Does anyone know where I could obtain a waterslide decal set for this car that I can get delivered to the UK:

      


I have tried looking on Pattos, but navigating that website is frustrating at best, and I can't find it !

   

Anyone been watching? 

Just had 2hrs of Aussie V8's thrashing around Bathurst. Absolutely awesome. All the drivers are racing from home in simulated races, prize money going to charity.   

The graphics just blew me away. 90% of the time it could have been live racing footage. 

Another 2hrs next Monday. I'll be there for sure 

Converting the Pepsi Challenge Raceway (Analog) version to Digital. WHY? Participation - 2 lane layout yielded more off track time than on. I found visitors loved the appearance and overall experience in seeing races but too many complaints about time spent when not actively on-track to generate positive interest or investment. 6 racers at a time has led to a lot more confusion and skill because of it... but it's new. Features of the old  layout include (2) custom made "Switch Track" pieces which allows changing the layout configuration into 3 possible courses at the flip of a switch (an Oval. Road Course or both together). This is accomplished using 3 light bridges as sensors and model railroad turnout motors wired via an Arduino Mega board. A vast display of LED's for taking externally those functions displayed on a computer monitor including a Leader board to indicate Track Status (Green, Red, Yellow, White (Last lap or Last min.), Fuel status, Penalty (false start), Fast lap, Best Speed and Leader via (2) 1012 Phidget boards. Although not "Scenic" as in a model, the layout has over 150 ground effect lights and a working "Pepsi fountain" to stimulate interest. All sections of track have guard rails with a lane length of just over 100' on a 15 degree angled 12'x8' table reluctantly housed in the wife's 2 car garage.
                 Not sure how but willing to answer any questions or provide more pictures (in detail) if interested, not for bragging rights but... If I can do it, you can too!  The pictures (poor quality but best overall view) are from 2017 with exception of the last  which is new layout. I do have videos of the "switch Tracks" in operation as well as detailed drawings/pictures of lights (LED's) and how made/implemented. I strongly believe in sharing the effort not just displaying it.

While converting to a Digital layout I noticed the actual layout differed from a track planner version in that I can not get the 4 straights on the inside to be parallel. The culprit is a High Banked curve section containing (3) 20575 HB Curve 2 30's (1) 20509 standard straight and (3) more 20575 HB Curve 2 30's. According to Autorennbahn planer and logic the corner should yield a 180 deg. turn. Can anyone tell me the height I should be supporting the top of the track pieces at to obtain this 30 deg. banking while producing a truer 180' turn, or guidance on order of assembly? It certainly makes a difference. In process of converting this layout to be both Analog and Digitally powered, I also noticed that I needed to break internal jumpers (Control Unit) but continuity still indicates both lanes are wired together. So this is perfect time to correct parallel problem when track is disconnected to find out why. Any Suggestions out there?

Greetings from the Gulf coast area of Florida. I'm not new to slot cars or Carrera for that matter, and always looking for ways of improving my home track. I have a strong volition and believe everyone should not have to endure the trials and tribulations of others to accomplish a similar task. I'm not an educator nor do I have a background in electronics/electrical arena. I do have the desire and dedication to research and expand upon examples to obtain results and freely pass them along. I have strong opinions and their based on personal results not hearsay or textbooks alone. Like most things in life there is more than one way to accomplish something. If you like my ideas... use them, if not show me a better way or the proper way. I'm not an arrogant American, I don't expect something for nothing or expect trade secrets to be reveled. I think this is a great hobby that needs all the encouragement possible to entice more and more people to expand it.    https://www.facebook.com/Pepsi-Challenge...949477630/

Back in the 60,70 and 80's, South Africa had a thriving racing scene, and besides having The Le Mans cars visiting, its own F1 series with almost current F1's at the time, SA had a massive local rivalry between the big manufacturers at the time - BMW, Alfa Romeo,Datsun, Mazda, Volkswagen and Ford .

The Rivalry was so big at the time, that the manufacturers had cars specially modified for racing, and the sold to us , and one of these was the Alfa GTV6.

In its original form, it had a 2.5L fuel injected motor. The head of Alfa SA asked Autodelta if they could modify the motor to improve performance.
This they duly did and what came back was a design for a 3L version, with 6 weber carbs.This took up more space than was available at the time with a result that a new bonnet was designed with larger airvents at the front to cope with the height requirements of the webers, and adeeper front Airdam.

