DIECAST RACING REPORT March 3, 2021 – Vol. 2 No. 4
Inside: Climbing the Ladder – DIRS – Playing with Putty – Sonora Diecast Racing League & Much More!!!
2 | Diecast Racing Report
In This Issue
Table of Contents
23
27
9
Editor’s Notes News Briefs Calendar Resources
4 5 6
QuickTips
8
Features The Ladder Tournaments
9
Sonora Diecast Racing League
12 WeRaceDiecast 14 Rust Belt Diecast Racing 17
8
Redline Derby Racing
18
Indiana Diecast Racing 19
OnTheTrack Flat Rabbit Racing Club 3DBotMaker
20 21 23
TranSport Diecast Racing
27
RTR
Diecast Racing Report is a publication of Kit Kayem LLC, 7511 Greenwood Ave N #112, Seattle, WA 98103, USA Comments or letters to the editor: comments@diecastracingreport.com Are you a writer, photographer, artist, or other ne’er-do-well? Drop us a line: submissions@diecastracingreport.com
Staff: Jim Desaulniers, Stefan Huwer, DeeZaster Jakk, Christopher (Kit) KidderMostrom, Ali Kidder-Mostrom, Steven King March 3, 2021 | 3
Editor’s Note Hey there! We’re back from our break! It was a nice break, but now we’re back to work. I hope you enjoyed out February Double Issue. This month you’ll get two issues, just like normal. This is the first of those two. As the world slowly gets back into a groove this spring and upcoming summer, we’re looking forward to seeing how the diecast world adapts to folks being able to be face to face again. Will tracks move outside? Will local Hot Wheels clubs pick up on the action? A lot of them used to hold regular races that aren’t on the internet. Will that more localized community merge with the online community, or will they be separate things entirely? This may also be a time for evaluating one’s own participation in the hobby/sport. Ali and I jumped headlong into building tracks, cars, and a magazine. We hadn’t been part of this scene at all prior to January of 2020. Now it’s an integral part of our lives. And yet, we are both looking at pulling back a little so that there is time for other parts of life. I’ve started to notice that I’m building fewer cars. I’m becoming more selective about which tournaments I’m sending cars to. When we were starting out, the excitement led me to submitting to everything that I could. Ali was more controlled about her early participation. Her racing name didn’t appear in too many fantasy races. Her builds were more deliberate, and more spread out. Our places have somewhat reversed. She’s now had cars at multiple tracks that I’ve not sent anything to. Part of what I’m trying to figure out is how to make sure that I don’t get burned out. That’s actually what I expect to take people away from this community in a year or two. When everyone joins in the fun it’s exhilarating,
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But how long can any of us sustain that level of excitement. For some it will be years. For many it will be a far shorter time. I often think about the folks who were competing in Diecast 64 races and in events promoted on Redline Derby years ago. Many of those folks are still around. In many ways they are the backbone of this community.
Kit Kidder-Mostrom Editor-in-Chief
Sure, 3DBotMaker has more views on YouTube, but the old guard were doing these races before most of us knew there was an Adult Diecast Racing community at all. And, once many of the newcomers make their way back to their old routines, the old guard will still be sending their mods to race at various tracks around the country. We have been lucky to have been embraced by many of the folks who have been around for a while. And we’re thrilled that we get to share this community with so many who are on the same journey as we are. To chronicle what this special field is, to record it for the present and the future, is a task that we embrace. Thank you for taking the time to read our words. And, I must take a moment to thank our Patreon patrons who make this all possible. For as little as a dollar per month, anyone can help ensure that we can keep bring the magazine to you and anyone else who wants to delve into the world we have shared for the last year. Thank you, patrons for helping us tell the stories of the Diecast Racing Report.
News in Brief
News Briefs Sock Hop Slam Will Be Huge As of March 2, Indiana Diecast Racing had received 158 cars as part of their upcoming 1950s-themed racing event. Unlike other tournaments, track owner Jim Desaulniers chose to set no limit as to how many cars each participant could send in. Coming hard on the tail of the conclusion of the Plethora of Party Wagons event, Desaulniers posted a photo on Facebook of the massive pile of shipping boxes he currently has from incoming cars.
new Pro-Am circuit which will make its debut this summer. Builders will be teamed in pairs and competing together against a field of top racers and newer racers combined. The circuit will consist of two road courses and two drag strips. The mixed style of tracks will place huge demands on the participants who will have to prepare their cars for a variety of racing conditions. The participating tracks are Redline Derby Speedway (drag strip), DRR’s Psychedelic Speedway (road course), BlueLine Racing’s Northeast Beast (drag strip) and The Tricky Triangle of IDR (road course).
Sixteen pros and an equal number of amateurs have been registered to participate. The racers will be paired up into their teams in the next few days. Racing will start in Ohio in May. Cars will travel to Washington State in June, then to Connecticut for July. The series will hit its final track in Indiana in August. September will see the cars back to Ohio for a soiree of sorts before they are returned to their owners. This event, as well as a number of single-track events, have replaced last year’s RLDRL monthly racing events on the Redline Derby calendar.
Along with that post he acknowledged that there will be more than the current 158 entries, as there are still other cars on their way to the Westfield, Indiana-based track. If previous tournaments are evidence of how things will run in this one, the first round will be made up of four-car groups. With the current numbers, that’s 40 groups of cars racing before any second round action can begin! We’ll be checking in with IDR closer to the start of the event to get a final number of participating vehicles.
