Do you fancy a true navigational slot rally, one where the driver drives – and a co-driver navigates a complex route through dozens of junctions?

Thanks to a moment of genius from Jason, we have come up with a framework that might just do the job. Okay, it's a bit of a departure from traditional slot rally, but if you want to replicate your own classic Coupe des Alpes or Tulpenrallye, a modern-day 12-Car club event, Targa or a bonkers Welsh all-nighter, then this might be for you. There’s one core navigational element required – and then it’s in the hands of the route-planner and their imagination...

The slot car technology is off-the-shelf – indeed, you might have the kit already. By its nature, navigational slot rallying is most suited to a group of friends, a club or dedicated event – with the focus on navigation, puzzle-solving and a fun social occasion. Having said that, I’m sure a SlotNav event is possible via Zoom – and Autotest-style formats with signs rather than navigation would be a fabulous single-person offshoot. Please remember, this outline is just a start – I'd love to see what people can create with the building blocks described below...

What’s different about a navigational rally?

Until 60 years ago, the majority of rallies were navigational events on public roads, usually with some car-handling ‘tests’ thrown in – and perhaps a timed special stage on private land. For a crew to be successful, the navigator (or co-driver) was as important as the car and the driver. Today, most rallying is based on exciting flat-out special stages with pace notes. The co-driver prepares and reads those notes, but it’s more akin to a driver-aid than navigation. In 1:32 scale, slot rally is all about the special stage, the car and the driver – an exciting replica of modern rallying.

Traditional navigational rallies still happen and are very popular, especially at the grass-roots of motorsport. In the UK, these are usually referred to collectively as ‘road rallies’ – but that label covers a wide variety of events and formats. In a modern navigational road rally, the navigator is the most important member of the crew. Although toned-down in terms of horsepower and speed, road rallying today is a more complex navigational challenge than ever. Think of it as a mix of driving fast down country lanes and solving mind-bending cryptic puzzles on the move... then furiously plotting the course on an Ordinance Survey map with a 2B pencil, all while trying not to annoy the local residents too much.

   

Driving home from a 12-Car rally event in Hampshire earlier this month, I wondered how a modern road rally could be simulated on a 1:32 scale slot car track. The big problem is: to navigate, you need junctions... and traditional slot rally stages don’t have those. I happened to mention this to Jason and asked if he’d ever come across navigation used in slot rallying. He said he hadn’t… but a few days later came up with element I’d been missing: digital. And he created a track plan (of course!) which might help…

   

This design was a brilliant starting point for the navigational rally framework that I’ll develop below – a framework that means any type of event that uses navigation can be re-created in 1:32 scale.

This is what I’ll be looking at in this thread:

• Navigational basics – or how SlotNav works
  
• SlotNav technical requirements & track design basics
  
• A quick note on digital equipment
  
• Sample Navigation – from head-scratching to tulips in just 40 junctions
  
• A brief-ish note for the Rally Master about route planning
  
• Competitive Formats, Timing & Penalties – some common themes to consider
  

There is quite a lot to get through and explain, although the keystone of SlotNav is really quite simple...

Two friends and I bought a diamond triple pack of Mini's not too long ago. The plan was to create an all-Mini class race.

   
   

I was fortunate to get the white car. Here's the car in stock form just before the agreed upgrades.

   

The stock guide was changed for an NSR using a B-Nova repair kit and flat guide screw. It was shaved down to make room for the solid axle with independent rotating front wheels. 2-thrust washers were added to each side to reduce friction.

   

The rear axle was replaced with a Professor Motor upgrade, but we still retained the stock crown gear. The plastic 9T pinion was replaced with a 10T brass. The 18k motor was replaced with a 14k BWA slim-line. Low-friction brass replaced the stock plastic bushings. The motor shaft does not touch the crown gear.  Instead, the crown is being centered by the wheels via 2-thrust washers on each side. Lead weight was added all over the chassis to meet the 70-gram minimum.

   
   
   

RS Slots wheels and inserts with urethane tires.

We ran our first race last night and these are HOOT! A bit slower than stock, but much more stable compared to before the upgrades.

   
   
   

Yet another reason for a tweed driving cap.

Thank you very kindly for looking.

Cheers,
Ken

Thanks for the invite and welcome.. 

