Category: Race Results

Round 2 of the Formula “e” Series was another hotly contested event but with a much smaller field than initially anticipated. We expected a field of at least eight drivers for Round 2 of the 2022 series. However, just days before the start, nearly half the field notified the Race Director that they would be unable to attend.

Not to be deterred, the race went on as scheduled and we expected at least five drivers to start. The morning of the race, yet another driver reported their inability to make the start. With track preparations and facilities ready to roll, track management decided to go ahead with the “official” race and Round 2 on the SR2 oval proceeded as planned.

And, as usual, the reduced field did not disappoint the massive crowds or the drivers participating. The race started on schedule and we ran a full program plus one extra race due to the reduced attendance.

The first race of the schedule was the Formula “e” cars that started off the Fe Series back in 2019. These cars are interesting to drive and very challenging, even on the oval. Yes, Round 2 was on SR2’s oval layout.

Race 1: Tyco-Jet IROC(15v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	119	16	433.418
2	Greg Kondrek	112	13	453.726
3	George Peters	107	11	438.915
4	Russ Toy	101	7	443.27

As is customary for a Formula “e” event, we started the day with house vintage Tyco-Jet IROC cars. These cars are always fun on the oval, which is where they got their start at SR2 back in 2019.  This race was pretty much a Home Cook’n affair with only Heat 2  where Russ Toy was banging on the door to upset things. The rest of the heats pretty much ended like the results above show. Detailed Results

Race 2: OS3 TFX “Box Stocker” 68′ Camaros (IROC) (18v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Greg Kondrek	119	16	459.471
2	Steve Stewart	113	13	460.814
3	George Peters	107	11	472.603
4	Russ Toy	99	7	470.096

This race was pretty much a G-Man show but George Peters and Home Cook’n fought hard to keep him close. In the end, Kondrek won the race with a well-deserved six-lap advantage over two seasoned T-Jet racers.
Detailed Results

The OS3 TFX is a way cool car and this race was made even more challenging because this house IROC set was completely stock TFX cars with George Peters detailed Camaro bodies. George did a great job “reworking” the house Camaro’s with new paint, decals, and other cool details.

 

Really good-looking cars and great handling characteristics.

Race 3: OS3 TFX “Lites”(18v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	118	16	399.201
2	Greg Kondrek	115	13	404.303
3	George Peters	108	11	403.63
4	Russ Toy	107	7	408.653

The first “Builder’s Class” race of the day. Race 3 was almost more of the same G-Man show but Russ Toy put in a couple of great heats also. In the end, Home Cook’n managed to stay ahead of the many challenges in this one, including botched fuel management. Detailed Results

Ad Hoc: Formula K “Roll Your Own”

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Greg Kondrek	120	16	470.476
2	Steve Stewart	113	13	470.266
3	George Peters	111	11	517.759
4	Russ Toy	88	7	477.861

Threw this one in while we were waiting for lunch to arrive. Of course, only G-Man and I have enough experience with these cars but George adapted to the quirks of these cars pretty quickly. It’s all about way different controller settings. The results show who figured the settings out the quickest. These cars are going to be wild on the SR3 oval, for sure. Detailed Results

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 F1/Indy “Lites” 400-Laps (17v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	398	16	999.879
2	Greg Kondrek	367	13	1000.635
3	Russ Toy	358	11	998.594
4	George Peters	324	7	1043.976

The “Feature 400” race was a Home Cook’n show. Who not only had the home track advantage but also had way more track time with these cars with the stock magnets, which is the configuration we ran this round. Our first ever PR-5 race in Round 1 was run with the hop-up motor magnets. So, other than Home Cook’n, everybody was driving the “Lite” version of this car for the very first time. The results clearly illustrate the disparity in track time with the “Lite” configuration.  The winning car also benefitted from a 3D-printed body from MTS/Shapeways (2021 F1), which seemed to work better than the narrow wing AFX/Racemasters bodies used by Greg and Russ. George also ran an MTS/Shapeways body but experienced both car and controller issues throughout the race. Detailed Results

Race 5: JAg Hobbies NC-2 GT-40 “Lites” (15v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	114	16	319.923
2	Greg Kondrek	113	13	325.258
3	Steve Stewart	106	11	317.901
4	Russ Toy	104	7	316.774

