Round 5 T/A U2 - Woodland Trace Raceway, Winston-Salem, NC

[Fast Co.]

The U2 proxy cars arrived at my place moments ago. The shipping carton appears to be in excellent condition. I will unpack the cars later today and inspect and test them before the end of the day tomorrow. And I'll try to get them qualified later this week. Will aim for a race date of Thursday, September 10th.
Steve

[Brumos RSR]

Steve, thanks for posting this

[Fast Co.]

No problem Tony.

[Fast Co.]

This afternoon I inspected all of your cars, adjusted braids where necessary, and took each one for a short spin to determine whether they are in proper operating condition. All cars seem to be in appropriate race condition with the following few exceptions:

Car # 4 (Dogsbody) The rear tire on the passenger side shows evidence of rubbing the wheel arch. This is affecting handling in the corners, causing the car to hop and sometimes deslot and it is probably robbing the car of speed in the straights. There is not enough room to move the tire in closer to the chassis to where the rub will not occur. The tire could be profiled on its outer edge to eliminate the body rub.



Car# 10 (JTK) The tires are unusually gummy along a thin strip (about 2mm wide) of the contact patch on the inner side of each tire. I'm not sure what would cause this. I suspect this condition is hindering the cars performance as the tires appear to be wearing at a higher rate here than along the rest of the contact patch and they are boogering up.



Car# 43 (Modernslots) The car arrived with both body posts detached from the body.

[Dogsbody]

Hmm, something must've moved somewhere. Do what you need to do. If I incur a penalty so be it. Thanks.

[Fast Co.]

I can profile the tire a bit. That will help. Or you can let the body do it's thing and eventually it will self correct. I'm ok with profiling the tire for you if Brumos RSR is ok with that.

[JTK]

Thanks Brumos. I'll be back. Hard part is picking which proxy to join. Seems I'm already somewhat equipped for another 914 proxy.

[Pepsi 62]

looking forward to round 5, see if the Cortina can pick up a few more places from the bottom

[noddaz]

Let's see. I could sneak down to NC and swap motors when no one was looking and redeem myself... Muh, ha ha ha...

[Fast Co.]

That's a fun little car you entered. I'm glad you entered it. But for next year... maybe a Coyote V8 in that thing would give it the grunt it needs?

[noddaz]

It was built for a local class with a 14.7k rpm limit. Of course I have yet to run in the local class it was built for.

[Fast Co.]

Well gents, Round 5 qualifying is in the books. Let me say there are some fantastic cars on this grid.

RobNC's 914 is a rocket. We knew that, but having finally had a chance to drive it, I see why he has been dominating the series.

Audi1 arrived with another bella macchina. I'm not surprised, after having driven his Ferrari 330 P4 in the FvF proxy. His 914 is silky smooth and whisper quiet. And it has gobs of speed and grip. It has to be one of the easiest cars I've ever driven. Nice work!

The battle for that third step on the podium is going to be fierce. Modernslot's 914 is consistently fast and very, very grippy, but Leadfinger and Big Duhg are in his draft and have a good shot at it. And then there are a whole slew of other 914s that will be battling for position, anyone of which might find there way to the podium.

In what is becoming an alternate class of cars, Courtney S, Gascarnut, and Double-B are running within about a tenth of one another and anyone of them can take the class win. It's going to be a competitive race and I can't wait to get it started!

We're on schedule for 10 September, 7 pm. I would love to provide a live-feed, but I don't want to make any promises that I might not be able to keep.

In racing, anything can happen. Stay tuned and good luck to all contenders!

Steve

[Brumos RSR]

Steve, thanks for qualifying the cars.....definitely looking forward to the Datsuns and the Alfa fighting it out tat will be a great race. Based on median times we could see some great racing throughout the field. NEW RULE the number 2 must run with a left rear and a right front only and no guide! Congratulations to RobNC on his TQ and Audi1 and his teammate Modernslots. Looking forward to the 10th. No sleep until then.

[Pepsi 62]

Well done to the top three, yet again the #2 and #40 have the edge on the rest of the pack. Looking forward to the 10th for race night

[Fast Co.]

All is quiet at Woodland Trace Raceway today so I thought I'd take you for a few laps around the circuit.

Footage shot with an iPhone 7 taped to the chassis of a 1/24 scale BRM Porsche 917. The camera is a bit shaky, but you get the idea. We're going around at 7.5v so that you can actually see something of the track.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lA2RY5iTYsY

[noddaz]

Time to start working on my next U2 Trans Am Mini. Just a peek.

[Audi1]

That cracked me up!! Good "mini" choice there.............! Denny would be proud!

[Audi1]

I'm not sure how I missed this thread, but....

Congrats to RobNC on his TQ! and to Modernslots for his qualy podium! Looking forward to the race on the 10th.

Allan

[cj74]

Thanks for the qualifying results.

Congrats to the really fast guys at the top!

I may get started on my next Escort before this one is over. The Capri is probably a more likely competitor for this field, but I had a lot of fun with the Escort build.

[Fast Co.]

We're still on schedule for tonight's running of Round 5. Racing will start between 6:30 and 7 pm, depending on when the drivers can get here.

We may or may not live stream the event. I should know after a test run this evening before 6:30 pm, and I will let you know later.

We're going to divide the cars into 2 groups of 9 and one group of 8. The slowest qualifiers will be in the group of 8 and will race one another, followed by the other two groups. We're doing this to avoid unnecessary carnage to the faster qualifiers, as a few of the slower cars were prone to frequent de-slots.

Race results will be posted no later than tomorrow evening.

Good luck to all entrants!

PS - A pic of the top three qualifiers...

[docdoom]

good luck all, most of us out here on the west coast mostly concerned with all the crazy fires here. looking out the window looks the end of the world.... can 2020 get any more crazy...

[Fast Co.]

Be safe Doc. I love the west coast. Lived in California for about 12 years and I have a daughter who lives in WA state.

[Brumos RSR]

I have more grasshoppers around that are at least an inch and a half long than I’ve ever seen before. So yes....yes it can get crazier 😀

[Fast Co.]

Ok guys, looks like we've got the live feed figured out for tonight's race. Go to FB and search for "Slot Car Addicts of North Carolina" and it should take you to our club page. The video will be live streaming there. We should have the race underway no later than 7 pm.

Good luck to all entrants!

Steve