HSC 2017 Retro Series Rnd 8 - Big Track (BTR) - 09/09/2017
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 2:37 am
Well,... "Whilst the Cat's (in Our case the "Fox",..lol) Away",.........
Unfortunately,... there Weren't Too Many,...
"Mice",.. / Chickens,.. / General Rodents etc,.. to,...
"Play"
??
Whilst Low in Numbers, it was (ofcourse), Still a 'typically' enjoyable evening's racing!
Initially with 7 in Each Class, until Joe Retired/Departed, we ended with 6 in both classes.
I Must admit, I Have been a bit Slack,.. for slightly More than Just of Late, with 'Specific' regard to actually 'Building' a New CanAm/Coupe chassis,..
I have a Few, but as far as HSC 'Specific' chassis go, I Really Only have 'Old Faithfull' fully serviceable and constantly running, which IS More than OK, as it drives Really Well around the Big Track, if but perhaps a Few Grams Heavier than could be ideal,..
So,.. also somewhat 'Typical' of late, I left my 'Prep' till the Last Minute, although I did get to the Track Early enough to 'perform' all the required 'Tasks' to get 2 x cars Ready for Both classes!!,..
I Probably Should have tried the Other "retro Hawk" Motor I had in the Coupe, as realistically the one I raced with wasn't really anything to 'Write Home about' !!,.. ,.. but was OK.
I was DETERMINED, to do atleast a Slightly Better Job on this track and Especially on Red this time and in Fact thought I was in the Coupe race, (as Old Faithfull, is pretty good to drive around this track), but realistically, My Overall and individual lane totals Were (on reflection), Lower than what I would have ideally Liked and Hoped for !!,.. ,.. but Hey,.. Onward and Upward !!,.. LOL
Coupe's
Heat 1
Here we had Casey, Gregg, Stevo' and Myself and similarly to Mark's recent choices,.. ,.. chose to start on Yellow.
It Started pretty close, between Casey Gregg and Myself, in the early brackets, but it soon became evident that Casey definitely 'Had Something' on the rest of us Speed wise and perhaps 'typically' he was also doing consistent Totals on All the lanes.
Gregg and I were equal until after the 3rd bracket when he moved ahead (after rather Lower than hoped for totals by myself on White & Red), with (by that stage), Casey starting to Move further ahead of us all having 3 laps on Gregg by the 6th bracket.
Through the 4th to 7th bracket Gregg and I were still having Fun,.. with myself merely 'Trying to Keep him Honest',..lol and got to Withing a Lap, until a Low 18 on Black in the last bracket, put me 'In My Place' ,..
All the while with Stevo' having a reasonable run happily running around,.. 'bringing up the Rear',..
Kinda 'felt' like I coulda/shoulda done Slightly Better than I did,.. ,.. Oh well,.. lol
The Placings,
1st Casey 159 laps
2nd Gregg 154 laps
3rd Darryl 150 laps
4th Stoo 150 laps
5th Stevo' 129 laps
Heat 2
This was a rather Strange and Lonely 'Event', with Only Darryl and Neil running.
Not really Too much to say other than it was odd they Both managed to De-Slot 'In Sympathy' individually and separately at one stage early in the race
They eventually Finished with;
1st Darryl 150 laps
2nd Neil 145 laps
The Final Placing's being;
1st Casey 159 laps
2nd Gregg 154 laps
3rd Darryl 150 laps
4th Stoo 150 laps
5th Neil 145 laps
6th Stevo' 129 laps
F1's
Firstly and somewhat 'Off-Topic', but seemingly Poignant,..
Having arrived this evening, with 2 x F1's, they Made for an 'Interesting' comparison.
One was My First F1 Chassis, (about the 3rd or 4th New chassis I had built, since getting 'Into' Retro) which was and still Is a Very Good Car!
I have Won and regularly Placed Well with this chassis as have Others who have run it.
