162 replies to this topic

[Regis4446]

Jairus,
 
Thank for the report, another run for me.

Thanks, Bob, Paul, Larry, and Dave.

[dc-65x]

Thanks Jairus.

 

I'm good. I don't believe anything will change with further racing except the damage level to the cars.

 

When I saw your car broken and the paint damage to Bruce's car I almost cried.    But if the majority want to continue............

[Bruce Wayne]

Jairus, 

Thanks so much for all your hard work and the sacrifices you've had to make in order to organize and run the race, many thanks indeed.

Your succinct race report and excellent photo gallery have combined to give a real feel of the event too, well done indeed. 

I can hardly imagine the dreadful feeling you must have had when your car got broken tho...Shhheeeaaattt!!!   

Feel your pain and hope it's an easy fix.

 

Of course give my thanks and much appreciation to Bob, Paul, Larry and Dave for accepting and undergoing the tremendous challenge. 

Gentlemen, I salute you   

 

 

For the race itself, Big Congratulations must go to the top podium finishers Rodney and Rick

Your excellent teamwork, race car preparation and attention to motor and chassis details have paid off big time! 

Congrats and best regards to the other race participants as well. Cheers to Regis, Don, Nicolas and Jaak!

 

As far as any more "Heat" racing, I'm kind of on the fence here...but would tend to rather not.

While super pleased that my car is somewhat competitive, and relieved it only picked up a little nick in the rear, there's no predicting if anything worse could happen next.

 

I'm all in for more racing if it's done one car at a time in TT fashion. But, it might require a lot more effort to run that way, and feel Jairus has already done his fair share, so I wouldn't ask unless he agrees fully.

That said, I respectfully pass my vote to Jairus and he can make my choice.

[Jaak]

Thank you for running this round Jairus and a big shout out to Bob, Paul, Larry and Dave for racing the cars.

 

I for one would love to find out how mine competes with the tires glued to the rim (forgot)

But if there are not enough entrants left or if Jairus prefers not to run another round then so be it.

 

I did not build my car with the intention to make it a shelf queen in pristine condition so am all game for any rounds that may follow.

 

On another note I like to thank all the other participants for finishing and entering a car,

Without you guys suporting this proxy it would never have hapened and I am grateful that you guys did.

 

I am also ashamed a bit by the people on Slotforum who said they would enter and then non of them actualy did.

Since I started on Slotforum it was always my `home` but I am not going to say that anymore after this debacle.

Of the 20+ entries only few made it.   

 

If Jairus had not come with he idea of an Wooden Car proxy I probably would never have made the dive into the deep end.

Thank you Jairus for giving me the push that I needed to venture into the realm of true scratch building.

 

This was my first Balsa Wood Car I am very pleased with the outcome, 

in fact if someone showed me the picture of it as it is and tell me that I will be making that I would not beleive it.

 

Up for any other builder proxy the future may bring!

[Jairus]

January 27, 2014 marked the 2^nd running of the Good Wood Sports Car proxy!
Race report to follow shortly.
The track:

 

The track is a 75 foot (22.86 meters) 3 lane routed wood track with a shiny painted surface which Larry calls “The Boss”! There was no glue present and the cars all handled predictable.  Much more fun than running of the first track, which had just been spray glued by the management! (Arrrrggg) That more than anything probably led to my little Maserati 250f receiving a DNF last race. I let all three drivers practice with all the cars and for the first time they really flew once they learned the art of power sliding around the corners.  All the cars did this with the two big bodied sports cars additionally utlizing the rear fenders along the outside walls to really speed through the corners.

The cars prior to the race in no particular order.

We ultimately ran 3 races of 3 two-minute heats, rotating the cars from red lane across to blue lane.  Each car ran a total of 6 minutes. Doesn’t seem like much, but I felt this was the best way to contain and reduce damage.

 

1^st race was with the bottom three cars from previous race: Maserati, Triumph and the Cannaught.

