Matra Matra Matra

It has been a nice week or so to get in some racing. The weather has been quite cooperative, and the time has been somewhat helpful, although I still can't squeeze a nice long 3-hour session in anywhere.

I'm still in a bit of shock over the time that the Matra set the other week. It has challenged me to up my game in regards to the other cars and getting them tuned to beat it. Thing is, I'm not so sure that I have a car that can beat it. The Porsche is perhaps the car with the best chance, but so far it's not even tuned well enough to consistently beat the rest of the field. And I don't expect a GT40 to get up to that time, since the track seems to treat the Matra's length a little bit better than the Ford's.

The #10 Matra Simca destroys the rest of the field, including the #11 Porsche 962C.

When I first got the Porsche, I figured that it was going to be the standout car because it was different than all the other cars. It has an inline motor/gear system, instead of a sidewinder, and although it has a longer tail than any other car I have, it makes up for the slight wiggle in the turns by burning up the straights.
Problem is, it hasn't done anything like that so far. I can see the potential, as well as feel it. I'm not saying that something is restricting the car's potential, but I certainly haven't gotten all that potential out of it yet. I'm a long way off, I figure, and this will likely be my summer project. I'll need to drive the Matra less, though, and that's a pretty big request right now.

My track seems to prefer a car with a longer wheelbase. The longer the better, usually. I can say that because I believe that the end of the Alfa's dominance and the laps times of the longer cars improving kind of prove my point. The giant curve allows the longer cars to go through faster, and the shorter cars can't really take full advantage of it. Yes, the technical section is still technical, but I think if I was timing sections we'd find that the cars are pretty similar through it. Three-quarters of the track is not technical, however, and requires flat out speed with an ability to handle. The Matra has exactly that. What it doesn't have is too much tail to make it swing out, much like the Porsche does.

The Porsche will require a bit more work to the tires, as well as some other stuff. I have yet to outfit it with gaskets, so there's that. I think a smoother car is a happier car, and the Porsche tends to rattle a bit.

Could either of these hot rods contend? This year's question.

I haven't been doing any time trials lately, mostly sticking to just running laps, tuning and testing. I run the Matra to try and understand what makes it tick, then try to replicate that in the other cars. One thing I'm considering is adding weight to one of the Fords to see if it does anything, as that's the only thing that I can think of that might be giving the Matra the advantage right now. Thing is, I added weight to the Porsche too, but it doesn't seem to be helping as much as it does on the Matra.

That makes the Matra public enemy #1, so all cars are going to be chasing it. If any of them get close, then we've got a race on our hands.

New Car Fast

So the Matra just set....scratch that....smashed the track record.

25 laps at 1:56.13, which is a lap average time of 4.64, which is easily 4/10's of a second faster than the previous track record. Consider that the original qualifying time of this car was 2:02.59 [4.92 lap average], that's a serious improvement.

That's insane.

I suppose it could be because it's warmer up in the attic. But this car just clocked 25 laps and did it eleven seconds faster than any of my other cars. I consider that insane. I've tuned my cars to run pretty much within a few tenths of a second from each other, but a 4.64? Insane. That's a new track record for sure. And aside from lube/oil and giving the rear tires a new scuff, I didn't do anything else to it.

To make sure I wasn't imagining things, I ran the other two newer cars to see what kind of times I could get out of them.


The Porsche

2:02.73 [4.9 sec lap average], which is also faster than the 2:05.72 [5 sec lap average] that it ran in qualifying, although not by much. It does push the Porsche up near the top of the pack, though. It beat all other cars except one.


The MKII

Everybody's a little faster today, that's for sure. The Mark II did 25 laps in 1:58.20 [4.7 sec lap average], which pretty soundly beat the Porsche. But damn, that Matra really is insane.

Back to the attic!

Race Field Prep - Full Car Preview

Since this is the start of a new season, with double the amount of cars from last season, I've decided to take a closer look at how the cars are now, including changes, additions, subtractions...whatever makes each car run better. There's no Balance of Power [BoP] rules here, as the cars are all basically built to compete against each other anyway. So something added to one car may not be a modification added to all cars, or vice-versa. 

