20 replies to this topic

[Steve Okeefe]

What if...

 

Doc Emmett Brown finally got that DeLorean with the Flux Capacitor to work reliably, and temporarily took you back to January 1966 so you could compete in the R&C road races?

 

That's the premise. 

 

 

Here is the goal:

 

 

HAVE FUN building a slot racing car (or a series of cars) to be your entry (or entries) in any or all of the six R&C races using the level of technology (parts, materials, chassis architecture, construction techniques, etc.) available to you in 1966.

 

Interested? 

 

Here are some clues, hints and groundrules:

 

Use the R&C magazine race reports, tech charts and most importantly the series rules to help you build your cars so they would pass tech.

 

These are supposed to be PCOD (Period Correct Original Design) cars, not replicas or even re-creations.  You design and build completely from scratch using your knowledge, experience, skill, imagination and vintage parts or currently available functional and/or cosmetic equivalents.  No stressing over unobtanium. 

 

The only competition here is to produce plausible R&C race cars that you can run and enjoy.  The more period-correct, expertly built and finished they are, the better.  Kudos and attaboys will be handed out freely.       

 

There are no races planned and no one is going to tech your car (you have to do that yourself), so there cannot be any cheating.  However if you post photos of cars with side-pans, anglewinder drive, "A", "B", "C" or "S" can motors, plumber hinges, pink gears, Jet Flag pickups, or anything else that hasn't been invented, innovated or discovered yet, your peers will know immediately and you might not be taken very seriously...    

 

If you have any questions about parts, materials, chassis architecture, construction techniques, etc., just ASK.  This whole thing is a conspiracy on the part of a loose affiliation of vintage builders to educate you about the history of your hobby anyway... 

 

Now, go build something...

[SlotStox#53]

Awesome idea everyone! May have a go at creating something , one question with the Riggen wheels used on some of the cars . Were they the threaded black anodized rims?

[don.siegel]

Great idea Steve; I've actually already got a few found cars that are built along these lines, but I'll enjoy trying to build one from the ground up...

 

Now, where did I put those French magnets???

 

Don

[dc-65x]

Awesome idea everyone! May have a go at creating something , one question with the Riggen wheels used on some of the cars . Were they the threaded black anodized rims?

 

Riggen Grand Prix front and rear wheels are shown in the 66 1/2 Auto World Catalog. These have the holes and are black with knock off's These are really cool wheels. Now these are the larger diameter wheels at about .650" not the tiny "thingy" wheels that came out later.

 

The Cox wheels were also quite popular in the early R&C races. Then the Russkit set screw wheels took over. So Professor Motor has repop Russkit wheels and inserts.

[Steve Okeefe]

Paul E.,

 

Looks like Rick just beat me to providing your answer  (I'm at work on lunch break and he's retired). 

 

Don,

 

Thank you.  This idea is part of a conspiracy on the part of Rick T, Jairus and myself  (hosted by The Independent Scratch Builder); they get some of the kudos, too.  I will enjoy seeing you and hopefully some others build some cars! 

[dc-65x]

Looks like Rick just beat me to providing your answer  (I'm at work on lunch break and he's retired). 

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SlotStox#53]

Paul E.,
 
Looks like Rick just beat me to providing your answer  (I'm at work on lunch break and he's retired). 
 

Thanks Rick & Steve think I have some of these very wheels

[don.siegel]

Who's complaining (about Cox gears)? 

 

Actually, I am... just ran the Flanders vintage race with this car

 

 

It ran very well, finished 2nd it fact, and the Pittcan was very strong, but every time I accelerated it sounded like the crown gear was being destroyed... then I'd check the mesh between segments and it was perfect! Not sure what it was, but maybe the cox gear (35t) was distorting under torque, or it was already a bit out-of-center and making a noise against the pinion... Motor seemed solidly attached and rear bracket is braced, but maybe not enough... 

 

But them's the charms of 1966 - what other gears were around then? Russkit and other metallic ones?

 

Here's one of the cars I've found on ebay built in the Team Russkit style...

 

 

Don  

[don.siegel]

This is actually an old picture of the chassis, and I was still experimenting with tires: since then, I've trimmed down the drop arm pivot and used slightly narrower tires, so they shouldn't be rubbing - they were at the beginning, but the Pittcan is so powerful it didn't hurt top speed, just trimmed the tires! And yes, the motor is square to the axle, at least according to my eyes! 

 

Don 

[TSR]

Before we used the pinko Parma crown gears in SoCal retro racing in 2006, we used old Cox gears, sleeved to 3/32". Even with hypoid brackets, those gears were totally quiet and provided perfect mesh. Even the ones without the ribs at the back that were added in 1967 never caused us any trouble.
So here is an anecdote for you Parma gears freaks:
 
About 18 years ago, I received a call from Mike MacDowell, who as most of you know, is president of the Parma-PSE little empire. He wanted to know if I could help them because they had problems with the mesh of brand-new crown gears designed to fit both Womps (burp) and drag-racing inline cars. I requested samples and found from the samples that the tooth angle was incorrect, and suggested to mike that they copy EXACTLY the Cox gear design, which they did.

Today the Parma gear is excellent, superior to the Cox simply because its more advanced plastic is sturdier and flexes less than the 30% glass-filled nylon of the old Cox gears.

[Foamy]

When did the Tradeship endbells come on the market?

 

[don.siegel]

Just checked out a couple R&C issues and there are some huge differences between the first and last race in the series - from very light chassis to almost lead sleds, from black to gray and blue tires, etc.

 

Even between the 4th and 5th races, which I just happened to pick up, there's a big difference. 

 

I think there are photos of cars in the series somewhere, but if not I can post, 

 

Don 

[TSR]

When did the Tradeship endbells come on the market?

 

Not before early in 1968, for a simple reason: pent-roof brush-holder retainers.

These can only have been copied from Champion, and Champion only issued its 517 and 617 motors fitted with this system in mid-1967. Knowing how long it took for a mold to be made in the day using the old methods, the time lag necessary for Freddy Foyn at Tradeship to be made aware of the need, etc., it sounds like the best of guesses.

Also, observing ANY of the cars used in the R&C series, then the subsequent 1967-1968 Model Car series from period pictures, not a single motor in any car was fitted with that endbell, that begins appearing in the Cobra, Certus and other catalogs in early 1969... a bit too late for pro racing, but certainly never too late to replace the melt-O-matic Mabuchi standard endbell on their FT16 and FT16D motors...

[MSwiss]

Terry looks a bit like Leonardo DiCaprio in that pic.

[Pete L.]

Fellas,

 

 Great idea, I'd like to join the fun...

[TSR]

Terry looks a bit like Leonardo DiCaprio in that pic.

 He still does today! But he builds better slot cars... 

 

Here are a few pics of period genuine R&C survivor cars to help out with your design and construction, courtesy of the LASCM vault:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dc-65x]

Philippe, you should remove the Dynamic Mirage with the '68 Mabuchi please.

 

Thanks

[TSR]

Ooops! That's not the one I wanted to post... That Terry Schmid built car was actually from late 1967 and ran in the ensuing Car Model series... let me remove it right now! 

[dc-65x]

Thank you and thanks for the great R&C pictures you help us with.

[Pete L.]

Philippe,

 

 Great shots of some really slick cars...that actually look like cars !!!

[TSR]

This is the one I wanted to post: