MegaG+ “Modified” Class Review

This simple class has proven to be a great success. Its rules are simple, the paper body transforms the car’s handling, it has faster lap times, and it is generally an enjoyable car to drive.

I know the paper body is only available from Stewart Raceway, but I’m sure others could figure out how to make one. In fact, Webster Motosports makes a slightly different style of body, which seems to work pretty well, too.

Our current MG+ Modified class is not all that “modified,” which begs the question: should we allow more mods in this class?

There are quite a few additional modifications that could be made:

      • Independent Front Ends from Viper
      • Aftermarket Rear Axle Assembly from Viper
      • Aftermarket Front and Rear Tires from Viper
      • 22T Crown Gears and Gear Bosses from Viper
      • Aftermarket Replacement FF-N20 Motor and/or Shoe Hanger Assembly from Jag Hobbies
      • Neodymium 45 or 52 Traction Magnets from Harden Creek

I’m sure there are other hop-up parts out there, but the point is that this car could be much more “modified” than we’re currently running it.

I recently tested the replacement motor assembly from Jag Hobbies and found it pretty slick, easy to install, and a nice upgrade to the stock motor. The chassis I used to test it was doing laps in the 5.8 range with its factory motor. After replacing it with the new Jag motor and hanger assembly, lap times dropped into the 5.4 range. It’s not a tremendous upgrade, but knowing there are alternatives is nice. There are also “hotter” motors out there that could be allowed.

To be clear, I am not pushing changes to our current rules for this car. I think a heavier and independent front end would be a simple but effective performance upgrade. Another modification we could allow is the high-downforce configuration using the stock N30 traction magnets. This rapid mod involves flipping one traction magnet to go from low to high downforce, which results in an additional 2 to 4 grams of downforce.

Again, I’m not advocating changes; I’m happy with the current rules. However, if enough teams/drivers want to change the rules, it isn’t out of the question.

Feel free to chime in via a comment below.

2025 50/50 Series, Round 3 Video Coverage

Videos of all three races have been posted on our Rumble channel.

Unfortunately, Race 1 and 2 have no background audio, and Race 3 has no audio at all. The good news is that both cameras captured video, so there are views from both turn four and turn two.

We need a better camera crew in our video production department. If anyone would like to volunteer to manage the video operations, I’ll show you what’s involved. You ensure it is set up and working and monitor things throughout the race day.

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

 

 

 

2025 50/50 Series, Round 3 — Not Quite 50/50, But a Fast Day Anyway

A shortened schedule, but some good fast racing.

Team Rowland debuted its new stable of MegaG+ 1.7 “F1/Indy” and Viper V-SPEC “Porche 917” cars in this series round. Judging by the smiles on their faces all day, they are enjoying their racing and eager to return to racing as soon as possible.

Race 1: Viper-Jet NAStruck Lexan (IROC)

Dave Rowland bagged the top Sportsman podium with a good run of 75 laps and 48 points. Team Maddox bagged the last two Sportsman podium spots, just one point and a few laps behind, despite both Abe and Shaylin each winning a segment outright. Unfortunately, an avoidable software glitch caused Expert’s George Peters and Aaron Castro to sit this race out. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 80 64 726.397
2 Dave Rowland 75 48 826.388
3 Shaylin Maddox 71 47 824.679
4 Abe Maddox 70 47 842.062
5 Coe Rowland 73 44 823.209
6 Arlo Roland 63 32 772.229

* Expert

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified

A very close race in this class with Aaron winning a very close battle with George in the Expert ranks. Local Junior driver, Abe Maddox drove masterfully, taking 3rd overall and 1st in the Sportsman ranks. Dave Rowland just edged out Shaylin Maddox with a 1st in his final segment. A very close race in this one, as always. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro* 79 59 488.43
2 George Peters* 78 56 500.083
3 Abe Maddox 78 55 527.692
4 Steve Stewart* 79 53 531.205
5 Dave Rowland 74 45 548.616
6 Shaylin Maddox 75 38 546.348
7 Arlo Roland 62 38 517.27
8 Coe Rowland 68 32 568.431

* Expert

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan

It’s another always-close race. The Experts duked it out in this one, with George Peters bagging the top Expert podium with three segment wins. Abe Maddox had another great race, winning one segment outright and steadily placing well in each rotation, finishing 4th overall and 1st in the Sportsman class. Teammate Shaylin Maddox edged out hard-charging Dave Rowland for the second Sportsman podium spot. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters* 100 61 631.616
2 Steve Stewart* 99 59 579.94
3 Aaron Castro* 99 55 604.705
4 Abe Maddox 93 47 633.921
5 Shaylin Maddox 89 42 639.329
6 Dave Rowland 83 42 626.293
7 Coe Rowland 77 38 687.817
8 Arlo Roland 69 32 674.541

All in all, it was a good day of racing and a lot of fun. Thank you all for supporting our racing program and bringing some wonderful snacks to share with everyone. We’ll have to get Shaylin to bring some of her wonderful deviled eggs again, but this time, only share with Kathy if she does a race with us.

