Author: Race Director

Just an old slot car racer and Race Director at Stewart Raceway.

Race Report: 2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 2

The series continued to Round 2 on Saturday, February 24 on the SR3 oval course. We had a great showing by nine drivers throughout the day with some very competitive racing, as always.

In the spirit of “open-wheel” racing, we tried to run all open-wheel livery in each official race. However, we didn’t get one of the two IROC sets completed in time so had to substitute the venerable Maximum Leeway late-model sportsman cars for race 1. We did four races in all. Below is the short story but there is a whole lot more to it than the numbers below show.

All races were run with 45-lap heats (segments) and a fuel allocation of 62 laps. In addition, to try to make things even more competitive, Expert drivers were handicapped with a longer fuel refill time than Sportsman drivers, initially set two seconds longer but lowered to one second after the first couple of races.

Overall Short Story

Place Name Laps Points Adjust1 Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 706 231   2285.962
2 Aaron Castro* 695 215   2302.982
3 Eric Lane 628 182   2393.738
4 George Peters* 685 149 61 2270.22
5 Jordan Walker* 584 148   2454.01
7 Jerry Pearson 340 94   1157.006
6 Kevin Webster 483 81 53 1685.595
8 Shaylin Maddox 281 79   1163.514
9 Abe Maddox 255 70   1185.256

* Expert Driver
1 Points lost from a rules infraction

Race 1: Viper Jets with Maximum Leeway Late-model Sportsman Bodies (IROC) (12v)

We started with the fast but loose Viper Jets. Just as much speed and power as a regular V-SPEC Viper but with brass weights instead of traction magnets. As might be expected, most of the Expert drivers came out on top in this one. Sportsman drivers, Eric Lane and Jerry Pearson drove these cars very well and were not too far off the pace considering the experts have far more track time with these cars than they do.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 173 59 649.321
2 George Peters* 177 58 680.100
3 Aaron Castro* 178 55 689.752
4 Eric Lane 155 40 707.989
5 Jerry Pearson 161 38 706.243
6 Jordan Walker* 138 32 691.378

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified” (20v)

Jerry Pearson, Home Cook’n, Eric Lane

Our latest and one of the most competitive classes we run. These cars use the popular Racemasters MegaG+ long-wheelbase chassis with a super-light photopaper body. This creates a much better handling platform and because they are pretty much out-of-the-box chassis’, the racing is extremely close.

Not sure if it had anything to do with the longer fuel stops for Expert drivers or what but Sportsman drivers, Jerry Pearson and Eric Lane put on a show in this one, besting the usual suspects quite convincingly with Jerry tying in points with Home Cook’n but besting him by one lap to take the top podium spot. That’s close racing! Both Jerry and Eric won two segments each. Way to go, Jerry and Eric!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jerry Pearson 179 56 450.763
2 Steve Stewart 178 56 485.505
3 Eric Lane 174 52 480.824
4 Aaron Castro 167 51 462.639
5 George Peters 171 44 458.157
6 Jordan Walker 157 38 511.229
7 Kevin Webster 147 32 490.550

Race 3: MegaG 1.7 “Whelen/SK Modifieds” (IROC) (15v)

Aaron Castro, Home Cook’n, Eric Lane

These cars are another challenging platform with a powerful inline motor, they pack a lot of power but have no traction magnets and run hard-compound (B) Super tires in the rear. Very drifty and difficult to drive.

As usual, expert driver, Aaron Castro dominated this race, winning four segments! The bigger story, however, was Sportsman driver, Eric “Fast” Lane bagging the final podium spot. Eric drove these cars exceptionally well bagging three second-place segment finishes and one third-place. Nice driving, Eric!

Our lone Junior driver, Abe Maddox, bagged two second-place segment finishes while his awesome Mom, Shaylin Maddox also bagged two second-place segment finishes. Very impressive driving by Team Maddox adapting to these difficult-to-master cars.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 180 64 744.708
2 Steve Stewart 177 58 748.214
3 Eric Lane 153 50 794.221
4 Kevin Webster 159 49 792.067
5 George Peters 162 47 744.761
6 Abe Maddox 139 38 779.530
7 Shaylin Maddox 136 38 750.750
8 Jordan Walker 125 32 823.799

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” F1/Indy Lexan (15v)

Home Cook’n, Jordan Walker, Aaron Castro

As always, the V-SPEC class was another barn burner race with literally every driver posting impressive segment finishes. Shaylin Maddox, started her Race 4 rotation in the white lane and posted a perfect 45 laps, the segment win, and the fastest lap of the day at 1.654 seconds–a new SR3 oval course lap record! Way to go, Shaylin!

