[Graham]

 Good Morning

The cars will be with me shortly, and the repairs with the Galaxie can be carried out.

The SCOREBOARD has been updated


The Round 9 Review will start shortly

[Graham]

So its many thanks once again to NERCS Club for putting on another Round for our proxies, I think it was one of the best attended Proxy Rounds at a club that I have ever seen   It looked very fast and furious but did capture a "real race" like atmosphere...almost too well 

So a great job done to the guys there, and we will be next week be looking at the FINAL Round.

Updated Overall Points for Rounds 1-9
             

   


Pitlane Review Rounds 1-9
So in the main most of the cars run equally well on this track, RoadRunners Galaxie had a unfortunate retirement due to a braking failure, but it was great to see the Sunbeam of Maken Movers make an appearance on the podium. ALS Audi made another appearance on the podium ( shame about the points penalty) otherwise would have done much better in the proxy. And we had another Podium appearance for Team Tatters Calibra and Scott Sports BMW 125i

Tourist (Event 1)
1st Place - Savage GT - Mustang (175pts)
2nd Place - Brumos RSR - Porsche 911 (128pts)
3rd Place - RoadRunners - Galaxie (105pts)
A predictable outcome for this event, really the Mustang is untouchable, hopefully the Galaxie will be running again for the final Round but will have to settle for 3rd place.

Grand ( Event 2)
1st Place - Bangers Racing - BMW 3.0CSL (161pts)
2nd Place - Makem Movers - Camaro (93pts)
3rd Place - Brumos RSR - BMW 2.0 (85pts)
Bangers Racings BMW 1st place victory assured (especially as its running on the home track next week), but there is a close contest for 2nd & 3rd with Harrisons Racers Camaro on 83pts and Deadheads Rover SD1 on 81pts. 

Super (Event 3)
1st Place - Savage GT - Calibra (126pts)
2nd Place - WVSAM - Nissan Skyline (98pts)
3rd Place - ManxBrian- Calibra (88pts)
This again looks like the finishing positions with only one round left to run.

Modern (Event 4)
1st Place - Deadheads -Audi A5 (166pts)
Joint 2nd Place  - Bangers Racing - Alfa 156 (92pts) & Mountain View - Astra (92pts)
this is going to be a close result for the runners up

Class A Constructed Cars
1st Place - Mountain View - Astra (155pts)
2nd Place - ManxEd - Calibra (130pts)
3rd Place - Harrisons Racers BMW 321i (90pts)
The Astra of Mountain View has mostly an ensured victory in the Class A 

Class B Constructed Cars
1st Place -Deadheads -Audi A5 (132pts)
2nd Place - Bangers Racing - BMW 3.0CSL (112pts)
3rd Place- Mountain View - BMW M3 (86pts)
Similar to above Deadheads Audi A5 looks good for the class win.

Class C Constructed Cars
1st Place - Savage GT - Calibra (124pts)
2nd Place - WVSAM - Nissan Skyline (102pts)
3rd Place - ManxBrian - Calibra (82pts)
With WVSAM's Nissan Skyline underperforming more recently, Savage GT have Class C in the bag.

Best Team
1st Place - Savage GT (509pts)
2nd Place - Deadheads (427pts)
3rd Place - Mountain View (409pts)
A good recovery from Deadheads later on, but not enough to take the win I think.

Round 9 Fastest lap
   

Comment
So the cars have arrived, and we are onto the final Round 10 at the North Staffs Slot Car Club, this has the fastest and longest straight of any of the Rounds so far, so in theory those faster cars should do well, but there are also some hairpin bends to contend with plus the fact that we have never run a proxy on this track before 

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Amato Slot Car Design

[Kevan]

we are working on creating a YouTube channel (at least Marty is).
Watch this space.
Gerry

A sensible move and the best way to make your club racing accessible to the public not only that but easy to post on forums too.

[Makem]

Right Marty the Wizard (Team Alaric) has opened a You Tube channel and started uploading.

Daily limit reached so more tomorrow.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQbPmI_-rNM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7or0_8UBgj4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l15xYRdA--Y


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iu7TcMt2yQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH_8xA4sBI8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMiYjqeOxa8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os4Dyl_ok2M

Gerry

[Kevan]

A bit of advice I'd give is put info in each video name so we know who's cars are racing.

