Team SCC heading out to the Michigan 24 hour race!

[nhdungeonracer]

Slightly muddy???
That Merc is a mess.Your boss is going to ask you if you've mud bogging with it!!

Sorry for not lack of reporting lately. But after the celebration and goodbyes, we went out to eat before splitting up, The guys from Quebec have already headed for home (about a 9 hour trip). The guys from CT have already hit the sack, and plan to head out sometime tonight. Bob will be flying home tomorrow, and Robin and I will be heading to Niagara Falls for some sight seeing and some racing with the Ace Hobby guys tomorrow night before heading for home on Tuesday.

Christian has pics he will upload here in the next day or so, and I'm sure there will be others. It's been a long 24 hours and we need to catch up on some rest.

I will say that we ran a NSR Mosler with a lot of SCC parts (we'll post more information about that soon...) that was tuned very well by Smokeio. The car almost drove itself (not really-just an expression) and had only minor problems throughout the race. We lost our decal off the rear spoiler, lost both mirrors, wore out 2 sets of rear tires and had to make a braid adjustment once. Note I said adjustment. The SCC braid lasted the full 24 hours, and only showed very minor wear. This was one less thing we had to worry about.

We got to meet some long distance friends again like Kurt, Jenny, The Cloverleaf and Dum Dum teams and others. We also got to meet some great guys from Cincinnati, they struggled a bit, but kept their chin up and soldiered on to the end. And they were getting around the track a bit better at the end, Hats off to them for making the trek to an unknown track and giving it their best shot, :clap:

Once again, the Cloverleaf gang went overboard in hosting. We were able to "camp out" in the living room when we wanted to get some shuteye, There was always plenty of food, snacks and drink available (especially coffee.

And of course, anything like this event has to have plenty of comaderie, and there was plenty of that going around. Any "tense" moments were usually followed with a little bit of heckling and lots of laughter. Like the time some slowpoke named Kurt was a little late pushing the track call button :D

That's it for now, I'm sure there will be more reports from others...

[sixtiesracer]

Dickie,did you say"Niagra Falls"??? :shock: "NIAGRA FALLS"!!!! :evil: Slowly I turn.... step by step.....inch by inch.... :twisted:

[moparjenny]

[rperry240z]

[912]

Hat’s off to SCC and their 3rd victory. If one were to look up the word ‘teamwork’ in the dictionary they would see a picture of these 5 guys. They are professional, gracious and humble if not a bit gaudy (including the match underwear). I’m always happy to see them again and it’s always fun to spend time in their company.

As one of the drivers for Clover Leaf Racing I again offer my congratulations to Dave616, Moby Dick, Elsecundo, Wizz, Art and Rob for a hard fought and well deserved 2nd place. Moby Dick and Dave616 did a great job in preparing the team's car. I felt their car was a little faster than CLR's car, but I think CLR's car was a little quicker in the corners. I believe the drivers were closely matched in their abilities and skills so it came down to chance and luck. Each team had its fair amount of both - good and bad! Early on, DDD's headlights (and taillights) failed and there was much speculation as to how long the repair would take (all repairs being made under green). Moby Dick fixed the problem very quickly before the night racing began. At another point, towards the final heat of the race, the motor in CLR's car started to die off yet the team was able to massage the motor back to its original performance. None of the drivers were slouches (on any team) - I know; I drove the snot out of our car in an attempt to claw our way into second place; but it was not to be.

The battle for 3rd was also hard fought. The Cincinnati Slot Rods were initially at a disadvantage due to never having had run on the track. The Can-Am team consisted of people from the usual Tuesday night Clover Leaf Racing series, a Canadian and Bob from New Hampshire. I was struck by how easy it was for the members of the Can-Am team to come together and work as a singular unit. Pasquale, Bob, James, Craig and John G are easy going guys that enjoy the thrill of the hunt; my hat off to the Can-Am team.
The Cincinnati Slot Rods came with an Ill-prepared car yet through sheer determination and perseverance managed to progressively improve not only the performance of their car but also their individual driving abilities – in other words, they learned how to drive the track. My hat off to their ‘never quit’ attitude!!!! They deserve the ‘most improved’ award!

Every participant displayed true sportsmanship. It was a delight to spend 24 (grueling) hours with everyone involved. Mike, the host and impetus behind this event, once again opened his home to all and provided an unending supply of food and beverage.

Thanks to ALL for a memorable weekend!

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I'm tired and I wasn't there! Huge accomplishment, guys. Absolutely cool as can be.

[DaveKennedy]

Wow very cool guys, wish I could have been there. Always love a 24h race! Congrats to SCC, they're a great bunch of guys!

[Dave.616]

Congrats SCC on the win and New World Record. It was great seeing you guys again and racing you. 912 (Dave Wickham) said it well great racing and meeting old and new friends. Thanks to Mike & Art, (Clover Leaf Racing) for putting this race on.

[rbianchi]

What a great weekend. Our Can-Am team worked very well together even though my set-up left a bit to be desired. Even though Pascal and I had never raced with John, James and Craig on the same team, we all get along great. I just wish I could have put a better car under their trigger fingers. Just wait for next year!

The team will have a red and black scheme next year :banana-rock: but we will definitely look better than those guys with the gaudy undies!!!!! :o

Team Can-Am......"Spanning the boarder and stretchin' the rules"

Bob B. aka "The Flyin' Fireman"

[Moby Dick]

What more can be said than it was an absolute blast.
Congrats to Team SCC for setting a new record.I wish I could desribe how difficult a challenge it was eclipsing the old record.
I want to thank my teammates Rob, Art, Wizz, Kurt, and Dave for the great teamwork and for making this weekend so much fun.
Thanks to cloverleaf for hosting this event.

