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Something a little different, thought this might be interesting for some.  

 

With this chassis you can adjust the weights trackside with your tire tool without even taking the body off, and they can even be adjusted between (or during) heats in seconds. Great for back-to-back comparison of different weight locations. This is something of a proof-of-principle prototype and the next version will probably be a good bit more elegant.

 

 

A local racer spotted this and shared on my FB page.

 

It was constructed by a man by the name of Sherman Collings.

Here is a 3D look at the handle instead of the graphic.

 

Since I quit punching a time clock in late 2012, I've mostly worked from home and in recent months, I realized that I was probably sitting around a bit too much for an old geezer like me. So I started looking for a part-time gig, not so much for the money, but just to get out of the house and away from the computer.
 


The main criteria was that I didn't want to have a long commute in the miserable Atlanta traffic to wherever the job was located. When I saw that the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, GA, was looking to hire a ticket taker for their gatehouse, I figured it would be a perfect place for me. It's just five miles up the road and has short hours – 10 AM to 5 PM. It is also only open limited days, depending on the season. In January and February, the musem is open Thursday through Saturday. In June and July, it's open Tuesday through Saturday. Except for special events (and there are a few of those), I'll probably only be working one or two days a week.
 


SRM has been around 50 years and is officially "Georgia's Transportation Museum" by act of the state legislature. There are over 90 pieces of rolling stock on the 35-acre property, which includes a minature amusement park train ride, as well as a short full-size train ride. President Warren Harding's private Pullman railcar, Superb, (shown below) is treasured part of the collection and as with much of the rolling stock, visitors are permitted to walk through it. There's an excellent model train layout, a MARTA bus collection, and much more. The museum is alongside the Atlanta-Washington CSX mainline which sees a lot of trains every day. The museum's driveway, which is the only access, crosses the mainline and its adjacent siding, and it is not uncommon for it to be blocked for up to an hour, trapping everyone on the museum property.
 

 
The vast majority of people working at the museum are volunteers, but there's a small paid staff who are responsible for handling money and for opening and closing the museum. The latter duty is no small task, as it takes perhaps 40 mins for one person to accomplish. There are something like 70 electrical breakers in multiple locations that have to be flipped on just to power up the place!
 

 
The best part is that perhaps 25-30% of the museum's visitors are pre-teen children and their excitment is a joy to see. We also receive visitors from all over the world.
 
A couple of weeks ago, we had a young couple from Kazakhstan ("You don't have a zip code? Why not?") with their six or seven-year-old son. After a couple of hours, when this family was headed toward the parking lot, the boy was loudly wailing and throwing a fit. The two of us at the gatehouse were wondering if the child had gotten hurt. The young mother saw the concern in our eyes and smilingly told us, "He just doesn't want to leave."

Now into actual production after 10 years of arduous research. We don't have yet a release date. This 400-page, 750-picture hardcover volume has an interactive website providing all the information that would have made the printed book far too large. At the end of each relevant paragraph or sub-chapter are simple links to a web address where a person who purchased the book will be able to read the added information, that is dynamic, and add comments to an incorporated blog.

We believe that it could be the first book of the kind.

This book was edited by Don Siegel and is being produced by the extremely competent and well known in full-size car collecting circles, Larry Crane.

It will be available from many sources in the USA, including Electric Dreams, Auto Books in Burbank, CA and plenty of other outfits, and will be available in Europe and Asia from various retailers.

Called "Slot Car Dreams," its focus is mostly about 1960s commercial raceway slot car racing and models produced in Europe and Asia, inspired by the American models. It is not so much a "picture book" or a catalogue, more of a history book, the tale of the companies and the men who made it possible. It features plenty of never published information, rarely seen production and professional racing cars, and encompasses the "Classic Era" of slot car racing, the great years between 1962 through 1968, expanding to historical information before and after these years. For the first time, it will show the production cars inside their original packaging, that have become as important as the contents for slot car collectors.