I'm including my own rating system, which will be a 1-10 [bad-to-good] scale based on a number of factors that will be added. So let's get started; 

Matra Simca 670 B LeMans #10

This car fills a niche which lies between the more mid-rangey style of the classic Le Mans cars and the longtail cars of the early 70's. Pretty much exactly where it sits in history is exactly where it runs best as a slot car. 

I added a little weight behind the front axle to keep the nose on the ground. The design is such that the body has a very low stance, but a noticeable amount of rear weight distribution. 

Pros: easy to drive, fast, quiet. 

Cons: light in the nose, model I purchased has required pickup line work.

63.9 grams weights in a bit on the heavier side for one of my cars, mostly due to the small amount of weight I added to the front to keep the nose down. It was coming out at speed through corners and off the back straight.

Overall as a first purchase or collection expansion, it's a good car to have and can be quite surprising. Besides being a sweet looking race car, it is a blast to drive.

25-Lap Qualifying Time: 2:02.59
Acceleration:    9
Handling:    9
Maintenance [higher is better]:   6
Curb Appeal:   9
Value [today's price compared to original price]:   7
Overall:   8


__________

Alfa Romeo 33/3 Targa Florio #2

When I first got this car, I ran it on about 12 feet of track...pretty much a figure-8. It handled it beautifully, ripping around the sharp 1/60 curves, easily making it always competitive. It ended up winning the last season championship, and was dominant through much of it. Now with a larger track, it struggles in places to keep up, and tends to crash more often than before when on short tracks.

One thing about this particular model, which I have read about and can confirm, the chassis on the model is warped. I noticed it on my car before reading that it was a problem with the entire line. This meant that the car was often put on sale, sometimes at ridiculous prices. The chassis can be fixed or replaced, so this car comes in at a steal, which is what gives it such a high Value rating.

Pros: Handles 1/60 curves and short tracks with ease, lightning fast acceleration, light and nimble.
Cons: Outmatched in the large radius curves by the longer cars, crash prone.

Snubby body all the way around. Snub-nose, short short short. Also wider than most cars. I trimmed some things due to a bit of rubbing, otherwise haven't done much to it aside from adding some rubber gaskets.

59.9 grams is the lightest car that I have, which I fully expect from this little hot rod. 

25-Lap Qualifying Time: 2:07.19
Acceleration:    9.5
Handling:    9
Maintenance [higher is better]:   9
Curb Appeal:   9
Value:   9

Overall:   9

__________

Ford GT40 Shell Le Mans #8

This is the first car I ever wanted. To me, the GT40 is iconic. That's one of the reasons I have three of them. It wasn't without its difficulties, though. It took quite a bit of tweaking to get this car in good shape.

Once it was set up it has been gangbusters. Some cars, for some unexplainable reason, are just fun to drive. This car has seen so many laps and was my go-to car for a year. It's well worked in now and really doesn't need much upkeep aside from the standard tuneup.

This car is also a favorite of mine to photograph. That means a lot to me. Slot car racing to me has always meant partial realism with a healthy dose of imagination. Part of that means finding a car or cars that are nice to look at, regardless of the level of scenery the track might have. Even if you just want to set them on a shelf somewhere [but why??], they at least should look good. And to have the added benefit of it being a fast racer sure helps.

Pros: Great balanced race car, smooth and easy to maintain.
Cons: Can't think of any.

The GT40 has quite a bit more nose than either the Porsche, Matra or Alfa. This puts the guide flag more forward from the front axle, which affects handling in a way to make it feel smoother and more forgiving than the other cars. 

25-Lap Qualifying Time: 2:07.02
Acceleration:    8
Handling:    8
Maintenance [higher is better]:   8
Curb Appeal:   9
Value:   9
Overall:   8.5

__________

Porsche 962K Leyton House #11

The Porsche is part of what I would consider the next series I'm going to be collecting. I probably won't get many, maybe two or three total, but that'll definitely be the next series. The car is a lot of fun, but it's different to drive than the others. It can still compete, but I'm finding more and more that I need to put an asterisk next to its lap times sometimes. It's the oddball of the group; the only inliner. It's the one car I have that requires a special setting on the controller to get the most out of it.