The 'Other' car, was a (relatively), Newly acquired and built Slick7 chassis, Identical to Mark Fox's recent 'Build' and in fact, to all intents and purposes, is 'Virtually', Identical to His,..... EXCEPT,... (and This Soon leads into the 'Point' I had been Caused to 'Think Upon',.. lol,..), .....
MY Version of The VERY Same Chassis, built (Even IF I DO Say so Myself), to a Very Similar Standard as Mark's, was The First time I tried it,.. Close,.. to one of the Worst Slot cars I have ever driven !!!
Which was somewhat Disappointing considering How Fast and efficient Mark's was proving to be,.. ,.. We 'Conferred' and could Not find any particular 'Wrongness' as such,.. which as suggested, Brings 'Starkly' into focus and one's thoughts, as to JUST How COMPLETELY Different Some / Different and Seemingly 'Identical' chassis can "FEEL" AND Perform !!!
Of the (Now) 3 x F1 chassis I have (especially the first & second Main cars I have run until this recent Slick7 unit),.. they Exhibit Quite Marked and arguably completely Different characteristics, as far as How effective they are at doing What? And Where? compared to each Other a fact Once noticed with them at Raceworld's King !!!,.. lol,... BUT,.. I Did build a 'Copy' of My 2nd and rather Successful F1 chassis some time ago for Troy, which had Virtually Identical 'Characteristics AND Proved to be Easily as Effective Having ultimately being Beaten by it !!,.. lol,.... anyway,... apologies for 'Diverging somewhat,... just had me thinking there,.. for a while,..
Having initially Had a rather disappointing experience' when first 'Trying' MY New Slick7, (with less I guess, at the time far less than Ideal traction), the Car could really Only be described, as a DOG !! Both Ends of the car were doing Bad things !!,.. lol and to make matters worse, it had a rather Ugly 'Bingle' during initial practice, after becoming a 'Rider' on another Lane, which, (as suspected at the time), Did 'Tweak It somewhat !!,..lol
It took quite a bit of 'Fiddling', 'Fudging and Futsing' and a lot of Tweaking and 'Eye-balling',..lol, but It seemed like I had managed to 'fix' it's slight Crash Tweak and,.. as it So proved upon trying it !!,..
As a Side Note,.. it's Just as well that I decided Not to run it last time, as I Discovered, that Somehow ?? I had managed to 'Build' the car with the Overall Front Wheel Width, nearly an 1/8th of an Inch Too Wide !!??,.. WTF ???,..lol Have NO idea how I managed That !!,..
So anyway,.. Now with an 'appropriately' Narrower Front-End and after all the above 'prattle', I had what Now seemed Like a remarkably Nice and rather Quick car,.. ,.. so was at Worst, a Vast Improvement over my Initial 'assessment' !!,.. LOL so was feeling Far happier with My Build,.. Finally,..lol
Heat 1
,... and so, continuing on from above, the Car certainly seems pretty quick,... With 'Promise' !!, ....
Casey and I had a pretty Fast and Close 'Tussle', (He was also having a 'First Run', with a Newly Built car), for Most of the race, until, (Once again, as encountered at one or two Other 'spots'), I Discovered my new car's current slight lack of 'Tune' per-se, by at times Under-estimating the car's Very Short Wheel-base and Guide Lead and had a Poor run in the final bracket on Black, especially coming Out of the Driver's turn,...
There was Only 1 Lap in it Until the Final bracket,.. with once again,.. Stevo' having a consistent run behind us.
It seemed a good 'showing' for 2 x New cars and especially 'satisfying' I am sure for Casey, Winning 'First Time Out', with a New car !!, which, as can be seen from the Pics Below, is a rather Fine and Clean Looking 'Build',..... Well Done!
Is Always a Satisfying feeling !!,..