Redline Derby to Host Four Track Pro-Am Brian Vaughn of Redline Derby has been coordinating the creation of a March 3, 2021 | 5
Calendar
Mail-in Race Deadlines Stock: Diecast 64 March Madness (Feature Stock) – Deadline for Entry: March 6, 2021. Drag Strip. Any model is eligible. Dry lubes allowed. Entry Fee. More Info: RaceHotWheels.com DCRL 2021 NASCAR Road Race – Deadline for Entry: March 17, 2021. Road Course. Must be NASCAR castings only. Graphite allowed. Entry fee. More Info: DiecastRacingSeries.com 24 Seconds of Lemons – Deadline for Entry: March 25, 2021. Road Course. 50 gram weight limit. Goal is to be the slowest/worst car overall. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com Death Valley Showdown – Deadline for Entry: March 31, 2021. Drag strip. 135 gram weight limit. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com Sunday Pinks – Deadline for Entry: Ongoing. Road course. No weight limit. No FTE/NPAs. Limit 2 vehicles per entrant. Weekly headto-head races. Racing for pink slips. Submissions must be on original card. More Info: Rust Belt Diecast Racing
Deadline for Entry: March 6, 2021. Drag Strip + Jump. 60 gram weight limit. Entry Fee. More Info: RaceHotWheels.com The Devil’s Backbone Inaugural Invitational – Deadline for Entry: March 13, 2021. Road Course. No weight limit. Cars must be realistic four-wheeled vehicles. One entry per driver. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com BlueLine Middle Weight Modified Tournament – Deadline for Entry: March 23, 2021. Drag strip. 125 gram weight limit. Cars must start as an original car/truck body. Fantasy cars/trucks are allowed. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com 24 Seconds of Lemons – Deadline for Entry: March 25, 2021. Road Course. 50 gram weight limit. Goal is to the slowest/worst car overall. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com Garden Canyon Run Spring Classic – Deadline for Entry: March 27, 2021. Road Course (Outdoor). No weight limit. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com
Death Valley Showdown – Deadline for Entry: March 31, 2021. Drag strip. 135 gram weight limit. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com City Connection – Deadline for Entry: April 15, 2021. Drag Strip. 57 gram weight limit. All entries must be HW ‘85 Honda City Turbo II casting. Limit 1 entry per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com Ladder Wars – Deadline for Entry: rolling (open submissions). Road Course. 50 gram weight limit. More Info: RedlineDerby.com Friday Night Cheese– Deadline for Entry: rolling (open submissions). Road Course. 150 gram weight limit. More Info: ILC Race Series King of the 621– Deadline for Entry: rolling (open submissions). Drag strip. 100 gram weight limit. More Info: RedlineDerby.com TD Grudge Wars– Deadline for Entry: rolling (open submissions). Road course. 90 gram weight limit. More Info: TranSport Diecast Racing
Modifieds: Diecast 64 March Madness (Modified Street & Open Modified Classes) – Deadline for Entry: March 6, 2021. Drag Strip. 57 gram weight limit. Street class must be actual production cars. Open may be any model. Entry Fee. More Info: RaceHotWheels.com Diecast 64 March Madness (Builder’s Challenge: Drag’n’Fly) – 6 | Diecast Racing Report
Support “Diecast Racing Report” through Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ DiecastRacingReport
March 3, 2021 | 7
Resources
Quick Tips
Don’t Feel Silly: How To Properly Use Putty
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ooking to hold your build together? Want to fill gaps in your track or diorama? How about upping your creative mod game? Here are some quick tips on how to use putty to improve your diecast world. 1. Consider all the options. Are you filling gaps in your track or sculpting onto your mod? There are a number of puttys (both two-part and simple) you can try. There’s Green Stuff, Testors contour putty, milliput, white putty, Tamiya putty... Ron’s Trains N Things compares two of them in his video “Model Builders Putty Comparison”. 2. Learn the basics. Are you new to using putty? Don’t let the putty harden while you learn how it works. Scale War Machines takes you through the basics of two-part epoxy use in his video “How to Use Milliput Putty” before showing how
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to sculpt décor. What you learn about milliput applies to any twopart epoxy putty. 3. There are many ways to a smooth finish. Keep water on hand to smooth your putty application; if you get a bit of extra putty you can always sand it down. My Custom Hotwheels shows you these tips and more while doing a custom build in “How to use 2 part epoxy putty on custom Hot Wheels”. 4. Think outside the box. Green stuff is typically used to fill gaps, stick things together or sculpt. However, creative modders can find even more uses. Corvus Miniatures uses the putty to both create a mold and then make parts using that mold. It’s a cost effective way to replicate pieces you want to use for more than one build. See
how it’s done in “Tutorial: how to make and use green stuff press moulds to reproduce bits”. 5. Have Fun! Whether taking your car to the wasteland or to the track, you can use putty to add fun effects to your build. In “How to sculpt flames on Gasland cars and make them look amazing!” Wasteland Games shows how to sculpt flames onto your car. Check it out to see how you can add fun features which are only limited by your sculpting imagination.
Feature
You start at the bottom You fight your way to the top Those below you are going to try to drag you back down Step by Step Rung by Rung It is
THE LADDER by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
There are many well-established tournament structures in the world of diecast racing. There are single- and double-elimination brackets. There are round-robin tournaments. There are group stages, elimination rounds, grudge matches, and rumbles. There are complicated point structures that are tallied over multiple races at multiple tracks, and there are single track events that are as straight forward as can be: you lose, you’re done.
against the clock? Should the scoring work like it does at another track, or should it be unique?
Each track owner has to consider what their event will be like. Will it be a one-and-done sort of thing? Will racing be head-to-head, in groups, or simply
The current trend seems to have been a little more grassroots. We’re going to look at ongoing ladder tournaments… Onward and Upward!
Most track owners don’t choose to reinvent the wheel. They opt for scoring systems that they’ve seen in play elsewhere. Periodically, a certain system will catch on and will rapidly spread to various tracks. Often times, that suddenly popular system will have debuted on one of the bigger racing channels.
March 3, 2021 | 9
Feature
S
o, the question must be asked: “What is a ladder tournament?”
Chaos Canyon has multiple series on their track. One of the most popular is their Canyon Outlaws series, which is a closed ladder series. Originally by invitation only, the ladder contestants don’t change from week to week. Once you’re on the ladder, you’re there for the rest of the season. Seasons are set by the track owner, and are marked by a call for new drivers for the next season. The most recent call for drivers took place over the holidays, and the original eight cars were joined by two new drivers after an elaborate round-robin tournament of all the cars that had been sent in. Once the new cars joined the ranks upon the ladder, the ladder closed again for the season. Cars that didn’t make it onto the ladder can still race on the channel in grudge matches, but won’t get another crack at the top-ten. In the meantime, the ten on the ladder itself battle it out for supremacy on an every-other-week basis. The top spot has already changed hands once this season. Currently the house car sits atop the rankings, as it looks like home track advantage may prove dominant for the second season in a row.
TranSport Diecast Racing (TDR) is going to be putting out their first Ladder video this week, but as you can tell by looking at the picture on the left, the ladder is already full. The cars that are on the leftmost structure are the ladder, and the others on the racks are the contenders to compete against the ladder. All of the cars were part of the earlier series of grudge matches that have been held at TDR since the track’s inception. The winningest cars are on the ladder for now. The cars that are off the ladder will be in four-car races to earn the chance to get on the ladder. The ladder order will shuffle a bit based on those races, and after two months, those who are still on the ladder will be locked into their spots. At that point, the game changes a bit and new arrivals get a chance to compete. Each new car will get a chance against the lowest rung of the ladder. And if they win, they get to work their way through each of the higher-ups. It’s like one epic boss-fight after another. There will be a prize for anyone making it through all ten ladder cars.