Pros: Once practiced, a wicked fast race car.
Cons: Likes the straights better than the curves.

A short nose and super long tail, with sharp inline motor/gear system.

Easily the heaviest car, but it doesn't suffer for it. I think these cars have a good 20 grams of possible weight additions before things start getting weird, so adding a gram or two to this otherwise light car isn't going to matter much. So I added a bit of weight behind the front axle.

I'll bet this car would look sweet with a light kit.

This is the type of car that needs you to try just a little harder. It has a definite sweetspot, and once you find it it's going to scream around the track. But it's going to require a deft touch to do it.

25-Lap Qualifying Time: 2:05.72
Acceleration:    9
Handling:    8
Maintenance [higher is better]:   8
Curb Appeal:   9
Value:   8
Overall: 8.5

__________

Ford GTII Le Mans 1966 #5

This car was a surprise pick from my wife. She knew I liked the GT40, so she got to choose from all the models available. I like it, although I don't know if I would have necessarily picked it in my top 3, but it's growing on me. It's a wonderfully smooth and fast car, with virtually no modifications aside from tuning.

Pros: The nicest-running slot car I've gotten fresh out of the box.
Cons: It's gold? Even that doesn't bother me.

I like that the left-side hub spinners are chrome where the right ones are black...just like the 1:1 car.

25-Lap Qualifying Time: 2:01.32
Acceleration:    8
Handling:    8
Maintenance [higher is better]:   9
Curb Appeal:   8
Value:   7
Overall:   8

__________

Ford GT40 Jacky Ickx Le Mans #11

You'd think having three of the same basic slot car would be a bit redundant, but I can assure you it isn't. Each of the three Fords has been wildly different from each other in handling and setup. The #8 came missing a considerable amount of pod screws [which I have yet to replace], and had setup struggles for almost the entirety of last season. The #11 came fully equipped, was a smoother ride and set good lap times right away.

This was the original pick my wife made, and was the surprise third car two xmases ago. It got held back in development a bit when I was running urethane tires on the other two cars. This one couldn't keep up with the stock C1 rubber tires, so it didn't run as often.

I love the Gulf livery. It's probably my favorite, and I don't think there's a car I would turn down if it came with one. With that said, this is the "dark" Gulf livery, which is cool and all. But it's a bitch to photograph, isn't as easy to track while racing, and just isn't the classic light blue Gulf livery. That's the one I really like. So that's why the curb appeal is a little lower. I know it's a historic racer, and Jacky Ickx a historic, AWESOME driver, but it's just the dark blue. That's all. Otherwise this is a very fast, very smooth race car.

Pros: Smooth and fast, with rarely any crashing.
Cons: The dark color, even on my light gray track, is sometimes tricky to pick up.

Aside from a couple screws missing out of the car on the left, they're pretty identical, which means they should run that way, right....?

hmm....2 grams lighter than the other Fords for no apparent reason.

Pictured with a set of SuperTires and wheels, which I had won in a giveaway. Kinda takes that rear end into another dimension. Too bad the tires are silicone. My mistake. I figured they would be handing out urethanes so I wasn't specific.

25-Lap Qualifying Time: 2:06.52
Acceleration:    8
Handling:    8
Maintenance [higher is better]:   9
Curb Appeal:   8
Value:   8

Overall:   8



That should just about do it. The Carreras won't be running. I barely had enough time when I only had three Slot.it cars, I certainly don't have the time with six of them. I'll add the info for the participating cars to the spreadsheet and post it for the upcoming format and race plan. 

Weather Better - Track Testing

Finally got through the construction in our house [mostly], so I can get back to racing. No better time, either, as it's warming up and finally comfortable enough to do stuff.

I'm going to basically treat this as the pre season, so I'll have some testing and tuning. First off, general shake-off to see what is needed for each car.

The Matra was pretty much the only car that I ran through the rough parts of the winter, getting it out a total of about a half dozen times for no more than about as many laps. I didn't do anything to it during that time, and it still runs as good as the day I got it. Verdict: Needs nothing.

The Porsche needs some work. It's a bit rough in the drive and makes a bit of noise. It's also a bit slippy around the corners, even though the track has been cleaned and dusted throughout the winter. Verdict: Needs lube/oil, tire help.

