TSRF 1/32 Scale April 17, 2006
Buena Park, CA
4th 2006 SoCal Championship Points Race
Steube with a little chance and patience...
The fourth TSR Championship Race was for 1/32 scale TSR cars with with weigh at least 125 grams. On the Buena Park Kingleman track, the little cars were just fun. No one entered an injected-body car, all were a mix of the TSR Bentley and Porsche GT1-98. Tech inspection revealed various ways to install the massive amount of lead weight necessary to bring the cars to the minimum weight, but all made it. All 8 lanes were used to run the cars this time as all entrants had moved the guide pin on their chassis so that the cars could negotiate the very tight Black Lane 180-degree turn at the end of the banking.
As usual for a Championship race, the motors were picked by the entrants from a bag of selected motors for their consistency and amperage draw. To make things more equal, race direktoor Philippe's motor was picked by an "innocent bystander" (well, not so innocent in the person of Mike Steube!).
All the cars were very fast and very even, possibly more than in any other previous race.
Mike Steube won, Surprise? This time yes as shortly before the end of the race, at least 3 drivers were ahead of him!
Indeed the Lancia LC2 piloted by Dennis Samson was clearly the best car there, and Dennis was going to beat the combined pair of ultra-consistent Sam Brown and the errand but fast Philippe de Lespinay, who set second-fastest lap.
What happened? First Philippe lost it when his surviving eye gave him trouble and he lost his car on track, costing him in two separate crashes a total of 12 laps. Then Sam Brown got in a rider situation and when his car hit the wall, the two pieces of the chassis unhooked themselves, because Sam had no time to add the "safety bolt" recommended in the race preparation. By the time he came back on track, the hastily cobbled chassis got into a shorting situation and fried both lead wires, taking him out. So Mike was left to apply pressure on Dennis but before he had a chance to do so, Dennis lost his chance and got off, losing 4 laps and the race. That was it and Mike won on patience, Dennis 3 laps behind, Philippe coming back to third ahead of Paul Sterrett with a car set a bit too "tight". Roger Uusitalo, always improving, drove a consistent race only 5 laps behind Sterrett. Next, visitor Jim Hansen did well with a brand new car, followed by Mike Boemker with a loaner. John Emmons could have been a contender but had too many offs. For his first 1/32 scale race with no magnets, Daniel Snipe found the going difficult but still gathered enough laps to better poor Sam Brown and Tore Anderson with once again, the fastest lap but no driving patience.
Dennis Hill gave up after two offs in two segments, covering only 17 laps with a fast but way too 'tight" of a car.
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The TSR cars on the starting line. The Lancia of Dennis Samson is seen at the very right. It almost won. |
| From right to left at the start: Boemker, Brown, Uusitalo, Snipes, Anderson, Emmons, Hill and dennis Samson. |
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Dennis Samson and Jim Hansen find the situation rather funny... |
Results:
|
Pos |
Driver |
Body type |
Laps |
Fastest lap |
|
1 |
Mike Steube |
Porsche GT1-98 |
271 | 4.941 |
|
2 |
Dennis Samson |
Lancia LC2 |
268 | 4.879 |
|
3 |
Philippe de Lespinay |
Porsche GT1-98 |
260 | 4.832 |
|
4 |
Paul Sterrett |
Bentley LM |
255 | 5.058 |
| 5 | Roger Uusitalo | Porsche GT1-98 | 250 | 5.210 |
| 6 | Jim Hansen | Porsche GT1-98 | 234 | -------- * |
| 7 | Mike Boemker | Porsche GT1-98 | 230 | 5.160 |
| 8 | John Emmons | Porsche GT1-98 | 217 | 5.210 |
| 9 | Daniel Snipe | Porsche GT1-98 | 215 | 5.109 |
| 10 | Sam Brown | Porsche GT1-98 | 200 | 4.945 |
| 11 | John Tore Anderson | Porsche GT1-98 | 196 | 4.721 * |
| 12 | Dennis Hill | Bentley LM | 17 | 5.218 |
* Time unknown due to rider situation
* Fastest lap