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In diecast racing, the answer goes something like this: There is a ranked list of competitors. Most often this consists of the top 10 competitors in the tournament. How one gets onto the list initially varies from site to site, but once the ranked list exists, you have your ladder. All other cars that come to play start below the first rung of the ladder, and must wait their turn to get onto the first rung of the ladder. Once you’re on the ladder, you can move up and down on the rankings based on matches against the other rung occupants. On some of the tracks that are currently hosting ladder tournaments there are regular call-outs that spur the activity within the list. A driver can challenge the car above him/her to a race, the winner then takes the better spot on the ladder. Sometimes that’s where it stops. The only rankings that change are the ones who challenge, or are challenged. At its simplest form, that’s a ladder. You try to get to the top by challenging people above you. You try to stay on top by defending your spot from those who would knock you off. Many race hosts add their own spin to the structure. Sometimes movement up and down the ladder can be much faster than one spot at a time. The bottom car will go up against the next lowest car. Whomever wins that match will then proceed up the ladder to go against the next ranked vehicle. Each winner continues up the rungs until they hit the car that beats them. And that new winner starts their journey upward. A ladder that allows for such upward mobility will see a title bout every time someone starts their climb. You might think that the top spot is the most important place on the ladder, but in most cases, the crucial spot is actually the bottom rung. It is the place from whence the climb begins, and the car that holds that
Feature place is essentially the gatekeeper who controls access to the list. Now, who gets to challenge that gatekeeper? Well, that depends. The one aspect that sets most ladder tournaments apart from each other is the means by which they allow for new competitors to make their ladder debut. Today, we’re looking at four tracks that operate a ladder tournament. Now in their second season, the Canyon Outlaws of Chaos Canyon in New Zealand have a competitive mail-in tournament that consists of bouts every other week. Ladder Wars at MnM Racing League is headquartered in South Dakota. As of this writing, there have been seven weeks of racing in the tournament, which started out as a house stock event, and now involves mailed-in modified cars. TranSport Diecast Racing has just shifted their popular grudge matches to a ladder format. The grudges have been on hiatus while the DIRS has taken over the track, but now that the series has moved on, the ten cars with the best grudge match records find themselves on a newly christened ladder in Southern California. Bucking the biggest trend in diecast racing, Silverback Racing is championing the regularly unpopular Real Riders wheels. In fact, all cars that compete in the Race to be the Alpha modified series must be equipped with rubber tires. This Bronx based league uses launchers on a flat track, which sets it apart from most other diecast racing leagues, but you can find many familiar names competing to claw their way up this ladder, too!
Each week at MnM Diecast Racing sees two video events. First is a qualifying race to see who gets to make their attempt at climbing the ladder. Later in the week is the actual ladder race. All of that activity makes up what is called Ladder Wars. The ladder was originally populated by way of a tournament of stock house-owned cars with fantasy drivers selected via Facebook. Once the ladder was filled, mail-in cars started to get their chance at the ladder. Each week’s qualifier race matches two newly arrived cars up against the two bottom ladder cars in a four-car, four-lap race. The top two finishers in that race take over the bottom two spots on the list, and the number 10 car makes an attempt to climb the ladder. Having two cars on the bubble every week leads to a lot less permanence on this ladder than on the others featured in this article. That’s especially true because every winner goes on to race the car above them. So, the number 1 spot is on the line every single week. The amazing thing? The Mods have been part of the picture for the last three weeks. Nevertheless, the top two spots are still held by stock vehicles.
Silverback Racing held a tournament specifically to fill up its ladder. The winner of the tournament sits at number 1 right now, because The Race to be the Alpha has just gotten going. This is a closed ladder tournament with a call-out challenge structure. Drivers only race in these callouts and move up or down one spot according to the results of the race. Each week can also involve grudge match callouts that don’t affect the overall rankings, but can make it possible for cars not next to each other on the ladder to size each other up for bragging rights. In the not too distant future, a call for new cars will bring another surge of competitors to the track, and the ladder will open up for challengers from below. In the meantime, cars that didn’t make it into the ladder can participate in grudge matches, too. Although these cars had a 60 gram maximum weight, you’ll notice that none of them approach that limit. With a launcher-based system of racing, weight can be a hindrance rather than a driving force. That being said, there is such a thing as being too light, because a car in flight is not a car on the track.
What’s your take on ladder tournaments? Let us know on our Facebook page!
March 3, 2021 | 11
Tournaments
Sonora Diecast Racing League by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
In 2021 here at Diecast Racing Report, we’re shining the spotlight on some lesser-known (or at least lesser-followed) track channels. Each month, one channel will get a full month of race write-ups alongside our established tracks. With so many tracks, there is no way for anyone to catch all the racing action, but this should spread the net a little wider. Hopefully, one of these new channels will catch your eye and become a favorite worth following. This month’s featured track is Sonora Diecast Racing League. (https://www.youtube.com/ user/DrErickZ/featured)
S
onora Diecast Racing kicked off their third season last month, this time featuring the Ford League. This tournament brings together drivers from all around the globe to race in a wide range of Ford vehicles – from rally to off-road, from truck to T-bird.
YEE HAW! – Taking a page from a classic television show, this distinct Dodge Charger flies over a pile of cars and some law enforcement vehicles.
then got to face off against Batman and Robin, who for some inexplicable reason repeatedly chose to stand in the way of oncoming traffic. Group 1 ran the full range of Ford style, with Héctor Vale in a GT-90, Supercar Blondie in a Sandblaster, Markista (from MNM racing) in a solid gold F-150 and Eduardo López in a ’73 Falcon XB. The cars were pretty well matched (as far as points were considered).
This tournament consists of five race stages, each with four laps per group. In a familiar style, points are awarded for each finisher, 5 for first down to 1 for fourth, with no points earned for a DNF. Each race is important, as these point totals will accumulate not only from lap to lap, but also from race to race. Each race has a unique track design and, so far, we’ve seen three.
Supercar Blondie and Markista performed remarkably well (each taking two first-place finished), that is – assuming they didn’t crash and burn. Eduardo and Héctor, on the other hand were a little more consistent – taking each of the second and third place finishes between them. That said, each car did see its fair share of spills.