[AdeC]

I personally really like the multi-car rotated race format.  It makes it more interesting and gives a good direct comparison when running alongside other cars.  With more time at the Viking SCC round I would have really liked to run 3 cars at a time (with a lane space between each) rather than two.  I think you guys need much higher fences at your track though.  So far I've watched 5 videos, and a car has hit the floor in 3 of them...

[Brumos RSR]

I personally really like the multi-car rotated race format.  It makes it more interesting and gives a good direct comparison when running alongside other cars.  With more time at the Viking SCC round I would have really liked to run 3 cars at a time (with a lane space between each) rather than two.  I think you guys need much higher fences at your track though.  So far I've watched 5 videos, and a car has hit the floor in 3 of them...i

I too enjoy 3-4 lane proxy racing, I assume it’s also faster for hosts.  Finally, I love the flow of the NERCS track but yes a clear piece of plastic would go a long way in protecting Proxy cars and individuals from bad backs.

[Kevan]

High barriers at the end of the straights definitely need to be at least 4 times higher...ours has saved umpteen trips to the floor.

[Savage GT]

I disagree with multi car running.

A proxy is not a race IMO, effectively its a time attack.
The idea is to find which of the cars can be quickest with multiple drivers and on differing tracks.

Each event needs to be driven by one driver at each round for consistent results and other cars getting in the way and skewing results is not the point.
Not too mention that little competitive edge that drivers have when racing ... I know solo I can be (mostly) pretty consistent and stable, when racing I can tend to overdrive slot cars.

Racing 2 lanes with at least a lane empty in between, with 2 different Event cars could be an option for time pressed events, but I think the ideal is solo, time permitting.

That is my view on the subject, and I have stated that previously. I know when I enter a car there's a risk of an accident, but I trust that drivers will treat it with respect.
Introducing the "Red Mist" in a proxy isn't productive IMO.

All this being said, I am not having a go at anyone. I realise hosting can be time consuming even though its good fun, and time constraints due to RL issues do mean compromises sometimes are required.

That my input on the subject 

[Graham]

 Good Morning,

I have received a number of concerns privately similar to those expressed here.

So I would first of all like to make it clear that I have always allowed the hosts to run these Rounds free of restrictions of how they run them, in order to allow divergence in both track types and in the running of the Round themselves (for better or worse). This does have consequences, some can only do this individually as "solo" hosts on home tracks, and clubs have varying levels of support to enable them to run the proxies. Individual home based hosts have generally more time to carry out the Rounds often taking a couple of days over the weekend to do so. Clubs are more restricted in terms of timeframes having to fit these Rounds into their own Club programmes, often within a narrow time margin in the evening after work and mostly at their own expense in terms of transportation to and from the clubs, Club running costs etc.

So I feel extremely grateful for the support and enthusiasm that I have received over these years of running these proxies from both individuals and clubs, without them these proxies would not have existed.

The questions which are raised are valid, as to what degree of freedom should be acceptable in terms of running a proxy round where cars are run in a continuous series where the cars generally cannot be maintained in between rounds by the owners of the cars, and if this distinction should not require a more controlled approach when running a round of the proxy whereby contact and or damage risk is taken into account.

I am not of the opinion that an entire proxy series should solely comprise of Rounds whereby cars are run only individually, I like at least some degree of appearance that the cars are involved in some form of racing competition and some degree of competitive risk. On the otherhand, I would not want to see every round run as with the last one where it "appears" perhaps the driver competitiveness overwhelmed the experience of the drivers (with the unfamiliarity of the cars).
Having said that if you look at the results and the podiums that are not that different then from any other round of the series so far.

So the question I am left with is really about the degree of acceptable inter car collisions and the potential for damage which might effect the outcome for entrants in the overall series. 

I think AdeC makes a clear and sensible suggestion that running the cars competitively whereby the cars must be separated by an empty lane, should lead to a more controlled format with less collisions but still have the element of some degree of race competitive running of the cars.

I think with the level of concern expressed about this current NERCS round (which is entirely my responsibility),  might be off putting for entrants in future proxies, so I do need to introduce a higher degree of control as expressed above for future series. I have not spoken to NERCS club about this as yet, and how difficult it would be for them to run the Round next year using only 2 lanes rather than 4 lane racing, but it would seem to be the right approach.

Also the suggestion that having a higher fence at the end of the main straight seems very good suggestion, especially in the light of my own cars experience, luckily the car body was not damaged, only the 3d printed body chassis support posts which were cleanly sheared off.