42 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

I don't think any of us object to any form of slot racing.

Matt, I respectfully disagree. I think it quite common for slot racers to disparage or dismiss genres of slot racing that they don't like. In fact, I softened a statement in a post above that gently demeaned one of the least practiced forms of slot racing: 1/24 wing cars.
 

The BRM and Scaleauto brands are ones that Alan strongly believes in and they are hugely popular in Europe.
...
He supports this type of racing not because this is what he distributes but rather distributes these cars because this is what he feels Is the future of slot cars.

I wouldn't bet he's wrong, as most of the relevant postive factors seem to be present: great-looking scale cars, manageable speeds, largely-box stock cars with sealed motors, no glue. (I'm surprised no one has commented on the 'glue-free' aspect of SRC. For me, that's a huge positive.)

Much more so than in the US, the Europeans seem to understand that the positive factors that attract participants to the hobby need to be emphasized and optimized, and the negative factors that drive them away minimized.

[hundo]

I was going to ask, why the the glue-free zone? Is it due to kids wanting to sniff it? We did as kids and we be okie dokie. 

[Cheater]

Not having to use glue makes for a cleaner raceway and cleaner cars and less variability of track conditions from week to week. Properly spray-gluing a track is not science, but rather a black art.

Not having to spray glue a track is also less work for the owner.

I never got a buzz from sniffing tire glue!

[ScaleRacing]

First Happy 4th of July to all slot ar racers and lovers everywhere.

I deeply appreciate the article written here about my company ScaleRacing LLC and the retail store we have built to showcase the hobby I passionately believe in.

There are lots of points being raised I could answer, or attempt to but I need to open the store soon so I will be brief.

Why no glue, well, I remember my days racing wings and other slots at glue tracks. I remember the smell in my clothing, and also think about the fact I was breathing in a chemical mixture I am sure is not good for you. I also remember the unlevel field different tires, glue and other additives created and feel this is not helpful in growing fair and fun racing.

The aim of the Scaleracing Center is to reach out to the general public and get them involved with the game, toy, hobby all here love.

We do not do JK or PARMA type cars or racing partly as there is already a sucessful commercial slot car track fairly close by and my mission is to grow the hobby all scales, not attack someone else who is running a similar program nearby.

I believe if slot car track owners worked together we could grow the hobby but most see another track as competition, even to the point or eroding away at margins to take each others customers. To me a recipe for long term failur,e not growth.

Right now we feature 1/24 scale cars and 1/32 racing and home series type cars.

Another area that we feel weakens the hobby is no standardized rules. When racing Parma type product I fully supported the Parma Challenge Cup rules. But watched others try to destroy with cheater motors, etc. We have standardized rules for most of our classes, I need to define some more but I believe that clear rules can only help the hobby grow.

I support commercial slot racing, I support HO, 1/43, 1/32, and 1/24 - all types.

We focus on BRM and Scaleauto as our flagship lines as here I can build a network of centers that races the same cars. Does not mean they only have to run those cars but does provide a profit center for those who see the potential.

We also race Slot.it and other performance 1/32 scale cars with plastic chassis.

Our casual racers (a large part of revenue) often choose to play race Scalextric with magnets, even bigger motors, and added magnets. They are having fun and come regularly to play. Average age of our play racers is 6-14, not many commercial tracks I ever raced at had that exposure.

We also host birthday parties, corporate events, car clubs, investment groups, churches, family fun days, and more.

The grassroots part to me is these people telling their friends, co-workers, and families about the fun they had at the ScaleRacing Center.

Hope this helps a little, I support slots and slot rar racing all scales, and firmly believe we need to be united to grow.

Good luck to all fellow business owners trying to keep slot car racing in front of new people. We need children and families involved if we wish to survive, let alone grow.

Here at the ScaleRacing Center we are investing in the future of this fun hobby by showcasing slot car racing to the general public and most important, to children, the future of this hobby, this country, and this world.

See you at the races.

Alan Smith

[ScaleRacing]

A little more detail on the ScaleRacing Center.
 
We have two large tracks, both with magnetic braid. The six-lane is 135 feet, the eight-lane is 116 feet. They can be linked via Race Management for big events. Every November we run the BRM 24 Hours of Tacoma race week when all 14 lanes are used together.

We also have an approx 52 feet four-lane play track and a rally track. Also building several oXigen tracks to showcase Slot.it Digital.

We will have a drag strip and an HO layout as well, as soon as physically possible.

See you at the races.

[Dennis David]

That sounds great. Hope to come up there later this year. 
 
One thing not mentioned is that tracks like Blue Kings, and especially Engelmans and Hillclimbs are built for racing at higher speeds and are less appropriate for scale racing. At the SRC the main tracks are all flat. This is a big determinator in my view as to what racing is popular for a given facility. I know people race hardbodies on the banked tracks but for Scaleauto and BRM there would be nothing but carnage while a "cheap" Lexan body can be easily replaced.

