Team Banta after not making the main the 16th at Zanes came back strong the 30th at their home track. After Jason nabbed TQ on a hot, tight handling track, Paul, David and James finished 1-2-3 in the semis and only a 110% effort by Greg driving a replica Ferrari 333SP stopped them from repeating in the main with Paul racking another win, David a very close 2nd, Greg 3rd, and a disappointed James in 4th. We'll see if they can repeat at the next race, July 14th at Zane's. Just to show how competitive it is 5th was Jason 151.8, 6th Dan 150.5, 7th was Dave at 149.1 and 8th was Zane at 148.4. Only 3 lap separation! Paul's 180.8 in the B semi also set a new 8 minute track record on what most considered a slow track.
The club used some of the funds, now up to $53, to send flowers to Rich's wife. Martha suffered a heart attack but is recovering well. As if that wasn't enough Rich fell and broke his leg. Hope that our get well card will cheer him up somewhat! Our prayers and hopes are with her and Rich. We look forward to seeing Rich back racing with us. Godspeed to both of them for a healthly recovery!
A new development is the Summer GT Series for hard plastic bodied cars scheduled for July 29th at 2pm at Cruzin' Raceway. Entry fee is $2. Should be fun and it will be interesting to see if the Tyco X2s which are currently dominating Super Stock can keep up with the LifeLikes! There will be a warmup race the 15th at 2pm to shake the cars and track down. Interest is high and hopefully we can draw some new racers into the Super Stock races. Already several racers from Cruzin' have called about HO racing.
TECH TIP: The pickup shoe springs on the Tyco and the LifeLike perform 2 functions. They conduct the power from the track rails to the motor and they apply the pressure to the pickup shoes to do this. In applying the pressure they also act as a "suspension" for the front end of the car. And this "suspension" is adjustable especially for the Tyco. Pickup shoe springs for the Tyco are available from .009" to .013" thickness. The stock Tyco pickup spring is .010". They can be silver and gold plated and also can be of left and right wound patterns. The Lifelike is a little tougher as the springs available for the old G+ and newer Super G+ can be used but the shunt tab is not there.
Basic rule of thumb is the stiffer (thicker) the spring the greater the pickup shoe pressure allowing more power to pass to the motor and consequently faster down the straight. The tradeoff is the car will be stiffer when it is cornering and could deslot due to a higher ride height if using the same front tires as a softer spring. The softer spring is slower down the straight but allows the tires to work in the corners. This could let you go deeper into the corner on braking and you can punch it sooner as you exit.
You want to keep in mind how your car is handling and what you want it to do. If it is handling good but you need a little more motor you can increase the pickup shoe spring pressure. If the car is too fast out of the corner and not handling right install a softer spring. You can also change the pressure by adjusting the springs for more or less tension by bending. Some do this in a manner to insure that the spring does not come off the shoe by bending the spring where it contacts by the pickup shoe tab. Others bend the spring where it contacts the bulkhead at the top. Whichever way, try adjusting the pressure next time you are fine tuning.
SUMMER SCHEDULE:
Date Location Winner Top Qualifier
June 16th Zane's Greg Williams (115.07) Kent Krutchoff (14.07)
June 30th Paul's Paul Banta (180.8) Jason Lattimer (21.4)
July 14th Zane's
July 15th Cruzin Raceway (GT Series Warmup)
July 28th Paul's
July 29th Cruzin Raceway (GT Series)
Aug 11th Zane's
Aug 25th Paul's
Aug 26th Cruzin Raceway (GT Series)
Sept 8th Zane's
Sept 22nd Paul's
Good Luck and Have Fun!