Slot Car Racer Today

[oldweirdherald]

Armature dye is just a thinned out version of dykem. But I am not sure what they use to thin it.

Scotch... but not in the dykem.

[Slapshot]

Scotch... but not in the dykem.

Acetone int he Dykem but not in Pauls Scotch and don't confuse that with Laquer Thinner as that wont work, in either the Scotch or the Dykem

Raymond

[Jeff714]

Have been using the Koford M609, N608 cup spring combination for awhile now with very good success. Spring tention hasn't been a problem yet. The cups work well with the Cahoza CAH-255 springs if you want a little more tention.

[patraceruk]

Hi Ken
I used good old fashioned electrical fuse wire. It's a bit thicker than I would have liked. Must get what ever Richard uses the next time I see him.
Pat

[KVAN]

Ken,

What Pat said! It comes in all the different wire gauges, you can get it from most electronic stores. Fry's would be a good place for you to look locally.

[cbr345]

Ken,

You can also use the wire from an old armature.

chris

[Slotcar Racer]

Short one today. Let the photo suffice to say I have a lot of work to do the next two nights. Unofficial NORCAL race at the new TNT Raceway in Modesto on Saturday, I'd like to get these bow wows loaded into my Cahoza UL/Koford set ups. In the words of Jim Radford, "these are unobtainium"....I'm just glad Jim had them in stock!!! Gotta go

[IMG][/IMG]

[MantaRay]

All I can say after seeing the picture, is, DUCK

Get Busy

[Slotcar Racer]

Finally started to prepare for the race at TNT Raceway in Modesto, California which is tomorrow. I found a perfectly OK JK Products Toyota to mount on my NASCAR, but had to glue up some big hubs tires just in time. They really should cure for a minimum of 24 hours, so I should be able to cut them tonight. I pulled the 8T pinion off the GT12 (good for SCR's super speedway road course) and put on a 7T for TNT's famed Corkscrew. If I have time tonight, I might load the BOW Contender into the Kelly 3 holes set up I ran in LMP last Saturday....the switch shouldn't take too long. Tomorrow I won't really have time to learn the two tracks, so it will be learn while racing. The hillclimb doesn't look bad, although I am concerned about visibility at the end of the lower straightaway while racing on the right side driver's panel....that could be a blind wreck zone, but we'll take a second look tomorrow. I was only at the track once and maybe 20 minutes on the Corkscrew. I ran a bit on yellow and that was a good lane, then moved to white and it was considerably trickier...but only 5 minutes on that one. Anyway, this is a non-points NORCAL race, pretty much a shake down run for the raceway, make sure everything works well. Results to follow. Gotta go now....

["Dub" Wade]

Have fun George. Corkscrew looks challenging

[Slotcar Racer]

Thanks Wade...yes, it is pretty technical allright.

[Slotcar Racer]

Saturday, January 15, 2011. Just back from TNT Raceway in Modesto, CA. First a big thanks for our hosts, Roy and Anne, a real first class operation. The store is clean and well run and it feels good to be there. As for the slotcar racing, today was a "shake down" practice race for the NSCRA ("Norcal") series race at TNT in March of this year. The facility worked perfectly today in terms of the tracks, computer system and power for the tracks. The local turnout was very good today, not so many regular Norcal racers. I do wonder a bit how we will all fit into this store when we have the regular series race, but I'm sure the hosts will find a way to accomodate all the racers.

For me today, this was purely a practice session the first time racing on these tracks. Late last year, Fred and I spent maybe 15 minutes on the Hillclimb, and 15 on the Corkscrew. That first practice left me with the impression the Corkscrew is not an easy track to learn, but the Hillclimb is not too bad. Today I raced the 4" NASCAR class, not my usual style of racing, but it's fun to do something different on a banked track. I do like that little Hillclimb. It has some very fast sections and full punch curves, however many of the curves are pretty flat and you have to be patient with them. I think I came in 5th in that race and Fred won.

After lunch we moved over to the Corkscrew for the LMP (Flexi with Contender/Super Wasp) body class. I was in the first heat on blue and when the power came on, all hell broke loose!!! It was pretty goofy, kind of like watching a cartoon at double speed on a small TV screen. After a heat or two, the field settled down and we found the tiny track races really nicely. Monty Ohren and Greg Gilbert, my hats off to you gentlemen for designing this gem. Unfortunately, Slotcar Racer DNF'd....I reached my maximum self imposed limit of three spur gears. I know the motor moved the first time, but I took plenty of time remounting it so I could at least go out and get more practice on the track. But then I blew two more gears and the only thing I can figure out at this point is the rear bushings may be worn out. Otherwise, hard to figure out what happened. I need to figure it out though, I haven't had this kind of mechanical failure in a few years. Oh yeah, Fred won this one too.

Final race of the day GT12 went a lot better for everybody...those HD bodies really help!!! My car was pretty good, just the same thing I ran last week in the regular NORCAL race. I did end up 3rd place in this one although I came off on my own countless times....indicator I don't know the track very well. My only claim to fame today was fast time on the Corkscrew of 3.339....whoopee.....oh yeah, Fred won this one too. Fred won all three!!! That old codger is fast.

Oh, one more thing in hindsight, Howard loaned me a demo controller, a FETroller. I figured I didn't know the tracks, so I may as well try a new controller. I wish my logic had been thought out a little more, but I just wanted to run this controller. It's really nice, and the sensitivity control fills in the gaps missing on my Speedshop controllers.

Tomorrow heading up to SCR to test the FETroller some more, this time with F1 eurosport, 32 Euro and 24 Euro. I better go wash the dishes now...

[Jeff714]

I've been using the FETroller for several weeks now and could not be happier with it! So far I haven't found anything it doesn't do well. The adjustably range is very impressive.

The way Howard has setup the FTB is very cool! In a race last week I was using about 30% choke with the FTB on. The car coming out of the curves and stayed very stable when the bypass came on. No hard bang! Very cool and drivable feature!

Look forward to hearing more of your thoughts later today on the FETroller.

[team burrito]

Slot Car Racer, i need your help. I recently bought a Hakko 936 from Fry's, but it came with the medium-sized 907 handle. They do make a kit to convert the handle from medium to large tips. My question is it worth converting the handle or is it fine the way it is?

[GearBear]

Russ,

I have the 936/907 and it is a little on the lite duty side for chassis work and mounting motors. I would definitely put the heavier tip in. I also have the 900 handle with the conversion to the large tip. It is what I use 98% of the time. I DO like using the 907 for wires and stuff as the smaller tip gets into places so much easier.

907 to 908 Conversion kit

George, I'll try giving you a call on my way home