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So it's in the books...  How'd we do?  In a full field of entries (14 total teams), we claimed 10th overall, but that's just a number.

Barring several miracles, we are never going to beat the Can Am team, or the Italians.  There are a few other local teams which are always at the pointy end too.  Our best realistic finish was probably (generously) around 5th or 6th, so 10th does not disappoint me.  We had a mechanical issue or two which cost us some time (one straight off the line losing about 50 laps in the first heat on the fast track), but plenty of other people had their share of pit time too.

What the finish order doesn't tell you is there was competition across the spectrum of teams.  We were neck and neck with the Austin guys, only ceding 9th to them by ~40 laps over around 10,000.  I'd call that close.  There were heats where we did extremely well- finishing in 2nd twice, once even on the lead lap!  I was swapping lap times with some of the locals and had some of the funnest and closest racing I've ever had up there.

Also, see people from around the world show up is always excellent.  There were teams from across the US, plus Canada, Italy, and Mexico.  Great people and fierce competitors.  It was clear that everyone was having a good time.

Even the event seemed to run reasonably on time across the week this year, although the sprint races were quite a challenge with 30-40 people entering.  It's great to see the logistics improving.

I know that no one seems to be interested in attending this, but I will be entering a team again next year.  Think about participating.  It is the 10th anniversary and Alan has promised that it will be "something special", although I will be there regardless.  Come join me.

Bill,

No worries.  I am not so much trying to convince people who don't want to do it, but trying to encourage others who might not have thought about it to give it a try for once.  There are a ton of people on this forum who enjoy slot cars and it seems weird that we can't put more than three people together for a team.

That's not to say you're still not invited if you change your mind!

It's a lovely facility with gorgeous cars and fun tracks, and the event is a ton of racing.  Give it a try!

Chris

So you in then??!??

Maybe time to re-think your signature?  The Secondinator becomes the Three-peater?

A lovely used car salesman write up just got send your way Monte.  Have fun with it!

My inclination would be:

1. Slot It/Policar
2.RevoSlot GT
5.GT3 new this year, see rule page
6. Slot It Group C

Time to put this on your calendars.  I am planning on it and have booked a team.

If you're interested, please let me know.  It's a fun time and great opportunity to meet people from all over, never mind get your fill of racing over the course of 4 days.

Chris

Last race, last heat, Al and Doc were door-to-door all night.  Hats off to both of them for a great season!

I'd try to make myself available as well.

Thanks for having everyone over again Al.  It was great to get back out, catch up with some people, and do some racing.  It was even nicer to see that one or two of my cars still even work!

I know I've been scarce but I do *want* to race.  Once the work on the camper gets under control, I do intend to get back at it more consistently- hopefully by a little later this spring.

It was great to see those who showed up.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

CK

A crashed rally car led me back to this hobby a long time ago...

I had a small HO set as a kid, and fairly well wore that out.  I still have some of the cars but that track is long gone.  I enjoyed it thoroughly and remember racing with my brother and cousins up in the attic, and rebuilding the cars to see how much faster I could make them (or not).  Eventually, I moved up to real cars and left the little track to collect dust- or more likely to get pitched when my parents cleaned house.

I kept those cars around without a track because hey, they're small.  They don't take up much space and I like them.  But then... 

At one point in my life, I stage rallied.  My promising career as a factory Subaru/Mitsu/Citroen driver alongside McRae, Sainz, and Makkinen came to an abrupt end on the 1999 Oregon Trail Rally, somewhere in Vernonia.  I went sideways into a tree at about 40 mph.  I hit just behind the driver door and it was hard enough to taco-fy the left rear wheel (including making it a multi-piece unit), bend the rollcage, and make me unconscious.  Clearly I am fine (right?), but I earned a flight on a helicopter and a weekend stay at the resort known as OHSU from it.

Upon recovery, I started salvaging what I could of the car (1979 RX-7), part of which was a quick ratio steering box.  I sold this to someone in New Zealand, and they paid me via something called "Pay Pal".  Yes, this was around the infancy of the "internet", so I had this sum of "internet money", but didn't know what to do with it.

One day, on that very same internet, I stumbled across a gorgeous little GT40 model.  This one was different- it had a motor and a guide!!  It was a slot car!  The specific one I found was a Fly Mk I GT40, which as we all know, is a beautiful, but horrible slot car without being worked over.  I didn't know this at the time though, so order one up I did!  It didn't even cost me "real" money.

So then I had a slot car, but no track.  Time to fix that...  I found a listing for someone who bought track sets and sold off the cars and track separately.  Boom!  Got me a track now.  Still for free, even!

Now running one car by yourself can be a little boring, and I still had internet money left, so I bought my first Slot.It 962 (my other favorite Le Mans car). 

My fate was sealed.

This car blew me away.  I was hooked.  I was living in Phoenix at the time and scoured the internet to found some local nerds who raced on Weds nights.  This worked perfectly with my schedule, and I fell in with the AZ Garage Racing crowd- a fine bunch of mini-gearheads.  After racing with them for about 2 years, I moved back up here to Portland and found another guy on the internet who lived in Troutdale and had a sweet track in his garage.  I think you know the story from there...