Below are the book's cover (which is not its final version) and a pair of sample pages.

Here we are with yet another motor issue in Retro racing. As an IRRA^® BoD member I can assure you we are working towards a solution. Some of you wanted this "fixed" yesterday but I think you already know that's not feasible. We can not make a "knee jerk" reaction to this because it is at the core of our program. Act too fast, without all the information and without studying all the possibilities, and you often compound the problem. And for the conspiracy theorists out there, well don't you think we should wait for confirmation and all the evidence before we lynch Tim and JK? There will be a solution.
 
As a track owner and a Premiere Race host it is my responsibility to make my event as fair and fun as possible. To that end I will do what I think needs to be done, up to and including hand-outs in all classes, to make things as level as possible. I firmly believe the IRRA^® will come up with a workable solution if this is indeed a major problem and not just a momentary blip. However we have no control over the Chinese manufacturers and little sway with JK. We simply don't have a big enough economic punch.
 
I personally believe there is no ulterior motive or greed agenda associated with this from JK. But we are at his mercy if any motor changes need to be made.
 
I'm posting this now so those that hate hand-outs will know that, as of now, hand-outs are a possibility at the R4/10. If that changes your mind and you won't attend then I'm sorry. I'm hoping that a solution is coming soon and this will be a non-issue.

By 1969, the pro-racing chassis design had evolved to a design that it would carry until the end of 1972, when new technology was introduced that offered an instant increase in performance from higher cornering speed.

The late Bob Emott had been the design leader from the early days of the anglewinder design, and effectively became the best chassis builder in the United States and likely, the world, inspiring other builders in the USA and abroad. He would do so until 1971.

Never resting on his laurels, Emott continuously evolved his designs, and this car is typical of his progress. Built for Team Mini Wheels Chris "The Judge" Vitucci, it represents the "next step" in the evolution of the so-called "plumber" chassis (so named because described as a "plumber's nightmare" when first introduced.


The center section is now made of two rails on each side of a 1-1/4" Cobra drop arm, one being a brass rod. The "motor box" of older 1968 chassis is now gone, main rails connecting shorter "half rails" to the rear axle tube. The side pans are now hinged two ways, with the rails hinged from the front of the drop arm.




The front axle tube is now partly "vented," to allow easier lubrication and also lower the center of gravity, even if by a minuscule amount. 

The front wheels are Mini Wheels, while the rears are Cobra. The guide and the gears are Cox items.

The motor is a faithful replica of a Kean massaged Champion "535" can with a Mura endbell fitted with Champion hardware. The endbell is side vented to expel as much of the heat as possible. The armature is a dual wound Kean on Champion blanks, 27/28 wire. Magnets are Champion Arco "DZ." The lead wires are Marklin stuff, lots of strands there. Axles are 1/8" drill blanks, the rear running inside Globe-Versitec flanged ball bearings.

As found in the pile of chassis retained by Bob Emott and purchased by the LASCM a few years ago, it needed a few repairs but was in quite nice condition, so it was simply repaired and washed. The soldering mess on the drop arm was left alone as it happened during the main event in which the car was raced (Vitucci having TQ'd) but he worked to destroy the car during the race. I decided not to touch it.

The guide and lead wires were still attached to the chassis and I left them alone as they showed no damage. It was missing its Kean motor, so I assembled one from parts, exactly as Bob Kean would have done in early 1969. The drop arm is engraved, as many of the 1969 Emott chassis were:

"Super Arm Batwinder"
Built for Chris Vitucci
The COBRA killer
By
Bob Emott





The body is a Dynamic McLaren M8, painted and decorated as a replica of the original Dave Bloom artwork by the best person to do such a job today, Joe "Noose" Neumeister. He was there, and his memory cells are quite excellent at remembering what colors to apply.











This one was a tough job for me, as the motor clearance was the tightest I had to deal with on an Emott chassis so far, and I did not want to remove or grind anything off that would have compromised the originality of this great car, which set the American "Blue King" qualifying record with a then fast 4.72". We now have no less than five "Blue King" record holding cars at the LASCM, the oldest from 1967, the youngest from 1985!

