Race Team Introductions [part 2]: The Rest

 Now that the two big teams have been introduced, let's look at the smaller teams. 

Team Rothmans

The Rothmans Team has a pretty decent collection of quality NSR Porsches. The 908 is a previous winner, the 917 has had its struggles, and the P68 is unproven. It should be an interesting team to watch. 

Even if I have three cars from the same manufacturer, they'll perform and handle differently from each other. When you run cars without magnets, handling characteristics play much more into a car's ability to finish well. The Rothmans Team has one car that is a guaranteed threat, and that's the 908. Most all of my NSR 908s are threats. It often is going to come down to their teammate's ability to score points. 

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Tergal Team

Another definite sleeper team. I know the 908 is fast and has won before, and the Ferrari is coming from a really good place. I feel this team should not be overlooked.

The Tergal Team is interesting because it has the same issue the Rothmans Team has, just less chances to get it right with only a two-car team. It also has an NSR 908 with a Slot.it Ferrari as teammates. On my track Slot.it cars tend to mostly lap a few tenths lower than NSR cars. Mostly. And since the Ferraris are such nice cars and fast runners, they should be okay in that respect. 

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The Jägermeister Team

The Jägermeister Team is very curious, while although both cars are fast, this is the only team with a Revoslot car in it. The 917/10 can haul the mail, and so can the Escort, but it's hard to say how they'll do together. The colors don't match perfectly, either, and that bugs me a little.

I was hoping to have another combination like this, and I might fudge things a little to make another one. Since this is only one of two teams running a car in each class, I don't know what's going to happen. It's going to depend on how the Escort does. I've been planning on running a Classics class and a GT class, but I was going to use a wait-and-see approach. So far the Revoslot cars are proving competitive with the other brands. That's going to make this a make-or-break race team. 

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The Hippy Team

Although they're not racing for a sponsor, they are racing with the similar "hippy" livery. For kicks, and to include the Carrera in the mix, I am forming this hippy racing team. The 917 will do just fine. It's the 918 that I'm worried about.

To be honest, I really don't expect much of anything from this team. I'm sure the 917 will run effectively, and likely be competitive. But the 918 is not going to do as well, and will likely not beat most of the field, which will effect their team points. It's actually a threat to come in dead last, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to score points that low. This puts more pressure on the #35 to carry the team's weight, since the best they'll be able to do is half the points most other teams will be putting up.

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Chaparral Team

Another case of "when the manufacturer is the brand." Beautiful cars, but I have low expectations for them. 

I take that back. The #66 should do okay, but the 65 is always a little behind. They're mostly going to be pack runners, maybe the occasional top-10 finish out of the #66, but I don't think much more than that. 

The way I'm going to handle tuning the cars between races is primarily deal with the cars that perform poorly or can't keep up. As I continue to focus on the slower cars, tuning them will bring the entire field closer together. And since I can get most of the cars within a couple tenths of each other, I can close that gap and make everything way more competitive. Besides, the best performing race cars aren't the ones that need the work. The guys in back will need help to get to the next level. 

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L&M Team

These two are just a few tweaks from being super competitive.

Nothing saying these cars can't do it, although so far they're not as fast as the other 917/10s I have. Not sure why that is. 

I do have some cars that haven't gone through much more than a lube and tire treatment. Those cars will be worked on prior to races starting, almost like a preseason. I'd like to get the unfinished cars in competitive condition. 

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The Shell Team

When I first saw this matchup, I didn't think it was going to work. After thinking about it a bit more, I think it's going to be pretty great. The GT40 is one of my fastest cars, and the Ferrari is a previous winner.

This one is a curious entry for a few reasons: the Revoslot Ferrari. Since I have two classes of cars, there is one other place where the Ferrari fits, and that's in the Garage 56 class. Cars in that class won't be eligible for championship points, but they will be able to carry those points over into Team points. Garage 56 cars include anything that won't fit into the two main classes. Each Garage 56 car will still have a non-competitive point total applied to them based on their finishing position for reference.