Things started off with Railroad!, a quick divided lane into one, wide lane drag race finishing between a railroad and a hard place. There was also a bump in the road which added a little chaos to the mix. Assuming the cars hit this bump right, they
Group 2 was much the same, this time though it was a battle of sports cars vs. rally cars. Israel Luna came to play in a Mustang Boss 301, Dave (from WeRaceDiecast) in a Shelby GT500, Stuntman Sam in a Fiesta and Chacho Gurrola in a red, rally-
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designed Thunderbird. In lap one, Chacho Gurrola pulled off an impressive tip of his toes? nose? slide all the way to a first-place finish. Lap two was the first to do some real damage to the track (and not just the cars), when competitors sent the train tumbling and nearly collided with a police vehicle standing by. After four laps, the spread was a bit wider for this group and Chacho Gurrola again stood out, with a commanding lead (at 16 points). For Group 3, Efrén Ramírez showed up in a red #1 GT LM, JD Elst in an RS1600, 2D came down from CA in a Custom Bronco and Carlo Corral showed up in a flame-encrusted black Mustang. This crew did a great job of staying on the track, but not the best job of making it across the finish line. Efrén Ramírez, JD Elst and 2D each took a turn (or two) to stall out mid-race. Carlo Corral, on the other hand had four solid races and ended the day with an impressive 18 points. The fourth, and final, group in the Ford field was made up of Erick Z
Tournaments and Ivan Leung (both in GTs), Braydam Saavedra in a bright red Mustang Mach 1 and (the Superman, himself) Steven King in a #8 Escort Rally. In the first lap, Superman flew carefully right on past Robin (out of professional courtesy?) only to have Braydam come barreling through behind him to knock out the Boy Wonder. After 3 good laps, it looked like Superman would have a solid place in the standings, but when he stalled out in lap 4, the real hero of the group was Ivan Leung and his Gulf GT-40. After Race 1, each car was placed in a ranking, Carlo Corral at the top with 18 points and on down to Efrén Ramírez, barely hanging on with three points. The groups were then mixed up (for future races), based on their place in the standings. In Race 2, Train Jump!, while the big boys squared off against one another, the bottom competitors fought it out, in an attempt to work their way up the list (and into play-off contention). The downhill track was much the same as for the first race, but this time the train was parked at the bottom of the ramp and had to be jumped over by competitors. Batman and Robin were, as ever, on site and ready to rumble. The first group divided the competitors from the also-rans. After a consistently solid performance, Héctor Vale and Erick Z each took home 15 points, while
Efrén and Sam only managed 7. Perhaps someone forgot to tell the Stuntman that he was here to race and not to roll. 2D was the stand-out in Group 2, standing literally a car’s height higher than his sporty competitors. Unfortunately, the extra height didn’t provide an extra advantage and he earned 5 points for the race. You could say his performance was poor, but it was great in comparison to Eduardo’s green Falcon, which took the full four laps to final back slowly (and barely) across the finish line to earn 1 point total. I think it is fair to say that Eduardo will likely not see his place in the play-off eligible top half of the standings. On the flip side, Dave (from WeRaceDiecast) had a meteoric rise, driving his Shelby to a 20 point perfect run. Group 3 was filled with mayhem and mastery. “Superman” Steven King flew to yet another perfect 20 for the day, while his competitors
mostly took turns turning into balls of flame. The final four, who started the day at the top of the standings, were a split bunch. Chacho Gurrola and Carlo Corral both showed that they have what it takes to stay on top, finishing with 18 points and 11 points, respectively. Supercar Blondie had two solid laps to start but ended the day with as many DNFs (and only 5 points). Ivan Leung, coming in the favorite, seemed determined to prove that Gulf cars can’t jump, flying wildly off the field for three laps in a row and falling in the standings to a bottom-half 9th place. Race 3 would shake things up once again, this time with Cactus!. The train had finally cleared the track, but then Mother Nature came in and grew some cacti right in the middle of the road. Ivan clearly came with something to prove and started the day off by putting 18 points on the board, well ahead of the rest of his new Group 1 competitors. Group 2 pitted the two monstrous trucks of 2D and Supercar Blondie against two sportscars, driven by Efrén Ramírez and Israel Luna. The
(SONORA cont. on page 16) March 3, 2021 | 13
Tournaments
WeRaceDiecast by DeeZaster Jakk
W
eRaceDiecast didn't let the short month hold them back from all the action on the 621, and the long awaited, and much anticipated opening of Clutch Mountain with the fourth round of the Small Truck Tournament. The premiere of Clutch Mountain kicked off as the drivers of group 1 lined up for the first race of Round 4 of the Small Truck Tournament. Out of the gate Grey Wizard jumped out fast, headed straight for the next round. Scoupe and Dycon made a couple of challenging runs, pushing the amazing Wizard into 2nd at one point, Grey Wizard took a true 1st in the fourth race, while Scoupe got hung up and had to be "pushed" through for a 2nd buy Willy Maykit who's caddie failed to get him the next round. Group 3 started out rough but Dante and A Bear came out the gates swinging' and fighting for the next round. Cube Boyd soon found himself in the mix, and when the Syclone of Bee Stroham and the Mazda of Dante both had big issues on the track that led to DNF's, Bear and Boyd found themselves 1 and 2, and were headed for the semi-finals. In group 2, Hunny Puff and Penny came out in the first two laps giving Remy 12-Gauge a run for his money, but Oliver James came back in race three, pushing his Datsun so hard, he pushed Penny right off the track for a first place race. It was close as race 4 started, but the overall dominance of Hunny Puff and the last half determination of Oliver 14 | Diecast Racing Report
TRUCKS ON CLUTCH MOUNTAIN – Dave at WeRaceDiecast used the Small Trucks Tournament to launch his new track, Clutch Mountain.
James gave them the victory over Penny and Remy 12-Gauge. Finally, group 4 kicked off hard with lots of heart-pounding action. James Stirling and Thomas Michael spent all four races trading first and second place, while Mayfield41 and Teddy took their first crack at Clutch Mountain to really "have some fun" and cause a bit of havoc. In the end Stirling and Michael both found themselves in the semi-finals.
SEMI-FINALS In the Semi group 1 Grey Wizard started out hot once again, but Oliver James and Scoupe stayed with him for the first three races, when the "wildly" fast a caddie of Hunny Puff started to push and found a win in race 3. Race four is where things got crazy when the outrageous VW came out quickly and got out of control almost coming off the track twice, stopping inches from the finish line, blocking out Grey Wizard to give Oliver James a chance to advance to the finals with Scoupe. Thomas Michael and A Bear opened
up the first two races in the Semi finals of group 2, looking like they were gonna walk into the finals. James Stirling and Cube Boyd wouldn't be written off that easily, coming back in races three and four to fly by Michael and Bear and right into the finals.
FINALS The Finals now saw Oliver James, Scoupe, Cube Boyd and James Stirling to see who was the fastest in this not so Small Truck Tournament. Stirling shot out to an early lead in race one, and managed to fight off Boyd and Scoupe in races two and three to stay in the lead. Race four began with Scoupe and Boyd battling for first, when Stirling left James behind and got past Boyd to come in second behind Scoupe, but with the "overall" points lead,Stirlings second place finish was enough to make him the tournament winner.
King of the 621 In Event 14 some big trucks returned
Tournaments
CLASSIC SPEED – Nick Deavers made an immediate impact upon his arrival to the 621 in this Hot Wheels Noodle Head.
to the track, but even with the size and added weight, in the end the small cars of Chris Farley, Fractal Panda and Mopar Mac were quicker and earned the right to face the current King, Thomas. Mopar Mac took a quick lead in race
one ahead of Thomas, and managed to hold onto the lad when he spun in the second race, finishing third behind Fractal Panda.
challenge the king.
Franctal Panda had shot past Mac and Thomas who had managed to slip past Mac and got second.
Although Deavers took an early lead in race one, the shake up in race two let Panda slip by for the win. Romey stepped up to win race three, with Deavers a close second now giving him a tie for the lead.
Thomas grabbed a win in race three followed by Panda and in race four Panda was on fire and squeezed by Thomas and Mac to win the race and take the crown as the new King of the 621, King Panda. In Event 15 a great mix of classic, luxury, muscle and fantasy came to
Although all cars were close in weight, the field soon shook out through the six races leaving Le Jefa, Nick Deavers, and Big Romey outracing Balimore Bandit, JimD, and Tat Boy, to go on to face Fractal Panda for the title of the King.
Dreavers got out in front, and despite spinning out, managed to maintain the lead for race four, crowning a new king, King Nick, King of the 621. Will Nick Deavers remain King? What great surprises await WeRaceDiecast in the month of March?
