57 replies to this topic

[sportblazer350]

I recently purchased a TRSF RTR car, and took it to my local track for some testing. WOW!!! is this car great!!! I ran it stock as sold on the Electric Dreams website. This car handles like a dream!! This one is the version with aluminum wheels, foam rubber tires, and 64 pitch metal gears. I had purchased the model with plastic wheels and hard rubber tires a while back, and began tuning it for racing on commercial tracks. That one has a Tamiya Porsche 962C body on it, added lead weights to the chassis, ProTrack rears, Slot.it gears. This car performs well also, just handles a bit differently due to the heavier plastic model kit body, so lead weights were needed. Both handle really well, not too fast, a dream to race!

I have also had a 1/32 TSRF car for plastic home tracks. Since our 1/32 plasticar club never got into this class, I replaced the rubber rear tires and plastic wheels with foam rubbers, and this car took on a whole new life on the bigger wood track!!

In my opinion, these cars are the perfect solution to get plasticar racers onto the larger wood tracks. I am surprised that the TRSF chassis has not had a bigger impact at the commercial tracks. I am a new fan!!! And I am trying to introduce this as a class to race in both clubs I race with (NJ132 and CARS Vintage slot car club).

I like the scale appearance the TSRF offers vs Flexi type cars, the adjustability of the chassis, as well as the performance. I don't like to race car that are so fast that they look like a blur, and that is just me, not knocking anyone who races really fast slot cars. Same goes for HO and 1/32 scale plasticars.

I wanted to share my newfound joy with the TSRF car with any out there who have yet to try them. I highly recommend trying them out in your local club and tracks.

[TSR]

Glenn, thanks for the nice comments. It is very difficult to convince either the plastic car crowd to race these cars at a raceway or even between their friends at home racing tracks. You see, the TSR car is always deemed "too fast" or to have an "illegal metal chassis" (apparently metal added to a plastic chassis is the devil itself to the all-plastic car brigade) so the home-racing track owners simply do not want those sweet cars to compete with their less sophisticated and often more expensive plastic jobs. Whatever reason they will find NOT to allow fair competition.

Every time we have a TSR "IROC" demo race like last month at the Checkpoint Cup, we get lots of racers and they all LOVE IT.
But the translation to actual further use is tough.

TSR sells 98% of the cars to individuals or retailers for what I call "curmudgeon dungeon use", meaning that these cars are hardly ever raced against their true competition. Very sad indeed, especially considering on how sweet and nice to drive these cars are on good home-racing tracks as well as raceways compared to their true competition, Scalextric and similar.
They still sell well regardless, but TSR has pretty much given up on raceways or clubs.

[team burrito]

Actually, some of the guys are trying to get a hardbody class going on the flat track at Eddie's in Vallejo. They have been trying to use the Parma's FCR chassis, but this might be a better solution. I'll have to buy one & try it out.

[idare2bdul]

I'm a little surprised these cars aren't more popular. The 1/32 TSRF cars are killer. I'm going to put some work into my 1/24 car and see if I can get it going a bit better. maybe I can fit one of the Resilient Resins vintage body's and detail it out.

[HarV Wallbanger III]

I really liked the IROC race at the Checkpoint Cup and want to run more IROCs in the future. So now I want to buy a 1/32 car to play with and get ready for the next IROC race! We should call it a UROC race as it shows how well YOU drive the same cars as everybody else!

[Joe Mig]

Hi Philippie; Is this the same chassis that are in the Div3 program?
Glenn are you going to try race these with the guys insted of the BRM cars?

[TSR]

Yes Joe, they are the same, LOOK HERE.
For the 1/24 scale, best is to use the BRM Porsche body over the TSR chassis because it is lighter than the Tamiya TamTech version of it.
Older TamTech and newer plastic kit bodies are also great and the cars are lots of fun to drive and not too fast. Either the standard TSRF home-racing or the TSR D3 motors can be used as either plugs right in the chassis.

Tires are critical as these cars generally have too much grip, so track conditions must be as "dry" as possible. These cars do not like too much glue or they stand on their side.

[Joe Mig]

Philippe, with Glenns #1 post he was talking about 1/24 scale I think.
The D3 class is 1/32 and I think not too many people at a commercial track do want to race 1/32 scale.
Do you have many groups in the D3 racing that class?
Do you think the 1/24 scale cars would catch better? I do think the 1/24 would catch on better myself.

[TSR]

Joe,

Both are really fun. The 1/32 scale cars can be run at home, then with a simple change of tires, at the raceway. The 1/24 scale cars can be run at home too if one uses the best plastic track out there, the Carrera stuff.

[n9949y]

Here's a 1/24 Fujimi Lamborghini Murcielago body mounted on a TRSF with foam tires to make a model of a FIA GT-R racer

[TSR]

The nicest ones I have ever seen were these, done by John Kallas.

CLICK HERE and HERE as well as HERE.

How can one top that?

[sportblazer350]

well, i am really glad that my post is getting good feedback and discussion. Regarding the 1/32 scale TSRF: i purchased the version for plastic tracks, with the stock traction magnet and aftermarket tires, it was a stuck to the track rocket, and no other plastic chassis rtr car would come close. Next i tried tuning it for no traction magnet racing, but switched gears (so to speak!) and went to the commercial tracks with foam rubber rears. This is how i enjoy racing this car the best. All i need to do is tune the chassis with self adhesive lead weights. Way more fun than racing womp womps!

Regarding the 1/24 scale TSRF chassis: go for the version for commercial track racing with the 64 pitch gears and aluminum wheels and foam rubber tires. My testing box stock, no lead weights, did very well. When racing against a Parma Flexi car, i did manage to deslot since i had to race it at it's breaking point. But when racing at a good pace, these cars are really great, and it really did not come out of the slot (unless as above, where i really pushed it too hard). With added lead weights, the cars really hug the track.

