Slot Car Race Results 4-28-11

Hello Everyone! 

First off some announcements. We placed a small Carrera order so we'll have some more controllers, cars, and track coming in. We also have the 26732 chips in stock, which took 5 months to get so if you need one now would be a good time to grab it since I dunno when I could get more when I run out. We will also be attempting a tri-oval this next week and I might need an extra table so if someone could bring one by that is the same height and size as the ones at the store I would appreciate it. I can't set up the track until Monday night because we have girl scouts meeting that night so the track won't be up til sometime Tuesday. 

That's all I have for now so onto the race report!

This week's track....

Here is the key for how the results are posted:

Driver - Final Finishing Position - Type of Vehicle

Pos. - Qualifying Time

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 3 minute race

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 4 minute race

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 5 minute race

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 6 minute race

KIDS RACE RESULTS 

Hank - RACE WINNER - #27 Ferrari 599 

1st - 2.536 Qualifying Time

1st - 54 laps completed - 2.581 - RACE A

1st - 76 laps completed - 2.668 - RACE A

1st - 97 laps completed - 2.602 - RACE A

1st - 108 laps completed -2.721

Jesse K - 2nd place finisher - #29 NASCAR COT 

4th - 3.086 Qualifying Time

1st - 47 laps completed - 2.971 - RACE B

1st - 68 laps completed - 2.833 - RACE B

1st - 91 laps completed - 2.878 - RACE B

2nd - 104 laps completed - 3.072

Jesse G. - 3rd place finisher - Ferrari 599 

2nd - 2.858 Qualifying Time

3rd - 49 laps completed - 3.013 - RACE A

2nd - 70 laps completed - 2.876 - RACE A

3rd - 88 laps completed - 2.762 - RACE A

3rd - 92 laps completed - 3.082

Matthew - 4th place finisher - #31 NASCAR COT

3rd - 2.951 Qualifying Time

2nd - 52 laps completed - 2.973 - RACE A

3rd - 66 laps completed - 2.900 - RACE A

2nd - 88 laps completed - 2.879 - RACE A

4th - 91 laps completed - 3.021

Bradan - 5th place finisher - NASCAR COT

6th - 4.666 Qualifying Time

2nd - 37 laps completed - 3.412 - RACE B

2nd - 51 laps completed - 3.479 - RACE B

2nd - 66 laps completed - 3.539 - RACE B

5th - 63 laps completed - 3.582

Zaiah - 6th place finisher - Corvette C6R

5th - 4.419 Qualifying Time

3rd - 36 laps completed - 3.659 - RACE B

3rd - 49 laps completed - 3.496 - RACE B

3rd - 61 laps completed - 3.422 - RACE B

6th - 55 laps completed - 3.497

KIDS RACE EVENT NOTES: 

Hank won his second race in a row, his 3rd win in 4 races. Hank has defintely found something with his Ferrari 599. His closest competition was Jesse G., who runs the same car, but with little practice and missing last week Jesse G. struggled to stay on the track as much as Hank did. Jesse K. kept the pressure on Hank for the final race but since Hank made so few mistakes and did a great job passing the faster car went home with the first place ribbon. It'll be interesting to see if Hank starts to have a win streak much like Jesse did a few weeks ago. His Ferrari is very strong right now, he's the man to beat. All he's gotta do is give the cars ahead of him a little bit more space so he doesn't knock them off in the turns, his car can drive deeper into the corners than everyone else so now he'll have to focus even more on what the other drivers are doing versus just running his own race.

Jesse K. still has a very fast #29 car, but it appears the Ferraris are giving him a run for his money now. He qualified 4th, and ran his heat races with our new rookies, Bradan and Zaiah. Because of this he had more traffic to deal with in the heat races but at the same time might have been better prepared for the final event. He still managed to post extremely fast lap times and did an excellent job passing. I was also happy to see Jesse keep his composure when things weren't going his way in that final race, it shows that he's maturing a lot as a driver. This week Jesse didn't get to practice either, so it'll be interesting to see if next week he can get some practice in and snap Hank's winning streak and take back the points lead.

