So it was my birthday. And as usual on my birthdays and holidays I tend to acquire slot car stuff. This year was no different. In fact you could almost say I cleaned up. So let's get started, shall we?
The Cars
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| Unbelievably great looking race cars. I couldn't wait to get them out of the box and onto the track. |
Slot.it Monterey Grand Prix Laguna Seca Can-Am 1966 Chaparral 2E [#65 Phil Hill 1st - #66 Jim Hall 2nd].
The history of this car is really interesting. It's all about aerodynamics, and it was a pioneer in the field. It had an automatic transmission, so the driver didn't use a clutch pedal. Instead, he used a pedal that controlled the wing as well as some front air intakes to balance the car. This thing stuck to the road. On the straights the driver would flatten the wing for least resistance and maximum speed, and tilt it forward when braking and in the corners for maximum grip. People were looking at wings, but nobody was going this crazy with it. Truly a legendary car.
And Slot.it has done the Chaparral justice. The two-pack comes in a very nice collector box with a historical description inside the lid. It was on sale when I got it, so it ended up to be a pretty great deal. The cars are identical in practically every way, except for one.
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| I went through both cars, and the only difference I found between them was this: the lower side panel of the #65 cuts under the car at a sharp angle, whereas the #66 has a curved underside. |
But if you've been reading this blog, you'll already know that just because two cars may be identical in make, that doesn't mean squat until you get them on the track. My three GT40s could attest to that. They are totally different cars for being pretty much the same. Buy 6 of the same car, you'll get 6 different cars.
The cars come with sidewinder orange motors, and two sets of wings: one for show and one for go. The racing wing is a little more flexible and can take a punch. I don't know....I run nomag, and I hardly ever flip a car. They'll spin out at best. Hell, I've had that dang Alfa Romeo all this time and it still has the rear view mirror on it.
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| The chassis is very nice, light, lots of control, and not a lot of waste. And while we're looking at them, let's give a shout to those sweet factory rubber tires. These cars come with such great tires. |
So before I got them on my track I had to do some things:
1. Remove axle blocks. These are the blocks that are holding the front tires off the track. All Slot.it cars come set up that way. I don't run them like that. I like my tires to be ON THE TRACK.
2. Inspect and reset all screws. A loose screw can come off a car and into the track. New cars quite often have loose screws. Always good to check them.
3. Lube and oil gearing and axles. This is the most normal thing you can do to a slot car to increase performance. A well-oiled race car is a happy race car.
4. Screw motor to pod. This will help power distribution and prevent vibration, movement or other unwanted distractions. Get the proper screw. Anything too long and you could wreck the motor.
5. Sand the tires. Even though the Slot.it factory rubber tires are so great, tires need to be treated properly to last and perform well. Sanding the tires will do wonders to your lap times. It doesn't take long and can evolve into a pretty obsessive little hobby on its own.
I took the two cars out for a 20 lap run to see what kind of times they are projected to run. Not racing speed, mind you, but peppy snappy. For kicks I ran them against the reigning King of the Track, the Matra [#10]. Here's what happened:
Car Time Lap
#65 2:23.0 7.15
#66 2:35.8 7.75
#10 2:13.9 6.65
So the Chappies have their work cut out for them. #65 is putting up numbers that are probably toward the front of the pack, but there's a ways to go before it's putting up Matra numbers. It's probably race-ready against the Alfa and the Porsche, though.
The #66 is a little bit surprising. It was a half-second a lap slower than it's twin. When I first got the car, I noticed some loose lower side body paneling, but I glued that up and it was fine. I'm not worried about the car, though. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it. A high-7s lap is nothing to go home bragging to mama about.
Oh yeah, I probably should have mentioned earlier, there was a new bit in the track today:
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| The Carrera Overpass/Hill/Whoopdeedoo thing [in Carrera black]. It was a gift. At first I thought, "hmm, yeah, okay", but then I tried it and it brought out the kid in me. |
The Overpass
I don't really go for gimmicks, but I think this could actually be pretty usable. As it is set up in the picture, it's a big whoopdeedoo. Half throttle will launch the car. The transition itself is surprisingly smooth, almost too smooth. The car is up and over it before you know it. It's meant to be used as an overpass. My plan is to separate the hill in the middle and put an entire section between the up and the down. That'll give me multi-level without having to lift any flat track.
The track itself takes up the exact same footprint as 4 straight pieces. They can be connected in any way, though the crest pieces have a direction they prefer based on the angle of the post mounts, and are reinforced with support rings underneath for the supports to connect to. Track pieces are solid and don't feel brittle or sketchy.
Overall a pretty cool addition and can produce mountains of car jumping fun.
I was looking at the pieces a little closer today, and the lower incline pieces start the transition early, and begin to crest before you've hit the end of the track piece. That's probably how Carrera was able to match the length up with 4 standard straight pieces. It also probably is what helps launch cars if you're not too careful.
I experimented with putting a straight piece in the apex of the hill. That slowed down the crazy jumping the cars were doing. Truthfully, what would really kick ass would be to have about six of these things so you can create elevation changes wherever you want. I like the entire of entire sections raised higher than the rest of the track, curves and all. But I think that the best use of the incline would be to put it right after a curve, as you wouldn't be able to get enough speed to get air right away. Any straight run-up is a death sentence for your car.
So yeah, with the addition of the hill my lap times got a little longer. I'll have to run the other cars and see what everybody's doing. I'll do that this weekend. I'll also be plugging in this bad boy:
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| DS 35 ohm controller. I needed a decent 2nd controller. This fits the bill perfectly, and it was inexpensive. Now I can race against drones. And people. |
You'd think that the cars and the whoopdeedoo would be enough, but now we're doing controllers. That's going to help increase the amount of people that can race on my track by one. That's one more than before. The racing should be more competitive that way.
The DS controller is nicely made, sturdy and ergonomic. It's a little smaller than the SCP-1 I have, but not by much. It doesn't have all those elaborate controls, either. Just the trigger. I'm waiting on the banana clips, which should be here tomorrow.
That's quite a load, eh? You'd think that with such a load like that, there would need to be anything else. A guy could be perfectly satisfied with all that stuff and never need to add anything more to the track ever again.
You'd think that, wouldn't you?
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| 10-pack of straights, anyone? |
So there ya there ya there ya have it. No more. Finished.
Quick Notes:
I'm going to be painting the new track pieces I got this weekend, so watch for that. In fact, I'm going to run video and make it a thing on YouTube. It's my most popular post here, so I should do a thing on it.
Because I have two Chappies now, I'm going to go ahead and take them into two directions setup-wise. The #65 is going to have the more standard half-turn pod and chassis setup, while the #66 will have a loose pod and a tight chassis. I'll start them there and see what they need to get where they need to go. It'll also allow me to compare performance with different setups. Kinda the same thing I do with the Fords right now.
Once I get the clips for my controller I'll do a whole thing on it, comparing it to the one I have now as well as how it feels overall.
I'm also going to do a thing on the practical [and impractical] uses of the whoopdeedoo. I've got some ideas I want to try.
Crazy eh? And that's not even the BIG news....
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