I am an ALfisti through and through (cant afford Ferrari's) and traded in my 2.5 for the 3L I lived in Swaziland at the time and the car did monthly trips between Swaziland and Johannesburg when we visited family.. The car developed an annoying misfire, that after 2 visits to Alfa still could not be tracked down. They referred me to the Alfa Racing dept, that turned out to be a garage on the west side of Joburg. " brothers were getting the motors in knockdown format and building them. In an hour they diagnosed cracked carbs, and arranged to replace them. We did a few trips to and from Swaziland and on one of the trips back on the huge double highway I was going quite quickly along. In my rear view mirror I could see this Merc sports coming up behind me and the boy racer in me took over and put my foot down. The car came with a limiter at 8.400 RPM, and even though I was travelling at about 240kms per hour, this Merc inexorably caught and passed me... I was miffed to say the least.

When I next took my car  in (I was miffed so it was that week) - and told them the story - he just broke down laughing. It was a v8 5.8L merc that had passed me.  he looked at me and asked - you want to tweak your car?

I said sure.

When i got it back it had a huge anti roll bar at the rear, lightened steel fly wheel, cosworth pistons, tweaked limiter, beefed up brakes. What an awesome car. Was as quick as a 930 turbo.

Honestly, the best car I ever had.

At the garage in my visits - I met Abel Doliviera, the star of the race below, a fine fine gentleman, and an amazing race driver. who sadly died a while later, when the car transporter he was travelling in back from Cape Town, rolled and he sadly dies.

Hi people, As I was working out scale wheel sizes to satisfy a recent urge to make some cars look right, I thought it might be helpful to any others that felt the need 
All sizes are rounded to the nearest 0.1mm.
Measurement is the outside diameter of the visible part of the wheel once a tyre is fitted, not the actual size manufacturers' list, as that is usually the largest diameter.
This does vary depending on the manufacturer, but as a guide a slot.it 16.5mm wheel will have a visible diameter of 14.3 making it a 1/32 scale 18" wheel.

17.9mm @ tyre rim = 21"
17.1mm @ tyre rim = 20"
16.3mm @ tyre rim = 19"
15.9mm @ tyre rim = 18.5"
15.5mm @ tyre rim = 18"
14.7mm @ tyre rim = 17"
13.9mm @ tyre rim = 16"
13.1mm @ tyre rim = 15"
12.3mm @ tyre rim = 14"
11.5mm @ tyre rim = 13"
10.7mm @ tyre rim = 12"
9.9mm @ tyre rim = 11"
9.1mm @ tyre rim = 10"

For clarity, the measurement is "D" as shown on Pendle Slot listing for thee new Staffs wheels. Link

I wanted to highlight the superb build by the balsa boy - Gordon!!

Ferrari’s first customer model was the 166 Inter with Spider Corsa bodywork. These were built after the great success of Ferrari’s first major victory at the 1947 Gran Premio di Torino. These cars had Spider Corsa bodywork fitted with removable fenders and lights so they could race in Formula 2 and in sports car races.

Ferrari spent their inaugural year in 1947 racing three prototypes in and around Italy. They started with a couple Type 125s, created a single larger 159 which then evolved into the 166 Sports and 166 Inter model of 1948. Spyder Corsas raced at events like the Mille Miglia, Targo Florio and the Paris 12-Hours. They also participated in many local Formula 2 (F2) races such as Bari, Mantua, Naples, Florence and Garda.

   


   




1/24th Slot Car

Gordon gave me this body a couple of years ago and it has sat in my to do shelf since then. With this current enforced lockdown, decided to get it out.

As Gordon had done a superb job on the interior as well, it would have to be a FWD car. As I wanted to use as much vintage equipment as I could, I deci9ded on a 13 UO as there really was not a of of space there. I used the Fly FWD idea of a spring holding the 2 shafts together and built a rear bearing holder to centre the pinion to the contrate.
At the moment, it has modern replacement wheels designed for the e old Scalextric Bentley/Alfa which fit quite nicely and kinda look the part.

I hope my small homage can testify to Gordons superb artistry.

   

   

   

   

Here is a tour of our track:



Any and all comments are more than welcomed!

Thanks

John

We've now added a Track Plans section to the site, where you can find over 130 layouts, and more will be added in due course.

Track Plans