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Post by Daryl Payne on May 14, 2020 13:28:15 GMT -7
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Post by Daryl Payne on May 14, 2020 14:20:49 GMT -7
Ok, Not too soon to start talking about the 20-21 season. I have a few thoughts on classes and regulations. First regarding some of our regulations. I would suggest that we reconsider the ground clearance-- it was major issue last season. For example many of the Fly Classic cars were hard pressed to meet the 1/16 minimun clearance: and, out the box, a Classsic was very close to begin with: then after a tire upgrade who knows, perhaps sand the devil out chassis, or order an assortment of tires hoping one would conform. Not running magnets, when you are just at 1/16 is there an advantage for the guy who is just barely below that amount of clearance?? If we were runing magnets, yes, there probably would be some advantage., How many times do we see last minute butchery of cars to make very, very minute changes? I think it also puts an extra burden on the rules techs, they do a great job, but why burden them with some close, but "not legal" item that probably is not that much of an advantage. As far as accuracy is concerned, 1/16" is about 2 inches in real life. Won't find any real race cars running 2 inches of ground clearance anyway. And we allow cars that are "over scale size,to run all the time. Just refer to some of Bob's real vs model specifications in every car he reviews. I cant remember when the last Ninco was not allow because of a scale issue. Yes some of our rules I regard as sacred, e.g. front wheels that turn, a driver (duh), numbers, etc. These are just some thoughts i have, and certainly invite other opions.
NOW FOR CLASSES: I have really enjoyed races where the cars are about equal in performance. I would think that some of the Slot.it cars would be good, for example the, group C slot.it cars, there are 5 marques (Lancia,Nissan, Porsche Sauber, and Toyota, in a total of 10 liveries.) performance would be close among the group. I really would like the Slot.it DMT cars, however they do not yet quite make the "vintage" description. I think a true vintage should be a part of every season. Also, i would like to see an open wheel class as a part of every season. I would really like to see what other members might come up with, classes that would promote parity and one that was with car we would love to run after the season.
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Post by Tom Dolan on May 14, 2020 14:47:14 GMT -7
I like your ideas about clearance and scale issues. It has always been an issue with the club. Anyway, I'd like to see a Thunder Slot/Slot.it Can Am race. I know the Thunder Slot cars are a little off scale but their performance is very similar to the Slot.it cars and I think it would be a great class. Thunderslot has McLarens, Lola T70s and the new Elva. Slot.it has McLarens and Chaparrals. I'd also like to do Ninco Classics again--great cars with similar performance. Maybe with the HR 14K motor this time. Would we want to do another 1/24 true vintage class? If we do, how about open wheel cars such as Cox BRM and Ferrari, Monogram Lotus 38, Strombecker Lancia D50, etc. I'm sure there are others. How about true vintage 1/32 production cars--Cobras, Ferraris, Corvettes, Mercedes 300SL, Aston Martin, etc. Anyway, some ides, hope to hear some more. Tom
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Post by chris on May 14, 2020 19:26:21 GMT -7
I like Daryl and Toms rule and class ideas. However the Ninco Classic idea is difficult because the motors don't fit in some of the cars like my Porsche for instance. I like the idea of running the class I would rather run it box stock plus and that way there is no motor issues.
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Post by Steve Burkey on May 15, 2020 13:41:44 GMT -7
"a little off scale"?? How about "a whole lot!". Look up the actual dims of the McLaren Elva; I forget the wheelbase, but F and R track were just 48"! A tiny racecar by current standards. I admired the "Elvis" car in the Mathews collection for a few years back when. As to the T-slot, don't even begin to talk about inaccurate wheels, both size and style, wrong colors for specified races, etc etc. But then, you all know me.
