Division 3

2nd Retro NASCAR & Can-Am 1/24 Scale Races, February 10, 2007

Buena Park, CA 

Checkpoint Repeat Win:

Once again, Mike Steube and Philippe de Lespinay run away with both races. Will anyone stop them?

By "Gene Husting", photos by "Al Hall"...

It is becoming to be a bore, at least for other frustrated racers. Philippe de Lespinay used his Easterly-built chassis, a recycled 2006 TSRF hand-out motor and a MAC Mercury Cyclone to cruise to an easy win in the NASCAR race, with Paul Sterrett and Mike Steube in tow. In the Can-Am event, no one could even come close to Mike Steube who used the very same car and motor with which he won the previous King track race, simply with one gear change.

Pre Race Activity

Bryan Warmack built a new car that showed great potential and caused some controversy. This car uses an ultra-lightweight chassis and a ground-effect under-tray that is an integral part of the chassis, creating a certain amount of down force. The controversy is not in the use of the device, but in the fact that it is an integral part of the chassis, possibly infringing on the chassis rules  not because of function but because of the materials used. The car is very inventive and deserves to get all the necessary consideration by the technical committee. More controversial was the fact that the body, a MAC Abarth, had its nose chopped to provide the necessary airflow under the car. That did not sit well with some.

This extraordinary machine comes from the fertile and imaginative mind of one of the most talented craftsmen this writer has ever had the privilege to meet. Bryan Warmack's chassis is made of two main rails onto which a formed brass pan is soldered. The clear Lexan undertray is held by clear tape over the thin wire bracketry.

The wing shape can be clearly see as Bryan holds his inventive machine. Not since the early 1970's had this writer seen an attempt at a serious ground-effect car, and this one does work but will need more tune up to find the ideal combination.

The whole car weighs only 82 grams and was the lightest in the race.

The whole chassis inside the body, with the nose cut right off to allow a good air flow to create the needed ground effect.

Retro NASCAR Race:

The field was mostly composed of Easterly chassis, with a pair of Steube and a Sterrett for good measure.

The NASCAR Master, Jeff Easterly, giving Mike Steube's Plymouth the full tech treatment. The intensity is floating heavily in the air as Jeff measures the ground clearance with a precision-calibrated instrument also known as a piece of K&S wire.

The cars awaiting their fate. With two Wood Brothers # 21 cars, on-track visual confusion was a dire possibility.

The Concours winners, Jeff Bell, Philippe de Lespinay and Terry de los Santos machines.

Ready to rock! The Team Zombie members and honorary members are wearing the mandatory Ghoul Jackets.

The podium with two racers and a joker. Fun was had by all.

Team Zombie's Jeff Bell won the Concours d'Elegance. The NASCAR race saw seven entries with new cars by Mike Steube, Keith Tanaka (also a Steube chassis) and Terry de los Santos with his Easterly chassis. Philippe had an easy time with his own Easterly car, plainly demolishing the opposition with a car that would not come out of the slot regardless of how many mistakes its driver committed. Jeff Bell won the Concours with a well turned out car.

Mike Steube trailed Paul Sterrett by a single lap at the end, with Terry best of the rest.

*  Fastest lap (new record)

*  Establishes new records for class

The winning car had a MAC Mercury Cyclone, devised by Lloyd Asbury in 1972 and recently re-issued by Electric Dreams.

The Easterly-built chassis was heavy but untouchable on the King track. Horsepower-city was also the name of the game, and the TSRF motor had plenty of it once run... in reverse!

Retro Can-Am Qualifying

 20 racers signed up, down from the previous race as several racers were ill while others attended a USRA race out of town. The track was a bit loose, causing lap times to drop from previous races. Nevertheless, the racing was good. Tore Anderson had his newest car ready just in time and with little practice set a fantastic lap at 4.5392" that no one could touch. While this was not a new record because of track conditions, it certainly placed the mark very high for others to follow. Mike Steube tried his hardest but failed by a mere 2/100th of a second. Philippe de Lespinay somehow pushed his car from the high 4.77"s where it had been stuck in practice to a end in third spot, only 5/100th off Tore's time, followed by a brilliant Yoshio Akiyama only 6/100th of a second behind.

Next was the other "usual suspect" Paul Sterrett, best of the rest but substantially slower. Bob Scott was next and best "out of town" entrant, bettering Doug Matthes and Bryan Warmack with his revolutionary car.

Kyle Matthes, Allen Low and Keith Tanaka were the strong men of the B-race group, ahead of Jeff Bell and Craig Williamson. Steve Walker and Terry de los Santos had minor problems ands were a bit slower than the usual, but Terry would come back with a vengeance in the B race. Ken Dylke used his latest twin-motor car that had an enormous amount of torque and speed in the straight  bits, but unfortunately those are attached to curved bit where the car had a tougher time. Roger Uusitalo was short of horsepower, ahead of a greatly improved Gibson Coutley and Albert Cruz getting his feet wet in a new form of racing.

Qualifying Order:

* Fastest lap (no record)

Part of the entries for the Can-Am class. The standard of finish was good.

Tore Anderson's Ti22 had really nice detailing including wire mess on the oil cooler, specially molded intake stacks and a well detailed driver.

Part of the field shows the vast variety found in D3 racing.

More of the chassis show their mettle during tech inspection.

This car was patterned after a JK chassis with sliding sides. It did not work too well but surely will be sorted out for the next event.