EDIT: I was doing a little research on a couple of cars I had, and noticed one thing about one of them. Turns out the Matra ran on the Shell team back then, so this car will be added to the Shell team here:

This changes the makeup of this team significantly. The Matra is brutally fast. I know, it has a big Shell sticker on the side, but lots of cars have that without Shell being the primary sponsor. They were in this case, however. Anyhow, with two of my most competitive Slot.it cars on the same race team, that turns this into an insta-contender, and lets the Ferrari become the secret weapon. 

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Canon Team

The Canon Team won't be eligible for racing points, but will instead run in the "Garage 56" class, reserved for those racers who do not fit in the category of Classic or GT. If my F1 collection were to start growing, for some reason, then I would run the class separately. I might still do that. They're fun cars.

Nope, I'm not going to do that. They're going to run in Garage 56 like anyone else. There's no point in creating another class unless I have at least a half dozen of those class' cars in the first place. And since they're the only two F1 cars, they'll be treated as demos throughout the event, with no individual or team scoring [since their team exists only in Garage 56], except the reference total.

Well there it is. There are still a lot of journeyman cars that can spoil it for anybody and everybody. And once I've decided on the points program, then we'll know how much flexibility some of these teams have. 

Since I have 51 cars now, I want to have a points cutoff, probably to make a Top 25. The rest would receive no points. That'll force the pack to run faster. Either that or I'll award points all the way down to the last 10 cars, but I'd rather not. I'll have to think about it. 

Race Team Introductions [part 1]: Gulf and Sunoco

 Now that I have enough race teams to make the racing interesting, I thought I'd introduce them, focusing first on two of the strongest groups on the list, the Gulf Team and Team Sunoco. 

An all-NSR field for the Gulf Team.

It should come as no surprise that I would have a well-stocked Gulf Team, since I'll never get over how good the livery looks. And that they're all NSR cars makes them quite competitive. It should be a good team to race for and against. 

HOW MY SCORING WORKS

It could be done with a single race, but it's more intended to be done with a series. But either way is possible. 

Team scoring is carried over from the individual points the cars got in the race. For example, if the 908 Porsche #1 comes in 4th and gets 16 points, those points are carried over to the Team score. 

A "Team" is a minimum of two cars sharing the livery or primary sponsor. The maximum eligible cars scoring for any Team would be two, no matter how many cars are on the Team. Teams with more than two cars would have an advantage of being able to field more competitors, which would offer better points opportunities. But to keep the competition even, only the two fastest cars a team has for a race would be eligible to transfer their points over. 

The rest of the field of cars that are not Team eligible run as lone entries. There are plenty of lone entries that can win any race, and they would certainly act as spoilers for any competitive team.

Team Sunoco - A smorgasbord of manufacturers. [I just noticed that the T70 seems to be on the verge of losing a wheel insert.]

With Team Sunoco, the question here becomes, can a team made up of three different manufacturers outrun a team made up of one? Team Sunoco consists of an NSR Porsche 908, a McLaren M6A and a Lola T70 [both from Thunderslot], and a Slot.it Ferrari 512M. There are all kinds of questions this lineup provides. I know the two Thunderslot cars are fast AF, and it's certain that the 908 is fast, and the Ferrari is right up there with them all with a few tweaks. It could very well turn into a manufacturer's war at the very top between the Sunoco Thunderslot cars and the NSR Gulf cars. I might be running a manufacturer's championship as well, but it will be informal. I don't think the outcome of that would be as interesting as having various manufacturers working with each other to win. 

Once a championship series starts, any new car will be added to a team if eligible, regardless of when in the season it joins. So while they may not come out with a high overall points total for the championship, they could step in and contribute to Team points right away. If the addition of a new car forms a new race Team, they will have to start from when they were first a team. No aggregate or retroactive scoring for any cars that might have started the series as a solo entry and suddenly find themselves on a Team. 

I'll be doing an introduction to the smaller teams coming up. There are just as many potential surprises there as there are in these two teams. I fully expect the Sponsor Championship to be a good one. 

New Car: Slot.it Ferrari 512M - Le Mans 24h 1971

 Number three in what I think is the best series car from Slot.it:

Awesome Ferrari? Check. Yellow? CHECK!!

