2010 3-Hour Team Race Reports

FarrOut Slot Racing Club

2010 3-Hour Team Race Reports

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 2
2010 Race 19
May. 15, 2010
Autodromo Baia della Sud

Meet 10 of the FORCE World Championship (is that what we're calling ourselves now?) returned to the reworked Mediterranean delight now known as Autodromo Baia Della Sud Due-the same layout as the old circuit, but now constructed from MDF and magnet braid. With virgin track (or, forgive me, extra virgin track-oil!), our Slot.its, Italian cars on an Italian-style track, were perfectly suited-and very ill-handling, as would be expected with a circuit that has not rubbered in. (This was, by no means, a complaint; the tail-wagging was impressive and fun during practice.) Team Smalley (Michael, Tom Giese, Gary Woods, Stan Smith qualifying, Richard Rodriguez, Ryan Nelson) laid down the fast lap for qualifying, followed by Team De Los Santos (Terry, Craig Williamson, Stephen Farr-Jones, Russell Bracher qualifying, Harold Slagg), Team Shorer (Eddie, Bill Schniedewind, Christophe Deluy Mike Pawl qualifying, Tim Weston), and Team Lauffenberger (Thomas, Dennis Samson, J.R. Ewing, Bruce Talamon, John Hawkins).
>br> Every new circuit has its teething problems, and Il Autodromo nouvo was no exception; the green lane developed a problem in the slot that was causing an inordinate amount of de-slots. During the first leg, the action was paused while this contingency was addressed. Maintenance is also a big issue when doing a routed track outdoors; foreign material in the slots, like leaves and seeds, can cause havoc, so the track blowers were used to blow and suck away the collected clag. There was also a slight timing issue-our fault, this time; the DS/Phidget/PC Lap Counter trio performed well, but we set too high of a minimum lap time, so some laps went officially unrecorded. This required the rerun of the first heat, as well as shortening the heats by six minutes. Team Shorer had the high score for the first leg, followed by Team Smalley, Team Lauffenberger and Team DLS.
>br> Some minor car issues erupted during the second leg, but nothing worth mentioning; Teams Shorer and Smalley were in a dogfight for the lead at half time, with Team DLS now moving to bronze and Team Yours Truly sinking to its familiar position whenever Yours Truly is a team leader. (Better to rule Hell than to serve in Heaven, they say?)
>br> The top two swapped positions after three-quarters time, with Team Smalley's captain helping to pull them up to an eight-lap lead over Team Shorer; Team DLS was comfortable in third, Team Yours Truly decidedly uncomfortable in last. The final quarter was no different; like the old "middle-age spread", the differences grew in the final quarter to make the final result anticlimactic.

	Slot.it Group C--Meet 10, Round 18: 15 May 2010
	Autodromo Baia Della Sud Due			9v 37 minute Heats
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Red	Green	Blue	Yellow	Total	Rank	Points
SMALLEY, Michael		238.6	233.8	240.5	244.8	957.7	1	20
GIESE, Tom				vs. 1	44.3			20
WOODS, Gary					- -			20
SMITH, Stan				vs. 3	51.2			20	8.669
RODRIGUEZ, Richard				vs. 4	15.8			20
NELSON, Ryan								20
SHORER, Eddie		234.6	234.3	230.8	242.2	941.9	2	18
SCHNIEDEWIND, Bill				vs. 1	28.5			18
DELUY, Christophe				vs. 2	-15.8			18
PAWL, Mike				vs. 3	35.4			18	9.473
WESTON, Tim					- -			18
								18
DE LOS SANTOS, Terry		228.6	224.7	225.0	235.1	913.4	3	16
WILLIAMSON, Craig					- -			16
FARR-JONES, Stephen				vs. 2	-44.3			16
BRACHER, Russell				vs. 3	6.9			16	8.96
SLAGG, Harold				vs. 4	-28.5			16
								16
LAUFFENBERGER, Thomas		228.0	221.6	228.7	228.2	906.5	4	15
SAMSON, Dennis				vs. 1	-6.9			15
EWING, J.R.				vs. 2	-51.2			15
TALAMON, Bruce					- -			15	9.588
HAWKINS, John				vs. 4	-35.4			15
NELSON, Nigel								15