G-Man was walking away with this race until the final heat gremlins dashed his hopes of another podium. George Peters was six laps down going into the final heat after Russ Toy bagged a second-place finish in the first heat. George kept fighting and took advantage of G-Man’s several unfortunate crashes in the final heat and came out on top–Nice!  Detailed Results

Race 6: U-Build Viper-Jets (15v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	114	16	341.367
2	Russ Toy	113	13	341.844
3	Greg Kondrek	112	11	328.133
4	George Peters	87	7	429.478

The final “official” race of the day ended with some very exciting racing and a relatively close finish of just one lap separating each of the podium spots. This one appeared to be another G-Man show early on but Russ Toy had other plans. Russ stayed extremely close on laps in every heat, which edged out Kondrek’s two heat wins by just one lap in the end.  George’s head was probably already at the Shark Tank when this one went green but at least he came away with some much-needed series points.  Detailed Results

Series Standings After ROund 2:

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Greg Kondrek	1764	157	7109.268
2	George Peters	1597	111	7352.361
3	Russ Toy	1586	88	6747.409
4	Ian Douglass	795	69	4107.164
5	Kevin Webster	675	28	4186.8
6	Jordan Walker	443	15	3296.926
7	Brad Sandahl	149	12	1241.092

Okay, there you have it.  I’m pretty sure everyone had a great time on the oval and we experimented with various fuel management setups, which were interesting. One more oval in this series, which will likely be Round 4 on February 12, 2022.

Round 5 coming up on January 29, 2022. Stay tuned for details on this road course event.

Okay, shut up and drive!

For the more analytical types out there the detailed race results can be found here.

The page listing is a bit whacked but the latest results are at the top. The first race was numbered 393 and the last race was number 403.  For other results just look at the filename dates, time, and numbering sequence.

Detailed results can show some interesting things. For example, G-Man had a horrible second segment in the Viper V-Spec race in the yellow lane (filename 396),  losing what looks like at least eight laps, which resulted in him finishing in 5th place. However, when you look at the final segment results, Kondrek’s race stats are tops in every category.

Tip: If your car doesn’t start refueling after a couple of seconds, go around again. It’s not very common but sometimes the pit sensors don’t detect a car entering the pits.  Typically the sense time is 2-seconds, in a V-Spec race that’s about a half-lap lost right there.

Turned out to be a good date for our 2022 season kick-off. A cold but sunny day with everyone stuffed into the paddock area with not much space for tearing into cars, if needed. I don’t think many of us have ever raced little cars on New Year’s Day before but it worked out pretty well.

Of course, the first order of business was presenting 2021 driver awards to Brad Sandahl and Jordan Walker. Brad took 2021 Rookie of the Year honors while Jordan earned Junior of the Year honors. Brad’s first-year 2021 season was nothing short of spectacular with many race wins and an overall event victory in the 50/50 Series season finale back in November.  Jordan has been racing with us for several years now but he’s definitely the top junior driver at Stewart Raceway right now.

The last time Stewart Raceway hosted a Formula-E event was way back in late December of 2019. Six drivers showed up for that inaugural race with well-prepared Tyco 440-X2 narrow-chassis cars with brass weights replacing the traction magnets and brass independent front-ends, aka a Tyco-Jet. So it was only fitting that we kick off our 2022 Formula-E Series with a Tyco-Jet IROC race.

 

Race 1: Tyco-Jet IROC

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Ian Douglass	80	16	582.406
2	Steve Stewart	79	13	574.761
3	Greg Kondrek	78	11	619.206
4	Brad Sandahl	78	7	630.554
5	George Peters	75	6	607.322
6	Russ Toy	69	5	598.027
7	Kevin Webster	66	4	625.232
8	Jordan Walker	65	3	647.373

Ian didn’t waste any time re-establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with at SR2. The Tyco-Jets clearly suited Ian’s driving style but it was still a very close race.

Race 2: OS3 TFX (Lite)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	80	16	589.896
2	Greg Kondrek	80	13	599.084
3	George Peters	74	11	597.952
4	Ian Douglass	72	7	591.499
5	Russ Toy	72	6	608.772
6	Brad Sandahl	71	5	610.538
7	Jordan Walker	67	4	598.134
8	Kevin Webster	65	3	609.071

This was our first-ever OS3 TFX “Builders” race, featuring some very cool T-Jet and Fray-style bodies and livery. We’ve raced the TFX plenty of times prior but only IROC sets. The G-Man (Greg Kondrek) even arrived on time and ready to start the 2022 season much stronger than he ended his 2021 season. Home Cook`n edged out Greg by just 10-seconds in total run-time break the tie.

