Racing Notes - January 2022

 I was going to do an end-of-year post, talking about what's been happening and stuff, but the end of the year is the high point of the racing season for me. So instead I'm doing this in January, and I'll be looking in both directions. 

I'm getting used to being on the floor again, but I'm considering some kind of rug so it's not so loud. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for just the right one. 

I bought a lot of cars last year, buying mostly Thunderslot and one NSR car. They're all fantastic. This is the Car Of The Year, though:

This car is the complete package: fast, beautiful and addicting. 

It would have been a closer contest had any of the Thunderslot cars I bought come out last year, but they've been out a few years now. Doesn't matter much, though, as the Gulf 908 is such a good car with so much potential. 

I'm in the middle of improving my electrical system. I'm hoping to have it finished soon, but it's going to be awhile longer. I've already purchased everything. I'm just waiting for the help putting it together. 

Also, I'm pretty much at the end of my Thunderslot purchases, as there are about 6 cars left, but none of them are really getting me excited. I think I'll wait for either new releases or something I haven't seen through my dealer yet.

I am looking at more NSR cars, and a few Slot.it cars. From NSR, I like the 2-pack of L&M 917/10 Porsches, but I'll have to do that one quick, as it's limited. Also want a Rothmans 908. I'm still looking at 962 and 956 Porsches from Slot.it, as well as another Matra. Yes, a Matra isn't a Porsche. 

I'm happy with my track piece inventory. I need to do some painting, though. The 4/15 pieces have turned out to be just the thing to make any layout a whole lot less boring. They're fantastic for making a great flowing track. I guess if I were to buy any more track pieces, it would be more 4/15 curves and another overpass. Even though I don't use the overpass 100% of the time, it's a tremendous addition to any track. 

This kind of track section to the left is something that needs to happen more often. I can see making entire layouts consisting of the 4/15 type of design. That's a replacement for 8 straight pieces. Makes a much more interesting piece of road. 

But since it takes an entire 180° turn's worth of track pieces to make that, I'd need at least another 12 track pieces to do it right. It would be possible to build layouts with no more than two straight pieces. That'd be very cool.

Why these matter: when you're going through a turn, especially a 1/60, you can only go so fast before your inertia will take you off the track. In a 1/60 curve, that limit is very strictly defined. The slightest load change or speed change in a 1/60 curve, the greatest chance for a crash. 

With a 4/15 curve, not only can you go through it faster, but you have a much more loosely-defined edge, so you can really push a car before it gives out. So basically you can go really fast or extremely fast. 

I'm looking forward to getting started with the new championship season. I really enjoyed doing the first one. I think this one will be much more interesting, and I plan on including all the drama I can. I was thinking of doing some video, but I'm still not sure about that, as I would have to do some significant planning to make it happen. 

I wish I could do more racing, but my schedule doesn't really allow for it these days. Once I get an opportunity, I'm going to get started on the championship. I really don't think I'll be getting any more cars for awhile, so I can run something pretty safely. Looking forward to using the lap counter, too. 

I'm also looking at a rather large purchase in the near future that will help me do more stuff. Gotta wait for that, though.

Race Teams

 I've been mulling an idea around for a bit, and I think I'll give it a go. Not going to hurt anything; will be more of a curiosity than anything. 

My plan has been to start another championship season. It's been a long time since I did that, and it was such a good way to do things that I swore I would do it again. So here we are. I'll get more into the race setup in a bit, but one thing I wanted to add were race teams. 

Now that I have enough cars to do something like this, I thought I might as well try it. 

The idea will be to have team points, which would basically be whatever points for the race the car made, carried over. So if a car scores 8 points in the race, that's 8 points to the team. There will be a separate standings and scoresheet for that, much like in regular racing. 

Any car that can team up with any other that shares a primary sponsor can be a team. So let's see who's eligible.

Gulf Porsche Team

The matchup that started the whole ball rolling. NSR 917K and 908/3.

Team Sunoco

Should be great competition for the Team Championship. Thunderslot McLaren M6A and NSR Porsche 908/3.

Shell Team

A very interesting combination, I must say. Almost an odd couple. Curious to see what happens with this team. Slot.it GT40 and Revoslot Ferrari 333.

So that's what I have so far for teams. A couple things: I kept the Gulf GT40 off the Gulf Team as it had the dark blue livery, and adding another car to that team would have been unfair. Also, there's a chance that another team will be added, if I buy the next car I'm planning to buy [who am I kidding?]. If/when that happens, they'll be inserted into the championship and start competing right away. But I still have to buy the car first....

Races are going to be like the first championship I ran. It'll be a series of layouts, each one new. Lap lengths will vary depending on factors, like my ability to dedicate the time to it. All cars will compete. Now that I have a clock, I won't stop it, which means that crashes will matter now, as I have to re-slot the car after one. 

I'm hoping to get the first race of the season started soon.

New Car: Thunderslot Lola T70 MKIII Daytona

 Just got this in the post. I love when that happens.

My third Lola.

I got the car this morning, took it out of the box and went to work. I'm back now, but it's past midnight, and I can't race cars that late. But unless something is seriously wrong with this car, I expect it'll run as well as the other ones.

Thunderslot cars are extremely good. Every one that I've purchased has been an excellent performer. I took this one right out of the box and ran a couple of laps and it's smooth so far. I'll do a setup on it and lube/oil and see where that gets me. I'll need to sand the tires down, but that's okay. As an aside, I would love to see Thunderslot make a slick back tire. They might even already make it and I just haven't found it yet. If they did I'd buy new ones for all the cars. The treaded tires are also really grippy, but I'd like to start closer to what I need to do. Every treaded tire that I've come across, from every manufacturer, needs to be sanded down to perform correctly. Sure, you could keep them stock, but the handling is much different that way. The cars are capable of a lot more speed when grip is improved.

I didn't get many pictures as it was late at night and I was tired. I'll get more and do a basic tuning post for the car. I'm looking forward to getting it on the track. The Lolas are good racers and frequently are in the top running. Wouldn't be surprising to see this one up there too.

This will be the last Thunderslot I buy for awhile. I haven't seen any other models that I want, so I'm going to wait for more releases. Meanwhile, there are some NSR cars I have my eye on, and I'll probably be doing some more purchases this summer. We'll see what's available. Of course, if something starts to run out, I might have to make an exception.

The Rothmans Porsche Power Issue

 This is where things get interesting. During the last race the Rothmans Porsche starting losing power. I was at the end of a session and didn't really do much in the way of inspecting what was going on, so my plan is to do that tomorrow when I have some time. Can't do it today, although I might open the car up and make sure everything's on the up-and-up as far as it goes. Then I'll set up a small over and run some tests. 

I want to see if the Porsche will run alone as a drone car [body on/off]. If it does, then great. If it doesn't then it could be an issue with power or the car. I kinda felt like maybe it was my power supply giving up, and it could be. I'm also thinking it could be a tire rub or some other such issue. It might meaning doing something to reset the ride height. 

The car in question. I really like this car, and I'm sure I'll get to the bottom of what's going on with it.

You'd think that having car problems with something that normally shouldn't be happening would be a major issue, but it isn't really. It becomes more of a challenge. The car is right there. The parts are all on it. It's just a matter of doing the right things to get it running normally again. If I go back to the basic setup, which I will, the issue should resolve itself. If it doesn't, then I should be able to at least see what's doing it. Then I can make the steps needed to fix it. 

This kind of thing can happen, and it's up to you to do what you can to make it work. It's pretty rare for a part to fail, like the motor or something, so it's probably something else. But it's just another thing to do with the car. In other words, it's not a big thing. I'm not worried about what might be wrong with it, even if I haven't completely troubleshooted [troubleshot?] it yet. 

If it is in fact a power supply issue, I have another one....a much better one...waiting in the wings. I'll find out tomorrow and, if it is that, I'll be sending my power piece to Overdrive SlotService for some custom wiring. That's going to happen anyway, but I can't bring myself to stop racing and do it. The season will be over eventually [or will it?], so I'll do it sometime in the near future. 

I also just bought another car. Naturally I'm not going to reveal what car just yet, but I'll do a full thing on it when I get it. It's one that's been on my list for some time, and I'm finally doing it. 