2^nd race came the Scarab, BRM and Mercedes.
Lastly we ran the two sports cars thinking that being the fastest in the last race they won’t hurt one another or anyone else.
Wish I had had a video camera to film some of the drifting in the corners during the second race. Because it was so vintage looking and soooooo cool! In fact, the drivers had so much fun they suggested we do it again!

 

Results were a big surprise to me. No computer to figure it out… we used an individual lane counter and timer on the power to start and stop the track. Then wrote down the results on a chart.  I didn’t add up the totals till I got home an hour later.  Even the drivers have no idea who won yet.  But I can tell you by laps that Paul had this track DOWN!

 

The final results
1 Mercedes #10 with 51 laps

2 Scrab #7 with 43 laps

3 Maserati #1 with 42 laps

4 Tie between the Sports Car #3 and the BRM #22 with 41 laps

5 Triumph #77 with 38 laps

6 Sports Car #14 with 36 laps

7 Cannaught #11 with 31 laps

 

As you can see it was pretty close and quite a few cars changed places in the order compared to the previous race.  I figure it was the benefit of lower gear ratio or the determent of a lack of brakes that swapped things up so nicely.

While the Sports cars of Rodney and Rick handled wonderfully on this track as well as the other, the lack of brakes really hurt the top speed, as they seemed much more at home on the faster track.
As Larry says: “The track is a rhythm track”.  Once you get the rhythm down, the driver can start pushing the car to its limits.

We had Paul on blue, Hugh on white and Bob on red.  Unfortunately the red lane has two tight inside corners and all the problems happened there.  Happily most were simply spinouts requiring only a quick push to the tail of the car to straighten out because the guide usually remains in the slot.   But… you do this too many times and it’ll cost the car valuable seconds.  With an average 6-second laps being run by these little vintage beasts.
That really hurt Nicholas’ Cannaught with it’s more narrow tires as she slid out on the lower inside turn on red nearly every other lap. (b 14, w 9, r 8)
Jaak’s Triumph loved this track and his car averaged 12.3 laps each heat!  Very well handling and perfectly geared to run here. Same with the Scarab as one can clearly see it was second overall.  That little car almost never deslotted and drifted beautifully and predictably through the corners.  Nice car Don and congratulations.

The big winner was Bruce and his Mercedes!  That car never deslotted or wiped out.  Didn’t hit anyone and I watched it pass everything in the second race over and over!  A silver arrow if there ever was one! Congratulations Bruce!!!

Only thing was… that car wouldn’t go around the corners in practice.  The Cox guide you put on had a bulb molded to the fin and it jammed in the corners. Rather than give the car a DNF before we started, I allowed Larry to LIGHTLY trim the leading edge of the bulb and he must have done it right.

 

The BRM and the Cannaught, while very fast on the big track seemed over geared here.  Plus the guides were Classic or Dynamic and the fin ran too deep. You could hear it hitting the bottom of the slot as the car passed down the track.  Didn’t stop the cars and I doubt it hurt too much.  But it was causing drag.
Before we run the next round I’ll check Pelican Park Raceway’s guide depth and make adjustments if needed.


This race had one tragedy.

Yes, Rick’s sports car got sideways and Rodney plowed into him. Cost Rick a couple laps that heat plus lightning the nose a bit. (I can epoxy the nose back together or we can let her run as is Rick. Up to you.)

I guess that’s it.  Next race will be in about 2 weeks while I contact Todd at Pelican Park and line up a date.  Hopefully Rick Thigpen will be there to help marshall.

Respectfully submitted,
 

[Regis4446]

Jairus thank you for the work of reporter.

I'm really sorry for the car Rick, I hope it is repairable.

[Jaak]

Thanks for running the second round Jairus and once more a big shout out too Bob, Paul, and Larry for racing the cars.  

An excellent report and glad to see and read that my car was running better.
Also a big thanks for patching it up as my driver was loosing it's head   

Also happy to see that everyone was enjoying themselves and that you got your Mojo back.  

Would be great to get some feedback from the drivers about the cars handling and negative sides so that we can improve our skills and knowledge.

Shame that Rick's car got damaged like it did but it seems that it can be redone.

Greatly looking forward to the next round!

[don.siegel]

Amen Jaak.

