82 replies to this topic

[B Meharry]

Not sure if there was ever a forum to post results and whatever for our weekly hardbody program, but I figured I'd go ahead and start one anyway. Turn outs have been really hit or miss every week compared to last year, and I know a lot of folks just think hard body cars suck to drive....and I've asked 20 different people what they'd like to race and got 60 different answers. So, I'm sending out an open invite to get some run what 'ya brung flexi racing started in between our two hardbody classes.

Nascar, LMP, Indy/F1, or retro.....just no high downforce stuff. Any cheapo motor bought off the wall. Run them all together.

Just get out and race and we will see what sticks.

Anyways, here's the results from Saturday night.

 

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[Ricky Vegas]

It's awesome you posted about your hardbodies series on Slot Blog; Brian.

 

To anyone wondering what in the heck the draw could be .. for me .. it's full-on / totally nostalgic! .. building model race cars in my youth and racing the Revell home sets way back in the day.

 

And; bottom-line it's those huge Revell sets we loved as kids on steroids .. the builds look fantastic in originality and detail and they are very fast with the motors allowed for the series.

 

Suck to drive?  Well; to a certain degree that means with diligent practice newer racers have a shot at the podium and at the same time seasoned veterans are really challenged to keep a string of podiums going. That's good competition.

 

The club literally defines camaraderie too.  Right from the get-go; everyone .. and I seriously mean EVERYONE racing .. has been helpful with build tips and race tutoring, patient with newbies and our goofy questions and really let a guy know they are glad you come out to race. 

 

Another plus; we're all a bit tighter on cash these days for whatever reason and the series is not expensive to be competitive and have a blast.  

 

Maybe start a race night results ongoing thread and sprinkle in some pics from the history of the club in the race announcements section here; Brian?  My 2 cents since one of my day gigs is working on marketing projects.

 

The series is addicting ~ I just picked up a sweet 1/24 1966 Ford Fairlane model kit for it.    

 

Come over on race night and check it out yourself racers ~ 

 

Ricky V.

[B Meharry]

01/03/15 Hardbody results. Best turn out we have had so far this season with Mike being in the new location. Mike seemed a bit tired from all the ISRA events earlier in the day so we skipped trying to do a flexi "run what 'ya brung" race.  A few faces returned that we have not seen in a long time, and there seems to be a few new faces currently building cars, so hopefully we will see some more participants.  See you all next Saturday..

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[Mark Mattei]

Hi, could we get any line up pics? Saw a couple of racers shooting the starting line up. Thanks, Mark.

[olescratch]

I would like to know the programs that the winning racers used.  By that I mean I would like to know the specs on the winning cars, and if possible a look at the chassis etc.  I am leaning more towards hard body builds, due mainly to the more realistic look of the cars. John D. 

[Ramcatlarry]

The rules we are racing with are brians'.... start with an FCR 4.5" wb, raise the axle centerline to use 1"+ tires, use a Proslot FK or demon/evil-9 motor, 1/8' rear axle, velro body mounts.  Chassis can be made using a streched womp or similar frame (inline).. Brians B & E spring steel frame has been very good. No flexable frames or hinges. Simple and some soldering needed if you build one. Cars range from 135 - 200 grqms.  The body choices affect many issues.  Trans/am(pony car) is one class and larger cars another....no convertibles.

 

Maximum width is consistent and cut out wheel wells like local short-track racing prefered.  Model body WB dictates end racer WB...most pony cars are too short for a 4.5 and most nascar bodies and full size sedans fit the 4.5"(+/-).

 

Wanted: used brass or steel womps for recycling to hardbody hotrods.

[B Meharry]

A few shots from Saturday night. A well dialed in FCR based car or stretched womp chassis are just as competitive, but I ran a spring steel Eliminator frame built to 4-3/8" wb, firm tires out back, proslot FK geared 7/34 on the flat track, which Larry ran for a third place finish on the King. we run them at 12 volts....keeps the chaos down a bit.

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[Ricky Vegas]

Some more pics of race cars from the fun as all get out hardbody race series.  First 2 cars pictured were built by the race series creator and our Chairman of The Board; Brian Meharry.  See parts and RTR cars available at B&E Slotsport on Facebook ~

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[Dennis David]

I think one of the issues with hard body racers is the only thing in common is that they prefer their bodies to be hard plastic or resin rather than Lexan. Besides that you got:

 

Plastic kit builders

1. With a simple brass chassis like ProTrack
2. A more sophisticated chassis like a B & E or Scholer/Plafit
3. D3 Hardbody

1/24 BRM/ScaleAuto

 

High-end Composite Body

High-end Composite Chassis

 

and hybrids that cross categories. 

 

I'm into hybrids so it looks like if i race Scaleauto I'm stuck racing 99% stock cars :-(

[MSwiss]

Dennis,
Has anyone ever nailed down how much an RTR composite car sells for?

[James Wendel]

I really love the "dirt-track" look of your ProTrack wheeled hardbodies.  That and the hand painted numbers.  They look terrific.