March 3, 2021 | 15
Tournaments SONORA cont. from page 13) group was well matched, all falling prey to the cacti’s chaotic influence. It looks like 2D’s size was indeed an advantage when running to and through the large plants in this race and, after a disappointing fourth lap DNF, he was still able to land on top of the group and earn 12 points. Group 3 could not catch a break, with so many cars flying off the track, getting hung up on cacti and just generally failing to finish that together they earned a whopping nine DNFs before Group 4, the latest top contenders took to the track. At the top, it was Chacho Gurrola,
Steven King and Dave, along with a fifth place Erick Z. This time, the cacti were the great equalizers, proving that even those on top can crash sometimes... a lot of times. Lap one saw only Steven King fly to a finish. At the end of the race, only Chacho Gurrola drove away with double-digit points (11). Even Superman caved to the DNF power of Cactus! and, in lap four, recorded what has been judged the “Best Crash Ever”. It was, indeed, an Olympic feat. So, going into the fourth episode and fourth race of the Ford League, here’s where they stand: Chacho Gurrola is on top with a solid 45 points, followed by Carlo Corral (at 39) and Ivan Leung (at a close 37). “Superman” Steven King and Dave (WeRaceDiecast) both took a tumble, but still round off the top five. On the other end, an inconsistent performance by Eduardo López sees him at the bottom with 19
16 | Diecast Racing Report
This channel is great for fans of: ▪
International Racing
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Pop culture nods
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Crashes… so many crashes!
points, just below three competitors (JD Elst, Israel Luna and Efrén Ramírez) each with 20 points. A climb to the top (or, at least, top half) isn’t outside the realm of possibility for any of these competitors. As we have seen so far in the tournament, each race poses a unique set of challenges which might cause the might to fall. Race 4 (Curve) could be the curve ball the bottom racers need to knock out some of the competition or, perhaps, it will only widen the gap from first to worst. We’ll have to wait and see. One final thought: Be sure to stay “after the credits” for some extra fun on each video, including a “Main Stunt Event” you won’t want to miss in S03E02.
Tournaments
Rust Belt Diecast Racing by Jim Desaulniers
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very weeknight has live racing action at Rust Belt Diecast Racing! The schedule of hosts rotates weekly: Barry Porter then Josh Paufler then Mike Rader… forever and ever. There are also regular races on the weekend, with Midnight Shrub every Saturday and Sunday Pinks on Sunday. There's also a ton of additional races that come along, here's a look at what's going on:
Sky Drop For those who haven’t checked in this month, the guys have started doing drawings and give-aways for folks who watch the live races and/or tag friends. For those who have never watched the live racing at the Sky
Drop: it’s the place rookies win! So, get on the Rust Belt Facebook page to get into the pool of drivers each night. Also, if you’re lucky, you might get a glimpse of the Rust Belt ghost, or the ceiling of Josh Paufler’s basement. Congrats to JD Elst on winning the weekly podium!
Midnight Shrub If you’re a fan of night racing, be sure to check out the Jewell’s Midnight Shrub series of live racing. It’s kinda like riding Space Mountain with rock music. Congrats to recent winner, Wesley Milligan, on taking down Cheyenne Wheeler!
We checked in with David Jewell to get some "behind the scenes" info on Midnight Shrub: DRR: What was the inspiration for Midnight Shrub? DJ: We wanted to run a race later than the normally
scheduled races on Rust Belt for people in different time zones and through discussion with Paufler it turned into a late night street race theme. DRR: What's your broadcasting schedule? DJ: We race every Saturday night at 11pm EST. DRR: Anything special planned for this year? DJ: We started a new race format this year but as of
planned not as of yet. New things happen all the time but a lot of it just kinda happens as ideas happen. DRR: Is your racing strictly signups, or do you take mail-ins? DJ: We currently do signups only. We did mail-ins but we
really have a hard time getting to the post office to mail cars back with our work schedules.
Frozen 4Banger The wacky outdoor snow track competition continued and, as it snowed again since the first race, the track has been rebuilt. This time we saw Ragtag Jim, Durty Murray, Jim Desaulniers, and Barry Porter hit the slopes. Ragtag got rag-wrecked and blocked by Durty Murray, and Jim defeated Barry by way of a couple blocks, a barrel roll, and a roof slide. In round
two, Jim again threw a dirty block, then cleanly drove around Murray’s second lap wreck.
Rocket Dragway Season 2 at Rocket Dragway is humming along with two new racers added last week. John "Wide" Receveur snatched the podium from "High Octane" Chey Wheeler on Monday and didn't look back until Friday, when Rich Good usurped his crown! Rocket Falls still proves to be a cruel mistress, as there were just as many crashes as clean runs again last week.
Shredder Speedway In its first week of daily races they came out with the big guns on Monday, bringing out some of their favorite, fastest cars to show some good speed and good racing. Randy Jarusiewic (aka Tooth Fairy) was the first to take the podium, in the Chevy Lumina Stocker. It looked like this car would hold the podium for some time, but Tuesday brought out another 16 fast cars and Dearl Edwards (in the Acura Integra) won the championship, and the podium. On Wednesday night, they ran a team rally race, with each team having a driver and a navigator. At 16 cars, that meant 32 people in the race. Team Cereal Killers took the championship, and again went on to take the podium. Thursday night was a drag, when they set up a drag track for the first time to run 24 funny cars and rail drags. Killer Bunny, Amanda Jewell, beat out everyone else in the Johnny Lightning drag truck, leading to March 3, 2021 | 17
Tournaments another Podium Change as she took it all! Finishing up the week was a FUNDUH-MENTAL Friday. They opened up four new cars and ran them a few times to see how they ran right out of the card. Then they headed to Shredder Speedway Garage and tuned the cars up with a little graphite. Running them again showed how much better they can run with a little 'powder' on the
wheels. Barry Porter and crew say they had a great time for their first week and "look forward to bringing you more racing action from right here at Shredder Speedway! LIVE ON RUSTBELT DIECAST RACING!!!"
Micro Mods You’ve watched Rust Belt run Micro Machines in the Mini Stocks and Big
C’s Chop Shop Mini NASCAR series for the past few months. Beginning this month, they’re running a mail-in! Micro Mods is a miniature scale modified racing tournament held weekly on the new Micro Machines road course. The deadline to receive cars was in February, but racing hopefuls may send mods in throughout the season, as cars will accumulate points along the way. Racing begins March 5, to kick off Friday Night Food Fights Season 2.
Redline Derby Racing by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
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or the second year in a row, Redline Derby Racing hosted its Rookie Rally, celebrating the newcomers to the sport of diecast racing. In Rookie Rally II, five groups of cars competed in round-robin style to get their way into the championship bracket. Group A was made up of six cars. G4 Diecast’s open-wheeled car and Cliff’s Solaire handily dominated each of their own match-ups. When they finally came up against each other, the two cars took multiple trips down the track alternating wins (all from the first lane), and eventually had to be declared a tie between the two of them. In the end, they also tied in points for the round and moved on to the championship bracket. The five cars in Group B were slightly better matched. R-Lo, Ghost Driver, and Sneaky Bob all appeared to be capable of taking one of the two top spots. Both Sneaky Bob and Ghost Driver beat R-Lo in head to head matches, and then proceeded to tie each other in their direct matchup. In the end, Ghost Driver and Sneaky Bob moved on from this group. R-Lo put in a good effort, but it just wasn’t enough. 18 | Diecast Racing Report
Group C contained some of the most intriguing cars in the entire competition. Of the five vehicles in this group, the two favorites were pretty clear early on. But the match-up of Uncle Elvis and Mayfield41 was something to behold as well. Uncle Elvis had a rough day on the whole, having entered a shakywheeled garbage truck that had difficulty staying on the track. But for one brilliant moment, he finished and tied Mayfield41. Unlike the previously mentioned ties, which were for scoring purposes, this tie was an exactly identical crossing of the finish line. The moment prompted a fun graphic from the movie “Twins”. A bit of levity that reminded everyone that no matter how fierce the competition, it’s still all for fun. Golden Owl and Mopar Mac took the top two spots in the group and moved on from C to the championship bracket.