This car is of course fully functional, as all restorations performed for the LASCM are. But it is now a shelf queen, a witness of a great period in the history of electric model car racing.

I am spending the next four days filling up the shelves of the display room with production and hand built slot cars, as well as built-up static kits and MIB kits.

Here are some views of the "pro racing" side of the room with original and reproduced cars, period trophies and boxes. There are "drag racing", "pro racing", "thingy" and "hand built" sections. Still tons of work to do, but getting there at last. The models and boxes are located at the back of the large room, in a section all by themselves.



One corner of that section shows part of the extensive display:



The 1967 Rod & Custom Cup is surrounded by cars that actually took part in the races, rare survivors indeed.



The sole surviving "Team Russkit" box, complete with its original contents. It lived for over 35 years in the boot of a VW Beetle...



One of the most famous slot car boxes of all time, and the most traveled in the day, was that of Bruce Paschal. The airline stickers show how simpler things were before the first oil crisis in 1973.



Possibly the only Gorski controller still in its original box... with a Parma prototype at right and a custom painted set of Champion handles by Dave Bloom:



There will be over 200 "pro racing" cars on display, covering a period from 1963 through 1973. Chassis, motors, tires, tools will also be on display. If you lived that era, or love it as a younger person, this place will make you happy, even if you cannot physically visit, as there will be videos and detailed pictures online.

My late brother Willy took me to my first sports car race when I was 7 or 8  in Wichita Kansas in 1957 - 1958. Back then they were racing on airfield tarmacs. I really enjoyed seeing the Ferrari, Maserati and Lotus racing cars to mention a few but the one thing that really stood out to me was the dual racing stripes that some of the cars were sporting. Ever since I started racing slot cars in 1964 I had always painted dual racing stripes on many of my cars. 

 

Seven, eight years ago I had an idea to make literal “Racing Stripes” into a slot car. I began with the sketch you see here. Working as an engraver I had access to a computerized engraving machine and proceeded to cut a piece of brass to look like double racing stripes. Going thru many pieces, bending and shaping the brass until I finally came up with a design I liked.

 

This is the result, finished a few days ago.

I wanted to keep a kind of dual theme in mind.

 

Dual racing stripes for the “body” and frame with two main rails. There are actually four rear wheels, two per side mounted back to back. The front wheels have two “O” rings that were ground down to size. Two prong knock off’s. Double holes in the rear of the “body” to facilitate two megaphone exhaust pipes that still need to be made and mounted, still have to figure out how to make and mount them. I also made the motor bracket with two “slits” on each side.

 

Racing Stripes will probably never see track time except maybe a slow parade lap or two just to prove it can!

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Marinko

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congrats to Cap Henry for showing them the way around an indoor oval and holding his own versus none other than Tony Stewart in Fort Wayne midgets race. Fellow slot racer and car owner Joe Liguori was in the mix also, finishing third behind Cap.
 

 
After eight years, Smoke Rises in Fory Wayne Again

Hi guys,

 

I made some "old school" dragsters with my CNC mill. Strombecker padlock and good old 36D motors. The 36D 7.75" dragsters runs very well and also are lightweight; the padlock dragsters are 7.75" and 4.0" wheelbase set-up.

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremy just posted this at Facebook:

 

Progress on the "What if Lola made a six wheeler back in the day". Some more details and need to find a suitable interior and she will be finished.

Here is what I have so far... I had to change the original plan from an independently moving front wheels ISO chassis to all four wheels moving up at the same time. The original plan had a very loose front end which wouldn't have worked very well. Hope that makes sense? 🤔 It's powered by a beautiful John Havlicek monster motor ❗️ The red wheel inserts I made on my Ender 3D printer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would like to throw out another point of view not that anyone will give a damn.
 
