4 Hour endurance race 9/14/24

Maryland Four Hour

The first ever digital endurance race in Maryland was held at the Random Canyon Circuit at Goodloe Model Motorsports Park in Silver Spring. Fifteen racers made up the six teams that competed in the four -hour event. The weather was perfect, the 123 ft. track was a challenge (especially at night), the racing was intense, and everybody had a blast. For most of the race the CRL team of Craig and Reg and the RTMB team of Mike, Ron, Tim, and Bo were never separated by more than a lap or two. The PC Lap counter program required a pit stop every 40 min. and made the racing realistic. The driving was excellent and no penalties were necessary. The race began at 4PM and from 6PM on natural light was used. At 7PM the track lights were turned on and by 7:30 it was dark. The racing was intense and tricky, particularly when drivers de-slotted and the car’s lights went dark. Marshals could not always find the cars to rescue. There were some complainers and the solution was of course, stay on the track. Often this was easier said than done! The winning drivers each earned a plaque and all the racers received a Mug that had “I survived the Random Canyon 4hr.” printed on the side. Cookie Cook won a digital car for the fastest race lap of 19.543. All agreed that there should be more endurance races.

MMMR 4 Hour Endurance Race

From Left:                                      Cooke, Kevin, Leo, Brian W, Joe, Tim, Tom, Mike, Ron, Paris, 

                Brian M, Dave, Craig and Reggie.

Random Canyon Sports Car Sprint

This race was open to any Carrera Group 5, DTM/GT car and nine racers were on hand to drive this one-time unique circuit a unique event it was! The Goodloe Model Motorsports Park with the Random Canyon extension is a 123 foot track made up of Carrera, Scalexctrix, and Scale Auto track. The 24 foot straight goes outside of the Goodloe Garage and under a pop-up where the #2 banked 180 brings you back to the garage. There is a small gap between the garage and pop-up which gets wet when it rains, see the DROT report below! The 30 min. sprint was dominated by Bohica Racing (Dave and Tom) with constant pressure from Reg. The highlight was maybe the best battle ever seen in MMMR competition. The B main saw Cookie and Tim in a battle that featured at least 15-20 passes between the two. For 30 min. they were never separated by more than half a lap. Nobody thought to count the passing but it was so intense that several marshals kept breaking the # 1 rule of marshaling which is don’t take your eyes off your area and watch the race. Kevin, Damone, and Tim took the silver podium.

RAIN: Randon Canyon DROT

MMMR has equally prepared Carrera Porsche 917s were randomly distributed proved a challenge at Random Canyon. The B main was won in fine style by the late arriving Craig, who had no practice, by a lap over Cookie. A thunder storm was approaching so the A main drivers hustled to get the race started. Tom and Reg were set to surpass the B main scores until the rain arrived with around 5 min. left to run. The cars were okay at first but as the thin section of track at the garage door became wet, chaos arrived. First the 917s were spinning on the bank and then were hopelessly spinning out and spinning wheels. The wet marshals were to push the cars through the wet section but there was random “helicoptering” going on as well. There were cries of despair and anguish from the drivers and laughter from the B main drivers. This provided an unexpected (random) result. While this was rather unfair for a race with mains, racing in the rain like this can work well in the upcoming 4 Hour on this circuit. We discovered the cars and track worked fine when wet. If the entire track was outside, it would prove unworkable. A racing club could choose to mist a track to provide some sense of rain racing. We practiced post-race and it took quite a while for the Scaleauto track to dry, but eventually(10min) the track dried up and operated with no ill effects. We will try anything once, twice if we like it!

MMMR 30min. Sports Car Sprint 7/2724

MMMR introduced a two-tiered driver ranking at this race. Gold drivers are drivers who have “podiumed” (top three) in an MMMR feature race. Everybody else is a silver driver. First and second place in each division earn the prizes. This system worked well. Tom and Dave (Bohica Boys Racing) finished on top of the seven gold drivers and Kevin and Damone were the best of the seven silver drivers and 6th and 7th overall. MMMR is now running at 13V. and this made the reverse Fireside Raceway a real driver test. The computer fuel program was not used. There was equality across the mains with a B main driver finishing 3rd (Craig) and a C main driver finishing 8th (Cookie). Junior racer Aiden made a welcome appearance and finished 11th. 

MMMR 30min. Sports Car Sprint Podium

2nd from left - Tom - Gold Winner

Left -  Dave - Gold Second Place

3rd from left - Craig - Gold Third Place

2nd from right - Kevin - Silver Winner

3rd from right - Damone - Silver Second Place

Right - Tim - Silver Third Place

This was a 45 min. team race. Each team had gold and silver ranked drivers. Each driver had to run at least 10 min. The cars were Carrera Group Five cars without magnets, weighted and body float added. The cars were randomly assigned. This race proved that they are competitive with Carrera GT and DTM machines so, historical considerations aside, they will be allowed to race in a class called MMMR Sports Cars. See the rules section for a list of all cars allowed to race. The next DROT will be randomly assigned Carrera Porsche 917s. At 13V. this will certainly separate the gold from the silver!