January 24, 2025                     “The Blizzard Beat Down”

With the New England area expecting one of its biggest snowstorms, aka blizzard, of the season in less than 24 hours, the “Blizzard Beat Down” was an appropriate name for today’s East Coast Outlaws (ECO) race event. With temperatures in the single digits and windchill temperatures below zero, 14 racers headed out in the icy cold morning air to attend the ECO race event at a brand-new race venue, the Balancing Rock Race Park.

Jim K., who has been a member of the ECO for the past 3 years, would be hosting the 6^th event of the ECO 2025-2026 season at his home in Holliston,MA. Jim’s race venue consists of two tracks: 1) a very technical 3’ x 12’ 3-lane Viper track, and 2) a very fast and flowy 5’ x 19’ 4-lane Max Trax.

For the three races we would be running in today’s event, we would start on the Viper Track racing Indy cars. Because this track is a 3-lane track, the time for each heat would be extended to 4 minutes to equal the typical 12-minute race we hold on the 4-lane tracks. After lunch, the racing would switch over to the Max Trax where we would first run the TFX Muscle Car class (for the first time since the class was introduced) and wrapping up the day with the second race on the Max Trax running the MagnaTraction Sports Prototype cars. With 14 racers in attendance, we would run all 3 races as a single group.

Drivers Meeting

After practice, tech and sign-in were completed, Dave Lockwood called the start of the drivers’ meeting.

Dave lead off the meeting informing drivers that some of the TFX kits have 14-ohm arms instead of 16-ohm arms. Since our TFX rules limit the TFX class arms to a minimum of 16 ohms, the 14-ohm arms are not allowed in our TFX class. Dave recommended that you always measure (ohm out) the arm before using it in your TFX car. Remember, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that his car is legal and meets all of the ECO class rule. Claiming that you bought the TFX kit and used what came in the box is not an acceptable excuse if your arm (or any other part for that matter) does not meet the ECO class rules.

Dave then acknowledged and thanked Jim K., and Mrs. Jim K. for hosting the event with all the racers giving a warm round of applause.

Dave gave the floor to Brian W. who spoke about an event he is working on to potentially gather new members for the club. The “Bring a Partner” to race event will be held on June 6^th at Lenjet. The intent of the event is for ECO members to bring a friend, family member, etc. who may show an interest in HO slot car racing. At the event we will have two IROC races on the Lenjet tracks to hold team races consisting of the ECO member and their partner. While there are still a number of details to be worked out, you are encouraged to participate in this event and bring a partner along. If you do not have a partner to bring, you are encouraged to come and help out (answer questions, etc.) and/or possibly be paired with a new attendee. Brian also suggested that it would be nice if the club could provide funds to pay for the lunches of partners that were brought to the event. Paul Ryer mentioned that he will set up a webpage on the ECO website to promote the event. Again, the intent of the event is to promote the hobby and hopefully add some new members to the club. More details will become available and will be reported in future race reports, and the webpage Paul will be setting up

Our club treasurer, Jimmy Colligan, provided the club’s financial update. A balance of $1518 was reported as of Jan 24^th prior to today’s entry fee collection.

A few other topics were discussed:

• Dave mentioned that he would like to print up business cards for the club so that club members could hand out to folks that show an interest in HO racing. Paul suggested a QR code on the card that will link to the ECO website would probably be the best approach.
• A discussion took place on modifying the TFX guide pins to make them more robust. One of the fixes being proposed (and already tested) is to drill out the center of a TFX guide pin plate and insert a Bob Beers pin into the TFX plate. A vote was taken by the members present at today’s race event with 10 of the 14 racers voting in favor of allowing this modification. This new rule will be added to the TFX class rules in the ECO rule book.
• Speaking of rules, Paul mentioned that a lot of time has been put into writing and updating the ECO rule book and that members should read the rules when a question should come up about a specific issue within an ECO race class. If the rules do not answer your question, please reach out to Paul as he will be able to provide an answer to your question.

Dave closed the meeting and asked all attendees to vote for the Best Appearing car.

Best Appearing

Best appearing award went to the Indy entry of Terry Ayer. Terry’s Indy Turbine body had some nicely matched colors (decals that Terry makes?) along with “chrome” wheels. Nice work Terry and congratulations!

Here’s a picture of the winning car and Terry accepting the Best Appearing award from Dave.