Group D featured another set of three racers that rose to the top, but onely two of them could advance. Sam Haul’s Otto beat out PupuleSurfer’s Fiero to join Healer Racing’s Caddy 16 in the championship bracket. Group E was relatively uneventful. Big Al and Too Kay were easily the favorites to win the group, and they did. The Championship Bracket consisted of two race-ins, and three rounds of racing, including the semifinals and finals. All of the cars were more closely matched in this part of the tournament than they had been in the group stage. Cars that easily ran away with first place previously now came up against others with similar
Tournaments speed. One such even match-up was the semi-final between Golden Owl and Healer Racing. After a tight battle, Healer Racing’s Caddy 16 took the win and moved on to the finals. Mopar Mac, despite his name, made
it into the semi-finals driving a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (Evo). He was up against Big Al. These two were closely matched, but the Evo did what Evos do, and Mopar Mac moved on. In an exciting finish to the event, Healer Racing knocked off Mopar
Mac, and the Caddy 16 beat the Evo. As far as a celebration of the newer racers, this event was tremendous. It seems a certainty that the names we saw here will be ones we’ll become very familiar with in many races to come.
Indiana Diecast Racing by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
The final round of the Plethora of Party Wagons made for fantastic viewing as the culmination of two months of racing whittled the field down to only four finalists. The tournament, which featured last year’s casting of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ signature vehicle, had many chills and spills as the high profile, short wheel-based vans often spun out of control and bashed about. Having made their way through a crowded field, Flip of Flips Racing, Lily the Dog, Daddy G, and Nathan Desaulniers made ready for the final four laps they would drive on the Tricky Triangle. Shooting out of P2 on the front row, Lily the Dog quickly left Flip and the rest of the pack behind. She zipped along and made multiple spins that allowed Nathan Desaulniers to catch up at the last minute. His attempt to pass her led to a bump that pushed Lily the Dog to the lap victory. Unusually, all four wagons finished the lap, proving that these truly were the best of the best in this contest. Things were not to remain so silky smooth in the second lap. Less than one third of the way through the lap three of the four vans were driving backwards. Daddy G led most of the lap, and even managed to get turned around to face forward right before
the finish line, but that move slowed his progress and allowed Flip to pass at the last minute, taking the lap victory. Desaulniers held himself straight and steady the whole way and took third.
A GOOD GIRL HAVING A BAD TIME – Lily the Dog got hung up on the side of the track early in lap two of the Finals.
The third lap looked like it would be a four-way DNF, as Nathan Desaulniers was the only van moving for much of the race, but he stalled out, sideways, about a yard from the finish line. The pile-up that had slowed the rest of the field apparently dislodged itself after a while, and Lily the Dog managed to make it to the end of the track with just enough force to get Desaulniers moving again, but not enough to give him the win. She passed him at the last moment, and snatched lap 3’s laurels. DNFs were clearly going to have a big effect on this contest as Lily won two of the first three laps, but her DNF on lap 2 meant that she was tied in points with Nathan Desaulniers who had two secondplace finishes and one third to his name. Flip, who was leading after two laps, found himself down by two points after the third lap. Daddy D’s goose egg on lap three meant the day was over for him. His only potential
role in the final lap could be that of giant slayer, potentially taking down one of the other competitors by either posting a meaningless lap victory, or through outright subterfuge. As it turns out, Daddy G took third on the final lap, so his effect on the end result was negligible. Lily the Dog’s failure to finish was really the biggest factor in the final results, as she was otherwise the top contender, but she took herself out of the running by driving off the track. Flip claimed the final lap’s wreath, but as the points went, it wasn’t enough. In a relatively anticlimactic triumph, Nathan Desaulniers took the title of Champion without a single lap victory in the finals. In a bit of a bonus for the tournament’s participants, the wagons are now at WeRaceDiecast, ready to race again. March 3, 2021 | 19
On The Track
On The Track: Flat Rabbit Racing Club by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
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t the beginning of last month, The SCARnage Winter Games came to its epic conclusion. KNW’s Valen again broadcast the feed live from the underground so Flat Rabbit Racing Club (FRRC) fans could catch all the racing action for the final two events Things started with a one and done, bracket-style competition of monster trucks racing down the icy path. At the start of the day, new FRRC competitors Daria and Ramona managed to knock their SCAR competition out of the bracket with ease. Then Glitch, in his blue Bigfoot, faced off against Diomed. It was starting to look like the rabbits couldn’t lose as Glitch handily took the day’s third race. SCAR competitors Dagger, Kedron and Raydn sent three of their own packing, before Keys’ Queen Bee came on the scene and faced off against Ubel (in a tank-like Invader13 truck). Unfortunately, it was here that the FRRC luck changed and Ubel beat Keys to move on. Cross must have brought his lucky rabbit’s foot to the competition, however, because he swung the luck (and the win) back to the FRRC side in the next race against Malakye. Unlike the last event that he walked away with, the SCAR authorities 20 | Diecast Racing Report
didn’t manage to get Malakye to the podium this time. As the monster trucks progressed through the bracket, one thing became clear: the SCAR goons weren’t going to take their losses lying down. A RABBIT IN A TUNNEL – The FRRC staged an elaborate escape When all was said plan to get Switch away from the sinister forces of SCAR. and done, the final race (this time, a best of three) saw downhill free-for-all didn’t end at the Glitch (of FRRC) face off against finish line (though Grinder’s snowRaydn (SCAR’s first-event champ). white tires crossed it first). Glitch took an easy first lap win, but Raydn came back for vengeance in the second, knocking Glitch out of the way and blocking him from taking the lap. So, tied going into the third lap, both competitors fought hard and Glitch ruled the day by a bumper. With the way these two were racing, the accent there belongs on “bump”. But the Games weren’t all fun… and games. The FRRC crew had a trick up their sleeve the whole time and used the final event as a cover for a hole-y escape plan. FRRC member Switch was being held by SCAR authorities for 7 months, but managed to pull some family ties to get into a truck for the last SCARnage event. What was supposed to be just a
The rabbits had tunnels prepped for a great escape, even though SCAR had their eyes (and cameras) on the FRRC crew. Everyone (including newly reclaimed Switch) raced away, safe for the moment. And what did Switch do with his new-found freedom? Race, of course! After acquiring a new, bright yellow Mustang Fastback (with shiny FTEs), Switch challenged Get Up. Stay Up. (GUSU) champ, Xanthippe (and her deep blue Ferrari) for a chance at the crown. Happy for a bit of healthy competition, Xanthippe and Keys used a little subterfuge, to clear the road of recent SCAR activity. When the two sports cars hit the track, it was an exciting, but rough,
On The Track him get an edge at all for the first two laps. The two cars kept it close, but Xanthippe reigned for the moment, treating Boxer like the Balrog who shall not pass. The third lap looked like it would go much the same way, with Xanthippe taking an early lead and blocking Boxer all the way down the track. But with a pass just after the jump, Boxer finally put one on the board.