Unofficial Race Results

Yes, the final race was without a doubt the most intense and hotly contested race but not without some additional drama.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 175 61 387.202
2 Steve Stewart 178 58 402.922
3 Kevin Webster 177 53 402.978
4 Jordan Walker 164 46 427.604
5 Aaron Castro 170 45 405.883
6 Shaylin Maddox 145 41 412.764
7 Eric Lane 146 40 410.704
8 Abe Maddox 116 32 405.726

In the end, expert driver George Peters dominated this one. George took the checkered flag after winning three segments and placing second in another.

However, during the race, several drivers noticed that Jordan Walker’s car seemed exceptionally faster than any other car. The Race Director decided during the race that there would be a technical inspection of all cars entered post-race.

Each car was tested on the house VRP Dynometer and VRP Magnet Downforce Meter. To our surprise, Jordan’s car was well within the typical RPM and downforce ranges for this type of car. However, during the remaining testing and inspection, a balanced and trued armature (Hot Stock) was discovered in race winner George Peter’s car. In addition, when testing Kevin Webster’s car on the downforce meter, his car measured well over double the typical downforce of a Viper “SPEC STOCK” platform.

The “SPEC STOCK” rules we employ at Stewart Raceway do not permit hot stock armatures and Kevin’s downforce readings were well beyond the “SPEC STOCK” rules maximum for this car. Consequently, both drivers were disqualified and lost all points earned in Race 4.  Detailed Results

Race 4 Official Results
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 178 58 402.922
2 Jordan Walker 164 46 427.604
3 Aaron Castro 170 45 405.883
4 Shaylin Maddox 145 41 412.764
5 Eric Lane 146 40 410.704
6 Abe Maddox 116 32 405.726
7 George Peters 175 0 387.202
8 Kevin Webster 177 0 402.978

I’m sure George’s rule infraction was simply an oversight. I’ve raced with George since I got back into slot car racing way back in 2017 and he’s always been very competitive and compliant with all racing rules. I’m sure George either mistakenly chose that particular car or just didn’t notice it had a hot stock armature installed.

As for Kevin’s infraction, I’ve also been racing with Kevin for nearly the same amount of time and he too has always complied with all house and racing rules. I suspect Kevin may have also made a mistake in choosing that particular car for this race.

This type of incident is not uncommon in slot car racing and very often the reason these things happen has much less to do with willful disregard for rules, but usually unintentional or careless selection of cars and/or parts.

Whatever the case may be, all this reinforces the importance of regular technical inspections at official races to help influence drivers and builders to be more diligent in preparing their cars for racing.

2024 Open Wheel Series Points Standings after Round 2

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Kevin Webster 834 229 5302.031
2 Eric Lane 628 182 2393.738
3 Shaylin Maddox 369 123 1877.628
4 Abe Maddox 329 102 1853.759
5 Jerry Pearson 340 94 1157.006
6 Pam Ebert 77 32 695.404
1 Steve Stewart* 1103 467 5903.035
2 Aaron Castro* 1088 429 5904.457
3 George Peters* 1062 336 5886.131
4 Jordan Walker* 584 148 2454.01

* Expert driver

Okay, Round 2 is in the books and the series points just got a bit more interesting after Round 2. Stay tuned for details on next week’s open track day and potential dates for Round 3.

Thank you all for making the trek to Stewart Raceway!  

Okay, shut up and drive!

Track Day Report, February 17, 2024

Aaron and Kevin working on little cars.

What to do on a rainy day? Play with slot cars, of course!

We had no Junior drivers in the mix for the first time in a long time.

Eric “Fast” Lane was the first driver to show up and the first to leave but not without testing out some tweaks to his IROC fleet of “Scooby Doo” vans. Eric and I did one race with those and the tweaks appear to have improved these already fun-to-drive cars. It was just the two of us but we did a full rotation with all six cars to flush them out.

Shortly after Eric departed, Webster Motorsports and then Aaron Castro of Team Forza, showed up. Kevin and Aaron worked on a few MegaG+ cars before racing broke out. The three of us ended up doing about five fuel and tire wear races, running well into the night.

Aaron’s 1965 Shelby GT350 Mustang on a MegaG+ chassis, very cool new AFX/Racemasters offering.

