If you are looking to run a McLaren in the Thunderslot you will have to purchase one of the few remaining white kits and paint it yourself.  Here is an update from Armchair racer in Australia from Thurderslot on the painted cars.

*UPDATE*

Thunderslot posted pics of the McLarens on their Facebook page this morning and it sounded like they were going to be available sooner than Armchair racer was predicting.  I asked Thunderslot when we might see these cars in the States and they replied “Christmas +0-“.  Sounds like they might be here sooner than expected.

ummmmm uhhhhmust buy slot carrrr …

Picked up this critter for a song…does anyone have this livery, or can I claim it. 🙂

Do chime in if you have it…I have lots of time to make it into a custom livery…

Stabn’Steer – As you can see from the picture below either John or Shawn had the #8 Lola.  I don’t know if they are planning on using the same car again, but it would be worth checking in with them.

I wanted to give the Thunderjet, err, Thunderslot a go, so I ordered a car, and It showed up today. Couple of questions.

Is the light blue Andretti #21 car spoken for again this go-round? If so I can re-number or paint.

Also, the stock tires (rears) on the model I received have really nasty, distorted injection sites. I doubt the tires can be trued. Is this normal?

[attachment file=”Thunderslot tire crop.jpg”]

David,

Great questions.  You can run those tires but they will need to be trued all the way down to where they have no tread.  The easier and perfered method is to use the Thunderslot slick rear tires.  Having said that, they are unavailable from any on-line slot car retailer in the States.  I just ordered the last three bags (12 tires) from Armchair racer in Australia.  I ordered three bags with the thought to sell some, at my cost, to other racers that can’t find them.

The slick tires will need to be glued and then trued to make sure they are 100% round.  It makes a big difference in this series.

The blue #21 is being run by Russell.  The difference is that Russell painted his from a white kit last year before the #21 was a stock item from Thunderslot.  Crazy.  It’s a beautiful version.

Can you reserve a pair for me …….. Please

I think paying David 45 dollar per unit is a little out of my budget

and Thanks

Wow, that’s the only alternative?
-Marc

If rubber is that hard to come by, I could make tires, and make them available to everybody (Like, for free) I do realize that is not within the rules, however.

[attachment file=”Thunderslot wheel dims crop.jpg”]

First of all, about the tire with the injection dimple, once trued, the original, treaded tires will work fine; I believe they are the same compound as the slicks.  Perhaps truing all the tread off will yield slightly more “rubber on the road”, but sanding them round will probably be sufficient.  Neither will it be necessary to remove all traces of the dimple/injection.  As long as the area around the imperfection is level it should be OK.  You want to be careful and not over-true the tires; there is not much clearance under the chassis and you don’t want the chassis to drag.

On hubless wheels, where the set screw hole for the wheel is inside the width of  the tire, requiring the edge of the tire to be curled back to get to the grub screw, I use a leather punch to make a hole in the tread of the tire.  This does not affect traction.

I hadn’t realized there was a shortage of tires.  Marty had the foresight to purchase tires for those in need.  This is very much appreciated.

I have not seen the factory release for the #21 Andretti; the white kit version that I built may be  sufficiently different from yours.  If not, it might be necessary to put tape with a different number over the 21.

Another question. Is it within the rules to replace the unforgivably bad driver figure with a decent one, provided it does not weigh less than the O.E.M. part?

My bad about not posing the new gears rules on the Rules page.  I should have revised it.  Pinions and spurs will now be open.  I need to find out how to access the new server to edit the rules page.

I personally will probably not experiment with gearing, but those that want to are welcome to try.  Any suggestions for gears that will fit should be posted on this Thunderslot Forum page (unless, of course, you do not want to share any tips…..)  The issue with the gears came up when David said that his motor had lost power last year as the series progressed and he wished he could have done something about it.  As competitive as the series was, I did not see a need for changing the rules, but thought there might be some instances where a tweak might correct a problem.  We allow open gears in Group C, mostly  to adjust for weaker motors, but this is less of a problem at 12 volts.   I did not want to see the series become a free-for-all but rather remain as a primarily box stock series.  And besides, with a series as fast as Thunderslot, driver skill becomes even more important.  A deslot will easily cost the driver half a lap or more.  And speed consistency also becomes more important.  Driving consistent 3.9 second laps will yield more laps than an occasional 3.7 among numerous 4+ second laps.

Again, right now I, myself, don’t plan on messing with gearing.

Russel I have noticed wear on the tips of the teeth on my pinion, so I am going to research if any brass pinions are available at the same size (& pitch) as the OEM pinion.

I ordered I think the last bag of slicks from Scalextric store in UK like 10 days ago and I got them today

I will be using only two of the four in the bag if someone REALLY needs the other two please let me know I can lend those until we can get more …

I will try to bring them this Thursday since I have a meeting that day that will last till night

Just  let me know

Before our first Thunderslot race can everyone check to make sure you have the right tires. After the group C race many ran their Thunderslot cars. Later when I ran I found the yellow and green lanes had lost their grip considerably. the blue lane was great. Possibly Silicone tires were accidentally used.  Make sure you have on your package  TYR004R                                                             The other tire they offer is TYR005RX for carrera may have a different compound, since were not sure do not use these.                                                                                                                                         If anyone needs tires today to have them ready let me know i can meet you I have a few extra.

I’m not convinced the tires that shipped with my T/S Lola are urethane. Vinyl, perhaps? I did run Saturday after the Group C race.

Thunderslot 2019 Rules Updated: http://austinslotcarclub.com/2019-racing-series/2019-series-thunder-slot/

The rules have been updated to allow gear changes.

Also, as was discussed last year but not officially put in the rules, spacers will be allowed on the front body mount posts to provide clearance for tires or spoilers.

Good Luck!

For newer members, or anyone interested, I recommend going back through the Thunderslot discussion forum for last year: http://austinslotcarclub.com/forums/topic/thunder-slot-discussion/

This was a separate thread from this year’s discussion.

The first Thunderslot race was a real

THUNDER

Tires have arrived!  Straight from Australia, straight from Italy are the Thunderslot racing tires we have been unable to find.  I have 6 pairs available.  First come, first served.

I’ll also be bringing some of the home-brew tires Saturday, if you want to use them to run practice laps, or to experiment with.

Russell,

Thank you for all the work reporting the series!

Although the final podium is correct, I noticed an issue with the numbers. When I add all my results, dropping the worst result (round 3 – 17), the total is 100 points (21+20+20+20+19), not 98.

Ary