18 replies to this topic

[tonyp]

Here is where it started... I got my R-Geo jig on Monday before our first race but did manage to beat these two out in time for the race. This was the first time I soldered a chassis together since the World Champs at Elmsford in the 1980.s




Pretty much an inline version of the last wire cars I built. I still have this one rusting away in a plastic bag...




Harry Boudreau wound up with this one. Both are totally illegal now because they have no motor brackets and one has pillow blocks.

[tonyp]

Another chassis before Retro east mandated brackets. This one has split pans. It ran well but I never raced it. I put a bracket in it and Ray Carlisi uses it from time to time.




This was my first really good chassis and I raced it for a long time. It was old reliable. Over time I lightened it up once I figured out the front tires need to touch, LOL... On this one I tried a faux plumber rail and it may have been my first .078" rail car.



It finally wound up looking like this. It was the first chassis I tried weight on the back. It was in this version I finished second to Torre when he came out east on vacation and raced at Zep with us.

[tonyp]

This car worked really well on Dom's Hillclimb the only time I raced it. It has the front axle attached to the front pans instead of the center section like a couple of F1s I built. Problem with it is the weight. I think it was 125 when our minimum was 110. I donated it to Vinny Spina for his collection... I think Mike Katz still runs his version...

All these early chassis are 4" wheelbase and 1" to 1.125" guide lead...

[tonyp]

For the next race on Dom's Hillclimb I decided to try something different and build a chassis based on what John Gorski my teammate was doing. Wide center section and 1/2" x .063" pans. It was pretty good. I got I believe my first TQ and set a new track record. Really looked stupid shoehorning a 4 x 1" chassis under a short Ti22. I gave this to someone new who really wanted to Retro race and they sold it. Nice, huh? Cap Henry has it now.

[tonyp]

OK, this was up next. John Gorski, Mike Katz, and Ray Carlisi and my elf made our first trip to Keystone to race in a Flexi enduro for charity. Having never run on any King other than an original American, I decided to try a super light car for the Retro race we had coming up in a couple of months. It ran pretty good for the first time on the track. The next week I tested it at Zep's Hillclimb and it actually was not all that bad.




I even made Mr. Noose a copy with removable outer pans so it could be run light or heavy.




We had a race at Zep again so I decided to add these "aero" pans, not hinged to add some weight to the chassis. It was OK, I loaned it to Rob Kurylo and he qualified second to John Gorski with it..

I took this version up to try on HVR's King where are next race was and it was very good. Great, I had a good racecar... Well, the next week while practicing with a minute or two left in practice the rear axle seized up and there was no time to fix it. I guess I got glue in the bearing and the axle finally seized to the axle.

Now we had another race at HVR some time later. I decided there was some potential in this car. I rebuilt it again making the inner pans supporting the body, an old idea we were doing on inlines, check old issues of Model Car Journal, and it was off to HVR. The weight stays stationary on the outside of the chassis while the body is allowed to flop around.




Needless to say it was killer. I won that day, My first Can-Am (GT Coupe actually but Retro East at that time used Pro Slot motors for all classes as there was no IRRA™ yet). I was able to follow it up with two more wins at Dom's and another on Sonny's: four in a row! With me driving you know the chassis had to be good. Still using it, I won a few more times with it. Jay Kissling won the last Sano GT Coupe race with it. Three years old, lots of abuse. It's all still original except for one of the thin aero pans which got bent up badly when I got walled at Elmsford..

[tonyp]

I built this the same time as my aero. Three rails of .055" wire and .063" split pans. Ran decent and I gave it to Rob Kurylo. Rob used it until recently when it got walled and destroyed. I did salvage the bracket off the chassis and it is on one of my current chassis...

[tonyp]

About this time the Warmack kits came out. This is the first one I ever made and gave it to Jay Kisling. Of course it did not look like this new. LOL. Jay ran it in a lot of races and won on the Hillclimb and a couple of other times with it.

[tonyp]

Next up we had a NASCAR race at Zep on the Hillclimb. I built this chassis and could not get away to test it so I asked John to test it for me. Well he refused to give it back and TQed, and won the race with it.

He also used it at the Keystone race. Our first king track race since we started again. John and I qualified 1-2 but were not fast enough in the race and got our asses kicked by Jay Kisling....




Here is the version i built for myself. Good for second TQ at Keystone, but I could not drive fast enough in the race, way to cautious. I think John may have used this one to win on the Hillclimb at Doms....Now in the hands of Rick Thigpen to go along with his Steel StarShip chassis.

[tonyp]

The next time I got to run on a king track was at "The Track" in MD. It was one of those really swoopy punched tracks. I had never seen a track banked that much...



I built this up to run in the can-am. The first of this style chassis. It of course did not have the second inner strip of brass soldered to the pans for "The Track". Once I figured out how to go fast I almost won it finishing the lengt of the straight to the bank to Lou Cicconi....

Since HVR was coming up and it is a very old European king with some bumps a super short finger and a killer to get through deadman, I added some weight to this one for the race. It was good but I chose to run my aero and loanded this out to Mike Katz. Well Mike of couse TQ'ed and won the race...

[tonyp]

By now Noose's chassis had also morphed into an "Aero" chassis. HE is still running it today. Actually I think the 4 or 5 I built are all still being used.

[tonyp]

Next we made a trip to Elmsford to run on the 220 Engleman. I loaned this to Andy Wasserman and he TQ'ed and won the main. It immediately went on ebay the next day. lol.....

[tonyp]

Now this chassis, was maybe the 4th can-am I made. It was really bad, but I still had not figured out fronts need to touch and lead wores should center the guide, plus setting the gud for the track. Stuff we never did when I raced wing cars. It sat in my box for a year and i lightened it up to look like this and had it as one of my cars for the race at "The Track" in MD. I actually ran it in GT coupe but struggled all weekend to find speed on that track.

[tonyp]

Now this was a really good chassis. I built it for the flat track for Sano2. I couldnt tell if it was any good as i found out tonyp don't do flat tracks. It was a loaner for awhile and I think Rob Kurylo go a pole at Keystone. It ran well everywhere.

[tonyp]

Intermission time.

I am trying to get the interesting stuff posted. Probably be done the end of the week. Then we will open up the thread for comments and I'll go back to add specs to some of the pictures..

Anyone who has questions you can PM me here or email me at evilbucksracer@me.com

[tonyp]

For Dom's Hillclimb I wanted to make a light "Aero" chassis. I tried it on raceday and did not like it. really did not like it. Well Matt bruce got there late, tech wa closing and Matt was in agony. Figuring I'll really finish Matt off I offered him the use of this. He only qualified for the semi, "Yeah, I got Matt right where I want him!!!". Well he won the semi and destroyed everyone in the main.LOL. I think he won the next time on a hillclimb with it and won the series race at Elmsford the second time we went up there.

[tonyp]

these were built around the same time. Bryan Warmack gave me the idea. The main rails in the first chassis are solder in the front of the 1/8" tubing to in effect make them more flexible.



This second chassis called a "flopper" has the main rails not soldered to the 1/8th tubing. The whole center flops aroung. The whole chassis is held together by those 2 hinges in the back. Main rails are ground down .078 wire. Thanks to Bryan again. Now you wonder where that came from.... This chassis was the fastest car I ever drove from the deadman to turning under the bride on Keystones king. Rob Kurylo was 2nd qualifier at the Big Freeze with it and looked to have the car to win, but lost a gear in the first heat. I have no idea where this one went...

[tonyp]

This was the last Can-am I made while still in NJ. I built it for the Hillclimb. I wound up using my old trusty "Aero" and Ray Carlisi was third in the main with it with no practice. All .078 wire....

[tonyp]

When I was in NJ, I had my work bench in the warehouse at work. Lots of space. I would work on stuff before work, at lunch and an hour after work each night. The advantage was lots of space and zero distractions....

Down here in Fla. it is way too hot to work in the warehouse so I have my workbench in a closet in the spare room of our condo. Not a ton of room, but it works, but the big advantage is I can work at home whenever I like, have food, drink, cigars, stereo etc..

Just enough space to get my *** in the chair and slide into place.

[tonyp]

After 6 months of retirement here in Florida, I built this chassis for a JK spec race at Holly Hill on that Daytona replica. It was actually quite good. 4.125 wheelbase and a single rail of .063 wire. I held the master Terry Tawney to about 5 laps so you know it was a good car since I still can not drive that track.... I think Vinny Spina now has this...