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Team AMG
02-16-2006, 09:34 PM
Well, XRL politics has again reared its ugly head in Fresno. The two RS managers putting the series together have decided that under no circumstances will there be a class for anything other than "stock" cars, meaning if you can't get it at RS, it won't be allowed. This is the same thing that killed the XRL last year about this same time.

While they mean well, and I can understand they want this to be a beginner’s series, not everyone racing is beginners. Of the eleven people who will be racing, four of them have six cell cars, one has a lith-ion car and one has a brushless car. OK, not enough for a complete class, but by handicapping the start we could still have had a race. Instead, the managers feel that by allowing aftermarket parts it takes away from their sales. The opening series is six races held on consecutive weekends beginning February 25th, ending on March 25th. Team AMG represents four of the eleven cars, it should be noted that our cars are about the only ones that fit the current rules profile. However, we have only obligated ourselves to three of the six race series as a form of protest. Hopefully we have enough of a bargaining chip to allow some higher class competition, or on the competition of the series we'll be creating our own series.

Other news if you’re interested, Team AMG will be switching strictly to Ford Mustangs on March 1st, six cars will be wearing various year Pony’s, expected fleet includes one ’66, two ‘04’s and three ‘05’s. All bodies will be kept “stock” until then end of the spring XRL series, then all will receive Ford Racing paint schemes from their year/period.

Team AMG
02-27-2006, 10:52 AM
Score one for the guys wanting modified cars. Politics got shoved aside in the interest of personal expression.

A total of 16 cars showed up for the race on February 25th, more than half of them were lightly modified (by this forum's standards) cars running lithium batteries. The RS managers that put the event on HAD to let them run in a class by themselves. They put on such a great show that they have now agreed to let cars with "limited" aftermarket parts run. What those limits are have not been determined, but the race coming this weekend will see at least one Run-What-You-Brung class.

A quick summary of competetion; 16 cars ran heats for time, 10 minutes and the most laps you could run on the 52' course. The Top 12 cars regardless of class were then selected to run in the main. It was like LeMans, all cars of all classes on the track at the same time. The cars were stagger started, the slowest qualifyers up front, faster towards the back. We didn't have any sandbagging because the drivers were not told of the handicapped start and there were no complaints when it was announced.

The cars ran for 24 minutes, making pit stops if necessary for battery changes, only 8 cars were able to finish. 4 of the 8 lithium cars finished, 2 of them ran out of power and didn't have extra batteries and two broke, 1 ran out of power with a 2 lap lead on the entire field and wound up 2nd overall. My modified RS SPEC Mitsubishi (Stage 2 Evo w/ bearings and AWD) finished 4th behind the lith cars, I actually lead the first lap because of the handicapped starting process. That lead vaporized on the next long straight.

I hope to have some of the pics posted within a day or so on the AMG website.