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Track Day Report: August 31, 2024 – A Race Fest!

We couldn’t attract enough teams to pull off Round 2 of the Summer 50/50 Series, but we did a lot of racing anyway.

Team Maddox, Team Forza, Fast Lane Racing, Webster Motorsports, and even Team Johnson showed up. After about 100 laps of practice, testing, and hot laps, everyone wanted to do some racing.

We started with the MegaG+ 1.7 Modified cars where Team Maddox was putting in a strong performance, with Shaylin finishing 3rd overall with two 2nd place segments and Abe 4th overall with 2nd and 3rd place segment finishes.

I could have sworn Shaylin won a segment in this one, but the results don’t show that. Still, Shaylin put in an outstanding driving performance in her only race of the day. Team Johnson took over for Home Cook’n in this race and managed to place 2nd overall, with Jared and Matthew sharing driving duties.

Next up was Eric “Fast” Lane’s MG+ Scoobie Doo Vans, a cool IROC set that is smooth but very top-heavy. Eric likes these cars and managed three 3rd place segment finishes and 3rd overall.

Next up were Aaron Castro’s MegaG+ 1.7 C8 Corvettes. Aaron did a phenomenal job preparing these cars. They’re not Box Stock, but the modifications made them fast, smooth, and very predictable to drive on the SR3 road course. Aaron likes these cars; he finished a very close second in every segment.

Last but not least, we ran Aaron’s latest IROC set, Viper-built Super 7 GT40 cars. Team Forza also prepared these cars very well. They are crazy fast and extremely smooth. Aaron put down the fastest lap times in the race, but it was still very competitive. Aaron won the first segment by a lap, Webster Motorsports bagged a second and two third-place segments, and Aaron took first, second, and third place.

It wasn’t an official race day, but there were some lap records set:

Aaron Castro: MG+ 1.7 Modifieds, Red Lane, 6.412
Shaylin Maddox: MG+ 1.7 Modifieds, Yellow Lane, 6.497
Aaron Castro: Viper Super7 GT40, White Lane, 4.969

Two gutter lanes! These two drivers were putting the hammer down!

As always, it was a great day of racing. It is so cool that many teams and drivers are building new IROC sets for us to drive.

Thanks to all of you for showing up and racing. Thanks also to Team Johnson and Webster Motorsports for figuring out it was Home Cookn’s Birthday on Friday. Team Johnson brought a bunch of snacks and Madeline picked a bag of home-grown lemons, Kevin brought a fabulous birthday cake, and Fast Lane Racing brought a fantastic bottle of wine—very nice; thank you all!

Keep next Saturday open for finally completing Round 2 of the summer series!

Okay, shut up and drive!

Track Day Report: July 20, 2024

We didn’t have enough attendance to pull off an official race, but race we did.

There was some practice and testing but we actually completed five “fun” races; three IROC and two Builder/Tuner races.

We ran Eric Lane’s new Super 7 NASCAR set with replacement bodies. No breakage this time but the bodies definitely need to be taped or better secured to the chassis.

Eric’s Viper-built, Super7 NASCAR Hardbodies (IROC)
MegaG+ 1.7 Modifieds (IROC)
Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan
Vintage Fray T-Jets (IROC)
OS3 TFX “BOX STOCK” Camaros

Short Story Of The Day On The SR3 “Fast Esses” Road Course

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	527	262	5687.813
2	Aaron Castro	527	241	5798.367
3	Kevin Webster	442	183	5832.26
4	Jerry Pearson	326	133	2826.058
5	Abe Maddox	93	32	921.978

Notice that Home Cook’n and Aaron Castro completed the same amount of laps on the day. That’s close racing!

Notes: Pearson Racing completed three races, Team Maddox completed one.

Current Series Points Standings After Round 1

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	434	233	2754.266
2	Aaron Castro	415	203	2698.972
3	George Peters	408	194	2696.241
4	Jordan Walker	302	133	2894.16
5	Jerry Pearson	229	106	1710.905
6	Kevin Webster	174	89	996.869
7	Eric Lane	209	76	1794.119

Let’s target next Saturday, July 27 to complete Round 2 of the series. We’re also playing with the idea of a weeknight track session. I’ll see if we can schedule something soon, perhaps next week, we’ll see.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Race Report: 2024 Summer 50/50 Series, Round 1

The first round of the Summer 50/50 Series is in the books…

The cookbooks, that is. It was a blisteringly hot day, and the heat and beach traffic tolled the paddock and drivers.

In Round 1, we ran on both SR2 and SR3. The first two races were on SR3’s “Fast Esses” course, and the second two races were on SR2’s “Straight” Road Course.

Short Story and Points Standings After Round 1

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	434	233	2754.266
2	Aaron Castro	415	203	2698.972
3	George Peters	408	194	2696.241
4	Jordan Walker	302	133	2894.16
5	Jerry Pearson	229	106	1710.905
6	Kevin Webster	174	89	996.869
7	Eric Lane	209	76	1794.119

Only the top three completed the entire program of four races. Between the heat, late arrivals primarily due to beach traffic, and other drama, this round took its toll on the field.

Race 1: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modifieds”

We started off with our paper-bodied MG+ 1.7 Modified cars to get things rolling. Jerry Pearson was on fire in this race, with three second-place segments and one first-place segment. Nice driving, Jerry! Aaron Castro clicked off some blistering laps trying to overtake Jerry in the race’s final laps, tying Jerry on points and laps, but ended up with a slightly longer total runtime. Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	118	58	907.571
2	Jerry Pearson	117	55	870.327
3	Aaron Castro	117	55	887.849
4	George Peters	105	42	874.183
5	Eric Lane	107	36	950.126
6	Jordan Walker	98	36	890.816

Race 2: Viper Super7 RTR NASCAR IROC Set

Again, Eric Lane graciously donated another 6-car IROC set to the program. This time, they were Viper-built Super 7 chassis with Tyco NASCAR hardbodies. These cars were close to full-punch at 15v (L10 traction mags) but often lost bodies when they came out of the slot. We’ll need to better secure the bodies and remove some of the stock glass.

