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The third track in the PROC (Patio Racers of Orange County) group is now up and running.
Originally called "Tres Palmas", this was John Ostrowski's track, recently purchased by Mill Conroy and now set up in his garage in Downey, CA. While not exactly a "patio track", all the pit space is on the patio, and we were well-served with refreshments, the sodas being held in a genuine 1950's steel cooler, that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe:
A small group of 6 attended the inaugural event, and the racing action was as hot as the weather. Here is the line-up for the first-ever official heat:
First race of the day was the ever-popular Vintage Nascar IROC, using cars prepared by Gary Donahoe. Since the track has magnetic braid, this was the first time we have run these cars with some extra downforce, and on the short twisty track, it really helped produce some great racing and cloes finishes. I don't have the footages that we recorded, so some of the tied positions may not be exactly as the computer listed them.
Laps and Times for the Nascar race:
From the Nascars, we moved to another IROC using the three Proslot Ferrari F430 cars I have. Without magnets, on their original rubber tires and with Slot.ot 29k motors, these were a little chattery out of the tight corners, but still fun to drive.
Our last IROC of the day was with the three Classic "Italian Job" Mini Coopers. Once again the magnets helped to ease the burden of driving these tiny cars, and the sight of these buzzing around like little go-karts was fun.
Results:
Interesting that the Minis ran the same lap totals as the Nascars!
With all the IROC classes out of the way, we ran a class for our inline cars. Marc and Mill were running with magents in their cars, having forgotten/neglected to remove them. it made for some interesting comparisons. Marc ran a Slot.it West Lancia, Mill his pink Slot.it Porsche 956, Gary was running his #98 Toyota, Phil ran a Ferrari F40, and I was using the new Slot.it Coca-Cola IMSA Porsche 962.
I forgot to take photos of the final results for this race, but as I recall, Marc was predictably fastest with his magnetic Lancia, and my Porsche was the best of the "gravity" cars.
Finally four remaining racers competed with angle/sidewinders. Mill ran his NSR Ford P68 after removing the magnet, Gary used an NSR Mosler, Phil alternated between his Slot.it RAW McLaren and Nissan, and Dennis used a Slot.it Audi R18.
So, lots of good, tight racing, and a load of fun to be on a new track. Between the racing, the track challenge and the dip in Mill's swimming pool afterwards, I'm not sure which I enjoyed more!
Thanks to Mill for the burgers and refreshments, and for hosting the race, I am sure we are all looking forward to the next one.
In the meantime, though, the next priority is to get track #4 up and running - Phil's "Rock and Roll Raceway" in Mission Viejo.
Dennis
Originally called "Tres Palmas", this was John Ostrowski's track, recently purchased by Mill Conroy and now set up in his garage in Downey, CA. While not exactly a "patio track", all the pit space is on the patio, and we were well-served with refreshments, the sodas being held in a genuine 1950's steel cooler, that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe:
A small group of 6 attended the inaugural event, and the racing action was as hot as the weather. Here is the line-up for the first-ever official heat:
First race of the day was the ever-popular Vintage Nascar IROC, using cars prepared by Gary Donahoe. Since the track has magnetic braid, this was the first time we have run these cars with some extra downforce, and on the short twisty track, it really helped produce some great racing and cloes finishes. I don't have the footages that we recorded, so some of the tied positions may not be exactly as the computer listed them.
Laps and Times for the Nascar race:
From the Nascars, we moved to another IROC using the three Proslot Ferrari F430 cars I have. Without magnets, on their original rubber tires and with Slot.ot 29k motors, these were a little chattery out of the tight corners, but still fun to drive.
Our last IROC of the day was with the three Classic "Italian Job" Mini Coopers. Once again the magnets helped to ease the burden of driving these tiny cars, and the sight of these buzzing around like little go-karts was fun.
Results:
Interesting that the Minis ran the same lap totals as the Nascars!
With all the IROC classes out of the way, we ran a class for our inline cars. Marc and Mill were running with magents in their cars, having forgotten/neglected to remove them. it made for some interesting comparisons. Marc ran a Slot.it West Lancia, Mill his pink Slot.it Porsche 956, Gary was running his #98 Toyota, Phil ran a Ferrari F40, and I was using the new Slot.it Coca-Cola IMSA Porsche 962.
I forgot to take photos of the final results for this race, but as I recall, Marc was predictably fastest with his magnetic Lancia, and my Porsche was the best of the "gravity" cars.
Finally four remaining racers competed with angle/sidewinders. Mill ran his NSR Ford P68 after removing the magnet, Gary used an NSR Mosler, Phil alternated between his Slot.it RAW McLaren and Nissan, and Dennis used a Slot.it Audi R18.
So, lots of good, tight racing, and a load of fun to be on a new track. Between the racing, the track challenge and the dip in Mill's swimming pool afterwards, I'm not sure which I enjoyed more!
Thanks to Mill for the burgers and refreshments, and for hosting the race, I am sure we are all looking forward to the next one.
In the meantime, though, the next priority is to get track #4 up and running - Phil's "Rock and Roll Raceway" in Mission Viejo.
Dennis
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