I have to say,.. as an 'Observation', this Slick7 chassis is So FAST into around the Donut and Up onto the Back straight, that it took me somewhat by Surprise !!,.. lol and that AND it's rather Short 'Length', was meaning that IF I Did manage to Really 'Hook-it-Up', on White or 'God Forbid', Red, it was Getting itself a bit 'Out of Shape' on the Exits !!,.. Short cars Can often be Fast but Invariably also DO require being Driven slightly Differently !!,.. LOL,.. Note to Self,.. Go and Do some 'Testing / Tuning',.....
Great, Fun race,.. I think we all had Fun !!,..
1st Casey 155 laps
2nd Stoo 151 laps
3rd Stevo 125 laps
Heat 2
This was actually quite a Good race and was at times a Far 'Closer' race than the Final lap Totals might suggest.
Even though Gregg T, grabbed and Held onto 1st from the first bracket, Both Neil and Darryl, were 'Right There', in fact the two of them were swapping Places right up until the 5th bracket, when Darryl finally got an advantage of a few extra laps over Neil, whilst Still doing a pretty Good job of chasing Gregg.
There was Only 1 or 2 laps across the first three drivers, until as mentioned above, with Darryl, staying either on the same lap or Only 1 lap down until the end of the last bracket, losing another lap to Gregg.
Observing the cars from my Marshalling Spot, Gregg's just seemed Fast, smooth & Tidy, everywhere, Darryls seemed perhaps, slightly 'Flightier' ?? and Seemed to have Stonkering Final Top End and Neil's car Just Seemed Quick and Was Fast,.. Obviously, (as suggested Above,..lol).
A very Good race really,..
1st Gregg 154 laps
2nd Darryl 152 laps
3rd Neil 147 laps
The Final Placings being;
1st Casey 155 laps
2nd Gregg T 154 laps
3rd Darryl 152 laps
4th Stoo 151 laps
5th Neil 147 laps
6th Stevo 125 laps
All in all, a very Close and Fun F1 race and typically Enjoyable HSC Retro race Event
Congrats to Casey on a Fine and 'deserved' Double Win and thanks once again to James & Co' and the Other Racer's for once again making for a Fun and Enjoyable Evening's racing at HSC.
Unfortunately,... there Weren't Too Many,...
"Mice",.. / Chickens,.. / General Rodents etc,.. to,...
"Play"
??
Whilst Low in Numbers, it was (ofcourse), Still a 'typically' enjoyable evening's racing!
Initially with 7 in Each Class, until Joe Retired/Departed, we ended with 6 in both classes.
I Must admit, I Have been a bit Slack,.. for slightly More than Just of Late, with 'Specific' regard to actually 'Building' a New CanAm/Coupe chassis,..
I have a Few, but as far as HSC 'Specific' chassis go, I Really Only have 'Old Faithfull' fully serviceable and constantly running, which IS More than OK, as it drives Really Well around the Big Track, if but perhaps a Few Grams Heavier than could be ideal,..
So,.. also somewhat 'Typical' of late, I left my 'Prep' till the Last Minute, although I did get to the Track Early enough to 'perform' all the required 'Tasks' to get 2 x cars Ready for Both classes!!,..
I Probably Should have tried the Other "retro Hawk" Motor I had in the Coupe, as realistically the one I raced with wasn't really anything to 'Write Home about' !!,.. ,.. but was OK.
I was DETERMINED, to do atleast a Slightly Better Job on this track and Especially on Red this time and in Fact thought I was in the Coupe race, (as Old Faithfull, is pretty good to drive around this track), but realistically, My Overall and individual lane totals Were (on reflection), Lower than what I would have ideally Liked and Hoped for !!,.. ,.. but Hey,.. Onward and Upward !!,.. LOL
Coupe's
Heat 1
Here we had Casey, Gregg, Stevo' and Myself and similarly to Mark's recent choices,.. ,.. chose to start on Yellow.
It Started pretty close, between Casey Gregg and Myself, in the early brackets, but it soon became evident that Casey definitely 'Had Something' on the rest of us Speed wise and perhaps 'typically' he was also doing consistent Totals on All the lanes.
