Slot car racing from one racer and track owners point of view.

Question for me? Drop me a line at 'eAddict at yahoo.com' (had to change the e-mail format due to a large increase in SPAM)

I just finished putting the results for the 2nd to last oval race up.  There are some close point races.  It will come down to the last race for podium positions.  I really like the new point system AND the number of races that we have.  There are few folks who walk away with all the races.  The variety of tracks, who you get stuck put next too, and the longevity of your cars all come in to play.  One more race at Steves for the road course then one more here for the final oval.  We almost didn't the the race.  The day before St Louis got a bit of snow.  I think somewhere in the range of 6" to 8".

Tom G brought a vintage sprint car for show.  The guys where out running the new cars for the next season.  There was NO way Tom was going to put his vintage car out there.  Though during the practice they didn't come out too often, when they did come out they came out fast.  The vintage car was no match for the modern motors but it was smooth. 

The worst wreck of the 1/24 Stockers season happened to Ken W.  His car took a beating and was losing parts.  He managed to take out a few other folks now and then, not on purpose, but the car wasn't very aerodynamic after a few hits. Mark lost a few pieces off of his car and Gordon's got some damage.  Everyone did manage to finish.  I think 9 races with these hardbody cars really shows the abuse they can take.  Gets more realistic all the time.

Got an early Christmas present for myself.  The box came today.  If you haven't joined the FREE Club NINCO then you are missing out on some great one of a kind cars.  This one will probably be a shelf queen.  I did race my 4x4 NINCO car though.  Not too much damage AND still very raceable.

Hope to see a full house for the last road race of the season at Steves!

In no particular order:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/eaddict/sets/72157603337142660/show/

My NASCAR died.  I had a SCX motor go bad on me so I took a backup one and finished.  For grins, I did what someone said was possible - I put a 16D arm in the SCX shell.  That car can move!  I might just keep it for the NASCAR proxy next year when I get time to work on an entry!

The show was a huge success.  Carl said the tables were packed.  Attendance was good.  We took the track there too.  It was great to have a place for folks to test out their cars.  I found the IROC cars AFTER the show so the people had to beat up personal cars vs shared IROC ones.

Gil did a great job of creating a slide show from our road trip to WI for Road America.  If you see Gil, spend the $5 to get a copy.  Well worth it.

Everyone is gearing up for next season.  Can't believe it is here already!  The club really needs to get moving on getting BIR back in race form.  Gordon has been tuning his Euoplastic cars.  Mark P and Gordon are also working on their roadsters and sprint cars.  Plastic cars on the Road and lexan on the oval.  Not too late to join!

First, GSRA came over last night to race on the oval.  Jim S was kind enough to loan me three of his wonderful cars.  Too bad my driving could not do any better than a 3rd place.  The car on high-power was my worse.  I think low power is the only thing in my future.  Thanks again to Jim S and it was good to have GSRA out on the oval.

The surprise was a nice big box on our coffee table when I got home.  It was the cars for the NASCAR Proxy.  I was good in not opening it right away - I waited until GSRA was gone and then took all the cars out.  Nice looking line-up  I will have a separate blog for the proxy race once we get it under way.  I am hoping to get race 1 done this weekend and the one at Carl's oval and Gil's oval in the next 2-3 weeks.  Ought to be interesting. 

Gil helped me with my B Production so it would be at least runable.  It was.  I did OK with it and the low power 1/24 Flexi.  My high-powered Flexi was undriveable.  I guess I just need to admit I can't drive fast OR I need to get more practice in.  Either way would make it more enjoyable for me as well as to those who race next to me.  Carl did great with the new Road Course.  He did a lot of quality repairs/work and it shows.  Kudos to Carl!  I need to post the photos and videos to show off his great work.

Gil tried the new Scalextric Mini car and had the rear tires lock up.  I then loaned him mine and he same thing happened.  Nice, fast car, but needs some work to make it reliable.  I suspect we will see it back on the plastic as it does out perform the NSR and does keep up with the Escorts and Abarth.

Oh, and to save Gils back I put foam around my electrical box.  Apparently bright yellow tape just wasn't enough.  I will most likely have the electrician come out and move it to an end wall.  I don't know why I didn't ask him to place it there in the first place.  Hindsight is 20/20 AND cheaper.  In fact,  I need to get with the guys in the club about starting to frame the new section of the basement.  I am OK working with wood but electrical gives me the heeby-jeebies.

Dan was a great host and we had a night of good, fast racing.  I really need to change the gearing on my B-Production. I can't keep up with ANYONE.  I think I might have it geared a tad wrong.  No gears in the mail this week so I will have to run it again.  Maybe I will sneak out one of the IROC cars since it uses the same chassis.

My 1/24 GT ran well.  The car was OK.  There was issues with the driver.  I could not say the same for my 1/24  LMP.  On the middle straight the car just up and died. I thought the motor just locked up since there was a blackish spot on the wires.  Gil loaned me a car that was WAY out of my league.  Gil can build a FAST car.  Needless to say I did manage to finish.  Turns out, once I got the motor home and taken apart, the comm had been ripped apart.

