Category: Events

All things related to events.

SR3 Oval Track Day Report, NASCAR MADness Series Preview

Thank you to all those who showed up for the second Track Day on SR3. We didn’t do any racing but we ran a whole bunch of laps and tested/tuned a few IROC sets to support the upcoming series.

We had a few new drivers show up to check out slot car racing also. Another neighbor, Jared Johnson, stopped by and ran a whole bunch of laps on the oval along with his two kids, Madeline and Mathew. Mathew is only about 2-3 years old but he managed to click off a whole bunch of laps. Madeline clicked off over 600 laps and always wanted to go faster. We’ll have to get the other neighbor kids and my grandsons over for a “Kids Race” sometime.

New driver, Jerry Pearson, made his second visit to SR3 and cut quite a few laps with various loaner cars.  Jerry informed us he is planning to build a 4-lane Tomy sectional track soon.  Sounds like Jerry’s interest is solid so hope to see him racing with us soon.

We did experience a technical glitch when three lanes suddenly lost power. Appeared to be one of the two Phidget 0/0/4 relay boards losing communication with the computer and had to be reconnected.  Obviously need to investigate that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Round 1 of our new NASCAR MADness Series is on for next Saturday, May 28, 2022.

Round 1 will feature one “extended” race using the PR-5 “Lite” platform with a NASCAR-style hardbody, expect 50-lap segments and two full rotations for a 300-lap fuel event.

The track layout will be the SR3 Oval course as shown.

When: Saturday, May 28, 2022

Event Schedule:

10:00 – Gates open, track power on, open practice.
11:15 – Drivers Meeting/Announcements.
11:30 – Racing Begins (30-lap heats, fuel):

Race 1: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody (IROC) 15v
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” NASCAR bodies (if available)  18v (♣)
Race 3: Viper-Jet “NASCAR Lexan” 12v (♣)

Lunch Break

Qualifying: one warmup lap, then three laps under green. Average time of the three laps. The fast qualifier starts on the pole for the feature race.

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” 16.5v ***
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 NASCAR “Lites” 15v
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v (Tomahawk rules)

♣ Denotes Concourse d’ Elegance Points
*** Denotes “Extended” Feature Race

Please RSVP for Round 1 here.

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

SR3 Grand Opening Report

Straight Road Course

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!