TSRF 1/24 Scale races, July 2, 2005

Buena Park, CA

John Tore Anderson closing on Paul Sterrett. Mike Steube dominates then throws it all away in the last heat!

As in the previous race, Paul Sterrett had to put up a serious fight to retain his title of uncontested TSRF champion. Paul has won so far, most of the TSRF races in both scales... Cool and collected, he never lost track of the goal and once again, took the winnings away.

"John" Tore Anderson and Mike Steube gave him some serious challenges but yet, Paul pulled out a clean win after Mike, leading all the way into heat 7, lost it.

The TSRF24 field. The presentation is getting better, but is still way below the standard of similar racing in Europe or Asia. Anderson's BMW was the only car fitted with working lights. Serious efforts are in the work by several entrants to provide a first-class body since it is not going to be too long before Concours points will be added to the race total to determine the overall winner.

As Paul began to accumulate laps and the round-robin system worked its course, the race tightened with Paul keeping a one-lap edge over Anderson, with Wetterson and Sam Brown only 3 laps behind. Mike Steube went from first to fifth in seconds after he lost it on the red lane, only mustering 17 laps in that last segment.

Philippe de Lespinay attempted to race an injected Carrera Audi R8, trying to capitalize on the 16-lap bonus for the heavier cars, but this was not going to happen today as he got off 4 times, and that was at least three times too many. He still edged John Emmons for fifth once the dust settled and brought back the Audi nearly intact in spite of two violent hits, proving that injected bodies can indeed, take it in this dangerous environment.

Forever wing-car pro-racer and all-around good-guy Gil Gundersen raced his first TSRF event and had the usual experience of finding out that there is indeed, a whole range of control between the "on" and "off" positions on his controller. While he found the going a bit tough, Gil adjusted fairly quickly to the demanding machinery. Indeed, a new driving style of control and smoothness is required, and Gil has not had to do anything like this for many years... A 10th position 40 laps behind reflects his problems, but he set the fastest lap of the evening at 6.429" on the blue lane. Nice job, Gil!

Scott Jarrett spun his spur gear, costing him too many laps, and Barry Obler is still having power problems but is improving. With a brand new car and a loaned body, Adam K., another new entry, was fast at 6.491" but in short spurts and kept losing it too often. A bit of practice will with no doubt make him more consistent.

Mile Steube is continuously improving and could be our next winner...

This race had the tightest lap total of the ones run so far on this hillclimb track.

Mike Steube is still working on his car's setup, but is improving with every race. Mike is very serious about his re-discovered hobby and won his first race last Wednesday in the amateur 4-1/2" NASCAR. Borrowing a car prepared by Barry Obler, he kept clean and won a race marred by serious demolition. The former King of slot car racing has the same racing stance as 35 years ago. Watch out for the King, and his name is not Elvis...

Jim Watterson and Scott Jarrett (left) are fighting it out with some pretty serious customers and are certainly showing some driving talent. The machinery requiring little preparation really helps good amateurs to shine. Holding his winning Porsche 956 (right), Paul Sterrett is smiling all the way to the bank. Perfect preparation and consistent driving beats faster cars and one-lap hair-lappers every time...

Philippe de Lespinay took a chance by racing his hard-bodied Audi R8 (second from top) that was substantially heavier than the vac-bodied cars. The car stands a chance to win if the driver keeps it on the track... losing it too many times at the wrong moment meant only a 6th place finish. It would have easily taken Concours...the two BMW's are TSRF vac-formed bodies while the Ford uses a pre-painted Revell body from a static kit.

Main event results:
 

* denotes fastest lap

** denotes injected body with 16-lap bonus computed on measured lap times.

Paul doubles in the 1/32 scale IROC Charity Race after Philippe chokes!

Paul Sterrett won the TSRF32 race run in IROC format, with 50% of the entry fees going to the Marconi Foundation for Kids in Tustin, CA. The track owner retains the other 50% and prize money is derived from that.

The cars are identical Slot.It injected Porsche 956 bodies, the chassis standard TSRF32 "Club" chassis. The cars are supplied and maintained by TSRF. The drivers change lanes but the cars stay on their respective lanes, meaning that all the drivers drive all the cars.

Paul barely edged Jim Watterson and Scott Jarrett for the win after 6-segment leader Philippe lost control of his car at the beginning of a one-minute segment, losing over 45 seconds and what appeared to be a second win in the class. He took fastest lap as a consolation.

Scott Jarrett coasted across the counter after the power was turned off in the last segment, but this did not gain him second as he thought since Watterson was a few feet ahead. The distance between Sterrett and Watterson was less than 2 seconds at the end of the 24-minute race, with Scott mere meters behind...

Mike Steube had a much harder time in this one, the "punch-and-go" trigger not working so well for those very fast but twitchy cars. John Tore Anderson declared that he prefers these to the larger cars, but the very experienced 5-decades pro-racer also had too many offs and ended 4 laps behind.

This class is incredibly competitive and requires utter concentration. Some technical issues appeared with the front tires getting off their rims and fouling the chassis. This will be soon corrected with harder fronts that will also find their way in the parts listing on the TSRF catalogue.

* denotes fastest lap

** total corrected after Scott crossed the lap counter with power off.

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