12th annual Ohio Cup race this weekend - Columbus, OH!

[TuscoTodd]

[Z-carfan]

Looking forward to running this event. I visited last year, this time I'm in as an entrant. 8-)

[TuscoTodd]

It was another great Ohio Cup race!
61 racers from various parts of the country met at the facility hosting the four HO tracks for this years competition and what a competition it was!
:banana-dance:
The format was a bit different this year - in that instead of doing a 2 minute per lane qualifier and 4 minute per lane set of mains - it was a lap attack based race. For qualifying the racers were split up into four groups of 15/16 to run a set number of laps on each track - the number of laps varied based on the length of the track - with the larger tracks being 12 laps each, the shorter tracks being 15 and 17 laps each.
When the leader completed the designated number of laps - the power to his lane would cut off and it would institute a 20 second count down clock for the other drivers to finish out their runs. The total number of laps and the total run time to complete the laps was then used to set the fields for the mains.

For the mains, the field was broken into two groups - each of which would tackle one of the "long" tracks and "short tracks".
The mains were run in the same fashion as the qualifying - however the number of laps per heat were doubled.

This is the first time I have run this format and have to say - it was definitely fun! It kept the competition VERY close and made for some spectacular finishes!
After 200+ laps - there were positions that came down to being decided by .1 second!!!

Already looking forward to next year's race!

Here are some pictures from the action - I was so caught up in the racing, talking with other drivers, etc that I didn't get too many pcitures - but definitely would encourage anyone that enjoys HO racing to put together a car and join in the fun next year!
:D

The four tracks!


















The cars:










Random pics from the racing action!

[TuscoTodd]

[Z-carfan]

Thanks Todd, I really did have a great time,and the new format is a winner for sure.
This was my first Ohio Cup, second 'official' competition if we count the Stock T-Jet Challenge.

While I didn't finish last (I was second to last not including the people who pulled out) I didn't care about that, just enjoyed the fun. I learned a few new things, got some great new goodies courtesy of the amazing sponsors who supported this event.
I will definitely try to attend next year!


My entry:


Some random pics I managed to take along the way.

[Norman]

No matter where you finish, that must have been an awesome day of racing! :auto-driving:

Thanks to Todd and Mike for posting the pictures and race report!! :text-coolphotos: :text-goodpost:

Man, those tracks are nice! :music-rockout:

[TuscoTodd]

It was definitely a lot of fun - and as you mentioned - no matter where you were racing in the field, the action was great and a LOT of fun! Definitely a great time every year! :D