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Post by Tom Dolan on May 15, 2020 20:13:24 GMT -7
"a little off scale"?? How about "a whole lot!". Look up the actual dims of the McLaren Elva; I forget the wheelbase, but F and R track were just 48"! A tiny racecar by current standards. I admired the "Elvis" car in the Mathews collection for a few years back when. As to the T-slot, don't even begin to talk about inaccurate wheels, both size and style, wrong colors for specified races, etc etc. But then, you all know me. Wow. Thunderslot cars were not made to be exact scale, they are made for racing and they do that VERY well. Yes, the Elva is off by about 3/8" in width in the back and that makes for a great handling car--just like Thunderslot intended. The tire issue is easily fixed with taller supertires or whatever tire you wish to use. It will make a great series if it is voted in. Use a Slot.it car since it is more to scale and both brands are very close in performance so it would probably come down to driver and tuning. Just my thoughts on these cars. Tom
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Post by Jim Weickum on May 16, 2020 21:10:49 GMT -7
I don't see a reason to change a rule that has been in the Club for over 15 years. The minimum ride height of 1/16th of a inch has other reasons besides just "better performance". Since most of our tracks are sectional tracks, Carrera, Revell and Scalextric, these tracks all have "raised power rails". If your car is lower than the 1/16th inch rule, it may/will rub on these raised rails. When I bought my first Carrera set, 2007, the rails on some of the straight sections were raised close to 1/16th of an inch. When the original cars were run, they would drag across the rails. If you stopped on one of those tracks, the car would not move, just spinning it's tires. If you sanded/trued your tires or wheels you will have less clearance. If you use a car with a motor pod, like Slot.it, NSR, Thunderslot, Scaleauto, Racer/Sideways, etc., the car will be lowered as you back off the pod screws to get your "float". Yes, your ground clearance is quickly going down.
If you race at Colpar's track, you can quickly tell when a car has too little ground clearance. You can hear it scrapping as it comes up the "hill". If it does this, scrape on the "hill", you may now know why your car seems to come off a lot when you crest the hill. The guide is only partly in the track or maybe not at all!!
If you use a car that has a sidewinder motor pod, you may/will hear the spur gear drag as you corner, if the ground clearance is low. If you use copper tape on top of the rails, you have again made the on track ground clearance less. Now, we may also know why the copper tape is getting worn at Colpar. We check our car's ground clearance on a flat plane surface, not on a section of the track we are racing on. There again do look at the ground clearance of a slot car as it used on the different tracks, as reported in "Bob's Magazine". You will see that the slot cars have less ground clearance on a Carrera track, which is what most of the races are run on.
Yes, let's get rid of the minimum ground clearance. I would love to see people complain about why their slot car doesn't seem to be handling all of a sudden tonight!! We can all listen to the scrapping and really know what the "problem" is.
Jim W
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Post by Jim Weickum on May 16, 2020 21:51:40 GMT -7
On classes that we run, I don't see how we could run an "open wheel class" every year. There are only a few different classes of open wheel slot cars, 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. We would run into the same problems as the vintage slot cars. There is a limited amount of classes for the cars to run in. Every few years, you would be running the same cars over and over. I think it is the least sold slot car. There are not many different cars to choose from. I don't really like the open wheel cars that much. They are my least favorite cars to race. I like fenders on my cars.
When I get my new track up and running, you will have to make the open wheel cars get through my track's squeeze section. Yes, every lap, the cars will have 2" track spacing around a curve for about 5 feet. There is not a high enough "catch fence" to keep the open wheel cars on the track!!!
Jim W
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Post by Daryl Payne on May 21, 2020 14:09:13 GMT -7
Jim, I am hoping for a pic of the new track. It always exciting when we get another venue. What happened to the old track?? In answer to my thoughts on the minimum track clearance. It seems then, with minimal performence of a nonmagnetic car, and the potential friction, and bumping of a car very close to the track, it seems like the issue would pretty much take care of itself with no policing. Certainly you have put in more time than any of the committee, and had to bare the brunt of complainig drivers. Jim, on F1, you are the king of vintage F1. Yes vintage F1 are so hard to come by that new member are greatly stressed to get a runnable car. I don't remember if i said (always an open wheel class) or if i said vintage open wheel. But-- you make a good point on the number of different races we good do without boring repetitions. The newer F1 cars are much more fun to drive now due to the advent of 10v for the ff motors, but not my fav' either.
