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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
| 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
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Greg Kondrek | 119 | 16 | 459.471 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 113 | 13 | 460.814 |
| 3 | George Peters | 107 | 11 | 472.603 |
| 4 | Russ Toy | 99 | 7 | 470.096 |
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.
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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.
Okay, shut up and drive!
