537 replies to this topic

[slotbaker]

 I have seen hobby shops who specialize in R/C alone, and how do they manage to survive? You would think a large R/C truck or dune buggy would need way much more area to race in than even a Purple Mile. Not to mention new radios, controllers, tires, etc. sales. How do they do it?

As well as Tony's point, R/C cars don't need a purple mile, or any other fixed track to be raced.

 

In our little dead end street on Christmas day, 4 young (10~12yo) kids were out the front thrashing around having a great time with their new cars.

 

There's a good chance that they will keep playing R/C cars for a few years to come.

At least until they get their driver's license and/or discover girls.  Not necessarily in that order tho!!

 

Happy New Year slot nuts.

[NSwanberg]

I wonder what percentage of RC is purchased outside of a brick and mortar store? My guess. 70%.

[Superbird]

From my perspective (slot car and real car clubs) it always surprises me that guys who love cars and can assemble a large building full of collector cars will NEVER consider making space for a slot car track. I don't care how collectable or expensive slot cars become. They will not attain the social status of real cars or jewelry or real estate. It is the old problem of being considered a kind of toy that we play with because we can't afford the real thing. Well... there sure are a lot of people who can afford real cars. There are so many boomers out there with specialty cars it is like an exploding epidemic! The police have their hands full chasing car clubs out of parking lots because they are overrunning the local traffic. Put up a sign anywhere saying "Car Show Today" and see how many cars instantly pull up!  And yet, none of these successful guys are going to find a commercial building and run a slot car club for fun. It is not a money problem. It is a status problem.

 

Actually I know a fellow who bought two buildings (at auction) and established club tracks in 32nd scale. We are VERY grateful to him and race there whenever we can. I wish I could afford that kind of social expression.

 

As to status, I think 32nd has an edge over 24th simply because the cars are jewelry-level beautiful and almost always depict upscale subjects. I am a dyed in the wool 24th guy and never got into 32nd too deeply but todays 32nd cars are not just fast, you can find advanced parts for them from companies all over the world. The RTR cars are much more attractive to parents and family racing. The last 24th track I visited was a lot of fun but the place was a filthy mess with no working ladies room. I guess I take that condition in stride as I always have since slot tracks have always suffered from impoverishment and neglect right back to the '60s. I don't blame the poor guy running the place on top of his day job with no help and trying to make the rent on precious little track income. The larger 24th scale gives us a lot of wonderful speed but the realities of business work against attaining an elevated status of any kind.

[Vay Jonynas]

We are slowly seeing similer activity here with hardbody racing which to me is a more accurate term for what we see in Europe as well. While plastic chassis still dominate 1/32, both Scaleauto and now BRM use metal chassis in their 1/24 Scale cars. The use of pods and suspension makes a big difference. In Germany we see more sophisticated chassis by DoSlot and Slotfabrik, etc. The common denominator is a scale hard plastic or composite body.

I would love to see a mixed scene with hardbody added to Retro, Flexi and Wing on a equal footing. 

 

 

My favourite combination is a realistic looking hardbody on a metal chassis in either 1/24 or 1/32 scale. 

 

 

[Dennis David]

Yes, me too on a wood track at realistic speeds. I think we are slowly moving in that direction.

Still much can be admired in the other classes of racing. Current flexi cars are amazing handlers, nothing like what we used to see before. I always wonder why we can't make flexi Scale chassis.

[don.siegel]

I think part of the good handling comes from the small tires Dennis, not sure how they'd work with more scale tires. 

 

And remember that the original flexi was in fact the Russkit Rattler, from late 68, early 69 - it was already just two interlocking plates, with limited movement and an inline motor. Just entered one of these in a vintage race in England, and it finished 3rd out of 28 - very easy handling car! 

 

Don 

[MattD]

Don, we run 1 inch rear and no smaller than 3/4 fronts on our hard body, solid brass chassis.     The handling is fine for the speeds we run.   8 second laps on a King.    Fast enough to have to learn to drive the car, but not a blur to an old guys eyes.   WE basically are trying to run a style of car similiar to what we ran back in 65.   We have great, close racing.    

 

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[sportblazer350]

so i have spent several evenings reading through this entire thread, which has been going on for many years now. And as i found my older posts i can reflect back to how i felt about slot car racing then, based on what types of cars i was racing at the time. Currently i race 1/24 scale hardbody cars- a plastic model kit body mounted onto an H&R Racing brass adjustable chassis, 26k motors. . Yes there is a competitive spirit but mostly we are having FUN, both building and racing. And within our overall group of racers there are those that enjoy racing other types of cars that are much faster, as well as others like myself that enjoy the scale model car racing aspect of this class. What i enjoy about this class is that i am building plastic model kits, as i did in the early 70's, but now i am also racing them on both my home track (plastic 1/24 scale by Carrera) and at commercial raceways, and that it takes me back to the hardbody 1/24 scale cars that were made back in the early to mid '60s.

 

  It is good to see that there are various types of Hardbody racing going on all over the USA. It would be interesting to see the slot car racing hobby come full circle and embrace hardbody 1/24 scale cars again.

 

  Matt- like what you guys are racing (above post). Are you using the American Line brass chassis kits with K&B yellow can 36d motors? I was part of a group that raced them a few years back. Inexpensive and a blast to race with a full 8 lane field of racers. 

