Round 6 at Road Augusta Slot Speedway (The RASS)

B52RN · #1 07-05-2012, 08:42 PM

Time to get this party started...the cars arrived today in good shape. I've unpacked them and given them a good visual check and they all are in good shape. A few with some cosmetic issues (mirrors, taillights, antennas, etc.) but nothing of significance.

For those first timers to the Shootout and are not familiar with The RASS, here's some pics:

It's 64.5 feet of Scaley Sport track with a DS200 timer/lap counter and Professor Motor controllers. It's a road course type track with the longest straight about 9 ft long.

Cars that do well on this track need to be well balanced in order to recover quickly from the many turns and have quick acceleration to minimize lap times. I'll be very interested to see how the many teal motors do on this track.

The track has been cleaned and "rubbered-in" by a bazillion laps with a F2 shod Slotit Porsche. I'll start the race preliminaries tomorrow...good luck to all!!

Scaleracing · #2 07-06-2012, 08:23 AM

Looking forward to this round. I hope you have fun with them. How hot is it getting now, I'm heading down to play with the Alabama Gang next weekend ( also the Slingshot crew from Atlanta ).

Will keep an eye on this race as it develops.

See you at the Races.

B52RN · #3 07-06-2012, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scaleracing

How hot is it getting now, I'm heading down to play with the Alabama Gang next weekend ( also the Slingshot crew from Atlanta ).

Alan, it's not "getting" hot...it's been hot!

Last week for almost every day was record setting high temps well into the 100s (one day was 107) with heat indexes above 110.

Working outside is a real treat!

Actually, this week has cooled down some to the high 90s (except yesterday which was 102).
Better bring some cool Washington air with you.

July in Georgia!

nhdungeonracer · #4 07-06-2012, 10:05 AM

Good to see you back up and at it again Neil. Hope the son-in-law is doing ok...

Have fun with the Slot.It's

B52RN · #5 07-07-2012, 12:56 PM

OK, finally got the 1 minute shakedown runs completed. I'd hoped to finish much sooner - when it wasn't so bloomin' hot - but had an issue with my lap timer/counter that took a while to rectify and received a few edicts from SWMBO so, it set my schedule back a bit.

I ran them in the order that they got unpacked (BTW, how are we coming with the final cumulative stats from Round 5?) and here's the results by class, in order of fastest lap, lowest to highest:

Note: If I say a car lacks acceleration, it means for this track which simply requires quick burst acceleration to do well.

EVO Class

1.#34..Autorama..........7.360.......Wow, great car! Quick, consistent, and planted.
2.#1...jscot111............7.417.......Another wow!
3.#14..Johnnyslots.......7.455.......Smooth, quiet, easy to drive rocket. Anglewinder spur on a sidewinder setup....hmmm, interesting.
4.#24..Transissues.......7.548.......Great car. Fast and planted.
5.#71..ckouba.............7.577.......Very nice car. Balanced, fast and easy to drive hard. Will lift out of slot if acceleration is done too quickly coming out of a turn.
6.#37..boopiejones......7.632........Good, quick car. Has some chatter in the turns and stiff braids that can cause deslotting.
7.#3...sjw..................7.663........Noisy, rattley car that you can drive the schizell out of and it doesn't care.
8.#12..slotbutton........7.793........Quietest car of the bunch. Decent speed and is pretty easy to drive but lacks the needed acceleration. Has some tail waggle.
9.#11..Budslots..........7.987.........Decent speed but lacks acceleration. Can be driven hard easily. Shortest braids I've ever seen!
10.#4...Alcopa.............7.993.........Easy to drive but has a lot of tail waggle when pushed. Lacks acceleration.
11.#61..WCR...............8.091.........Sorry Paul, actually a pretty nice car except it would tend to snap slide if pushed too hard. Also, it kept deslotting on one particular 180 degree turn unless I babied it through..no one else had that problem. I did notice that your guide seems very tight.

C Class

1.#98...timkoul.........7.489..........Very nice car. Quick, consistent, easy to drive hard.
2.#55...B52..............7.538..........Car is about .5 second slower than initial build/test. Tires going away I quess.
3.#49...gambler49.....7.546..........Great running car. Planted, with good acceleration.
4.#17...steveew........7.679..........Nice. Good speed and is easy to drive it hard. Has a little tail waggle.
5.#51...bov..............7.709 (tie)...Smooth but will waggle if pushed to hard. Decent and consistent speed but lacks quick acceleration.
5.#5....turboman......7.709 (tie)...Consistent, easy to drive it hard. Decent speed but lacks acceleration.
7.#59..The Professor.7.830..........Smooth and consistent but lacks the needed quick acceleration.
8.#21..dungeonracer.7.868..........Good car. Good speed but tail gets loose when driven hard.
9.#88..Slotracer88....7.903..........Nice car but lacks the needed acceleration. Can drive it hard and it feels solid.
10.#26..Maddick1943..7.927..........Smooth and consistent, easy to drive it hard but lacks acceleration.
11.#52..AJK...............8.068.........Easy to drive car. Could maintain a consistent speed. Seemed faster than the time shows.
12.#27..Kerry............8.174.........Another car that seemed faster. Can maintain a consistent speed. Has some tail waggle that slows it down.
13.#666 monquispot...8.237.........Car took off at the start, went into the darkness under the overpass, and I never saw it again

...a pox, I say, on these black cars (on a black track)!! Actually, a good, solid running car just no acceleration.

OK, there you have it.
I'll try to get some racing done this evening if it's not too hot. Since I'm doing this solo it may take me some time as I'll do it in batches before I pass out!

Wet Coast Racer · #6 07-07-2012, 01:35 PM

Pretty efficient qualifying there, Neil.

