Michigan 7th annual 24 hour race

[bigman]

GREAT Live Stream :text-bravo:
I watched a lot of it all thorough the night. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
You could really tell when the drivers got there grove on. :auto-driving: :auto-driving: :auto-driving:
Those cars were flying around the track all night long. :banana-dance:
BIG THANKS to all responsible for putting on another great race. :auto-checkeredflag: :auto-checkeredflag: :auto-checkeredflag:

bigman :flags-waveusa: BIG Fan :mrgreen:

[Rleog]

I'll add my compliments to the guys at Cloverleaf for organizing such an epic, successful event. Congratulations to Slot Car Corner on their dominating win and kudos to all competitors for contributing your talents. There was close racing for position throughout the heats.

A special nod should go to the organizers for supporting various charities through the raffle of slot car prizes. As far as giving back to the hobby, Cloverleaf, Slot Car Corner US and Canada, and others involved in this event truly excell.

Great job guys. :text-bravo:

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Every year I watch for this. I can't believe its been 7 years. Its a fantastic track, great guys all around the track, and some very strenuous hosting that makes this very special.

Its also from one of the two states where old time home slot car racing on homemade tracks (in basements, so you had to step over furnace oil pipes and whatnot), had some of its most faithful pioneers- Michigan and Ohio. Indiana, Illinois, Southern Ontario, Canada, California of course, and Western Virginia all had plenty of action (reported in the slot car magazines), but it was Parma (Cleveland), Ohio, and the Motor City area that were in every issue. Those of us from those days may be old, but we don't forget.

[cgingras]

Here are the final results for the race:

[cgingras]

[Budslots]

Christian:

Will you have the excel sheet that gave lap by lap results for each heat this year?

Thanks!

It was another great race with great friends! It seemed to go by very quickly this year. A years work of planning and building gone in two days of racing. As I write this I'm already plotting and planning for what to do next year! We've had our debriefing talks and plans are being made.

Mike thank you for opening up your home to us for the 5th time to us and 7th time overall. Your hard work into the event shows every year. We have no issues and we all get in and out with plenty to eat. Thanks to the Cloverleaf team as well as I know many of you have your family chip in and help with the food. Bravo!!!!

This race was pretty clean of major car melt downs. Well for us anyway :). We had fun as always and see you all again next year!!!

[cgingras]

[cgingras]

[cgingras]

Someone asked me in private why I like to use the median instead of the average for lap times. Here's my answer.

The mean (average) doesn't mean anything by itself. It is «contaminated» by offs, by repairs to the car, by tire cleaning, by traffic, etc.

The median is a perfect indication of the speed of the car/driver combination. Of course, like you said, two drivers with the same median could yield different results. By looking at the number of laps, this difference means everything. Many offs with the same median will result in less laps in a given heat.

The fastest lap doesn't mean a lot either. It just means that the driver probably took risks to achieve a fast lap. And it can be contaminated by a «rider» situation.

The median is the only statistic that is almost impossible to «contaminate» and that's why this is the one we use. A good driver will see its median go down during a heat, as he's able to get into a groove. You can't follow this trend with any other statistic.

[mikeinclover]

I totally agree Christian, that is all we use also. I always look at my best lap and my median, I want them to be as close to the same as I can that tells me how consistent I was. Like you said a fast lap really means nothing if it way off from the median time.
Mike

[gascarnut]

Fantastic details, thanks to Christian for the effort!

Great photos too, what a way to remember the event.

Thanks again to Mike for allowing us to take over his home and for feeding us all so well.

Thanks to the Changing Gearz team for allowing me to join in - it was great meeting you all in person, and great racing with you.

To all the other racers - it's the people in slot racing that makes it the great hobby it is, good to meet all of you and race with you, good to see "old" friends again.

Dennis

[SuperSlab]

[cgingras]

Very nice to read Alwyn. I knew you would fall for it!

You're right when you're saying that the same median for two drivers can hide two completely different results in the end. This is why the median always has to be presented with the total number of laps in a given heat. Then, you get a much clearer picture of the reality.

The median is important in an endurance race because this is the metric you want to see going down as you race. And this was also the one we informed the driver of constantly during a heat. If the median was going up, it meant you were losing some speed and you had to change something to get back into the groove you found earlier in the heat. If the median was going down, it meant you were getting better and better as the heat progressed. If the median was stable and all your lap times were close to that median (and to the best lap), it probably meant that you found the sweet spot of driving performance for the car and the track at this point and time.

This is how we approached this.

It's true that average lap time is the ultimate metric AT THE END of the race. But when you're driving, you want to know how YOU drive, and in order to do that, you can't take into account the repairs and other stuff that you can't do anything about. Median during the heat and number of laps at the end of the heat. Everything could be told from those two numbers.

[SuperSlab]

[Aloha]

Very interesting exchange of information between median and medium. It is the details that provide you the winning margins and you use the data almost as a coaching tool as the event goes on. That is very astute racing.
Christian, the photos were great and tells many stories. We're there more pictures of the cars themselves? Would love to see more of how you do the wiring layout and details of motor, gear and guide choices. Thank you for sharing
Aloha
Dale
Ps I am excited to hear where the donations are going as it is a great idea. Sorry if I missed it