While we didn’t get a full field to shake out SR3, I think we pretty much accomplished the goal of verifying that the Road Course configuration is ready to go racing.
First off, I’d like to thank George Peters, Russ Toy, Kevin Webster, and Jerry Pearson for braving the warm weather and beach traffic to help shake out the new track and provide excellent feedback on the new raceway.
We ran a whole lot of laps with all kinds of cars and did one fuel race to make sure there were no issues with pit-entry detection or other issues. That race was completed without a hitch and all looks good to move on to configuration and testing of the oval layout.
We did discover a very slight power degradation involving two sections of the fabulous Bowman circuit. More than likely just a simple matter of reinstalling power shunt pins between the two sections involved. Surprisingly, SR3 consists of nearly 80-feet of roadway over 22 sections of routed track, but it has been deployed using only two power taps. Brad insisted that I only needed one and all would be good. I decided I’d go with two, just for yucks. Actually, two for the road course and two for the oval, but not more than two in either configuration.
So, everything seemed to work as designed and everyone commented that the track was challenging and very fun. Not sure how many drivers took advantage of the very unique individual lane power supply features, but I know a couple did. This is going to be a key differentiator in terms of testing and tuning. No other track I’ve raced on allows you to run any car, at any voltage, on any lane, at the same time. This allows drivers to test/tune a Viper-Jet (12v) while the driver next to them is testing/tuning a TFX car (18v) in the same session. Think about that one for a bit.
Finally, I’d like to introduce Jerry Pearson to the whole group. Jerry messed with H.O. scale cars back in the sixties–like most of us. He recently got interested in slot cars again and is venturing out into the local slot car scene to find out if it is something he’d like to pursue.
Jerry is a great guy and just might be our next Rookie of the Year. He claims he’s “not competitive.” But he was here for about 3.5 hours and went from mid-10-second early laps to mid 5-second laps in late practice. No, not competitive at all.
I hated to throw Jerry into a race his first time back in the driver’s seat in many, many years but we needed as many drivers as we could muster. He cautiously agreed to help with the test race and had a great time.
All in all, Jerry got the full immersion: drove quite a few different cars, ran a IROC fuel race, and generally took in everything with incredible poise and a big smile. He sent me an email later in the day thanking all of us for a fun and welcoming day and mentioned he’d “see us again.” Hope so, Jerry. We’d love to cut laps with you anytime!
Okay, next Saturday is a “Day on the Oval.” We’ll do a bunch of practice laps, probably an IROC race or two, and make sure the oval config is all set for the upcoming NASCAR MADness Series starting May 28, 2022. NASCAR livery is not required for next Saturday but if you have some cars or IROC sets ready, bring them on!
Okay, shut up and drive!
Oops! Forgot to thank Kevin Webster for providing us with a fabulous six-car set of AutoWorld M-Chassis NASCAR cars for the first-ever IROC race on SR3!