189 replies to this topic

[j-slot]

Thank you, Tex.
Grill work is an easy way, I just stuck Koford's strapping tape inside.

[Tom Eatherly]

Not only are you a fine builder Akitani, but a artist in craftmanship. Beautiful work.

[usadar]

Tom,

Akitani-san is a real craftsman.　He is the one of the racers/builders I am proud of.

Tokyo D3 is celebrating its anniversary this month.

Keep racing & keep retro racing friends,

Haruki

[usadar]

Today we had our Tokyo D3 practice meeting, where 2 prospective racers came to see our activities.
I hope they enjoy their first experience to run D3 cars on our King track and will join our racing soon.
Kamo-san brought me another Can-Am build for me, a clone of what I raced at the Check Point Cup(Chassis # 0).
This Chassis # 3 is for the coming race on March 25.


The Chassis #1 & 2 has been sent to Duran and Jay Henry respectively.
Gary Donahoe has got a similar chassis.

The Chassis #4 is on the way to me, maybe with some changes.

I hope these Kamo-Speed chassis will do well at the coming races at BPR.

Kamo-san & I are talking about getting a special manual controlled "sculpture machine," to create special retro slot car parts one by one. Kamo-san is an expert to handle this kind of machinery, so is Nob Hanada, producer of our Tokyo D3 kits/components,

Stay tuned & keep racing,

Haruki

[Joe Mig]

It's been a pleaser too follow this thread as there is so much talent and craftsmanship here with these builds.
I really like to see the variety of bodies used as well.

[usadar]

It's been a pleaser too follow this thread as there is so much talent and craftsmanship here with these builds.
I really like to see the variety of bodies used as well.

Joe,
Thanks a lot for your warm words.
As in the States, economy and society are not so good these days, giving our Tokyo D3 racers hard times outside the raceway.
One racer lost his relatives by the Tsunami a year ago, another lost a job, another has a injured old mother to take care of because of the quake even in Tokyo.......
However, once they come to my raceway and compete in Tokyo D3 racing, they forget all the bad things but enjoy racing with their slot car buddies.
This is why I continue this racing program at the other coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Enjoy and keep racing,

Haruki

[The Bugman]

great words Haruki,,slotcar racing is ALL ABOUT HAVING FUN with friends,,,,,oh yeah and spending lots of money to keep up with the fast guys,,,,,lol

[Tim Neja]

WOW---SWEET builds Akitani-san!! Beautiful work--- I like the unusual tri-rail coupe build too!! Plumber hinges? Should work very well!! LOVE the retro-pro car!! I know the Tokyo Crew would love to get started with Retro-pro cars!! I'm putting my first together now for the "Zimmerman" race in a couple of weeks!! Enjoy!!
T

[Joe Mig]

Joe,
Thanks a lot for your warm words.
As in the States, economy and society are not so good these days, giving our Tokyo D3 racers hard times outside the raceway.
One racer lost his relatives by the Tsunami a year ago, another lost a job, another has a injured old mother to take care of because of the quake even in Tokyo.......
However, once they come to my raceway and compete in Tokyo D3 racing, they forget all the bad things but enjoy racing with their slot car buddies.
This is why I continue this racing program at the other coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Enjoy and keep racing,

Haruki,

Believe me I understand as I work part time for a company that produces a product called Gamma Cam that finds and shows images of radiation and Japan bought a few to help in the clean up.

It is a wonderful program you have too help your friends enjoy some of there time for a while and escape the reality life shells out. You are a wonderful person doing great for yourself and others so please keep it up.

[usadar]

Hello D3 racers,

Maybe I am one of very few D3 racers left now...

I haven't opened my slot box almost for two weeks since our last meeting of Tokyo D3 at Cheerio Speedway.

This evening, I painted TrueScale Ti22 Long in Mirror Chrome Gold with SPAZ STIX spray.



Looks cool but I am surprised to find the body is around 1gram (or more) lighter than the same body painted with Pactra fluorescent color sprays.

I am not using air-brushes but can sprays, so I often paint bodies heavy.

SPAZ STIX sprays seems good for me.

I am also thinking of start leaning to use air-brushes for painting bodies, good for me to keep myself busy.

Good Racing,

Haruki

[Joe Mig]

Haruki You will keep D3 alive .
Thanks Joe

[usadar]

Haruki You will keep D3 alive .
Thanks Joe

Hello, Joe,

In a small remote island of the Far East, I will keep the spirit of D3, expressed in its original mission statement:


D3 Mission Statement
May 12, 2006

It is the opinion of D3 founders that sometimes in the past, the racing format and the type of vehicles used for such at commercial raceways took a very wrong turn and caused the demise of slot racing as we knew it. Many factors contributed to this demise, but one above all made it possible: the unrestricted open-class rules that later were taken over by financially interested parties.
D3 proposes to return to what worked and what was successful, the type of scratch-built vehicles used in the Rod & Custom and Car Model series of the late 1960's, with chassis hand built from bits of brass and steel wire. The purpose of the new format is to bring back the designing, shaping, cutting and soldering of chassis fitted with an inexpensive and sealed motor so as to provide everyone with an even hand, encouraging creativity and invention while keeping the chassis design limited to period technology. The use of exacting replicas of period bodies with period-style decoration being part of this equation.

Keep racing,

Haruki

[Tom Eatherly]

Haruki, Man, I just love looking at the Tokyo Retro galleries. Such clean, beautiful, artistic work! And, the builders there keep tinkering and improving chassis concepts all the time. Truly amazing.
Will any Tokyo racers be at the Zimmerman race on Mar 24, 2012? We'll see you again sometime. Take care.