Another one of those cars that can do no wrong, the Mark II is totally awesome. Quiet, smooth, great traction. Verdict: Needs nothing.

I should have known that the cars that I've had for awhile would weather the winter well. And they did. The Gulf GT40 runs like it's ready to win NOW. I'm amazed at the comeback. Verdict: Needs nothing.

The #8 runs like the overachieving little brother to the Gulf car. Everything has to be a little harder, a little more difficult. Still, top-notch race car. Verdict: Needs nothing.

The Alfa pretty much has to be driven either first or last, because if it's run in the middle of the pack, it feels like there's something wrong with it. There isn't, outside of maybe a little tire love that needs to happen. Then again, if I give some of the cars a fresh tire job, I'm going to do it to all the cars for fairness reasons

So there you have it. The track stays in it's same form from previously, so none of that has changed. I need to look at it, though, and it'll be included in my testing and cleaning up. Then we'll get down to putting down some numbers.

I'm going to take the Porsche first, as it's probably the car that needs the most work. The others are mostly quick tire jobs.

I'm going to start the testing with timing to see how things progress. I'll dig out the spreadsheets as well to make it fun. I worked up a couple that should help out a little.

Another Cold Snap

Can't race when the temps in the attic are below freezing. It got to -2C the other day, and it was way too cold to do anything. It's sitting at about +4 right now, which is still too cold for me. I took the cars out of the attic the other night and brought them into a bit warmer of a room for the next few days.

I'm ready for the under support for the track. I think I need it now. I've gotten to the point where I am doing little tweaks here and there, but it's mostly set. In truth, the whole thing could have been done in about a week of resting and finally placing. I have just drawn it on way too long, kind of like I do with everything.

So it won't be long now. I can pretty much go down and get the wood when I'm ready, and almost did it the other day. There's time, though, as it's too freakin cold to do anything up there.

Oh, we've also been discussing insulation. That's something.

Controversial Border/Wall Discussion

I was going through my usual checkups on local toy stores to see if they had anything on sale the other day. Turns out I found three 1/60 borders wrapped in a rubber band for 12 bucks. They came with two end caps as well. Must have been part of a set, likely the one that was on the xmas display.

So I thought about the most hazardous part of the track so far after weighing out two options; support the inside lane or the outside lane. Since I've been racing already on the inside lane, I know I can get away with borders in two places and get full coverage. On the outside it would be helpful in the big switchback in Pike's, but that's about it. There are a lot of other places on the outside lane that need borders. 

So the inside lane it is. 

I'm covering the right-hand of the Dunlop Curve and the big curve at Pike's. Those two places traditionally have had the most offs for the inside lane. I'll still need to do a little magic later so they aren't so disconnected, especially at the ends. I'll be able to scenic stuff to fix that.

My first reaction is that the borders could be about half as deep and just as effective. Perhaps 1:24 cars need the full girth, but so far most of my cars have required no more than about an inch of it. So whether or not I end up using Carrera brand borders everywhere will depend on if I think I'll need that runoff space in the future.

I'm not a drift-king or anything, but I know that if my car is getting that out of shape going through Pike's, I'm a goner in the next corner.

I'm not sure where I'm going to need these just yet. This seems the most logical place. Until I have borders for the Sweeper, it's pretty much a moot point to begin work on the outside lane, especially considering I have so few borders to help it right now. 

The plan is to leave these on for awhile and see how I like the results. I'm going to have to reset the banking, but I think the borders will actually help get better banking than I had before due to more adjustable surface area. I'll play around with it and see what happens. 

A straight border piece would clear that hip right out, although it would be kind of fun to bring the wall in a bit there, put some floor down, and put a TV tower behind it. 

I suppose I'm going to have to let the rubber on the track do the talking regarding how much of the borders are being used. So far it's dictating what the racing line is looking like. I wish I could get better pictures of it. It's just not at that stage yet. But I'll be curious to see just how much of the borders a car uses. The depth of the borders could certainly be the edge location for walls, although I think I would end up doing some kind of scenic treatment to most of the outer parts of the borders. 

If these borders make sense here temporarily, then I will make them permanent. Until then, I'll race with them here until further notice.

