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Rico had the only Oldsmobile on the track.

Howie trackside.

Howie and Ted ready for the start of another heat race.

Ted's Ford.

Rico's Oldsmobile.

Bryan in cool down mode between heat races!

Bryan's '51 Chevrolet.

Beau's '56 Ford alongside Bryan's Chevy.

Terry's '51 Chevrolet.

Bryan giving support to Dennis during practice.

Dennis up close.

Marty up close.

Jerry at his best...they call him Gearloose.

Practice laps.

Bryan and Ted laying down some practice laps.

In an effort to clean up and clarify the GT Class rules that were updated and agreed upon, I performed some editing. The rules were updated at the September 14th 2018 race to better organize the entries by car type. Basically Class 2 - GT was subcategorized with three car types, pre-ground effect era 1968 thru 1980, ground effect era 1980 thru 1993, and LMP era 1994 thru current. I relabelled each of the types with class number designations (classes 15 thru 17) in the list of rules. Other than grouping the car types for a more realistic race grid, there were no other changes to the class.

That rule has been enforced but it has never been used in point series races. It was established as a rule to keep the competition as close as possible in the non-points races. Bryan Trachsel was the main recipient of that rule for obvious reasons, but for the most part it was not due to the car's performance. At one point Bryan was assessed a three lap handicap in one of the classes. We had our fun with Bryan for a couple of seasons, but since Bryan quit racing with us no one has dominated like he did, although Chris Kouba has come close. The rule made more sense when there were a lot of newer racers in the group, whereas now we have more skilled racers. I think the majority of the racers in the NASTE group now, have been racing together long enough that they have all  improved their skills to the point where most anyone can win a race. If the majority is OK with removing it I will take it off the list.

NASTE's number of classes is a direct result of the number of and variety of car offerings, and the disparity in performance between manufacturers. Disparity due to chassis design, motor fitment, and body characteristics. I used to think the 1/24 clubs raced a lot of classes but, they've been racing the same classes for years! In the 1/32 world in one month there can be the potential for two, three, or more classes to be added to the racing list due to the manufacturers latest offerings. One option would be to ban any car manufactured after a certain date, which I don't think is practical or fun. Before TooBad closed I had been considering using a break-out type of race format for some classes. With the computer systems we now use we can set a minimum lap time and if a racer exceeds that that time his or her lap does not get counted. Using this type system could allow racers to race various manufacturer's cars together. In my opinion there are two basic performance factors for the currently manufactured 1/32 cars, motor power/RPM, and chassis design of non-motor pod or motor pod.

I know of one thing that fixes it for sure. When I had TooBad Motorplex I originally used Trackmate as the lap counting system. Trackmate will work with Race Coordinator. When I switched to using Race Coordinator I still used Trackmate's interface board and never had the power shut off problem. When we switched Howie's 1/24 Rapid Raceway over to a new computer and installed Race Coordinator we experienced the same power problems Al is experiencing with Rippin' Ridin' Raceway. I installed the Trackmate interface board off of my routed HO track and that eliminated the problem completely.

Bob Nakamura's Scalextric Sport track also uses Race Coordinator through a Trackmate board and has had no issues.

After Inslot's Checkered Flag Raceway is set up and ready for racing here in Vancouver, I will be enforcing a rule requiring the body screws on 1/32 production cars to be secured into the chassis. This is easily done by placing a piece of electrical tape over the mounting screw holes on the bottom side of the chassis. We have all experienced someone losing a body screw on the track. They get into the guide slot where they are difficult to remove and can cause damage to cars. The other common scenario is for them to get picked up by a car's motor magnets which can also cause damage to the car. My question to the rest of the group is; is this a rule we should adopt as official under NASTE's General Rules?

Thanks for the advice Doc!