The BSRT G-Jet is the newest
variation of the G3 chassis. The
G-Jet is designed to make racing more fun and more attractive for the racers.
To help introduce the car, prove its durability and racability, raise
some money for a good cause and just have some good old fun CRR decided to host
an IROC race. Not just a race but this was to be the longest enduro of the
year for the G-Jet car. The race was a nine hour romp through CRRs twists
and turns.
The
star of the race was the G-Jet car itself. In the race the four cars turned
26,000 Laps without a significant problem and the cars were as fast at the end
as they were at the beginning. Gary and the gang at Scale Auto have put together
an amazing car. I now have five personal cars and they are all very quick. Add
the four race cars and the RTR race prize car donated by Scale Auto
Distributing/BSRTand that is 10 cars that were all very good and very equal.
Some practice with the 10 cars before the race showed that they could all lap
within 0.1 second and could all average 4 second laps. That's a variance
of less than 2%. With the G-Jet it is all about the driver. Read on for
the details.
After a six month delay the G-Jet Challenge at CRR was finally on. The
race was originally scheduled for December 2, 2006. Mother Nature decided
that we should race another day by providing a Midwest winter ice and snow storm
that made travel (let alone travel to a slot car race) impossible.
Rather than give up the cars were put in storage and the race rescheduled.
Four teams and 12-drivers representing six states converged on Naperville
Illinois Crystal Rock Raceway on April 14, 2007. Mother Nature threatened
to postpone the race again as a late winter storm was forecast.
Fortunately the sun came out and we had a great day for driving and for racing.
At 7:30 AM the track was opened and power came on for practice. After an
hour it was time to qualify. This race would be a totally IROC show as
five cars had been prepared for the race.
The
four teams were as follows:
Southernview Speedway -
Tim McDonough (IL), Rick Fair (IL), Tom Baker (IL)
Team Naperville –
Milt Surrat (IL), Doug Strom (IL), John Parker (IL)
Team FSMRA – Mike
Block (WI), Charley Karnes (KY), Rich Okesson (MN)
Tri-State Racing –
Tony McWilliams (IN), John Duda (IA), Steve Medanic (IL)
First
out of the box was the qualifying car. This was a stock G-Jet without
lights that was set up for speed. Qualifying went to Team Tri-State Racing
with a 3.784. Team FSMRA was next up with a 3.812, Team Southern View and Team Naperville
took the third and fourth spots with a 4.036 and 4.044 respectively. Qualifying was all about lane choice. Tri-State
Racing would
start on red, FSMRA on yellow, Team Naperville on Blue and Southern View
on White.
IROC
G-Jet Cars
Fresh From the Reactor & Ready to
Race
After qualifying the four race
cars came out. These are stock G-Jets that were setup with LED lights and the light front
weight. The light front weight makes the LED installation easier as one
set of leads can pass through the long wheelbase hole. The balance of the
lighted car is as good as the stock G-Jet after the lights are in. The cars
tuning was such that the four cars all had relatively equal top speed and
laptimes. After a one minute practice session to make sure that the race
cars were ready to rock the four cars were lined up and control was transferred
to the Slottrack Race Management System.
The race would consist of
twelve segments and three complete rotations of the track. Each segment
would consist of 44 minutes of power on followed by a one minute lane
change. The room lights would be turned off and the track direction
reversed for the four center "night" segments. The
remaining rules were relatively simple. At all times each team had to
have one driver and one marshal. The marshal could not work on the cars.
Should a car fail within the first minute of the segment power would be turned
off and the car repaired under the yellow flag. After the first minute all
repairs would be done by the teams under power.
When the power came on team
FSMRA and Team Naperville battled throughout the first segment. At the end
FSMRA had a 3 lap lead over the local team. Tri-State Racing was 40 laps
back from the leader in third with Southern View in fourth. FSMRA was to hold the lead for
the next segment as well. Tri-State roared back to take a 55 lap lead at
the end of the third segment to take the overall lead. In the fourth segment team FSMRA set the
fastest race segment with 606 laps and started a comeback. Then the lights
went out and it was time to race at night. The track direction was
reversed for the night segments. No one had raced CRR before in this
direction but the racers adapted quickly. Night seemed to favor Team
Naperville's as they took two of the four night segments and came 24 laps short
of winning the night race from Tri-State Racing. Daylight however belonged to
Tri-State Racing and FSMRA as they dominated the daylight segments. Each
team won five segments. At the end of the fifth and ninth segments Tri-States lead was
cut to 18 and 13 laps respectively. Both times Tri-State was able to put
in a good one and extend their lead. FSMRA was marking time in red and
preparing for another comeback when they hit car trouble during the 11th
segment. Their problem was only a lost pickup after a wall shot but after
losing about a dozen laps finding and replacing the pickup and spring the red
car seemed to have lost something and became more inconsistent than ever.
This allowed Tri-State to accumulate a 122 laps lead at the start of the final
segment.
Nine
Racers - A Study in Driving Styles
Racing was tense at the start
of the final segment with FSMRA starting to come back. Somewhere around the
middle of the segment the focus suddenly switched to Southern View and Team
Naperville as the two leading teams starting playing and having fun.
