Division 3

Second Race January 27, 2007

Buena Park, CA

Steube wins two, Maxwell dominates Retro Pro.

Team Checkpoint 1-2 in TSRF and Retro F1

Report by "Gene Husting", photos by "Al Hall" AKA Bob Scott...

The second Division 3 race for 2007 had three classes, two of them featuring the new handout motor system. The motors are supplied to the raceway by TSRF and are engraved with a number, a register being kept by the raceway in a special folder. Racers select a motor and if happy with it, can return it at the end of a race for future use. If unhappy, they have the opportunity to purchase two more, but can only return one. This new system appears to satisfy mostly everyone there. All three races were run on Buena Park's Hillclimb track. The track conditions were somewhat slippery as the track got no special preparation for this race.

Mike Steube kindly donated one of his fantastic chassis in a raffle in which the winner was Bob Maxwell, himself a top-notch chassis builder! Both were today's big winners in hotly disputed races.

TSRF 1/24 Scale

The race was for GTP, LMP, ALMS and GT cars in the larger scale. Philippe de Lespinay led the first heat a few feet ahead of Mike Steube, with Paul Sterrett a lap behind. In the second heat, Mike Steube took the lead and never gave it up, building a total of 4 laps over de Lespinay by the end of the race. Paul Sterrett was caught in a nasty crash by an errand car and lost all chances to win, still salvaging a third placing. The Rolling Hills twins of Tanaka and Uusitalo placed logically next, Tanaka having a rocket of a car but still struggling to keep control of it.

For his first TSRF race, Lee Hines had plenty of trouble but still edged another newcomer, Craig Gilbert, who never had a chance to practice with his new car.

TSRF 1/24 Scale  RACE RESULTS

*  Fastest lap

Retro F1

The race was another runaway for the Checkpoint Twins, Mike and Philippe pulling away in a battle that lasted until the 6th heat when a series of off-track incidents gave a clear cut to the fantastic car built by Mike Steube. Mike never de-slotted the entire race, leaving his hapless team mate trying to keep up in the dust of 8 laps by the end. Paul Sterrett was lucky to salvage a third with a less than stellar motor, the luck of the draw. It did not look at all like this in practice as Paul's Lotus was easily the fastest car on the track, but last minute break-in tactics by the Checkpoint crew transformed their power from mediocre to brilliant. Terry de los Santos was another 6 laps in arrears with a quick car but trying too hard, and Yoshi Akiyama was in a world of handling hurt with a car fast in the straight bits.

Jeff Easterly plonked his way to a good 6th place, edging Tanaka by one lap. Keith was unlucky to draw TWO slow motors, after drawing a rocket for his TSRF car. John Javier drove one of his best races as he his slowly grasping car control, a lap ahead of Lee Hines who need lots of practice to get back to his past form, but is learning quickly. Tore Anderson pulled out after 15 laps with a car good enough to secure 5th place. Luck of the draw.

*  Fastest lap

Retro Pro

This was the first race for this great new new D3 class promoted by Tore Anderson. After some hesitant steps to get the new Pro-Slot Mini motor to behave without major explosions, it looks like this has now been achieved, and the speeds reached along with decent reliability are extremely encouraging. Some issues remain but should soon be entirely resolved to provide a small motor with good power (superior to that of a 16D) with great handling and hopefully, long life.

Tore loaned his prototype sidewinder car to de Lespinay for this race, and Philippe led for a while until rammed no less than five times by the errand car of poor Mike Boemker in a world of hurt with an out of control missile. This demolished the body of Tore's car to a point where the aerodynamics were deranged, the car becoming unpredictable and tough to handle. Then it mysteriously slowed down, and nothing could be found to be wrong on it, but Philippe lost many laps and was in lowly 7th spot after the 6th heat. Meanwhile, Bob Maxwell, driving a 15-year old chassis fitted with the new motor, absolutely dominated the race. Six laps behind was Paul Sterrett, "first in class" as he used his Retro Can-Am inline chassis with a M.A.C. Porsche body and a PS motor to finish in a great second place.

Bob Scott soldiered on to third after a relatively uneventful race driving one of Allen Low's cars. After his series of ramming incidents, Philippe came back to 4th after the motor came back to life and really gave the speed necessary for a safe cruse in the last two heats. Mike Boemker still bettered Doug Matthes with a fast but twitchy car, Allen Low and Jeff Easterly. All in all, it appears that while the US-built armatures are no faster than the original Chinese-built arms, they are indeed more reliable and can provide what this class needs: a solid motor base for all to enjoy.

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