Wow! I’m not sure we should call these Track Days. We did four very competitive races on Saturday. There are too many highlights to mention here. Still, the most notable was a visit by a current resident of the UK, William Mansfield, and his Godfather, Dave Heber, who resides nearby off of Skyline Blvd in Los Gatos.
Both have experience racing slot cars and were very impressive drivers. Dave won a segment in his first-ever race at Stewart Raceway while William was busy clicking off some of the fastest laps in the race.
After running hot laps with IROC-prepared Viper V-SPEC L4 F1/Indy cars, both drivers agreed to do some informal racing with the five drivers we had on hand. Thankfully, a few other drivers showed up as we got the race underway, which meant our special guests could race with marshals instead of yellow flags.
William finished second in the first segment, while Dave won the next segment. This wasn’t their first rodeo, and it showed. Dave bagged a nice third-place finish in the third segment, while William placed third in the final segment. William clicked off the second fastest lap of the race with a 5.205 in the first segment in the Orange lane.
Not to be outdone by the British Team successes, our local Junior ace, Abe Maddox (Team Maddox), won three of five segments outright! Abe loves to race Vipers.
In the end, excluding the lone expert in the race, Abe, Dave, and William finished on the podium in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, respectively. Very nice driving! Sadly, Dave and William had other responsibilities and had to vacate the paddock before we could get another race going. Thank you, Dave and William, for dropping in and cutting some laps with us! Race 1 Details
We also lost Team Maddox to a swim and early departure. So much for testing and tuning; the remaining four drivers would race for the rest of the day—four races in total.
The second race was Aaron’s Castro’s (Team Forza) prepared MG+ 1.7 Corvette C8 IROC set. Aaron did a great job on this IROC set. The cars were very equal, super smooth, and very quick. Very close racing in this one, with Team Forza bagging a hard-fought second place against Home Cook’n. Race 2 Details
The third race was our latest class addition, the MegaG+ 1.7 “Modifieds.” This class is amazingly competitive and fast. Sportsman driver Jerry Pearson (Pearson Racing) was on fire in this one, with a win, second-place segment finishes, and third overall. Race 3 Details
The day’s final race was the venerable Viper V-SPEC “SPECSTOCK” Lexan platform. It is always a fast and furious race, regardless of who’s in it. No stranger to podium finishes in this race, Jerry Pearson (Pearson Racing) would finish on the podium in 2nd place in this hot and heavy race. Jerry, again, bagged first, second, and third segment finishes and secured a highly contested second spot on the podium in our fastest race of the day. Jerry went into the final segment just two points ahead of Hard charging Aaron Castro (Team Forza). Aaron would end up besting Jerry in the final segment with a second-place finish to Jerry’s close third-place finish. Tied in total laps and points, Sportsman driver Jerry Pearson secured the second podium spot against Expert Aaron Castro with just a four-second better Total Run Time, and both drivers were only one lap down on Home Cook’n. That’s very close racing! Race 4 Details
The day wasn’t without controversy, however. In the post-race Tech Inspection, it was revealed that Webster Motorsports had illegal traction magnets installed in the day’s final race. Measurements revealed a four-gram downforce advantage for Kevin’s car, which turned out to have Level 10 traction magnets instead of the specified Level 4 magnets installed.
Typically, we don’t conduct technical inspections after unofficial racing or track events. However, a number of drivers raised concerns that the Webster Motorsports car was substantially faster through turns than any other car in the race. The car also posted the fasted lap in the race.
The moral of that story is always to inspect your cars and test them with downforce and RPM measurement tools to ensure that you have a legally configured car. If in doubt, ask the Race Director to test your car with house tools to ensure it isn’t outside the “normal” parameters for your class rules.
We all have cars in our boxes that look the same but are substantially higher performing than others. Most hop-up parts look different than factory/OEM parts. Just because you purchase a car from a bonafide retailer doesn’t mean the car is legal to race at Stewart Raceway. We mostly race Box Stock or SPECSTOCK rules, meaning the car is minimally modified from its original factory configuration. We do this to make it so new drivers can go online or into a hobby shop, purchase a car, and compete at Stewart Raceway. Robust competition is essential to growth in our hobby.
Looks like a good time! Sorry we missed it!
Yeah, it was a fun day. We missed not having Team Johnson in the mix.
Thank you Steve for hosting William and I! We both had a brilliant time and were really sad to have to leave when we did!
Thank you also for making us feel so welcome. As first-timers to Stewart Raceway, we really didn’t know what to expect, but you immediately put us at ease, and your enthusiasm for the sport was just compelling and infectious! I haven’t done anything related to slot cars for many decades, but you quickly got William and I back in the groove (pun only partially denied).
The other drivers were also all incredibly friendly, all very willing to share tips & tricks, and they quickly made us feel at home: although I do have to confess to it being very humbling to be beaten so soundly by a driver that could only just see over the edge of the baseboard! [Nice going Abe!]
To anyone that is thinking about checking out Stewart Raceway, the only thing I can say is Go For It!!
Hi Dave, so glad Helen hooked you guys up with us. Both of you took to driving the cars as if you’d never been away from it. Thank you for the kind remarks and for making it over to check out our program. I know William won’t likely be a regular visitor, but we certainly hope you join us again soon.
Abe probably has more laps on that track than I do! He’s our local phenom, for sure. Let me know if you’d like to stay informed about our activities and join in on the fun from time to time.
Best,
Steve