News

Hey, we're back!

And that's all I'll say for now.

We just finished our wrap up from the 12-hour Enduro this past weekend in Tacoma.  Our 8th place finish tells us we're on the road to improvement but nowhere near where we need to be.  So it's time to get organized.

To that end we're planning some practice sessions to get familiar with the cars and the track in preparation for the 24-hour Enduro scheduled for this coming November.

But, we need more of us on the team.

If you can commit to a race day or two in November please let us know.  We guarantee you'll probably have a good time.  It's 1:24 scale cars that really fly.  Part of it is in the dark.  This time the heats were only 25 minutes but for the 24 we expect them to be 50 freaking minutes!

The early word is that it will be a battle of BRM Ferrari 512's vs. BRM Porsche 917's.  Cars with metal chassis.

The tracks are great, the facility top-notch, the competition intense. 

Let's show them that for one night we can still howl at the moon!

Team NASTE
Bill, Chris, Monte and Stan

NASTE Racing Guidelines
and
Championship Series Rules

Goal
To promote long-term participation in local slot car racing by following guidelines that promote fairness and progressive skill development.

Assumptions
People participate in this activity for a variety of reasons. Any effective guideline must have some advantages for everyone, from the competitive scratch builder to the casual social participant. A good policy will be defined by its accepted use over time. Track owners are key to achieving this goal, as they can implement whatever policies or rules that they wish on their own property regardless of any guidelines.

NASTE Racing Guidelines

Race Events

Pre-Race Notice - Track owners will specify car classes, acceptable modifications and any other race requirements or special rules of their race in the posting prior to the race ( e.g., “crash and burn”). Rules and requirements may vary by Division. To be an eligible event for Championship Series points, the words “NASTE sanctioned” must appear in the race notice.

$2 Race Fee - Racers will be charged a fee of $2 to compete at each NASTE race. The fee will be waived for new racers, for their first two races. Children 12 and younger will race for free. (These fees effective January 1, 2007.)

IROC Format - All NASTE Championship Series races will use an IROC format where all racers will race the same cars and controllers. Track owners will position and assign similarly prepared cars in each lane with controllers also assigned and remaining connected to each lane. (In the event of damage to a controller, the owner will be reimbursed for the parts necessary to make the repairs by the NASTE treasurer from NASTE club funds.) Racers will not be allowed to use their own controllers.

Awards – Event trophies, certificates, awards or any other recognition is up to the track owner’s discretion, but is encouraged for the Novice Division.

Results - Scores are kept separately by Division. Race results are posted separately on the NASTE website.

Racers

Division - Racers must declare which Division they will compete in at the beginning of each NASTE event.

• Novice – Any person may declare and race in the Novice Division. However the intent is for this division to consist of less experienced and new racers. Upon winning two races in the Novice Division, racers must move up into the Intermediate Division for all subsequent NASTE races. A track owner/manager may refuse to recognize novice status to any racer who is obviously not a novice.

• Intermediate – Any person may declare and race in the Intermediate Division.

• Expert – Any person may declare and race in the Expert Division.

Corner Marshal – When not racing, racers are expected to take a turn at corner marshalling or otherwise providing support to the event.

Race Event Format

Two Rounds - Each race event will be two Rounds of racing. A Round consists of each racer racing one "Heat Race" on each the track's lanes. "Heat Race" laps and fractions of a lap are totaled to determine finish positions for the Round (i.e., on a four lane track, 1 Round = each racer completing 4 Heat Races, one on each of the track's lanes). To simplify lane rotation, Heat Races will start at the track's Start/Finish line. Fractions of a lap will be scored on a tally sheet, and be added to the racer's lap totals. The heat race length will be determined at each race depending upon the number of entries.

Race Formats - Races will be run in one of three types of race formats.

• Big NASTE - One format is the “best of two” format NASTE has used for years - the "Big NASTE" format. In this format there are two Rounds of racing with each racer’s best finish of the two rounds determining their overall finish position. Championship Series points will be awarded to each racer based on their overall finish position. Track owners or Race Hosts will decide what format they wish to use.

