Race Report: 2022 NASCAR MADness Series, Round 1

PR-5 Feature event starting grid. Top to bottom, Kevin Webster, Brad Sandhal, Jordan Walker, Home Cook’n, George Peters.

 

 

Wow! What an action-packed Day!

We had a smaller field than usual but it was as stacked as ever. The good news was that we were running an oval layout, which allowed us to use wireless call-buttons in lieu of turn marshals. Surprisingly, this actually worked out pretty well and we were able to run six races, including a 480-lap PR-5 Feature race with fuel stops and plenty of drama.

Sadly, the Race Director failed to get many pictures on the day, sorry.

Short story of results are below. George Peters leads in points after Round 1. Things may have been a bit different had Brad Sandhal not had to abandon the final two races  on the schedule due to family commitments. George dominated the NC-2 “Lites” class.

Overall Results and standings after Round 1:
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 1063 69 4704.665
2 Brad Sandahl 900 55 3561.313
3 Kevin Webster 839 47 3798.461
4 Jordan Walker 603 25 3717.603
5 Steve Stewart 1207 90 4436.628
Race 1: AFX Magna-Traction Jalopies (IROC)

These were very cool Mercury sedans prepared by GP Designs (Georgie) that were really smooth and fun to drive. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 147 16 695.992
2 Brad Sandahl 143 13 725.377
3 George Peters 139 11 717.186
4 Jordan Walker 116 7 756.994
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” 18v

These cars are always fun and even more so on an oval. Brad had a slight advantage in this one since he was running a Fray-style resin body while the rest of us used NASCAR-style bodies.  Kevin Webster bested George for the final podium spot in this hotly contested race. Brad showed he hadn’t lost any of his 2021 Rookie of the Year luster, handily winning the race. (Detailed Results)

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Brad Sandahl 150 16 629.653
2 Steve Stewart 135 13 636.91
3 Kevin Webster 121 11 644.259
4 George Peters 120 7 749.468
5 Jordan Walker 100 6 705.083
Race 3: OS3 TFX “Stock” House Camaros (IROC)

These are also way fun cars on the oval. Stock isn’t exactly stock since we allow Black Dragon motor magnets to make these cars a little faster and better handling than “box stock.” Brad Sandahl actually won the final heat but some bad luck and mishaps kept him from pressuring Home Cook’n too much. Of course, George, no stranger to T-Jets, took the final podium spot. Kevin Webster was very close throughout the race and even managed a second place finish in Heat 5. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 149 16 784.276
2 Brad Sandahl 141 13 793.091
3 George Peters 113 11 795.812
4 Kevin Webster 108 7 799.975
5 Jordan Walker 83 6 808.517
Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” Feature Race 16.5v

The “extended” feature race was–as always–full of mayhem, vicious crashes, and major amounts of adrenaline. This race, by far, is the most intense race of the day simply because of the number of laps and the overall duration of the race. Shockingly, George managed to finish on the podium in spite of being heavily distracted throughout the race trying to help/coach Jordan. who was not having a good go of it at all. Jordan actually started out well and was in third place overall after three segments but gradually lost concentration and focus as the grueling race went on. Home Cook’n miraculously avoided much of the carnage the others had to contend with to secure the win in the very fast and furious feature race. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 480 16 1408.693
2 Brad Sandahl 466 13 1413.192
3 George Peters 414 11 1435.543
4 Kevin Webster 392 7 1418.129
5 Jordan Walker 304 6 1447.009
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lites” NASCAR 16.5v

With Brad out of the line-up and Jordan opting to marshal instead of driving, George was able to concentrate on his own racing, and nicely won the NC-2 race, winning three of the six segments. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 147 16 447.538
2 Steve Stewart 146 13 447.971
3 Kevin Webster 108 11 453.652
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v

The final race of the day was a vintage-class race using our Tomahawk platforms with NASCAR-style hardbodies. George Peters clearly had the horsepower in this one but rear tire troubles plagued him throughout the six 25-lap segments. Home Cook’n manage to secure the win over the hard charging duo. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 150 16 462.786
2 George Peters 130 13 559.118
3 Kevin Webster 110 11 482.446

Many thanks to those of your who participated in making Round 1 a success. The NASCAR theme seems to be enjoyable to everyone and the oval both a fun and challenging course to race on.

Round 2 is slated for June 11, 2022 and will be run on the SR3 straight road course. Stay tuned for details.

Okay, shut up and drive!

NASCAR MADNess Series, Round 1 Tomorrow!

Hi All,

It’s a good thing we’re running on the oval since we’ll be short a few of the usual suspects. This is going to be a wide-open series with several drivers already warning of missing more than one event.

When: Saturday, May 28, 2022

Event Schedule:

10:00 – Gates open, track power on, practice starts
11:15 – Drivers Meeting/Announcements
11:30 – Racing Begins (30-lap heats, fuel):

Race 1: JL or AFX M/T Gravity Car (IROC) 18v
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” NASCAR bodies (if available)  18v (♣)
Race 3: Viper-Jet “NASCAR Lexan” 12v

Lunch Break

Qualifying: one warmup lap, then three laps under green. Average time of the three laps. The fast qualifier starts on the pole for the feature race.

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” 16.5v **Feature Race** (♣)
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 NASCAR “Lites” 15v
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v (Tomahawk rules)

♣ Denotes Concourse d’ Elegance Points

Could be that some class races are replaced with IROC races. Feel free to bring any IROC sets you’d like to run.

Track open tonight for those of you who need some time on SR3.

Okay, shut up and drive!

TFX “Modified” Testing Yielding Interesting Results

OS3 TFX with a Wizzard E-Jet front-end, Black Dragon magnets, Titanium axles, and a Tornado 16.5-ohm arm.

