27 replies to this topic

[Eddie Fleming]

I did not want to drift the subject in the current thread on a Gorski controller so I am asking here.

 

The above mentioned Gorski has a toggle switch mounted below the handle to turn the brakes on or off. Who came along and put a pot in to make it adjustable?

[slotcarone]

Not sure who did it first but my Difalco external resistor controller from the early '90s had it.

[MSwiss]

Good question Eddie.

I got back in the late '81 and I don't remember them being common at all.

I do remember, in '82 or '83, external resistor controllers became popular.

When I bought mine from Bill Metros and John Mullins, I'm pretty sure it did not come with a varibrake.

So, sorry, I'm of little help.

I bet you Jim Honeycutt might know.

[Half Fast]

Not sure who did it first but my Difalco external resistor controller from the early '90s had it.

 

Yes, my Difalco from that era had it as well.

 

Cheers,

[MSwiss]

I'd say it was definitely in the '80s.

 

But a 1986 picture of me working on my controller in Paris, doesn't show one.

[S.O. Watt]

I believe that this just may be the first controller in 1/24 racing that had an internal to the handle adjustable brake. The first time it was out in broad public view was the '85 USRA Nats at PA's in Houston.

I had been racing HOs a bit and the hot controllers to use had an external box with three pots in them, one of them being an adjustable brake. I pirated that idea and applied it to my 1/24 racing program of Grp 27 by first using a fixed value external resistor, then an adjustable one I had sourced through work (at the time it was a marine electronics and ship plant automation gig) that had the capacity. The variable resistor (VR) then lived dangling under the controller handle by its wiring. This was in late '84.

The then-current technology of an internal resistor controller wouldnt allow the VR to be mounted inside the handle due to the frame and resistor occupying most of the space in the controller that VR required to fit inside the handle. At around the same time the external resistor controller was becoming the required controller for open racing, with the new internal resistor blocks all handmade. A couple of manufacturers stepped up and made the required wiper blocks to ease building an external resistor controller but they were just a replacement part that bolted in the same old way.

My solution was to make my own wiper block with a whole new method of mounting It to the handle and a different shape. This allowed the VR to fit inside.

Now the key to the time line. At the '85 Nats I wasn't on the track five minutes testing before Paul Pfieffer came over and asked me what that knob was sticking out of my controller... he had never seen one. The rest is history.

 

 

[Dave Crevie]

I would say late '80s also. Jerry sold pots to put in Parma Turbos back then. He also sold pots in a cylindrical aluminum enclosure to hook up to the brake wire at the track post. He also sold those huge external resistors that we were all using for Eurosport, and the switch block to replace the rheostat.

[NY Nick]

Buzz has had? something called ICE box.

 

My Difalco from '81 doe not have a brake.

[Mr. M]

Tom,

 

What an elegant clean design.

 

And to put one over on Paul who was always pretty innovative must have felt really good!

[Mr. M]

Tom,

 

Is there a dead band before the brake side contact?

 

What is the small barrel resistor at the bottom of the long external resistor?

 

And ball bearings were common on the trigger by this time I think; you chose not to add?

[Eddie Fleming]

I don't see a brake side contact for the trigger. It looks like a brake band for the wiper then a dead band as I can not see a wire going to it then 6 power bands.

[S.O. Watt]

There is a wire to the brake band, then a dead band to prevent sparking when hitting power. The finger stroke and feel was similar to like a .6 ohm Parma at first. I then started moving the wires on the external to change the response, and ended up adding that grey Parma .5ohm resistor for a lower 1st gear, pre mush button.

The bearing vs bushing thing? No slop in these yet.......
and they were a lot more affordable

Also of interest maybe, the power and brake buttons are gold layered. The brake button contacts are hidden under that thick Camen lead wire. Trick parts from nice power relays.

Thanks for the kudos.

Ahh, a PS.

While this did pull a fast one on a lot of folks, the best one I pulled on Paul (and others) was at some later race. I built a very heavy duty choke using a desk wire mesh type pen holder, a very very heavy duty ten position rotary switch. Positions 1-9 were taps of two or three foot increments. The tenth was open or off.

Paul came in off the plane while theres a warm up race or practice going on. The 1st thing he does after setting his box down is pace the drivers panel and check choke settings, until he gets to my mine.

He stops and has to ask me what mine is set at......

