10 replies to this topic

[mdiv]

Just showing off my gravity cars.  Wish there was a place to race em here...

 

 

 

A couple Landsharks by Al Thurmond, a couple by Josh Crutchfield, and a smattering of some cars Dennis Samson built for me.

 

Mike D

[mdiv]

Oh, man I forgot.  The orange #1 car is a car Barney Poyner built and sold to me........treasure it.....

[Bill from NH]

Not being involved in HO, I never knew what "gravity cars" were, Your photos show custom brass chassied, both inline & anglewinder, cars. Are the can motors all the same or do they differ? What else is unique about them? In the past, wasn't it popular to race brass chassis HOs? Thanks for the photos.

[gotboostedvr6]

Speedzone has a track they can be run on. Its an exact copy of the worlds track.

[Phil Smith]

Not being involved in HO, I never knew what "gravity cars" were, Your photos show custom brass chassied, both inline & anglewinder, cars. Are the can motors all the same or do they differ? What else is unique about them? In the past, wasn't it popular to race brass chassis HOs? Thanks for the photos.

 

Bill, someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Tyco Pro's were the first brass HO slot cars.

 

[Bags]

Very cool Mike!

I didn’t know about them. Learned something today. 
Thank you for sharing!

 

Bags

[Ron Sullo]

HO cars Auction

Nassau County NY_Feb13

 

 

Spotted this event poster while in the library at a local Long Island slot car track this past weekend

 

Hoping this post allows me to share with those who hold onto these beloved 1/64 treasures.

 

Super Bowl Sunday but event starts early enough to get there and back again

 

 

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[mdiv]

Thanks everyone!

Bill, gravity really means just that, no traction magnets.  They drive like tjets, souped-up tjets that is, with body downforce and lead weight and that's it.  From what I understand you use a steel pin to see if the car has any magnetic strength - if the pin lifts, you're disqualified, LOL!

 

There's one landshark with a "can" motor like the old riggens and tyco pros.  The other cans are motors that were found from other uses that fit the bill.  I think Quicker makes one with neo motors, some of those are in there.  

I goofed up and told Dennis the wrong polarity on the pick up shoes   He did a helluva job on those though!  Great chassis and paint.

 

chaparrAL here on the blog makes the land sharks - Al Thurmond.  He's on FaceBook too.  Lucky Bob's has a section for these Landshark cars and parts, and there's another outfit that makes gravity cars called Bulldog CNC.  I'm going to get one of their cars eventually but I have to save.  Not sure who else makes them, but they are relatively expensive...

 

Anyway,  I was hoping to get a local routed track somewhere, or even in my house, but that's a pipedream.  So for now I just get my kicks...we have a club in my town, the HO Slot Car Nerds, we race tjets for laughs, 3 lap races on 2-lane Aurora lock n joiner tracks, with great scenery.  We're meeting at Ernie's house on the 18th.  These gravity cars don't work on those tracks, the Orange Maclaren sorta does but not well.  

 

I don't think I'm going to the superbowl show, would like to but bleh.

 

Back in the day there was what was called the Brass Wars.  You can read about it, among a lot more, on www.riggenho.com - great history site.  Lots of information - and pictures!

 

Let me know if anyone has any other questions, and thanks for the likes and replies!

Mike D

[bbr]

these days, the frayjet t jet have more magnetic downforce that what has been legal with pin test in gravity cars

 

I cut my slot racing teeth racing the west coast HO scene during the "brass war" era

[Bill Seitz]

I was actually introduced to slot cars with T-Jets, but have done little else in HO in the nearly 60 years since then. I considered HO a few times in the last 20 years, but I like to scratchbuild, and this didn't seem a possibility with HO. This post has given me a new perspective. I've a raceway with HO tracks a couple hours away, so I might need to give this a try sometime.

 

Appreciate your sharing,

Bill

[sidejobjon]

Just showing off my gravity cars.  Wish there was a place to race em here...Welcome at my track

 

 

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A couple Landsharks by Al Thurmond, a couple by Josh Crutchfield, and a smattering of some cars Dennis Samson built for me.

 

Mike D