Tourist Trophy 2020 / Canadian National GT3 Race

[Giddyup]

*Mods – feel free to move this to the Regional and National Championship forum, please & thank you*

Hey folks,

The invites and rules went out early this month for the third installment of the Tourist Trophy! What is the Tourist Trophy you say? Well, it’s the best thing since sliced bread LOL. Teams are invited from across western Canada, including clubs from Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Racers will compete in a team-based enduro against some of the best drivers and tuners in the country.

This year’s TT is going to be hosted by the Greater Vancouver Slot Car Club (GVSCC). The GVSCC is eager to take back their crown while the boys from Slot Car Racing Edmonton (SCRE) are just as eager to defend their title ;O) Can’t blame them, the TT is sure purdy!



The race class will again be NSR Classics. A first for the TT, a consistent formula and class for teams to improve upon from last year. May it bring a wrinkle and increased parity amongst the teams.

The GVSCC host track will be the new Tanex Raceways, a routed 4 lane beast, with the longest lane being 98.5’!






Some key timelines are coming up, first is to register a team. Registration date is March 15. After which we’ll form and layout the logistics. But at a high level, the race date will be Sat. Aug.29 and be preceded by a few days of track practice. Handout tires and motors will happen in advance as in prior years, likely May/June. The race schedule and practice times etc. will happen in April and we’ll do a randomized draw for starting spots and lane rotation again in early April. June 1 will be a key date will team roster/driver order, cars/liveries being declared.

We will likely cap this at 7/8 teams (of 4 drivers) so teams aren’t sitting out for hours and to keep the day to a reasonable length. The GVSCC host squad will get 2 team slots as all hosting clubs do, if they desire. If we fewer than the capped number of teams, but interest remains, then we’ll see about putting together a team of free agents to fill out the field and/or open this up to other teams outside of the region.

I am also very happy to announce that some of our key sponsors that help to make this happen are returning this year, big shout outs to Andrea at NSR and Lynne & Robert from LEB Hobbies for their continued support!

And if that’s not enough, we have something VERY special planned as part of the TT weekend, in what would be a first in Canada. More news on that as it unfolds ;O)

Until then, time to start thinking about working on a car and maybe, yes…some trash talk!



Cheers, eh!
Tom

[Giddyup]

Hey folks, it's been awful quiet on the TT front lately. Seems like everyone is staying safe and spending more time with their hobby...a silver lining if there ever was one!.

I've sent messages out to some key contacts within clubs but thought I'd post here as well so everyone can get an update.

Obviously with COVID-19 a monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix. So I'll summarize where we're at right now, and what the near term holds and try to answer some questions people will most likely be thinking of.

Is the Tourist Trophy still a go?

The event date (Aug.29) is sufficiently far in the future and given what we see in terms of China coping and now starting to recover, COVID-19, the biggest unknown seems to be the US handles its outbreak, and what impacts trend north of the border. But at this point, we aren't cancelling the TT nor are we postponing it.

Our sponsors are on board - so a big thanks to NSR, LEB Hobbies, Paul Gage and SlotCarMods Magazine!!!! 👍

So right now it's status quo, we'll still plan for the same date.

Team Entry Fees - I thought payment was already due?

Given the circumstances, team payments have been postponed for now. The event budget is being revisited to see how far we can delay spending , which is usually when we start mailing motors and tires out to respective teams (late April/early May).


How many teams are racing this year? And from where?

Seven teams. Two from Vancouver, two from Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver Island and a Calgary team with a Kelowna castoff (since neither club could field a full team).

So really, at this point, no impact to the TT.

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On a separate note, some positive news to share. As part of the TT weekend, we're doubling down with a first ever NSR Canadian National race!



Special thanks go out to NSR and their Canadian distributor, LEB Hobbies for supporting this to help make it a reality 🤩 It's been a particularly trying time for NSR these past few months given what's been happening in Italy and the lockdown they're still in, so their support despite everything they are having to endure is just enormous.

The race itself will be an individual race, as opposed to the team-based TT event. The race class will be the vaunted NSR GT3 class. The race is open to all comers, not just TT participants and will take place on the same Vancouver host track as the TT. You can see pictures of the track above in the first post.

Rules have been vetted and drafted and are posted here. Any questions can be emailed to tourist.trophy.canadaATgmail.com (replace AT with @).

With COVID-19, we're waiting on starting registration for a bit, and will post any updates here once it opens.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe!

[Dodgefarmer]

[QUOTE=Giddy

a Calgary team with a Kelowna castoff (since neither club could field a full team).

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So would that be a Calowna team or a Kelgary team ? LOL

Randy

[Giddyup]

[QUOTE=Dodgefarmer;n29760][QUOTE=Giddy

a Calgary team with a Kelowna castoff (since neither club could field a full team).

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So would that be a Calowna team or a Kelgary team ? LOL

Randy


[/QUOTE]

Hmm...wheels are turning now! How about Calgana, maybe Calgawn?

With time on our hands maybe we should start a naming contest … I kinda like Team Misfit. Right now we have a country & western singer lookalike, a mini robot, a butcher and a badger on the team.

I can just hear the jokes now...

[Giddyup]

Hi folks,

Like many of you, we have witnessed the current COVID-19 situation progress and persist much longer than anticipated. We’ve being giving the event weekend a lot of thought over the last few weeks with respect to travel restrictions, protective personal equipment (PPE) and safety issues with restaurants and accommodations, not to mention what is possible regarding social distancing measures within the host club space with a group of our size.

We’ve considered the legal liability issues, use of possible legal waivers (including consultation with a lawyer) and the implications for the track space owner who has his commercial business in the same building.

We’ve progressed to the point where a decision must be made and at this time, it is with great sadness that we will be cancelling this year’s event weekend. While extremely disappointing, we feel this is the most prudent choice at this time. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are now turning our attention to 2021.

Stay safe and be well my friends.

[SuperSlab]

Very sad but it is the right thing to do. While it would have been great to see everybody again, a "better safe than sorry" approach is VERY appropriate in this case.

Thanks again Tom for all your hard work and being the initiator and driving force behind this great annual event. Definitely one of the highlights on the slot car calendar for me.

Stay safe!

Alwyn

[Aloha]

Tom
Sorry to hear of the postponement of this great event that I have watched from afar. Knowing you and your group it will be bigger and better than ever next year.
Aloha
Dale

[chrisguyw]

Tom , You and your group made the right decision

Stay Safe
Chris Walker

[ken weir]

So sad to see but definitely the correct decision. Thanks for all your hard work involved with the planning and organizing stage of the event. Hope everyone stays safe!

[Giddyup]

Thanks guys, certainly was a difficult decision.

The Edmonton crew seems to be taking it the hardest though...