PASER Monday

PASER Open Track Monday

Due to some computer issues at Rob's Redline Raceway, Monday's race venue was switched to Bob Nakamura's Gorge Raceway in Troutdale. This switch created some issues on its own and I apologize for any confusion! With that said, we did end up having some great racing in the gorge!

It was hot outside, but Bob's basement location for the track was nice and cool! This was the first official race for the track which was recently moved from its original location in Keizer Oregon. The track was originally built by Paul Painter and it is beautiful! For me this course is very difficult, and I struggled with even completing laps! I had raced on it at its previous location, but it has been quite sometime, and it showed!

The first class of cars to be gridded were the Womps. Our PASER Womp Class is probably different than most Womp classes throughout the slot car racing world. We race them in a narrow width formula, with the track being no wider than the width of the chassis. While limiting the cars performance where cornering is concerned, it poses no limit on the fun aspect of racing them!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/gorge_IMG_3460.jpg

With only five racers in attendance we raced using a "track call" system, which due to our lack of previous experience on the track, led to some pretty lengthy heat races! Our host and track owner Bob showed us all the fast way around the course and took the Womp win!

After the Womp race we lined up Flexi cars. Even at less than eleven volts these cars proved to be quite a challenge! My strategy for future Flexi races at The Gorge will be DE-TUNE! For this race we ran one round of three minute heats. Again our host took the podium (I'm starting to see a pattern here!). Here are the results:

1st Bob 130 laps
2nd John 118
3rd Rob 102
4th Bill 100
5th Hersch 91

Thanks to everyone who came to this first event. Looking forward to many more.