Temperatures reached well into the 90s in Modesto on June 4th, 2023 — And the racing was not much different. We had a solid field of 11 racers including Veterans like Larry Stevens, Mike Andrews, Jim Rose and more. Given the temperatures, track evolution/conditions were challenging, but racing was a blast and Gene was an incredible host as usual!
The track opened at 10, which saw racers quickly take to the track to get dialed prior to a quick drivers meeting at 11:15. Jim Rose brought up the idea of an additional class in the rotation, whether that was four races in a day or a fourth car to be introduced is yet to be determined. Previous discussions had introduced the idea of an NSR F1 22 class, and others are in favor of a Sideways Group 5 class. Both would likely be fairly production based, and easy to tune.
Slot.it Group C
After the short drivers meeting, racing began with Group C. Some racers are gearing up for the Slot.it Nationals at Electric Dreams in August. If you don’t know about it, it’s the most anticipated 1/32 race of the year in the USA. Race format was round robin, with Jim Rose, Mike Andrews and Franky Valles taking the point in the early going. UPS Mike was also in the hunt with pretty much a three way tie for third after a few heats.
As the heats cycled, it was between Jim Rose and Ian Douglass at the front of the pack with Franky and UPS Mike battling closely the entire race for the third step on the podium. Jim was experiencing some handling issues, which allowed Ian to extend his lead into the final heat. The final results saw Ian Douglass winning by 7 over Jim Rose, who had a 3 lap advantage over Franky and UPS Mike who were tied for third, with Franky beating Mike by feet on the track.
NSR F1 82-86
The next race up was NSR F1. This is a mostly production class, much like the Slot.it Group C class, with the recent introduction of allowing any color pod and any color chassis to help drivers tune for the very different tracks we race on. The field had several drivers with white chassis, and only Mike Andrews braving the green chassis, which did not pan out. Early on, Ted, Franky and Jim were swapping places at the top step. Franky was running a West Boys rental car, and was clearly enjoying himself, winning several heats in the process.
Midway through the race, the carnage began with several drivers losing their front and rear wings, with Mike Andrews fairing the worst, snapping his green chassis in the process after a rider took him over the edge of the track, losing a front and rear wing. With Mike out of the hunt, it was down to Ted, Jim and Franky to fight it out. Towards the end of the race, Jim struggled a bit with elusive setup issues, while Ted was consistent from lane to lane.
Franky had moments where he took the lead, but had several mistakes down the stretch. Ted rallied to the end finishing on the top podium spot, with Franky one behind, and Jim on the last step of the podium some 7 laps behind the lead two.
GT
The fastest, and most frenetic class that we run currently is the GT class. Made up of Racer Sideways, ScaleAuto, and NSR cars, this class has great variety and still requires a spec powertrain but allows for more modifications like chassis and pod hardness, gearing, wheels and more — They are a true handful on the MoTown Korkscrew.
With a solid 10 car field, the race began with Jim taking an early 3 lap lead over Ian who was experiencing some setup issues, and made a pit stop under green for an adjustment. Ted, UPS Mike, and Richard were all in the hunt for the 3rd spot. Midway through the race, Jim and Ian were tied and the race was on the track for the lead.
With Jim getting caught in some traffic, Ian slipped by to take the lead and didn’t look back. Jim was plagued by gremlins most of the day and will surely be back for blood next time out. Ted ran a solid, consistent race and the race finished in that order; Ian with a 2 lap advantage over Jim, and Ted 3 laps back from Jim.
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