George Peters was the fastest with these cars, setting the lap record at 5.203 in the Blue Lane. Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	119	58	840.501
2	Aaron Castro	117	55	815.666
3	Jerry Pearson	112	51	840.578
4	George Peters	114	50	849.277
5	Eric Lane	102	40	843.993
6	Jordan Walker	93	28	859.448

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan

After a couple of teams abandoned due to the heat, we moved things indoors and ran the last two races on SR2, in a much cooler environment.

As always, this race was a barn burner. Jordan Walker didn’t make the podium, but he set new lap records for this class and track on every lane, clocking a 2.982 lap in the Blue lane.

It was a heated battle between George Peters and Home Cook’n for the top podium spot. George would tie on points but came up 3-laps short. Newly upgraded Expert driver Kevin Webster would get his first podium as an Expert in Round 1, nice!! Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	97	53	524.294
2	George Peters	94	53	495.044
3	Kevin Webster	92	45	522.821
4	Aaron Castro	89	43	520.999
5	Jordan Walker	88	41	501.967

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC BOX STOCK Lexan (i) “Fast Lane” Set

To keep things fast and furious, we ran Eric’s previous contribution to the program, a set of Vipers with F1/Indy clip-on Lexan bodies from HCSlots. They are very nice cars, and the first time we’ve run them on SR2.

Before abandoning Round 1, Jordan Walker would click off the fastest lap and establish the SR2 Straight Road Course track record for this platform of 3.119 in the Blue lane. When Jordan’s on, he’s the fastest in the bunch. Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	100	64	481.9
2	Aaron Castro	92	50	474.458
3	George Peters	95	49	477.737
4	Kevin Webster	82	44	474.048
5	Jordan Walker	23	28	641.929

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the video recording set up properly on either track, so we don’t have anything to share there.

Many of us were affected by the refueling bug on SR2. I’ll try to find time to film the issue and see if I can get help from the SlotTrak folks to resolve it. It only seems to occur when doing track calls without marshals. If we can’t fix it, we won’t do fuel races on SR2.

Round 2 is currently slated for July 20th; stay tuned for details. For sure, focus on your MG+ Modified and Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK cars. The other two “official” races will be IROC.

Thank you all for bearing the heat, traffic, and chaos of Round 1; it was hectic and grueling at times but a fun day of racing. Oh, and thanks to Eric “Fast” Lane for all he does to make our program more fun!

Okay, shut up and drive!

Open Track Report: June 22, 2024

Well, so much for testing, driver development, and working on cars. We raced all day!

We had eight races total, nearly all IROC, ending with a Viper SPEC STOCK tuner’s race. I think we ran four races on the SR3 Fast Esses road course and four races on SR2’s Straight road course.

Sadly, we didn’t get to run any fuel races since a monitor was failing on SR3 and some sort of bug on SR2. Both problems are resolved and we’re good to go for the next event. Bug fixed on SR2 and new 50″ monitor on SR3. Now the monitors on SR3 are the same size.

Summary Of All Races

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Kevin Webster	822	170	8456.623
2	Aaron Castro	781	165	7399.218
3	George Peters	337	144	2695.61
4	Jordan Walker	316	127	2738.839
5	Eric Lane	217	91	1838.66
6	Jerry Pearson	218	82	1875.337
7	Brad Sandahl	117	49	1097.331
8	Carrie Sandahl	95	34	1051.222
9	Steve Stewart	951	238	8313.851

Of course, the above is just a summary of points for all races run. Not all drivers ran every race. Only Kevin, Aaron, and Home Cook’n competed in all the races.

It was a fabulous day, and it was finally great to get back to slot car action at Stewart Raceway. We raced on SR3, about four races, and finished the final four on SR2.

A couple of notable races: The first was an IROC race utilizing Jag Hobbies NC2 chassis with AutoWorld Mustang hard bodies. I screwed that one up and didn’t get the minimum lap time set correctly. As a results, a few drivers were exceeding the minimum lap time and not scoring laps. Oh well, in the end, the two fastest drivers could not keep their lap times under the minimum and handed that race to Aaron, who was way down on laps with a lousy car but managed to win the race.

The second notable race was when Aaron, running on SR2, hooked up in the wrong lane for a heat. There were just three of us racing, and Aaron was supposed to be in the White lane but mistakenly hooked up in the Blue lane. Aaron actually led that heat from start to finish but did not log any laps or points—oops! Kevin bagged second in that one!

All in all, it was a fun day of pretty much all racing. Aaron finally got to run on SR2, which he adapted to extremely well.

Hopefully, we can get back to our routine now. I’m hoping to have another open track day this coming weekend and start a new racing series the following weekend.

Stay tuned for details.

2024 Open Wheel Series: Round 5 Finale Video Coverage Posted

2024 Open Wheel Series

We ran three “official” races, but your favorite Race Director failed to push the record button for the first race. Major bummer since that was a very competitive and exciting race, sorry.

The other two races are now posted on Rumble for viewing.

Race 2: MegaG+ “Modified” Paper Bodies

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” F1/Indy Lexan

Both recorded races were also extremely competitive and exciting. Enjoy!