Real Night Racing

I’ve been reading HO World for some time now. And I’ve seen race reports from all over the US and even the 24 hours of LeMans in the United Kingdom. Reports have been submitted for all types of racing from T-jets to the latest magnet cars. But one thing I haven’t seen is anyone else racing “flamethrowers”.

That’s right we race lighted T-jets at New Jersey Nostalgia Hobby in Scotch Plains, NJ. The only allowed modifications are slip on silicones, Thunderbrushes and a long guide pin. To learn more about what we race check out the schedule at http://www.geocities.com/njhobby/index.html

We call this race the 24 minutes of LeMans. Here is a quick run down of the format. We run one 4-minute heat on each of the 6 lanes, hence 24 minutes. One minute is run with the lights on, 2 minutes with the lights off and finally one minute with the lights back on. The one with the most laps and sections wins. We use a dark room timer to keep track of the “hours”.

If you think racing with the lights out is hard you should try to marshall. At least the driver knows he deslotted.

On Friday April 2, eleven racers showed up. Including a special guest appearance all the way from Bethlehem PA, Brian Kaplun.  He says it’s his favorite race and it must be to drive that far. I know Dave and VinKnee are further. But Brian is in college and having fun all the time.

Since there were eleven racers we ran round robin. Two racers needed to borrow cars and it worked out very well for one of them.

Here’s what happened;

Kevin McEvoy (Aurora Lola GT) – 113.2

Joerinn (MEV D-Jag) – 111.2

Dave Lockwood (grey Aurora Cobra GT) – 111.1

Guy Graziano (Aurora Chaparral) – 110.2

Mario “Chief” Pisano (red Aurora Ferrari GTO 250) – 109.2

Dennis Moore (blue Aurora Cobra GT) – 107.5

Brian Kaplun (white Aurora Cheetah) – 105.3

Paul Graziano (MM Grand Sport Vette) – 103.2

Rob Maul, Sr. (MEV LolaT-70) – 102.2

Brian Corea (Aurora Ford GT40) – 101.2

Chris Roberts (blue Aurora Ferrari GTO 250) - 84.4

Congratulations to DBL (Dave Lockwood) Racing – his cars finished first and Third and he replaced m tires just before the race. So he had a hand in the top 3 finishers. I guess a lot of guys will be asking for his help the next time.

By the way, thanks for that extra lap Brian.

I’ve included photos from both our April race and our January race.

"A good grouping” - Coming out of the turn at the end of the back straight the cars head into the esses. The white LEDs are the way to go in this race.