66 replies to this topic

[Mr. M]

Mike,

Who is the guy standing up? Elmsford was a piece of work with setting up the pit space under the bank. I think we need a new thread with stories on the best and worse pit space at big races.

[MSwiss]

So Eddie, you're saying I should tell my racers, who help actual, newer racers, improve their cars, with all the stuff in their showy boxes, to leave it at home, on the slight chance, a non-racer wanders in, and might be intimidated.

 

How does that conversation go;

"Bernard, Jim, please leave that stuff at home, so I can falsely portray the effort it takes to be competitive, to the random walk-in. I don't care if Jack, Scott and Jerry need help".

 

Anyway, that won't work by me.

 

My customers are ready to rebel, when I run out of Reese's peanut butter cups, in the snack bar. LOL

[MSwiss]

Mike,

Who is the guy standing up? Elmsford was a piece of work with setting up the pit space under the bank. I think we need a new thread with stories on the best and worse pit space at big races.

Les Wright.
 
Pretty funny Gary Puetz would of happened to catch 4 guys, that still (sort of) make their living at slot racing, 33 years later.

[Eddie Fleming]

No Mike I never suggested any of that.

[MSwiss]

I always wondered if one could mount wheels and a collapsable handle on a box allowing for easy moving about.
Of course you still have to lift it in and out of the car and up onto the table.  But.... makes transport easy.
Other than that.... the door trays should be tall enough to hold a bottle of lighter fluid and Zip-grip.
And one drawer should be large enough for the controller.
 

Mike Shepard (mjsh here on Slotblog) offered to make me a box about 15 years ago.
 
I had him make one exactly like you described.
 
It is an absolutely beautiful box, with the dark staining, and black laminate, but it was too big and heavy for me.
 
That, and since I seldom travel out of town, for races, anymore,  I passed it on to the guy who runs the raceway, when I'm on vacation, or a wedding, etc.
 
I'll have to ask Jim how it works, but the handle, when opened up, for pulling, seemed like it had too much wobble, in the telescoping mechanism.
 

 

 

[Nate Graham]

When I looked into this when I started, I found a German site with a video showing what I call a "vertical format" box. I built one for all my stuff with no wings or doors. everything fits in drawers and slide out shelves. These can be changed of my needs - sometimes all the tires go in a drawer while at other times, I use a separate box for the cars, tires and bodies and just have tools, etc in the "slot car box". it has gone through a few mods as I have learned.  The base power supply was on the outside and is now under a shelf on the top. it could just as easily be mounted inside. a separate down converter and display handles the final output and is light and compact without breaking the bank. the 12 volt base supply gives power for LED lights, a very small rotary tool rather than the heavy battery tools, and anything else I come up with. the side outlets power the soldering pencil, other lights, and can be used to daisy chain in the next person's box if the available outlets at the raceway won't reach or lack the number of outlets needed. The newest version has USB ports. I originally built a fancy custom power supply into the bottom of the box. It took up a lot of room and was awkward to use so I changed to the 12 volt DC reg supply with a custom variable control from that as a nice modular system with versatility. 

My pix are too big to post here unfortunately.

This configuration is slim and tall. It takes up less space in the pit. If you have more room, other boxes can be set next to it. if room is tight, put car box on top.

 

[Dennis David]

When I go to the track which is about every three weeks I like to run a number of different cars and these are in both 1/32 and 1/24 scales so I often bring a dozen cars to the track.

[Phil Hackett]

Not sure why that would matter to you, unless "they" make you help lug it in, or impede on your pit space.

 

Absolutely not true.

 

I finished my Semi, at the 2002 USRA Geezer race, at BP, with a wadded piece of junk.

 

I was able to totally rebuild the car, before the Main, and won it.

 

It doesn't make any difference to me, never did, BUT it does looks silly to bring *everything* to cover *all* situations. Plus the huge boxes take up valuable pit space. I don't race anymore but I'd pack like Warmack shows in the post below. That was my style.

 

So what was it that you brought to the 2002 USRA race that would have caused you not to be a winner that otherwise would have been left at the shop? 

[MSwiss]

So what was it that you brought to the 2002 USRA race that would have caused you not to be a winner that otherwise would have been left at the shop? 

A quadruple, compound slide, chassis deparrallelogrammer.

 

And a Popiel Pocket Psychological Therapist, to help me deal with the horrors of the Semi.

[kvanpelt]

Mike, you would have yourself a real useful tool if you had the Popiel Pocket Fisherman in your box!

[Samiam]

A quadruple, compound slide, chassis deparrallelogrammer.

 

And a Popiel Pocket Psychological Therapist, to help me deal with the horrors of the Semi.

Can you post links to a source for these tools?

[MSwiss]

The q,cs,cd was homemade.

 

As far as I can tell, the PPPT is no longer available.

 

It's a shame.

 

He was small, but a mighty fine listener.

[Ecurie Martini]

As a substitute for the q.cs.cd try this:

 

EM

[Dennis David]

The latest design for my box. Not everybodys idea of a perfect box but when I go to the track, about every 3-4 weeks I like to run a lot of cars.

1 row of scale and retro lexan cars
1 row of hard body conversions
1 row of my Klasse 1 cars

The 1/32 stored in the doors are my AllSlot F1 cars as well as my Slot.it cars.

The large cubby hole is for my three Plano boxes that hold small parts. The controller I carry is my dependable Difalco with the Retro network.

Attached Images

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[Phil Hackett]

A quadruple, compound slide, chassis deparrallelogrammer.

 

And a Popiel Pocket Psychological Therapist, to help me deal with the horrors of the Semi.

 

Oh, I see! The therapist *does* take up room. I always left mine behind at home because I didn't want her to find out I was racing little toy cars. Her treatment might not have been a good thing to have performed in public.   (Stop guys..... you all have your minds in the gutter!)

[mike0550]

The latest design for my box. Not everybodys idea of a perfect box but when I go to the track, about every 3-4 weeks I like to run a lot of cars.

1 row of scale and retro lexan cars
1 row of hard body conversions
1 row of my Klasse 1 cars

The 1/32 stored in the doors are my AllSlot F1 cars as well as my Slot.it cars.

The large cubby hole is for my three Plano boxes that hold small parts. The controller I carry is my dependable Difalco with the Retro network.

Nice set up. Will that be two seperate boxes or one large one?

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[MSwiss]

Dennis,
I'm not sure if you have a builder in mind, but Rich Clark, from your neck of the woods, makes nice boxes.

[Dennis David]

Yes I have someone I am working with. Its not Rich but he does make very nice boxes.

Two separate boxes.

[tonyp]

The best solution is to travel with just your car, tires, a few tools and controller. Make sure your traveling and pit buddy is one of those guys with the monolith boxes. Lol.

[tonyp]

I remember taking the bus to Tom Thumb in union nj to race with my F1 car in one coat pocket, the controller in the other and Allen wrench in my shirt pocket. Much simpler back then.

[Phil Hackett]

I remember taking the bus to Tom Thumb in union nj to race with my F1 car in one coat pocket, the controller in the other and Allen wrench in my shirt pocket. Much simpler back then.

 

Ditto... I used to ride a bicycle to Revell Raceway after school with a small Russkit box (cardboard) with everything I needed. Very simple times indeed!

[Zippity]

Am I alone in not liking wooden boxes? 

[Dennis David]

I would get a box made of polypropylene copolymer resin and aluminum if it was feasible but its not for the custom design I want so there you have it.

[slotbaker]

Am I alone in not liking wooden boxes? 

Maybe!!

Apart from them potentially being heavy, why don't you like them?

[Dennis David]

Oh no dont ask, argh ...