That oughta do it for now. I'll update this if I get lucky with the testing/repairing tomorrow.

UPDATE:

I put together a short oval to do some tests on the Rothmans 917. First I ran it for about 30 laps on drone mode to see if it would run consistently without cutting out. It did. So I took a look at it, and it seems to be a tire rub, although it's not happening now. Figures. I should have expected that it wouldn't do it under non-racing conditions. I ran some laps in manual human mode, and nothing weird happened. I suppose it could have been an anomaly. I guess I'd accept that maybe whatever was wrong corrected itself, although honestly that kind of thing almost never happens. 

But I think it's a tire rub. It felt like that more than it felt like a power issue. And it didn't happen to any other car, and I had done a tuneup just before the race and may have introduced the tire rub then. So here's what we're gonna do; I'm going to run it as-is and keep an eye on it. If it starts to show those symptoms again, I'll tune it on the spot and keep it in the race. It might be a matter of setting it one particular way and leaving it at that. 

Super Booster 100

 Here we go, race fans. 

So I got my booster shot today and made a plan to not make any plans for the next two days. My girlfriend is coming over tomorrow night, but other than that, I'll be on the couch. So, I decided to build a layout in case I felt like racing, and this race will take place over the next day or two. 

Car Notes

Along with the four cars I reported on in the previous post, I also did some work on the Ferrari and the Gulf GT40. The Ferrari hasn't been running as I've been chasing after a solution to the wing not staying in the magnetic slot anymore. I could run it without, but it's not the same. You know what I mean. I'll probably end up running it that way anyway. 

I've been considering putting the Ferrari on the shelf, only to use it if I went to a commercial track. The reason is that it hasn't been competitive since I got it, although I haven't given it much of an opportunity, I must admit. But because I just can't put a car on the shelf [I've been testing it by putting the Ferrari up on the shelf by my desk, but it just serves as a reminder to tune it up], I'll likely continue trying to get it into at least middle of the pack competitive shape. Somewhere up where the Playstation Porsche is running. 

So I went back and re-sanded the tires. I don't have to do that very often with cars once they've gotten their initial sanding, but I did it with the Ferrari because there were a couple of spots I missed the first time. Then I opened it up and made sure everything was setup, lubed and oiled. 

It's not a do-or-die scenario for the Ferrari. Let's call it a probation. I should be able to get it up to snuff on my own, and will make that a focus. I have two sets of tires for it, a set of rubbers and a set of urethanes, and I'll get it running as fast as it can. Since this is the start of its journey, I'm going to say that team orders will be to not come in last place every race, and try to get in the top half of the field if possible. 

The Gulf GT40 is another one of my neglected race cars. It should be swapping paint with the other GT40s, but it's consistently in the back of the field. It runs okay, but just okay. So I re-sanded the tires, did a lube/oil, reset all the screws and set it to medium/medium on pod and body float. It basically just got a fresh reset. So with six cars going through inspections and tuneups, there should be some interesting results. 

Today's Layout:

A bit more emphasis on bigger curves than the last track. Same end pieces, but I used the 4/15 [blue] track pieces a little differently this time. It should have a pretty good flow to it and be quite fast.

The track has been assemble and cleaned. The cars will have tape-cleaned tires. Each car will run 100 timed laps on the inside lane. Crashes are included and time will not be stopped in case of a crash. All cars will run on equal power set by the controller. 

Here we go:

Since I had the Gulf GT40 already on the track, I thought I'd go ahead and start the race with it.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

I don't remember the Gulf #11 ever running this well, but maybe I'm just tricking myself. I think it has more left in the tank, and could probably go for a little last tire touchup. Otherwise I think it ran respectably and probably would have put in a good time if not for the crash. I'd say that with every crash you're looking at about a 6 second recovery time. Not bad for a guy who's feeling the affects of a vaccine injection.

And since the Ferrari was also on the track, it ran next.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

Again, a car that has run better than it ever has. Very impressed with the improvement, even if it's not the fastest car just yet. That felt like a good run, and the heavier Revoslot car really likes the larger radius curves.