Gregg and I were equal until after the 3rd bracket when he moved ahead (after rather Lower than hoped for totals by myself on White & Red), with (by that stage), Casey starting to Move further ahead of us all having 3 laps on Gregg by the 6th bracket.
Through the 4th to 7th bracket Gregg and I were still having Fun,.. with myself merely 'Trying to Keep him Honest',..lol and got to Withing a Lap, until a Low 18 on Black in the last bracket, put me 'In My Place' ,..
All the while with Stevo' having a reasonable run happily running around,.. 'bringing up the Rear',..
Kinda 'felt' like I coulda/shoulda done Slightly Better than I did,.. ,.. Oh well,.. lol
The Placings,
1st Casey 159 laps
2nd Gregg 154 laps
3rd Darryl 150 laps
4th Stoo 150 laps
5th Stevo' 129 laps
Heat 2
This was a rather Strange and Lonely 'Event', with Only Darryl and Neil running.
Not really Too much to say other than it was odd they Both managed to De-Slot 'In Sympathy' individually and separately at one stage early in the race
They eventually Finished with;
1st Darryl 150 laps
2nd Neil 145 laps
The Final Placing's being;
1st Casey 159 laps
2nd Gregg 154 laps
3rd Darryl 150 laps
4th Stoo 150 laps
5th Neil 145 laps
6th Stevo' 129 laps
F1's
Firstly and somewhat 'Off-Topic', but seemingly Poignant,..
Having arrived this evening, with 2 x F1's, they Made for an 'Interesting' comparison.
One was My First F1 Chassis, (about the 3rd or 4th New chassis I had built, since getting 'Into' Retro) which was and still Is a Very Good Car!
I have Won and regularly Placed Well with this chassis as have Others who have run it.
The 'Other' car, was a (relatively), Newly acquired and built Slick7 chassis, Identical to Mark Fox's recent 'Build' and in fact, to all intents and purposes, is 'Virtually', Identical to His,..... EXCEPT,... (and This Soon leads into the 'Point' I had been Caused to 'Think Upon',.. lol,..), .....
MY Version of The VERY Same Chassis, built (Even IF I DO Say so Myself), to a Very Similar Standard as Mark's, was The First time I tried it,.. Close,.. to one of the Worst Slot cars I have ever driven !!!
Which was somewhat Disappointing considering How Fast and efficient Mark's was proving to be,.. ,.. We 'Conferred' and could Not find any particular 'Wrongness' as such,.. which as suggested, Brings 'Starkly' into focus and one's thoughts, as to JUST How COMPLETELY Different Some / Different and Seemingly 'Identical' chassis can "FEEL" AND Perform !!!
Of the (Now) 3 x F1 chassis I have (especially the first & second Main cars I have run until this recent Slick7 unit),.. they Exhibit Quite Marked and arguably completely Different characteristics, as far as How effective they are at doing What? And Where? compared to each Other a fact Once noticed with them at Raceworld's King !!!,.. lol,... BUT,.. I Did build a 'Copy' of My 2nd and rather Successful F1 chassis some time ago for Troy, which had Virtually Identical 'Characteristics AND Proved to be Easily as Effective Having ultimately being Beaten by it !!,.. lol,.... anyway,... apologies for 'Diverging somewhat,... just had me thinking there,.. for a while,..
Having initially Had a rather disappointing experience' when first 'Trying' MY New Slick7, (with less I guess, at the time far less than Ideal traction), the Car could really Only be described, as a DOG !! Both Ends of the car were doing Bad things !!,.. lol and to make matters worse, it had a rather Ugly 'Bingle' during initial practice, after becoming a 'Rider' on another Lane, which, (as suspected at the time), Did 'Tweak It somewhat !!,..lol
It took quite a bit of 'Fiddling', 'Fudging and Futsing' and a lot of Tweaking and 'Eye-balling',..lol, but It seemed like I had managed to 'fix' it's slight Crash Tweak and,.. as it So proved upon trying it !!,..