Jesse G. was able to race after missing last week's race and did very well considering he too didn't get to practice at all. He was almost as fast as Hank, usually just a couple tenths of a second behind Hank. Although Jesse G. has been racing with us a few times now he's still struggling a bit with getting a rhythm going and keeping the car on the track in the tough areas. Unfortunately the best day for him to practice is on Mondays and lately the track hasn't been up for him to practice. Hopefully he can find some time to practice before the next race to give himself that extra edge he needs to compete for the win when the race is nearing its completion.

Matthew was racing a new car this week but did very well in his first race with the NASCAR COT. He qualified 3rd and was only a tenth of a second from getting 2nd. He was able to run lap times comprable to Jesse K. who runs the same car, and he managed to beat Jesse G. a couple times for 2nd in the 1st and 3rd heat race so it seems that Matthew now has a car that is going to let him run with the leaders with little modification. He still needs some more experience to make just a few less mistakes, and once that happens he will be competing for the win when the time comes. 

Bradan was one of two rookies competing with us for the first time and did pretty well for his first race ever with a slot car. He was driving a NASCAR COT and had some very good competition against our other rookie Zaiah. Bradan was able to cut off over a second from his qualifying lap and did a good job of learning how to use the lane changes. He's just starting out so hopefully now that he has a racetrack to practice on at home he can get comfortable with his car and give the front runners something to worry about. 

Zaiah also did well in his first race with his Corvette C6R. He had a lot of trouble navigating the chicane after the finish line as well as the R1 corners before the finish line. He cut off nearly a second off his qualifying time and also did well learning how to use the lane changes. He too is going to have to do a lot of practicing both at home and at the store but once he can get comfortable with his car and gets a rhythm going he will be very competitive. The Corvette C6R is also one of the fastest cars on the market so it will be exciting to see Zaiah develop his skills and hopefully be a threat to win a race.

NOW ONTO THE NO-MAG RACE RESULTS!!!

Chris - RACE WINNER - #45 NASCAR COT

1st - 3.835 Qualifying Time 

1st - 41 laps completed - 3.751

1st - 58 laps completed - 3.795 

1st - 72 laps completed - 3.729

1st - 88 laps completed - 3.711

Gary - 2nd Place Finisher - Carrera Audi A4

2nd - 3.979 Qualifying Time

2nd - 49 laps completed - 3.896

2nd - 63 laps completed - 3.897 

2nd - 80 laps completed - 3.917 

2nd - 83 laps completed - 3.870

Robert - 3rd Place Finisher - Porsche CanAm

3rd - 3.993 Qualifying Time 

3rd - 37 laps completed - 3.908 

3rd - 55 laps completed - 3.825 

4th - 65 laps completed - 3.759 

3rd - 81 laps completed - 3.864

Wes - 4th Place Finisher - Carrera Corvette C6R

4th - 4.008 Qualifying Time 

4th - 36 laps completed - 4.016

4th - 9 laps completed - 4.148

3rd - 67 laps completed - 3.911 

4th - 75 laps completed - 3.929

Hank - 5th Place Finisher - Sunoco CanAm Porsche

5th - 4.083 Qualifying Time

5th - 31 laps completed - 3.977

5th - 9 laps completed - 4.105

5th - 0 laps completed - X 

5th - 0 laps completed - X

NO-MAG RACE EVENT NOTES: 

Chris got his first race win of the championship season after getting 3 second place finishes and 1 third place finish. Chris had the fastest lap in every race by at least a tenth of a second, except for race 3 where Robert was only three hundreths of a second slower. His car was very dominant so it appears that he might have found something to make that COT just a tick faster. When everyone is running just a couple laps apart being just a tenth or so faster makes a huge difference. 

Gary had a pretty good evening running his Audi A4 for the first race ever. He finished 1 lap behind in race 1, less than a lap behind in race 2, a lap behind in race 3, and just 5 laps behind in the final event. He wasn't as fast as Chris but he made very few mistakes so if Chris messed up Gary was there to keep the pressure on. Hopefully Gary can find just a little bit more speed in that Audi to get a win with it.