[usadar]

Hi, Tom,

Unfortunately, no Tokyo D3 racer will race at the Pete's memorial race.
We have our race on March 25, Sunday, in Tokyo, at which at least 4 new racers will be racing with us.
Two of them are experienced racers, who used to race Pla-fit, euro-sports, wing-cars, etc.
Another guy is a friend in my beverage business, who loves driving 1/1 Porsche without no experience of 1/24 scale cars.
The last one is a professional chef at a dining-bar, who is going to prepare lunch for all the racers at the race day after he finishes his job 1:00 AM on Sunday, bringing the lunch with him on 7:00 AM to my raceway, practicing for his first race in life, racing Can-Am, serving us lunch, finally going home to sleep . Of course, I will provide him with a 3rd Eye controller & a ready to race Can-Am car

Our race weekend this time would be a kind of hectic one because we will have to take care of new racers but we are more than glad to do that.

Going to be a great fun weekend on the both coasts of the Pacific.

Keep racing,

Haruki

[JerseyJohn]

Haruki, greatings from New Jersey, home of the RetroPalooza and FawlBrawl..My Daughter and her family are in Guam for 5 years. Next year i will be visiting them and would like to hop over to Japan for a visit.
Would I be able to race at the awesome Cheerio Race track..

Regards John

[Tom Eatherly]

Haruki,
Those four new racers will feel right at home, I'm sure. And a chef! Wow, your lunch will be SUPERB! Please take pictures of your event. Like you said; both coasts of the Pacific will be having a good time.

-------------------
T.E.

[usadar]

Haruki, greatings from New Jersey, home of the RetroPalooza and FawlBrawl..My Daughter and her family are in Guam for 5 years. Next year i will be visiting them and would like to hop over to Japan for a visit.
Would I be able to race at the awesome Cheerio Race track..

Regards John

Hello John,

You are most welcome to Cheerio SpeedWay.
Please let me know your visiting schedule to Tokyo in well advance.
We are going to arrange our racing schedule to race with you in Tokyo.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Retro Palooza.

Good racing,

Haruki

[usadar]

Haruki, greatings from New Jersey, home of the RetroPalooza and FawlBrawl..My Daughter and her family are in Guam for 5 years. Next year i will be visiting them and would like to hop over to Japan for a visit.
Would I be able to race at the awesome Cheerio Race track..

Regards John

Hello John,

You are most welcome to Cheerio SpeedWay.
Please let me know your visiting schedule to Tokyo in well advance.
We are going to arrange our racing schedule to race with you in Tokyo.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Retro Palooza.

Good racing,

Haruki

[JerseyJohn]

Hello John,

You are most welcome to Cheerio SpeedWay.
Please let me know your visiting schedule to Tokyo in well advance.
We are going to arrange our racing schedule to race with you in Tokyo.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Retro Palooza.

Good racing,

Haruki

Awesome Haruki-san Looking forward to meeting you.. Regards John

[The Bugman]

John,,,,,,you'll not meet a nicer guy in slot cars than Haruki,he is a friend to many here at BP Raceway,
and im very proud to be a TOKYO D3 Team Mate of his too,,,

[Tim Neja]

Congrats on 4 new racers!! That's great!! Especially with a good chef!! You guys do D3 RIGHT!!! We'll miss you at the Zimmer!! It's going to be a fun race!! I think as you have time--you'll have fun developing Retro Pro to go with your Can Am and F-1 class's. These babies are FAST and perfect for a King track like you have!! Enjoy!!
T

[usadar]

Our Tokyo D3 racer/builder, Kamo-san, has just sent me a picture of his new ride for Oscar, our Tokyo D3 team-mate at Buena Park Raceway.
The Can-Am chassis is an exact clone of what Kamo built for me for the recent Check Point Cup.
On the left is a main frame of F-1 chassis of Nob Hanada's D3 F-1 Kit under building for Oscar.
Kamo-san has built a complete Ready to Race car for Oscar as a token of good friendship, with a body painted by Morio Hashimoto.

BPR racers, beware of Oscar!!!

By the way, recently I translated the mission statement of SoCal D3 originally written in 2006 into Japanese for our Tokyo D3 racers.
The translation work made me appreciate the value of this statement more than when I just read it in English.
I will try my best to keep the spirit of D3 here in Tokyo.

Keep racing,

Haruki

[The Bugman]

Haruki-san,,,,,im totally surprised,honored and so happy,,,,,,,
tell my Master builder Kamo-san this is a great present and surprise,

and to Hashimoto-san for the beautiful body too,,

this is why i will always be a Tokyo D3 team mate
with all my Racing Brothers at Cheerio Speedway

good health & racing to all my friends
at Cheerio Speedway

[usadar]

I have almost finished setting up a Can-Am with Kamo-Speed chassis #3.

This car is almost same as what I raced at the Check Point Cup this January.
Without a spoiler, body reinforcements and stickers, the car weighs 89.3g.
It is going to weigh 90.3g with those extras, very similar weight of my CPC car.
I hope this runs well at our Tokyo D3 Race III of 2012 on Sunday.
Good racing,

Haruki

[Lucky Me]

I have built a Retro Pro chassis.
3.875" wheelbase. 4.750" guidelead. 39 grams as shown.
Main rails are 0.062(outer) and 0.055(inner).





Completed. Total weight is 86 grams.
It ran in about 3.7 second on any lane of our King track.



Although Tokyo D3 has no plan to start Retro Pro racing for the present, it's the first legal Retro Pro car Tokyo D3 made.

Akitani

Akitani,

Beautiful work !

Question: What is the "Purple" tubing on the bite bar and what is it's purpose ?

Thank's