 

Nice report Jairus, and thanks to the drivers!

 

No special credit to me on the Scarab - a found chassis and a found body, cleaned it up, put 'em together and the thing still works! A tribute to somebody's craftsmanship from the 60s...

 

Don

[Jairus]

I would love it if the drivers would log in and write a report. But only Paul is a member and he rarely posts... even on his own threads.
He's the one who had a mess'o in-line milled brass motor axle brackets last year.  But sadly he got a bad taste in his mouth about Slotblog when a bunch of self righteous twits from this forum posted mean petty responses regarding the selling price.

 

Not even sure Herb and Bob have computers.

My views are already posted.  But I can add that Jaak's rubber tires really need to be glued to the rims and trued up.  The car hops a bit especially the right front wheel.  I just need to find my Trinity hex head wrench to get those wheels off in order to do just that.  Other than that... the Triumph runs just as good as the rest.
Bruce must have zapped his magnet because that car seems perfectly balanced and powered.  Nice machine.
Rick's and Rodney's cars are big track cars only.  They just don't like the smaller tighter tracks in my opinion.  
Pelican Park is a longer track but still has one tight corner in the donut.  So.... it will be sort of a moderate version of the other two races.

I am still considering running a time trial for the last race in order to cut down on the damage.  Broke my heart to see Ricks car like that.  He has yet to speak up so... I am unsure what to do.

[dc-65x]

I am still considering running a time trial for the last race in order to cut down on the damage.  Broke my heart to see Ricks car like that.  He has yet to speak up so... I am unsure what to do.

 

Hi Jairus,

 

I've delayed my response to discuss the situation with Rodney and his opinion was:

 

I think your car should be sent back to me for repairs. I do not know what continued racing is proving...

 

After "sleeping on it", I agree. Our cars have been raced twice. We've already established that they work quite well on the big tracks and much less so on the smaller layouts.

 

On a personal note, my cars hand carved body was a surprise gift to me from Rodney. As such, it holds a special place among my cars. He feels he can repair it with its current level of damage. It's time for us to quit while we still have something left that is repairable.

 

Therefore, we request that our two team cars are not driven further and are returned to Rodney at your convince. I will PM you with the shipping info and reimburse all your expenses via PayPal.

 

Thank you again for all your efforts in conducting this Proxy event,

 

Rick

[Jairus]

I am very sorry to hear this. 
But totally understand and will comply with your wishes.

This is something I brought up after the first race and if anyone, ANYONE ELSE wants to drop out. Nobody will think less of you.  In fact, you don't even need to be public about it. Just a PM is all that is needed.

As for repairs.  The breaks were all "with the grain".  Super easy to re-glue, light sand and paint in order to repair.
This is the very reason I used laminated plywood for the nose of my Maserati... which took quite a hit the other night that chipped the paint pretty darned good.  

 

 

I like it actually. Because the one thing these cars have that others don't?  BONAFIDES! They are honest race cars now.

  

 

So if I were Rodney, I'd glue the bits back and return the car as is.  Keep it an honest example of a race car and not a shelf queen.
Because number 14 has preformed VERY well so far.
 

[dc-65x]

Actually, having wandered the pits at many a road race event, I always admired the race teams with immaculately prepared cars. Team Penske and BRE come immediately to mind. The cars were refurbished between races to a lovely standard and certainly not "garage queens", rather they were series champions.

 

I'm certainly no Roger Penske or Pete Brock but for me, I really enjoy keeping my cars looking as good as I can. So Rodney will be repairing the body so the damage is gone. Perhaps just a contrasting color on the nose can be painted instead of the entire car resprayed. If the bare brass frame is tarnished from handling it will be re-polished. Everything will be cleaned and lubed and the braid replaced if worn.

 

Ahhhh.........."shiny goodness!"

[Jairus]

Very good Rick!   
Cars are in the mail.

Allright... those left will observe the track for the next round. Pelican Park Speedway.


It is a 66 foot 4 lane landscaped track. It was established in 1988, then re-surfaced in 1996. The track is machine routed MDF, water sealed and painted with 6 coats of grey deck enamel. No glue!