Tom, do all of the thunderslots share the wide track?? I am kind of leary about racing them against narrower Slot.it cars. But you mention they were about on a par with each other. I just like the same scale for everybody. But if a lot of members thought it was ok i would not have any problems. In fact i was about to suggest a Thunderslot class for the coming season. Either way ok.
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Post by Tom Dolan on May 21, 2020 20:20:42 GMT -7
Jim, I am hoping for a pic of the new track. It always exciting when we get another venue. What happened to the old track?? In answer to my thoughts on the minimum track clearance. It seems then, with minimal performence of a nonmagnetic car, and the potential friction, and bumping of a car very close to the track, it seems like the issue would pretty much take care of itself with no policing. Certainly you have put in more time than any of the committee, and had to bare the brunt of complainig drivers. Jim, on F1, you are the king of vintage F1. Yes vintage F1 are so hard to come by that new member are greatly stressed to get a runnable car. I don't remember if i said (always an open wheel class) or if i said vintage open wheel. But-- you make a good point on the number of different races we good do without boring repetitions. The newer F1 cars are much more fun to drive now due to the advent of 10v for the ff motors, but not my fav' either. Tom, do all of the thunderslots share the wide track?? I am kind of leary about racing them against narrower Slot.it cars. But you mention they were about on a par with each other. I just like the same scale for everybody. But if a lot of members thought it was ok i would not have any problems. In fact i was about to suggest a Thunderslot class for the coming season. Either way ok. I don't know if all the Thunderslot are way out of scale-some think they are-but I still think it would make a fun class with the Slot.it cars. The Thunderslot Mclaren M6 is wider than the Monogram M6, but basically the same size (wheelbase and track) as the Slot.it M8. Tom
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Post by David Asbury on May 22, 2020 14:28:00 GMT -7
I think we get a little too hung up on scale sometimes as mentioned some cars are just way off like a Ninco Cobra for example. It is just too wide too big and great fun to race!! As for classes, all classes can be a lot of fun if we set them up right. As you all know, I especially like to run the cars that were around when I was a kid so I definitely want to have a true vintage class of some sort. The 1/24 cars were a hoot once we got the hang of it so there is an opening to kill two birds with one stone with open wheel 1/24 true vintage and not be repeating a class.
Keep it in the slot, David
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Post by Jim Weickum on Jun 10, 2020 7:17:40 GMT -7
I was thinking about a Vintage class that would include, Cheetah vs Cobra. I have a Revell "series 2" Cobra, with the "Fireball motor", that would be a handful on Fred's track. The box shows that the motor turns 58,000 R.P.M. The Strombecker Cheetah would have to outhandle it for the win.
Jim W
P.S. That motor was rated at 18 volts. So it is the same as the other Vintage motors of the that type. They were rated at 36k-40k at 12 volts.
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Post by Tom Dolan on Aug 25, 2020 20:20:21 GMT -7
So.......are we going to race this year? I think we should consider it anyway, depending on how the pandemic goes in the fall months. Let's keep it on the table and maybe even pick classes just in case. Tom
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Post by Tom Dolan on Sept 1, 2020 10:48:42 GMT -7
There are some good suggestions here for the next season, maybe we should start a poll after a few more ideas are posted. Another suggestion for true vintage--1960s Ford vs. Chevy. (muscle cars, Can Am, sports cars,etc.) Tom
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Post by David Asbury on Sept 1, 2020 13:40:44 GMT -7
Muscle cars? Did you put in a drag strip? I know, you want to run a K&B GTO don't you? That's fine by me. David
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