Premise: A scratch builders proxy race for “pretty” rather than “fast”.
Build a Sports or Grand Prix slot car using nothing more than what was available in the local hobby shop about January 1965. Hand-carved wood bodies were very popular up to 1964, as model car companies had not yet ventured far into the sports car field. If you wanted to build a racer of a 1955 Allard, you had to carve the body yourself and mount it on a scratch built chassis.
So that is what we are doing here. And while there ultimately will be a “race”, the emphasis is on scale looks and period authenticity. A points system will determine the eventual winner.
Proposed race date sometime in March and April.
Two races to be held in the U.S. and two in the U.K. (TBA and looking for picturesque looking tracks.) Update: First race to be held at Pelican Park Raceway! (confirmed)
Official Rules
1. Hand carved original wood bodies only. Any type of wood allowed, example: Balsa, Pine and Basswood/Lime.
2. Details can be either hand made from brass, aluminum, resin, plastic or sourced from static model or slot car kits. (Steering wheels, windshield, head and taillights, gas cap, wheel inserts.)
3. Subject matter is: open-top sports cars/GT cars and G.P. cars 1949 to 1960. Race markings are required with minimum of two numbers on the sides. Please register your numbers beforehand so we won’t have multiples, as that is how the cars will be called out in the race report. We will split the cars into classes depending on how many entries are received. But I do not see a problem racing GP cars with Sports cars.
4. Motors are limited to open frame Pittman/Kemtron style with two exceptions made for Bonner and K&B Challenger. A complete motor list is attached below. If your motor is not listed, then please ask the committee before entering. No can-motors allowed in this proxy! There are plenty of races for can motors and sealed Chinese motors.
Motor modifications are limited to what was modified during the period, ie: bearings, balancing, rewinding, magnet zapping, removing the rear axle support arms, etc. But no Neo magnets allowed! Let’s all keep that same old block of crap in there and have fun.
Not listed but also allowed are: Atlas AT206/208 and the Pittman DC-196B.
5. Chassis are pretty much open to anything that was built back in 1964 and lots of ideas were tried. Brass rod and brass tube space frames were pretty much the standard. However, full belly pans were starting to become popular as well, so either or a combination of both are good for this race. Factory produced chassis parts are also acceptable as long as they are period correct, example: Kemtron, K&B, Echo.
Drop arms legal but no body movement allowed! This is not a D3 retro race. It is a throw back to a hobby of an era gone by. So please stay in the spirit of the era and that eliminates any “Jail-door” or “floppy plate” chassis design.
That said… working steering, suspension; a differential, 4-wheel drive, two motors, sidewinder, and in-line are all deemed fair game.
One has only to open the pages of any Model Car Science from 1963-64 and you will see articles on building features such as these. So innovation and engineering encouraged, as long as it is in the spirit of the era.
Acceptable chassis examples:
6. Wheels should be vintage threaded, taper-lock or set screw. Repops are allowed if they are close replicas. (Example: the Russkit reproductions currently available @ Professor Motor and Electric Dreams.) Vintage Dynamic, Buzco and Riggen cast wheels are also legal provided the casting matches the car. Inserts required on plain disc wheels and they should match the style and era of the car.
7. Tires to be vintage rubber or reproduction rubber scaled correctly to the car on which to be mounted. (Example Lotus 19 will have much smaller tires than will a Maserati 300S). Ortmann is an excellent source, and No foam or silicone tires allowed.
8. Driver figure required.
9. Guides are to be 1/8” post or 3/16” post “screw braid guides” only. No clip-in-braids! Please keep the lead wires to only one positive and one negative lead wire. Electric Dreams has vintage Champion “superflex” wire so keep it as vintage looking as possible.
10. Gears as vintage as possible. The most popularly used of the era were the bronze bevel gears made by MRRC, K&B, Atlas, Tradeship. No Pink Parma gears allowed or you will be mocked mercilessly I assure you!
11. Classes for 1/24th and 1/32nd scale racing. But all will compete together in concours d'elegance phase.
12. Concours d’elegance will be broken down into “best paint”, “most realistic/authentic”, and “best chassis”.
13. Entry fee: $75.00 u.s. (Estimate) to cover postage between the tracks and postage for the return trip home. T-shirts will be available for all entrants, design to be announced soon as I come up with one.
14. The committee reserves the right to add updates to this post as they happen. But, it won't hurt much.
Period motors example are shown in this MC&T magazine article.