NOTE:
In Race 1's Viper-Jet NAStruck race, a new lap record was set in the White lane by Shaylin Maddox, with a blistering 5.626 lap and 2nd overall in the segment. Junior driver Coe Rowland clicked off a new lap record for this car in the Green lane with a 7.374 lap.
Series Points Standings after Round 3:
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
Sportsman
3 Abe Maddox 443 325 1335.726
4 Dave Rowland 410 299 NA
5 Coe Rowland 465 297 NA
6 Arlo Roland 432 275 NA
8 Shaylin Maddox 347 221 751.357
9 Jared Johnson 169 142 1292.315
11 Lucille Rowland 76 47 544.134
12 Matthew Johnson 67 42 518.012
13 Eric Lane 66 40 498.861
14 Cameron Bill 50 32 411.714
15 Madeline Johnson 54 28 507.557
Expert
1 Steve Stewart 427 366 1620.116
2 George Peters 416 349 2777.139
7 Aaron Castro 317 234 1961.979
10 Jerry Pearson 79 58 496.859

Hopefully, we can pull off Round 4 next weekend; we’ll see what happens. Round 5 will likely be an oval race on SR2 or SR3.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Canceled Race Results in a Lot of Racing

Wow! This event was canceled in the early AM but somehow ended with eight races being run and 10 drivers total.

By Thursday afternoon, we hadn’t received enough RSVPs to confirm a go for Round 3 of our 50/50 Series. So, an Open Track Day was scheduled instead. However, in the early morning of Saturday, one of the catalysts driving the event bailed out due to illness, and the Race Director canceled via email.

So, long story short, I was going to work on a few of our house IROC sets anyway, and Team Maddox said they had an hour or so for track time. I invited them over, then told Team Johnson they were welcome to join in. It turned out that another neighbor, Team Rowland, was also interested in some track time.

By 11:30, we had eight drivers in the paddock and two more expected. We stuck to the plan and had a fantastic open track day, with a lot of practice, a few practice qualifying sessions, one full rotation race, and four Dash races!

Unsurprisingly, Junior ace Abe Maddox won the one full rotation race, but only had an hour or so to practice and do a couple of qualifying runs. Lucille Rowland placed second in the same race. Our junior ranks are getting faster and faster with each event.

After Team Maddox departed, Team Johnson showed up with two drivers. Team’s Johnson and Rowland cut a whole bunch of laps practicing, with the highlight being Coe Rowland clicking off a 4.452 lap in the green lane running a box-stock Lexan Viper.

Team Johnson completed their practice session with some very respectable lap times, also with a Lexan Viper, and departed before racing broke out.

With just Team Rowland remaining and seemingly bored with practice, some Dash racing broke out. As you can see, Coe Rowland dominated the Dash racing with two 1st and 2nd place finishes in the four Dash races.

Arlo Rowland would end up 2nd overall on the day but also has the distinction of being the only driver in history to drive every car in the Stewart Raceway stable on the same day. Arlo cut laps with every type of IROC and race car in the house!

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Coe Rowland 149 104 NA
2 Arlo Roland 140 89 NA
3 Abe Maddox 90 75 NA
4 Dave Rowland 73 51 NA
5 Lucille Rowland 76 47 544.134
6 Steve Stewart 10 16 NA
7 Shaylin Maddox 10 11 NA

Overall, it was a pretty nice turnout, and everyone had a lot of fun.

A big thanks to Mrs. Stewart for arranging the delicious fresh bagels,  very tasty treats on a cool day. Oh, and thanks to Team Rowland for bringing the delicious tortilla chips and salsas.

Our video production staff muffed the setup today, so we don’t have anything to post other than audio and the race display to show for it. We’ll take disciplinary action against the staff to ensure that doesn’t happen again, sorry!

Okay, shut up and drive!

A Blast From The Past

A neighbor brought over a couple of rare finds from an estate sale he recently attended. These are very old, early Aurora Model Motoring cars. They were manufactured sometime in 1960 and were unopened in their original factory packaging.

A Mercedes Benz and a Ford Thunderbird.The original foam packaging inserts were way deteriorated and falling apart, and the plastic yellowing, but the cars were in remarkably good shape and both ran and took a bunch of laps on SR3.While they are similar to their younger sibling, the Aurora Thunderjet later manufactured in 1962, they are very different. I think these cars were called “Vibrators,” hence the strange drum and noise mechanism.

These cars wouldn’t have had much success in racing circles since they were pretty much throw-away once you wore out the pickup shoes or motor brushes. Cool little cars ran a lot like the original 1962 Aurora ThunderJet, probably a bit slower since the motor appeared to be a bit different, and they have some sort of noise-making mechanism, which probably reduces overall speed and power output. My neighbor plans to sell them on eBay soon and likely didn’t want me tearing into them, so I didn’t. I am curious how much different the motor box is from the later Thunderjet platform. If I ever see them again, I’ll ask him if I can remove the top plate to look closer. Maybe he’ll come across a couple more, and we could all do some IROC racing with them. They are so slow that you have to try hard to crash them.

Thanks for sharing, Dean!