Im in Greenville SC Area, we have a small club here (15-20 guys) that race on a large Carrera track (8x16)  and several of us have smaller 4x8 tracks ... about to start racing in Spartanburg at a large commercial track. 

Thanks for the welcome!!!

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Selling a brand new in the box NSR Corvette C6R. Never removed from box.

95.00 shipped in the USA..

Shipped from Greenville, SC

   

TTS 042 March 782 'Astra' 1978 European Formula 2 Championship - Piero Necchi. RRP £TBC. Scheduled April 2022.

Following on from the white kit, TTS have announced the imminent arrival of the first livery on their 1:24 scale March 782 Formula 2 car. The dominant works March of 1978 F2 champion Bruno Giacomelli will be produced, but the TTS team have chosen another Italian driver for the honour of their first liveried March 782...

   

Born just down the road from Lella Lombardi, Piero Necchi seemed destined for the big time. Hugely successful in 100cc karting, Necchi won three Italian titles and then three consecutive European championships between 1973 and '75 - beating the likes of Riccardo Patrese, Eddie Cheever and Elio de Angelis. He was also in the mix for the world title, missing out on two occasions with mechanical failures.

   

Necchi - pictured above in 1978 - stepped up to single-seaters in '76, racing a season in Formula Super Ford 2000 - finishing second in the Italian championship - followed by a year in Formula 3 with the Astra team. A win at Varano and six more podiums gave him an impressive sixth place in the European F3 Championship in his debut season. There was no hanging around in F3 - next was Formula 2 and a ride in the privateer Astra March 782 for the 1978 European Championship...

   

This was a big step up for both Necchi and for the small Astra team, run by the Bertuzzi brothers from Piacenza. Despite his car being less well prepared and rather fragile compared to the bigger teams, Necchi put in some outstanding performances in the yellow March. The season began with difficult qualifying sessions, not helped by the brand new Pirelli tyres that the Astra team were being paid to test and develop. Yet Necchi always managed to fight his way up through the field and into the top six... and then mechanical issues struck and he'd retire. By Vallelunga in June, things were getting better - Necchi qualified on the front row, 0.42 seconds behind pole-sitter Giacomelli and then finished an excellent third - only the team's second finish of the year.

   

Three weeks later at Donington, Necchi's Astra March was battling for the win with championship-contenders Giacomelli and Keke Rosberg - a battle pictured above. In what would be the high point of his season - and perhaps of Necchi's career - he finished runner-up to Rosberg's Chevron-Hart and ahead of Marc Surer's works March. The rest of the year was a struggle for the team to put out a car to match Necchi's talent. After Derek Daly smashed into the March at Pergusa during a battle for third place, something was very wrong with the car. The team suffered the ignominy of a DNQ at Misano and then Necchi retired on lap two of the final race of the season at Hockenheim. Points scored at Pau, Vallelunga and Donington gave Necchi a creditable sixth-place finish in the championship... but it wasn't enough to be picked up by a bigger team - and the year had proved too much for the Bertuzzi brothers' resources. Both dropped back to F3 for 1979. There's no doubt Necchi continued to have fun - with an F1 test and occasional F2 appearances - but his stellar rise had fizzled out. That's sadly been the story for so many very talented young drivers over the years.

   

That story makes it all the more pleasing that Piero Necchi gets to ride again in the TTS March 782. The new 1:24 scale car looks very exciting and is engineered in BRM style with an aluminium & steel chassis, a new 20k motor (cheekily labelled 'BDA' as a reference to the favoured Formula 2 engine of the mid-70s), plus a 10:34 gear ratio...

   

With the white kits and more liveries to come, the TTS Formula 2 cars promise a fabulous racing class for clubs with tracks wide enough to accommodate them. At around 80mm across the rear wheels, they won't fit on 1:32 scale sectional track systems.

If you want to see the real thing, then there is the wonderful Historic Formula Two International Series that races this year at Hockenheim, Paul Ricard, Brand Hatch, Oulton Park, the Nürburgring and Dijon. Open to Formula 2, Formula B and Formula Atlantic cars built between 1 January 1967 and 31 December 1978, the cars must run to their original specification, using period components and have a valid FIA Historic Technical Passport. The racing is as good as ever and those 2-litre engines sound superb. Here's a full race from Silverstone in 2019...



If you fancy seeing the cars up close, check out the HSCC website: https://hscc.org.uk/championships/historic-formula-2/

A big thanks to Sean at Pendle Slot Racing for sending us the images and technical details of the TTS model.

