Race Report: 2022 Formula-e Series, Round 3

Round 3 of the Formula “e” Series was yet another hotly contested event but this time with nearly a full field.  Because we had nearly  a full field of drivers we didn’t get to try out the new wireless call buttons–darn!

Round 3 on the SR2 straight road course got underway on schedule and with G-Man (Greg Kondrek) arriving early–again!

We ran a full program plus one redo race due speedster, Ian Douglass, reaching the minimum lap time in the “Pot Luck” MG+ IROC race.

As is now established tradition at Stewart Raceway, the first race on the schedule was the Formula “e” cars that started off the “Fe” Series back in 2019. We decided to run them at 12v instead of 15v this time, seemed to be a good move.

Race 1: Tyco-Jet IROC(12v)
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Ian Douglass 80 16 589.716
2 George Peters 79 13 618.086
3 Steve Stewart 75 11 562.815
4 Greg Kondrek 75 7 596.385
5 Russ Toy 73 6 604.494
6 Jordan Walker 68 5 588.769
7 Kevin Webster 68 4 631.036

The vintage Tyco-Jet IROC cars were a lot more drive-able at 12v and the racing a whole lot closer. These cars are even fun on a road course. With Ian Douglass back in the game and very good with Tyco-Jets, it was another hard and fast race. Ian topped the field while veteran T-Jet driver, George Peters took the second podium spot. Detailed Results

Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” (18v)
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Ian Douglass 80 16 574.679
2 Steve Stewart 78 13 580.163
3 Greg Kondrek 78 11 591.862
4 Kevin Webster 71 7 601.083
5 Russ Toy 71 6 607.124
6 George Peters 65 5 597.233
7 Jordan Walker 61 4 610.146

This race was actually pretty close between both second and third and also fourth and fifth. Ian took top honors with two laps on his closest competitors. Greg Kondrek rounded out the podium with his styling Corvette skin. However, there may be a little controversy in this race. Looking closely, Ian’s car appears to have a much wider stance than the second place car. While we haven’t published any specific rules for the TFX “Lite” platform, the agreed upon spec for the TFX Lite was to be a completely stock car with the only exception being Black Dragon magnets instead of Gray Dragons. The third place car also appears to have a wider than stock stance. Detailed Results.

Race 3: MG+ F1/Indy 1.7  IROC (18v)
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Ian Douglass 80 16 379.173
2 Steve Stewart 78 13 388.058
3 Russ Toy 77 11 371.424
4 Greg Kondrek 76 7 380.609
5 George Peters 76 6 385.022
6 Kevin Webster 70 5 376.29
7 Jordan Walker 68 4 375.263

The first version of this race had to be redone since Ian kept going under the established minimum lap time for this car. We ran the whole race but Ian clearly had a whole bunch of missing laps due to the problem.

Once we reset the minimum lap time and restarted, Ian quickly established himself as the car to beat. Russ Toy also seemed to enjoy this car also, winning his first heat and then leading the race for the next three.

I can’t remember what version of the race, but Jordan Walker (JOTY) was on fire in both races. Jordan was well on his way to at least a podium spot going into his final heat but had trouble in the heat and dropped out of contention. Still, he was really liking Kevin Webster’s sweet MG+ set, for sure.

In the end, Ian took the top podium spot with Russ Toy taking the final podium spot with a great performance. Detailed Results

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 F1/Indy “Lites” 400-Laps (16.5v)
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Ian Douglass 399 16 1753.153
2 Steve Stewart 395 13 1766.428
3 Greg Kondrek 372 11 1741.234
4 Russ Toy 363 7 1786.025
5 Kevin Webster 338 6 1780.567
6 Jordan Walker 308 5 1807.999
7 George Peters 305 4 1797.436