Since we're doing Fords....

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

It's weird. When you improve some cars, it makes it look like other cars are taking a step backward. Either the MKII ran just fine and the Gulf Ford just caught up to it, or it's not running so well and met the other one half way. Too early to tell. Technically, if you take away the crash, the #11 likely beats the #5.

Wouldn't be a Ford party without Mr. Party Hardy

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

No, that's not a typo. Two crashes for the #8 this time. The car was just too boisterous and got caught going too fast through the 4/15 curves. Both crashes were nearby, but took time just the same. Probably would have had a much better time if not for them, however. Nice, Shell Team.

This should be interesting. So far the 962 has responded well to the bigger curves.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

I'm really impressed with how far this car has gone. If you read my early posts dealing with the car, it wasn't always this way. I'd almost go as far as to say that the urethane tires and weight modifications were a game changer. Even though it's a looong car, longer than any other one I own, it handles the large curves like the Alfa handles the 1/60 curves. 

And since we're starting with the cars I started with, here's the Alfa.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

Alfa Romeo #2       5:12.64               3.12                  0

Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

Two things: first, good job Alfa. Solid race, even though the track was a little big for it. It seemed to get a little fishy, especially at the ends. Also, how about the Ferrari? So far, nobody has gone faster than it. Sure, the big guns are yet to come, but I wouldn't expect the Ferrari to be ahead of half the group it's ahead of currently. 

End of day 1.

Good handling race car. Not the fastest, but not the slowest, either.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

Alfa Romeo #2       5:12.64               3.12                  0

Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

Chaparral #65         5:21.63               3.21                  0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

I think the idea that a short or longbody car would have an advantage on this track is moot. There's no advantage that I can see. But I am starting to see some interesting behavior with the 4/15 curves. It's not only more challenging for the car, but it is for me as well. I felt this a little bit with the 3/30 curves, but it's much more pronounced with the 4/15 curves. The Chappy did an admirable job running the track. 

Okay, let's just see how much the Ferrari has improved.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

911 GT2 #60          5:10.78               3.10                   0 

Alfa Romeo #2       5:12.64               3.12                  0

Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

Chaparral #65         5:21.63               3.21                  0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1     

Well that is certainly interesting. After struggling for so long on tighter layouts, the Revoslot cars have really opened up here. They're definitely competitive, although I'd say with the larger radius track pieces. The Playstation Porsche has always been in the middle of things, but the Ferrari is a nice surprise. I didn't think it would hold first place for this long. There are easily a half dozen cars that could have beaten it.

Okay, here we go. Let's see if there will be a significant speed difference from this point on.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Tergal 908 #83       4:59.91               2.99                   0

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

911 GT2 #60          5:10.78               3.10                   0 

Alfa Romeo #2       5:12.64               3.12                  0

Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

Chaparral #65         5:21.63               3.21                  0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1 

Although a little jittery, the Tergal 908 ran a good race. Only .1 difference between it and the Ferrari, though. I suspect this isn't the fastest car today. I really enjoy the 908, though. Such a fun, responsive car.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Tergal 908 #83       4:59.91               2.99                   0

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

911 GT2 #60          5:10.78               3.10                   0 

Alfa Romeo #2       5:12.64               3.12                  0

Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

Sunoco 908 #6        5:19.95               3.19                  2  

Chaparral #65         5:21.63               3.21                  0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1 

This is the kind of result when a fast car crashes multiple times. It was incredibly fast, but drove off at the same point both times; right after the front stretch. It's not possible to hit those 4/15 curves at full speed with every car. Most of them seem to like hitting it at about 80% power. If I don't let off at the end of the straight a little bit, the car will definitely come off the track. I'll bet the Sunoco 908 would have done very well without the crashes. Nothing wrong with the car; all my fault.