• Full Monte - The second available format will be called the “Full Monte”. In this format the two Rounds of racing are completed with two different types of cars. The first round will be raced with one type or style of car, and the second round will be raced with a different type of car. The Rounds will be run and scored in the same manner, but for each Round each racer will have a separate finish position. Simply put, each Round is a separate race. Championship Series points will be awarded to each racer based on their best finish in either Race/Round. In this format it is quite possible for two racers to earn the same amount of Championship Series points at the same race. This is in step with the scoring system NASTE used in the late 90s when racing multiple classes at the same event.

• Standard - The third format will be referred to as the “Standard” format. In this format the racer’s first and second round lap scores will be combined for a total race score.

Sequence by Division - A race may have racers of all Divisions racing together, but when the Divisions race separately, they will race in the following order:

• Racing events will begin with the Novice Division race.

• The Intermediate Division race will follow the Novice race.

• The Expert Division race will follow the Intermediate race.

Championship Series Rules

NASTE Sanction - The words “NASTE sanctioned” must appear on race notices to earn Championship Series points. Casual, unposted or other races do not.

Declaration - Only racers who declare and pay a $5 fee will compete in the NASTE Championship Series. Racers in any Division are eligible.

Points – Each Championship Series racer’s points will be tracked for the racer’s overall finish position in each race. Overall finish positions are based on the finish scores of all the participating racers in all Divisions. Racers have 30 days to challenge posted event results. After that it’s “too bad”. Current NASTE Championship Series point standings will be posted for all to see on the NASTE website. In addition, each racer will be awarded one half of a lap, .5 for each win they score leading up to the final Shoot Out race. Racers are only elligible for the 1/2 lap bonuses on non-hosted tracks. In other words, racers can only receive the 1/2 lap bonuses on tracks they do not own and operate.

Best 5 - Each Championship Series racer's final points total will be based on the racer’s best 5 race finishes.

Championship Run Off - The final race of the racing season will be the NASTE Championship Run Off. This race will be an all-day event and consist of all the racers that have declared their desire to compete in the series and paid the $5 fee. Racers not in the Championship Series will race for door prizes. The top seven racers in points will compete in the Run Off. The racers below the top seven in points will compete in the Trophy Dash. The race format for the top seven in the point series standings will start with the B Main. The B main will consist of the bottom four of the seven in points. The winner of the B Main will move up to compete in the A Main with the top three in points. The winner of the A Main will be the NASTE champion for the season.

We are close to the kick-off of the 2015 NASTE Racing Season!

  Our racing will start with the Nasteburgring races in Tacoma on Saturday September 13th 2014. Start thinking about carpool arrangements NOW!!!

  There will be some exciting improvements for this season!

  After some discussion at the Racin' & Ribs BBQ, race, and meeting it was decided the NASTE Point Series Championship (expert division), and the NASTE Challenge (amateur division) would be scored separately. The two divisions will also be divided and race independently at each NASTE race whenever possible (this will depend on attendance and the number of entries at each race).

  It was also decided we would go back to the practice of allowing racers to throw out races. Meaning, only a portion of the 15 scheduled races will be scored for each racer. For the Point Series Championship or expert division racers, 10 of the 15 races will count for their point total. For an expert division racer that attends all 15 races,  their 10 best finishes will count for their total points. The racer would be able to throw out 5 of his lowest scoring races. The same goes for the NASTE Challenge amateur division, with the exception of only 8 races counting for their overall score. With this format in place the expert division racers need to attend the majority of the races, but not all. The amateur racers will need to attend just over half of the races. This takes much of the pressure off trying to make all the races. It will also make for a very close points race in both divisions! I fully expect some point ties at the end of the season, so here is the last change for this year: the last race of the season will be the Shoot Out. The Shoot Out race will be held to break all ties in the point standings. This race will not be scored for series point totals, it will only decide winners of the ties.  In addition there will be a Shoot Out trophy for the overall winner!

So there you have it. It should be an exciting season full of fun and close competition! 
---------------------------------------Bill

Tentative date for the event up North will be August 17th.  The initial plan is to run on Victor's 4-lane Scalextric Sport and John's 4-lane routed track.  It should be a great day so let's start planning to see how many of us we can get to the race.

I'm going to talk with John about some minor rule modifications for the Cartrix cars.  More as it occurs.