[woodcote]

The semi final should have decided who met the top qualifier - but it was most likely deciding who'd win the race... unless Pete pulled off something utterly miraculous!

   

This was incredibly close... Side-by-side and a winning margin of 0.006 seconds. The win went to Jane - who managed her best run of the eliminators, a 0.611. Kev's time dropped off to 0.617. This is already becoming quite a rivalry. But it left Jane with one more race...

This Street Stock competition has been rather unusual. We're getting used to the top two qualifiers marching through to the final. Not this time...

   

This is what happened...



That looks fairly comprehensive, even at normal speed. A good start...

   

And a fast run...

   

With the result never in doubt...

   

Congrats to Pete for reaching the final, but the winner's medal goes to Jane...

   

Here's the ladder...

   

And all the stats from the Street Stock elimination rounds...

   

That's it for this fifteenth event on the Rock County Eighth Mile. The next is over the weekend of 12-13 March. Then we'll have three more mid-week races in 2022, giving what I hope will remain a regular spring-summer-autumn-winter schedule. More about that soon!

[BAracer]

Ahhh...the little fella had his moment of fame in the qualifying.

[KensRedZed]

Thanks a million to Andy for hosting another fabulous race!

Congrats to everyone that attended. Especially all the winners!

Nice match-race win El Camino Bill!

Ken

[OXO cube]

just got back from working away 

phew ....was getting worried about my cars ... almost 2 weeks in the post ? 
pleased they made it in the nick of time 

Andy ... this is getting quite addictive , and very entertaining 

well done to all the winners 
2x runners up  ..... I'm gunna beat those Nissans one day :)

[woodcote]

Some of the cars will staying over until March. Kev's and the Burley's will be on their way on Monday - and Iain's (as requested) at the end of next week.

In the meantime, here are some doodles about the rest of the year's action...

   

March 12-13 remains as planned - Spring Nationals with all the classes we currently run. This is the only weekend event this year - the others are mid-week.

June 14-15 is themed around inline cars including the 3 Micro Scalextric classes. I'm also looking at adding in other chassis with the 6-ohm Mabuchi can, plus older chassis like the Tyco 440/440x2 and Life Like M that have ceramic motor magnets and a 6-ohm armature. More about that later.

September 13-14 focuses on the pancake cars we run - T-Jets, Magna/X-Traction, 4-Gear etc. Micro Scalextric Street Stock will run too. More details soon.

November 22-23 has a Nostalgia theme - pancake and inline. Micro Scalextric Street Stock as well.

Essentially, each event has Micro Scalextric Street stock on the first evening, with the 'theme' on the second. I'll aim to expand the cars we run - giving some more challenges to the builders - but focusing on chassis that aren't too hard to pick up in the UK. Expect some existing classes to be merged, eg Super Stock 6.0 might well include the other 'can' cars.

Sound okay?

[$Bill]

Thanks a million to Andy for hosting another fabulous race!

Congrats to everyone that attended. Especially all the winners!

Nice match-race win El Camino Bill!

Ken

Thanks Ken.  Hate to win a race that way.  Would rather win by the thickness of the chrome on the bumper, with both cars battling for the win.  Wish I knew Andy wouldn’t be able to fix your shoe.  I would  have offer to let him borrow one from one of my cars that wasn’t racing in this event.  

That Vette should have been a descent challenge for you.  It was running .6s at home.  A lot can happen during that long ride to the track.

Bill

[KensRedZed]

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your generosity and kind thoughts.

From what I can gather. It comes down to this. I set the shoes up by the book. The AFX book. AFX power rails have gentle lead-ins where the track connects. Shoes are to be set as flat as possible to the rail.

I've never seen Micro Scalex track with my own eyes. But it looks like the power rails don't have a lead-in. I was not aware that there was enough height deviation to cause a flat shoe to butt up against it and get stopped. MS cars all have brushes and are very forgiving with the MS track.

Model Murdering and I examined a few videos of winning runs and could not figure out where the rhythmic clicking sounds were coming from. We thought maybe the guide was too long. Now we know it's the rails. This could have happened to any one of my cars with shoes.

The solution = Tip the front of the shoe up a little so as not to come to an abrupt halt.

The learning curve continues. Let my mistake be well known so others don't follow me.

I would really like my test track back up and running again. (mumble)

Andy had no way of seeing this coming anymore than I did. I am super thankful that he hosts these races.

Looking forward to a rematch. 

[woodcote]

This is the result of a shoe catching at 8 mph...

   

That's the first time that's happened in 15 events, with hundreds - if not thousands - of runs.

The Micro track designs means that the rails tuck in to the next piece...

   

On one lane, that gives a slightly higher lip that the other - although there's an audible click on both sides. With standard braids, that's never a problem - they pretty much 'float' over the joins. If there's a sharp edge - as there is with the older Aurora shoes - and the front angle is not covered with braid, I guess this is a risk. The AutoWorld shoes are more rounded - and it not a bad idea to get a decent thickness of  braid (or solder) right to the front of the shoe. That good for conductivity too.

The good news is that I've removed the shoe without any damage to the plastic hanger or the metal plate. The shoe has straightened out okay - and I even managed to catch the spring! All bagged-up and ready to fight another day

[OXO cube]

hmmmm 
looking at the track pieces , could one lane ( the outside lane pictured ) have a slight advantage ?
meaning one lane could have very slightly raised joints compared to the other ?

i this the reason i cant beat those pesky 350z's  
or am i clutching at straws 

Kev

[woodcote]

That's certainly what I originally thought - and then loads of testing disproved the theory.

Each car qualifies with at least one run in each lane (the final two runs are always different lanes). Some cars run faster in the left lane, some in the right... and then the next event, it might be the other way round. So I think there's a natural variability in the cars that is greater than anything the track is doing. You'll see some cars clock three almost identical times.

In the elimination rounds, I do put the highest-seeded car in the lane nearest the camera which - in theory - had slightly more physical resistance. So if there is any advantage - however miniscule - it goes to the underdog.

Neither lane is completely smooth... Both lanes have raised joins - which the braids 'float' over. However, one has an edge that can catch if it's metal-on-metal.