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As many of you probably do, I prefer to race slot cars of my favorite real race cars. However, complications often arise, making problems for some series. These are my thoughts for racing series, listing in order of preference:
Thunderslot-rules as before
ScaleRacing/BRM Trans Am–I love the vintage Trans Am cars and the new ScaleRacing/BRM cars would seem to be raceable and comparable in a basic stock configuration. Compared to a series with 3D chassis, different tires, gears, motors, I do not think they would be that much more expensive.
LeMans 1970 with 3D chassis–a lot of possibilities there
McLaren M8 D/E–A spec class which should mean close competition with minimal set up issues. Only one make but a variety of liveries. I have the Led Zeppelin car but have never run it. I love the Can Am cars and this would seem to be a good solution for the problems with a wider variety of cars where we might end up with a particular slot car being faster than all the others, making it a spec series anyway.
Revo Slot–I would be interested in running this series if we could relax the rules on rear tires so we don’t have to change them out every race.
Scalextric Trans Am–I would love to race this series (Chaparral Camaro for me), but it sounds like there is a problem with narrower Mustang bodies that would be difficult to work around. Too bad.
Group C–This series seems to be a given every year
Rally–I am not sure what series I would prefer here–perhaps the Fly 908/3 or Targa Florio. I would prefer something like that to Renault, Peugeot, Honda, etc.
Scale Auto–I will probably not run my BMW Art Car again and may not want to buy another new car for this series
I received a ScaleRacing/BRM Trans Am Mustang last week: the number 15 Parnelli Jones car.
I was interested in seeing if some of my static car models could be adapted to run the BRM chassis. I was hoping to build a 1970 Chaparral Camaro but the only ones available are AMT 1/25 cars and they are just too small. This holds for pretty much all the AMT and JoHan 1/25 kits. However, there are 1/24 kits available. I have three or four that look doable, including making a copy of my 1969 GTO. Regardless of whether we decide to run these Trans Ams, next year or later, or whether any alternate bodies would even be allowable, I am proceeding with my first re-body. I will be chronicling the build.
Wow! Looks great Tom. Until ASCC formed, slot cars were a solo hobby for me. I had my own tracks in the Sixties–there were no commercial tracks around. I was not part of the wing car racing in the Seventies and Eighties, so I have not had the opportunity to race much on big tracks. Looking forward to it!
My only proposal for a series next year is for Thunderslots. The rules would remain the same and new Thunderslot cars would be evaluated and allowed if they are comparable. It would be great to get some cars other than the Lolas. Given the parity with the Thunderslot cars my preference would be to keep it a Thunderslot-only series.
Eric
I looks like a great, compact track. I had a Model Motoring vibrator set in 1961 and AFX in the later 60’s. The HO track leaned up on the wall at King’s is one I built for my son in the eighties. It was hinged to the wall over his bed and has cork board on the bottom.
By my calculations, halfway through the Scale Auto Series, after figuring a mandatory drop of one race, the standings are as follows:
1st Steve 39 points
2nd Marty 38 points
———-Shawn 38 points
———-Russell 38 points
5th Randy 37 points
6th David 35 points
7th John 31 points
8th Mark 29 points
It doesn’t get much closer than that!
I have not run a rally car so I have no experience in what works and what does not. I have purchased the 1164 Abarth S2000 which came with a long can anglewinder. From Shawn’s comments the greater torque of the long can may be difficult to control, as has been the case on the big track. If that is the case then the long can could be disadvantaged. At this point, without testing of the various configurations, guessing what setup will work best would seem to be a crapshoot. Considering that at least three of the cars that members have purchased have the long can (including myself), I would be in favor of allowing the long can. After this series, with more test and racing data, decisions about allowable motor configurations could be changed for future rally series.
Motor wires can be replaced with any wire; it does not have to be Thunderslot.
(I recommend the new graphene NanoWire from Beaugus Slots)
What are the actual cars that will be eligible? Is it just those cars listed from Pendle Slot? GT3 only? No GT2?
One thing I have been a little fuzzy about is exactly how much authority the race manager wields. Are race dates and rules his final decision? If so, when is the hand-off from club votes on prospective race series to the actual race series rules. Could a race manager change a race series from a spec series to an open series? Change what models are eligible? Can no changes be made without his permission? Presumably the race manager would make reasonable decisions, listening to opinions from the members.
In the case of the race dates for the Thunderslot series, I am willing to abide by the decisions of the majority of the members, particularly because, at this point, I am the one most affected. I would be fine with the original May 5th date, or the 26th, or any dates except for having races on both of the dates that I will be gone. However, if there are problems with alternates, and the will of the club is to have races on both the 12th and the 19th, I would be fine with that.
As long as there is time, I believe that scheduled club meetings are the best time to make race schedule changes. The give and take of a round table discussion is more effective than email or forum threads. Discussions on this forum are useful to get an idea of options and people’s ideas, but I believe nothing beats a face-to-face meeting. It is difficult enough to accurately convey one’s opinion with words alone, without tone, inflection, body language, charm and charisma, to influence opinion. I think a month out is enough time to make a change. If time is short, as it was with the COTA Ferrari race, the forums can be used to arrive at a consensus, with a mass email alerting everyone to vote in the forum.
First: Clarification on the May 5th date. Did King’s say we can’t have a race on that date? Will it just mean we have to park in the other lot?
My preference is not to have races on both May 12th and May 19th. It does not matter to me which of those dates is a single race day. Other than that I am open to alternate dates.