Race Results

Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

Gulf 908 #1            4:53.16               2.93                   0 

Tergal 908 #83       4:59.91               2.99                   0

Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

911 GT2 #60          5:10.78               3.10                   0 

Alfa Romeo #2       5:12.64               3.12                  0

Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

Sunoco 908 #6        5:19.95               3.19                  2  

Chaparral #65         5:21.63               3.21                  0

Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

Ford MKII #5         5:25.65               3.25                  0

Gulf GT40 #11       5:30.13               3.3                    1 

All three 908s ran differently. The Tergal was fidgety. The Sunoco ran with urgency, but was prone to driving off. The Gulf was solid and grippy. That a car can beat another car by 6 seconds and it doesn't even amount to a tenth of a lap advantage is pretty crazy. To me, lap time is more important. I can squeeze 2/10ths out of a car to make it faster. That's an easier metric to follow than to say I can make up 30 seconds on a 5 minute race. So when I look at the Sunoco 908, for example....it took me about 6 seconds to fix the car on the track and get going again. Put two crashes together and that's 12 seconds. That's a tenth right there, so shaving another tenth will be pretty easy. There's only 3/10ths or so separating the field right now, so that puts many cars in competitive shape. That's why a car like the Shell GT40 can surprise everyone and win it one day. Or the Alfa, or any of the NSR cars. But that's why we race; to see which car is the fastest on the given day. That can change at any time. 

I really should have gotten the lap counter sooner. I've had it on my list for at least three years, and considering what I went through to clock races, I really should have done myself a favor and picked it up earlier. There's a lot that goes on in racing, and if you're focusing on counting laps, you're missing the chance to focus on your car's ability to get around the track as quickly as possible. I was pushing the Gulf 908 to go faster into the 4/15 curves on the front straight, and I wouldn't have been able to do it were it not for me no longer needing to count laps. You need that freedom to work on squeezing that last bit out of the straight, and that's really hard to do when you're focused on something else. 

Get a timing system.

End of day 2

Today is the last day off before work begins. I have to work early, so I've been preparing for it by waking up early a few days before. That means that I have a few hours before I can do any racing, as it would be too loud to start at 4 a.m.. 

I'm going to lube/oil the 917 Porsches, since they're up next. My daughter is coming over today and I have to do a few things away from the apartment, so I don't know how much actual racing I'll be able to get in. Either way I'll do the three up next and see if I want to do more tuning. That'll hold me over for awhile.

OOPS!

So I was getting started on the 917s, and I took the Lucky Strike car around for a few laps, and it got really sluggish. Then it stopped. I checked the car and the rear wheels were barely movable. I took off the rear wheels and axle and cleaned them up, then reset everything. I also reset the pod and body float to avoid tire rub that I was getting before. 

I put the car back on the track and it ran great for about 20 laps, then it started happening again. I tried other cars, nothing. So I decided to park the Lucky Strike Porsche and run one of the other ones. I put the Gulf 917 on the track, ran a few laps, and it started happening again. Another car, same thing. So I think either my power pack or my controller are giving out. I don't have time to check it today, so it's going to have to wait until I have the time to look into it a little deeper. Bummer. I wanted to finish up today. 

I like the 100 lap format, but it takes a long time to get all these cars done.

Okay, I'm going to call this race. I really don't think I'm going to get to continue it in a reasonable amount of time. So here are the results:

Race Results

     Car                          Time                  Lap                 Offs

1. Gulf 908 #1            4:53.16               2.93                   0 

2. Tergal 908 #83       4:59.91               2.99                   0

3. Shell Ferrari           5:09.04               3.09                   0

4. 911 GT2 #60          5:10.78               3.10                   0 

5. Alfa Romeo #2       5:12.64               3.12                  0

6. Porsche 962 #11     5:14.01               3.14                  0

7. Sunoco 908 #6        5:19.95               3.19                  2  

8. Chaparral #65         5:21.63               3.21                  0

9. Shell GT40 #8        5:25.03               3.25                  2

10.Ford MKII #5        5:25.65               3.25                  0

11. Gulf GT40 #11     5:30.13                3.3                    1 

Lucky 917 #4            DNF

Gulf 917 #19             DNF            

Lots of cars missing from this race, but it gave the Gulf 908 a chance to shine. Props to the Ferrari for the huge improvement and podium finish. In fact, both Revoslot cars did very well. 

I'm going to get moving on the power supply issue. I have one. I just haven't installed it yet. Need to do some wiring. Until then I'll do some other updates.