PONY UPSIDE DOWN – Switch and Xanthippe swapped paint with each other, and also the pavement in some rough and tumble horseplay.
race, with both competitors seeming to have a hard time staying on their wheels. Xanthippe flipped and Switch got caught up on the side of the road. Either way, they gave the racing their all. Frequent passes and a full five laps meant a good racing time was had by all.
Stay Up at the top.
In order to win the (surprisingly clean) last lap, Xanthippe put the pedal to the metal, pulling well ahead, to prove why she belonged to
It seems Boxer needed a bit of a warm up to really get competitive. The Custom Otto clearly had some speed, but Xanthippe would not let
Just a week later, Xanthippe’s reign was once again challenged, this time by Boxer who had performed his own impressive jail-break to acquire a (rather beat-up) Custom Otto to take to the streets.
Perhaps his lap win led to new-found confidence, perhaps it took a few laps to get the hang of how well his newly-freed car could perform or perhaps he just got sick of Xanthippe’s (friendly?) jibes… Whatever it was, when Boxer found an opening in lap four, he took it and showed just how fast his Custom Otto could go. With a friendly wager on the line in lap five, the two cars kept it side by side out of the gate and over the bridge. But, in the end, Boxer again pulled ahead and the FRRC saw a new champ Get Up and get a chili cheese dog.
On The Track: RTR Diecast Racing League by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
T
here have been a lot of grudges to settle at Mayes Mountain Motor Speedway recently.
Mid-February saw the first, when two Honda Civics came to play at the Saturday Night Grudgefest. Right from the start it was clear that
the red Matchbox contender did not want to give the Hot Wheels rival a pass. The two were neck and neck down the mountain, but the red car went out of its way (and at on odd angle) to block the #18 rally ride from crossing the finish first. But then, the Hot Wheels came back with a vengeance, tearing out of the
gate, well ahead of his counterpart. All that wild driving was a mixed blessing; Hot Wheels took the second lap, but crossed the finish line on its roof. It looked like lap three might be a repeat of the prior one until, on the second straight, the red Matchbox came from behind, passing and pulling ahead to a Grudgefest victory. March 3, 2021 | 21
On The Track The next race was a battle of Mustangs, pairing a yellow Shelby GT350R (from Hot Wheels) with an orange Mustang Coupe (by Matchbox). Hot Wheels came to play, smoking the competition. Though the shutout victory was a quick one, it was worth watching for the last little bit, when the orange Matchbox closed the gap and both cars battled it out to the finish line. Suddenly, this week, the Grudgefest slid into Sunday and became the Sunday Night Grudgefest Special Deluxe Edition. This super-sized fest pitted two teams of Chargers against one another for double the pleasure, double the fun. Team Hot Wheels consisted of Rubber Tow (representing Monster Motorsports) in a white 2015 Dodge Charger SRT and Johnny Boost (from Formula Diecast) in a red 2011 R/T. Their Matchbox competition teamed Jason Paul (of Paul’s Performance) and DJ (from WeRaceDiecast), both in 2018 Chargers (green and blue, respectively). In a surprising move, the first two rounds set teammate against teammate, forcing compatriots to become competitors. DJ took the win for team Matchbox. But it was the Hot Wheels race that held all the action. In lap one, it looked like Johnny Boost got a boost from a rocket engine, flying across the finish line. Rubber Tow came back to win lap two, but, in the end, it was Johnny Boost who toppled his teammate. If he can keep up that rocket-like performance, it seems this contest will belong to Johnny Boost. What it lost in Grudgefest simplicity, the Sunday match-up made up for in size. Sunday bled into Tuesday, as Part 2 of the Sunday 22 | Diecast Racing Report
GOING THE WRONG WAY? – Mustang Grudgefest action had cars going every which way at Mayes Mountain Motor Speedway.
Night Grudgefest Special Deluxe Edition aired the same day this issue heads to publication. This time, we get to see the top Matchbox car battle the top Hot Wheels Charger and their fallen comrades also duke it out. Which team will land on top? Will
it be Matchbox (who holds the most Grudgefest wins to-date) or will it be fan-favorite Hot Wheels? Will we see a Sunday Night Grudgefest Special Deluxe Edition… Part 3? Will Grudgefest return to simpler Saturday nights? We’ll have to watch to see.
On The Track
On The Track: 3DBotMaker by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
The month of February featured a King of the Mountain qualifying event each week. There were sixteen cars competing to make the premier custom car competition, and yet most fan activity in the 3DBotMaker Facebook group focused on what was going on off track. While it has been true for a while that storytelling has been a major part of 3DBotMaker’s presentation style, the storylines had always been developed out of the action on the track. Full plotlines normally made their homes on other channels, but 3D jumped into the deep end of the pool with a multi-video story about the police investigating the illegal street racing activities that go on at Race Mountain. The investigation led to 3D being jailed, 2D calling a set of races by himself, and the addition of a new aspect to all future KotM contests. All in all, the fan activity was fun and the #Free3D movement was entertaining. But the real earthshaking result of the storyline was that the fuzz will be staking out the races from now on. Anytime a car crashes during a KotM qualifier (and presumably during the tournament), the police will go into pursuit mode the very next lap. If caught, a car will be impounded and will remain
in custody until a later date. This can have some huge effects on the overall racing if it happens at the wrong time, but genreally, the police car is set up to release only after a couple of cars have gone past, so slower cars are the only ones really at risk. This is where I should mention that the exact details of how the police launcher works was revealed to the Pit Crew Members of the 3DBotMaker channel. Joining the Pit Crew gets you all sorts of extra content that is otherwise hush-hush. So… let’s look at the racing. First, it must be noted that the scoring system and racing structure had gone under a bit of a revision at the end of January. At that time, a fifth lap was added, with double points on that final lap. Cars were positioned based on points accumulated up to that point, so the top cars would have an extra chance to battle it out for the win. The double points part of the new system didn’t stick around into the second month of the year, and normal points were awarded in the fifth lap of each race thereafter.
