Team3S Member Track Report:

ArtysVR4-2

For the first time in recent history, Jack Tertadian didn't claim the fastest 3S title since his car was also relegated to a trailer.  After some decent low to mid 11 second runs a couple weeks ago on his fresh engine, he blew #1 piston much like last year.  While EGTs and O2s looked OK, he believes he was knocking like a banshee with timing too far advanced with his new ARC unit (which he seemed to like).  For the second time in two years, a lack of datalogging his 2nd gen has led to burnt pistons.  What a shame-- he was ready to run 10's at the shootout with the aid of a little NOS.  The JE piston on the cam cover is from last years bout with knock.

Trevor's 11 second ride was put out of commission a couple days before the shoot-out when a van unfortunately plowed into his front right corner.  It will be easily fixed, but not in time for the shoot-out.  And I'm not sure what happened to the several AAM "TD05" cars that were supposed to run.

We had 3S cars competing in several different classes including our very own 3S Quick 8, a 3S heads up class (for all those who didn't make it into the quick 8), and then several decided to bracket race with the DSM folks.

The Quick 8 (main attraction) ran on a pro tree (.400 light) and after three rounds of qualifying (three tries to get your best time) stacked up as follows - (Reaction time doesn't matter for qualifying, only 1/4 ET):

7 Stealths and 1 VR-4 (a heavy Spyder that could move).  Note that some of the quick 8 people listed above were only able to run one of the three qualifying sessions since they were stuck in other lanes for test & tune.  In fact some cars such as Jeff Williamsons' 12 second VR-4 couldn't make even one qualifying pass because he was stuck in the wrong lane.  While looking at these times, keep in mind that track temps were well into the 90's.  An interesting quick 8, with many of the 13 second cars later showing they could hit 12s.  And look at Matthew Duco's trap speed! If only he had a clutch that could net him a sub 2.0 second 60 ft.

They ran the quick 8 on a tree that matched the #1 qualifier vs #8, #2 vs #7, #3 vs #6, and #4 vs #5 (it pays to qualify high), with the following results:

The #1, 2, 3, & 4 qualifiers all advanced to the semi-finals with the following results:

So it would be Matt Monet from Dynamic Racing (in his "slow" daily ride car) vs Jose Soriano in the final.  As many of you know, Jose is running GT Pro 368 turbos but was only running 17 psi due to tuning issues with his higher boost settings.  The final results:

The winner of the 3S quick 8 would be Matt Monet.  Jose was caught off-guard at the line when the pro tree counted down before he was ready.  And there was no catching Matt after his 1.691 sec., 60 ft. time.  Matt deserved top honors with the best launches (several 1.6x), best ET, and best trap of the day.

While many may be disappointed with the times, remember that this represents a huge improvement in participation.  Congratulations to all that competed.  Next year, let's double the number of cars running and have the quick 8 filled by 11 second cars and faster!