I'm looking at a couple of Scalextric cars that have the engine mounted close behind the guide blade, and I'm wondering there's room for a chip in there.  Specifically, I'm curious about the Jaguar E Type and the Ferrrari 250 GTO.  I don't have either car in hand, and the only pictures I can find leave me wondering.  Thanks in advance for any experience or insight you can share.

   

After successful Summer and Winter Series, UK HO proxy race racing is going bi-monthly with six events over a year. The 2021-22 series starts in May and ends in March, featuring four mid-week races and two weekend 'Nationals' events. All the pre-race build-up and race coverage will take place here in the SlotRacer Online Proxy Racing section. Reports, results and photographs from each event will continue to be collected together in the South Coast HO Dragster fanzine - now bi-monthly. Previous editions can be found in the SlotRacer Online Library here: slotracer.online/library/south-coast-ho-dragster

There are six socially-distant mail-in proxy HO drag races that make up the series:

• 18-19 May 2021. Street Stock, Super Stock 6.0, NHRA 4-Gear, NHRA Top Fuel + Micro 2019 match racing. Report here.
  
• 13-14 July 2021. Street Stock, Super Stock 6.0, Nostalgia T-Jet, Nostalgia 4-Gear Funny Car + Micro Scalextric 2019 match racing. Report here.
  
• 4-5 September 2021. UK Autumn Nationals. All classes + extra match racing + exhibitions. Report here.
  
• 9-10 November 2021. Street Stock, Super Stock 6.0, NHRA 4-Gear, NHRA Top Fuel + Micro 2019 match racing. Report here.
  
• 18-19 January 2022. Street Stock, Super Stock 6.0, Nostalgia T-Jet, Nostalgia 4-Gear Funny Car + Micro Scalextric 2019 match racing. Report here.
  
• 12-13 March 2022. UK Spring Speed Nationals. All classes + extra match racing + exhibitions. Report here.
  

The midweek events are divided into NHRA and Nostalgia themes - each running at two events and also featuring at the weekend Nationals. Classes will remain the same, with the AW Top Fuelers getting their own qualifying and ladder format at four of the events. Micro Scalextric Street Stock and Super Stock 6.0 will feature at all six events. The 2019 Micro Scalextric cars will match-race at the weekday events and have a full qualifying and elimination format at the Nationals.

UK Series Regulations: You’ll find the regulations for the series explained fully below, in due course. The T-Jet and 4-Gear classes run to the 2021 NTRA Pancake Stock rule set (here). The Micro Scalextric Street and Super Stock remain the same as the Winter Series (here). We ask that the Nostalgia ‘Micro Scalextric 2019’ cars continue to be run as stock - although the chassis tabs can be removed and the wheels/tyres may be replaced - wheelie bars are permitted and strict pre-1979 style bodies please! Any questions - just ask.

The Track: The Rock County Eighth Mile is a seven-foot timed strip (1/8 mile in true HO scale) made from the new 2019 Micro Scalextric sectional track. Cars must be fitted with braids to run effectively on this track. Power is limited to 12 volts and 7 amps for all classes. Power to both lanes is triggered by a manually-operated switch firing a relay board. Timing is Trackmate Drag Basic with start and finish line sensors. There is a two-foot shutdown with dynamic braking and a well-padded catch box.

Practicalities & postage:

• One car per class per entrant please. Family members are very welcome to participate!
  
• Message me here and I will send you the address to post your cars.
  
• Postage and return postage are the only expense - there are no additional race fees. Return postage is paid by PayPal.
  
• Please keep sending boxes that can be posted in a parcel box - a maximum size of 44cm x 35cm x 16cm - so no-one need go inside a Post Office.
  
• You may send cars to stay for more than one event - or for the entire series - it is up to you.
  
• If you prefer a service other than standard second class delivery, just ask.
  
• Overseas entrants must contact me to discuss UK customs prior to shipping. The CN22 / CN23 customs form must be clearly marked "Returned Goods".
  
  

These socially-distant events are designed so that everyone can participate with no risk - even those who are shielding.