Robert had a pretty good evening with his CanAm car. Although he was a little bit slower than Chris he was able to post one of the fastest laps of the night of 3.759. He was only a few laps behind Gary and Chris and probably would have had a chance to win if it weren't for a few crashes. If he can make the car a bit more stable and have a few less de-slots Robert could be our next race winner!  

Wes had a pretty good night running his Corvette C6R for the first time. He basically ran a stock car so once he changes up the guide he might pick up some more speed. Even with that Wes was still posting lap times comprable to what Gary was running and he didn't have any technical issues so he could just focus on racing (which was probably a nice change for Wes). Once Wes gets that C6R tuned up he is going to be very fast!

Hank probably didn't have the night he was hoping for in the no-mag races. After getting together on the track with Robert and Wes the team owner decided Hank would have to sit this one out. Hank loves going fast but he'll have to learn how to give the driver ahead of him a little bit more space so when Hank drives it deep into the corner he won't take out the car ahead of him. Regardless, he's doing a great job of transitioning from the magnet races to the no-magnet ones, something that is not easy to do when your driving a rocket ship in the kid races.

Overall the racing in the no-magnet class was very impressive. Very very few de-slots, and very close racing!

CLOSING COMMENTS:

Hank got his 3rd win in 4 races and Chris got his first race win of the championship series. Hank now has the points lead in the kids class. Although he and Jesse have the same amount of points, the tie-breaker is wins so Hank wins the tie-breaker with 3 wins to Jesse's 2. Jesse G. moved back into 3rd in points, hopefully he can make the next few races since he missed 2 of the first 5. Chris also cut Gary's lead down to just 13 points so it appears that championship battle might be heating up.

Here's how points are awarded:

First place - 15 points

Second place - 10 points

Third place - 6 points 

Fourth place - 3 points

Fifth place - 2 points 

Sixth place - 1 point

Fastest Qualifying Time - 1 point

Here's the key for how to read the points standings:

Driver - Points - Finishing Positions - Number of Poles 

Here are the points standings for kids after race 5:

Hank M. - 63 - (3-1-2-1-1) - (2)

Jesse K. - 63 - (1-2-1-2-2) - (3)

Jesse G. - 19 - (2-X-4-X-3)

Matthew - 17 - (5-3-3-X-4)

Ryan P. - 7 - (X-X-X-3-X) - (1)

Regan P. - 6 - (4-X-X-4-X)

Bradan - 2 - (X-X-X-X-5)

Zaiah - 1 - (X-X-X-X-6)

Mason - 1 - (6-X-X-X-X)

Here are the points standings for no-mags after race 5:

Gary P. - 65 - (1-1-3-1-2) - (4)

Chris K. - 52 - (2-3-2-2-1) - (1)

Wes M. - 27 - (4-4-1-4-4)

Robert - 20 - (X-2-5-X-3)

Eric P. - 12 - (3-X-X-3-X)

Hank M. - 11 - (5-5-4-5-5)

Carl - 1 - (X-6-X-X-X)

Ryan -1 - (X-X-X-6-X)

The kids completed 1,659 laps in 18 minutes!

The no-mag racers completed 976 laps in 18 minutes!

The kids have completed 5,976 laps in 5 races.

The no-mag racers have completed 5,681 laps in 5 races.

Next track will be a tri-oval...hopefully. -KW

This Week's Track..

Here's the layout for this week's race track....

Slot Car Race Results 4-21-11

 Race Winner

Hello Everyone! Happy Easter!

