NASCAR MADNess Series, Round 1 Tomorrow!

Hi All,

It’s a good thing we’re running on the oval since we’ll be short a few of the usual suspects. This is going to be a wide-open series with several drivers already warning of missing more than one event.

When: Saturday, May 28, 2022

Event Schedule:

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

Race 1: JL or AFX M/T Gravity Car (IROC) 18v
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 **Feature Race** (♣)
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

Could be that some class races are replaced with IROC races. Feel free to bring any IROC sets you’d like to run.

Track open tonight for those of you who need some time on SR3.

Okay, shut up and drive!

TFX “Modified” Testing Yielding Interesting Results

OS3 TFX with a Wizzard E-Jet front-end, Black Dragon magnets, Titanium axles, and a Tornado 16.5-ohm arm.

Yea, I know, we haven’t raced this class…yet.

We’ve raced the TFX “Lite” platform, which is virtually a stock OS3 TFX platform with Black Dragon magnets instead of the factory-installed Grey Dragon magnets. The extra downforce makes the car much easier to drive and increases lap times considerably.

The TFX “Modified” is the next logical step for those who enjoy T-Jet-style racing but want to go a bit faster.  Our rules allow quite a few mods but do not allow any stronger magnets than the OS3 Black Dragons.  We also do not allow Dual-Compound tires.

Best lap on SR2. Top-level Fray cars have clicked-off 5.7-sec laps on the same layout but with Dual-Compound tires and Dash Killer Bee magnets.

In spite of those restrictions, my initial testing with a “Modified” TFX, produced lap times fairly close to a top-level Fray T-Jet on SR2. This is very encouraging since the cost of a competitive “Modified” TFX platform is roughly $100 compared to a comparable Fray T-Jet at ~$250 or much, much more. Yes, my testing was without a Lexan body.

I suspect one could get the TFX “Modified” platform into the 5.7-sec/lap range (w/Body) with only a bit more development and tuning. I haven’t tried a Dynamic balanced/trued arm yet but I suspect there will be diminishing returns there due to the limitations of the Black Dragon motor magnets.

My current “Modified” parts list:

    • Black Dragon Motor Magnets
    • Wizzard “E-Jet” Brass Front-end
    • OS3 Tornado 16.5-ohm Armature
    • Wizzard Titanium axles
    • SlotTech Comm Brushes
    • Viper Teflon Armature Spacer
    • RT-170 Crown Gear

“Modified” rules allow a Lexan body using OS3 “stick-on” body mounts, which helps keep costs down but detailing possibilities limitless.

Okay, we’re not racing this class in Round 1 but I’d really like to get this platform added to the mix at Stewart Raceway at some point. It’ll take some testing and tuning so let me know if you’d like some extra track time to get a car developed and ready to race.

This class is for the more hardcore Slothead and fits into the HOPRA “Super Stock” level of racing.

Okay, shut up and drive!

New IROC Sets To Support SR3

The SR2 TFX “Box Stock” set is getting expanded for SR3.

It wasn’t long after I decided on a new 6-lane track that I realized I not only had to spend a lot of money on the track but I also had to update my fleet of IROC cars to go with it–Cha-Ching!

Yea, I could stick with the 4-lane fleets I have but that’s no fun.  So I’m slowly adding to the house fleets for SR3 while begging Georgie and Kevin to build or bring their 6-lane IROC sets over for us to play with.

The above photo shows the existing SR2 TFX IROC set, which most of us have raced many times. The two cars in the middle are new additions to support SR3’s two extra lanes. Georgie is currently detailing a late-model Camaro body in green and may also detail the orange late-model Camaro shown above. We’ll then have a nice six-car set of box-stock TFX cars to IROC race with on SR3. These cars have the stock Gray Dragon motor magnets and are much looser than the TFX “Lite” class we currently race regularly with.

I’m also adding to my fleet of Jag Hobbies TR-3’s. These cars are pretty cool and showcase the Jag Hobbies Augoran short-wheelbase hardbody, which is a very cool body. The pics here are the orange and green lane cars needed for a complete SR3 set. The cars are basically stock but have Jag double-flange rear hubs and independent front ends.

We’re not likely to race these cars in Round 1 of the coming NASCAR MADness Series but we’ll run them at some point during the series, for sure.

Okay, shut up and drive!

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 Oval Ready To Go

The oval layout is operational and ready for Saturday’s test session.

I ran a few magnet and gravity cars and it feels pretty fluid and fast. It’s not as fluid around the banks as I expected but it’s a lot better than SR2 in that regard.

The cars still straighten out between the banked corners but not as pronounced as SR2. Turns 1 & 4 are sharper than 2 & 3, which makes this oval more challenging than the SR2 oval layout. Some of you have experienced the last corner before the start/finish line, it’s tight and alluring, with a decreasing radius entry that makes getting to the finish line a bit more difficult than SR2.

Anyway, it’s all set for some fast laps this Saturday. Again, we’ll just do a bunch of laps and a race or two to make sure all is good with the timing and fuel management setup.  Bring some loose cars as well as your fastest magnet cars, and any six-lane IROC sets you may have.

The difference in lap lengths between each lane is about .78-feet. We’ll have to determine what lane is the fastest and make that the pole position. Yes, there will be staggered starts for all oval races.  We’ll also do individual qualifying for the Feature races in the upcoming NASCAR MADness Series, which starts the following Saturday, May 28.

Hope to see you this Saturday.

Okay, shut up and drive!