4 replies to this topic

[Russell Sheldon]

Given the proliferation of 1/32 scale proxy racing events around the world, and prompted by a query by Don Siegel pertaining to 'modern' proxy racing, I thought that a brief overview of the 'modern history' of proxy racing may be appropriate.


Rail Racing - First Officially Recorded Proxy Race - 1955

Although the origins of electric model cars can be traced back to the turn of the 20th century, it is generally accepted that slot car racing is a direct descendent of rail racing, which was popular from the mid to late 1950s. According to Richard Dempewolff's book "Table-Top Car Racing", the first model electric racing cars started to whiz around table-top tracks in England shortly after World War II.

D.J. Laidlaw-Dickson, editor of Model Maker magazine, credits Geoffrey Deason as the founder of rail-racing, which led directly to slot racing as we know it today. Deason wrote an article for Model Maker magazine in 1948, suggesting that battery-driven cars could be raced on small indoor tracks, guided by wooden rails. The idea appears to have been an adaptation of the king-size outdoor tracks long used in England and the USA (where they originated) for racing diesel and gasoline engine cars. These big cars, built to a scale of 1/18 to 1/16, ran largely uncontrolled on sprawling tracks, held onto a rail by a pair of spool-shaped devices known as "zonkers".

Late in 1954, one reader wrote to Model Maker to say that he had installed an electric motor in a wind-up toy car that ran on a slightly raised rail, from which it picked up current. A second rail, set flush with the track surface, provided the negative current. Brass shim-stock was used to pick up current beneath the chassis and a rheostat controlled the speed. A single shoe-type guide, attached to the chassis, guided the car along the raised rail but allowed it to slide and even leave the track if driven too quickly.

Refining the theme by using HO electric train motors and 12 volt car batteries for power, a group of British hobbyists from the Southport Model Engineering Society built a six-lane track with a 60 ft lap length. The guide-rail was made using HO scale train track. In the same year, the Southport club held it's first Grand Prix, with some 30 cars entered. This event was reported in detail in Model Maker magazine and consequently table-top racing took off in England in a big way. Early in 1955, a group in Kalamazoo, Michigan, formed the Model Automobile Racing Association (MARA) and built a track and cars to conform to the "Southport standards". In 1956, MARA mailed four cars to Southport, to be raced by proxy in the Southport Grand Prix. The cars took second and fourth place in the event, this being the first officially recorded model electric racing car "proxy race.


The Proxy Racing Revival - 1999

Thanks to the Internet, the "revival" of proxy racing resulted from a "discussion" on the 132 Slots DL, an e-mail based slot racing discussion list dating back to 1995 or 1996, before the availability of the technology used today by forums or 'boards'.

Sometime during 1998, Bob Ward and Paul Kassens (editor of the Old Weird Herald e-zine), both from Seattle, USA, undertook to host a mail-in proxy race, to be held on Bob's four-lane wooden club track. The idea was very well received by the DL's scratch builders from far and wide, since it presented 'basement racers' with the opportunity to compare cars and building skills - without even having to leave home! The OWH Proxy I event was held in February, 1999, with both classes being won by Russell Sheldon.


OWH Proxy I Prototype Class winner


OWH Proxy I NASCAR Class winner

The success of the event prompted Bob Ward to host a second proxy race, Proxy II, in October, 1999, with Russell again winning both classes.


OWH Proxy II Prototype Class winner with vacuum-formed Jaguar XJR9LM body


OWH Proxy II Sports Car Class winner

Bob Ward organised yet another event, Proxy III, which was run in 2000. Bob however elected to hold it for pretty much standard Scalextric type cars, on the Scalextric track set-up at the time at Fantasy World Hobbies in Seattle. The event attracted very little interest, particularly from the original entrants, essentially all scratch builders, since it took away a key element behind the idea of proxy racing, i.e. entering a car which you built yourself. All credit for the revival of proxy racing must however go to Bob Ward -- and the Internet!


