[courtney s]

Well I cannot believe that same little Porsche is running so good I have to admit I missed a couple little things on that car last year so I put a few more tweaks on it but it is still all stock. Plastic bushings plastic wheels plastic gear, I think there may be some magic dust on that car. Thanks guys for the good run.

[Graham]

 Good Morning

Pit Lane Review
well the cars are all packed up and ready to be collected today, for "next day delivery" tomorrow in Kings Lynn (come on DHL don't let me down).
Here are photos of the cars in their brand new transporting box 
          
       

The Tour
Just to recap a little the American Road Race is a Tour, so we will be heading around England, Wales and Scotland in a clockwise direction. Starting in East Midlands (Harlequin- Nottingham) then South East England (Connington Park - Kings Lynn), then South-South East England (Viking Club- Canterbury), South coast England (Devils Dyke - Brighton), North Wales (Mountain View- Wrexham), North England (South Manchester Club), North-North England West (Goldrock - Burnley), Scotland ( Merchiston- Edinburgh), North East England (NERCS Club- Sunderland) and finally back to Harlequin at Nottingham. We did have 10 stages, but one host had to cancel, so I will see if I can get my "Belvoir Pass" Rally track working good enough to run the final 10th stage. If not then we end the stages at NERCS.

Harlequin -Stage 1 Review
This year we adopted to record 2 different measurements of the cars performance for each stage. The Primary measurement used to order the cars into 1st to last and the secondary measurement to separate cars which have the same Primary measurement. In this way it is hope to avoid record Stage records with cars having duplicate positions (due to very close car performance).
So my Primary measurement was Fastest Lap in seconds. 
Secondary Measurement was overall race time in minutes and seconds, over 20 (well actually 19) laps. 
NOTE:I realised halfway through running the cars that of course I was starting behind the timer, so "Lap 1 was exceedingly short" 
However this measurement would includes any "off times " that the cars incur.

The Results
Cannonball Run
We have a good mixture of both Scalextric and Ninco models, and one Carrera.
This year I had decided to allow a mixed brand Standardish Class, but anticipating that the Anglewinders based Ninco's might have the edge I also allowed upgrades on the Standard cars to give the Scaly & Carrera ones the opportunity to improve their performance against the Ninco's.
In general I think this appears to be working OK, as certainly the AW Ninco's don't appear to have the field to themselves, but it is early days and we will have to see if this is a fair contest or not.
The results were quite interesting for the Teams.
The times overall were slightly faster then when I ran the Le Mans Proxy last year, I did fit a booster cable across the track this year which I think has improved the consistency of the speed around all of the track. But also of course cars which ran last year have been improved with allowable upgrades etc.
So the winners:
1st Place - Courtney Sport - Scalex Porsche 911 RSR
2nd Place - Ruscillo Racing - Ninco Renault Megane
3rd Place - Green Star Racing - Ninco Lamborghini Gallado

2nd and 3rd was exceedingly close, in fact the secondary measurement would have given the Lambo second place. Whether they can catch the flying Porsche this year is another matter ?

Pan American Road Race
always love to include a classic car class, and this one is really great, many entrants taking the "Carrera Pan Americana Road Race" theme to offer some very interesting cars, some are not particularly fast but I am glad to say that this competition is not only about being the fastest etc. Some entrants are just in for the pleasure of participation.
Results
1st place - Bangers Racing - AC Cobra
2nd place - ALS Racing - Corvette (very wide one)
3rd place - RoadRunners - Corvette
Nothing much between these 3 cars, again looking at the Secondary race time figures I should have been first 

Classic Trans Am & NASCARS
Although I thought there would be a lot of Camaro's, I was surprised that there was none of the early 70's version's ?
However there was great diversity in the construction build of the "68-69" Camaro's.
Additionally we have our 3 alternatives which have demonstrated, at least on my track that they are a match for the Camaro's
Results
1st place - Brumos RSR - Camaro
2nd place - Team Tatters - Mustang
3rd place - Team Cube - Pontiac GTO
A very close finish between 1st and 2nd, look like there is going to be a close run between these two cars. 
The Pontiac did surprise me how well that ran, mind you it does have a bigger motor in it 
The strange one was ALS Racing Camaro fitted with a NSR motor but finishing last, perhaps that guide was just to deep, or perhaps those front wheels are holding it back ?

Modern Trans Am & NASCARS
This was a class I thought might be the most unpredictable with such a diverse mixture of car types.
Results
1st Place - Green Star Racing - De Tomaso
2nd Place - Courtney Sport - Porsche 914/6 
3rd Place -Bangers Racing - Porsche 911S
There is really nothing between these 3 cars, my 4th place Greenwood Corvette looked abit more distant, but again on different tracks etc, this class of cars will be very unpredictable (I hope) 

So it's off to Connington Park for the next Stage, a brilliantly decorated track which our host is ready and waiting to introduce to us next weekend.

Sponsors
Pendle Slot Racing a- www.pendleslotracing.co.uk
George Turner Models - www.georgeturnermodels.com
Amato Slot Car Design

[Kevan]

There's some interesting cars I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of, the Greenwood Corvette for one 

[Graham]

There's some interesting cars I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of, the Greenwood Corvette for one 

Yes I was going to try to get the George Turner Trans Am Jaguar XJS body kit ready for this class which would have been great, but with having to move the "hobby" room I have still not managed to get around to fixing up the painting booth etc, and it would have been too cold outside to do a good spray job.

[Qman]

Woodland Fort are still willing to run a stage if you need us

[Graham]

Woodland Fort are still willing to run a stage if you need us

That sounds like a very good offer, and one I would very much like to accept  
Originally we planned to run a stage in Eastbourne on the Tuesday after Easter Monday as Andy is running the Devils Dyke Hill climb  in Brighton on the Thursday before Easter. And they were very close together.
 I can't see that working for you guys in the South West, so let me have look at the schedule and see if we can move the dates for the other hosts back a little.

[CMOTD]

The cars have arrived safely in Norfolk. I will give them all a shake-down over the next couple of days with the main event to follow on Sunday.

[CMOTD]

A warm welcome to all the competitors for the 2nd round of the American Road Race.    

Here is the track your cars will need to tame. There are  three longish straights so acceleration, top speed and braking performance will be important but the twisty bits have their own challenges. Can your cars master the off camber Craner curve with a kink in the middle or the tricky double bend leading on to the pit straight?

   

The shake down has been completed with all cars functioning and the parade laps are underway ready for the green flag on Sunday.

   

   

   

Tel (Savage GT) will be sharing the driving duties and results will be posted on Sunday night or Monday morning.  

[CMOTD]

Results for Round 2. Race report to follow later after I have packed cars for onward transmission.

       

       

       

       

[Graham]

 Good afternoon, and many thanks to the hosts of Conington Park for some very interesting results 

I will have a bit of a deliberation about them tomorrow in my Pit lane Review after I had a thorough look of them.

However here are the accumulative results for stages 1&2