The Abecedarian Proxy (Beginner's Carrera Proxy) - Race #2!

[TuscoTodd]

First off, I would like to say "Thank you" to all those who submitted cars for this proxy!
This is a great field of cars!

Now, without further delay... Qualifying Summary!

Qualifying was performed in the "red" lane, which when looking at the picture of the track below, is the lane that is closest to the driver's stations on the long straight on the right side of the photo.



Prior to qualifying, the cars all had their tires taped and received a light oiling.
APalmer ran each car in the "white" lane (one lane in from red), to "warm them up" - then their tires were re-taped in prep for the qualifying runs.

Qualifying was performed by running a few laps to get accustomed to each car and then ten laps against the clock, the fastest time of the ten being the "qualifying time".

Here are the cars staged for qualifying!





And here is how the field shook out!



As can be seen above - there was a rather surprising spread in times - BUT... as they say qualifying is not racing - and those results will follow tomorrow...
(sorry for the delay - but the 12+ hour work day today is taking it's toll)

[Ember]

Thanks for the qualifying run guys. Certainly didn't expect to be the fastest. Hope that luck holds in the race.

Hop in the corners. Could be a bit much hookup with the MJKs on the surface. I don't think it should be a tyre coming unglued.

[reek455]

Those 12hr days are killers, I have a mere 11hr day tomorrow so I feel for you but the suspense is killing us.

Rico

[Burrell]

Wow! Podium on qualifying? I saw we just stop right now and use these results. :D

Thanks for doing this round, guys. Can't wait to see the results.

[arroldn]

Hopefully being smooth will result in a podium finish. Looking forward to the results. Bibbster and Burrell good move up in qualifying.

Arrold

[TuscoTodd]

And here are the long awaited results!
:banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance:

First off the finishing order, lap counts per lane and over all lap totals!



Some definite surprising differences in the racing results verses the qualifying results - but as I mentioned initially - a number of cars were trading overall finishing position on nearly a lap by lap basis!
In regard to the differences in qualifying times verses race performance, I will be sharing "observations" that I think had a direct impact on some of the results further on.

Next up - fastest lap times per lane!



The spreadsheet shows not only the fastest time each car achieved in the respective lane, but also noted at the right are the fastest times each car achieved overall. In addition to this, highlighted throughout the sheet, in red, are the quickest lap times times achieved for each lane.
(some interesting data there - especially when compared to finishing positions / lap counts!)

I will be following this with pictures, thoughts, etc - but wanted to get the raw data up for everyone first. :)

Cars on the ready!




The field running on the track!




Congratulations to the podium finishers!




The entire field in finishing order left to right:




The field in finishing order - left to right:

[Czar]

Great report Todd. Thanks for hosting. Also, thanks for driving my car better than I could!

[TuscoTodd]

Czar -
Thank you for helping get this organized!
Hosting was a lot of fun and always glad to help!
Individual car reports will be following... :)

[Ember]

Congratulations to those on the steps. And further congratulations to you Todd and your band of merry men for pulling off another great round.

Interesting results for the Audi. Seems it liked both extremes of the track, but not so keen on the middle. It does prove nicely the difference between qualifying and racing though. Thanks.

[urbanwarrior]

Great job with this proxy guys. If I would have realized it earlier I would have loved to have thrown my hat in the ring.
Again good job. :clap:
UW

[baford1]

Todd great race report & photos those spread sheets are awesome so detailed & give a lot of feedback on each car also congratulations to all the podium finishers & also to all the other racers this is
turning into a really good proxy racing lots of variation & different winners

Richard

[TuscoTodd]

Thank you for the kind words on the write up thus far!

Today I will be posting pictures, driving impressions, etc in the order that the cars qualified.
Stay tuned as our top qualifier's will be up shortly! :)

[TuscoTodd]

First up - Ember's Audi R8!












Now lets look under and inside! :)





I placed arrows in the picture above to show the locations of the lead, as with the black paint sealing them in, they aren't that obvious in the picture. :)

Summary of impressions from the driver's, post race inspection, etc:
VERY smooth running car on the straights! It was quiet, with nice top end and really handled the tight radii corners well!
On high speed corners, or if "pushed" a little too hard into the tighter corners, the car would wheel hop, but not consistently. :think:
During the race, in the yellow lane, the reason for the wheel hop became apparent however. While zipping through one of the fast sweeping corners, the tire on the left rear pushed up onto the center rib and stayed there - requiring it to be reseated before continuing. This unfortunately happened again toward the end of that lane and then a couple times during the next two lanes as well - all of which definitely had a negative effect on overall lap totals of what is definitely a very capable car!
Here is the effect observed:





With the high speed, high traction nature of this track (relatively smooth epoxy finish), tires definitely benefit from being firmly secured to the wheel to insure maximum contact in the corners. :)

(Ember, I did get your reply and will be (re)gluing the outer beads prior to sending the cars off to the next track)

One additional note - and it will be seen on a number of the submissions through the course of the reviews - having the screw setting requirements written on the bottom of the body are a really nice touch for the hosts. :)
It is something I am definitely going to look at doing, where possible, on my future submissions as it greatly simplifies things for those hosting!
:handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup:

[TuscoTodd]

Next up - Bibbster's Porsche GT3!












Now lets look under and inside! :)





I went looking for lead in Bibbster's car - and unless he has some hidden under the rear axle assembly, it doesn't like there is any! :)

Summary of impressions from the driver's, post race inspection, etc:
Smooth and brutally quick off the line! In fact, to the point that on the tight radii corners, care had to be taken to keep from getting on the power too quickly as it would result in going up on two wheels and on to it's side! The car was definitely stuck to the track and when pushed hard would tip verses drift.
Fun car to drive - but easy to over/under drive as the "limit" for this car was a pretty sharp line with little room for error.
(A dedicated driver who knew just how far they could push the car in different circumstances would do very well with this car!)

On the chassis:
- showed very good float between body and chassis
- the front tires appear to be coated to reduce friction - helping the handling through the corners
- the body screws were set very loose in the front (1-turn out) - I installed tape over the holes as the screws were not holding their settings. At the end of the racing - the left front screw had backed out to between 1.5 and 2 turns out the right front screw had backed out completely and was held in only by the tape. (for ref - the rear stayed put - but was both set tighter and is tighter in the bore - a little super glue / nail polish / anti-vibe should address the issue with the front screws backing out - sent you a PM regarding this)
As an FYI for all - tape over screw holes makes a for good "insurance" policy when running "loose" screws. It helps to make sure no screws going missing and/or end up on the track / in the slot. :)

[TuscoTodd]

Next up - Burrell's Aston Martin V12 Vantage!












Now lets look under and inside! :)





The only weight that I noticed was a small spot of putty in front of the switch area.

Summary of impressions from the driver's, post race inspection, etc:
Easy to drive near the limit as it tended to be a little tail happy and would drift verses tip if pushed too hard. :)
A good, solid performer!

On the chassis:
- just a minor bit of movement in the body from the screws being set at the request 1/2 turn setting.
- the front tires appear to be trued and bushings aligned well as they free wheel very smoothly!