Texas Slot It DTM Proxy Shootout Race #3

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The third round of the Texas Slot It DTM Proxy Race took place on November 28th was the closest round of the first three rounds of the six round series.

This was the final round of the series to be held on the Austin Slot Car Clubs track before the cars get shipped to Houston for the final three rounds of the series on the Houston Scale Auto Racing Club’s track.

You might assume the results for this round would be the same as the last two.  After all, the race is held on the same track with the same exact cars but…….well, you know what happens when you assume things?

The racing in this round of the series was the closest yet with the cars in many of the heats being separated by less than one lap.  As a matter of fact, the cars from 2nd place to 13th were separated by one lap each.  That’s amazing for a couple of different reasons.  First the cars from Houston were very competitive which is crazy since none of them have ever run on our track and secondly, the cars have had no work done on them since the previous round.  The biggest difference in the cars being as close as they finished was the drivers.  As the racers became more comfortable and confident in running the different cars they were able to push them harder and be more competitive.

Another factor that could have played into the cars being closer was the weather.  The temperatures were much cooler outside and on the tracks surface.  The cooler temperatures helped some of the cars perform better as their set up including rear tires worked better in the cooler temps.

The final results still had the Opel built and prepared by David from the Austin Slot Car Club.  His car continues to be the class of the field taking not only the #1 spot but also claiming the fastest lap in all three rounds of the series.  You can check out exactly how he built his car by reading the “Under the Hood” story about it.

The remaining cars showed a subtle mix of those moving up or down the standings with the Alfa of Marty from the Austin Slot Car Club seeing the biggest improvement finishing second in the race and moving up to 4th in the overall standings.

Alejandro’s Opel was still fast and stable with the car finishing at the sharp end of the field with a third place result in the race and moving into second place in the overall standings.

Ary’s Alfa finished in fourth place and dropped one place in the overall standings.  Crazy to think you can place fourth and still drop one place in the overall standings.  This racing is so close.

Russell’s Alfa finished in fifth and retained his fifth overall placing.  His car was handicaped by a lose front bumper that happened after a first heat shunt.  Nothing like some scale racers tape to fix the issue.

John’s Opel finished in sixth place and dropped two places in the overall standings to sixth place overall.

Mark’s Opel finished in seventh place and dropped one place in the overall standings to seventh place overall.

Marc’s Mercedes finished in eighth place and was the first placed Mercedes in the group.  His overall standing is still fourteenth as he missed the first round of the series with his car caught up in the mail.  This is a great result for Marc and his Mercedes.

Paul from Houston finished in ninth place with his Opel.  Paul has the highest placed car from the Houston club.  His car was very stable but lacked top end.  Paul placing keeps him in the ninth place in the overall standings.

Russell Cox’s Mercedes from Houston has been improving every round and this round was no exception.  His car had more top end along with being more stable in the turns.  The new crown gear also seemed to make a big difference.  Russell moved up to the eleventh overall position with his tenth place finish in this round.

Geoff’s Opel was as solid as it had been in the previous rounds and finished in eleventh place in the round and stayed in thirteenth place in the overall standings.

Randy’s Mercedes was in twelfth place in the round as its tires appeared to be going off making the car difficult to drive for many of the racers.  With the twelfth place finish the car stayed in the ninth overall position.

John’s Jagermeister Alfa was in thirteenth place in the round but was one of the most stable cars in the group.  The car lacked the top speed to keep place with the cars at the front.  The car remains in tenth place in the overall standings.

Ken’s Alfa was in fourteenth place in the round with its worst result of the three races.  The Alfa was not as stable in the tight turns and lacked the top end pace.  The car had performed better in the previous rounds so it’s a good thing the car is headed back to Houston where some home track cooking should be the fix for issues.  The car dropped one place in the overall standings to twelfth place.

 

All the cars now head to Houston where the Scale Auto Racing Club will run the next three rounds of the series.  Unlike most proxy races the rules in this proxy allow the cars to be adjusted for the different tracks.  This means all the Austin Slot Car Club members have adjusted their cars to better suit the Houston track based on the information they have provided us.  The big change is the guide and the rear tires.  The standard guide or the Slot It screw in CH10 guide is required for their track.  Tires also change from the F30’s that work so well on the Austin track to the stock C1’s that they say work best on their track.  The depth of the guide and front wheel height is another change as their track has the braid level with the track surface where as the Austin track has a recess of .010”-.015”.  These changes will obviously mix up the field and things will surely look different in the overall standings as the Houston racers run on their home track with cars and conditions, they are very familiar with.

These races will be fun to watch and to help everyone see all the action the Scale Auto Racing Club in Houston has just installed new cameras and will be broadcasting all the rounds live.  The first round of the Houston races will be Saturday the 12th at noon.  Don’t miss what should be some very good and close racing.

I can’t wait to see what happens.

 

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  1 comment for “Texas Slot It DTM Proxy Shootout Race #3

  1. Looking at the overall stats for Alejandro’s car, it looks like the strategy to hang-back a little works in the end. His car placed 4th twice (giving him some decent points) and in the 3rd round apparently his tires “came in” and he was able to draft past the rest of us to slide into Silver …

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