Yea, I know, we haven’t raced this class…yet.

We’ve raced the TFX “Lite” platform, which is virtually a stock OS3 TFX platform with Black Dragon magnets instead of the factory-installed Grey Dragon magnets. The extra downforce makes the car much easier to drive and increases lap times considerably.

The TFX “Modified” is the next logical step for those who enjoy T-Jet-style racing but want to go a bit faster.  Our rules allow quite a few mods but do not allow any stronger magnets than the OS3 Black Dragons.  We also do not allow Dual-Compound tires.

Best lap on SR2. Top-level Fray cars have clicked-off 5.7-sec laps on the same layout but with Dual-Compound tires and Dash Killer Bee magnets.

In spite of those restrictions, my initial testing with a “Modified” TFX, produced lap times fairly close to a top-level Fray T-Jet on SR2. This is very encouraging since the cost of a competitive “Modified” TFX platform is roughly $100 compared to a comparable Fray T-Jet at ~$250 or much, much more. Yes, my testing was without a Lexan body.

I suspect one could get the TFX “Modified” platform into the 5.7-sec/lap range (w/Body) with only a bit more development and tuning. I haven’t tried a Dynamic balanced/trued arm yet but I suspect there will be diminishing returns there due to the limitations of the Black Dragon motor magnets.

My current “Modified” parts list:

    • Black Dragon Motor Magnets
    • Wizzard “E-Jet” Brass Front-end
    • OS3 Tornado 16.5-ohm Armature
    • Wizzard Titanium axles
    • SlotTech Comm Brushes
    • Viper Teflon Armature Spacer
    • RT-170 Crown Gear

“Modified” rules allow a Lexan body using OS3 “stick-on” body mounts, which helps keep costs down but detailing possibilities limitless.

Okay, we’re not racing this class in Round 1 but I’d really like to get this platform added to the mix at Stewart Raceway at some point. It’ll take some testing and tuning so let me know if you’d like some extra track time to get a car developed and ready to race.

This class is for the more hardcore Slothead and fits into the HOPRA “Super Stock” level of racing.

Okay, shut up and drive!

New IROC Sets To Support SR3

The SR2 TFX “Box Stock” set is getting expanded for SR3.

It wasn’t long after I decided on a new 6-lane track that I realized I not only had to spend a lot of money on the track but I also had to update my fleet of IROC cars to go with it–Cha-Ching!

Yea, I could stick with the 4-lane fleets I have but that’s no fun.  So I’m slowly adding to the house fleets for SR3 while begging Georgie and Kevin to build or bring their 6-lane IROC sets over for us to play with.

The above photo shows the existing SR2 TFX IROC set, which most of us have raced many times. The two cars in the middle are new additions to support SR3’s two extra lanes. Georgie is currently detailing a late-model Camaro body in green and may also detail the orange late-model Camaro shown above. We’ll then have a nice six-car set of box-stock TFX cars to IROC race with on SR3. These cars have the stock Gray Dragon motor magnets and are much looser than the TFX “Lite” class we currently race regularly with.

I’m also adding to my fleet of Jag Hobbies TR-3’s. These cars are pretty cool and showcase the Jag Hobbies Augoran short-wheelbase hardbody, which is a very cool body. The pics here are the orange and green lane cars needed for a complete SR3 set. The cars are basically stock but have Jag double-flange rear hubs and independent front ends.

We’re not likely to race these cars in Round 1 of the coming NASCAR MADness Series but we’ll run them at some point during the series, for sure.

Okay, shut up and drive!

SR3 Oval Track Day Report, NASCAR MADness Series Preview

Thank you to all those who showed up for the second Track Day on SR3. We didn’t do any racing but we ran a whole bunch of laps and tested/tuned a few IROC sets to support the upcoming series.

We had a few new drivers show up to check out slot car racing also. Another neighbor, Jared Johnson, stopped by and ran a whole bunch of laps on the oval along with his two kids, Madeline and Mathew. Mathew is only about 2-3 years old but he managed to click off a whole bunch of laps. Madeline clicked off over 600 laps and always wanted to go faster. We’ll have to get the other neighbor kids and my grandsons over for a “Kids Race” sometime.

New driver, Jerry Pearson, made his second visit to SR3 and cut quite a few laps with various loaner cars.  Jerry informed us he is planning to build a 4-lane Tomy sectional track soon.  Sounds like Jerry’s interest is solid so hope to see him racing with us soon.

We did experience a technical glitch when three lanes suddenly lost power. Appeared to be one of the two Phidget 0/0/4 relay boards losing communication with the computer and had to be reconnected.  Obviously need to investigate that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Round 1 of our new NASCAR MADness Series is on for next Saturday, May 28, 2022.

Round 1 will feature one “extended” race using the PR-5 “Lite” platform with a NASCAR-style hardbody, expect 50-lap segments and two full rotations for a 300-lap fuel event.

The track layout will be the SR3 Oval course as shown.

When: Saturday, May 28, 2022

Event Schedule:

10:00 – Gates open, track power on, open practice.
11:15 – Drivers Meeting/Announcements.
11:30 – Racing Begins (30-lap heats, fuel):

Race 1: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody (IROC) 15v
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” NASCAR bodies (if available)  18v (♣)
Race 3: Viper-Jet “NASCAR Lexan” 12v (♣)

Lunch Break

Qualifying: one warmup lap, then three laps under green. Average time of the three laps. The fast qualifier starts on the pole for the feature race.

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” 16.5v ***
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 NASCAR “Lites” 15v
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v (Tomahawk rules)

♣ Denotes Concourse d’ Elegance Points
*** Denotes “Extended” Feature Race

Please RSVP for Round 1 here.

Okay, shut up and drive!