I am posting this to the club to discuss an opportunity we have to participate in our next proxy race with the Houston Scale Auto Racing club. They are fans of our current Thunderslot Proxy race series and reached out to see if we would be interested in doing another proxy race with them.
In our September club meeting we discussed making the clubs upcoming Q4 series a proxy and the current proxy racers and marshals supported the decision and agreed to continue in their current roles so doing this proxy series with another club is not far outside the realm of what we were already planning on doing.
The Houston club agreed with all the rules we currently use for our proxy which meant all we had left to do was to figure out what car would work best for everyone. The Slot It McLaren was mentioned but none of the Houston members had one. The limited availability combined with the limited liveries make this a weak choice so we looked at other options. We know we wanted to run a Slot It car as they would be the easiest for members to tune. We wanted to pick a current model that was readily available. We wanted to pick a car that had multiple liveries. All of these requirements led us to select the Slot It’s DTM cars. This has the much added benefit of allowing us to get Dave Kennedy and Mauricio the owner of Slot It to help promote the series and provide the club with some fantastic publicity and maybe some new members.
The big commitment for our members is in the purchase and tuning a new car. Being a Slot It the design and construction of the car is familiar to all of us and understanding how to set it up should be easier for most everyone. Some members have already purchased one knowing it was planned to be the clubs Q4 race this year. I know that I have one, Ary has one, Randy has one and Mark has one. The cars are readily available from multiple slot car retailers as well as eBay for $50 to $60. The rules have a limited number of things you can do to the car so the expense of any additional parts should be minimal. It should not be too difficult for members to get a car and set it up. I would be willing to do the tuning work if a member wants to purchase a car and the parts. Before buying a car please view the clubs forum on the DTM series for notes on what Alfa cars to stay away from.
The first race would be held October 24th. This gives us slightly less than a month to get a car ready. The timing is not perfect but there’s not too much work to be done on these cars.
I would like to see all the club’s members participate in what stands to be a great promotion event for the club. Attached are the proxy race rules as well as the rules for the cars. We will be discussing this at next club meeting on Saturday the 3rd. I will also have this event posted to the clubs forum. Please post any questions about the series to this forum for all to view.
FAQ’s
Where do the races take place?
The cars from our club and the Houston club would be raced at our track by our proxy racers and then be sent off to Houston where they would be raced by the Houston club.
What does it cost?
The same race fee as it would normally be - $5 for premium members and $10 for basic members.
What cars will be used?
We are going to use the Slot It DTM cars for this proxy series. Why these? In working to get Slot It involved we needed to run a car that is current and readily available from multiple There is some great information on the clubs 2020 Series Discussion on the club’s forum on our website.
Will there be awards?
Yes. Plaques will be awarded for this series just like they are for our other series.
How do I set up my car for the Houston track?
One of the big parts of running a proxy race is not getting an opportunity to run all the tracks the races are held on. The goal of setting up a proxy car is to get one to perform as smooth and neutral as possible. We will get a list of popular set up tips from the Houston club so we will at least have some idea of how to get your car set up properly.
Why do this?
I like to think the reason to do any slot car racing is to have fun. No top of that we are doing it to build some exposure for the club. See the FAQ below for more information.
What is the benefit to the club?
Exposure. We have been talking about how to attract more members and the need for more exposure to introduce the club to more people while showing the type of professional organization we run. This proxy race will be promoted by both clubs as well as Dave Kennedy from slot car distributor Great Traditions and Slot It. This type of press/publicity is not easy to come by and could help the club.
What rules will we use?
We will use a slightly modified version of the rules that are published on the clubs website – Q4, 2020 race series. I will post the rules as soon as we decide to move forward with the proxy series.
How do you run a proxy race?
For anyone that has watched the clubs Thunderslot Proxy race series it is just like that with the exception of sending our cars off for three rounds of the series that will take place in Houston. There are specific rules to running a proxy that I will post once we decide to move forward.