New series on Yesterday channel, starts March 31st at 9pm. Behind the scenes documentary about Vectis Auctions, allegedly the world’s largest toy auctioneers. Bound to be some slot cars in there somewhere. LINK

Tyre True Sanding Plate Reciprocation Machine

   

A friend in my local analog club (hey, Russ!) wanted one of my reciprocators for his Tire Razor. I always ask to see the machine, because a lot of times, it's a different machine. Unfortunately, his was not a Tire Razor, but a Tyre True, such as from Area 3 or Professor Motor. The good news is that he let me borrow it in order to modify my machine to fit that tire truer!

While this was completely redesigned from scratch, I still owe thanks to OXO_Cube for his original machine that I based my Tire Razor Reciprocator on. I also owe some thanks to Kev Ster, who remixed my version for the RSM machine, and made some clever changes. I took some inspiration from his changes to further improve and simplify this one for the Tyre True machine.

As the motor can warm up during use, I recommend a temp resistant material such as PETG or ABS for the gantry and arm parts. The rest can be PLA if you want. I usually print the base in PLA, and all the small parts in PETG.

This uses a GA12-N20 gearmotor. Get the lowest RPM at the highest voltage you can. E.G. a 15rpm at 6v would be good. You will also need some m1.6-0.35mm x5mm screws to mount the gearmotor. Since the only ones I could get quickly at a reasonable price were 6mm long, that's what I designed the gantry for, so that they can be snug without interfering with the gears of the gear motor. 5mm or 4mm long screws will probably work fine, but not longer than 6mm. One screw is also used in the end of small arm, against the flat of the motor shaft, to act as a set screw.

The rest of the screws I used are just M3 socket head cap screws as are popular on various 3D printers like my Prusa. Any M3 screw should work, just be careful that the head does not collide with anything prior to use. I use a 6mm one to secure the long arm to the short arm. I would recommend 10mm for the screws on the clamps so they are less likely to strip when tightening the clamps down. A 10mm screw is also good to secure the gantry to the base.

When attaching the ball joint to the end of your sanding plate, try to get it as centered on the end of the sanding plate as possible. This will ensure that the reciprocator arm lines up nicely with it. You can use a strong glue, or thin double-sided tape. Putting a ball joint on both ends of the sanding plate will allow you to easily turn it around and possibly use fresh sanding surface, depending on the wheels/tires you are truing.

The STL files are all provided in the ideal print orientation. No supports should be needed for any of the models if printed in the provided orientation.

A STEP file is also included to make it easier to modify for your particular machine if needed.

The files are free to download and print for your own use. If you would like a machine but do not have access to a 3D printer, feel free to contact me at ggaub@ggaub.com to order one.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5326849

We may as well have a thread for it as we like talking about it and I'd rather do that here than other forums.

Great race, bodes well for the season.

With Verstroppen up to his old tricks it's obvious him and Leclerc are going to tangle a few times this year and I don't think Charles is as risk averse as Lewis was last year.

Merc already unofficially thrown the towel in this year...

Predictions for next week?

Leclerc
Verstroppen
Sainz

...ye gods, I'm actually happy that Ferrari won the first race of the season. What is the world coming to Anthony?

Mercedes will no doubt get their act together but the important thing is that a certain Energy Drinks company scored absolutely no points at all

 
Due to customers feedback I'm glad to say that the website is now mainly catering for international sales with a fixed price for postage £10.75 no matter how much you order and where its going to.  All items sent will be tracked and the same high quality service you know and love. Our eBay store is predominantly for UK buyers where postage is FREE 1st class and posted the next working day, Our service and commitment has given us Ebay top rated seller and the stats reveal that 79% of customers are repeat customers and we couldn't be happier.

We have a lot of new models coming soon and we release at least 10 new models a month so If you get a chance check us out or add us as favoured seller so your informed as soon as a new model comes out,

Our painted models are only sold on ebay and as soon as we list them they sell rather fast. 



The reason for the change is due to ebay not combining shipping costs and as I'm in the global shipping program this is out of my hands. 

In other news we will be attending the Gaydon Slot car festival in may on Saturday and Sunday and looking forward to seeing you all.

If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to email me at 132models@gmail.com or visit us at https://132models.co.uk/ or visit our ebay shop at https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/132scalemodels

Kind Regards
132Models