Area 51 24 Hour Group C Race this weekend

[Pappy]

I recently had a Proxy race here on my track with 22 cars. We started with the slowest qualifying cars first. You would think that as the track got rubbered in the cars would hook up better. By the time we ran the last heat (5th heat) which were the fastest qualifying cars the temperature in the room had gone up 2 degrees which you would also think would make the cars hook up better, but the track got real slippery. The winning car came from the second to last heat which was run before we broke for lunch and the room had only gone up in temperature 1 degree. My car qualified second fastest but ended up 6th. Just 2 degrees make one hell of a difference.

Weird huh!

Butch

[cgingras]

We don't really know what happened. It was the same body and the same chassis. Benoit replaced the gears, the guide, the motor (rule change) and rerouted the wires (lead wire and light wiring) to make sure everything would be tough enough for a 24-hour race.

On our tracks in Québec, the car was as fast as last year, maybe even faster. But the tracks we have are very different than Area 51 so this is not a good point of comparison. We had 4 cars ready for the race this year, all were about the same overall speed on Area 51 but had different handling characteristics. We made the final choice one hour before the race to go with last year's Lancia as this was the car that offered us the easiest handling (very important in endurance racing).

Obviously, even if we knew that silicone tires could last the whole race, we had prepared 4 pairs on top of the pair we used last year (which was still perfectly good to go). During the race, we switched to other tires (identically prepared) with no change in the handling; we even tried last year's tires at one point. So, the tires were not the explanation for our diminished handling. The traction in and out the corners was the problem.

During my dusk heats, with the lighting change and my driver station's position, I started noticing that the reflection of the temporary silicone trace left on the track after the car passed in a corner was not a continuous line but rather a somewhat dotted line. This meant that we had some hop on the rear axle of the car, more pronounced in the left turns.

At this point, Benoit has not yet analyzed the car but it was probably a problem with a loose bushing or a very slightly bent axle. This is MY early diagnostic but Benoit is the car builder for us.

But as you say, car tuning at this level of competition is an art as much as it is a science. We were very (very!) proud last year when we won this race on Area 51 and we knew it would not be easy to win it again this year. I'm still convinced that our driving is good enough to win this race and we were probably the team with the less «offs» again this year. But just like in F1, you also need a perfect car to win against the other great teams and we didn't have it this year.

Loose bushings, not-perfectly-straight chassis, bent axle, bent motor pod, so many possibilities could explain what happened. This has just fueled our desire to do better next year. Watch for us!

[Smokeio]

First and foremost, thank you to Steve for organizing and putting on this event. I know that Steve put a great deal of work into everything as it showed. The event ran smoothly, everything was organized, food, coffee, and drinks were available from when we got there on Friday morning until we left on Sunday. Special thanks to Steve’s wife Holly who was there the entire time helping and cleaning up after us.

This and the other events have turned into more than just a race. This is not a competition but a chance for friends to get together to enjoy the hobby. I enjoyed seeing and spending time with everyone (even Almanfan 55). The only thing we could do with less of is the snoring during the sleep periods…..

In terms of the competition, I hope everyone gets a chance to experience what our team did during this event. The Equipe Quebec team set the bar pretty high last year and we knew all of the teams would be fast this year. A lot of time and effort was put into the car this year in an effort to win the title back. I am really proud of our team because ALL of our drivers drove a great race and put a lot of laps up on the board. Both Mongo and Ray had personal issues that I thought would take precedence over this race but both were not going to let our club down and participated in the event. Mongo had never driven the car in practice and didn’t even have a controller setup. His first lap in the race was the first time he drove the car and controller! Ray amazed all of us setting fast lap each heat and racking up the lap totals heat after heat. The car turned out to be a joy to drive and the track conditions near perfect (thanks to Mike Stott) so it was relatively easy to drive at 100% and make laps. We were all able to increase our lap totals each heat as the race went on.

Congratulations to all of the people who participated. As you know, this is a big accomplishment to compete and finish an event like this.

Again, thanks to Steve for organizing and putting together the fundraiser. My hats off to Quick Slicks for matching the pot. I will enjoy my lollipops!

I look forward to next year!