 Tim (JK) came into this with people complaining about the inconsistent motor situation. Too many dogs and never enough bullets. Brushes are too soft, brushes are too hard, whatever. He has tried to make the situation better.  
 
I for one thank Tim for his efforts. That includes the successes and the warts as well. I hope Tim chooses to continue to produce products for our hobby.

Dear racers and raceway owners,

 

JK Products® (JK) would like to thank the many racers and raceway owners who have supported our involvement in USRA racing in the past. Unfortunately, JK believes that the USRA is now so corrupt that we can no longer support the organization.

 

As of today, we are renouncing the company’s membership In USRA and withdrawing all its products and support. It is acknowledged that this is a very serious action and we hope racers will understand this action is not being taken lightly.

 

The final straw was the national director’s refusal to allow approval of the C43 Aeolos chassis despite the unanimous approval of the scale division director, the scale technical director, the assistant scale technical director, and the majority vote of the product approval committee; the national director remains the only one opposed. We believe his highly selective interpretation of USRA rules is often incorrect and unfairly biased against JK.

 

This action is not taken solely due to the national director’s veto of the C43. JK has worked to try to remedy the situation within the USRA but it quickly became clear that USRA is not being run for the benefit of the racers. Sincere apologies to all racers inconvenienced by what JK views as a necessary action, and for the long term good of the industry.

 

JK Products® remains firmly dedicated to supporting the raceway owners, racers, and the slot car industry, as you will see in the coming weeks, months, and years.  

 

 USRA Final.pdf   802.64KB   480 downloads

Hi Bryan,
 

If you would have asked before posting, I would have explained that what you are seeing is exactly one of the process changes that results in lower variability.
 
As explained previously, JK Products Retro 7R and 7 motors are now 100% robotically computer balanced. They are the only motors in the industry that are 100% computer balanced. This is an internal processing/tolerance change, not a major product specification change. The IRRA^® board was informed of this process improvement and other process tolerance improvements, all designed to reduce variability and make our motors the most consistent motors in the industry.

 

In the past, all our armatures were hand balanced, like some of our competitors. As you can imagine, this hand balancing was not nearly as consistent as an automated machine can be. Not only that, the automatic balancing can balance to a much tighter tolerance using much smaller corrections than are available using hand balancing. That is what you are seeing in your photograph. Notching for larger changes, and very small drill holes for even better balancing than ever before.

I will have a detailed balancing post on our Facebook page later today, including a video of the process that you might find interesting.
 
Finally, if anyone thinks they have found a problem with any of our products, please grant me the courtesy of contacting me first by email; I will always respond. If I don’t satisfy your concerns, feel free then to express them on social media.

Some of you on Slotblog may know me; some may not, but I have been racing slot cars since the early '90s. I have traveled all over the south racing with my friends.

 

So a couple years ago after being out of slot cars for about five years I got my son into the hobby and he has developed a passion for slot cars more than I ever had. Recently i have really focused on building and showing him how to solder, how to adjust Retro and flexi cars, and the maintenance of the cars. He has been getting better every time we race and just loving slot cars, which is rare in our day and age of computers and gaming.

 

We attended a race this past weekend. We built him a brand new Can-Am car that my son was so proud of because it was the first one that he ever helped build. So he starts out by qualifying with the fastest time he ever turned and the car is really good. He starts the race so I go over to work on some other cars while he is running. I never looked at where he was running but he had told me he was running really good, so after the second or third heat someone came over and said your son is flying so I looked at the monitor and he was ahead by three or four laps! Then I started watching him and he continued to pull away, just driving the wheels off of the car.

 

The next heat I pitted the car, put it back on the track, and the heat started – all was well. My son made it about three or four laps when the magic smoke came trailing out of the car then quit. My son was devastated and I could not get him to calm down. I went to change the motor, because we had back-ups, but he still was really upset.

 

Then this is the part I wanted to share with everyone. A man I had never met him before (still do not no who he is) walked up, leaned over to my son, and said to him, "You were running a great race and i want you to have this brand new motor to replace the one you blew up." instantly my son was OK.