Proxy Racing Goes Down Under in 2000

Phil Kalbfell and David Bantoft of Tasmania, Australia, two of the original members of the Tiger Milk Appreciation Society (TMAS) e-mail discussion list, which spawned the Slot DL, decided to step in and host a proxy event for the TMAS scratch builders. The 2000 "Tassie Tiger Proxy Race", which was won by Russell Sheldon, was run as a series of races held on different Tasmanian club tracks, using scratchbuilt WTCC cars. This introduced the concept of using multiple tracks for proxy events.




First Tassie Tiger Proxy Race winner


Rail Racing Proxy Race Re-born in 2000

Back in England meanwhile, history was re-created on the 20th of August, 2000, in the Chequered Flag room of the Brooklands Motorsport and Aviation Museum, when a series of 1/32 scale memorial rail races was held to commemorate the first rail race held at Southport in 1956. The event, which attracted a number of proxy entries, was organised by Jeff Davies and run on a replica of the Southport circuit. I'm honoured that Jeff had asked me to restore an original Walkden Fisher-built chassis for this event, which I'm pleased to say won both the races it competed in. Walkden Fisher was one of the pioneers of model electric car racing and it is sobering when you think about the fact that when he originally built this car, around 1955, the Mercedes W196 was the very latest Grand Prix car at the time.




Restored original 1955 Walkden Fisher rail car


The Marconi Charity Proxy Races: 2000

In the USA, Philippe De Lespinay also decided to do something about preserving the original concept of proxy racing - i.e. entrants building their own scratch built cars - and organised the Jose Rodriguez Jr Memorial Proxy Race, which was held at the splendid Marconi Foundation Automotive Museum in Tustin, California, on the 13th of December, 2000. ose Rodriguez Jr was a pioneer of slot racing and co-founder of Car Model Magazine, who passed away in 1998. The Marconi Foundation Charity for Disadvantaged Kids was the beneficiary of $1,200, raised by way of donations and entry fees.

The track was a 60', eight-lane circuit, using Riggen/Revell plastic track pieces, with the outer curves made from routed Formica with magnetic braid. The rules were wide open but to equal things out, power was via eight MRC train power packs, rated at 12V, 3 amps, one per lane. Parma 45 ohm 'Econo' controllers were used. There was a strong emphasis on scale appearance, and all entries had to be scale models of actual cars raced, including scale dimensions of wheels and tyres. Concours d'Elegance counted for 50% of the points scored and race results the other 50%, the combined scores determining the overall winners in each of the classes.

The true spirit of the event was captured by many of the entrants, who built cars using hand-carved balsawood bodies. Overall 'Best in Show' winner was a beautifully-carved Maserati 8CL, built by Mark Gussin. Other fabulous entries included a hand-carved Maserati 4CL 'Streamliner' by Michael Pascal. The proxy drivers were among some of the best and most respected slot car racers in the world, including USRA and USCCA multiple National Champions, Greg Gilbert, New Zealand's Chris Radisich, and the legendary John "The Jet" Cukras.


Overall 'Best in Show', Mark Gussin's beautiful Maserati 8CL


The Marconi Charity Proxy Races: 2001

The second Marconi Charity Proxy Race was held at Buena Park Raceway in California on the 27th and 28th of October, 2001, attracting 88 entries. The track was brand new, a six-lane purpose-built 1/32 scale wooden routed track with magnetic braid, made by Monty Ohren of Best of the West, and installed just a few weeks prior to the event. Jim Cunningham won Sports, while Russell Sheldon won both the Magnet Car and Grand Prix classes.


Some Marconi 2001 entries. Alfa won Grand Prix Class; vac-form bodied Audi won Magnet Class


Meanwhile, Down Under in 2001

The 2001 Tasman series was held for F1/Indy cars; winners were Philippe De Lespinay (F1) and Larry Shephard (Indy).


