2009 3-Hour Team Race Reports

FarrOut Slot Racing Club

2009 3-Hour Team Race Reports

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 6
2009 Race 43
Nov. 28, 2009
Farrout Raceway

"Left In The Dark-Twice"

Meet 24 of the OTHG World Championship coincided with its annual business meeting and State of the Club address given by the right honourable (and we use that term advisedly) Stephen Farr-Jones; details of the meeting will be forwarded to club members at a later date (hence the subtitle for this report). What can be released at this time is that the Trans-Am class has been voted out, and an old favorite, SCX 4WD, has been reinstated-oddly enough, just what our fearless leader wanted to have happen, and without any subterfuge having been necessary. Oh well, the Lord causes his rain to fall on both the righteous and... well, him,,,

Now for the fun bits. Qualifying for our first-ever race in the dark was at a premium since those who would finish in the dark on the outer lanes would be at a distinct disadvantage due to marshalling issues; further, it was delayed as a track anomaly caused cars to routinely de-slot on the backstretch. In short order, SFJ fixed the problem and qualifying resumed, with Nigel Rick (who discovered the aforementioned anomaly) putting down the hot lap for Team Smalley (Mike, Mike Pawl, Nigel, John Hawkins), followed by Stan Smith for Team Lauffenberger (Thomas, Stephen Farr-Jones, Stan, Ed Beer), J.R. Ewing for Team Williamson (Craig, Tom Giese, Christophe Deluy, J.R.) and Eddie Shorer for Team Beck (Bob, JimWiseman, Eddie, Bill Polakow). A 4:15 pm start meant that maybe three of the four heats would be run under the stars.

Leg one had the three teams other than Lauffenberger in a tight battle; red has always been a bit of a dog at Carhalla (that is, Farrout Raceway), and that's where they started, having to run one outer leg in the dark (but a more advantageous one). After one, Team Smalley had a nine lap lead over Team Beck, with Teams Williamson and Lauffenberger still feeling their way.

Then God said, "Let there be... dark?"

The lights went out and we were even more in the dark than before. Racing how they would if Wrigley Field were a racetrack (and barring the atrocity of 8/8/88) brought out some new and disturbing sides of some of us; one member was even purported to be scouting necks for some reason. The dark had a more pronounced effect on some rather than others; some actually swore to driving better, as evidenced by Team Lauffenberger, managing to miss the daytime total of Team Smalley by only nine laps and taking a surprising lead at half time.

The Dark Races trudged on. At three-quarters time Team Williamson, by virtue of racing on orange and slightly besting Team Lauffenberger's total, took the overall lead, with the others neatly stratified by tens of laps. As for the finale, who knew what would happen?

Not pointed out earlier (and, to the reader, please forgive yours truly for any typos because, well, you can imagine), marshalling became especially hazardous since no one was quite sure which car went on which lane, or where the lanes were, which meant that some laps were actually driven with the wrong car on the wrong lane; with no protocol as to how to handle an all-crash situation, reserve was the order of the day. (To be honest, since we couldn't see the race, we don't even know if it happened or not, but that's an existential debate.)

All hell broke loose during the final heat-namely, a motor, a chassis, and the patience of a good lot of us; an extended track call to fix said car problem led to a lively debate about the scoring on various timing and scoring systems, how chilly it was, the occasional howl of a wolf or coyote up in the hills, and so on. Finally, after two more track calls due to malfunctions, an executive decision was made to raise the sun-that is, turn on the lights. Once we finished this exercise in futility (calories burned per minute=???), Team Williamson walked away, mercifully, with the victory, followed by Team Beck, Team Lauffenberger, and Team Smalley.

	80s Slot.it LeMans--Meet 24, Race 40: 28 November 2009
	Farrout Raceway			45 Minute Heats
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Red	White	Green	Orange	Total	Rank	Points
WILLIAMSON, Craig		277.3	299.1	301.7	309.8	1187.9	1	20
GIESE, Tom					25.0			20
DELUY, Christophe					101.5			20
EWING, J.R.	8.47				21.7			20
					- -			20
								20
BECK, Bob		257.9	281.4	309.1	317.8	1166.2	2	18
WISEMAN, Jim					3.3			18
SHORER, Eddie	8.724				79.8			18
POLAKOW, Bill					- -			18
					-21.7			18
								18
LAUFFENBERGER, Thomas		293.7	288.1	273.4	307.7	1162.9	3	16
FARR-JONES, Stephen					- -			16
SMITH, Stan	8.314				76.5			16
BEER, Ed					-3.3			16
					-25.0			16
								16
SMALLEY, Michael		253.2	263.3	253.0	316.9	1086.4	4	15
PAWL, Mike					-76.5			15
RICK, Nigel	8.258				- -			15
HAWKINS, John					-79.8			15
					-101.5			15
								15
		Lancia LC2	Jaguar XJR 9	Mazda 787B	Porsche 956 KH