During the final minutes the rules went out the window and everyone started
switching cars and drivers as everyone was looking forward to the end of a long
day. When the power went off there was clapping and handshakes all
around.
The
totals are amazing. The winning team's car ran 6,762 laps or approximately
fifty-nine miles in the 9-hours on 12.2VDC. During the race a total 26,000 laps
were run and the four cars covered a total of 1,196,000 feet or 226.51 miles! At
the end the cars were a bit worse for wear but were still capable running as
fast as they were at first. The totals are even more amazing when you realize
that the power was on for only 8.8 hours due to the twelve, 44 minute segment +
1 minute break format.
The overall totals are as follows:
|
TEAM
|
PLACE
|
TOTAL
LAPS
|
PERCENT
|
|
Tri-State Racing
|
1
|
6,742
|
100%
|
|
FSMRA
|
2
|
6,645
|
98.6%
|
|
Naperville
|
3
|
6,503
|
96.5%
|
|
Southernview Speedway
|
4
|
6,085
|
90.3%
|
To view the segment by
segment totals click here. To view a graph that
shows that the at the race was closer than it looks click
here.
As indicated earlier the high
segment total goes to FSMRA with 606 laps. The
overall fastest lap of the race also goes to FSMRA with a 3.765 lap turned
during the final segment! That
fastest lap of the day would have taken pole position had it been done in qualifying.
Considering that this lap was set in the last segment of the race with a
car that was set up to be slower than the qualifying car that 3.765 lap is
something else. FSMRA also won seven of the twelve segments in a fine
effort.
Team Naperville won the
seventh segment and was leading the 11th with minutes to go. In these two
segments Milt and Steve had segment long battles. These were my
favorite two segments of the race as a driver as in each case there was a
segment long fight for the lead and minutes of door handle to door handle
racing. In the first case Milt prevailed to win the seventh segment for
Team Naperville by
feet. In the11th segment Milt lost the lead late in the segment to give
Steve a two lap lead. At no time during these two segments were the cars
more than a few laps apart. The
best segment long battle may have been the seventh segment where Team
Naperville, Tri-State and FSMRA finished the 44 minute segment with 560, 560 and
553 laps
respectively. It doesn't get much closer than that!
The latest version of the Slottrack race management software ran the entire event including
qualifying without a hiccup or issue. CRR
uses an custom made LED light bridge with Trakmate infrared sensors and
interface card. It should be noted that five laps out of 26,000
were confirmed to have been missed. The missed laps are not included in
the segment by segment totals or the graph as they would not have impacted the
outcome. Slotrack's minimum lap time of 3.5 seconds ensured that no team
got an extra lap as a result of a car crossing the counter on the wrong lane.
Tri-State
Racing (Zipper - Tmac - Maddman) With the 1st Place Plaques
After the race the winning
team plaques and race prizes were handed out.
I think the guy with the biggest smile on his face was Tom “G-Jet”
Baker who took home the RTR G-Jet donated by Scale Auto Distributing/BSRT that
was fitted with a Slot-Pro Speedway painted Ferrari 330p4 body.
Its a nice looking car and a good runner.
Tom
"G-Jet" Baker and the G-Jet RTR Prize
Since
one of the goals of the race was to see how the G-Jet would do over a long haul
lets see how they held up. The sum total of damage and replaced parts is
as follows: Two of the plastic body posts were broken off the chassis due to
wall shots. Two pickup shoes also popped off due to crashes but were returned to
their cars and completed the 9-hours. No tire, gear or motor changes were
required. The gears were in new condition at the end of the race. After a
tune up it appears that the cars would be ready to do another 9-hours.
The
Red Car After 9-Hours
Zipper tore the infamous red car down after the race and found that the endbell
was barely broken in. It easily could have done another enduro. The pick ups
however were about done in. This may have been because of a wall shot as they
were riding heavy on the nose and the vertical part seemed to have some unusual
bends in it. I drove the Red car during the 9th segment and while the car was
inconsistent the pickups it wasn't bad.. However,
that car got more than its fair share of abuse during the race. Considering that
most of the cars that fall off seemed to end up in red more than one wall shot
or collection of car and/or finger occurred. The armature along with the rest of the running gear was in
good shape. Just typical post race cleaning and new shoes was all that was needed to
get the car in shape for the Outhouse Invitational lighted IROC. race.
This race was run in total darkness and I was
very fortunate to win this one as well. The cars were great and thanks to John's pre-race
maintenance the red car had none of its previous power quirks. The LED headlights
held up fine. They just need to be re-aimed. These
two photos were taken right after the enduro. The car had not been cleaned
before the photos. The detail oriented may notice that the rear axle is
not retained. During the 9-nours we never had an axle and/or gear problem.
The
Red Car After 9-Hours
The red car had a split personality. For five or six laps it would be one
car. Then it would suddenly change personalities. All of the red
cars varients were fast but you never knew when it would decide to change and do something
else! This make the thing very difficult to drive anywhere near the
limit. The inconsistencies suffered by the red car were most likely
the results of "wallshotted" pickups and a misaligned endbell
bushing. The endbells were set so that the cars had approximately equal top
ends. The endbell on yellow lane was set fully retarded. The endbell on Red was
dialed back about 70%. The endbell on the blue and white cars were set slightly
advanced. The endbell bushing could have been misaligned when the lights were
installed or the timing changed. A bit of TLC and that car
will be ready to go again and will probably be more consistent that is was on
race day. During preparation for the 2007 Outhouse Invational lighted IROC
race the problem was identified and fixed.
During one of the race repairs during the enduro a body post was replaced and a
dab of super glue got on the cars electrical system. Why the car didn't
quit when the glue dried is beyond me. When the super glue was removed and
the car was cleaned up the car ran great with none of the quirks associated with
it at the enduro. The cars are now back at CRR and will be used as
is for the next enduro.
The other cars are in the same condition if not better. The
other three cars were very consistent and it was easy to find and drive on the
edge. There were multiple times during each segment where these three
would get together and fight it out. Occasionally the red car would join
in and all four cars would run within feet for several laps. As I
indicated earlier there were many segments where there was a segment long battle
between two or more cars. The best segment long battle may have been the seventh segment
where Team Naperville, FSMRA and Tri-State finished the segment with 560, 553 and
560 laps respectively. It doesn't get much closer than that.
The silicone sponge tires were worn but were they done in? The shine was gone but they
were still in good shape as there was still silicone on the tires and there was
no fraying or tearing of the tire or the silicone coating. Considering
that the cars probably had at least 2-hours on the tires before race day it
appears that one could easily get 12-hours or more out of a fresh set before it
was time to change. However, the laptimes and totals in the last few segments
gave no indication that the tires were going off. Three of the top five segment
totals occurred in the last three hours. The fastest lap of the day was also
set during the last segment. Therefore, the tires weren't all that bad at the
end and forecasting a 12-hour tire life may be a bit
premature. Somebody will have to hold a much longer enduro to see how long they
really last. The same cars were run at the 2007 Outhouse Invitational IROC
event and the cars worked very well. No tire problems and we
estimate that the cars now have over 30,000 laps on the tires, chassis, bushings
and everything except pickups. We had a G-Jet IROC race at CRR yesterday
with the same IROC 917Ks and added another 1,000 laps or so on the cars with no issues.
The
LEDs held up very well and ran the entire race without problem. A dab of
silicone may be added in the future to keep the lights aimed properly following
wallshots, car-car or car-finger collisions. The red car got the worst of
this by far and its lights had to be looked at during the race as one was
rubbing a tire and they were aimed more down than anyplace else. Tailights were mentioned as a nice to have for the night
segments. I will play a bit with fiber
optic cable to see if I can make something happen but noooooooooo promises.
At
the 2007 Outhouse International I chatted with Dean from BSRT. Dean and I
have been working on the LED headlights and taillights. Dean showed me his test car
that had some great work including fiber optic tail lights powered from the
headlights. While the concept sounds great in reality the tail lights are
too dim and cannot be seen when the car is running. The fiber optic
routing also made the car almost impossible to work on. My experiments ended in
the same conclusion. A rear LED was mentioned but the wiring would be just
as bad and would add weight to the tail where you really don't want it. HO
may a bit too small for LED taillights on race cars. Dean has some neat
ideas including a quick change LED setup that allows LEDs to be changed (if
necessary) during a quick pit stop. At the recent CRR enduro I
tried tinting the LEDs the lane colors. A bit of sharpie marker and we
were good to go. The tinted lights were a big hit and made it that much
easier to tell what car you were driving. The final version will use white
LEDs with a new LED holder based on Dean's design. We will tint the
headlight openings instead of the LEDs. This weekends NART G-jet IROC race
was in most respects a test session for the next enduro as new blackout curtains
were up on the windows and revised night lights were installed. We got
things real dark on the track but just right in the pits. We had to turn
some lights back on as we had no flashlights for the marshals. Once that
tiny detail is fixed we will be good to go night racing!
The
LED Headlights at Work
There has been some discussion of a 24-hour event.
First of all let me say that it won’t happen at CRR. I could be talked into
hosting a
12-hour event but 24-hours is out of the question.
A bit of number crunching indicates that a 24-hour enduro at CRR would
result in the winning car turning approximately 18,300 laps for a total distance
traveled of over 160 miles. As
tracks go CRR is on the tight side with a number of hairpin turns.
On an open track with long straights and a bit more voltage the G-jet could challenge for the HO 24-hour world record.
Many people are to be
thanked for making the day a success. First
I would like to thank Scale Auto Distributing & BSRT for their donation of
T-shirts, G-Jet tires, stickers and other goodies including the aforementioned
RTR G-Jet. I would also like to thank Jim “Slot-Pro” Nagy for his donation
of the winning plaques and the body for the RTR G-Jet.
Finally I would like to thank all of the racers who came out for fun and
to support a very good cause. As a
result of the days efforts $200 was raised for the Ethan Duda College Fund.
Mother Nature not withstanding this was one of the easiest races to put on and was one of the most fun
and worthwhile races I have attended in a long time.
Let’s do it again
sometime!
Steve
