Race Report: 2024 Summer Extreme Series, Round 4 (NOT!)

Round 4 looked like it wouldn’t happen, with very few RSVPs and then a couple of RSVPs bailing out at the last minute.

As it turned out, three teams and five drivers appeared in the paddock: GP Sports, Team Johnson, and Team Home Cook’n. With the required amount of drivers, we started the day with our new format.

Team Johnson recently invested in a Viper V-SPEC Level 4 car and was eager to get it out on the track to see what they could do. Sportsman driver Jared Johnson started their first practice session and clicked off his first laps in the 6-sec range. GP Designs stepped up to help the team dial in the car. By the end of the practice session, Jared was clicking off laps in the 4.6-sec area. Just 4/10’s of second off the lap record (4.251). Jared enjoyed his test & tune session and, with the help of GP Designs (George Peters), had the car in an excellent position for a possible pole position for the start of Round 4 of the series.

Round 4 Feature (Main) Event Short Story

120 Lap Feature “Main” Event
Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Jared Johnson*	120	59	588.969
2	George Peters	120	50	592.295
3	Steve Stewart	117	45	603.752
4	Madeline JohnsonJ	115	34	591.528

^* Sportsman Driver, ^J Junior Driver

Qualifying

We changed the qualifying format for this round. Instead of a 7-lap session, drivers had a 5-lap session, two warmup laps, and three laps on the clock. Of course, if you have a crash, spin, or other mishap in the last three laps, your average lap time will suffer greatly.

Track: SR3 Road Course Fast Esses (Chicane)
Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan
Descr: 5 laps, average time of last three laps
Name	Lap Time	Speed (Mph)	Place
Jared Johnson*	4.617	713	1
George Peters	4.710	699	2
Steve Stewart	4.854	678	3
Madeline JohnsonJ	5.247	627	4
Matthew JohnsonJ	6.470	509	5

^* Sportsman driver, ^J Junior driver

As expected, Jared set the fastest lap of the day and would start Round 4 on the pole…

Qualifier Heat 2 (80 laps, winner transfers to Main)

Team Johnson’s Junior drivers were impressive in the first qualifier against two Expert drivers vying for the single transfer spot to the main event. George won all four of the segments, Madeline came in second in four. Matthew Johnson found his groove in the final segment and put some serious pressure on Madeline, finishing third but just one lap down and posting a slightly faster median lap time than Expert George Peters.

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	80	64	453.176
2	Madeline Johnson	75	52	464.196
3	Matthew Johnson	57	40	472.893

 

 

 

Okay, just kidding…

The only thing authentically written above is that Team Johnson dialed in their new Viper V-SPEC car and clicked off some speedy laps during an excellent track day. Jared Johnson is rapidly getting his groove in slot car racing and will soon be making his first podium visit.

Okay, shut up and drive!