[rvec]

Guys,

Keep up the great work! Hardbodies rule! As Dennis mentioned, there are pockets of real scale 1/24 1/25 hardbody racing in the west and the northwest all with different rules. In Oregon we have two groups - one in Roseburg and another in the Portland area. Both of these groups have gravitated to the Scholer or Playfit chassis (we also have a few classes featuring the old ProTrack brass or H&R chassis). What attracts me to hardbody racing is the realism of the plastic or resin models. The Scholer or Plafit chassis handle quite well and depending on the class we are using Deathstar, Proslot 16D, Falcon 7, Falcon 2/4 or ProSlot Ps4000. My favorites are the Porsche 917, GT40, Trans Am and some of the Group C cars. I have posted many images on this site. In the Phoenix, Arizona are they race an H&R class as well as BRM 917s and Scale Auto. It is all fun!! Some dislike hardbodies because they are more difficult to drive, but properly set up they are fast and handle quite well. Below are a few images of recent grids and my favorite ride the 917

[olescratch]

Awesome!!!  I love the realism of the hard bodies. In regards to the chassis, any that  a group decides to use as a basis should be fine, just like the motors.  No difference with that than the agreed choice of motors.  As long as the "group" agrees on chassis and motor combo, the race is on!!  Great looking group of cars!! 

[Dennis David]

$200 for chassis and running gear. $100 for body would be a start. You can go up from there.

[Dennis David]

Even my 1/32 slot.it runs pretty well. With no aerodynamic downforce you have to slow down and apply power out of the corner. I've lowered my best lap time by over 1/2 a second just by adjusting screws and stiffening the chassis and this is with plastic.

We are just now embarking on a Scaleauto program under national rules. Whether this works or not for our local racers is still an open question but has the potential for a series of races on the west coast headquartered out of Tacoma. WA

[rvec]

We are just now embarking on a Scaleauto program under national rules. Whether this works or not for our local racers is still an open question but has the potential for a series of races on the west coast headquartered out of Tacoma. WA

Good Luck Dennis - I ran the Scale Auto class in AZGR and they were pretty well stock. I was surprised at how well they ran. The chassis looks similar to the Scholer. The more "tame" motor they are using (stock) keeps the speeds down and carnage to a minimum. If there is a series on the West Coast, I might just have to participate!

[rvec]

Awesome!!!  I love the realism of the hard bodies. In regards to the chassis, any that  a group decides to use as a basis should be fine, just like the motors.  No difference with that than the agreed choice of motors.  As long as the "group" agrees on chassis and motor combo, the race is on!!  Great looking group of cars!!

Thanks. I have posted a good deal on this site so many of our cars are shown. In addition, you might want to look at my photobucket . See the link http://s1324.photobu.../?sort=3&page=1Hundreds of hard body builds and images of my track - Electron Raceway

[Dennis David]

The "tame" motor is my only concern but we'll see.

[MSwiss]

The "tame" motor is my only concern but we'll see.

You can't just screw in something faster?

[Justin A. Porter]

If the goal is to run to the national ruleset, then they would be limited to a 21,000 rpm motor that's stock to the Scaleauto cars as shipped. Said motor is a long can type, so I would believe that either a Puppy Dog or FK style motor would be an easy drop in.

[Ramcatlarry]

The 4000 series Proslot (the puppy dog IS one) will snap into any plastic car that uses the (scaley/slot-it style) short can FC-130 - can drive is best. Of course it will screw in to the other chassis as well.  The base model is about 25K rpm, PD maybe 50K, grp 12 arm maybe 80K(?)....

Another good use for the Proslot 4002-FK.

 

Most plastic frames cannot handle the torque or RPM of the 25K+ arms.  We need to glue or screw many motors in place for these.

[Dennis David]

National Scaleauto rules are very restrictive. Standard motor, gear ratio, no added led weight. We'll see where it goes locally. I'm trying to keep an open mind. You weigh local rules against the ability to host larger races.

 

In out Slot.it series I use a Flat6 RS motor which is 25K. I think a 38K motor like this NSR motor Is about as hot as I would go. Anything more and it gets really hard to handle. These are FK-180 motors which are similar to Falcons but longer. To make them work with a plastic chassis takes some work but once done they go very well. You need to go with the sights pod and of course you need to screw the motor in and I would hot glue it as well.

 

Create float with the hard body and I use magnetic susspension set real soft but limit the movement. 

 

[MSwiss]

Dennis,
A few questions.

Who is behind the series?

Does Frank Sarkela carry Slot-it cars?

If so, know who he gets them from?

[Dennis David]

Slot it comes from the same people that carry Scalextric in the US which last I heard was Hornby America. ScaleAuto and also BRM I think are distributed through Alan Smith at 132 Slotcars.

 

The Scaleauto series is considered the entry level series in Europe so is run stock. Alan recently had a 24 HR Enduro running Scaleautos and from what I heard it was a very successful event.

 

When I tried to discuss making them a little faster I was basically told to get lost. LOL 

[Dennis David]

This is what I currently run: