Issue 53 of Slot Car Magazine is available as an ebook now - in time for some leisurely Christmas to New Year reading. The magazine should be available at the Swindon swapmeet on Sunday 5 January and afterwards from Pendle Slot Racing. The link to the ebook is: www.lulu.com/slot-car-magazine-january-2020-issue-53 and it will set you back a mere £1.29.

Slot Car Magazine Issue 53 - January 2020

02 – RACE CRAFT
Exclusive interview with Fraser and Ian Ross by Tony Di Pastena.
07 – PORSCHE 911
Hub Habets on Fly’s version of the iconic rally car from the ’60s and ’70s.
11 – 2019 HO LE MANS 24 HOURS
Postcard from Derby... written by Andy Player after a rather enjoyable race programme.
13 – MICRO MUSCLE
HO Trans-Am from Auto World. Andy Player drives the US-style tiny hefty beasts.
15 – WAY ON DOWN
Offset wheel bearings from Staff Slot Cars UK, reviewed by Ric Woods
16 – BIG WHEELS KEEP ON TURNIN’
Staff Slot Cars UK wheels reviewed by Marc Abbott... looking jolly good on a Ferrari too.
17 – GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES!
Ric Woods looks at the latest Kurtis Novi 8V releases from Ostorero.
18 – COP A LOAD OF THIS!
Gary Cannell and a story of the County Sheriff car commissioned from Scalextric by MRE.
22 – THE MAIN ATTRACTION
Keeping us up-to-date, Martin Price of Magnetic Racing and a chance to WIN a Race HQ!
26 – HESKETH 308
The new SRC F1 car is tantalisingly close, now the first test shots are being built.
27 – PEUGEOT 205 T16
The Lancia is nearly here, but don’t forget the latest guise of their rally Peugeot.
28 – WHEELS ON FIRE
SRC Wheels – the beauty is there to see... and they’re very well made too
29 – SRC TOOLBOX
The new screwdriver toolbox from SRC plus your chance to WIN one!
30 – MERCEDES 190E DTM
“Oh Lord won’t you buy me a (Slot.it) Mercedes Benz?” Reviewed by Marc Abbott.
32 – FORZA NSR F1
Surprise! Surprise! The well-kept secret that is NSR’s generic F1 car.
35 – HEY PORSCHE!
Ric Woods analyses Carrera’s latest 2018 RSR Porsche models from the World Endurance Championship.
36 – SCALEXTRIC LOTUS 25
A Beautiful Forgery – Winner of the 1963 Italian GP, driven by Jim Clark, reviewed by Marc Abbott.
38 – SIMPLY INDESTRUCTIBLE
No matter what he does, Tony Di Pastena can’t kill his sturdy Carrera DTM cars.
IBC – THE WORLD OF DILWORTH
“All my Lovin’ “ at the West Hamley Slot Car Club.

Our new WHO/digital season kicks off on Wednesday 22 January and marks the sixth anniversary of Scalextric digital racing in Worthing. From a first trial run in January 2014, we've gradually built up a calendar of five Wednesday evenings and five all-day Saturday events this year. Our aim is to make digital club racing accessible to anyone who wants to try it out - HO club racers, digital home racers, 1/32 analogue club racers, RC car racers and interested members of the public.

We race on Scalextric Sport track, using the Scalextric Digital Advanced Powerbase, RCS64 race management software, Pit Pro sensors and Truspeed SSD IV wireless controllers. Most of our racing classes use standard Scalextric DPR cars with magnets removed and replacement racing tyres added. We're imaginative with our formats and RCS64 simulations to try an emulate real racing series and have a lot of fun. There is loads more info in the WHO/digital 2020 guide available as a pdf document from our website: whoracing.org.uk/who_digital

   

There will be full coverage of our 2020 WHO/digital season on this SlotRacer Online thread and on our website. It all starts with a Nascar club car team race and a Trans-Am pairs race...

   

   

The Scalextric Club was re-launched at the UK Slot Car Festival in May 2019, building up to a full launch in January 2020. Club membership offers...

• An exclusive Scalextric Club model
  
• A copy of the Scalextric catalogue
  
• 10% off all full price cars, accessories and track on scalextric.com
  
• Exclusive access to club competitions and additional club-only models
  
• Regular product lauch updates and Scalextric news
  

The UK price is £40 and for the rest of the world £56. The Scalextric Team recently confirmed that the 2020 Scalextric Club car and 2020 catalogue will be dispatched to all members next month (January 2020).

The 2020 Scalextric Club car was displayed at the UK Slot Car Festival...

   

It is the BMW E30 M3 driven by Matt Neal in his first full season of BTCC racing in 1992. The livery is from the 1992 Silverstone BTCC weekend.

                     

If you want to buy (or suggest) Scalextric Club membership as a last-minute Christmas present, there are options on the checkout page to purchase membership as a gift, and to enter the recipient's details for Club membership. Or, if you would prefer to keep the gift secret until the big day, enter the recipient's name and your own address and the initial membership pack will be posted or emailed to you. After the event the recipient details can be changed by contacting the Club Helpline.

Full details are here: www.scalextric.com/uk-en/memberships

Keep an eye out for more information in the 2020 Scalextric catalogue and on the Scalextric website in January.

Just did this little write up for my blog on the story behind my little rally table evolution.  Lazy copy and paste straight to here, so hope that it works.

Later I will add to this for the arduino timer details along with code and circuitry - I even went as far as having pcb's made to hold the arduino and associated resistors and buzzer etc to clean it all up.
 
This part of my slot car journey started out as just a little side project with my Dad during one of his visits to Japan.  Both of us enjoy making things and so we thought it would be good to make a little practice track together.  So over the course of a day or so we marked out on some MDF a basic track following some geometric lines, nothing fancy.



The "Tron" like corners were quite severe, and after using this for a while I wondered what it would be like to have just flowing curves and if possible to run the path over an area more than once to make use of space.  And so a bit later a drift version was made.



Now I was starting to get into this.  It was fun to think it may even be possible to do a version from a single sheet of MDF that could be a portable table to just setup, plug in and play.  So next came a version based on a local drift track, and for the first time had a built in Arduino based lap timer.  Now you could actually see lap times and mark improvements.



The track was simple but some things bothered me.

1.  For the grass I had used some scenic paper for model railways.  Bits of this got everywhere inside the cars and needed constant cleaning.
2.  The table structure was a little unstable and did not inspire confidence.
3.  It was a single fixed layout that over time would not represent a challenge.

Time for a new version!

This time I started off by getting a folding table base from Costco to be the foundation.  Rated for around 200Kg, this should do the job.


I built a framework around this, sized to accommodate a standard 3 x 6 sheet of MDF that could be swapped in and out as new courses made.  Within this framework I hid a 12v power supply.


Later this was upgraded to a variable power supply to allow for adjustments.

Besides the main track area, I made a safe area to house the timing circuit, a fine voltage adjustment, switch for reversing the track direction, and 2 storage compartments for controllers and cars.



Onto here I made a new painted version of the drift car local track.  This time the track was done with a copper tape.



This worked well but left me wanting some more variety, something with scenery like a rally track.  And so the old track just lifted away from the table and a new piece put in.  Very easy and only thing that changes is the layout.

This track had a lot of work done on the scenery to finish off and was fun to make.







I should have stopped here, but I had made some mistakes in the construction.  Some of the turn radius's were too severe for a Carrera car guide, and also the cross overs were causing a few issues.  And so started the latest version to eliminate these mistakes and add a new dimension.

Note that the latest version has an all new sensor setup for the lap times.  Now all a track needs is an 18mm hole for the sensor to plug straight in to and can be adjusted for depth to get perfect readings every time.

This new track has a guide groove that really feels like a rally stage.  Too fast and it can deslot on a straight, let alone the coblestone bridge.  Issues with the braid sticking though need to be resolved before full landscaping can commence.  At a later date the Arduino is going to be replaced with a Raspberry Pi and a touch screen to polish it all off.

Just stumbled across this fabulous look at the 1957 Italian GP.  More behind the scenes stuff than track action so will probably appeal to "makers" rather than racers.

No idea who the recorder is but seems to know the scene well.  Despite the header, the commentary is in English.
If video not working for you try on YT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fwYrbHUK0
Enjoy !!    

Leo

 
Digital Sunday, December 22nd 
 
Bury St Edmunds Slot Car Club will be hosting a pre-Christmas digital slot car meeting at :
 
Gt Whelnetham Community Centre
Stanningfield Rd,
Bury Saint Edmunds
IP30 0TX
 
From 5pm until approx. 10-10:30pm
Everything is provided. First time visitors welcome at no cost.
(However, I'm sure a small donation to club funds would be appreciated.)

   
Gaylord Linse (left) with Slotpower organisers Thomas Sander and Ralph de Leur at their Spring 2019 event (photo: Stefanie Boss)

In addition to the list of 2020 UK slot car shows (here), here's an attempt to put together a list of European shows. 

Sunday 19 January: Rennbahnbörse, Krefeld, GERMANY
11am-3pm at Rennbahnshop Krefeld, Hückelsmaystraße 70, 47804 Krefeld, Düsseldorf.
More details: www.rennbahnshop-krefeld.com

Sunday 1 March: Bourse Slot 2020 Marly, FRANCE
9.30am-1.30pm at Salle Schumann, 133 Rue Albert Schweitzer, 59770 Marly, Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
More details: www.facebook.com/events/261351138101833/

Sunday 1 March: Slotpower Spring 2020, GERMANY
10.30-3pm at Stadthalle Spenge Eventcenter, Marktstraße 13, 32139 Spenge.
More details: www.slotpower.info

Sunday 15 March: Vic Slot Clàssic 2020, SPAIN
9am-4pm in Plaça Major de Vic, 08500 Vic, Barcelona.
More details: https://vicfires.cat/vic-slot-classic-2020

Sunday 22 March: De 57 internationale SLN Beurs, NETHERLANDS
10am-2.30pm at Restaurant De Engel, Burgemeester Wallerweg 2, 3991 DM Houten, Utrecht.
More details: www.sln-slotracing.nl

Saturday 28 March: Slotmania, GERMANY
11am-3pm at Festhalle Stetten, Jahnstraße 60, 70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Stuttgart.
More details: www.slotmania.de

Sunday 27 September: Slotrace en Modelbouwbeurs, BELGIUM
11am-3pm at Parochiaal Centrum Delle, Mechelsesteenweg 1090, Winksele, Leuven.
More details: info@racebaanhobby.nl

Saturday 24 October: Slotmania, GERMANY
11am-3pm at Festhalle Stetten, Jahnstraße 60, 70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Stuttgart.
More details: www.slotmania.de

Sunday 8 November: De 58 internationale SLN Beurs, NETHERLANDS
10am-2.30pm at Restaurant De Engel, Burgemeester Wallerweg 2, 3991 DM Houten, Utrecht.
More details: www.sln-slotracing.nl

Saturday 14 November: Ruhrslot GERMANY
11am-3pm at Revierpark Vonderort, Bottroper Straße 322, 46117 Oberhausen-Osterfeld.
More details: www.ruhrslot.de

Sunday 22 November: Slotpower Xmas 2020 GERMANY
10.30-3pm at Stadthalle Spenge Eventcenter, Marktstraße 13, 32139 Spenge.
More details: www.slotpower.info

Sunday 29 November: Bourse d’échange de Safran FRANCE
9am at Musée Aeronautique et Spatial Safran, Rond-Point René Ravaud, 77550 Réau, Île-de-France.
More details: www.circuits-routiers.fr

This is not a complete list by any means - if you have an more events to add, please post details below. Thanks to Phil Smith for posting some leads (here) to get me started.

This was done a few years ago, and was on a few other forums,.......thought I would post it here for those that may be interested.

Happy Holidays
Chris Walker

 Hi Folks, For those that know the Cox chassis, this thread will have some interest, as you will be able to see/understand the modifications.........for those not familiar with the chassis, please feel free to look at the pretty pictures!!...

My first "serious" 1/24 slot car was a Cox Team Modified Cheetah.......Or at least I thought it was serious until I got blown away by the Russkit Carrera's and the hybrid Dynamic/brass scratchbuilts on my first visit to the local commercial track. At that point I turned my back on the Cox cars, in my search for speed.

Years later, I still love the cars, and with a lot of vintage racing going on in Europe, I have committed myself to trying to get one going......well enough to travel to France and the Bordeaux vintage meet.

Three things need addressing with this chassis...1/ lower the front ride height, but still use scale sized wheels/tires, 2/ Freeze the drop arm, and allow for some guide height adjustment, and , 3/ add a lot of weight low and to the sides via body pans.

I did want to engineer something that was simple, and would not require altering the original chassis, in case I wanted to return it to stock.

The following pics. are of the results

Cheers
Chris Walker

For Christmas 1962, my dad bought me a VIP Slotcar set that he purchased at the London (UK) toy show.
He and my uncle set it up on a table in our basement, and when I discovered it I was the happiest kid in the world.

There is actually a story attached to this, which I should share......Up until I went into the basement, that Christmas was not going very well at all for a 6 yr old kid,...I was getting socks, Soap on a rope (remember that), facecloths, and other really boring stuff, and while I had to politely thank my parents/aunts/uncles, I was becoming increasingly more depressed, as, there did not appear to be a toy in sight...not even a bag of "Green army men". After the unwrapping was over, my father worsened my mood by asking/telling me to go to the basement to retrieve some more wood from the wood box, so the adults could enjoy a big fire and sip their eggnog. I flipped the light switch, saw the track, and almost peed myself with delight !!

Anyway, I still have those cars (track is long gone), and as it is the season to remember Christmas' past, I though I would post a few pics. of those "Christmas" cars

Cheers
Chris Walker

PS hope you all have some good Xmas memories.

My original cars,......all I have done over the last 55 years is to clean them, and, replace a few parts with original bits.........they still run great, not the fastest, but, very smooth and quiet.

Image resized to 87% of its original size [1024 x 768]


Image resized to 87% of its original size [1024 x 768]


The following pics. were stolen off "Images" to show the track/set/chassis......they are unfortunately a bit small.

The set as it came....



The Smooth metal track....much nicer looking than black plastic......looks like this one has had a few sections "copper taped"



And an underside, showing the 5 pole motor, independant front wheels, and "Ackerman" steering.....really advanced cars for the time.

What is your recommended method to keep braid well and truly secured to the track?  My table is in a garage which sees freezing temperatures in the winter and well into the mid-high 40's during the summer.  The braid had been laid down using the recommended 3M double sided tape, but have found it now to be lifting in the corners.


I am not concerned about ever wanting to recover the braid from the table, so what would keep this rock solid in place regardless of temperature?