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 5
2009 Race 32
Sep. 5, 2009
Mr. Model Car Raceway

"Life's Labors Lapped"

An entirely too long three week respite was cured this weekend by Meet 17 of the OTHG World Championship, another consecutive team race at Mister ModelCar's Riverside Raceway. With the return of Tom Giese, one of our erstwhile members, as well as the return of the Vasquez sons and Elliot Rick, now known as the Future Slot Car Racers of America (hey, farmers have a branch, why not us?), an enjoyable event took place, even if it was slightly late in starting due to conflicting e-mails (Gary, what have we told you about using the club list for this??? And an e-mail from March?-lol). Tom Giese set pole for TeamWilliamson (Craig, Chris Chan, Tom, Stan Smith, Jeff Vasquez), with Team Smalley (Mike, Eddie Shorer, Christophe Deluy) second, and Team DLS (Terry, Thomas Lauffenberger, Nigel Rick, Stephen Farr-Jones) third; the boys were defaulted to fourth.

The opening stage wasn't too eventful, except that the wrong button for a track call was pressed, accidentally abandoning the heat. Cool heads prevailed and sorted out the confusion, and with all four cars working, a tight three-way battle developed, loosening up toward the end. Team Smalley had a 5.5 lap lead over Team DLS, but stretched out a 21-lap advantage over Team Williamson.

Opel showed up after the first heat and fed us some Indian food that we'll rave about for days (not to mention taste for several days); after our feast, the second stanza went smoothly, with the order unchanged but the margins increased substantially-33 laps at halftime.

To make a short report even shorter, nothing of note, except the usual abuse of the membership, occurred during the final two rounds. Owing to that, let's just cut to the chase...

	Scalextric Trans-Am--Meet 17, Race 29: 5 September 2009
	MrModelCar's Riverside Raceway			45 Minute Heats
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Red	White	Blue	Yellow	Total	Rank	Points
SMALLEY, Michael		367.4	362.9	358.5	353.9	1442.7	1	20
SHORER, Eddie		x						20
DELUY, Christophe								20
SMITH, Stan								20
								20
								20
WILLIAMSON, Craig		349.9	349.5	352.5	346.0	1397.9	2	18
CHAN, Chris					x			18
GIESE, Tom								18
VASQUEZ, Jeff								18
								18
								18
DE LOS SANTOS, Terry		353.1	344.5	361.9	335.5	1395.0	3	16
LAUFFENBERGER, Thomas				x				16
RICK, Nigel								16
BARNES, Opel								16
								16
								16
RICK, Elliot		286.8	300.1	307.9	284.3	1179.1	4	15
VASQUEZ, Matthew			x					15
VASQUEZ, Jason								15
FARR-JONES, Stephen								15
								15
								15

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 4
2009 Race 30
Aug. 15, 2009
Farrout Raceway

"The New Face of Slot Car Racing"

The subtitle to today's event was indeed truthful, as we had 21 drivers show for this team event-three children among them! With Jeff Vasquez and his two sons, as well as newcomer Burt Campbell and his son, the past, present and future were all well represented. (Where were Robert and James when we needed them?) This led to a novel approach on how to conduct the race so that some sort of fairness could be guaranteed; the teams with kids were able to forgo their pit stops, letting them drive throughout, and everyone drove for 10 minute heats. Team DLS (Terry De Los Santos, Eddie Shorer, Stan Smith, Ed Beer, Mike Pawl) snagged pole with a lap of 8.201 seconds, followed very closely by Team Snipes (Daniel, Stephen Farr-Jones, Alvin Tunstill, Burt Campbell, David Campbell) at 8.205 (SFJ specifically asked me to make a point about Stan outdoing him, so there), Team Smalley (Michael, Gary Woods, Bill Polakow, Jeff Vasquez and sons) at 8.223, and finally Team Williamson (Craig, Thomas Lauffenberger, J.R. Ewing, Nigel Rick, Christophe Deluy) off the pace at 8.736.

The opening stanza saw very testy racing, especially at the end; with two longtail Porsches on the inner lanes and both Michael and SFJ facing each other, there was plenty of slapping going on (and among the cars too). Team Williamson quietly did a nice sting on what is usually the most difficult lane, red, to take an early advantage over Team DLS; as it would turn out, this wasn't so much a team race as a dual match between those who are still contesting the season team title.

Orange lane showed itself to be formidable, as well; at the half, Team Williamson maintained an edge, but on the one lane where head-to-head numbers were available, they were 2 laps down. Would this be an omen for the rest of the day?

