El Piloto Grande

Race Control 16 years ago

Guys,

I think we'll all agree the first "fun race" for the El Piloto Grande series was a kick in the ass. For the most part, I believe everyone who participated will agee it was fun. We had a little bit of everything from blown gear boxes (myself) to front spoilers and rear wings being "removed" during the heat of battle. If anything, I'm glad we did this imprompto "race" as it brought to light potential problem areas with these larger cars. We ran 7 minute heats, and the motors definitely got warm. I think we could safely run 10 minute heats, but add some additional time between heats to allow for motor cool down. I think I heard Ary say he already has a recycled computer fan he uses for just that purpose. Oh boy, another piece of pit equipment to bring to the track.

As mentioned before, the spoilers and wings are potential problem areas that need to be tended to. I'm going to use shoe goo to repair my Miller damage, and to build a fillet around the rear wing attachment points. It may not be bullet proof, but it sure can't hurt.

Gears, gears, gears.. I've read the horror stories and now believe them as it happened to me. I was even using the BRM crown gear spacer, but with the right impact to the rear wheels, teeth will be knocked off the crown and you will soon have a gearbox full of neutrals. My second gear issue was due to an improperly torqued grub screw when I replaced the blown crown. Shame on me :D . Make sure you have plenty of spares on hand, either the Sigma gears (discontinued?) or the N series BRM gears.

Ary also suggested that maybe we could do a "home and home" BRM race series with the Houston club. I've never been to the Houston track, but according to Ary, it's a 100 footer. Ary, please chime in on this subject as it is your idea.

Jim J.

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Autorama Mod 16 years ago

Jim,

I talked to Marty after we spoke and he believes that the Houston track has 3.5" lane spacing - we can't run BRM's if that is true. I'm waiting for Rick Carlson to send me the track details (length and lane spacing).

We still need to figure out the rules for the series, the idea of using Scaleauto parts is ridiculous; you are trying to run a manufacturers challenge here. I would even remove the use of the wood guide if we can't get the proper braids.

There has been talk that it is difficult to get motors, I don't think that is the case. Professor Motor has 28 of the racing motors in stock, if we choose to run the EVO we can get them from Pendle. One thing I would suggest is that everyone uses the same motors.

-- Last year nationals had hand out black motors (EVO) and sponge tires.

I will install the EVO motor on mine for this Thursday, if you race the racing motor (pink?) install it as well so we can compare results -- one 10 min heat should give you some info on how hot those get.

Race Control Admin OP 16 years ago

Ary,

Let me know what gears you use on the EVO version, and I will gear the pink motor the same. I can use my Kenwood car as the test bed.

I was looking at the Carrera braids at Kings. Is there a possibility they would work? They may be too short for the wood guide. I think I may have some Carrera braids. I'll check it out this afternoon. I'm using the BRM braids for plastic tracks (Ninco?) I got from 132slotcar.us (Alan).

Jim J.

Autorama Mod 16 years ago

tele52 wrote:

Ary,
Let me know what gears you use on the EVO version, and I will gear the pink motor the same. I can use my Kenwood car as the test bed.

I will run 9x34 - the same I'm already using.

tele52 wrote:

I was looking at the Carrera braids at Kings. Is there a possibility they would work? They may be too short for the wood guide. I think I may have some Carrera braids. I'll check it out this afternoon. I'm using the BRM braids for plastic tracks (Ninco?) I got from 132slotcar.us (Alan).

Scaleauto makes braid we could use with BRM, that's also the suggestion from Alan; it just does not make any sense.

Autorama Mod 16 years ago

Just got a message from Rick, the Houston track cannot support 1/24 models.

"122 ft per lane. The spacing is based on Scaley Classic track. We cannot support 1/24 on our track."

Maybe we can work something out with the Slot.it Challenge.