Philippe De Lespinay's F1 Class winning Jordan

For 2002, pre-1966 Sports & GT cars were raced in the Tasman series, the winner being Chris Briggs.


The Marconi Charity Proxy Races: 2003

Postponed to early 2003, the third Marconi Charity Proxy Race was also held at the Buena Park Raceway, but on a Carrera four-lane track, with ten corners and a lap length of 120 feet. Power was via two 12 volt 8D heavy duty batteries (each with 250-300 amp output) running off a 75 amp battery charger. The track was wired with 10 gauge wire with eight power taps. Professor Motor controller were used. Four classes were raced and the winners were Larry Geddes (Sports), Luiz Claudio Valdetaro (Minis), Jim Cunningham (Formula/Indy Cars) and Jim McLaughin (Magnet Cars). Unfortunately Philippe's business ventures prevented him from organising further Marconi events, which by now had raised over $4,000 for charity.

Tasman Proxy Races Become World Proxy Series: 2003

The Tasman proxy series on the other hand grew from strength to strength, becoming the World Proxy Series in 2003. The series was run over eight races, held in the Australia, the USA and the UK, for American Le Mans Cars (ALMS). The overall winner was Phil Kalbfell, who has put so much effort into organising and running these events over the years.

Touring Cars and IMSA sedans were the weapons of choice for the 2004 World Proxy Race Series, held on eight tracks in the USA, Australia and the UK. Chris Briggs' two entries came first and second.


Cars lined up on Victor Ferguson's track for a round of the 2004 WPR

The WPR 2005 was a mammoth organisational effort, held for Can-Am cars and raced on 12 tracks on three continents, and again won by a well-deserving Phil Kalbfell. The WPR series took a break in 2006, reverting to the Tassie Targa Proxy Race (won by David Bantoft) but is set to continue later this year.


Phil Kalbfell's WPR 2005 winner

In my view, a key element of the success of the proxy races organised by Bob Ward, Phil Kalbfell, Philippe De Lespinay, Chris Briggs, and Graham Windle, was the fact that they got ultra-competitive, very experienced, and talented drivers to actually race the cars against each other.

With kind regards,

Russell

[TSR]

Thanks, Russell. No doubt that Bob Ward's decision shot the Fantasy World proxy in its heart. Bob has learned from his mistake and is a bit more mellow nowadays...

Russell forgets to mention that the Tassie Tiger F1 winner (my entry) was again one of his own creations, and that he donated all four of his magnificent Marconi Proxy cars to the Los Angeles Slot car Museum where they will be on permanent display. How is that for genuine sportsmanship and generosity?

Also the Marconi Proxy races are no longer being run because of the constant moaning of some of the local entrants/drivers. If this event is revived, the actual drivers will not be allowed to enter their own cars. Future international events may be organized once the museum's track will be up and running.

[gascarnut]

The WPR 2005 was a mammoth organisational effort, held for Can-Am cars and raced on 12 tracks on three continents, and again won by a well-deserving Phil Kalbfell.

This undertaking also generated a thread on SlotForum that grew to 1,002 postings, and has had a total of 71,136 views - totals that I doubt have ever been exceeded anywhere on any slot racing board on any subject.

But I do believe that the Can-Am proxy was won by Terry Hreno's McLaren, on handicap, with Dave Bantoft recording the most laps.

Then there was the 1960s Formula 1 Proxy that was attempted by Rocky Russo. Although it was not terribly successful in terms of actual races run, it did attract a number of very pretty cars from some of the premier builders.



We never did work out the final results of that one...!

[Russell Sheldon]

Dennis, you are absolutely correct. It was of course Terry Hreno's magnificent McLaren that won the 2005 World Proxy Race on handicap. I had inadvertently picked up the 2003 WPR results.

Sincere apologies to Terry, a worthy and deserving winner.