 

I got more pleasure from that one moment than I did the whole rest of the day and it really showed me one act of kindness at a slot car race made more of a impression on my son than if he would have won the race.

 

I want to thank that man, whoever you are, and just to let you know that's all he talks about since the race. You have made a lasting impression on my son...

 

Slot car racers are really great people.

First off most big event slot car races(other than slot drag) have in the past not had cash awards. Doing so only will bring out the worst attitude and behavior.

Precisely the reason IRRA^® was set up with no cash prizes and you will never see this happen at any off the major IRRA^® Premier events. Several on the IRRA^® Board lived through the money racing era and it was the most cutthroat, dirtiest racing. Get in my lane and you were walled. Anything for the evil bucks. We did not want to have racing for money, we rather want to have good racing between friends.

So first off I want to say that I'm enjoying Retro racing so much. I never imagined it would be like it is and what it has become. I have had tons of help from everyone getting me some wins here and there and for that I'm very thankful.
 
I want to talk about some subjects that I catch on here and Facebook from time to time.  
 
I want to talk about the JK Retro Hawk. I see people talk good and bad about these motors, some things I have seen is you need 10 to get one good one. When I first read that from multiple people, I was kind of shocked. Are some motors better than others? Sure, every time, even when you custom-build $700 Group 7 motors that have identical specs.  
 
Now some of you may believe me or may not believe me, I'm not here to judge, I'm just here to tell you my experience with these motors. When I go to a race and, for example, I race two classes that day, I will buy two motors and put them in my cars, and break them in, in the car itself. I have yet to be underpowered IMO to a point where I lost a race, at least that I think.  
 
I honestly think that how you break them in is everything! I race these motors every week at my local shop (PJ Raceway) in three different classes and i cannot tell you how close racing is on a weekly basis. I'm not here to argue with anyone, I enjoy racing Retro very much and tend to get along with everyone and want to keep it that way.
 
But I cannot express myself any better when I say 8 out of 10 JK Retro Hawk motors can win a Premier Event. I'm totally shocked actually on how consistent they are from one another because how they're made and where they're made. These are motors that are nothing special spec-wise, which I'm sure we all can agree on.  
 
I think you need to be patient enough while breaking these motors in. I have had motors that in 10 laps are where I want them to be, and I have motors that take 100+ laps to be where I want them to be. Don't give up on the motors that don't run after 100+ laps; I've been in that situation a lot.  
 
Well, I think I'm done with this little rant, I feel better now. 
 
Thanks, guys 'n gals,
 
Chubby

For "pro" racers then and now, a "King" track was and is the setting to establish new speed records. Everything being relative since every so-called "King" track has its own performance altering characteristics, may it be surface, contact rails, banked turns and of course, power available, both voltage and amperage.

In an era of constant technological evolution that the late 1960s were for the fastest slot cars on earth, one of the biggest technological flops was the Mura "B" motor. Born in late 1968, its low profile promised a lower center of gravity, while the thickness of its magnets guaranteed plenty of field to the armature. But it was not to be: while the "B" were fast, they immediately showed to run hot, very hot, ate their "16D" brushes at an alarming rate and anything that Ron and George Mura threw at the design in a bid to save it from the bin, failed. Eventually after months of efforts, different vent-hole patterns, different can thickness, even versions that were "circular milled" to reduce what was now identified as a faulty magnetic field, a few guys in California figured out how to keep these motors from self-immolation. Pete Zimmerman and his accomplice John Cukras experimented first with stacked 16D brushes, one on top of the other, covering the whole width of the commutator. Special brush holders from brass channel soldered to copper endbell plates made this possible, along with longer brush springs.

Then, Zimmerman simply ran the larger "36D" brush, and matters improved considerably. A change in magnet material and its manufacturing process allowing proper magnetic field orientation finalized the development, and suddenly, the "B" were fast AND reliable.

