Yea, George took my prize TFX IROC bodies to his studio and gave them a sweet makeover. Needless to say, I’m impressed by the detail and workmanship.
These bodies are beautiful and very functional in terms of handling. They come out of the package a little high for racing but can be easily lowered and the wheel-wells opened a bit to clear the front tires. Rear wheel-wells are fine for stock TFX rear assemblies but may need to be opened for Jag TR-3 applications.
George knows I like numbers with a seven in them and this livery didn’t disappoint. We raced these in Round 2 of the Formula ‘e” Series on the oval over completely stock OS3 TFX chassis’ and everyone felt like they worked very well.
Before GP Design’s wonderful work.
George easily won Round 2’s Concourse d` Elegance points with this set. Great work, George!
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.
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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
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.
Mostly doing research on power solutions and waiting on materials needed for the track elevations and banking. Not sure if you’ve noticed lately but FedEx and UPS really suck when you compare them to Amazon and USPS.
I try not to buy CCP products as much as possible but sadly there are simply too many things that are simply not made anywhere else these
days. That’s another subject entirely of course. But even products that are already in the States seem to take forever when shipped by the major players. And, no, it’s not related to the “supply-chain” hoax. In fact, these days you can expect at least three days where the item(s) just sit in some shipping hub location for a long, long time.
Anyway, waiting on spacers (standoffs), wire, wire sheathing, power components, and other items right now. The track is pretty much secure to the table just need to set the banking and overpass elevations but need the proper spacers and screws to do that. These pictures show the proposed overpass height and shape. I think it’ll be challenging for both L4 magnet cars and our other less stuck platforms.
The banking elevations and shapes will be different on each of the four corners. I’ll decide on that once I get the needed materials and start to shape the oval corners. The banking will likely be less than SR2’s banks but fairly close at the highest points. Of course, I’ll do my best to make each corner as different and challenging as possible.
Once I get this stage completed, it’ll be time to secure each track piece completely to the table and then start the basic track and power tap wiring. I’m planning a “Phase 1” power solution for the track opening, which will be at least the same power control setup we have on the SR2 VSR track. Phase 2 will be driver-selectable voltage levels for each lane, from 3v to ~28v, which will also be programmable from the track computer by the race director.
Two purposes for these features: one is so that we can test/practice different types of cars in the same practice/test session and not have to switch voltage levels; the second purpose is so the race director can reset each lane’s voltage to the proper levels prior to each race.
Also, if you know somebody who you think would enjoy racing little cars with us, please invite them along. We always need new drivers to join the group and it’ll benefit all of us when we have a large enough “club” to always have more than enough racers to support our events.
Remember: SR3 is six-lanes! That means we’ll need at least eight (8) participants to have any hope of full utility of the track and enough turn marshals. Yea, we can run just four lanes, but that’s not cool!
With plenty of other tasks to do the rains have been keeping me indoors. When that happens, I usually play with slot car stuff or hack on computer stuff. This week has been all SR3 construction.
With the table completed, I started laying down the track and completed the oval course placement. Once you get that set, you can go ahead and lay down the road course pieces. While I didn’t achieve perfection with the oval pieces fitting together perfectly, it was good enough. So I decided to keep going and get the road course pieces fastened to the table.
It’s quite an interesting operation if you’ve not done it
before. Brad Bowman’s tracks are tongue and groove, which is really cool. However, you still have to fit the pieces together very precisely. Like a plastic sectional track, you don’t fasten any pieces until you’ve put it all together and made sure everything lines up–end-to-end.
In the case of a convertible oval-to-road course track, you have to get the oval layout dialed first. Then you have a fixed starting point for the rest of the puzzle. I didn’t get the oval to align together perfectly but it was extremely close and I didn’t have time to start over and get it perfect. These shots show the track in various stages of placement completion and the complete placement of the entire course.
The next steps are to set the banking angles of the oval and elevate the overpass section. I may also elevate or bank other sections of the road course as I evaluate the course complexity and funness.
Gary has been casting resin bodies for the MegaG/G+ 1.7 chassis’ for quite a while.
Actually pretty fair prices. The only possible downside might be the “glue-on” rear wing. The 2010 Dallara comes as a 5-piece kit. 1-main body, 1-rear wing, 1-driver figure, 2-glue in mounts. Like all resin bodies, minor sanding may be needed to fit how you want it to.
Cost is currently $12 + $6 shipping. He’s casting some of these right now so could get a couple before the next race. The usual smoothing and assembly required but most reviews of these bodies are very good.
He claims they’re pretty tough, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Here’s where I found him on FascistBook. I reached him via FB Messenger from this page, quick reply.
Typically replies within minutes when available...
George knows I like numbers with a seven in them and this livery didn’t disappoint. We raced these in Round 2 of the Formula ‘e” Series on the oval over completely stock OS3 TFX chassis’ and everyone felt like they worked very well.
George easily won Round 2’s Concourse d` Elegance points with this set. Great work, George!
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.
Mostly doing research on power solutions and waiting on materials needed for the track elevations and banking. Not sure if you’ve noticed lately but FedEx and UPS really suck when you compare them to Amazon and USPS.
With plenty of other tasks to do the rains have been keeping me indoors. When that happens, I usually play with slot car stuff or hack on computer stuff. This week has been all SR3 construction.
In the case of a convertible oval-to-road course track, you have to get the oval layout dialed first. Then you have a fixed starting point for the rest of the puzzle. I didn’t get the oval to align together perfectly but it was extremely close and I didn’t have time to start over and get it perfect. These shots show the track in various stages of placement completion and the complete placement of the entire course.
Just ordered a couple of these 2010 Dallara kits.