[rvec]

Alan,

Thanks for your post. I hope I captured the essence of the Scaleracing Center. It was a pleasure to visit with you and I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to talk. I enjoyed running the Scaleauto 1/24 Viper. I hope to make it up there again soon for a visit. Some months ago I acquired a Scaleauto 1/24 Porsche 911 and am in the process of setting it up. I'll bring it with me next time.

Best of luck,

Rich Vecchio

[n9949y]

We at Pelican Park who have been building and racing for 30 years 1/24 hardbody cars modeling the many different eras of motor sports from the 1940s to the present appreciate the efforts of Alan Smith to bring back raceable 1/24 authentic-appearing scale cars.
 
I’ve been running both BRM and ScaleAuto cars with their exquisite-looking scale bodies. Quite a kick to see them run on our fully landscaped track with its nine foot '50s era Le Mans pit building. A few weeks ago I stopped by Rich Vecchio’s Roseburg track to display my BRM and ScaleAuto cars. Opinion is with the H-bracket set up ScaleAuto cars handle much better than the H&R and BRM.

[hundo]

The glue I was refering to would be to the chassis, pods etc. The raceway gets dirtier by gear lube and oil for the axles, motors.

Spraying a track with glue, interesting.

[MattD]

It's all good and I hope nobody judges any raceway because they don't run a certain kind of car! The H&R is kind of the standard locally with a variety of hardbody classes. They take some work but with the lower powered motors usually run, they are fun to race. I personally like a simple flat scratchbuilt pan chassis. This seems to be much easier to fine tune and set up then a universal frame, but either way the simplicity makes it pretty even for everybody to build a car.

It's great to see a clean, well-stocked slot car center! I only wish such a nice place was viable around here. The guys I race with could have just as much fun running on Alan's tracks as we do on the King. The bottom line for a lot of us to have fun playing with toy cars. It's not about winning, it is about friendship and fun. Here's the type of hardbodies we run.

We run Protrack or home coated silicone tires, so glue is usually a hindrance to us.

[Cheater]

Spraying a track with glue, interesting.

Don,

Sounds like you may not know that most 1/24 commercial wooden tracks, after being cleaned, are sprayed with diluted tire glue to generate a raceable surface for the foam rubber tires in use.

Spray glue

[Cheater]

It's not about winning...

Ah, but for a tiny percentage of racers, especially in commercial raceways, it is all about winning. Sad but true.

[hundo]

I never ran competitively at the 1/24 tracks. We did use tire glue on our home track but we just dressed the tires and not the track, but it still coated the track.

 

I was more into the HO stuff. In the early '70s the cars looked "freaky" at the commercial tracks. We ran mostly the 1/25 Monagram "Hotshoe" midgets.

 

I'm pretty happy with the 1/32 stuff but I'd prefer 1/24 hardbodies but no one runs that around here.

Thanks. 

[MattD]

At the local track, the process is to use Coleman lantern fuel to wipe and clean the track, then a specific glue product for tracks. They thin the glue with an equal part lantern fuel, then use a spray bottle to lightly coat the whole track. I think it is a nightly procedure, except for the night before we run with silicone tires. We actually pull the glue up and make it hard for sponge tires to grip. We also race/play on a closed night so we are the only racers most of the time.

I figure glue is actually a benefit financially to the track owner. I hear the regulars talk about how many months they might get from a set of tires and then they have to buy new. The track owner actually gets good repeat sales on tires. This is not the same with silicone tires which can last years or be re-coated and freshened up. There aren't many repeat sales for rubber tires.

[n9949y]

Meanwhile back to ScaleAuto and B.R.M. Here's what can be done with a ScaleAuto White body Viper. With a little imagination (and some research into WEC-Le Mans-IMSA) I modeled a Viper that could have raced at Le Mans, 2014, using Patto's of Australia decals. The only criticism of ScaleAuto is its too toy like rendering of the driver figure (which appears to be an almost universal problem with 1/24th RTR cars). So I substituted a Fujimi driver figure for a more realistic appearance.

 

 

 

[MattD]

Great looking, Todd.

[n9949y]

Thanks, Matt. Haven't had this much fun with scale appearing RTR 1/24 slot cars since 1966.

[MattD]

I like building replicas of real race cars. Speed is relevant and since four of us build all the cars for our gang, we work on setup and gearing until all cars run within a .10 or so of the same speed.

All the guys like historic cars as the youngest of our bunch is 64 years old. We all started racing or following full size racing back in the days of Can-Am or USAC. Other than the Manta Ray, Banshee, and a few others, most of the available slot cars in '65 were "scale" models of some kind of real cars. Our chassis setups are still about the same as '65, also!!