Car Notes

I took a few minutes and added a little weight to the Matra. I placed a small square of ballast right up behind the front axle. It's a negligible amount of overall weight for the car, and so far has helped keep the nose down in testing. No other adverse effects.

The #10 feeling right at home on this track after only a weekend.

I haven't run legit races yet, but I think this thing is going to be very hard to beat. 

Matra Notes

Tonight is Friday night and the family is away, which finally leaves me with some much needed racing time. We're headed towards the finish line of having a bathroom completely rebuilt. We're about three more agitating workdays away. But this is the weekend. And it's track time.

I mentioned previously that the Matra came with it's front tires already making contact with the track, but out of habit I removed the two support cups like I always do, and I think I may have put the car out of balance. It's tending to de-slot at high speeds now, especially in the Mulsanne Kink and the Sweeper. I think I'm going to go ahead and reset those cups and see if the contact is satisfactory for me. I'm a firm believer in having four tires on the track, and not two. That friction argument floating around out there is poppycock. Sorry.

The argument goes something like this: since your front tires aren't providing any power to the track, they are instead slowing down the car, so setting the car up with the tires off the track will make it go faster by taking the friction-causing front tires out of the picture. An added by-product proposed is that when going into a turn, the car will eventually lean enough to allow the front tire to engage the track for support.

Last part first: how's about setting the front tire on the track so that there's no lean to begin with?

Tires in the air? Here's a simple enough test:

Take the motor out of one of your cars. Then set up the tires so they're off the track. Put the car on the track, and give it an eager push with your finger. See how far it goes. Next, set up the car's tires so they're on the track. Repeat the putting and the pushing. Notice how much farther the car now travels? Yeah, friction would be the opposite of that. The only friction is the amount of plastic sliding along the track because the wheels are up in the air.

So anyway, off topic a bit there. Even though the Matra was doing fine before I tampered with it, I think my work adversely affected it. Regardless, I ran a 50 lap shakedown to see what it could do. It had already felt like it was right in the running from the get-go. It's even quieter than the GTII, which I didn't think was going to be possible.

Nice to have another car with a different number. The #10 Matra Simca 670 B.

50-lap Shakedown Test

Car         Time      Lap

Matra   4:07.50    4.94


You have to go all the way back to the Frozen Tundra 50 to find a similar race to compare it with. Anything earlier would have different track parameters and couldn't really count.
At the Frozen Tundra 50 the 2nd and 3rd place cars [#8 Ford and Alfa, respectively] were two tenths of a second per lap behind the time the #10 laid down today. I had a feeling it would do well, but I wasn't expecting that. Those two cars have been tweaked to the track, whereas the Matra is still a bit away from being race-ready.

But if it isn't race-ready yet, how fast is it going to be when it finally is ready? And if all Matras run like this, then why isn't it the top of its class in racing? I never hear about it in slot car circles, and it's a perfectly lovely car. I don't get it. Maybe people prefer the other cars from the era more. Or maybe the older models aren't as refined? I don't know.
Anyway, let's do some tweaks and a bit more testing.


Thirty Minutes Later...

Instead of putting those cups back in...I just can't see why you need them...I took the screws I put in out instead, allowing more flexibility. I also redid the wire brushes, which had a not-quite-good connection. All in all I got it into a good running mode and just ran a couple hundred laps with only one off. I'll continue tweaking it, and I'll save the cups in case I just can't get it right, but I think I might be headed in the right direction now.

Two Hours Later...

I added the Porsche and the Alfa to the session and ran them against the #10 to see if it was keeping up the pace, and it certainly was. I'm noticing that due to the short nose on the Matra, most of the weight is on the back end of the car [since it's a sidewinder motor]. Early in the session I noticed the front end hopping at the start of the Mulsanne Straight. I think I might actually have to add a little ballast up front to keep the nose down. If I add it I'll try to add just enough to keep it down without weighing down the car too much. This problem doesn't happen with the Porsche because it's got enough nose to keep it on the track.
But the Matra is a lot like the Alfa up front, except longer everywhere else. The combination of these things and the low body shape, it's really a very "flat" car, meaning that most of the body has a maximum height that is quite low to the ground, unlike the other cars. That gives it a lighter overall weight, which makes it that much more important to make sure weight is properly distributed. You don't want a light car being light in the nose or the tail. The Matra weighs in three grams lighter than the Porsche, so I could add a bit of weight to it. It's now, however, two grams heavier than the GT40, which is surprising.