On the lighter side... I wore a shirt to Dan's the other day and asked Gordon to take a photo.  If you take a photo and submit it you get money off of your next order.  This is from threadless and the t-shirt is called In The Fast Lane.  You can see that some of the guys take this racing thing far to seriously.  I really enjoy the shirts from there. I am always on the lookout for something different and interesting.

Toyota also had a display and they brought a "Car of Tomorrow".

The race was great.  The weather was perfect.  Too bad I didn't carry my experience over to Sunday.  Then again, I was not prepared Sunday. The guys who did have time had some awesome stocker.  I need to lower my body on my stocker, change to a lexan interior, and tune my NASCAR.  I hope to have my flexis built by this coming Sunday!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial day weekend!

I just could not pass up the gorgeous set of a 1/32 LMP Porsche slot car and 1/32 LMP Audi slot car.  I got my Scalextric track ready for the race this coming Sunday and decided to toss these out on the track.  Here is my first impression:

	I saw these Carrera slot cars for sale on one of the discussion boards that I frequent.  Since I have seen these race in real life twice I just could not resist.  They apparently come from a set where the person selling it wanted the slot car track and not the cars.
Out of the box these slot cars look great.  They are very fragile though.  I found out how easy it is to take the tail wing off as well as the mirrors.  Without glue you WILL lose the parts.  I guess taking them off is also an option but then they don't look right.
	The slot cars come with some strong magnets and sit very low to the track.  The bottom is wide and flat making it have a very low center of gravity.  The tires that comes with it felt a lot closer to aftermarket slot car high performance tires than most cars.  The biggest thing was that the guide didn't have a lot of range .
Talk about a slot car guide!  This thing is a monster!  It looked closer to a wood guide than a plastic track guide! The braid was attached rather interestingly too.  It was attached in the middle!
	Here is a shot of the guide size compared to some other slot cars I happened to have around.  I need to take a photo with a ruler.  Maybe when I find one since my kids never put it back where it is supposed to go.... that is a whole other story.  I was anxious to see how it ran.
Well, it ran OK. That is until it got to a Scalextric radius 1 turn.  It could not take either lane.  In the photo to the right you can see the R1 curve.  I ended up running it in one of the outside lanes.  The guide is also so deep and the body so low you can hear the click of the track.  Sort of sounds like a train. Here are 2 videos.  I ran on low power so I could rubber band the controllers.  On in the dark showing the lights, the other with the lights on.

The next race was using the roadster chassis.  I am not sure what the class is called.  The prior photo shows the green and white car that was loaned to me.  I hadn't had too good of experience with the roadsters and I didn't want to get in anyone's way. I decided to race my own race (advice from Jim S I hear over and over).  I ended up third here too! Experience on the oval here helped!

The last race was a trophy/plaque race.  Barnes loaned me the blue and white car in the prior photo.  It was so smooth.  Barnes gave me an awesome car.  These cars were longer and wider so it was more like racing the NAStrucks.  Had to watch the corners or you would get knocked out.  Again, I tried to race best I could while keeping out of the regulars way.  Carl's car apparently had an issue and was LOUD.  I think he figured out what the problem was after the race but I don't recall what it was.  Gary's car was a screamer.  Not only was his car fast and quiet, he and Ken W owned the track.  They both could get around the turns with little to no fishtailing.  Well, when the dust settled I was third again!  This finish left me with a nice box plaque.

Over all the night went well. There were no computer glitches.  Jim S handled all the race director duties leaving me to enjoy the racing.  Thanks again to Barnes for the awesome loaners!  Want to build me cars in the future?  If I get Mark P to build my Sunday ones and Barnes to build ones for Wednesday then I would have it made! Just have to remember to race my own race and keep it in the slot! If you don't come out you don't need a marshal!

I did buy some Artin Stockers and hoped to run them as IROC but out of the box they are dogs. I have to work on the wheel slop, the guide, and probably replace the motor with something that has a little more umph.  The cars seems fairly indestructible.  I ordered some white cars and they should be in some time this week.  It is another 5 weeks till we race on the track so I have some time to turn it.

That morning was also very busy.  We had a slot car show here in St Louis.  Our club brought our portable oval.  The article on the show and the track can be found here.

I am on a road trip with my daughters.... photos and stories to come... 

Hope to see everyone at the Slot Car Show the 15th!

I finished putting my table together and getting the track on it.  Now the question is bridge or no bridge. There are some REALLY long straights now and the same curves.  I tossed in the split last night - had a few extra pieces laying around.  I used up most all of my spare track.  I think I will keep the drivers stations along the LONG straight.  I am just trying to decide which track should go over the other.  I really don't want a flat track BUT I would like a few more twists and turns on this.  I also would like to keep it very marshalable (is that a word?)

The track will be like this for the upcoming thrash (bridge to be added though).  I will do the wiring tonight.  But decorations and such will have to wait until I decide that this is really how it is going to be.  All in all, I am glad to have this back up.

See you on the Plastic Track Sunday!!

