20 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

Model Car and Slot Car Magazine Covers 1959 to 1975

Looks to be a great time killer, when I'm in a restaurant, and feeling too lazy to go back to work.



A favorite cover, featuring a pack of the rare raceway species, "The Conscientious Turn Marshal". LOL.

[slotcarone]

Now that is some crazy track layout on that cover!

[Racer36]

I believe the Conscientious Turn Marshal is a now extinct species. I last spotted one in a Raceway around 1998 if I recall correctly.

[Don Weaver]

They may be extinct in the wild but in the home track/club world they are alive and well! 

 

Don

[Mike Patterson]

Now that is some crazy track layout on that cover!

Yeah, I wonder who made that? It looks like a hodgepodge of elements from various manufacturers.

[Phil Hackett]

That cover is of the Laguna Seca (220 ft) track at the LA Revell raceway, my former home track. 

 

One of the features of the large Revell tracks were the crossovers to equalize the length of the lanes. The other feature shown in this picture is, as was known by the locals, "the sewer". The sewer was an annoying part where, if you were too fast, you'd fly off and whack the bridge or launch out of the exit into the air. Fun times!

 

Also note the split drivers panel... you can only see 4 drivers at the track in this picture. The other panel is directly to the right (which you can't see obviously!).

 

This particular track was not competitively raced on very much in the raceway's organized program. The racers much preferred the American Red (Imperial), the Revell Monaco (whiich also had a sewer), or the American Orange tracks. Occasionally there were races on the American Black (Regal) or the Revell Grand Prix tracks. The Laguna Seca was NOT a popular racing track in this raceway.

[Larry Horner]

I love the huge banked turn at the back. But it seems like a track named "Leguna Seca" should have a corkscrew.

[Shruska55]

I know I'm the new guy back on the scene, but I'd settle for few more Conscious Turn Marshals.

 

No wait! I was just kidding!

 

....THAT should save me, eh?

 

(Glad I'm not on Twitter... Get cancelled for certain with that one...)

[Phil Hackett]

I love the huge banked turn at the back. But it seems like a track named "Leguna Seca" should have a corkscrew.

That bank was 90 degrees to the floor. Low-powered cars or cars with little traction would fall off the bank. 

 

This track would be very fun to try and race on with modern slot cars. Horsepower would not be the primary advantage and the rhythm of the turns would sort out the real drivers from the rest of us (me included). I would suspect having the lightest car would also not be a high priority as the "sewer" would negate any thing that can't keep its nose down.... so just about "anything" would work as long as the car would be more resistant to de-slotting than the competition, and yes, the sewer was a major feature a racer had to tune the car to and learn to "drive".

 

IIRC, the record lap time around 1970 was about 9 seconds.

[Vay Jonynas]

That cover is of the Laguna Seca (220 ft) track at the LA Revell raceway, my former home track. 

 

The other feature shown in this picture is, as was known by the locals, "the sewer". The sewer was an annoying part where, if you were too fast, you'd fly off and whack the bridge or launch out of the exit into the air. Fun times!

 

 

This particular track was not competitively raced on very much in the raceway's organized program. The racers much preferred the American Red (Imperial), the Revell Monaco (whiich also had a sewer), or the American Orange tracks. Occasionally there were races on the American Black (Regal) or the Revell Grand Prix tracks. The Laguna Seca was NOT a popular racing track in this raceway.

 

Since the sewer equipped Revell Monaco was popular for the organized program, what was it about the Laguna Seca that negated popularity?

 

[Jesse Gonzales]

Revell tracks were always good to my motors back in the day the tracks at Henry's Hobbies in Tempe and at GunnSlot in Tucson for some reason liked my winds better than other tracks, they would spin up nice and stay cool all the race. The American Orange was/is my favorite track of all time but at one race in Tucson I puffed ten of my rewinds before the main, mostly melted endbells and thrown solder. I did manage to make everyone laugh when I shoehorned in a 26D with arcos and a 26 single that ran all eight heats, this was a long time ago.

 

The sewer at Gunnar Steele's tracks took a lot of SoCal guys used to punching the donut back to the bench to resolder their chassis or put their motors back in fun for all.

 

Jesse Gonzales

[Phil Hackett]

 

Since the sewer equipped Revell Monaco was popular for the organized program, what was it about the Laguna Seca that negated popularity?

 

 

The Monaco track drove much like a American Red. The bank was a left-handed, like a King track. The Monaco track also had a right-handed donut (a REALLY big donut too), so a car that worked well on the Red track also worked well on the Monaco track. The Monaco's sewer wasn't in the middle of a straight: it was on the exit of the donut and just before the "lead-on" so slowing down wasn't a problem.

 

I think the Laguna Seca's problem was not only that it was a "left-hand" track (like the American Orange/Monarch) but it was was a twisty-turny track with the cross-overs. It might have been a little better without the cross-overs. The cross-overs would move the car's position from the gutter lanes to the middle of the track (and middle to gutters) and back each lap and perhaps that was a reason the track was less than popular with racers. The other large track at this location (the Grand Prix/220+ ft) also had the cross-overs but Revell removed them and replaced them with straight sections. That made it much more popular... so who knows?

 

No matter what, the most popular tracks for racing at this Revell location were the American Red and the Revell Monaco.

[SpeedyNH]

a 26, 26D! i love it. 

[MSwiss]

A link to the Revell commercial track designs;

 

http://slotblog.net/...-track-designs/

[Mike Patterson]

After seeing the layout of the tack (thanks, Mike), I wonder how "The Conscientious Turn Marshal" in the blue shirt (lower right corner in photo) accessed that position? Was there a bridge, Phil?

[Phil Smith]

It seems the cross overs negated the donut.

[MSwiss]

After seeing the layout of the tack (thanks, Mike), I wonder how "The Conscientious Turn Marshal" in the blue shirt (lower right corner in photo) accessed that position? Was there a bridge, Phil?

Maybe, but from owning a raceway, I can tell you kids crawl underneath the track, all the time.

I occasionally will put a kid or 2, on the inside, start of the main straight, to marshal.

Mostly for 8 heat races, with scouting groups or birthday parties, for slightly older kids.

[Mike Patterson]

Maybe, but from owning a raceway, I can tell you kids crawl underneath the track, all the time.

The guy in the picture looks a little too big and too clean to be crawling under a track. 

[Phil Hackett]

The raceway had a portable bridge for such access. It wasn't around for everyday use.

[old & gray]

The guy in the picture looks a little too big and too clean to be crawling under a track. 

 

The difference between a photograph and a painting - 

 

A painting shows what the artist thinks should be there,

 

A photo shows what was there at a moment in time.

 

When you look at a painting and see there's an empty glass on the table, the artist had to include it.

When a Starbucks's cup appears in "Game of Thrones" someone didn't do their job.

[917-30]

Oh no. Another cool website Rabbit hole to Go down for a few hours... Thanks, Mike