Mike

[Pappy]

[Almafan 55]

Hello from England, now that I'm officially been knighted Lollipop royalty!!! A big thanks to Holly! She the one that did all the work, Steve just gave me a hard time! :angry-tappingfoot: Each year you have raise bar for this event! It takes a lot of work before,during,and most after! I can't believe you invite us back! SCC & Quick Slicks are 1st class!
My Highlights of this years event are, streaming live, what an addition this has made to Slotcar races everywhere. :music-rockout: the new race coordinator, I only seen a little of what this can do and way cool.:dance: Being able to race with our friend Benoit cancer FREE another year!!! :auto-driving: getting a racing lesson from the Big Cheese himself Smokieo! :text-thankyouyellow: you will always be the Big Cheese! Watching the friendships grow, eating,joking, and laughing! That's what this is all about.
As for the race,yes Cloverleaf was on a mission after last years disappointment. We had our best finish,improve our lap times & totals,an learned a lot for next year. Great job team! :auto-driving:
I had the opportunity to drive Smokieo's practice car.a blind man could have drivin that car with out deslotting. An amazing build. My vote for rookie of the race has to be Corey, he came to this race having to build his 1st 24 hr car for a track he's never raced on. Talking about getting thrown in the fire. His car lasted all 24 hrs! Great job Corey. On our 14 hr ride home he was discussing and ordering cars & parts for next year. Looking for big improvements from team H.O.S.T
Thanks Again,see you in April! Lord Duke of lollipops Rob
P.S. If anyone wants to hear the story,Ask the Queen for an Appointment. And donate to a Charity!

[Smokeio]

Some additional thoughts and comments…..

Lancia – I have been a fan and have raced the Slot.it 956 since its inception. It’s a fast car that I believed nothing could beat it. During last years race I watched the Quebec car and where it really outshined the competition was how smooth it was is the esses. For this year I built and a 956. 962, and a Lancia and tested them all. Again the difference was how smooth and stable the Lancia was in the esses. There are some difference as the Lancia is a little wider but the front to rear weight balance is close. I hope for next year to test a Jag and maybe the newer Lancia but they way that car ran and handled, I will be difficult to top.

Quebec Team – Rob and I had a long conversation on what could have been wrong with the cars and our only conclusion was it had to be the way the tires where prepped (the only difference between this year and last year is who prepped your tires). After the race I spoke to Beniot and he showed my how he prepped the tires and everything looked and sounded like he prepped them properly. He even showed me his setup for polishing the tires which was much better than how I do it! I am shocked you tried and raced with the tires from last year. The outside tire had to have been worn and the balance on the car had to be off no matter what side you put that worn tire on. I know these tires are good but 24 hours of racing on the outside tire is a killer and it had to have been worn.

Piranha Motor – What a great idea to spec a motor as all of the cars had the same speed down the straight away. The Piranha motor is also smooth and easy to drive so it made it easy for the car builder and the drivers. There were also no motor failures which I think is a first for an event like this. This is amazing for such an inexpensive motor.

Live Streaming – Pretty neat stuff but as a competitor, what’s really neat is to be able to go back and watch your heats and the lap times. I’ll admit to watching every lap of my last heat!

Data – For those of you who competed, Christian has every single lap for ever heat recorded on a spreadsheet! Between the video playback and the data, I’m on data overload!

Race Coordinator – This has to be one of the best race programs out there. You can see a lot of thought was put into this program and it worked flawlessly. It’s even smart enough not to count the "fast lap time" after a track call.

Rookie Of The year – I also vote for Corey for Rookie Of The year. I saw him working hard throughout the practice and the race to get his car better.

[cgingras]

[Smokeio]

[SlotCarCorner]

[Pappy]

[mikeinclover]

Butch, I don't think they are quite as fast but very close. Piranha may have something new in the pipeline stay tuned.

[Smokeio]

[RichD]

I believe that the BB blue can motors have been discontinued. I was using one that tached at 23.0 K at 12 volts and it failed with less than an hour running time. The problem was motor brush dust shorting the commutator, I had to take the motor apart to fix that, spraying the com with contact cleaner did not work. The motor did not seem to come back to 100% after cleaning. The lowest revving Pirhana motor that I tested (out of 6) turned 23.3 K, I have two that did 23.5 K and one that is good for 23.9K. The motor is hard to beat for the money and it even comes with leads.

[Slot_It_bob]

Do you have a list of controllers used in the race?

[cgingras]