30 replies to this topic

[NHBandit]

Portsmouth NH there was a track in the mid 60s where I first got the bug. Like many of us old timers I started with a Cox Chaparral kit. I thought I was fast until my best friend bought a Classic Manta Ray and was beating everyone else with that odd looking thing that didn't resemble any real cars I had ever seen. Also raced at the Hampton Beach Casino in NH. Moved to Chicopee Mass in the late 60s and raced at Richie's Speed City for a bit and then took a break from it for many years. Moved back to New Hampshire when I got out of the Air Force . Back in the late 90s there was a track in Pembroke NH where Ricky Craven's old Nascar shop was but it never really got much use and they quickly closed that part of the store. These days it's a go-kart track. Now I'm in North East Tennessee and pretty much just mess around on my old Revell 4 lane track I set up in my basement although there is a track that's opened up in Greeneville TN and another down in Pigeon Forge. I'll have to check them out soon.

[n9949y]

In 1963 first saw 1/24th slot cars racing on a landscaped track at Polk's Hobbies in N Y City. In 1964 living in Los Angeles where as illustrated in this thread were slot car tracks everywhere. In Studio City across the Republic Studios was located a  4 lane track. Monza Hobbies while appearing as a club track with its narrow but long footprint was  really a landscaped commercial track with the emphasis  among the local racers most of whom were involved one way or another with SCCA was the building and racing scratch built 1/24th authentic appearing model slot cars. By '68 Monza Hobbies  expired so I became active at MESAC in Inglewood where scale authenticity was its hallmark. Last  25 years still building and racing 1/24th scale appearing cars. Though I've built many, still occasionally race my old MESAC cars.

 

 

 

photo of Lotus 47 clear body from mold by Roger Moon of Pasadena, CA

 

same car at Pelican Park Speedway, 2018.

 

[MattD]

Thanks Todd, I never get tired of hearing about MESAC and scale racing.   I believe that is the first diagram I've seen of the full MESAC track.

[slotbaker]

Interesting pic of the pit box, with diagram of different track configurations inside the lid.

 

Great cars...

[n9949y]

Hi Matt and Steve, 

With switches and other swap out sections here are MESAC's various courses.

With the ability to race either direction and with 3 different drivers' positions each

with its own perspective we could lay out almost 48 different courses. 

Great driving challenges with all the elevation changes and when going up the 

long straight had to deal with a decreasing radius turn.

 

Took this with a 60's era Kodak Instamatic

 

 

Memories; what I remember most and still practice today at Pelican Park is the attention

to scale appearances and detail. Our F1 cars had to carry suspension detail enough to 

cover 1/8" axles. I built this Lotus 25/33 in 1965 using thin piano wire for A arms, sway

bars  and radius rods and springs from Pittman 706 motors.

 

50 years later, still running

 

[Dave Crevie]

Great cars, Todd. I think I have been having more fun lately putting the old cars I built back together. Amazing how many I

did in the not quite four years slot racing was the center of my life. During the summer months I would often build two cars

per week. I had a large wooden packing box full of old chassis and parts, which is finally dwindling down to a few really

terrible attempts that are probably not worth fixing.