22 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

It's been more than a year since I walked out of the slot track for the last time.

I saw the writing on the wall and was fed up with the track owner and the politics and the fact that we couldn't generate any interest in anything other than flexi racing. I love building more than racing so I quit.

Shortly after that, track owner at Edgewater Raceway broke up the track, and sold it. He moved in a screen printing T-shirt press to replace the road course while continuing to hold drag races every Wednesday evening on the sole remaining slot car appliance.

A year later I am writing an article about surviving Oregon Club tracks and Paul Painter calls me saying that he has a new track built and ready for business.
Not commercial, but yet another club track set on private property.

You see, slot racing never went away in Oregon. It just went "underground" if you will. All the really successful tracks are privately owned and established on private property. Some like Pelican Park Raceway have been in operation since 1979.

At any rate, Paul called and I responded like any good reporter with my pad and pen and camera.
What I was surprised with was the rule book he handed me.
It was direct from the IRRA^® rules other than two tiny things which I'll note later.
This was exciting!

I came back on Saturday, the day of an organized race and I got the bug again! One week later I had a chassis:

 

 

Another week and I had a body painted:

 

 

Here are a couple pics under the TrueScale Porsche (Dynamic) 908 body:

 

 

 

Specs on the car:
Five rails of .039" wire
Wheelbase 3-7/8"

Guide lead 7/8"
Wheels Riggen AA reproductions by DC65X.
Rubber on rear JK natural
Body by TrueScale
Front pan by Bryan Warmack
Bracket by Paul's Slots

Final weight 127 grams
 

The track is a flat track road course 85' long, four-lane routed wood.

 

 

 

You are probably asking why the beefy 1/8" axles.
Well, Paul is running the voltage at 7.5 and limiting the gear ratio to 8/29 for every car.
The only thing I have to play with for advantage is to lower the rolling inertia.
Thus the four rear ball bearings and a carbon fiber rear axle.  *Shhhhhhhh don't tell anyone.*
I also have a brand new set of plastic hub JK natural wheels to try in practice along with a different motor so I plan to do some tuning.

Front axle is steel with one set screw and a soldered keeper giving the outside tire cClockwise track rotation) the chance to freewheel.

Other than that, the car is pretty basic.

Oh... and I have a back up car with a few more tricks... and it weighs in at 123 grams so I do have options.

 

 

See you at the races! 

[vintageslots]

Those cars look great as always and look like great cars to race.

 

I too became disgruntled with the local racing and quit. I traded my whole box of cars for that collection of cars and pit box from the Alaskan '60s hobby store that I posted.

 

We have two separate groups of racing here in Omaha: really fast and really, really fast LOL. Sad to say, you could never get them to run what you have in pictures.

 

I wish you guys all the fun and way cool track. No attention to detail,  just how fast can I go around here. There's a third group but they are all so old LOL they race too early, I'm at work still! Almost race on!

[Dennis David]

With voltage that low what controllers do you use?

[slotbaker]

Nice cars.

That looks like a fun track, and great for Retro and vintage cars.

Hope you have fun.

[NSwanberg]

Another master build.   Not that i would argue with a scale but that does not look like a 127 gram car to me? Of course I do not know how much the Warmack front pan weighs.

 

How wide is the bracket?

[Pappy]

I can see 127 grams with that motor bracket, front pan, and ten rails.
 
Beautiful job, Jairus. 

[Kim Lander]

Great-looking cars, have fun racing... Best hobby ever... it's always been my true love.

Be glad you have a place to race, here in middle GA there is none.

Love those bodies.

[Jairus]

Paul says after lots of testing on the track with no glue (that was the other rule) that 110 grams is the target weight. I shot for it and missed. But it's easy to lose weight just as it's easy to add.

Swapping the wheels alone might save a bunch.
 
Controllers are what ever we bring to the track. I have two digital to choose from. Dave for some reason seems to like his old resistor controller.
 
Here is the results of one of the races. It happened to be for the JK flexi modified. Motors were all the JK Hawk.
Paul doesn't use a track timer, instead he shuts off the power soon as one of the drivers hits 75 laps per heat.


 
As you can see... the lap times are not blistering 3.5 seconds, but it makes for exciting racing nonetheless.

[Pablo]

The whole enchilada looks like a recipe for success to me. 

[slotcarone]

Beautiful chassis/car, Jairus!! 