   

After four extremely enjoyable events, we are left with a bumper three-day Winter Series Finale over the weekend of 12-14 March. We will be running qualifying and eliminator formats for all seven classes that have competed in the Winter Series, plus some random match racing and exhibition runs (if you have something you want to see on the strip - send it).

The full regulations and format are in the Winter Series Preview thread here.

The Track: The Rock County Eighth Mile is a seven-foot timed strip (1/8 mile in true HO scale) made from the new 2019 Micro Scalextric sectional track. Cars must be fitted with braids to run on this track. Power for the first event is 12 volts, 4 amps per lane. Power to both lanes is triggered by a single switch firing a 2-channel relay board. Timing is Trackmate Drag Basic. There is a two-foot shutdown with dynamic braking and a well-padded catch box.

Sending cars: Aim for your cars to arrive in Brighton by the previous Saturday so they can be quarantined and then registered for qualifying on Tuesday. Please also pack in a small box (max height 7.5cm if possible) and pay for your postage online so no-one needs to go near a post office. These races are designed to be full-on social distancing events that are accessible to everyone in these difficult times and can continue during local or national lockdowns.

How to enter: Add a reply with your interest and the classes you'll be entering - one car per class per person. Family members and friends are very welcome to enter too. I will message you with the address to send cars to. You will need to pay for return postage. Otherwise there is no race fee.

Overseas entrants must talk to me about customs forms on their parcels! The recipient (me) will normally be charged 20% of the stated value of the parcel, plus an £8 handling fee. As cars sent to these races are not commercial goods, I need to explain how to alert UK customs to this fact and avoid the fees.

Entries Race #10 - 12-14 March 2021

Micro Scalextric Street Stock: Clive, Iain, Dave, Hank, Al, Bill, Rebecca, Andy, Jeremy, Jane, Pete, Sue, Jerome, Alan, Laura, Jeff, Doug, David, Dylan, Noah

Micro Scalextric Super Stock 6.0: Jane, Jeremy, Rebecca, Andy Pl, Hank, Al, Dave, Iain, Andy Ph, Bill, Clive, Alan

NHRA 4-Gear Funny Car & Pro Stock: Doug, David, Rebecca, Andy, Iain, Jerome / Pete, Clive, Alan

NHRA Top Fuel: Noah, Dylan, Rebecca, Andy, Clive, Alan

Nostalgia T-Jet: Clive, Iain, Al, Bill, Rebecca, Andy, Alan, Dylan, Noah, Doug, David

Nostalgia 4-Gear Funny Car: Clive, Iain, Rebecca, Andy, Alan, Bill, Doug, David, Jerome/Pete

Nostalgia Micro Scalextric: Iain, Alan, Bill, Clive, Rebecca, Andy

And assorted match racing and exhibitions, including...

Nostalgia Aurora Top Fuel Dragster match-racing: Dylan & Noah

AW X-Traction Legends of the Quarter Mile 'Pro Stock' match-racing:

        

There was some discussion about whether we needed a Proxy Racing section here on the SlotRacer forum... and then the Coronavirus pandemic came along. Suddenly, proxy racing became the only reliable and safe way for people to 'meet up' and race slot cars. It certainly looks as if plenty of first-time competitors and hosts have caught  the proxy bug!

SlotRacer Online would like to continue to support proxy racing events by offering the forum as a place to host event coverage - and by offering organisers some of our new glossy SlotRacer Online 'Proxy' vinyl stickers that Jason has designed and have just arrived from the printers...

   

The stickers - one per entrant - are available to any proxy event organiser hosting their coverage here at SlotRacer Online.

Of course, we can also offer you practical advice and assistance in getting the best out of the features of this forum - for example to include photos, video and documents in the text of your posts - although most of those tips can be found in the About the Forum section. We can also help index the various rounds or stages of your event in the opening post - as in the WHO Winter Rally-Sprint thread here. That will need help from a forum admin.

But most of all, we'd like to build a friendly and supportive community where proxy fans can get together and enjoy this growing branch of our hobby.

If you're a proxy event organiser and want to talk more, just send me a message.

