap this really is exciting!!

UPDATE: 

I replaced the Paul Gage tires on the Alfa and will run it again on the Slot.it rubbers. I think the PG tires are fried. I took a closer look at them last night and they don't look right. Don't know what happened. I do know that they sat in the attic in a small parts box all winter. That would have done something to them. Either way, I don't think it's fair to saddle the Alfa with that result when it was the fault of some defective tires. I wouldn't do that to any other car, so I'm not going to start now. This renders my Paul Gage / Ortmann comparison moot, which is too bad. I paid a lot for those Paul Gage tires, but it's my fault for not using them.

I also set the Montjuich 908/3 back to factory snug settings, and readjusted the ride height. I'm not going to add weight just yet.  It won't run again as it was a setup issue and not a defect.

The Grand Meeting [Part One] - 25 Laps All 16 Cars

So here we are. Of course I had to get times down for these cars. Right now all I have to go by is how they feel to me. And while many feel pretty good, some are not quite there yet, including some of the new cars. But I wanted to get all the cars out and see what kind of times they were going to run. 

I've added weight to the cars, getting each Slot.it up to about 6-7 grams heavier than they were before. I'm still waiting on the Ortmann tires, but it looks like they're not going to arrive until after the holidays, and I need to time some laps. I've gotten most of the cars to a comfortable spot, so I decided to elongate the course, doubling projected lap times. I did this for a few reasons: I wanted to see how the cars ran on a more complicated layout, I wanted a longer lap time to give more separation between cars. 

Might not work on this Softybahnplaner software, but it works in my attic.

I still wanted speed, so I kept most of the test track and extended the end sections. I jazzed up the 180° U-turns at each end so that they were a little different from each other. So it's a fast track that can get a little twisty at bits. I like it so far, and the few cars I tried on it seemed to like it too.

The plan is to run 25 laps with each car and set their time. I'm going to see how much of this I can get done over the holiday. If it works out I should have numbers on all the cars before I gotta pack this all up and move out.

Each car will have their current condition listed, including upgrades, tires, tuning info and whatever other pertinent info might be there. Each car will run with the SCP-1 controller set at 70% power.

__________

The Grand Meeting - 25 Laps

Porsche 908/3 Escuderia Montjuich #83

I have no idea what any of these cars will do. 

Weight: 66.4 grams. I added 2 gr just behind the front axle.

Tires: NSR roughly sanded

I haven't gotten this car exactly where I want it yet. It still seems to need a little work. I haven't done much to the tires as I'm waiting for the Ortmanns. You'll hear that excuse with a lot of the cars. I have been sanding the tires over time, but they're not completely sanded down. I'm running it as-is and will accept whatever consequences may arise from it. 

Pos   Car          Time          Lap      

1.     908 #83   2:33.00      6.12

I don't know if that's good. If felt okay. Didn't feel completely fast, but I didn't feel out of control either. Could have been first car syndrome, could have been nothing and it's a fine lap time. 

I love the shorter cars for how forgiving they are. They're much more easy to correct when things get weird. It never feels like you're flailing about in the car. A slight deceleration and it snaps right back into place. 

__________

Porsche 917K Rothmans #9

Yeah, arty. I know. I take those kinds of pics too. I just never put them up here.

Weight: 70 grams

Tires: NSR roughly sanded. I've done even less to these tires than I did on the #83 908/3. 

This car seemed ready to do this, so I went for it. I haven't spent all that much work time on it, but I have driven it a lot. It might be the quietest car of the entire bunch. I haven't added any weight, and spent the most amount of time on the ride height. I have it where I like it now. 

Pos   Car          Time          Lap      

1.     917K #9  2:26.89      5.84

2.     908 #83   2:33.00      6.12

That's quite a difference in times between those two cars. 3/10ths would still be competitive between the Slot.it cars, so I'm good with it now. There is a long way to go on my tuning adventure. 

The smoothness in the 917K wasn't there in the 908/3, which I'm going to blame myself for. But that's a by product of doing a race with so many cars in the middle of a transition. They'll almost all have new tires, so this could be a rubber tire showdown. 

__________

Porsche 908/3 Sunoco #6

I haven't been able to take a pic yet that does this paint job justice.

Weight: 64.7 No weight added

Tires: NSR roughly sanded

I gotta say before this gets started that it already feels smoother than the Montjuich 908/3. I don't know if that'll translate to the race track, but it has that smooth feeling of the Rothmans 917K, or the Matra, or the GT40 #9. 

Pos   Car          Time          Lap      

1.     908 #6     2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #9  2:26.89      5.84

3.     908 #83   2:33.00      6.12

A thing that happens when you have two similar cars from the same make is that you are always comparing them, even if they are not tuned similarly. Such is the case here, and now I'm thinking I'm going to need to look at the Montjuich 908/3. The Sunoco 908 ran so well that I can feel everything wrong with the way I set up the other car, and why it's a half second a lap behind. Again, I'm still at the early stages of getting these cars going, so they're at wildly different points of the tuning process. Dang, that Sunoco car is fast.

__________

Porsche Gulf 917K #19

More arty stuff.

Weight: 70.5

Tires: NSR roughly sanded

The first 917K did some hot laps around this track. This car has seen about as much shop time, and even less tire time and less overall laps. But it feels really good, so we'll see what happens. 

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

I need to insert a "I'm having a great time" break. I really am. These cars are so much fun to drive. This car especially. Gulf colors, 917, it's just so cool. And it's right in the running. Curious to see if either the GT2 or the Momo can beat these numbers. Something tells me the Montjuich 908/3 is in danger of being beaten by another car or two. 

I'm going to lay a lot of the blame on tires producing some funky lap times. I really should take the time and sand the tires to slicks and do it all right, but I just don't have it to spare. I have to run 16 cars. I need to do as little pre-race prep as I can, which is one reason I'm going with urethane tires. Longer lasting and require less maintenance. Better grip, too. 

So that's all the cars I ran today. I'll hopefully do another group tomorrow.