On The Track: 3DBotMaker

by Josh Paufler

Round 1 of The Camaro Summer Tournament kicked off with a couple exciting races at 3DBotmaker this week. All the Camaros are stock. While I prefer the custom races, this one definitely had its moments. It was exciting to see the many Camaro castings released by various companies over the years, all showcased on the most epic stage in diecast racing.

Group 1 set the tone for the series as three 70s era Camaros and one from 2018 went at it. The first race was a great match up between Nick Braxton (Blackburn Family Racing) and Jeremiah Logan (Po Boy Racing). Braxton was on Logan’s tail the entire race but couldn’t get by. Logan won the first heat but not before Peter Bee (TuneTrax Racing) staged an incredible pass to take 3rd place, leaving James Dean (CRC Racing) to finish in last.

Heat 2 saw a big-time comeback as James Dean blew the doors off the rest of the field to post a new Race Mountain Speedway track record of 16.550 seconds.

Unfortunately, James Dean couldn’t follow it up in heat 3 as Logan got sideways to take out everyone except Nick Braxton who finished by himself to take the top spot.

That set up James Dean and Nick Braxton in the front row for heat 4. Braxton, with a little contact in turn 2, propelled Jeremiah Logan to victory and allowed him to take the group round.

Classic American muscle prevailed in the end as Peter Bee, racing for TuneTrax, in the 2018 Camaro was eliminated. However, the race ended with a tie for second place.

With the top two cars advancing, a tiebreaker was needed. Braxton and Dean went head to head to determine who would move on. With a crazy spinout in turn 2, Dean blocked Braxton, finishing the race in reverse and moving onto the next round.

Even with James Dean having an impressive day, Logan is still the car to beat coming out of group 1.

Group 2 featured the longest name I’ve ever seen on the Mountain. TheloniousJawnMcBatmanorama for CRC Racing debuted on the track with a slick 2016 SS. Chuck Turbo from 3DBotmaker was driving a Johnny Lightning and immediately earned the admiration of 2D. You could almost see the hearts floating above 2D as he swooned. Legendary race team, Michael’s Diecast Garage (MDG) was well represented by Artipia in the Convertible Concept and the field was rounded out with another familiar team, Skorpio Love Smith, represented by RedGlovesRule in the Concept Coupe.

The stage was set for a showdown for the books. Race 1 started with fanboy 2D’s favorite, Chuck Turbo, making a brilliant pass to overtake TheloniousJawnMcBatmanorama right before the finish line.

BITCHIN’ CAMAROS - Exciting drifting action in the 2 nd round of the Camaro Summer Tournament. TheloniusJawnMcBatmanorama (center) and RedGlovesRule (left) swing sideways as Artipia (right) pulls away in an FTE-wheeled convertible.

But the field flipped in race 2 as Turbo couldn’t catch lightning in a bottle twice and finished dead last. RedGlovesRule ruled the track, leading the entire race. And then, the fireworks came out. After carefully studying the field, legendary team owner MDG finally made his move, Artipia exploded into the lead, expertly handling the challenging turn 2 as the rest of the pack piled up in the rearview mirror.

Seizing the moment, Artipia skated onto victory, and set up a tie for second place. Golden boy, Turbo, rolled over and was eliminated from the tournament.

The Group 2 tiebreaker was a barnburner. Artipia and RedGlovesRule lined up at the top of the hill, representing two juggernauts of the sport, Skorpio Love Smith and Michael’s Diecast Garage .

The gate fell and it was bump and grind as they traded paint through three turns. On the final straight, they powered through in single file. RedGlovesRule got a little wiggle which opened the lane with Artipia drafting behind. Instinct took over and Artipia made their move to the inside to claim the second spot in the second round.

Along with the Camaros, the qualifying runs for King of the Mountain second tournament were also running this week. I like how the qualifying races are split up by vehicle type this year. That way, you don’t end up with 16 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO’s in the brackets.

First qualifying race since our last issue was the luxury car race, which had some classics with BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Jaguar all represented.

Allison Chains was lights-out in the first race, but Timmy Vincent in the Audi would have won if he had another 6 inches of track.

Race 2 was all about Timmy Vincent’s comeback. Gummi Bear in “The Heavy” Orange Psychic Jaguar slipped up and Vincent took the lead after turn 2. And from then on, it was the Timmy Vincent show, taking the rest of the heats and advancing on.

A photo finish determined Allison Chains was the second place finisher but it didn’t matter because only first place moves on. Still cool, I guess.

The second race of the week was much smaller. The compact cars strapped on their big boy pants and rolled down the Mountain.

FGC Family ruled heat 1 but took a shot after a victory lap as The Flying Brick of James Kirk set up the brick wall and BOOM goes the dynamite. You pay for every win at Race Mountain. At least there’s some padding set up to prevent damage to the cars. You don’t see that at every track.

SENDING JAMES KIRK INTO ORBIT! - Kong (FGC Family) smacks heavily into The Flying Brick (James Kirk) at the finish line crossroads. Like many others, Kong seems to have completely ignored the stop sign at that intersection.

Heat 2 saw a little payback for FGC as they got the opportunity to get under Kirk and flip him for the pass and win.

Samukako Nasuka took advantage of a wreck caused by Kirk in heat 3 that caught up FGC, registering a DNF for the first time in the competition. Nasuka easily slid on to a win.

FGC just needed to stay on the track to win the round but rolled after turn two. By some stroke of divine intervention, every other competitor rolled in the same turn, forcing a restart in heat 4.

FGC learned their lesson as they packed their entire family into that VW Golf and went full throttle into victory lane. High Mileage of Cole Williams tallied only 3 total points after wrecking on both the middle heats.

King of the Mountain qualifying continues with Round 6 next. Groups 3 & 4 of the Camaro Summer Tournament will hit YouTube soon.