Can you confirm that the 908/3 will be allowed?  I am looking at using one of my Targa Florio NSR 908/3 cars if they will be allowed.  Very excited about the series.

Marty

I apologize for vacillating on the issue of the 908/3.  I thought that, at first glance, the 908/3 and the 908/2 had similar shapes, but I hadn’t seen the difference in sizes.  The 908/3 was a shorter wheelbase, much lighter car, just as you would want for the twisties in the Targa Florio.  In addition to the performance advantage it might have, the fact is, it did not race in the Can Am.  As an alternative, I think that the NSR 917/10K should be a good performer.

As to opening up the list to include endurance cars that ran that weekend, I have always said that the main criteria is that the car ran in the Can Am, at some point.  Those endurance cars and coupes that did run in the Can Am on Sunday are eligible.  However, if they ran in the endurance race but not the Can Am, they would not be eligible.

The rules are posted.

Thanks,

Russell

Marty

Thanks for doing a deeper dive on Can Am entrants.  I had thought that when you asked about expanding the Can Am field to include 908/3s that actual Can AM entrants of the908/3 had not been documented.  When I was searching, I was looking mainly at races in 1969 and 1970 as that was when I thought the 908/3 could have run.  Clearly, the car shown did run Watkins Glen in 1972 and would be eligible to race in our Can Am.  The car, as liveried, would be preferred, as that was the way it ran, but other 908/3s (with “fantasy” liveries) would be eligible as well.

Again, sorry for going back and forth on the 980/3, but it can run.

Russell

The problems with my McLaren

In getting a car ready for the clubs upcoming CanAm series I looked to my tried and true Slot.it McLaren M8D’s that I ran in the clubs Slot.it McLaren CanAm series back in 2019.  During that series I had one car that was running quick with best laps in the 3.7 range.  I had another McLaren I was using as a mule to try set up changes looking for any possible improvement.  I used this car as a starting point for the updated CanAm series rules.

This CanAm series would run rules similar to the 1:1 CanAm series with almost unlimited rules.  This means racers would be able to use any tire, wheel, guide, weight or most anything else in order to get the car to run as fast as possible.

In working on my test McLaren M8D I discovered a few issues that would make this car a little more difficult to modify than I had anticipated.  Here is a list of the issues and what I was able to do to work through them.

Interior

Issue – The interior weight is 2.8 grams and although it’s not much it is still located high in the body and can upset the handling of the car.

The first thing I had planned on doing was to replace the plastic interior with a lightweight Lexan version. I thought it would be easy to find a Slot.it Lexan replacement interior but was unable to find one or one that looked like it would work.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find a suitable replacement and had to run the stock interior.

Front Wheels and Chassis Height

Issue – The stock 15” front wheels with narrow 8mm front tires work fine but the chassis height set-up is not ideal.

The 15” wheels fit inside the wheel wells of the body with no problem but I was unable to get the wheel height adjusted to get the correct chassis height without the tires contacting the body in the wheel wells.  To allow me to get the chassis lower and not have the wheels to fit inside the wheel wells without rubbing I used Slot.it 14” front wheels.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get the 14” wheels low enough to touch the track even the front axle in its lowest position.  The axle was rubbing on the lower grub screw holders.  To fix this I ground down the two front axle grub screw holders on the chassis.  This allowed the axle to go lower and get the smaller front wheels to contact the track and give them enough clearance within the wheel wells.

Now that I have the wheels, chassis and body working together I needed to grind down the McLaren wheel inserts to fit inside the smaller 14” wheels.  Once done it was time to paint them and get them installed.

Rear Wheels

Issue – The small lip on the bodies rear wheel wells limits the rear track to around 59.5mm

Since this series is for the most part unlimited, I had plans to use a wider wheel and/or tire combination on the McLaren for better traction.  I tried multiple options including NSR wheels and tires and various Slot.it wheels and tires but none would allow me to get a good fit within the 59.5mm width limitation.  These limitations also limited me from using a lighter magnesium Slot.it wheel or a superlight drilled NSR wheel.  In this case I had to stick with the stock super short hub aluminum wheel and a Slot.it F30 tire in the 10mm width and 20mm diameter.  So much for lighter or wider rear wheels.

Axles

Issue – No issue, just wanted to run a lighter axle and reduce the rotating weight.

I replaced the solid 48mm axles with 54mm hollow axles that were cut down to the 48mm width.

Guide Wire Clearance

Issue – The guide screw and motor wires on the top of the guide make contact with the body and impede the free movement of the guide.

The front of the car is so low the motor wires coming out of guide make contact with the front of the McLaren body.  I looked at grinding down the front of the guide to give additional space between the guide and the body.  By griding down the front of the guide there was not enough room for the brass eyelets.  In light of this, I used a grub screw to hold the motor wire to the guide.  The final thing I did was to use the thinner and more flexible NSR motor wires.  All three of these changes together gave the space for the guide to move freely.

Motor Wire Clearance

Issue – The top of the motor and the motor wires come in contact with the interior and the body.

With the interior out of the car I was able to see that the top of the motor and the motor wires were contacting the body of the car.  Unfortunately, there are no other motor configuration options for this model so it has to run with a short can motor in the sidewinder configuration.

Changing the motor pod from a 0.5mm offset to a 1mm offset helped the issue but the clearance is still very tight.  The other change made was to resolder the motor wires under or level with the motor wire tabs using a lighter and thinner NSR motor wire.  This thin and highly flexible motor wire also helped to free up the guide a little more.  I also used some hot glue to hold the motor wires in place so they would make as little contact with the body and the interior as possible.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the changes I was able to make to the McLaren M8D.  My goal was to make a more competitive car and get one that would run quicker than my other McLaren that ran fast laps of 3.7 seconds.  I have not had the car on the track yet so let’s see how it goes.  Update to follow.

Are we excluded from running Thunderslot parts?  The most drastic would be a NSR body on a Thunderslot chassis and running gear.  But could a Thunderslot motor be used in an NSR chassis?

Yes, either the GT40 or the Ferrari 512 would be eligible.  We allow fantasy liveries so the existing liveries would be OK.  I always like to encourage accurate liveries, though.

Russell

I found the Ford GT40 that raced in Can Am.  1966 Mosport Eppie Weitzes GT40 MK2 #94 white with blue racing stripes like Shelby cars.  Not the livery I have, and I agree we should stick to Can Am liveries if available