The “Feature 400” race was another barn-burner race with Ian Douglass putting in yet another stellar driving and fuel management performance in the grueling 400-lap, dual rotation race. Actually, the whole race was very competitive with several drivers winning several 50-lap heats. Going into the final segments, it was a battle between Ian Douglass and ‘Home Cook’n. In the end, Ian took the top spot on the podium after Home Cook’n spaced his final rotation and missed the start, losing quite a few laps in the process. Detailed Results

Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 GT-40 “Lites” (15v)
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Russ Toy 79 16 375.623
2 Greg Kondrek 77 13 346.509
3 Ian Douglass 77 11 361.535
4 George Peters 71 7 361.082
5 Steve Stewart 69 6 381.621
6 Kevin Webster 65 5 368.177
7 Jordan Walker 60 4 367.033

This one was a all Russ Toy show.  The winner of the inaugural NC-2 race back on the 2021 50-50 Racing Series, Russ proved that he’s the dominant NC-2 driver at Stewart Raceway. Greg Kondrek fought extremely hard with his well prepared GT-40, but could only get within two laps of the undisputed NC-2 points leader. Kondrek had serious pressure from Ian Douglass, both going into the final segment with the same lap count and finishing on the same lap. Kondrek would have to settle for defending his second place podium spot while Ian ended up with the the third and final spot. George Peters and Kevin Webster also had some very good heat results. In fact, nearly every driver seemed to manage a top 3 in at least one segment, which shows this class is one of the most competitive classes we run.  Detailed Results

Race 6: U-Build Viper V-SPEC “Lexan” (15v)
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Greg Kondrek 78 16 290.399
2 Steve Stewart 77 13 287.173
3 Ian Douglass 75 11 316.882
4 George Peters 72 7 321.26
5 Jordan Walker 69 6 314.172
6 Russ Toy 66 5 283.302
7 Kevin Webster 63 4 301.165

The final race of the day was again a barn-burner. The fastest cars we run, the Viper V-SPEC races are always close, fast, and furious. This one was more of the same. Home Cook’n was well on his way to victory after winning three of his segments with 60-laps to Kondrek’s 58-laps going into the final segment.  Ian Douglass was leading the race but with only 75-laps completed, he was on the bubble. In the end, Home Cook’n had another senior moment and overshot what was supposed to be a splash & dash pit stop and lost at least a couple of laps. Kondrek took top honors with Ian Douglass rounding out the V-SPEC podium. Father and Son rivals, George and Jordan had quite a battle going themselves with George besting Jordan by just three laps at the finish.  Detailed Results

Series Standings After ROund 3:

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Greg Kondrek 2520 222 11056.27
2 Ian Douglass 1586 155 8082.302
3 George Peters 2265 153 11432.48
4 Russ Toy 2315 139 10775.4
5 Kevin Webster 1350 59 8245.118
6 Jordan Walker 1077 43 7360.309
7 Brad Sandahl 149 12 1241.092

While the final standings will be based on the best points from four of the five events and “Finished Ahead Of” points totals, Greg Kondrek continues to lead the “unofficial” points chase. Ian Douglass missed one event (Round 2) but moves into second place after pretty much dominating Round 3’s road course event. George Peters drops from second to third, Russ Toy and Kevin Webster round out the top 5 going into Round 4. Rookie of the Year, Brad Sandahl, has missed two races, which puts him out of contention for this series but I’m sure he’ll make another appearance on the podium before this one is over.

I’ll calculate and post the “Official” points tally ASAP.

Round 4 is slated for February 12, 2022 and will be held on the oval course. Stay tuned for details and an event registration link.

Okay, shut up and drive!

New F1/Indy Class?

HCSlots “Sportsman” chassis (short wheelbase position)

Well, not really new, just a little different twist on a theme we’re already supporting.  The short story is that we’re proposing putting an F1/Indy hardbody on a Viper-Jet platform.

Please check out the details in the Stewart Raceway Forums here. And, please comment there also. Obviously, we need to discuss and sort out the related rules, though it’s pretty much “U-Build Viper-Jet” rules with just a body, wheelbase, and front-end change. The pics here are just two different V-Spec models but you’ll get the idea.

