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

[manchvegasracer]

Awesome job with the write up for round 2. Really cool to see how everyone set up their cars. Thanks for the pics and evaluations. :text-bravo:

[TuscoTodd]

Next up - Czar's BMW Z-4M Coupe!


(Czar - that is just tape residue on the front fender area that I didn't catch before snapping all of the pictures - I have since wiped it off) :)










Now lets look under and inside! :)





The weight in this chassis is made up of a couple different materials - putty up front center and lead in the middle in front of and outboard of the motor.

Summary of impressions from the driver's, post race inspection, etc:
Smooth running car, that would drift nicely but if pushed too far, instantly pop out of the slot?!? It wasn't until we went to take this picture below that the reason for this was noted:



If you notice in that picture, this car is at a much shallower angle than the rest of the field. The reason for this is, that is all the further the chassis allows the guide to rotate! We think that head scratching deslots were caused by taking the drift just a fuzz to far and hitting the hard stops of the guide. No other car in the field was restricted from the factory to this shallow of an angle - so not exactly sure why this chassis would be?
It is unfortunate - as the car is very smooth and predictable up until that limit is reached. (possibly can be modified at a later date?)

On the chassis:
- showed good clearance between the body and chassis allowing a good range of movement between the two.
- the front tires appear to be coated to reduce friction - helping the handling through the corners and the rears - have been glued and trued and did surprisingly well for stock units! :)

[TuscoTodd]

Next up - Ventura Alfa's Alfa Romeo GTA!












Now lets look under and inside! :)







The weight has been focused heavily to the rear and spread both low and high - promoting a heavy bite for the rear tires.

Summary of impressions from the driver's, post race inspection, etc:
Everyone loved the Alfa! It was a handful to drive due to the weight balance and grip - in fact, with rapid throttle application and the rear weight, it would actually jerk the front end nearly out of the slot! And was limited only by the fact that the braids would loose contact! In tight radii corners, if the throttle was applied too quickly it would deslot because of this.
It was tough to drive this little rocket near the edge because of this - but from a pure "fun factor" standpoint it was entertaining to drive and looked great out on the track! :)


On the chassis:
- just a minor bit of movement between the body / chassis - but it is smooth and consistent (no "catches" or tight spots in the movement)
- the front tires while not coated have independent axles from the factory - the rear tires look like factory stockers on the tread face and outer sidewall - but look like urethanes in the inner, they were glued to the wheels and independent of the compound, they gripped this track EXTREMELY well!

[TuscoTodd]

Next up - Baford1's Ferrari 458 GT2!












Now lets look under and inside! :)







The weight was all centrally located mid chassis

Summary of impressions from the driver's, post race inspection, etc:
Good straight line speed - but tires wanted to roll off the wheels resulting in wheel hop and chatter that really hurt cornering speeds and overall performance.

On the chassis:
The front wheel width spacing is a bit tight, resulting in a bit of resistance - but this should wear in (or can be addressed with a razor blade with the wheels turning, etc.).
Tires - stock tires were used front and rear and unfortunately, they are not glued. With the high grip of this track, combined with the added weight, the tires are moving around on the rims, really hurting performance. With the top speed this car appeared to have, gluing/truing the tires would completely change the handling dynamic and improve it's performance.
(Baford1 - I sent you a PM asking if you would like me to glue/true these tires before sending it to the next track.)

[TuscoTodd]

[Ember]

So... Looking at the line up the Alfa would be the narrowest and the Audi the widest?

[TuscoTodd]

Ember -
That is a good question! I will have to check on that and get back to the group! :)

[Ember]

Looking at the roof lines the Alfa and Audi seem about the same height overall, but the weight is further spread in the Audi. So many things go into selecting a good base for a proxy car. The Ferraris would seem to be a better base than the Audi, being lower in the roof line. Actually, looking along the row the Aston would seem to be the best starting point to me.

[baford1]

Todd as in the PM I sent you , yes please , this Proxy Series just keeps getting better really like the write up on each individual car very in depth
& very informative great series I am glad I entered

Richard

[TuscoTodd]

That is interesting on the weight addition slowing it down Jeremy - makes for an interesting footnote!

In regard to the question Ember asked on width...
I measured both width and height for each car. The width is from sidewall to sidewall (not necessarily the tread contact patch) - the height i from the peek to the top of set up block.



I highlighted the most "advantageous value" in yellow and the least in orange.
Some interesting things to note in numbers!

[Ember]

Those are some very interesting numbers Todd. That poor little Alfa is definitely battling against the odds compared to the rest of the field. But I think I want one. :D

[TuscoTodd]

Ember -
That was kind of my thought as well! It may not have some of the advantages some of the other cars have - but it is a lot of fun to drive and looks great out on the track!
I really enjoyed driving it! :D

[VenturaAlfa]

Thank you guys for your comments.

That was my thought with the Alfa from the start. I never expected the car to win and, for me, that wasn't what this proxy was about. If I could make it drive half way decently without magnets then I figured I won. I like the look of it and I drive an Alfa Spyder on the street so it was a natural choice.

Dino Crescentini raced a carbon fiber, tube frame, Alfa in SCCA for years. I don't think the car ever won a race but it was awesomely fast and a great looking car. They just wound the engine too tight and could never get it to last for 45 minutes. I did see the car as much as 4 laps up on the field on a 2 1/2 mile road course after abut 15 minutes of running time. Problem was Dino wouldn't back off and the car just wouldn't last the way it was built. Nevertheless it was a fun and fast car.

The idea here for me was to have fun and not worry about the finish. Glad the car makes people smile. :banana-dance:

The other thing you guys and gals should be ready for: that car is incredibly loose on my track. The comments are that it really bites on the tracks its been on so far. So? how are your cars going to do when they get to my apparently incredibly slippery track? :D Hhhmmm, time will tell.

Ventura Alfa

[TuscoTodd]

Ventura -
Very cool about the Alfa and definitely in the "spirit" of this proxy!
I know that is part of what attracted me to this one is the fact that it was more about tuning what you have than swapping out parts. Going through the process and seeing what others have done definitely will aid my tuning efforts moving forward! :)

In regard to your Alfa being "loose" on your track - you may be in for some entertainment with my car then as it was "loose" here - so it may be like driving in snow there! :D
In all seriousness though - maybe it is an issue of the compound of tires on the Alfa not liking your track surface? The surface here is a smooth epoxy finish with just a bit of orange peel to it and where it isn't rubbered up - there is actually a bit of a shine to it. Your tires DEFINITELY hooked up on it! Not sure what your surface is/looks like - but maybe if it is rougher and/or not rubbered in as much, it might be an issue of there tires just not being able to get a "bite"?
Either way - it should be interesting to see how the field fairs when it gets there as there is everything from stock rubber to Paul Gage XPG tires in the field with a couple of flavors in between!
:D

[manchvegasracer]

I agree. This proxy has been really great. The information sharing is really cool and something I hope we can do more of. I really like the variety of the GT cars and they all look great in this proxy. Thanks to all the host tracks and racers. Good luck to all car builders the rest of the way.

:clap:

Josh (Manchvegasracer)