As a Side Note,.. it's Just as well that I decided Not to run it last time, as I Discovered, that Somehow ?? I had managed to 'Build' the car with the Overall Front Wheel Width, nearly an 1/8th of an Inch Too Wide !!??,.. WTF ???,..lol Have NO idea how I managed That !!,..
So anyway,.. Now with an 'appropriately' Narrower Front-End and after all the above 'prattle', I had what Now seemed Like a remarkably Nice and rather Quick car,.. ,.. so was at Worst, a Vast Improvement over my Initial 'assessment' !!,.. LOL so was feeling Far happier with My Build,.. Finally,..lol
Heat 1
,... and so, continuing on from above, the Car certainly seems pretty quick,... With 'Promise' !!, ....
Casey and I had a pretty Fast and Close 'Tussle', (He was also having a 'First Run', with a Newly Built car), for Most of the race, until, (Once again, as encountered at one or two Other 'spots'), I Discovered my new car's current slight lack of 'Tune' per-se, by at times Under-estimating the car's Very Short Wheel-base and Guide Lead and had a Poor run in the final bracket on Black, especially coming Out of the Driver's turn,...
There was Only 1 Lap in it Until the Final bracket,.. with once again,.. Stevo' having a consistent run behind us.
It seemed a good 'showing' for 2 x New cars and especially 'satisfying' I am sure for Casey, Winning 'First Time Out', with a New car !!, which, as can be seen from the Pics Below, is a rather Fine and Clean Looking 'Build',..... Well Done!
Is Always a Satisfying feeling !!,..
I have to say,.. as an 'Observation', this Slick7 chassis is So FAST into around the Donut and Up onto the Back straight, that it took me somewhat by Surprise !!,.. lol and that AND it's rather Short 'Length', was meaning that IF I Did manage to Really 'Hook-it-Up', on White or 'God Forbid', Red, it was Getting itself a bit 'Out of Shape' on the Exits !!,.. Short cars Can often be Fast but Invariably also DO require being Driven slightly Differently !!,.. LOL,.. Note to Self,.. Go and Do some 'Testing / Tuning',.....
Great, Fun race,.. I think we all had Fun !!,..
1st Casey 155 laps
2nd Stoo 151 laps
3rd Stevo 125 laps
Heat 2
This was actually quite a Good race and was at times a Far 'Closer' race than the Final lap Totals might suggest.
Even though Gregg T, grabbed and Held onto 1st from the first bracket, Both Neil and Darryl, were 'Right There', in fact the two of them were swapping Places right up until the 5th bracket, when Darryl finally got an advantage of a few extra laps over Neil, whilst Still doing a pretty Good job of chasing Gregg.
There was Only 1 or 2 laps across the first three drivers, until as mentioned above, with Darryl, staying either on the same lap or Only 1 lap down until the end of the last bracket, losing another lap to Gregg.
Observing the cars from my Marshalling Spot, Gregg's just seemed Fast, smooth & Tidy, everywhere, Darryls seemed perhaps, slightly 'Flightier' ?? and Seemed to have Stonkering Final Top End and Neil's car Just Seemed Quick and Was Fast,.. Obviously, (as suggested Above,..lol).
A very Good race really,..
1st Gregg 154 laps
2nd Darryl 152 laps
3rd Neil 147 laps
The Final Placings being;
1st Casey 155 laps
2nd Gregg T 154 laps
3rd Darryl 152 laps
4th Stoo 151 laps
5th Neil 147 laps
6th Stevo 125 laps
All in all, a very Close and Fun F1 race and typically Enjoyable HSC Retro race Event
Congrats to Casey on a Fine and 'deserved' Double Win and thanks once again to James & Co' and the Other Racer's for once again making for a Fun and Enjoyable Evening's racing at HSC.