 

I have talked to Todd, the pres, and he is willing to allow us use of the track. But I have to find a date so it may take a couple weeks to get a date set for the remaining 6 cars.

 

[Jaak]

Thanks for the headsup Jairus.

I will be happily awaiting the new race when it is set.

Once more thank you very much for organizing this great event and pushing me over the edge to have a go at a wooden slot car body from scratch  

 

[dc-65x]

My Team Car #14 is back at the race team shop. Our Team Boss shown below is ready to supervise repairs

 

[SlotStox#53]

The Team shop looks perfectly equipped to carry out the repairs to your car Rick Very fancy setup!

[Jairus]

Update: Got a new guide for Régis' BRM.  Will install it this weekend.

Looks like we need to have a change of venue for the next race unfortunately.

I took a trip down to Pelican Park Raceway last fall with the plan to pave the way toward running on that track.  Even allowed a few of the members to look at my Maserati and drive it a few laps. Believed that everything was good till I received an email from one of the members (not Todd) just a few days ago.  It was a carefully worded letter, but I took it as an insult because they wanted me to return to the track with all the cars so they could drive them and THEN vote on whether they wanted to allow a race to take place! Worse, they slighted my untested Maserati as undriveable and not fit for their track!  (Took freaking third place in the last race dudes!!!)
Then and only then could we plan ANOTHER DAY in the future for a race, if they voted to run a race in the first place.

The track is just about 65 miles from my place and a bit more than an hour's drive and that's a lot of time and fuel to expend for a slot car race.

In my mind, I just don't have that much free time.  So.... there are lots of other tracks in this here Willamette Valley, most of them closer. So, I'll find one and get back to you in a weeks time.
Thank you for being patient.

 

[dc-65x]

 

Worse, they slighted my untested Maserati as undriveable and not fit for their track!

 

Amazing

 

"Undriveable" for those who aren't familiar with vintage slot cars. Most modern "racers" seem to be amazed when they see a vintage car power sliding through the turns.

[SlotStox#53]

Well that's just plain rude & insulting ! Undriveable & unfit for "their" track!? *&%^*#&^$*&# !!! Learn to drive a "real" slot car ...

[Mark H]

this is excellent! it hurts me to see these beautiful cars battal damaged after all the hard work thats gone into them. but its also nice to see them being raced! i love when stuff is used as its supposed to be instead of sitting.

[don.siegel]

Very sorry the Pelican guys did that Jairus - they're really taking themselves way too seriously! 

 

Take your time, find another place when we can - we all appreciate your efforts! 

 

Don 

[slotbaker]

Believed that everything was good till I received an email from one of the members (not Todd) just a few days ago.  It was a carefully worded letter, but I took it as an insult because they wanted me to return to the track with all the cars so they could drive them and THEN vote on whether they wanted to allow a race to take place! Worse, they slighted my untested Maserati as undriveable and not fit for their track!
 

That's a bit snobish... Sound like there are a few punces at Pelican Park.

 

I'd say that those cars are too good to run there.

 

Like others have said, whoever made that comment should learn to drive proper slot cars.

[James Wendel]

Now boys, don't get your knickers in a knot over a second-hand summary of a third party E-mail.  I certainly do not know exactly what transpired, but sometimes things are phrased wrong and people take things personally when they shouldn't. 

 

The guys at Pelican are a good group and I am sure that no insult was intended.  They are also excellent racers, without exception. 

 

It is too bad that the proxy race will not be happening at Pelican.  I know that many of the regulars there would have loved to see the modeling masterworks embodied in these hand-crafted, wooden racers. 

[Jaak]

No rush on my side J.

Appreciate your effort!

[Jairus]

I agree James.  Like I said, the letter was carefully worded and there were no outright insults. I can post it unedited via PM to anyone who wants to read it.

But I was quite insulted and waited a full day before responding.  I also sent it to Paul who is a member down there and races on Wednesday and he just laughed and said "yup that's TJ".  He also agreed with me that maybe it would be best to find another venue.  No big deal tho and I am not angry.
Just disappointed.