The highlight of the day was adding Tire Wear to the racing formats. This is a feature of SlotTrak that we hadn’t used before. Similar to Fuel Allocation in the Race Management settings, Tire Wear is an additional factor that can be injected in addition to fuel stops. We found out that it works pretty much like the fuel allocation, when you wear out a tire, power is cycled just like running out of fuel. Fuel races make things more interesting, for sure, but adding tire wear into the equation and things get even more interesting and challenging.

New Lexan F1/Indy bodies for the Open Wheel Series fitted to the Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” chassis in the standard wheel base configuration.

Top: Lexan Sprint Car bodies for a, hopefully, Round 2 Tyco 440-X2 IROC set being prepared by George. Bottom: New Lexan for our “SPEC STOCK” Vipers. Hopefully, we’ll have enough to go around and debut them in Round 2.

We started with 25-lap heats and then upped it to 50-lap heats with a 25-lap fuel allocation and a 75-lap tire allocation, with each driver starting the race having one tire 25% worn. Made for some interesting but exciting pit strategies and seemed like more competitive racing. We’ll try this out in Round 2 and see how everyone likes it. Might be a bit too much for the Junior drivers, we’ll see.

New Lexan Sprint Car body on a Tyco 440-X2 narrow chassis.

Okay, Round 2 is currently set for next Saturday, February 24. Stay tuned for more details but this round will be on the SR3 Oval.

Okay, shut up and drive!

2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 1 Video Coverage

Race 2, 3, and 4 are up on Rumble. I’m very sorry, I spaced and didn’t record the first race, which was a great one with seven drivers in the mix.

Also, the Turn 2 camera got knocked out of position so that scene is a bit skewed of where it should be.

NOTE:
Click on the links above the embedded videos to view this full-screen.
Race 2: Viper V-SPEC “F1/Indy” Lexan IROC (c/o Eric “Fast” Lane)

Race 3: MegaG+ 1.7 F1/Indy Hardbody IROC (c/o Webster Motorsports)

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

2024 Open Wheel Series: Round 1, February 10

Pam Ebert, Abe Maddox, Shaylin Maddox

Despite some last-minute bails due to fear of transmitting sickness, we started the racing action with seven drivers. Team Maddox was the most represented with three drivers; including Pam Ebert, Shaylin’s Mom, and Abe’s Grandmother. Pam had never raced slot cars before but she jumped right in after a brief practice session and started her first-ever race. The Maddox/Ebert clan have racing in their genes, Grandpa, Fred Ebert, showed up last year in much the same way and also drove amazingly well having not raced slot cars in many, many years.

The Short Story

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 397 236 3617.073
2 Aaron Castro* 393 214 3601.475
3 George Peters* 377 187 3615.911
1 Kevin Webster 351 148 3616.436
2 Shaylin Maddox 88 44 714.114
3 Pam Ebert 77 32 695.404
4 Abe Maddox 74 32 668.503

* Expert

Race 1: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modifieds”

Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

In the spirit of open wheel racing, we started with our MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified” class (paper bodies). Everybody had been practicing with this car so it was a great choice to kick off official racing with.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 100 64 687.115
2 Aaron Castro 100 58 654.395
3 George Peters 94 55 672.205
4 Kevin Webster 90 44 684.087
5 Shaylin Maddox 88 44 714.114
6 Pam Ebert 77 32 695.404
7 Abe Maddox 74 32 668.503

Even though there were three Experts in this race, Shaylin Maddox, managed to place third in every one of her heats, very impressive driving! Shaylin ended up second in the Sportsman class points, tying class winner, Kevin Webster, on points and just two laps down after 100 laps of racing. Meanwhile, Abe and Pam engaged in another heated battle with Grandma besting young Abe by three laps. (Let’s not tell Abe about this until he’s a bit older.) Detailed Results

Race 2: Viper V-SPEC “Box Stock” F1/Indy (Eric “Fast” Lane IROC set

Aaron Castro, Home Cook’n, George Peters

Team Maddox unfortunately had to bail out early but we forged on with the schedule with Eric’s excellent set of Vipers with F1/Indy Lexan bodies.