Some difficulties were experienced during the third quarter; both a car and a controller failed, but not on the same lane, causing about a 10-minute delay. This didn't deter either of the interested parties, who happened to be the leaders, and it was all still to play for at three-quarters-time. Team Williamson still led by 14 laps, but trailed by about 6 in the two head-to-head. With Team DLS heading to red, which today was the favored lane, they seemed to have taken the initiative.

A brief disruption in power to green marred the final round, but not severely as it was caught quickly and rectified. As Teams Williamson and DLS duked it out on white and red respectively, neither could shake the other; in fact, they were even after 30 minutes. Terry couldn't catch the Williamson anchor in the remaining 10 minutes, and, even with a minor braid issue on white, he could only pull back four laps of the deficit, and Team Williamson escaped with a hard-earned victory, DLS only 9.5 laps in arrears.

	60s'70s Fly Le Mans--Meet 16, Race 28: 15 August 2009
	Farrout Raceway			51 Minute Heats
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Red	White	Green	Orange	Total	Rank	Points
WILLIAMSON, Craig		333.9	323.1	317.6	318.4	1293.0	1	20
LAUFFENBERGER, Thomas		x						20
EWING, J.R.								20
RICK, Nigel								20
DELUY, Christophe								20

DE LOS SANTOS, Terry		327.9	313.9	321.2	320.5	1283.5	2	18
SHORER, Eddie					x	-9.5		18
SMITH, Stan								18
BEER, Ed								18
PAWL, Mike								18

SNIPES, Daniel		314.6	305.8	310.4	308.8	1239.6	3	16
FARR-JONES, Stephen				x		-53.4		16
TUNSTILL, Alvin								16
CAMPBELL, Burt								16
CAMPBELL, David								16

SMALLEY, Michael		322.9	299.0	313.3	299.9	1235.1	4	15
WOODS, Gary			x			-57.9		15
POLAKOW, Bill								15
VASQUEZ, Jeff								15
VASQUEZ, Matt								15
VASQUEZ, Jason								15

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 3
2009 Race 17
May. 16, 2009
Autodromo Baia della Sud

Another glorious day at Curcuito Baia Della Sud was enjoyed by only nine racers who gathered for a team race in the Ninco Le Mans GT1 class; with this odd number of contestants, we had to do a first-ever three-team event (so everyone makes the podium-feels like first grade, no?) Team Williamson (Craig, J.R. Ewing, Mike Pawl) took pole for the race, followed by Team Lauffenberger (Thomas, Gary Woods, Ed Beer) and Team De Los Santos (Terry, Eddie Shorer, Stan Smith).

With the red lane declared out of play, the other three performed well; while there were some power issues, they were met with speedy in-race maintenance by Gary and his plastic spade. This, though, couldn't save another shortcoming: the need for spread braids. This handicap struck Team L on the blue lane during the first round (of only three) and put them in a hole 26 laps deep after the first two rounds. Team Williamson had a lead, but merely 2.1 laps, after two rounds, with the troubled blue lane to come.

A handicap that struck all of us: stint length. To drive a full three hours, we lengthened the rounds to 60 minutes, so each driver drove 20 uninterrupted minutes. Needless to say, we had some twitchy trigger fingers for awhile.

One other performance to note: during the second round, we almost had a recurrence of the great no-lap performance at Rene's last year; for almost 60 laps, Ed Beer, Stan Smith and Mike Pawl held station in the opening minutes. It was great stuff to see.

In the end, the "blue curse" was upheld as Team DLS overtook Team Williamson for the outright lead with about 25 minutes to go.

	Ninco Le Mans GT1--Meet 10, Race 17: 16 May 2009
	Autodromo Baia Della Sud			45 Minute Heats
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Red	Green	Blue	Yellow	Total	Rank	Points
DE LOS SANTOS, Terry			371.2	372.0	368.6	1111.8	1	20
SHORER, Eddie			x			10.7		20
SMITH, Stan								20
								20
								20
								20
WILLIAMSON, Craig			362.8	355.8	382.5	1101.1	2	18
EWING, J.R.					x			18
PAWL, Mike								18
								18
								18
								18
LAUFFENBERGER, Thomas			358.7	348.5	370.5	1077.7	3	16
WOODS, Gary				x		23.4		16
BEER, Ed								16

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 2
2009 Race 14
Apr. 18, 2009
Riverside Raceway

Meet 8 of the OTHG World Championship happened at Smalley's Riverside, and was the second team race of the year, a race that usually puts a sense of dread in the hearts of those who wonder with whom they'll be saddled (er, teamed). With all but one of the registrants present, two drivers were pressed into double duty-Opel Barnes for Team De Los Santos (Terry, J.R. Ewing, Tim Weston), and Ed Beer for Team Chan (Chris, Thomas Lauffenberger, Russell Bracher). Team DLS won pole, followed by Team Smalley (Mike, Gary Woods, Nigel Rick, Opel), Team Williamson (Craig, Stan Smith, Mike Pawl, Ed) and Team Chan.