Terry Hreno's 2005 World Proxy Race winning McLaren M8A

With kind regards,

Russell

[rail racer]

Back in England meanwhile, history was re-created on the 20th of August, 2000, in the Chequered Flag room of the Brooklands Motorsport and Aviation Museum, when a series of 1/32 scale memorial rail races was held to commemorate the first rail race held at Southport in 1956. The event, which attracted a number of proxy entries, was organised by Jeff Davies and run on a replica of the Southport circuit. I'm honoured that Jeff had asked me to restore an original Walkden Fisher-built chassis for this event, which I'm pleased to say won both the races it competed in. Walkden Fisher was one of the pioneers of model electric car racing and it is sobering when you think about the fact that when he originally built this car, around 1955, the Mercedes W196 was the very latest Grand Prix car at the time.





This Mercedes, which was so beautifully restored by Russell, won its first eight races, two in my own hands and six in my son's hands, at the first Welsh rail meeting in 2001.

Is rail racing better than slot racing? I can only say one thing I have raced since 1960 and the most exciting race I took part in was a rail race!!

What the LASCM needs is a rail track.

Below is a section out of my book "Built With Passion"


[b]The End of the Track for Rail Racing[b]

It's very difficult to come to an exact conclusion over why rail racing ended in 1964. I don't believe it was any one single factor, and certainly not the generally held view that 1) it was inevitable and 2) it was brought about by the change over to slot racing. To come to any conclusion we have to go right back to how rail racing came about and the period that it evolved in.

In the early 1950s Britain was a very different place to the one it is today. There was very little television and a considerable number of workplaces had social clubs which were very popular for employees, many clocking off from work and going straight to the club for several hours to relax before going home. This practice has virtually ceased in Britain as work practices have changed so completely over the last fifty years. In this period Britain was also one of the world's leading manufacturers, producing vast quantities of cars, motor bikes and other manufactured products. To produce these, Britain had a highly skilled workforce, many of which were excellent metalworkers, tool makers, and other craftsmen.

Motorsport was very popular and huge crowds would turn out to watch the British Grand Prix and other important races, due to the growing British success in all forms of motorsport; this in turn would engender enthusiasm for a new hobby directly linked to it. People were in an age where new things were appearing in all theatres of life and people had a real enthusiasm for anything new. So when in 1955 the Southport Model Engineering Society produced the first public display of electric rail racing, it generated huge interest in many of the works clubs and other engineering societies. Most of the original rail racers were already modelmakers, mainly aeromodellers and train enthusiasts, who had the necessary skills to hand-build rail cars.

Rail racing flourished from inception, both in the home with small test tracks, in numbers impossible to estimate, and as presented to us in the media, namely Model Maker. Many participants were mature, established modellers and tended to organise themselves into clubs with proper rules for their particular activity. It was this organisation that probably helped the hobby survive as long as it did, certainly as portrayed in the pages of MM, which provided the link between enthusiasts around the country. Huge numbers of people turned out for events, including two hundred rail cars entered in the one Southport Grand Prix, which took an entire week to run on Southport Pier. For the next three or four years rail racing reigned supreme: the major classic race meets (Southport, Oaklands, Worksop, Aintree) were all rail - albeit with falling numbers after 1962.

In 1957 Scalextric was first produced, and was quickly followed by several other leading brands, all of which used the slot system instead of a raised rail as these were easier to produce commercially, both the track and the cars. Slot cars tracks in 1958 were considered to be sunken rail systems, as the majority of manufacturers were influenced by rail racing. In Model Maker it was referred to as just that, with the Scalextric tin plate guide system looking more like a wheel off a model train than a model car, and they only worked on the vintage rubber track - not the classic track. The first Scalextric designed was actually a rail system, but the company did not believe it would be robust enough for children to use. I've often wondered what would have happened if Scalextric had indeed been a rail system instead of the slot design they chose. MRRC did produce complete rail racing systems, but there were on sale in miniscule numbers compared to Scalextric.