I had labeled mine with greek lettering.......... 😎

Another trick with this choke was when Id set it to off when Id dive into the pits for a tyre change while practicing or whatever. Who ever would try to hot lap on my lane had a very perplexed facial expression when their car wouldnt run 😆

[Phil Hackett]

Speaking of controllers and their builders, has anyone heard from Henry VerVoorn? He used to come by the shop once a year but he disappeared...

[Mr. M]

Back when we were building our own external resistor controllers to get around Bill Pinch's Orange track in Cocoa Beach, FL in the late 80's, we were looking for every bit of response to get through the esses and lead on. After racing one day where we got smoked for first due to backing off just a bit in those sections, my full size car guy Big Jerry was looking at the controller and said "bearings" among other things. Next month, boom, back on top! It might not make much of a difference on today's super speedways punch bowls though.

[MSwiss]

IMO, they gave you a psychological edge.


I can't believe there would be a real one.

[Mr. M]

We were all running pretty close at the top of the competitive locals, pretty small differences found fractions of a tenth here and there. Maybe all in the mind, but these kinds of little changes would count for a couple of laps at the end. We would have the top cars within 10 laps on the Orange with 3 min heats G27. Psych edge, maybe, but in the end little differences like this seemed to help.

[Mr. M]

Mike, this was a very special case where the esses and lead on made all the difference. You could tell the difference changing one band on the external. I was never the best driver on the trigger and always looked for the equipment advantage. We tried all kinds of crazy things to find an edge. I used to stand on my equipment box on black with an extra long controller cord to get a better view of the track.

[MSwiss]

Being able to see your car better is a tangible advantage.

 

BB's on your trigger, to get through the esses?

 

Sounds like Voodoo to me. LOL

 

 A drop of oil on the switch block, and a lighter spring would of got you a lot further.

[Alan Dodson]

I also built a choke from a large old rotary switch. It had a knob with a pointer and a flat surface that I added numbers to correspond with the length of wire selected. The best thing about it was the knob was indexed with a set screw that I could loosen and point it at any number and then tighten the screw. So if I set to 3', I would really be heads up! It used to drive Jay Horn crazy until he finally figured out to just wait until I went to the pits and turn the choke all the way off and see where it stopped. Whatever number it pointed to was really no choke! I wish it had a shutoff position too, that would have really messed with him!

[Dave Crevie]

I added ball bearings to the external resister controller, but only because the bushings were too sloppy on the screw. With

Jerry's switch block, a little side play would cause the slider button to loose contact with the block. Bending the wiper for

more tension would only cause the trigger to stick. Once the inner races of the bearings were locked onto the screw with

ACC, there was no more side play.

[zipper]

I originally had that Parma metal trigger with pin/axle and brass sleeve with some play as new - early 70's. I did ream the trigger holes to install brass bushings and a piece of rear axle. It was good for over 20 years with casually adding a little oil.

[Benno - SAC]

Some members of my club added adjustable brakes to their controllers in 1973. They used pots from "Rosenthal", a German manufacturer for dishes.

https://www.sac-stol...orie/zeitnahme/

It's German, but you can translate it with Google.

[Kim Lander]

On my first Cidex controller I put a variable reostat inline with the controller brake wire...gave me more ability to adjust the brakes for different situations. Not long after I noticed others doing the same, wont name anyone...lollol....Kim

[Jim Difalco]

Nick, the ICE 9 was built by my friend Bob Scheller and was an external resistor controller with a switch to add a resistor in parallel to get different resistances. He called it the Ice 9 because the resistor was , of course, external and would not get hot in your hand, and it had 9 wiper bands.

 

I will dig into my box of old controllers and post some pictures of some interesting controllers from the 1970's.

[Jesse Gonzales]

In answer to Phil's question about Henry Vervoorn, I last saw Henry in a wheelchair near the VA hospital in Phoenix a couple of  years back but could not get to him due to traffic. I've been looking for him to get him in contact with Joel just for catching up purposes with no luck. Since his Mom died Henry has had a lot of east valley addresses like Mesa Az etc. but no one knows where he went to. I had known Henry since HS days although he went to a different school we raced at some of the same tracks like Miniature GP in Scottsdale where he was one of the home track guys.

 

I have one of his Diode Controllers that still works great, Joel has one of his external resistor units that he really liked too.

 

Jesse Gonzales