Jim's track was as tough for me as always.  Notice I didn't say tough for everyone.  My TA car could almost keep up with the pack.  I ended up rolling it a few times thus costing me a podium position.  I didn't have a vintage F1 though.  Mine is still in pieces all over the garage.  It was fun watching the guys race an open wheel class on a course that has a lot of tight turns.  Again we had a computer problem - or so we though.  After replacing a few bulbs and cleaning out the slot only then did Jim find a foreign object interfering with the sensor.  Once it was removed racing went on without a hitch.  I did OK in IROC.  OK for me.  Getting used to straight ohm controllers is tough but it makes for a very level field.

Mike P helped me move the oval into the new part of the basement.  I then went to lay out my boards for the plastic track.  Not good. Seems the oval is a tad long to have my plastic track AND my work bench in the new part.  Some of the guys suggested shortening the plastic track.  I would prefer not too.  I enjoy the plastic track and it was the original track going in.  I was planning on building a smaller oval to go in the basement as well.  My wife said that I could put the oval back in the old part of the basement until we figure out what we are going to do down there.  Mike and Mark, if you are reading this, wanna move it back some night?  Maybe before the race at Gils?  Here are some photos of the track and how tight the spacing would be.

		You can see that even with a mere 24" clearance that there would be NO space for the two tracks to be in the basement at the same time. (you can click on the photos to see a larger image).

I started the day off working on my TA cars.  I finally got the cars AND the parts all in one place.  I didn't know how to best fit the TSRF wood guide on my 2 Scalextic Trans Ams.  Mark P had already done his so I gave him a call.  I ended up running my parts over to his place to (a) verify that I did order the right stuff and (b) see how he did it. With a bit of  dremeling and filing AND solder I got it all to fit and work half way decently.  I'll add photos of the work next time I think about it.

I never did get my Atlas going.  It is still is a bag somewhere on the floor of my garage.  Mark has graciously offered to build my car for me.  Maybe.  If I can find the parts.  It isn't really a class I am in too.  I had thought that I could get a new motor, have someone replace the pinion gear for me, get a set of tires and all would be well.  But no, the parts are all in a bag.  You'll have to come and hear the tale in person if you want more details.  I will probably get it all together sometime.  I am in no rush, so Mark, if you are reading this - thanks, but no.

So, Sunday night came and I was beat.  We had good core turn out but I knew I could not make it through the evening.  My 2 Trans Ams were ready to go.  Paul never showed so I still have the one I am going to loan to him.  Mine ran OK.  It was my driving that wasn't up to snuff.  I really enjoyed racing next to Mark, Gil, and Ken.  I could see where I was a bit more hesitant to drive hard into turns and slower to get on the power leaving.  They are a great group of guys to learn from.  I hope I can get a bit more competitive before the season gets too far.

I left after that.  Gil had to e-mail me the results.  So those are posted, the photos are up, and this has been updated.  Mark gave me a CD with photos of the build process of the new oval.  I have to work on a write-up of sorts.  In hindsight I wish we would have documented more of the steps.  Can't take too many photos.  And we didn't.

All but 2 of the folks who won awards were present so we didn't have to store to many for next time.  In fact, Jim S came a bit late and took his.  Ken R still has his at my house.  The only glitch this year was my forgetfulness in getting all the concourse results to Gil so some folks went home without a trophy - hopefully no hard feelings.  I got the list to Gil and I am sure he will get the trophies and plaques to the appropriate people.

Racing went FAR better than I had expected.  The trucks tuned out awesome.  Concourse is going to be VERY hard this season.  I think it will come down to who can keep their truck looking OK the entire season.  There weren't as many wrecks as I had thought there would be.  I had some issues with the body pins on mine so I ended up many times fixing the body under a green.  I have them fixed now and plan to do better. 

The roadsters ran well too.  Mark P and Gordon had put just enough glue down to make it raceable.  There weren't too many new bodies from the last roadster season so I think concourse might be a tad easier.  My roadster ran like a pace car though.  I had recently replaced the brushes.  Mark P thinks the gearing might be a tad tight.  I am going to have to mess with it and test before the next race.  I'd like to finish somewhere near the top!

Mark P and I are working on a write-up for the new oval.  Soon.  I need to get the guys out to help me move the oval into the new part of basement too.  Once I get it moved then I can start reassembling the plastic track.

Then it came time to play with the cars.  Mine REALLY needed work.  I had to call Mike Z to bring a new set of brushes for my 36D roadster.  I also think there is an issue with my SideX.   Maybe Jim can take a look at it next week when we are at his track.

The folks who brought their NASTrucks did an awesome job of painting!   Concourse is going to be VERY hard to judge this season.  At least at the start before the trucks start taking a beating.  Some folks had their roadsters and F1's done.  I needed to get a new motor in my vintage formula one so I bought one from Mike Z.  I left it at Gil's so he could put the gear on the pinion.  This is not a class that I enjoy but since the club voted it in I am going to give it my best.  I don't know if my car can compete with the rockets Mark P and Gordon had though.

It was also great to see some members return!  Welcome back Ken R and Scott R! You have been missed!