Hmmm I wonder what's happened with my guide, this is the second comment I've seen recently about it being tight, but that's now what I recall from when the car was put together.

Good to see Autorama's car finding a track that suits it!

maddick1943 · #7 07-07-2012, 08:51 PM

on a great looking setup Neil....and thanks for getting thu this by yourself..

to perhaps cool you off.

The Qual results show just how close these cars are......from the EVO class to the rest of the field seperated by only 0.877 sec....... IMO that's close.

It's interesting for me to note as on my home Ninco Track the car had a fastest lap speed of 8.02 ft/sec....and on your layout it had a Qual speed of 8.14 ft/sec which goes to show ya that first your a better driver than me and the car is somewhat consistant I think. I think the weight balance could've been better ( next time it will be) and I think the rear @ 2.70 is a little tall for a track with a ton of turns, I had it @ 3.00. I think I should have left it there.....your thoughts on that Neil ??? As this is my very Proxy, the learning continues...

Anyhow thanks again for you efforts..

Dick

slotbutton · #8 07-08-2012, 02:16 PM

Thanks for getting the test runs in and the results posted. I think we have a very close field of cars this year.

Quote:

SWMBO

Took me a while to decode that one until I got todays "Honey do list!"

B52RN · #9 07-08-2012, 08:28 PM

Well, I've completed about half of the cars and, so far, no big surprises except it's interesting to note that a lot of the cars are turning faster lap times, compared to qual fast laps, even though I drive a bit more conservatively for the race than I do for qual. Don't know exactly what to attribute that to...more "rubbering-in", the higher temps somehow having an affect, knowing the cars a little better, maybe even driving more conservatively (less time lost with tail waggle)...how 'bout my bio-rhythms at their peak!?! I don't know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddick1943

It's interesting for me to note as on my home Ninco Track the car had a fastest lap speed of 8.02 ft/sec....and on your layout it had a Qual speed of 8.14 ft/sec which goes to show ya that first your a better driver than me and the car is somewhat consistant I think. I think the weight balance could've been better ( next time it will be) and I think the rear @ 2.70 is a little tall for a track with a ton of turns, I had it @ 3.00. I think I should have left it there.....your thoughts on that Neil ??? As this is my very Proxy, the learning continues...

Dick, it's very difficult to make a valid comparison of how a car drives on Ninco v. Scaley track. They are two totally different surfaces. You've got a good car and, just to give you food for thought, it's the second heaviest car in the C Class (yours being 80g v. the heaviest at 84g) which can hamper that quick acceleration needed for this track. I emphasize "this track" because building a good proxy race car entails compromise. 3.00 gearing might have given you a bit more giddyup on this track, but you might have lost out on some top end speed on the tracks with longer straights and fewer turns.

You try to glean as much info about the mix of scheduled tracks as you can - type of track surface, road course or speed course, which tires are best (unless spec tires are required), voltage - whatever you can get, and then tune your car so it, hopefully, will perform to it's max potential on a majority of the tracks. With Ninco track, you face a unique challenge in that Ninco is not a common track in the series.

In that case, I would gather as much info about the cars being run in the race as you can - look at the stats sheet for all the cars - and then look at how the top performers are built to give you some idea about what works on a majority of the tracks.

Hope that helps some.

Quote:

Took me a while to decode that one until I got todays "Honey do list!"

Exactly!

timkoul · #10 07-09-2012, 12:57 AM

Hmmmm a good quali result. Hope its does better than Alonso yesterday...

I notice there is no rattling or 'drumming' observation on GrC cars. Tires are settling down or is it the nature of this track?

JohnnySlots · #11 07-09-2012, 03:13 PM

Looking forward to the final results ....

maddick1943 · #12 07-09-2012, 03:42 PM

Neil.........it does and thanks a ton for taken a moment to add that info....

Your right I was a little concerned about the weight but went for added weight up front in hopes for more foward "bit", keeping the guide in maybe....still learning so all help is much appreciated for sure......... so here's to ..

You know the heat just could be why a little more grip with the F22's being used, guess we'll see.

Once again thanks and oh ya "Drive it like you own it"

Dick

B52RN · #13 07-09-2012, 06:50 PM

Got a little more racing in tonight and hopefully will be able to finish it up tomorrow after work.

Couple of surprises so far...might have a few shakeups in the standings...will be interesting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by timkoul

I notice there is no rattling or 'drumming' observation on GrC cars. Tires are settling down or is it the nature of this track?

Tim, I believe that the rattling & drumming observations were made when Paul ran the cars on the skidpad and with the cars going around in a fast continuous circle it seems to set up, maybe, a harmonic of some sort to get that drumming sound.....heck, i don't know what I'm talking about,,,that just came out along with a Corona belch ---- hey, it was hot in that garage!

I do recall one car, sjw I think, who's car was pretty rattley but it was a decent runner with no drummer on board.

I don't think those sounds transferred to the race track much though, at least I didn't hear 'em. But then SWMBO says I don't hear her either (except when I want to) so it's possible those noises are in the sound range of an odious task being requested.

JohnnySlots · #14 07-09-2012, 07:10 PM

I noticed a drumming at Mini Grid as well in many of the cars, but it was only in the pre-race practice session. All cars were much quieter in the races.

B52RN · #15 07-11-2012, 04:15 PM

Racing at The RASS is done. Had to finish up a few of the final cars this afternoon after work and will figure out the distances and get The RASS Photo Finish done tonight. Don't know if I'll be able to post it tonight or not, but definitely by tomorrow night.

Had a couple of interesting finishes...one in particular!!

Really enjoyed running these cars.