V-Spec with MegaG+ front hubs and tires (short-wheelbase position)

Yea, I agree, we don’t really need to introduce a new class right now. However, this one is a slam-dunk and should be a great addition to our racing program going forward.

In fact, if enough interest, we’ll debut this class of car at the next Formula “e” Oval race. One more oval layout event in this series, just need to decide when.

Okay, let the discussion begin!

Concourse d` Elegance Competition

Beautifully prepared TFX IROC set courtesy of George Peters

Just a reminder that we’re going to have a Concourse d` Elegance trophy awarded at the end of the current Formula “e” Series.

Actually going to have two awards: An individual car winner; and an IROC “car set” winner. Hope this motivates some to bring some cool IROC sets to the final race.

George is leading in points for the IROC set award after presenting the bodies for the Round 2 TFX “Lites” race.

Round 3 is this Saturday, January 29, at 10:00AM. Register now!

 

SR3 Update: Elevations and Banking Set

Yep, the initial setup is done. Of course, all adjustable at any time but this is what we’ll open SR3 with. Pictures don’t really do it justice. You can see it in person at Round 3 of the 2022 Formula “e” Series, January 29.

Right-click and open in a new browser tab for full-size images. The entrance to Turn 1 (oval).

 

The road course.
Down-slope, off-camber exit from Turn 4. No slam-dunk getting to the finish line here.

Lower banking on entrance to Turn 1 (oval) and higher banking on Turn 2 exit. A little bump in the middle of the corner to make things more interesting for all types of cars.

No idea how this setup will work with the various cars we run, we’ll sort it out.

Plenty of work left to do, including completely securing each track piece to the table. This becomes more important in the summer season when the heat tends to expand the Sintra roadway material. I’ll likely end up securing each piece every 8″ or so.

Once I get all the pieces secured, it’s time to get going on the wiring, which is always a challenge when you use multiple RMS (timing system) setups. While I was leaning towards abandoning SlotTrak due to their recent crazy mandatory hardware upgrade, I decided to invest in that hardware upgrade for SR3 to try it out.

SR3 also has some new features that require a completely different track wiring design. I won’t go into the details here but the plan is to be able to change the voltage for each lane at the driver’s station (and computer). This supports drivers to test different cars at whatever voltage they like while also permitting the Race Director to reset the lane voltages at race time. It’s complicated but the hope is that it benefits driver/team track time by allowing practice sessions of virtually any type of car on the track at the same time. Yea, a bit sketchy but much more productive track/testing days.

Don’t forget! Round 3 of the Formula “e” Series is Saturday, January 29, 2022. Get registered now!

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

Jag Hobbies PR-5 and MG/MG+ F1/Indy Body G2

Round 2 of the Fe Series indicated that the AFX/RaceMasters injected-molded F1/Indy bodies may not be the hot setup, at least for oval track racing.

The Round 2, 400-lap, PR-5 “race-winning” body was a rather heavy 3d-printed 2021 F1 body. The only modification was some slight removal of underside material to get the body to sit at the proper attitude for racing, a very minor and quick mod, which is not required for the intended MG/MG+ 1.7 chassis.

Here are the weights of a few of the bodies campaigned in Round 2 of the 2022 Formula “e” Series. The Viper and Gary Fast bodies are shown for reference.

FX/RaceMasters latest version
MTS/Shapeways 2021 Formula 1
MTS/Shapeways 1992 FW14B F1
VSR Formula V Hardbody for VSPEC Chassis
Gary Fast (Fastbodies) 2010 Indy Dallara

No idea yet what is the best choice for both oval and road racing but hope this info helps. The current rules aren’t real specific so you can lighten any of these bodies. However, if you lose a rear or front wing, or otherwise break off a significant piece of the body while racing, you could be DQ’d.