Slot.it, you have absolutely nailed this car. Holy crap is it great! The Ferrari 512M is just such a good looking race car to start, and it's perfect! Holy crap. I know it's not an NSR car, but it races like one, practically right out of the box. Each of the three 512Ms are so incredibly dialed-in from the start that doing any chassis or body adjustments just lends more opportunity to select what type of handling you like. 

Just the thought of Porsches and Ferraris challenging for the win makes it all worth it. The Ferrari fits in perfectly with the rest of the Classics field, and it might be a bit better. I honestly don't know how to explain why it's so fast and handles so well aside from the standard stuff, but it's clearly a faster race car than many of the other Slot.it cars I have. It'll be interesting how the three cars compete. I know the #16 is very fast and well handling, and the Sunoco car is just as good. I have high expectations for this race car.

Sidebar Updates and Stuff

 Last night I was taking pictures for a much needed sidebar update, and I was uploading the shots this morning when I remembered that I should probably wait as I have another car coming. Cool thing is the upcoming car is going to make a new race team here. Not saying who yet, but it wouldn't be too hard to guess. HINT: it has nothing to do with this car...

A little dark in the fore for my liking.

Meanwhile, started setting up the Datsun:

For the curious, this car fits in perfectly with the rest of the GT class from Revoslot. They're fantastic race cars and an extremely competitive class. Any one of them could win at any time, and I like that. 

21k motor on an adjustable mount.

The car is sitting a little high in the front, so I'll be loosening the chassis to help bring that down.

Split fronts. Still runs great.

New Car: NSR Alan Mann P68

 And now, introducing the 50th slot car that I own, the Alan Mann P68:

Arty farty picture, I know. But this car is just so dang sexy. Whether it can handle not like a fish has yet to be determined. Here is another pic:

No, but really. I was looking at a few of the older NSR Alan Mann cars that I found at a dealer for sale online, and they looked great, but every time I saw the rear end I couldn't picture it not being a difficult-handling race car. I didn't buy any of those older ones, but had to have this as it's got the neato Rothmans livery and is BLUE BLUE BLUE. 

Pictures can be deceptive. They can make you think something that really isn't there, or make you accept things based on perspective of the photo, rather than your own eyes in real life. And while I'm not trying to say that the P68 doesn't have a lot of tail, it's nowhere near the tail of the Porsche 962, as it's not boxy and tapers to an acceptable, high-pocketed shape. The front is also made with a similar taper, so while the car might seem long, what's happening at the nose and tail are much leaner, almost keeping most of the weight centered down the middle of the car. I suspect it'll handle better than the 962, and probably closer to a 917, since they both share a comparatively short wheelbase to the rest of the cars. 

I am very excited about this car for a weird reason. Even if it's a beast of a handler, something tells me it's going to be a straight line screamer.

New Car: Revoslot Datsun 510 - SCCA Trans Am 1972

 I had to get this car to round out my Trans Am collection:

I swear, Revoslot's Trans Am class is so excellent. They fit perfectly together and provide such a great race. They're very well put together and feel different than racing plastic chassis race cars. Much more solid and planted, plus you can feel the acceleration in a way that's different to other cars. 

Straight out of the box and onto a piece of track. I still need to set it up.

There are two others so far in this grouping, but I think I'm going to hold on to just this one 510, unless something completely mind blowing comes out. I really think it doesn't matter which cars from this collection you pick up...they are all going to run great together and give you lots of competition. 

Had a little time...

Had a little time, got out the camera and a couple cars. Couldn't set up the track, so I did the next best thing. 

I really didn't have a plan, just had an hour to kill, so I got out the Canon 70-200 F/4 II L out for some quick shots. It takes a bit more to set up, and needs a little distance to focus, but once you get it, it looks pretty good.

I usually use the EFS 18-135 for car profile shots here, which I think do a fine job. But every once in awhile I like to break the big guy out and see what it does. Just by comparing to the other posts, the image is a little darker, but good contrast. Color is much deeper as well. I didn't do any post trickery to the shots. 

I'm ordering a couple more cars tonight. I told myself I wasn't going to do this.