First off an important announcement and change to how we qualify. From now on the winner of last week's race will be the first car to qualify, 2nd place will qualify 2nd, and so on. This could make things interesting from a points perspective. Secondly, we will most likely be placing a Carrera order in the very near future so if you have anything you might want or need let me know because we only do about 1 order a month from Carrera. Also, after June 2nd we will be cutting back a little bit on our Carrera racing to give you guys and gals (big thanks to Mrs. Moneymaker and Mrs. Kyle for turn marshalling for us every week, ya'll are irreplaceable!) a racing vacation. We will bring back our Scalextric digital racing after June 2nd as well. We are not sure if we will do the Scalextric racing on Sunday or on Thursday (since school will be out Thursdays might be ok for people) but it will definitely just be every other week instead of every week. I'll keep ya'll posted about any schedule changes and if anyone has suggestions let me know in the comments.

Lastly, we have had a small string of chips burning up in the cars. Matthew had another chip go out in his Audi yesterday so if you have any tips on what could be causing this please let me know. I have 6 Carrera cars and never had a bad chip so I dunno what's going on. I'm not sure if it's a Carrera thing or what since some of us aren't having any troubles but I wanna try and cut down on the amount of cars/chips I am sending back so if anyone has any ideas or feedback please let me know. Wes has had at least 3 chips go out on his, I think total we are getting close to ten which is a bit scary. Enough of the bad news, now onto the race report! This week's track....

 

Here is the key for how the results are posted:

Driver - Final Finishing Position - Type of Vehicle

Pos. - Qualifying Time

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 3 minute race

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 4 minute race

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 5 minute race

Pos. - Laps Completed - Best Lap - 6 minute race

KIDS RACE RESULTS

Hank - RACE WINNER - #27 Ferrari 599 

1st - 2.660 Qualifying Time - First ever tie for the pole!

1st - 58 laps completed - 2.689 1st - 77 laps completed - 2.733

1st - 98 laps completed - 2.627 - Event Fastest Lap

1st - 111 laps completed -2.688

Jesse - 2nd place finisher - #29 NASCAR COT

 3rd - 2.691 Qualifying Time

2nd - 53 laps completed - 2.719

2nd - 75 laps completed - 2.809

3rd - 88 laps completed - 2.761

2nd - 108 laps completed - 2.890

Ryan - 3rd place finisher - #31 NASCAR COT

1st - 2.660 Qualifying Time - First ever tie for the pole!

4th - 44 laps completed - 2.806

3rd - 73 laps completed - 2.715

2nd - 89 laps completed - 2.851

3rd - 106 laps completed - 2.844

Regan - 4th place finisher - #43 NASCAR COT

4th - 3.629 Qualifying Time

3rd - 48 laps completed - 2.766

4th - 48 laps completed - 2.786

4th - 81 laps completed - 2.802

4th - 92 laps completed - 2.896

KIDS RACE EVENT NOTES

This week Hank was able to win ever so slightly over his competition. Although Hank won all four races he had a lot of pressure as Jesse and Ryan only finished just 2 or 3 laps behind him in most of the races. Hank seems to have found something with that 599 Ferrari and it appears that he has become more comfortable near the end of the races which is a big step forward from where he was earlier this year. He, Jesse, and now Ryan appear to have 3 very equal cars and it's pretty much coming down to 1 or 2 mistakes or avoidances that end up determing who goes home with the 1st place ribbon. Hank's involvement in the no-mag class racing against the adults might be giving him that extra bit of experience/confidence he needed to become more competitive.

Jesse was just slightly slower than Hank was this week but still put forth a great effort. He only finished behind Hank by 3 laps in the final race, 2 laps in the 2nd race, and 5 laps in the first race. When the kids are running less than 3 seconds a lap that means we are just talking about 6 to 9 second differences which is not much when we are racing for up to 6 minutes. Unfortunately Jesse is now in the situation Hank was in earlier in the year where if something goes wrong towards the end of the event he gets frustrated, which ends up hurting his concentration a bit. Even though Jesse is used to winning he's still beginning his racing career, losing a race can make you a better driver so hopefully he can grow from this and come back next week for a win. Plus, losing just makes winning feel that much better.