3 Hour Team Championship
Series Race 1
2010 Race 7
Feb. 20, 2010
Circuit Villeneuve

Meet 4 of the 2010 OTHG World Championship was the season's first team race, and with 21 entrants to be segregated into four camps, it proved a headache for those in the accounting department. Once loyalties were decided, it was Bruce Talamon for Team De Los Santos (Terry, Eddie Shorer, Bruce, Mike Pawl, Harold Slagg, Richard Rodriguez subbing) who snatched pole, followed by Nigel Rick for Team Beck (Bob, Thomas Lauffenberger, Nigel, Christophe Deluy, Russell Bracher, John Hawkins), Stephen Farr-Jones for Team Smalley (Michael, J.R. Ewing, Stephen, Opel Barnes, Tim Weston, John Hawkins subbing), and Stan Smith for Team Williamson (Craig, Bill Schniedewind, Stan, Gary Woods, Richard Rodriguez proper, Tom Giese) without lane choice. Due to team size and limitations with the timing and scoring system, we held 50 minute legs with two one-minute pits. The first leg was uneventful yet exciting, as Teams DLS and Beck were involved in a frantic duel on red and white, respectively; the difference at the quarter pole was only four laps. The others were also close to each other some 16 laps behind. The second leg, though, had some controversy toward the latter stages; no one was watching time, so some of the last exchanges took place later than they should have done. This didn't lead to any adverse results, however; Team Beck followed up a strong first leg with a very impressive 400-lap leg on green to take the overall lead. Teams DLS and Williamson were neck-and-neck some 12 laps down to the lead, with Team Smalley, somehow managing three pit stops in the second leg, a very long way back indeed-48 laps.
Things also went awry near the end of the third leg; some problem developed on the red lane's car (these eyes detected a front tire off the rim), but a heated argument on how to proceed with the replacement car led to a delay in implementation, which led to a low total for Team Smalley, which effectively sealed their fate to finish fourth. Team Williamson pulled a large total on white, which handed them the lead at the three-quarters pole. Team Beck was 13 circuits in arrears, and Team DLS slipped to third, a deficit of 21 laps to avenge.
The race may have been decided at the beginning; this track notoriously has a red lane out of proportion to the others, which means that the pole qualifiers usually pick a lane to start so that they end on red (i.e. the white lane), but Team DLS didn't do that; therefore, the option was open to Team Beck to finish on red, which they did, so with a small deficit leading into the final leg and red to go, it looked like they would leapfrog the others. Team Williamson, no slouch themselves with two 400+ results in the race, still had plenty to play for while finishing on green, where Team Beck pulled a 400; could they hold on for the victory?
Alas, they could not; red lane was just too much for everyone, and Team Beck made hay while the sun shone, registering another 400+ total, winning by over 7 laps, less than 0.5% margin over Team Williamson.

	50s/60s Ninco Le Mans--Meet 4, Race 7: 20 February 2010
	Circuit Villeneuve 50 Minute Heats (2 pit stops)
		Lane1	Lane2	Lane3	Lane4
Driver		Red	White	Green	Orange	Total	Rank	Points
BECK, Bob		403.3	392.3	400.1	378.5	1574.2	1	20
LAUFFENBERGER, Thomas				vs. 1	69.5			20
RICK, Nigel				vs. 2	36.5			20
DELUY, Christophe				vs. 3	7.4			20
BRACHER, Russell					- -			20
HAWKINS, John								20
WILLIAMSON, Craig		401.5	403.4	382.5	379.4	1566.8	2	18
SCHNIEDEWIND, Bill				vs. 1	62.1			18
SMITH, Stan				vs. 2	29.1			18
WOODS, Gary					- -			18
RODRIGUEZ, Richard				vs. 4	-7.4			18
GIESE, Tom								18
DE LOS SANTOS, Terry		396.2	384.4	382.5	374.6	1537.7	3	16
SHORER, Eddie				vs. 1	33.0			16
TALAMON, Bruce					- -			16
PAWL, Mike				vs. 3	-29.1			16
SLAGG, Harold				vs. 4	-36.5			16
RODRIGUEZ, Richard								16
SMALLEY, Michael		373.4	386.6	380.4	364.3	1504.7	4	15
EWING, J.R.					- -			15
FARR-JONES, Stephen				vs. 2	-33.0			15
WESTON, Tim				vs. 3	-62.1			15
BARNES, Opel				vs. 4	-69.5			15
HAWKINS, John								15

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