The first quarter saw not much unusual; the wider track allowed for harder racing without the risk of punting. Team Williamson did have a pit emergency, though, as its car needed work outside the usual pit window. After one stanza, though, there was a definite order taking shape as Team Smalley, on yellow, opened up a 14 lap advantage, followed by Team Williamson. Teams DLS and Chan were left to sort out third, a good 30 laps down already.

Leg two had another early oddity, this time for Team Smalley, forcing an early pit; otherwise, it was "Snooze City" (literally for yours truly). Team Chan put up good blue numbers to leapfrog Team Williamson for second; Team DLS was still last but finished with the dreaded outers. Smalley had two 370+ legs and were cemented in front.

Team Williamson had the anomaly during the third portion-actually, they had it twice; under rules adopted for the race, they were hit with an additional minute inaction penalty (like a second pit stop), which may have seemed like a death knell. This caused no end of consternation and will probably be reviewed before the next team event; FIA, however, decided to stay mum on the subject. Team Smalley led by a 51 lap margin, and Team Williamson seemed consigned to last, but second was still in play.

The final leg saw another team hit with the dead car problem; Team Chan had to pit early, then force a track call when its loaner failed due to attrition. Team DLS caught Team Chan for second, and everything held station after that. The margin first-to-last was a record 90 laps.

The race was run with four beautiful, early seventies era Formula 1 cars that we don't normally see in our regular SCX F1 races. Some of these cars may not be as competitive as the cars fielded for our usual races, so the team format was ideal for getting these great looking cars on the track. All of the cars were expertly prepared by Michael Smalley, and were a lot of fun to drive and watch.

	SCX F1--Meet 8, Race 14: 18 April 2009
	Smalley's Riverside Raceway			45 Minute Heats
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Yellow	Blue	White	Red	Total	Rank	Points
SMALLEY, Michael		351.6	374.3	372.7	369.1	1467.7	1	20
WOODS, Gary			x			51.0		20
RICK, Nigel								20
BARNES, Opel								20
0								20
0								20
DE LOS SANTOS, Terry		327.6	375.9	370.0	343.2	1416.7	2	18
EWING, J.R.					x			18
WESTON, Tim								18
Opal Barnes								18
0								18
0								18
CHAN, Chris		340.6	366.1	358.3	334.6	1399.6	3	16
LAUFFENBERGER, Thomas		x				17.1		16
BEER, Ed								16
BRACHER, Russell								16
0								16
0								16
WILLIAMSON, Craig		301.3	374.4	360.3	341.0	1377.0	4	15
SMITH, Stan			1	x		39.7		15
PAWL, Mike								15
Ed Beer								15

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 1
2009 Race 7
Feb. 21, 2009
Cruzin Raceway

One venue in the OTHG World Championship had only one opportunity to host a race, and it did so on this cheerful late winter day in Ventura, as Cruzin' Bob Scott hosted meet 4 of the tourney. With all the quality circuits available for distraction (and, by the way, for sale, as Bob is quitting his brick-and-mortar business and concentrating on the mobile side), more juice was being consumed than the world's largest preschool birthday party. Sixteen drivers mated nicely into our usual four teams, with Eddie Shorer of Team Smalley (Michael, Eddie, Stephen Farr-Jones, Opel Barnes) taking the only-ever pole on the track. Team De Los Santos (Terry, Chris Chan qualifying, Stan Smith, J.R. Ewing) snatched vice-pole, Team Scott (Cruzin' Bob, Bob Beck, Nigel Rick, Ed Beer) culled third choice, and Team Williamson (Craig, Thomas Lauffenberger, Bill Schniedewind, Gary Woods) was stuck. Bob used only four channels of a six-lane track to host this unique team round.
The first three stanzas seemed uneventful, and with the new track, it was difficult to determine which of the lanes was the fast one. On reflection after these rounds, blue was marginally faster, with yellow just behind, and red (isn't it always red?) the slowpoke. At the three-quarters pole, Team DLS was leading, with Team Scott only 7 laps down (about 38 seconds of racing). Team Smalley was 23 laps in arrears, and Team Williamson 35 circuits to the wrong side.
The final trip was fraught with drama, and at the finish, Team Scott barely overhauled Team DLS by seven-tenths for the win. Team Smalley garnered bronze, while Team Williamson was a beaten mule, 30 laps down.

	50s/60s Ninco LeMans--Meet 4, Race 7
	Cruzin' Bob's Cruiseway			45 Minute Heats
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Red	White	Blue	Yellow	Total	Rank	Points