Racers were very skeptical and most of them had abandoned the "B," returning to the larger and taller "16D" sized Mura or Champion cans. 

But a few kept pursuing the "B" avenue, and Mike Tango of Nutley Raceway in New Jersey, as well as Bob Emott, plus the people at Certus in Munster, Indiana, were convinced of the handling advantages provided by the "B" design. Many Brits, as clearly seen in the pictures of pro racing cars that ran in London and on the south coast, also went the "B" way, at last for a while, and made them work, likely on cleaner power than used on American racing tracks.

Peter von Ahrens was an American racer of German noble ancestry, and by 1969, had become a potential winner in any pro race around the country. Pete was a good friend of John Cukras, and was provided with hardware and other help by Ron Mura. So unlike most East Coast racers, Pete used Mura equiptment, and was one to really try his hardest at making the "B" motor be a success.

And, it happened: on November 22, 1969, Pete ran a car he built with a "B" motor featuring the latest improvements and set new records at the Sixth and final "Car Model" race of the year at Nutley raceway. Not only did he match the absolute lap record on a "King", that sat at 4.72", which may seem a bit slow in these days of "sub 1.4" laps, but was a shocker then. Let's remember that this was over 10 years before cobalt magnets and tiny motors powering 3" tall aerodynamic shovels came to be.



In the race itself, Pete fought a good battle with Mitch Keil, running a new cut-down Champion can motor built by Joel Montague, following Bob Green's lead in hammering a can over a steel die to fit the better Champion Arco "Blue Dot" magnets without shims, and a Pooch armature by the same. But it was not to be as Keil crashed several times on the difficult black lane, and von Ahrens cruised to a 470 lap total, a new distance record.

Meanwhile, Bob Green had been hard at work, and soon, both Mura and Champion had their own smaller can motor, the "C." And the Mura "B" motor was history, this very quickly, as the "C" motors and their variations by both Champion and Mura would rule pro racing until someone discovered the Samarium Cobalt magnets, rewriting a page that has now lasted to this day.

Incredibly, Pete's car survived, barely. Unearthed a few years ago from the collection of the late Robert Emott Jr., it was in the worst of shapes. Rusty, corroded, awful. I ended with it and trusted one of the finest chassis restorers in the United States, Steve Okeefe, to save it. Steve did a great job, and the chassis is now part of the expanding LASCM collection, really the best place for it to be on this planet if any of this stuff is to survive long term.
 

 


It was my decision to now, revive it as it was, preparing a "B" motor in exactly the same way Pete ran his. I selected a used "circular milled" B can, a used endbell, a Mura 24S "Bubblegum" armature and went to work. And that took two full days, as it is far difficult to restore old rusty parts, than build from new...

The can was broken and needed a new spot weld, then was surface ground and left unpainted as was the practice. Cuts where made to clear the chassis by the mounting plate. Vent slots were cut where the can meets the endbell, and the retaining screw holes were countersunk to fit 1-64 taper-head slotted Champion can screws.

The endbell was cleaned, tapped for 2-56 machine screws, and received early style buss bars made of copper wire, the negative bar going through the endbell, drilled at an angle to provide clearance for the opposite brush spring array. Genuine Mabuchi FT36D brushes were slotted deeper to receive the copper shunt wires, then fitted with Mura brush springs.


 

 



 


A 64-pitch steel spur gear and 10t steel pinion provided the proper mesh, as the motor could only fit in the chassis in one spot and did not offer any gearing alternative to provide tire clearance. Front wheels are magnesium Mini Wheels, rear wheels are Associated with the "magic" Emott blue rubber. The guide is a Jet Flag of the same color used by von Ahrens on other known cars he built. I will complete the build with braided contacts and Cox copper guide inserts at a later time. Also fitted are Cobra blue lead wires, something he also used on other cars.

All needed now, is a "Dave Bloom replica" body, and that is in the works as Joe Neumeister has been commissioned to provide one in Pete's green colors, to finish this important and fortunately, well-documented car in slot car racing history.