News From the Front: Gravitywerx Mail-in Race Results
Fast Ferals Dominate Round One Event: I was dreading somewhat the thought of using those same cars again. Some are 2 decades old. Most I don't even remember buying. Cars that never won any championships and some even that were replaced during an event because they were in last place. But there were a few foxes in the henhouse.
A race: The shiny new cars of GspeedR occupied the first three spots on the grid and were favored by me to dominate at least the early laps of this race. Gpeed1 led by a comfortable margin every lap that it stayed straight but was overtaken on lap 7 by the RDL1 car. Gspeed1 regained the lead the following lap and looked like it would win. But on the last lap, the perfect disaster occurred. It flipped and slid to within a few inches of the finish line and was not bumped over by the approaching traffic. All the cars that were still on their wheels (7 or 8) would be scored ahead of it. The Iowa1 car, starting 9th, took the lead. I thought I pulled the top 12 of the Summer race from the lineup but I guess it was just 11. The Iowa1 car was #12. An extra lap was run (must win last 2 laps consequetively), which the Iowa car led but gave the Gspeed1 car and chance to move up to 6th. Gspeed3 finished 4th, which will put it on the pole for Round 2 A race. Gspeed2 struggled and will drop to the C race. Gspeed1 will run the B in round 2.
B race: The pole sitter led the first lap but after that it was the RDL2 car, starting 3rd, that dominated the remainder of the race for the win. It led by wide margins and never bobbled. It will start 9th in Round 2 A in front of the A winner.
C race: This was a 2-car battle between the first 2 in the lineup. The 2 cars couldn't have been any different. The RDL3 car was a clunker I rescued from the pile last Summer with a locked up wheel that spun the axle rather than break loose despite blasting with PB blaster. It finally broke loose after I removed the body and held the axle with pliers. But it would hardly roll out of the gate a few months ago. But somehow it qualified right behind the lightning fast Model2 machine that hounded it all the way down the track, finally passing on lap 7. But it crashed and the lumbering RDL3 retook the lead. The Model2 took the lead again on lap 10. I thought it would crash again but held on for the win. The top 3 of B and C and the top 4 of A will go to round 2 A.
It's not too late to get a dog in this race! Any car you send will assume the points from the donor car. And some have a lot of points!
Discussion
There's 9 more rounds. Your cars are running 10th, 16th, and 25th out of 30. There's no way to test cars at home for viability on this track, and since I'm not revealing the winning car models, no way to throw a duplicate at this thing. Some of the mods I've seen on this site do work here however. I predict some improvement with your cars as this thing unfolds. The 3 race winners all are unpredictable performers. They might never be heard from again having to start in the back.
Looking forward to getting it in the lineup. You have 3 spots if you want to send more. One of your assigned cars (Model2) won a race and advanced to the top class. Let me know which car(s) you want to replace. If I don't hear from you, I'll replace the struggler.
There is no minimum amount of entries. There is a max of three to jive with the ten contestants and thirty slots. Your car will replace of the the cars assigned to you. Make sure you tell me which one. One of them is tied for first in points.
Repeat Winner in Round 2: A couple of cars that I had written off earlier are continuing to show some promise. I know for a fact these cars are losers because they did so badly in other recent events that they were replaced after a few rounds. It's just a matter of time. This track is not kind to plastic-bottomed toys.
A race: Round 2 is the first performance-based lineup putting the winning cars in the back of the grid. Round 1 winning Iowa 1 had already won from the 9th position so I knew it was a contender. The first three laps were led by the Gspeed3 car but couldn't hang and finished 6th. Laps 4-7 were led by the Seat2 car before relinquishing the lead to the Model2 car, winner of Round 1 C. This car had an old number on it from a previous series that it bombed out of. It's on a roll now. 2nd was Seat2, and Iowa1 3rd. Model2 holds a 3-point lead over Iowa1, Seat2 is third, 5 points back. In 4th is another sketchy car, the fastest-qualifying RDL1.
B race: The Gspeed1 car, starting 4th, ran near the front the entire race, battling several cars. It led laps 4, 5, 8, 11 and 12 for the win. It will be back in the A race for round 3.
C race: The round 1 pole-sitting Gool1 car crashed in that race and finished last. But it came back in round 2 and won decisively, leading for seven laps. Model1 finished 2nd.
Congrats on your B race win. Your Gspeed1 car is 5th in points-starting 6th in round 3 A. The points-leaders are behind it and it's nemeses from the last race are in front of it. Could get ugly!
Another Repeat Winner in Round 3 Contest: The weather people weren't lying; It was snowing outside by chilly garage as round 3 got underway. My kerosene heater provided some relief. Try running Indy cars in this crap. Indoor racing rules!
A Race: The RDL2 car, winner of round 1 B, led the first 5 laps but crashed. Gspeed1, starting sixth, dispatched it's nemesis from round 2 early and was there to assume the lead. It held on to win fairly easy occasionally being hounded by the RDL3 car. The repeat-winning Model2 car struggled early eventually finishing 6th. It remains in the points lead. RDL3 finished 2nd, Iowa1 3rd. Iowa1 and Gspeed1 are tied for 2nd one point behind Model2.
B race: The scrappy Vari1 car led the first lap until being passed by Jobe3. It retook the lead on lap 6 but lost it again on lap 8 to Vari2 for one lap but took the last 2 laps for the win. Vari2 got 2nd. Vari1 8th.
C Race: I have 2 identical plastic-bottomed cars. On one I added a steel ballast plate underneath. This car led the last 4 laps for the win. I'm always comparing these 2 cars for some kind of conclusive evidence of added weight advantage. The unweighted car was ahead in points before this round plus was the 9th fastest qualifier (speed gun) while the weighted one was the slowest! But in Round 3 the weighted car finished 1st while the unweighted car finished last (B race). Hard to get conclusive evidence in this game.
Points Shakeup in Round 4: No repeat winners this week. The sinister Gravitywerx inverted start order did it's job of keeping the winning cars beating each other up at the back of the pack. In 12 races so far there have been 10 different winners.
A Race: While the points-leading Model2 car struggled at the rear with the Iowa1 car, The RDL1 car and Vari2, recently advanced from B, battled the entire race. Each led for five laps with the Vari2 car leading the last 2 for the win. RDL2, round 1 B winner, finished 2nd and RDL1 third. All 3 RDL cars are in the A race and have been since round 2! Model2 finished 9th and Iowa1 6th. Gspeed1 finished fourth and now holds a 2-point lead over Iowa1. 3 points out of first is Vari2.
B Race: Another slugfest in B this time between the Gool3 car and Vari3 eventually won by Gool3 after 3 overtime laps.
C race: Another 2-car battle between the Seat1 car and Jobe1. Won by Seat1 on first overtime lap. These seesaw battles are the result of passing, not someone crashing out. As good as it gets!
That's awesome, George! I suspected that the Arkham Asylum Batmobile might be vulnerable on your open track but decided to try it out anyway. I'm happy that I have my 1st mail-in race in the books...but I may choose to send you something more formidable next time.