Race 3: U-Build Viper V-Spec Lexan Bodies

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Ian Douglass	78	16	287.385
2	Steve Stewart	75	13	293.657
3	Russ Toy	74	11	304.048
4	George Peters	71	7	305.575
5	Greg Kondrek	69	6	281.316
6	Kevin Webster	67	5	298.125
7	Jordan Walker	66	4	298.053

Ian Douglass and Greg Kondrek showed up with some serious speed in the Viper V-Spec class. Ian easily won the very fast race after Kondrek experienced refueling issues, which cost him a whole bunch of laps. Most of us benefited from Kondrek’s misfortune and Russ Toy took full advantage of the situation bagging the final podium spot in this fast & furious race. ROTY-winner, Brad Sandahl, unfortunately, had family commitments and was unable to continue racing after Race 3.

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 “Indy/F1” (Feature Race)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Greg Kondrek	399	16	1655.972
2	Steve Stewart	390	13	1706.066
3	Ian Douglass	380	11	1668.836
4	Russ Toy	380	7	1691.526
5	George Peters	350	6	1741.148
6	Kevin Webster	322	5	1672.853
7	Jordan Walker	245	4	1753.366

The feature race had a couple of tweaks to the program. The rotations were left over from previous 600-lap Formula-E races, which Ian quickly pointed out. So we switched from the slated 300-lap race to a 400-lap race with the correct number of rotations. Don’t remember the fuel allocation but it was too much!

We also discovered in the first heat that many drivers had PR-5 cars with hop-up magnets installed, which are not allowed by PR-5 “Lite” rules.  In fact, Russ Toy had a 5-lap lead on the field before we discovered the discrepancy. Nobody was deliberately cheating but we had to stop the race and sort things out.

Since there seemed to be more “illegal” cars, we decided the inaugural PR-5 race would be run with “Modified” cars instead of “Lite” cars.  Several of us borrowed PR-5’s with the hop-up magnets and we continued with the race.

Russ actually maintained his dominance of the race all the way through his first three-segment rotation, going out with a perfect 150 laps and winning all three heats. George Peters, Home Cook`n, and Greg Kondrek had brief stints as race leaders until Russ Toy came back in and clicked-off three more consecutive heat wins!

Meanwhile, Greg Kondrek threw off the bad luck that plagued him in the previous race and quietly stormed through the field during his final rotation and bagged the win with 399 laps, nine laps ahead of the second-place finisher, and 19 laps ahead of Ian Douglass, third-place. Long-time race leader, Russ Toy would end the race in fourth.

Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lites” (15v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Greg Kondrek	120	16	557.841
2	Steve Stewart	120	13	578.72
3	George Peters	112	11	559.841
4	Russ Toy	109	7	565.805
5	Ian Douglass	106	6	558.375
6	Kevin Webster	94	5	541.85

G-Man continued his “storm” in Race 5, with a fairly convincing win of ~ 20-seconds over Home Cook`n. George Peters capped off the podium with a nice third-place finish. We lost Jordan to fatigue (and too many of “my” cookies) after Race 5.

Race 6: Viper-Jet Lexan (12.1v)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Greg Kondrek	80	16	424.323
2	Ian Douglass	79	13	418.663
3	Steve Stewart	75	11	405.402
4	George Peters	68	7	431.998
5	Kevin Webster	61	6	439.669

The final race was a Kondrek-Douglass slugfest with the G-Man edging out Ian by just one lap.

Overall Formula-E Round 1 Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Greg Kondrek	826	78	4137.742
2	Ian Douglass	795	69	4107.164
3	George Peters	750	48	4243.836
4	Russ Toy	704	36	3768.178
5	Kevin Webster	675	28	4186.8
6	Jordan Walker	443	15	3296.926
7	Brad Sandahl	149	12	1241.092

After all the racing it seemed like either the New Year celebrations or the hot & heavy day of racing had taken its toll on the drivers. Everybody seemed pretty tired and we called it quits after six races. Even Kondrek didn’t hang out for hot-laps or testing, he left exhausted—but victorious!

Round 2 of the 2022 Formula-E Series is slated for January 15. Stay tuned for details.

Please share comments, suggestions, and ideas on this page or in the forums. I’d like some feedback on the race formats and overall program before the next event, please.

Okay, shut-up and drive!