My test track uses mild spray glue, so the tipping PDL mentions was not an issue. I am currently trying to get my fellow 1/32 plasaticar racers to adopt the TSRF as a new 1/24 scale class to race. We currently race BRM Porsche 962s and enjoy them. The TSRf is a perfect next step for moving into 1/24 scale racing, and keeping it "SCALE".

Joe Mig- yes, i am trying to get our group to race the TSRF 1/24 scale chassis as a new class. Pick some up and help me/us get this going!

Phillippe- even if the raceways have not picked up on your TSRF chassis, if you say many are sold, then the first step- getting them into racer's hands- has been accomplished. My advise: begin to advertise them in print and with slot car distributors. I still think the TSRf car wil have a larger impact in the slot car community.

[BackAgain]

Got to agree with you Glenn....the TSRF is in a totally different class to any of my RTR cars....I run mostly 1/32....I am thinking about getting a 1/24 TSRF chassis to put under a Marlboro 1/24 hard body I built....it's on a H & R chassis now....
Back to the performace though, no matter what I do to my other RTR cars, none of them can lap within '10 minutes' of my standard TSRF cars....even with substantially upgraded motors fitted to them. They do keep up on the straights....but the TSRF is outa sight on the first corner....
Haven't experienced the "tipping" Dokk....when you do overcook them in the corners, they just rotate and try to run in reverse....
An awesome product and definately my "go-to" for the sheer fun factor.....and a definate killer when friends come over to "play"...

[TSR]

For home-racing tracks such as the Carrera, the 1/24 scale chassis was tested HERE.
What is good for people who want to keep their cars looking cool is that the chassis can be set to fit bery different cars with little work, from this 1999 Le Mans-winning Carrera Williams-BMW V12:



to a shorter, narrower car like this Carrera Ferrari 330P4:



to these beautiful Tamiya or BRM Porsche 956/962...




Mounting bodies is made easy by the TSR automatic body-mounting tool that lines up the chassis and body for easy drilling of pin holes:



The main quality of the TSR cars compared to other home-racing models available from virtually all the "big" names, is how smoothly they run and how deep one can drive them without any worries about them being out of control. They have a poise that no other plastic-chassis cars have, and out of the box, they have little competition.
On the big commercial tracks, few of the home-racing cars run well without serious re-engineering. The TSR cars only require a change of tires, and depending on track conditions, a bit of added weight.

[idare2bdul]

On a home track the best weight comes in the form of a magnet. PDL abhors magnets so use lead to please him.

[TSR]

The bulk of the market is for magnet-traction cars, so whatever I like magnets or not is irrelevant. I have of course some serious guilt into this as you can READ HERE. And indeed, when fitted with the stock magnet, the thing hauls pretty well. In one of the Marconi Proxy races, the last that was run at Buena Park raceway on the Carrera track, the two TSR entries (plain-stock RTR's with a Bentley vac-formed bodies) ended up with the two fastest laps of the day, faster that any and all the hand-built "specials" entered in the race, something that made me break a little smile.

But at the same time, most clubs refused to let the TSR cars run in regular races for various reasons that included "metal chassis are not allowed" (never mind that the chassis is plastic) to "not real complete cars so not allowed" to "simply unfair to the other entrants".
I have heard it all.

[team burrito]

In one of the Marconi Proxy races, the last that was run at Buena Park raceway on the Carrera track, the two TSR entries (plain-stock RTR's with a Bentley vac-formed bodies) ended up with the two fastest laps of the day, faster that any and all the hand-built "specials" entered in the race, something that made me break a little smile.

But at the same time, most clubs refused to let the TSR cars run in regular races for various reasons that included "metal chassis are not allowed" (never mind that the chassis is plastic) to "not real complete cars so not allowed" to "simply unfair to the other entrants". I have heard it all.

Sound like a better mousetrap, but their ego's won't to allow them to race.

[TSR]

Russ, you nailed it I think.

[redbackspyder]

Philippe, thank you for the above information, it was great reading. As many of us are building new home tracks, the TSRF information is very nice. We all enjoyed the TSRF cars at both the Checkpoint Cup and the Slot Car Convention.

[sportblazer350]

Since i debuted my recent TSRF car at C.A.R.S. vintage club races, others in the club have ordered TSRF rtr chassis with plans to build cars, and a new retro class is forming as we speak! Members of the vintage club and a 1/32 plasticar club (NJ132) have been racing BRM Porsche 962 cars with a lot of fun and success, and i see the TSRF class as the logical next class for us to race. A great out of the box platform for real scale racing.

[KTM300]

Strict rules did not help the growth of TSR racing at BPR.

[idare2bdul]

Opening up the rules were never considered as far as I know. A 1/32 class would have been fun but D3 was catching on and a lot of racers made a choice about what to race and how many weekends to race.

[TSR]

I canceled the series because it was causing me too much work and D3 was taking all my time.

[68Caddy]

I think that the TSR chassis are a good thing to bring into the hard body racing at BP. I have a couple of them and they sure preform amazingly good on
my home track.
I sure like hard body's to race and I have never tried 1:24 scale chassis but I sure will, because I know they will preform as good as the 1:32.
I noticed there is quit a few people that like to race hard body's cross the country, it might be the visuals that intrigues them like me?

[turim]

The nicest ones I have ever seen were these, done by John Kallas.

CLICK HERE and HERE as well as HERE.

How can one top that?

Those cars are beautiful!!! Holy smokes!!! I wish I could paint like that!!!

Great job.