 

To get rid of some weight I would cut off the rear axle tubes and just use the one set of bearings in the bracket. Aluminum tubing for spacers. Also cut off the corners on top of the bracket. All this weight up high does nothing for the handling. I would not think weight is an enemy on this flat track though.

 

Glad you have a place to play again!

[Ken Bryan]

Jairus -

 

My son lives in Albany, OR, and we go there two-three times a year. Would love to come to a race. Where in OR is the track located?

[Cheater]

It's in Keizer, OR.

 

Mile High Raceway

[Jairus]

Thank you Greg!  
This weekend is the Keizer Iris festival so no racing today... but plenty of rain.
I spend the morning and till just now in Silverton at a car show supporting the auto shop program.  Yes, it rained there too.
 

But Paul says we will be racing Can-Am next Saturday Ken if you want to email Paul for directions: paulstuberadio@gmail.com

 

Jairus
 

[MattD]

I would think a lighter car would be a plus on a track with so many short shoots. My experience is that a heavier car does corner better but takes a mini second longer to get up to speed on the straights. On a big speed track that is OK, but a shorter track seems to favor a lighter car that is quicker out of the hole.
Just my thoughts.

While the speeds may not be like some guys want, I bet a nice close race where you can see the cars is much more fun. Our group runs a slow combination, but we sure have fun.

[Dennis David]

Jairus, just wondering how your controllers worked at 7.5 volts

[Jairus]

I'll let you know after the first race Dennis.  So far I have yet to turn a wheel even in practice.
Planning on doing so Tuesday.

[Pappy]

I would think a lighter car would be a plus on a track with so many short shoots. My experience is that a heavier car does corner better but takes a mini second longer to get up to speed on the straights. 

Matt, not sure that it works that way. If you can come out of the corner carrying more speed you don't need to accelerate as much.

[Dennis David]

My experience is that weight depends on downforce and grip level. On a high grip flat track I want more weight, low grip less weight.

[Thom]

Here in  Omaha the basement racers run on 9 volts which is plenty fast for our short straight tracks. We have 4 road courses, 1 oval, and a drag strip. Most of us use the old Omni controllers- they work great and are still value priced.

 

 Sad to say, you could never get them to run what you have in pictures.

 

 

James, at our meet on Tues. night I am going to propose we start a class like this, it's time for our newer racers to step out of their "flexy" comfort zones.

[Dennis David]

We race at 10 volts and the lower voltage takes a little getting used to but we run hard bodies and this really saves on wear and tear. Looking forward to the race reports. 

[Jairus]

Last Saturday I went to the track to practice.  Not really used to this track yet so didn't stay for the race.  Besides testing proved a few flaws that needed fixing first.
 

Paul drove the car and it performed very well for him but I still found a few corrections.
Not even sure if I'll race next Saturday, but for sure I'll be there for practice!
 

 

Replaced the guide nut with a better one along with better washers and cleaned up the brass on the tongue.  Car was popping out on left hand turns, so checked and the guide was very slightly dragging when turned to the left. 
Very smooth now with a 1 to 2 degree tilt up and moves back and forth smoothy.
Rob Hanson suggested I reduce the upper weight so I cut out 2/3rds of the front axle tube and rounded off the top of the motor bracket.
The weight is now 113g even with a tiny bit of lead added to the pans.

There were 8 total people showing up Saturday.  Hopefully everyone will be back next week and I might run if I feel good about the track surface. Seemed very squirrely no matter how much stuff I put on the tires.

[Paul's Slots]

Well...it's proved to be a very good recipe for car and motor life...the track is better than when we started...the voltage is now at 7.5 and we are running with open gears ratio now...it was a good start with the gears we were running...but now is more fun with choices of motors and gears. We also run all kinds of controllers and all seem to work great with no one complaints...also running open class with up to whatever you want in motors or chassis....times are in the 4 second rages now.....also running womps this month you got to drive.....this month retro F1...Womps with miget bodies...and open class with GTP or LMP bodies....I've also added 2 buttons next to the drivers...when you come off just push the button and it stops the race...yellow flag..walk over put your car on walk back push the button and resume the race...less crashes...more brotherhood racing...and no blaming someone else for not putting on your car fast enough....I want everyone to do well...it's very competitive still...regards Paul

[Paul's Slots]

This is the pics of the three classes I described...regards Paul

Attached Images

• 
• 
•