26Aug2017 Race Report
The penultimate round of our 2017 Seatac RC Raceway season was graced by perfect weather and solid racing in all classes. We were 49 entries strong, with Stock Touring and Modified Touring pulling the biggest numbers.
The layout was a challenging number we call “Crosstown Traffic” in homage to the late, great, Hendrix. In Stuart's head, it's the crosstown blues, as it is the track on which he collided last year with Trav and broke his 417 in half. The sentiment sort of stuck around. More than any other layout, it has an element of danger. Overall, our racers handled it with aplomb, and there were no collisions arising from the area where there are high speed cars in opposing directions one lane over. Racers exercised good judgment.
But, the left side sweeper collected tolls all day long, primarily in the coin of cars dumped over the rail that gripped after the compression section on the left side. Mostly without serious consequences. Brian, however, did flat spin his 1/12th into the rail on the section and bent his rear pod. It ended his day. Stuart also kitted his 1/12th earlier this season on a right-to-left layout that challenged the bump. I think it's becoming clear that the seam on that side, while subtle, nevertheless is having an effect. Jake, Alex, and I are looking into corrections. We are considering adding a permanent chicane on the left side—think of the old NorCal track that had the bent sweeper on the right side. Something like that. It will slow down that section, add a little time to our laps, and take the bump off line. Some are willing to live with the risk, put me in that category, but others find the consequences too dire to enjoy the outing when that feature is part of the day. We have to take care of our racers, so expect a change before the 2018 season begins.
We had a new racer to the club join us, Mark Dawson came up for a day and joined us in our touring classes. Mark is a wheel from California and an all-around good guy. It is our good luck to learn he will be joining us for more racing in the future. I will particularly tip my hat for the gritty drive in Stock TC. The start was messy, and he bounced to the very tail of the pack on the opening lap. But he kept his head down, did work, and came through to a solid second place result. Strong stuff! Welcome, Mark!
Results attached.