This one was pretty much an Aaron Castro show. Aaron won two heats, Home Cook’n won two heats, and they tied on points. However, Home Cook’n faltered in the third segment, losing three laps battling with a hard-charging, George Peters, and Aaron finished all four heats with a perfect 25 laps each. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 100 56 950.478
2 Steve Stewart 97 56 943.948
3 George Peters 97 44 957.695
4 Kevin Webster 88 32 951.598

Race 3: MegaG+ 1.7 “Lites” F1/Indy Hardbodies (Webster Motorsports IROC set)

Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

This IROC set had two very nice cars (orange & green lanes) and two not-so-nice cars (blue & white) lanes. The blue lane car handled great but lacked top-end speed while the white lane car had a bursty powerband that was difficult to manage entering and through corners.

The results below don’t show it but this race came down to the final segment. Aaron Castro went into the final segment just two laps down on Home Cook’n and only three points behind in total points. Not a great position to be in but certainly within reach of the overall win.

Aaron would need to complete all 25 laps and finish two positions ahead of Home Cook’n. The problem for Aaron was his last segment would be in the white lane with a difficult-to-drive car.  Home Cook’n would finish in the orange lane with a very predictable and fast car and George Peters would finish in the green lane with another predictable and fast car.

In the end, the white-lane situation was too much to overcome. Aaron would finish third in the final segment and lose two more laps. George placed second with a perfect 25 laps sealing the deal on the final podium spot. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 100 61 1255.513
2 Aaron Castro 96 53 1264.628
3 George Peters 89 38 1259.671
4 Kevin Webster 83 36 1260.16

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan GTP

Home Cook’n, George Peters, Aaron Castro

Yeah, I know, this is supposed to be an open-wheel series. We didn’t get the open-wheel Lexan bodies finished in time so we ran our GTP bodies.

Another barn-burner race, as is always the case with this platform. This final “official” race of the day was so fast that we had at least two laps that exceeded the previously set minimum lap time.

Each of the Expert drivers would win heats (segments) but George Peters won two! In the end, Aaron and George both had less-than-perfect runs in the blue lane, each losing three laps in blue. Both drivers finished very strongly in the final segment, completing all 25 laps and George winning it.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 100 55 730.497
2 George Peters 97 50 726.34
3 Aaron Castro 97 47 731.974
4 Kevin Webster 90 36 720.591

2024 Open Wheel Series Points Standings After Round 1:

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 397 236 3617.073
2 Aaron Castro* 393 214 3601.475
3 George Peters* 377 187 3615.911
1 Kevin Webster 351 148 3616.436
2 Shaylin Maddox 88 44 714.114
3 Pam Ebert 77 32 695.404
4 Abe Maddox 74 32 668.503

We did one ‘UNOFFICIAL’ race after the four official races. An IROC race utilizing a set of Webster Motorsports MegaG+ 1.7 chassis’ with LMP hardbodies. Another very close race with Home Cook’ just barely edging out Aaron Castro for the win by just one lap and tied in points.

Another great day of racing at Stewart Raceway. Thank you all for supporting our racing program!

Stay tuned for a post of videos for four of the five races on the day. Sadly, yours truly, spaced recording the first race of the day. Sorry, Team Maddox! May have well been the best race. 

Okay, shut up and drive!

Open Track Day Video: January 27, 2024

Another cool open track day on the 27th. We had a great turnout of junior and team drivers in the AM session and then another great turnout of Sportsman and Expert drivers in the afternoon.

We recorded a lot of the days action but only captured three of the fun races with the SlotTrak screens and these three were late-in-the-day and only three drivers remaining.

New camera view of SR3.

Still, for those interested, below is a link to those races on Rumble. I edited each video as much as possible but didn’t have time to reduce them to the nitty-gritty, so you’ll have to fast-forward through crashes or just grin and bear it. And, yes, we crashed a bunch.

The main reason for posting these particular videos is to show everyone a new video shooting scene setup. If you have time, please check it out. This setup utilizes two cameras above opposite corners of the track and switches between each view throughout the video, showing the SlotTrak scoring screens in one of the two whole-track scenes.

https://rumble.com/c/c-3364960

Please feel free to comment below. The next step in this video venture is to get some close-up video of various areas of the track and be able to produce slow-motion shots of the action.

Thank you all for showing up and supporting another very fun track day.

SR2 Straight Road Course

Next Saturday will be another open track day, if enough interest. Our racing season-opener will be February 10th. Stay tuned for more details on our first racing series of the 2024 season. It’s all open-wheel cars and probably three oval events and two road course events. Hopefully, one of the oval events will be held on SR2’s oval or road course.

Okay, shut up and drive!