I posted an HO car on a 1/32 forum with a similar name. Why? Because no one started an HO thread. 

Let's wake this up a bit. Speaking of getting into HO drag racing. Look what came along.

   
   
   
   

I took the guts out of the chassis. While the body looks mint. The chassis needs a lot of TLC. The rebuilding starts.

   

I know there is no class for this old girl. But I could not resist.

I've collected enough AFX straights to make a drag race test track. It won't be the same as Andy's track. But it will allow me to test and compare before sending cars across the big pond.

Slot.it App and Device (SCP3) Registration and Firmware Update Video Tutorial

Does anybody know the technical reason for inline motored cars jumping sideways under full braking please? Sidewinders and anglewinders rarely do it. Upmarket cars like Slot.It are as equally prone to this as Scalextric ones. I know it is easy enough to cure by backing the brakes off a bit but why do they do it?

So this week's World Wide Slot Car Chat touched on Pro Slot motors...a range of motor for 'real' slot car racers.

Checking out the PS-4000 - Euro Mk 1 motor specification, it seems to sit within a familiar 27k rpm / 155 gcm performance envelope, but with the added benefit of balanced components and replaceable parts. And at the same prices as the usual Slot.it/Scaleauto/NSR suspects. 

I think I heard mention that they have too much braking (magnetic effect?); is that the only reason they haven't become a mainstream 1:32 aftermarket upgrade?

   

Slot.it CA47b Nissan Skyline GT-R - JTC winner 1993 - Kazuyoshi Hoshino & Masahiko Kageyama. RRP £62.95. Available very soon!

The second livery on Slot.it's model of the 'Godzilla' R32 GT-R is iconic blue Calsonic colours of the 1993 Japanese Touring Car Championship winners...

       

The 4WD Skyline R32 GT-R dominated JTC, winning 29 races of the 29 it entered in the series - not a bad success rate - and won the championship every year from 1989 to 1993.


       

The 1993 season was the ninth Japanese Touring Car Championship and the final run out for the Group A cars. With four wins from the nine rounds for the pairing of Kazuyoshi Hoshino & Masahiko Kageyama, the #12 Team Impul GT-R was the most successful in the field - Kageyama taking the title on account of his teammate missing the race at Sugo.

       

Here's some video of the Calsonic GT-R at the head of the 1993 JTCC field - and some other potential liveries for the Slot.it model...




The Slot.it Skyline has the usual DTM layout underneath the body - the 21k MX15 motor mounted in an inline 0.5mm offset pod, 9:28 gearing and aluminium hubs on the back.

       

The car is fitted with the new JST connector for easy conversion to digital racing. The vital stats for the model are:

• Length: 142mm
  
• Height: 38mm
  
• Wheelbase: 81mm
  
• Width: 59mm
  
• Weight: 70.3g
  
  

That makes it in the same ballpark as the Calibra, Alfa and Mercedes DTM models - in fact very similar to the Calibra.

The car is ready to ship this week from Italy and is available on pre-order from Pendle Slot Racing and MRE for rather less than the official UK RRP. I suspect this iconic livery will sell very well, so don't miss out.

A big thank you to Jo at Galileo Engineering for sending us these awesome photos and the release details.

   

   

Pioneer P114 '34 Ford Coupe Legends X-Ray Racer. Limited Edition (220 units) RRP £61.95. Available now
Pioneer P115 '37 Chevy Sedan Legends X-Ray Racer. Limited Edition (220 units) RRP £61.95. Available now

These Legends X-Ray Racers are moulded in a translucent plastic allowing visibility directly into the body of the car. Models complete with display case, custom artwork and a limited edition label.

The cars feature...

• 18K ‘TYPHOON’ ‘QS' motor, sidewinder configuration
  
• Detailed interior & driver figure
  
• QuickChange braids
  
• Scalextric Digital DPR ready
  
• ‘PurePower’ wiring loom
  
• 'Supathane' tyres
  

A big thanks to Inaslot for the details. You can view these limited edition cars - plus a new '37 Dodge Coupe Legends white kit here: www.inaslot.com/latest-releases