By the early 1960s, the writing was on the wall for rail racing. Electric model car racing split into two distinct camps, the slot racers and the diehard rail racers, both believing that their system was superior. Many arguments raged in the pages of MM and no doubt at a personal level as to the best system to employ. I think for many established rail people it was a case of a familiar system they'd developed and loved and didn't like to abandon. Aintree showed that the enthusiasm for new ideas hadn't died and did have a slot track as well as the rail; I believe Newport was similar. As with all activities some people who were good at rail building and driving just could not get that ease with slot, particularly the driving style. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the vast majority of new tracks being constructed from this point on were slot tracks as these were both easier to produce and fully-built cars were readily available from any model shop, instead of the several months that it took to build a wooden-bodied rail car.

As virtually every club had converted over to slot by 1964, when the last major rail race was held, significant numbers of rail racers turned their back completely on the hobby and returned to their previous interests. I believe there were several reasons for this. Several of these people had been involved in the rail racing scene for nearly ten years, and it had run its course in their lives. Secondly, they believed that electric models should be accurate scale representations of the real car - slot car racing had already started to go down the performance above all road. While some felt that rail had started to also go down the route of speed over scale, I'd say it was also a difference between modellers and racers. The modellers looked down on a product bought and raced, often called "toys" as opposed to a handcrafted model. I think these reasons cover the loss of many rail racers. In many ways, the important reason for slot gaining ascendancy came from slot's beginning. By 1964 a generation had come of age, brought up on Scalextric, VIP home sets, the basic essence of which was to sit at home and race each other with no building or modelling. Just put on and go: the racing was the begining and the end. So when they were older and more aware of club activity and joined, their "raison d'être" was racing.

In 1964 the first National Slot Racing Championships were held. Up to this point the national championships had been rail-based, and in 1964 was won by Ken Stokes driving an MRRC Mercedes, a beautifully-prepared and accurate scale model. The race reports in the early years of Model Cars and articles by the champion of scale Walkden Fisher showed many still tried to create good models that were racers as well. By 1965 the first controversial slot car finals row had erupted on the scene, over the use of the 'Beckham Bombshell'. This was a model of an enormous prototype Rolls Royce with a twelve foot wheelbase. Even though it was technically within the rules, it went completely and utterly against the spirit of racing accurate scale models, this being exactly what a large number of rail racers had feared would happen when electric races changed over to slot.

Rail had itself got many proponents interested more in the racing side, but slot did seem to be accompanied by a greater move to poor vehicle condition. The change to a winning attitude meant that new club members didn't always receive the guidance needed in case they began winning. Things, in their and my opinion, went from bad to worse from this point on as people began to create shapeless blobs with extended wheelbases and completely forgot about making accurate models. At this point, the majority of the remaining rail racers left the hobby. Those rail people that stayed on tended to be those like the Whitbreads, Duttons, and Pete Mells, caught up more on the organising side, but they gave up in the early '70s.

The nation was also undergoing a change. Television was coming into dominance and the works social clubs, where many of the rail racing tracks had been built and run, were declining in popularity, with less and less of the highly skilled tool makers and crafts people being trained and employed, even though most tech colleges still had full curriculums of subject diversity. The big manufacturing impact on British hobbies such as slot and thereby rail was the flood of simple, quick, realistic kits from USA and Japan.

As the early '60s progressed, full-size racing cars, both sports racing and Grand Prix, became lower and considerably wider. Tyre widths exploded. These cars were far more suited to be modelled as slot cars rather than rail cars, as the rail imposed a high ground clearance limit. The question of superiority of either system was not really a factor: simply that intricately hand-crafted rail racing had run its course and now gave way to the mass-produced slot models. The change in the real size sport to smaller cigar-shaped and wider cars did affect the demise of interest among many established rail folk - rail cars could be ungainly, particularly if crammed into a small body, and for many the new cars weren't real GP cars anyway.

Rail racing had not entirely become extinct however, only hibernating, and was set to return in the future as retro-racing became increasingly popular.