[Smokeio]

This was a phenomenal weekend to say the least. There was a great deal of planning and car building in preparation for this event put in by our team. The event itself is grueling and a true test of a driver, car building and prep. Standing there trying to do your best for 48 minutes knowing both the win and world record is on the line is indescribable.

That last heat, I told my team I did not want to know what was needed to break the record. When the heat started, I thought we were in trouble because the car was terribly loose. Turned out I had over oiled the car in haste and the car and tires were coated with oil! The handling would come and go as the tires cleared but would then go away as the oiled seeped onto the tires. I was relieved when the announcement was made we had broken the world record!

I want to thank Mike, Art, and the entire Cloverleaf group for putting on this event. Also congratulations to all of the competitors at completing the event. The level of competition keeps getting higher every year which what makes the win so special. The Detroit Dum Dums and CLR built fast cars and gave us a run for our money. Watching John tick off those fast laps and high lap counts made me concerned a win could be out of our reach.

Special recognition needs to go to the Cincinnati team for running their first Michigan 24. Their results do not represent the level of effort they put into this event.

And not to leave out the important stuff, this car was built with all of the great products from Slot Car Corner! :D

[cgingras]

Here are the final results of a great racing weekend.



Team SCC beat the world record by only 0.3 miles and Detroit Dum Dums and Clover Leaf Racing fought hard for second place. Detroit Dum Dums finally clinched 2nd place with only 16 laps ahead of CLR. What a finish!

[ElSecundo]

Congrats to SCC! They were absolutely brilliant from start to finish, and they really earned both the win and the world record. The cool thing is that they have fun doing it, which helps make it fun for everybody involved. They also have a unique and dedicated sense of color coordination, taken to a new high this year….or maybe a new low, not sure. ;)

Can’t thank John Kroppe (MobyDick) for inviting me to be part of his team. He’s a superb car builder, and I’d love to drive on his team with Dave, Jim, Rob, and Art again. Really enjoyed it, even the tricky parts in the middle of the race when we were struggling for grip. It was a fantastic effort to bring the car back. When John says it was a team effort to bring that car home in second, it really was – and all the drivers in the final round delivered some clutch drives under some serious pressure (and on very little sleep). They were much better under pressure than “The Button Man”. :lol:

Already looking forward to the next one. Thanks, Mike, for putting this on!

[mikeinclover]

I would like to thank all the guys for showing up for this event it really means a lot to me and Art. It was a great race this year, I am always looking for input on how to improve next years event if we can. As with every 24 Hour race I saw a lot of planning and work as the race progressed from all the teams. I must say I really was glad to see that the guys from Cincinnati did not get so discouraged with the race that they gave up, they just kept on working on there car to make it better all night.
I would like to say a big congrats to the SCC team on the win and on the world record. I am proud to say that we once again have the fastest 1/32 track in the world. I can not wait for next years race. I will post more later just wanted to say thanks to everyone.
Mike
Clover Leaf Racing

[SlotCarCorner]

First, a big "thank you" to Mike Stott and Art Roberts of Clover Leaf Racing fame for hosting the 3rd Annual Michigan 24. They are terrific hosts and know how to put on a first class event. They are also top notch racers - Mike was part of the Clover Leaf Raceway (CLR) team and Art race with the DDD team. Mike and Art just keep raising the bar for this type of event - this year's event was no exception. Everything went very smoothly and everyone had a great time.

It was great to spend time again with fellow racers we met during the first two events. We also had the opportunity to meet some first time participants and hope they will continue to be part of future Michigan 24 events.

Clover Leaf Raceway is a blast to race on - it has great "flow" and is very fast. It is also very unforgiving which is part of its appeal - miss a braking point and you'll pay the price. A great venue for this type of event.

Racing at night is even more challenging and just as much fun. Surprisingly, lap times and totals are very close to those when racing during the "daylight" (basement lights on).

At any given time, there are 5 racers and 5 track marshals focused on the on-track racing. Which means there are another 15-20 participants watching the race, eating, sleeping, or just talking with one another. You don't have to listen very long to hear participants laughing and having a good time. Yes this is a competitive event and every team is racing to win. Yet the competitive side of the event never comes close to overshadowing racers just having fun!

I want to give a shout out to John Kroppe (aka Moby Dick) and Steve Plasko who raced on either side of me throughout the event (6 heats x 48 minutes per heat = almost 5 hours). There was a LOT of good hard, close racing. We could have literally taken each other out hundreds of times with just the blip of the trigger while running side-by-side (especially at the speeds we were running) yet everyone worked very hard to ensure passes were clean. Close racing is fun racing - I look forward to racing with both of you next year!!

Finally, I want to acknowledge the Cincinnati Slot Rods team. While we don't have a formal Sportsmanship award, I know I speak for the other 4 teams when I say the Cincy team would be the unanimous winners. Just to come to an event like this for the first time can be incredibly intimidating - they didn't know any of the other racers, they'd never raced on the track, building a car to the rules, etc.. They struggled with the car setup and had a few setbacks during the race but they never quit. They continued to chip away at improving the car setup and their driving improved as they became more and more familiar with the track. And while they may have finished in fifth place, their perseverance and positive attitude earned them a great deal of respect from the other racers. Well done - hopefully we'll see you at next year's event!

Looking forward to next year's Michigan 24!!

:clap: