Siberia Racing

Beware the Bear

Race Report

The G-Jet Shootout at CRR

August 15, 2007 

This was race three for the NART series for the G-Jet car.  The output of the reactors that power CRR were turned down to 12.2V and the BSRT G-Jet cars were turned loose on Crystal Rock Raceway's turns and straights.  Eight racers came from Illinois and Iowa.  Several racers cancelled and one was lost.  The race consisted of G-Jet qualifying and a main followed by a night race for the lighted IROC cars.  

The IROC race was a test of some new ideas.  The first was revised room lighting, the second was new blackout curtains and the third was tinting the LED headlights on the four cars to match their lane colors.  All three ideas worked well.  While the sun shown bright outside we had to add light to the room as it was too dark for the marshals.  However, in the pit area there was enough light to work.  Small flashlights will be on hand for the marshals at the next enduro.  Turning on one of the two track facing monitors added just enough light and the night race was on.  

The racers immediately loved the colored headlights as it was easy to tell what car you were driving.  It was easy for this marshal as well as a quick scan of the headlights on the track told you what color was off.  

The Revised IROC Cars Racing In the Daylight

And at Night

Now back to the races.  While Steve motored off into the distance there was a race behind him for second in all three events and that race was tight.  The results of the three races are shown below.

The IROC race really shows how close the cars are as second through fourth are separated by only one lap and second through fifth are separated by only three laps.

The NART series is young and most of the racers need a bit more time to adapt their driving style to get the best out of the G-Jet.   Like any slot car the G-Jet loves braking into a turn and will turn on a dime if you enter the turn properly.  After the car starts to turn a bit of power will settle the car and then you can power out of the turn to your hearts content.  This driving style minimizes the turns and maximizes the straights.  I got a lot of comments on my cars superior straight line speed.  In a few dices I found that I could not pass the other car in the straight once we were both up to speed.  In a few cases I was being pulled down the straight.  My advantage was that, because of my driving style, I accelerated earlier and started braking later than the other guy.  Since I made the straight longer it appeared as if my car was faster in a straight line.  Like any slot car the G-Jet hates accelerating entering a turn and will turn about as well as the Titanic if you enter a turn under power.  This is true of T-jets and other cars but some of these cars don't punish the driver as much as the G-Jet does.  The G-Jet responds to a driver's driving style.  Besides, braking into the turn has always been the fast way around!