It was very nice to see Ryan return to the racing grid this week! He came out strong by tying Hank for the pole, and kept the pressure on both Hank and Jesse the entire night. He had a rough first race but after that he was in contention to win the final 3 races. For some reason his fastest lap times were a tenth or two slower than his qualifying speed so perhaps the car fell off a little bit, or he just likes a clean race track! He also had a few more costly crashes than Hank and Jesse so if he can make just a few less mistakes he could easily be our next race winner. Ryan was also the only driver to finish in every position if we include qualifying. Lets just hope the rain is here for Thursday!

It was also nice to see Regan return with her #43 car! She has been practicing on her Dad's wood track and you can tell it's starting to pay off. Although she wasn't completing as many laps as her competition, there was only one race where she posted the slowest fastest lap which was still just by .006 seconds. If it weren't for a hard crash and her motor almost falling out of her car she could have given the boys a run for their money in race 2. Hopefully she too will be able to join us again on Thursday because I think her practice is starting to show on the race track. She's still crashing a bit too much, and needs a little work on her timing/rhythm, but when we look at her lap times it's clear that she's just as fast as anyone else!

NOW ONTO THE NO-MAG RACE RESULTS!!! 

 

Gary - RACE WINNER - #18 Scalextric NASCAR

1st - 3.091 Qualifying Time - Event Fastest Lap

1st - 50 laps completed - 3.276 - RACE A

1st - 65 laps completed - 3.221 - RACE A

1st - 81 laps completed - 3.296 - RACE A

1st - 91 laps completed - 3.255

Chris - 2nd Place Finisher - #45 NASCAR COT 

4th - 3.448 Qualifying Time

2nd - 49 laps completed - 3.388 - RACE B

2nd - 63 laps completed - 3.415 - RACE B

1st - 80 laps completed - 3.436 - RACE B

2nd - 90 laps completed - 3.491

Eric - 3rd Place Finisher - #17 SCX NASCAR 

2nd - 3.166 Qualifying Time

1st - 49 laps completed - 3.284 - RACE B

1st - 66 laps completed - 3.290 - RACE B

2nd - 65 laps completed - 3.200 - RACE B

3rd - 89 laps completed - 3.324

Wes - 4th Place Finisher - Carrera #1 NASCAR COT

5th - 3.776 Qualifying Time

3rd - 40 laps completed - 3.462 - RACE A

3rd - 60 laps completed - 3.431 - RACE A

2nd - 76 laps completed - 3.376 - RACE A

4th - 79 laps completed - 3.481

Hank - 5th Place Finisher - Sunoco CanAm Porsche

3rd - 3.357 Qualifying Time

2nd - 43 laps completed - 3.376 - RACE A

2nd - 60 laps completed - 3.332 - RACE A

3rd - 70 laps completed - 3.418 - RACE A

5th - 78 laps completed - 3.421

Ryan - 6th Place Finisher - #31 NASCAR COT/Scalextric Pro NASCAR COT

6th - 3.992 Qualifying Time

3rd - 34 laps completed - 3.912 - RACE B

3rd - 47 laps completed - 3.481 - RACE B

3rd - 56 laps completed - 3.779 - RACE B

6th - 59 laps completed - 3.927

ADULTS RACE EVENT NOTES:

After last week's 3rd place finish, Gary pulled out his very dominate 18 Scalextric car and just barely won the final event. He only won by 1 lap over Chris, and only 2 laps over his brother Eric. He had the fastest lap time of the night of a 3.091, which was nearly two tenths faster than he was during his races where he was in the 3.2 second range. He was very fast with his 18 car again so it will be interesting to see his car selection choice for the road course. Gary has won 4 of 9 no-mag races, 3 of which were championship events.

Chris had a very good final race after a rough qualifying session. He was only a lap behind Gary and was in contention to win for nearly the entire race. His car definitely wasn't the fastest but it stuck to the track well and he was able to mostly stay out of trouble. If it weren't for just 1 or 2 crashes he might have been battling Gary down to the finish line. This is Chris' third 2nd place finish in 4 races.