On to the races…

Indy on the Viper

The Viper track is a 3-lane Viper Scale Racing “Venom Plus Raceway” that was built in 2019. The track is still offered today from Musgrave Racing. This version of the track, built by the host, Jim K., is one of the more scenic HO slot car tracks raced on by the ECO. The track itself has elevation changes along with very slight banking in some of the turns with the scenery representing a mid-1960’s style road course. The track is very technical and requires a driver’s full attention to negotiate the many sharp turns and short straights.

Here’s a picture of some of the racing action on the Viper track:

As previously mentioned, the race heats were extended to 4 minutes to provide a full 12-minute race. Given that this was the first time a third of the racers would be running on this track, the racing was relatively close with only 15 laps separating the top 13 racers. Unfortunately, Matt G. who finished 14^th, ran into some technical issues with his car during his final heat, requiring him to withdraw from the race.

Taking advantage of his familiarity of the track (aka “home advantage”), our host Jim K. took the win completing 78 laps. Jim also had the overall fastest lap of the race in the white lane, turning an 8.498 second lap. Exactly 2 laps behind Jim, in second place was Greg W. who lapped the course 76 times. This was Greg’s first-time racing on the track! Greg’s been practicing a lot with his grandson, so it seems like this practice is paying off. Nice race Greg! Rounding out the podium in 3^rd place was Dave L. with 75 laps. Nice race Dave for your first time on the track.

Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 4^th thru 7^th were: another first time to this track racer, Flash, took 4^th with 74 laps, 5^th and 6^th was a battle between Paul R. and Jimmy C. who are familiar with this track, with Paul taking 5^th with 73 laps/15 section and Jimmy in 6^th with 73 laps/3 sections, and rounding out the top half of the field was Brian W. in 7th, who has a similar but longer track at his home, completing 72 laps.

Great racing everyone!

Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) for the drivers along with best lap times.

Race Results

Lap Times

The fastest laps for each lane are highlighted in green.

Here are pictures of the podium drivers and their cars.

Indy Podium Cars (left to right) 2^nd Greg W’s Willard Roadster, 1^st Jim K’s Indy Turbine, 3^rd Dave L’s Indy Turbine

TFX Muscle Cars on the Max Trax

After a delicious lunch of Big Y 30” super subs, snacks, and chocolate chip cookies, it was time to race on the Max Trax.

This track can be considered a “barn find” race track. It was in storage, in its original shipping boxes under the Champion track at Lenjet for at least the past decade. The track was designed by Phil Hilgerth and built by Max Trax in late 2006. Phil never built up the track and eventually sold it to Peter Lentros at least 10 year ago, if not longer. Fast forward to a year ago Dec 2024, when Jim K. bought the track from Peter. Jim built up the track over a period of 9 months, hosting the first race on the track in late July 2025, almost 19 years after the track was originally built!

The track is a 5’ x 19’ 4-lane Max Trax that Phil designed to run everything from T-Jets to Neo magnet cars. With it’s long straights several tight 180 degree turns, a varying radius carousel turn (up and over) and a scorpion tail section, the track is high-speed and flowy. Just the opposite of the Viper track we just raced on.

Here’s a picture of some of the racing action on the Max Trax:

This race had a double first: first time the ECO members were racing on this track and first time we were running the ECO TFX muscle car class. This was sure to create some excitement and surprises.

Like the first race, racing was very close among the 14 drivers with only 15 laps separating the entire field and a lot of the finishing positions determined by sections. This is pretty amazing given this was the first time running this class and that about a third of the drivers had never run on this track before!

There was quite the battle for first place. Brian W., who’s Ford Fairlane muscle car was very fast (he had the fastest 2 laps in the race in the blue and white lanes) and who has spent some time racing on this track was battling out with host Jim K., who has probably spent a little more time on this track than Brian, was able to squeak out the win over Brian by about half a lap. Brian definitely had the faster car, but had one too many offs that ultimately cost him the win. So, it was Jim K in 1^st with 75 laps/44 sections, and Brian in 2^nd with 75 laps/18 sections. This was Brian’s first podium finish since he started racing with the ECO last season. Congratulations Brian on your 2^nd place finish and to many more podium finishes in your future! Rounding out the podium in 3^rd place was another Ford Fairlane driven by Paul R. just finishing ahead of 4^th place finisher Dave L. by 4 sections. Paul had 74 laps/26 sections to Dave’s 74 laps/22 sections. Great racing gentlemen!

Rounding out the remaining top half of the field, 5^th thru 7^th, where all 3 racers finished on the same lap was Matt G in 5^th with 73 laps/56 sections, only 3 sections behind Matt in 6^th was Greg W. with 73 laps/53 sections, and in 7^th Flash with 73 laps/22 sections. Again, great racing gentlemen!

Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) for the drivers along with best lap times.

Race Results

Lap Times

The fastest laps are highlighted in green for each lane.

Here are pictures of the podium drivers and their cars.

TFX Muscle Car Podium Cars (left to right): 2^nd Brian W’s Ford Fairlane, 1^st Jim K’s Pontiac GTO Convertible, 3^rd Paul R’s Ford Fairlane (Paul’s car is actually modeled after his own 1:1 Ford Fairlane muscle car!)

Magnatraction Sports Prototype on the Max Trax

As is traditional with ECO races, we run the cars at 20 volts. Running the Magnatraction cars at this high of a voltage on the long straights of the Max Trax really showcased their speed and created some very exciting racing

Like the last ECO race held earlier in January, we had a double race winner going into the final race hoping for the triple crown (3 race wins at an EOC event). So the big question going into the final race: Could Jim K. make it a three-peat? Spoiler alert, he did but it was not easy, plus sprinkle in a little racer’s luck.

Unlike the previous 2 races, the racers were a little more spread out with regards to laps completed. With these cars running at 20 volts, the speed is there. What is most important is turning laps. Any offs could cost you a half to full lap considering the faster lap times being turned. You’ll see how this played out in the race results.

As stated earlier, our host, Jim K. was looking to take his third “home advantage” win of the day, but not without a good battle with Dave L. Jim’s third win of the day came down to the last heat of the day. With both Jim and Dave tied with the same number of laps after 3 heats, it would come down to their 4^th heat and final heat of the day. Both racers would be running from the gutter lanes in their final heat: Dave in the red lane and Jim in the yellow lane.

As you can see from the best laps, Dave’s car was quicker than Jim’s by about 0.2 seconds on average and this showed when Dave jumped out to an early lead in the final heat. However, Dave ran into some traffic issues with the other racers in the middle lanes, allowing Jim to catch up and pass him. As Dave tried to push harder, he came off several times, costing him laps and allowing Jim to turn 2 more laps in the final heat, resulting in the final lap difference between 1^st and 2^nd place. It was an exciting finish and a great way to end the race event.

Taking the 3^rd podium spot was Terry who drove a consistent race completing 95 laps. Nice race Terry considering this was Terry’s first event at this track!

Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 4^th thru 7^th were: 4^th Jimmy C. 92 laps, 5^th Brian W. 91 laps, 6^th Joe E. 89 laps (Joe attended the Test and Tune last week, so hopefully this paid off) and 7^th Flash 88 laps.

Great racing all!

Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) and best lap times.

Race Results

Lap Times

Fastest laps are highlighted in green.

Here are pictures of the podium drivers and their cars.

Magnatraction Sports Prototype Podium Cars (left to right) 2^nd Dave L’s Porsche 917, 1^st Jim K’s Porsche 917, 3^rd Terry A’s Ferrari.

Checkered Flag

Well it is hard to believe that this was the 6^th race of the ECO season and that there are only 4 more races, ending in May. Especially as I write up this race report with the temperature in the single digits and a foot or more of snow on the way in the next couple of days. May cannot come soon enough!

A big congratulations goes out to Brian W. for his first podium finish at an ECO event (2^nd place in TFX Muscle Cars). Brian has been very close several times before so it is great to see him break through and stand on the podium.

Also, I wanted to note the “fastest pit stop” in ECO history, thanks to Matt G. During our TFX race, one of the racers broke the guide pin on their car. Matt G. who was marshalling, made a track call. Matt then pulled out a pre-cut TFX guide pin from his pocket and quickly replaced the broken pin in the car. We were back racing again in well under a minute. Thank you Matt for being prepared!

Based on comments I got from the racers, I think my race venue was well liked. Speaking with Mrs. Jim K. after the race, she said all the racers were very kind and respectful. With that, she gave me “two thumbs up” to host another ECO race next season!

I do want to thank all of the racers that came out today! It’s a great group where we have some good competition and great conversation. Thank you for allowing me to host!

Our next race will be the “The Freezer” on February 21^st at Lenjet. We’ll be racing Hobby Stock on the Tub, Super Stock on the Champion, and Magnatraction (IMSA bodies) on the Bear. Note the schedule on the ECO website shows the Magnatraction race as being held on the Nuvolari. Since the Nuvolari has been moved out of Lenjet, Paul will update the schedule for this race to be held on the Bear.

Stay warm, stay out of the deep snow (especially if it is yellow) and we’ll see you at the next race! Go Pats!!!