Last Saturday

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gordon
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Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:34 pm
Location: Trinidad & Tobago
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Last Saturday

Post by gordon »

Last Saturday, I wanted to take down the track to check the rails for rust and at the same time do a little car testing and driving, so I contacted a few of the north guys to let them know so they could join me if they liked. After getting home from work around 1:15pm, I started preparing the garage and track when we were hit by a deluge of rain. Luckily, I had lowered the tarpaulin above the driver station just before the showers started:

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Steve arrived during the downpour and helped me complete track preparation, after which we started doing some driving of our Clubman (CM) and Kitbash (KB) cars. Here my NSU TT is on the outside while Steve's Cortina is next to me on the inside:

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Man that was fun. These cars are very close in performance and actually go slow enough to be properly seen whilst lapping the eighteen-corner FRC track. We kept at it, trying several of our different no-magnet KB and CM cars and enjoying it thoroughly. Here Steve's Alfa approaches the last corner:

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O'Brie eventually joined us, having been stranded on his anchored yacht in Chaguaramas waiting for the rain to ease up so he could get back to the mainland. Because of the rain delay, he never bothered to go home for his cars, instead driving my CM Mustang GT350 against Steve and I with our cars. In this shot, all three cars are de-slotted after a coming together:

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Another accident, this one involving O'Brie with the Mustang and Steve with his orange popcicle-chassis machine:

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Once again, close action sees all three cars collide, this time at Fosters corner. Here Steve is driving his green MGB:

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We must have driven for at least an hour, just lapping and having very close dicing amongst ourselves. I had the computer connected so at the end of that particular session we were able to see that the difference in fastest lap times from the slowest to the fastest was just 0.2 sec! O'Brie eventually left with new enthusiasm for getting his CM cars finished and not long after, Peter arrived. Like the rest of us, although he didn't stay long, he enjoyed driving these cars and was quite impressed with how drivable they are, never once de-slotting. Here he is in a rather unusual driving position. Hmmm...

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Before packing up, Steve and I had the first official CM race, a 10-lapper with the cars lined up based on a dice roll:

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At race end, my Cortina just managed to beat Steve's Alfa by 0.568 sec:

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Despite the weather, it was an afternoon of stress-free fun as we got a chance to start getting back into the driving part of our great hobby. I for one look forward to the next one.
steveaca
Posts: 1532
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:12 pm

Re: Last Saturday

Post by steveaca »

What a fun afternoon that was !
I really enjoyed preparing these cars and actually getting to drive them was even more fun. I must say that although I enjoy racing all the current classes at FRC, the non-mag and low-mag classes to me are the most fun. Can't wait to do it again !
Nice photos of the on-track activity Gordon. I particularly like the one with the NSU, the Mustang and the MGB. The accident-scarred Fosters sign certainly adds a realistic touch !
Steve
RameshB
Posts: 599
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:30 pm

Re: Last Saturday

Post by RameshB »

Looking good guys, glad to see the track up and running we do.miss the racing but the present situation may even make things more unfavourable for gathering , I did enjoy the pics and please keep safe .
Luke
Posts: 2212
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:54 pm

Re: Last Saturday

Post by Luke »

Hello Gordon,

Pics of your slot-car activities are always a pleasure ... and another perfect example of the ones posted.

They are all very thrilling and each one, paints a story of 1000 words. However, the pic that caught my attention - was number three and what a coincidence how it is the No.3 Driver's Station / Power-Base sector.

A bright idea how you color coded (red, yellow & blue) the cords to identify (No.2, 4 & 6) Hand Controllers ports and obviously the others (No.1, 3 & 5) on the opposite side.

Thank you for sharing plus getting the Forum working again 8-)

Post No.2092

Luke
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