Eric had a fairly good evening and came up just 2 laps shy of taking the win away from his brother. Eric qualified in second place with an impresive 3.166 and won his first 2 heat races. He was leading the 3rd heat race when a bad crash dislodged his motor, costing him a lot of time on the track. Oddly enough the same thing happened to his daughter Regan in her 2nd race. Hopefully Eric can make it rain on Thursday so he can try to take the win away from his brother!

Wes had a rough evening. During practice his Slot.It GT-40 was running fine and then when qualifying started it was having bad connection/power issues. He was forced to borrow a Carrera NASCAR COT to try and make sure he would be able to use a car that he could finish with so he could earn points. He was able to cut off four tenths of a second off his qualifying time, and as the night went on he became more and more competitive. He started 3rd for the final race but had a hard time dealing with traffic and was only able to improve upon race three by three laps. Before the final event, he did 20 more laps from race 1 to race 2 and 16 more laps from race 2 to race 3. If he could have added 15 more laps from race 3 to race 4 he would have finished on the same lap as Gary. Hopefully Wes can overcome his technical issues, if so I think he could be competing again for another race win.

Hank started out with a fast 3rd place qualifying lap of 3.357. From there he was able to get 2nd place in the first two heat races, but then the car started to fall off a bit. He slowed down about a tenth of a second and started to de-slot his car more which ended up costing him a lot of laps. He is still learning how to drive a no-magnet car, which is definitely no easy task after racing a magnet equipped car for 18 minutes, but it seems that the no-magnet racing has made him more competitive and with a little bit more practice you might see him finishin on the podium very soon.

Ryan ran his first official no-magnet race and didn't do too bad! He posted a 3.481 fastest lap in his second heat race, which was a half a second faster than his qualifying time. This also meant his car was basically just as quick as Chris' car. Unfortunately he struggled to find a rhythm and had a rough time navigating the corners. With a bit more practice with a no-mag car and possibly some more seat time racing against the adults I think Ryan could follow Hank's footsteps by not only becoming a much more competitive driver but also being a threat to win a no-mag race.

CLOSING COMMENTS: 

Hank got his 2nd win in 3 races and Gary got his 4th win in 9 races. Gary now has a 1 race lead in the points but anything can happen when 3 of the 10 races do not count in the final rankings. Ryan and his Dad Eric jumped up 2 spots in the points standings, Ryan is only 1 race win away from being 3rd in the points. Hank closed the gap back down to 6 points where it was 2 races ago for the kids class. He and Jesse are having a remarkable battle!

***I have added the driver's finishing positions for the races completed thus far. I have also added how many poles the driver has won.****

Here's how points are awarded:

First place - 15 points

Second place - 10 points

Third place - 6 points

Fourth place - 3 points

Fifth place - 2 points

Sixth place - 1 point Fastest

Qualifying Time - 1 point

Here's the key for how to read the points standings:

Driver - Points - Finishing Positions - Number of Poles

Here are the points standings for kids after race 4:

Jesse K. - 53 - (1-2-1-2) - (3)

Hank M. - 47 - (3-1-2-1) - (1)

Matthew - 14 - (5-3-3-X)

Jesse G. - 13 - (2-X-4-X)

Ryan P. - 7 - (X-X-X-3) - (1)

Regan P. - 6 - (4-X-X-4)

Mason - 1 - (6-X-X-X)

Here are the points standings for No-Mag racers after race 4: 

Gary P. - 55 - (1-1-3-1) - (4)

Chris K. - 36 - (2-3-2-2)

Wes M. - 24 - (4-4-1-4)

Robert - 14 - (X-2-5-X)

Eric P. - 12 - (3-X-X-3)

Hank M. - 9 - (5-5-4-5)

Carl - 1 - (X-6-X-X)

Ryan -1 - (X-X-X-6)

The kids completed 1,249 laps in 18 minutes!

The no-mag racers completed 1,540 laps in 18 minutes!

The kids have completed 4,317 laps in 4 races.

The no-mag racers have completed 4,705 laps in 4 races.

Next track will be a road course! -KW