GRoNEing on a Frosty Day…

 Ashland, MA    December 30, 2017 – Thirteen racers braved the frigid temperatures for our annual New Year’s Gravity Race, this year being hosted by Peter Lentros at his LenJet

TJet Racing Underway on the Python

Raceway.  We had an extended morning practice session so we decided to only have two races, the first was for T-Jets on Peter’s Python Max Trax followed by Gravity Cars on Peter’s Boomerang Viper track.  We had a few GRoNE first timers in attendance -  John Stezelecki was FINALLY able to join us using cars he purchased from Joel Pennington over three years ago and Greg Burstein who showed up with some Gravity cars I built for Russ Upton 15 months ago.  Also joining us for the first time this season were Mike Tiffany, Erik Eckhardt and Durf Hyson – great to have them back in the fold.

T-Jets on the Python

TJet Podium - Greg B 1st, Donny H 2nd, Jonathan R 3rd and John R 4th

Greg Burstein simply dominated the event in what otherwise would have been a really close race, winning the event by a whopping 10 laps.  The next 10 finishing positions were all within 10 laps including a five-way tie for 7^th!  Don Hall ran a great race to finish in second, sections ahead of Jonathan Reimels in third followed by John Reimels and Mike Tiffany in 4^th and 5^th respectively.  Greg has clearly joined the top rank of T-Jet builders, his car had speed and handling both of which come in handy on the Python.

Gravity Cars on the Boomerang

Dave Muse had a call from home and had to leave before the start of the 2^nd race (I hope everything is OK – JR) but we were joined by Rob Hayes, clearly the best dressed man in

Gravity practice on the Boomerang

LenJet (Unfortunately it was because he had to go to a funeral that morning… – JR) leaving the field at 12 racers.  Practice was eventful as folks learned the intricacies of setting up their controller for their car on this track; the Boomerang has numerous long straights leading directly into tight corners so lots of brakes and just the right amount of choke are the key to making it around this track.  Greg was off the pace with the cars I built 15 months ago so I made the mistake of loaning him a more recent build, an action that both my son and I regret!  (just kidding, a 2^nd and 3^rd are just as rewarding as a 1^st and 2^nd… -JR).  With time running out, it was time to see what everyone had.

Once again Greg ran away with the show but this time he only won by 5 laps over Jonathan in second.  Maybe if we had stayed for another race, someone could have beaten

Gravity Podium - Rob H 4th, John R 3rd, Jonathan R 2nd and Greg B 1st

him!   I was able to finish third but I must have practiced too much on the gutter lanes as I got higher lap totals in Red and Yellow than I did in Blue and White…  Rob Hayes had a promising few heats until he encountered controller issues in his third heat but he managed to keep it together well enough to finish 4^th.  Erik Eckhardt finished 5^th using a M10 motored Sidewinder, the first non- M20 motored anglewinder across the line.  Other cars of interest include a iso-flucrum chassis built by Durf, it proved fast enough but it needs more development time.  Donny Hall also had an in-line M30 motored car from Al Thurman that wasn’t that far off the pace.

An interesting array of chassis configurations

Thanks to all that attended, without your support, we wouldn’t have gravity racing here in New England.  And special thanks Peter for hosting.

Our next GRoNE event will be on February 24^th at LenJet Raceway.  Once again we’ll be racing Gravity cars on the Boomerang and T-Jets on the Python.

John Reimels

GRoNE Master of Ceremonies

Brass Car Enthusiast