During the session I was dealing with a lot of dust left by the bathroom installers. It got on everything, including the track. So I've been cleaning, running, sanding and taping. I put the Alfa away and brought out the Mark II, so now I have my three newest cars running. I thought I would give a little care to the tires, since they were sliding all over from the dust.

After about 500 more laps I'm very happy with the car. The nose is down, it's fast and quiet.

I love this car. That was fast.

New Car [and it's a screamer]

Finally. After days of patient waiting as well as a blown weekend opportunity, it's finally here. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you:


Matra Simca Le Mans 1973

I hear groans. Okay, I feel them. Here's the thing, the Ford GT40 is pretty much [to me] the standard when it comes to a balanced slot car. It's got just enough nose and just enough tail to make it handle well without too many surprises. A perfect first car.

The Alfa Romeo 33/3 is quite a bit different. It has a shorter nose and a shorter tail than the GT40. It makes for a much quicker handling race car.

The Porsche 962 has that shorter nose but has a long tail. So it affects the handling as well, turning it into a totally different type of car than the Ford.

Enter the Matra. It's got the shorter nose, and a bit of a tail [nowhere near as long as the Porsche], but it's also got a longer wheelbase than the GT40. This puts it right between the GT40 and the 962 in regards to handling. It'll cruise at high speeds just like the Porsche, but it's much more responsive in the curves and doesn't swing out nearly as much.

I should make up a rating system of the varying elements of the car so it would be easier to explain. I might just do that.

There were things that struck me right off the bat with this car, besides the way it fits perfectly in my collection. One of those things was that this was the first Slot.it car that I have gotten that didn't have the front wheels in the air. Whether that was on purpose on or accident I don't know yet. I'll need to get in and take a closer look. Today was all about taking out the magnet and doing some laps.

First thing I can't help but notice is how low slung the car is, and how deep into the body the wheels go. This bad boy is dropped. I kinda love that about this car. It's got that great 60's/70's low body style that is all curves and style.

I don't remember seeing anybody gushing about a Matra slot car before, although Harry over at HomeRacingWorld.com did in a review. That pretty much pushed me over the edge into getting this one. I was pretty close to getting another Porsche and I'm glad I didn't. This thing is so much fun to drive.
I think this is a pretty looked-over slot car. It's in a class with a lot of beautiful cars and tends to get forgotten about. I've been watching reruns of old Le Mans 24hrs races, and I kind of got a soft spot in my heart for the Matra.

The Matra fills the gap perfectly between the GT40 and the Porsche. This is what I was hoping for, and according to the numbers it should be this way, and I'm glad it is. The Matra could easily match with either the Porsche or the Ford [even the Alfa] without being outrun. In a weird way it almost drives more like the Alfa than any other car, although it doesn't. Either way, this car is more than capable of handling itself.

I've been driving the Porsche a lot since I got it. It's had more track time than any other car. One of the reasons for that was so that I could better learn to drive it. If you go from an Alfa or Ford to the Porsche the difference is night and day. The approach to the entire track changes when you use a car your not used to, or one that is radically different in style to what you're used to. The Porsche is just that. It's extremely fast and has the potential to beat them all, but it also needs a gentler touch, more patience and a different approach. It's not the type of car you want to accelerate in a curve with, but it'll run fast aside from that.

The Matra, being just shorter than the Porsche by a bit in all directions, out handles the Porsche, will outrun the Fords and the Alfa, and might be my fastest car. It's a semi-long car that likes a semi-long track. Nice match.

It never seems like much when you start comparing cars together by size, wheelbase, etc., but I think you can learn a lot about the when's and why's of slot cars.

So now I have something that fills that gap. It'll be curious to see where it ends up in the standings. Speaking of standings, all that will have to be reset for the new car. But that's okay. This will be the last car for awhile.

And it's sexy as hell. I love it.

Upcoming: under the hood.