Post by David Lawson on Oct 21, 2013 3:28:39 GMT -5
Having had a night's sleep to recover from yesterday here are a few of thoughts about the race.
Thanks so much to Pete for hosting and his race control duties, a lot of effort and energy went into this so I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did.
Pete's track is medium sized but it has a very nice flowing design and the average speeds are quite high. The painted Carrera surface gave excellent grip on its totally flat and smooth surface, a couple of cars had a slight "clicking" from the slot from their standard Slot it guides (Taffy's and mine) but this didn't affect their handling or performance.
The power supply and race control worked perfectly throughout, one hand controller (mine) had to be changed when it developed a fault - a pity as it's brand new.
I know I am repeating myself but all the cars so nicely built and together they make a wonderful sight, thanks so much for entering your cars in this proxy series.
All the cars perform very well but to paraphrase Orwell some just perform better than others, but I must stress there isn't a bad car on the grid.
The racing was hard fought and many heats had pretty close battles although it has to be said the inner lane had an advantage so you had to think about the long game with your overall distance covered more important than trying to win every heat.
Taffy's BRM - drives superbly and can't be faulted, it just gets a tad loose at it's limit but that is a very high limit and it's predictable so isn't a problem.
Chris's Matra - does everything extremely well so I don't need to comment further.
Charles Cooper - drives really well, it lost a tailpipe, radius rod and intake gauze during the race but these are all safe and I will attend to this. The gears were starting to get noisy from half distance so I will look at these as well.
Nigel Ferrari - drives well when you keep everything smooth and gentle but if you ask it to brake just a bit deeper it will de-slot. The front end is very slightly out of alignment but looking at the guide this morning that is also raising the front end a touch so I will see what I can do. The intake gauze came off and the body post detached which I will fix.
Al Eagle - this car goes really well, not much to say other than it lacked a little in the braking department at Cuckoo Pines. The gears sounded like they were starting to struggle so I will look at these.
Dave BRM H16 - a solid performer once its vintage motor warms up. On this occasion helped by the motor magnets and the Carrera conductor rails.
Mark Lotus-BRM - a lovely car to drive, it's smooth and controllable but very tail happy. Drive it carefully and it will go pretty quickly. It lost both tail pipes and a manifold during the race which I will fix.
David Cooper-BRM - I won't say much about my own car but it was easy to drive, a bit lacking in brakes and grip - the concave tread footprint doesn't help - I thought I had trued them....
Tony Lotus - drives really well. The gears sounded a bit suspect so I will look at these.
Mel Brabham - a lovely car to drive, keep it smooth and the speed will come. The car lost a lot of time due to its stiff guide which I will have a look at.
So that is round two done and dusted on one of the very nicest scenic tracks in the UK, I just wish that I had been able to get more close up pictures to show all of Pete's excellent work more clearly.
David
Thanks so much to Pete for hosting and his race control duties, a lot of effort and energy went into this so I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did.
Pete's track is medium sized but it has a very nice flowing design and the average speeds are quite high. The painted Carrera surface gave excellent grip on its totally flat and smooth surface, a couple of cars had a slight "clicking" from the slot from their standard Slot it guides (Taffy's and mine) but this didn't affect their handling or performance.
The power supply and race control worked perfectly throughout, one hand controller (mine) had to be changed when it developed a fault - a pity as it's brand new.
I know I am repeating myself but all the cars so nicely built and together they make a wonderful sight, thanks so much for entering your cars in this proxy series.
All the cars perform very well but to paraphrase Orwell some just perform better than others, but I must stress there isn't a bad car on the grid.
The racing was hard fought and many heats had pretty close battles although it has to be said the inner lane had an advantage so you had to think about the long game with your overall distance covered more important than trying to win every heat.
Taffy's BRM - drives superbly and can't be faulted, it just gets a tad loose at it's limit but that is a very high limit and it's predictable so isn't a problem.
Chris's Matra - does everything extremely well so I don't need to comment further.
Charles Cooper - drives really well, it lost a tailpipe, radius rod and intake gauze during the race but these are all safe and I will attend to this. The gears were starting to get noisy from half distance so I will look at these as well.
Nigel Ferrari - drives well when you keep everything smooth and gentle but if you ask it to brake just a bit deeper it will de-slot. The front end is very slightly out of alignment but looking at the guide this morning that is also raising the front end a touch so I will see what I can do. The intake gauze came off and the body post detached which I will fix.
Al Eagle - this car goes really well, not much to say other than it lacked a little in the braking department at Cuckoo Pines. The gears sounded like they were starting to struggle so I will look at these.
Dave BRM H16 - a solid performer once its vintage motor warms up. On this occasion helped by the motor magnets and the Carrera conductor rails.
Mark Lotus-BRM - a lovely car to drive, it's smooth and controllable but very tail happy. Drive it carefully and it will go pretty quickly. It lost both tail pipes and a manifold during the race which I will fix.
David Cooper-BRM - I won't say much about my own car but it was easy to drive, a bit lacking in brakes and grip - the concave tread footprint doesn't help - I thought I had trued them....
Tony Lotus - drives really well. The gears sounded a bit suspect so I will look at these.
Mel Brabham - a lovely car to drive, keep it smooth and the speed will come. The car lost a lot of time due to its stiff guide which I will have a look at.
So that is round two done and dusted on one of the very nicest scenic tracks in the UK, I just wish that I had been able to get more close up pictures to show all of Pete's excellent work more clearly.
David