In the first even of the month, all four cars were Japanese models. James Kleman made his return to the track in a 2002 Misubishi Eclipse. Kleman has had a lot of success with the Mitsubishi Evo on 3D’s tracks over the years, most recently as the builder of Terry Hill’s tournament 1 winning car. Zoe C was driving an Evo, Pipsy took the wheel of a Nissan Skyline H/T 2000 GTX called Soggy Otter, and Ash was at the helm of a Subaru Impreza 22B Sti Version. The two Mitsubishis came into this contest as the heavyweights. Kleman’s ride weighed in at the tournament max of 115 grams, and Zoe C’s Evo was just three tenths of March 3, 2021 | 23
On The Track a gram lighter. But, as many a racer knows, it’s not how much weight you pack in, but how and where it’s packed in that matters. After four laps had been run, Pipsy and Ash were at the top of the board, separated by one point. So, it was a fifth lap that determined who was going on to the full tournament. Ash made a daring pass right before the final turn and carried the lead up to the end. But Ash’s time and ranking weren’t seen at the end of the episode as that’s when the cops swarmed the place and took 3D off in handcuffs. The second video of the month featured what were termed “Misfits”. The conceit of the video was that the regular crew had called off work due to the previous week’s events, and the racers were a ragtag assemblage of vehicles one wouldn’t normally
24 | Diecast Racing Report
see at a street racing event. For instance, a School Bus, a fantasy casting with a wicked spoiler, a Le Mans prototype that resembled a Batmobile, and a rat rodded fantasy casting (HW The Demon). The field didn’t fare well on the first lap with only Sergio finishing in the HW Synkro (the one with the wicked spoiler). The rest of the field piled up in a turn. After Sergio skunked the entire field again on the second lap, one might be forgiven for wondering how the other cars qualified for this contest. Captain Slow, in the Batmobile-like car failed to complete a lap given two
chances. At least the others eventually crossed the finish line. The third lap once again featured a pile-up of three cars, but this time only Bad Dad Davis took the checkered flag in his HW The Demon. Sergio added another lap victory to his resume on the fourth lap. The school bus caused another pile-up in turn three, and that means that Captain Slow didn’t complete a
On The Track H’s Cadillac) dominated the first lap holding straight and true all the way down the track. On lap two, the tournament got a new lap record time from “The Faddy”. The rest of what happened at the finish line resulted in the cops coming out to play in the next lap.
single lap on the night. For the first time since the fifth lap was added to the race structure, no fifth lap was held, as statistically nobody other than Sergio could win no matter what. In the third video of the month, American cars were the focus. Andrew L. Took to the track in a 2011 Dodge Charger R/T. Luke H. was at the wheel of a Cadillac V-16 Concept.
Dodge Viper SRT10, driven by juicy Juice. The final car in the group was a Tesla Model S, driven by The Leviathan. This field ran the gamut weight-wise. The Juicy Viper weighed barely enough to make parameters, and Andrew L’s Charger was just below to upper limit. The others fell in somewhere in between. This event was the first time that the police chase aspect of the new rules would come into play. The Matt Allen-built “Faddy” (Luke
The third car in the line-up was a
The two fastest cars triggered the police car into action on lap three, but he couldn’t catch them. The patrolman did get hit by the slower cars after the finish line, which was “out of jurisdiction”. Lap four was a bit of a surprise, in that a Mopar car did pretty well. Granted, the Charger spent most of its time sideways, blocking a potential pass by The Faddy, but it was pushed across the line in first place. At some point, racers on this track will learn that the Mopar cars don’t handle fat track terribly well. One’s affinity for a real life brand ought not lead them to race them in the diecast world.
March 3, 2021 | 25
On The Track Anyway…. Lap five was once again dominated by Luke H. The cops made one final appearance, and this time the patrolman nabbed a couple of Dodges. The fourth, and last, qualifier of the last month was a less dramatic affair. I suspect that it might have been filmed prior to the arrests/cops storyline, as there was no pre-race scene of any sort, and the police made no appearance in the video, despite the new rules. The contestants in the event were Carl in a HW Blvd Bruiser, Bill Vincent took to the track in a purple Flat Out 442, AJ Rivera’s ride was a red Ford Thunderbird, The last car in the field was a ‘65 Ford Galaxie driven by Dev “Munchkin”. Carl was the only driver that mattered on the first lap. Bill Vincent also finished, but it wasn’t
26 | Diecast Racing Report
really a competition. Lap two saw a bit of a redemption by Bill Vincent who held off a pass attempt by Carl. AJ Rivera made the third lap his. And, the fourth lap saw Carl make his way through the field to take the lap. Carl put it all away in his car named “The Zinger”. Carl holds the slowest time to qualify this season so far, but we’re only halfway through the qualifying rounds.
The Zinger is also the only car with a time over 18 seconds. This field seems to be quite competitive thus far. Rumor has it that the DRC will be back soon. And we are all looking forward to that. I still hope to see all the DRC cars on Race Mountain as was teased in the final video of the last DRC season, but it seems that will not come to pass. Rather, a new track will soon host the races.
On The Track
On The Track: TranSport Diecast Racing by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
The Diecast International Race Series is back and it is much bigger than the first time around. With the qualifying rounds out of the way, the field had been locked in at 32 cars. The series is spending one month at each course (there are 8 total), and three rounds of TranSport’s four have been posted thus far. In each round, eight cars take to the track in two groups of four. The groups take four trips down the track, rotating starting position each time. Points are awarded for finishing position, and points are accumulated at each track, so the points scored at TranSport are carried over to the next track and are tallied into the overall totals at the end of the series. TDR’s own Oliver James had the fastest qualifier, and so the first seed in the tournament was his. The rest of the first group was Doc, Chips Maghee, and Mary Death. Maghee is the car from Live Young Die-Cast, another of the race hosts. He qualified as the 30th seed. Through the four laps of this first group, Oliver James showed off the speed that left everyone in the dust. His sub 15-second qualifying time was not a fluke, as the first lap he posted on the day was also below that speedy benchmark. Another in the group was equally fast in these
laps, though. Doc actually was the top point-getter. Sneaky Bob, Glenn Harding, Fractal Panda, and The Crazy Canuck made up the next group. Sneaky Bob was the favorite going in. And he held up his end of the bargain. One weak lap kept him from being wholly dominant in his group. But when the day ended he was tied for second overall with Oliver James. Groups three and four were quite competitive. Eli Storm was the topranked car in this group. He was racing for WeRaceDiecast. Big Al brought a Ford GT-90 to the games. Nick Deavers and Myke Maze rounded out group 3. An amazing bit of blocking slowed the pack to a near standstill, and Myke Maze took advantage of the situation, moving up from fourth to first on lap 1. Nick Deavers had difficulty staying on the track in the first couple of laps. DNFs on the second lap kept the scores low in this group. Eli Storm came out of the group with a score comparable to past group leaders, but everyone else will need to do better at future tracks to make up ground in the standings. Group 4 was comprised of two of the track owners (Rubber-Tow of Monster Motorsports and Steve Stevenson of Chaos Canyon). Big Romy and Todd Owen filled out the rest of the field.
Big Romy of Rivera Racing is one of the big names in diecast racing, but just like Nick Deavers in a previous group, he was cursed by an early DNF. The rest of the group’s runs down the track were uneventful. Big Romy’s early DNF was the only one in all of group 4’s action. Rubber-Tow, who had been so dominant when starting from the front did nothing from the back row, yet managed to eke out a group win. His 14 points claiming 5th place after half of the field had gone. Groups 5 and 6 were released within 48 hours of this issue going to press, so it those races will be covered in our next issue, as well groups 7 and 8 which have yet to be released. Overall the beginning of the DIRS has had some really good racing, and some surprises. Heavy hitters like Nick Deavers and Romy Rivera don’t normally find themselves in the bottom half of the standings. March 3, 2021 | 27