Yoshio Akiyama was the man with horsepower and used it to set a great qualifying time that earned him a spot in the "A" race. Yoshi has become a force to reckon in D3 and watch out for his improved driving.

A controversy of sorts arose when there was a confusion about who won Concours in the Can-Am class. After all things appear to have been sorted out, it looks like Tore Anderson's beautiful Ti22 won over the Bryan Warmack equally gorgeous Abarth and the Steve Walker Lola. The author of these lines apologizes to all concerned for the error due to a misinterpretation of what the judges (about a dozen of racers present) actually decided.

Concours winners: Anderson at right, Warmack in center and Walker machines. The Warmack machine did cause some controversy with its nose cut to allow airflow inside the car as well as its chassis materials.

"C" Race

The "C" race ready to go. The white and red FIAT-Abarth is that of Gibson Coutley on his usual suicide mission. Actually, Gibson did quite well and certainly is improving, making everyone else feeling a bit more comfy racing.

Steve Walker built this inventive chassis for Gibson Coutley to drive. The main rails are square brass tubing.

The race was a private affair for Terry de los Santos who built a 5-lap lead over the race-long battling pair of Jeff Easterly and Ken Dylke. It did not come easily as Terry avoided most of the crashes to eventually get away from the furious battle behind his car. Eventually, Ken pulled a small advantage to barely edge Jeff in the last lap of the last heat. Roger Uusitalo was too short of power to b able to b a factor, while Gibson Coutley drove a fair race, staying in the slot more often than not. A great improvement since he did not slow down too much. Albert Cruz cruised around in this, his first D3 race, and also ran into mechanical problems.

Gibson clowning for the camera.

Police-helicopter view of the cars of Ken Dylke, Terry de los Santos and Jeff Easterly.

Sewer view of the same machines..

"C" Race Results:

*  Fastest lap (no record)

Terry de los Santos ran away from Jeff Easterly and Ken Dylke who had their own battle. At the end, Ken was but a few feet ahead of Jeff who is showing here his great disappointment.

"B" Race

Kyle Matthes won the race, or did he? Terry de los Santos and Kyle came out of the donut together when the power shut off, but Kyle's car was a mere 2.5" ahead after 10 minutes of trying to figure out the proper center of the radius. This was the closest race finish witnessed by this writer in over 40 years of racing these little cars...

Terry and Kyle had a race-long see-saw battle that had them together within one lap of each other over Keith Tanaka's Ferrari. Steve Walker, Allen Low and Craig Williamson had their own battle going, with Walker surviving it with fastest race lap. Jeff Bell of Team Zombie motored around after a disastrous first heat.

The field ready to go. Terry de los Santos moved up from the C race to lead the B until the power shut off, being edged by inches by the Kyle Matthes coasting machine.

Steve Walker, Keith Tanaka, Craig Williamson, Allen Low, Terry de los Santos, Kyle Matthes and Team Zombie Jeff Bell wave to the camera.

Yes, this is how they finished. Who won? In fact, the track braid holes were not in line with the actual radius of the track, meaning that Kyle's car was actually ahead by 2.5".

Paul Sterrett is establishing a center line to make sure that the actual finish would be fair, and it was. The closest seen by this writer ever..

"B" Race Results:

*  Fastest lap (no record)

"A" Race

.

The race was a simple runaway for Mike Steube, who just jetted in the sunset and built a 2-lap lead in the first segment over Sterrett, Bob Scott, Doug Matthes and Philippe de Lespinay. Anderson was hurting on the red lane, another lap behind. Warmack was also having problems with his new car on the black lane, losing 6 laps on the leader.

The second heat saw Mike adding another lap to his capital, while Bob Scott took over second place after Paul ran into some serious on-track incidents, losing him 3 more laps. Philippe was now in mortal agony on red, suffering the Anderson syndrome in the previous heat.

The next heat changed things as Philippe came back from 6th to 2nd place, but still 4 laps down from Mike. Anderson had regrouped and was now in 3rd, only one more lap down, ahead of Bob Scott and Doug Matthes holding 4th spot from the beginning. Paul was also hanging there after losing another lap, ahead of Yoshio and Bryan still in trouble with a twitchy car.

In the 4th heat, Mike kept even with Philippe with a 4-lap cushion. Doug Matthes passed Anderson for 3rd, threatened now by Bob Scott in a serious charge for a podium spot. Comes heat 5 and Tore is back in third, rocketing on black, now only 2 laps from Philippe. But Mike is long gone, now 8 laps ahead. In the 6th heat, Anderson pulled his controller and walked away, frustrated from his inability to keep up with a car too new and lacking setup time. This allowed Bob Scott to seize and hold the final podium spot, and this is how it ended, with Matthes in 4th, Paul Sterrett and Yoshio Akiyama in a battle for 5th. Yoshio had the faster car but it is hard to keep up with Paul's faultless driving and experience. Bryan trailed with his fast, promising but so far unpredictable prototype. 

"A" Race Results

*  Fastest lap (new record)

*  Exceeds previous record

The Usual Suspects with Bob Scott (left) as best survivor of the other racers. Bob was the highest finisher of any "out-of-town" racers so far in D3 racing. Mike Steube and Philippe de Lespinay ran the exact same machines as in the last King-track race, Mike simply changing his gearing for a decisive advantage.

The Steube FIAT-Abarth cars next to the Bob Scott Lola.

The chassis reveal the use of Falcon motors as the one to use to win in D3.

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