 

    I hope the commercial raceway segment of the overall slot car hobby survives and grows again. I have been enjoying it on and off since approx. 1970, h.o., 1/32 and 1/24 scales.      

[MattD]

Glen, we are running H&R for the most part.   Some older Protrack frames and some Womps cut and lengthened.  We are using a motor they sell at our track that is 15,500 rpm.    It's not a great choice and the quality varies.  On a King our best cars run 8 sec.   Some motors can't hardly run 8.5 in the same chassis,  We are starting to use the motor Slot Car 'Corner is selling under the name  Jaws, it is a similiar long can motor rated 18,500 and more torque.   It runs with the best of the other motors with little fine tuning.   By changing gearing we should be able to get all our cars in the 8 - 8.3 second range and that will make for close racing  in our little crash and burn races.

 

Besides the hot rods we also each have a trans am sedan with the same setup.   Mustangs, Camaros, etc from the 60's and 70's.  None of the cars are great models, a few of these guys are over 70 and until last year never even ran a slot car or built model cars.   A couple of us like the old concours side of slot racing and we race and build vintage Indy cars that are more detailed and kind of a throwback to the early days of slot racing  and what we all saw in the magazines in 64 and 65.

 

[sportblazer350]

Matt- i like the 2 above pictured cars, Are they the current Monogram reissue kits? So- what chassis did you use?

[MattD]

Glen those are bodies I make.   The easiest chassis to build is a 60's Dynamic with added brass pan underneath.   We have also cut some Sprintsplus in half and added a brass  plate underneath for weight and to bridge the gap when they are stretched out to the correct length.    The Watson bodies I make are based on the old AMT Parnelli Jones kit.   I also make the Lotus 38, the Brawner Hawk,  the 1966 Eagle, a 

Epperly roadster based on the 56 body. Maybe something else I can't think of.   I did take a brawner Hawk and convert it to a fair looking Coyote Ford circa 67.    The front car is a hardbody I made, the rear car is a Lancer I picked up later on Ebay. 

 

[Dennis David]

Is this 1/24? You can source vintage F1 chassis in Europe.

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[MattD]

We do 1/24 Dennis.   Those are nice looking chassis and would simplify building an open wheel car.   Not sure what the $$$ factor would be.   It wouldn't matter much to me but might to some of the others.   What country do I go to to find these?   Germany??   Might be worth getting a couple just for myself to play with.       found quickly at Pro Motor  $44.95.

[Dennis David]

27.90 from slotpoint.de

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[Dennis David]

The chassis that Prof Motor sells is also available from slotpoint for 22.90 euros

[MSwiss]

Can you post links on those?

I'm having a hard time figuring out their site.

[Dennis David]

https://slotpoint.de...ormel-Fahrzeuge

https://slotpoint.de...Formula-Chassis

[MSwiss]

Thanks.

The stuff seems really inexpensive.

[Dennis David]

They have a good supply of Schoeler chassis that the Oregon guys use.

[MattD]

I would be open to buying two of them if anybody wants to combine an order  and can figure out how to order.

PM me, email or post here if anybody wants to do this.   I'll cover postage. 

[A. J. Hoyt]

Back to the thread topic for a moment. I had an epiphany at the race at Downriver Speedway that I shared with Nelson Swanberg just last night:

 

Slot car racing is still exactly the same kind of fun it was back when I was a kid (went to Parma for my first "big race" in 1971, likely with Nelson and Raisin).

 

It was fun because you could buy a car ready to run or build what the fast racers were running where you were allowed to make your own little improvements or you could build whatever you wanted and race it locally and against the best in the country on occasion.

 

Retro brought back a lot of that feel and, with the right group of guys to race with, it is still exactly the same kind of fun it was for exactly the same reasons.

 

I feel very lucky that Retro happened, is still well supported and to have found the group of guys in CO and in MI to race with.

 

It doesn't appeal to everyone or, more importantly, enough people to have the popularity it had in the 60's but you can still see the excitement and the "newness" it had back then when younger people come in to see the track and then decide to rent cars to race. If they could just hang out and do it a few times in an environment that could instill the "racing bug", then it could be the same for them, too.

 

There are just too many "new" distractions (social media, home video games, etc.) that other people (peers) can better relate to so there are just too few new people that stick with it long enough to "get it".

 

The underlined epiphany is my couple of pennies to throw in.

 

Keep it in the slot,

 

AJ

[Dennis David]

Pretty much says it all. Slot car racing takes an investment of time more than money. You can pick up a phone or game controller any time with hardly any start up cost in time or money. Even conversation takes more effort than playing Angry Birds on the phone.

[Cheater]

LOL... 

 

As I keep repeating (sorry...) anyone who pursues a leisure-time activity has a 'budget' of time and money they can allocate to it. If the activity is configured to require more of those two elements than they can devote, then they cannot participate.

 

For many years, certainly in US 1/24 commercial raceways, the time and money requirement to be competitive has excluded many potential participants, which illustrates the short-sighted nature of the 1/24 hobby here.

 

People can make more money, but has anyone figured out a way to make more time?

[Dave Crevie]

Mike; They look like a good match for the Kurtis bodies. No scratch building like was required for

the proxy series. Are you thinking there might be interest? 

[MattD]

I am going to build a few with hard Indy car bodies.   I'll used the 18,500 motors we are starting to run.   I wonder if they need weight in the front and how they will handle.  Looking forward to more projects!!!!!