2021 Midwinter Urethane Frozen 50

 This cold snap isn't letting go, but I'm getting antsy to get some racing done. I've come up with a plan, and that is to race less cars in shorter times so I don't freeze. I can take 20 minutes or so, but then it becomes too much. 

I've modified the track a bit, taking out the backstretch entirely, and lengthening the right side of the layout. Here's today's layout:

This will take speed out of the equation, and since all the competitors are on equally tuned urethane tires, this race is going to come down to which car has the best balance and control for the track. It's challenging for sure, as it teases you into believing that you can go pretty fast through parts, only to catch you off balance when you get to the tighter aspects. The entire overhang is a giant snake, with a nasty kink just before going over the Start/Finish line. 

I have also set max power on the Slot.it controller down from 70% to 60% power. There isn't an effective straight anymore, with exception of the 6-piece front straight, so everybody can be brought down to a more realistic power curve for something this twisty. While that will be beneficial for the slower cars, it's going to possibly inhibit some of the faster cars from going full speed. We'll see. I think the 60% setting still gives every car plenty of opportunity to go off track. 

Since this is the Midwinter Urethane Frozen 50 [Midwinter because it's mid-winter, Urethane because all the cars outfitted with urethane tires are eligible, Frozen because my daughter got the movie for xmas and we've watched it at least 20 times already, and 50 because 50 laps], some cars won't be eligible for the race. They are: Porsche 911GT2, Ferrari Momo [unless the tires get here in time]. 

This is also going to be a retirement/elimination race for the Audi Safety Car. I know I said I was going to revive the Carreras, and I did. And they're running. But the Safety Car is so far off the pace of the next slowest car that it isn't even funny. It just can't keep up. So, if the Safety Car can't keep within 5 seconds of the next slowest car, I'm going to retire it again, this time for good. It'll be used strictly for a car for my daughter to play with. I'm going to keep the R18 in the race, as I think it could still be a points spoiler, but I expect this will be the Safety Car's last official race.

__________

Okay, so here we go. I'm going to take it car by car as usual, and give a brief history of what's been done to each car to get it where it is today and how it is performing in general. I'm doing 3-car races each session so I can get out of there in 20 minutes, and I'm mixing the cars so I'm not running three of the same brand. I've spent the last few weeks tuning and testing each car, especially recently. 

Chaparral #65

Slot.it Chaparral #65

This car is part of a 2-pack I got in August. Out-of-box it had a loose body panel that I had to reglue and it struggled a bit to perform. Its twin, the #66, regularly handled it in every race. I've done extensive tuning on it and the urethanes have seemed to change its behavior to a more solid and fast race car. It's got a few extra grams of weight, but nothing out of the ordinary. It runs quiet and smooth.

Race Results

Pos  Car                        Time     Lap          

1.     Chaparral #65     6:00.70   7.2

Big difference in lap time on this layout when there's no backstretch. Each car is going to be tested on how well its handling, and not just how fast it can go. And at this point I have no idea if this is a good lap time or not, but I will say the car ran well, didn't crash and was overall pretty solid. Didn't seem to be blazing, but did well. 

__________

Porsche Rothmans 917K

NSR Rothmans Porsche 917K

This car is one of the first of the "New Nine" to come over the holidays last year. It came out-of-box quiet and fast, and ran great on its factory tires. I discovered during tuning that it has a warp on the right side of the nose in the chassis. So far it isn't affecting performance, but I'm keeping an eye on it. Otherwise this is a very nice car, and although primarily white, the Rothmans livery is still eye-catching.

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     Porsche Rothmans 917K    5:52.43    7.04

2.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

I like this track layout. It's proving to be a good challenge to the cars so far. The 917 whips through everything. Very sure-footed and nimble, yet firmly planted. Felt good, but it didn't feel great. We'll have to see how the other 917s do.

__________

Alfa Romeo 33/3 Targa Florio

Slot.it Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2

This was one of the first three Slot.it cars I got after having the kit for awhile. The other two are GT40s #8 and #11. The Alfa has always been a consistent runner, although it didn't have a lot of competition in the early days. It outran the Fords, but not handily, and won the first championship. Over time it got better, mostly through a lot of tuning and tweaking. The urethanes are a good help here, as I think the factory rubbers were nearing an end. They were still good, but it was taking quite a bit of work to keep them in shape. 

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     Porsche Rothmans 917K    5:52.43    7.04

2.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           5:55.15    7.1

3.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

We've got a good race early. 2/10s a lap separates the cars so far, and that's pretty good. The Alfa ran as the Alfa does: fast through the curves, which on this layout means fast throughout. I noticed that the car doesn't drag it's body through the corners anymore, something that it's been doing since I got it. That's due to a warped chassis that is in the entire line of this particular car. 

This has been a good competition so far, and a good indicator of how the race will likely go. The pack will probably be somewhere in the low 7s, although I expect quite a bit more out of some of the cars. I'm totally okay with there being a 2/10ths gap right now. But that's also about a lap down after 50 laps.

__________

NEWS FLASH: 

There has been an addition to the collection in the form of a Thunderslot McLaren Elva, freshly delivered today:

Just got this car and am tuning it. I'll do a full report in a later post.

 Since this came in the mail today, but hasn't yet received the urethane tires, I'm going to go ahead and give it a special exemption for this race. It's going to be another week before the tires come, and this race will be over by then. Of course, since it's running on rubber I'm not going to really be able to count it, even though I will, if you know what I mean. So I'll run a urethane version when they arrive.

a few minutes later....

The problem I have whenever I get a slot car is that I need to race that slot car asap. So I lubed/oiled/sanded and ran enough laps to feel comfortable enough to enter it in the race. So here we go:

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva                     5:19.60    6.38

2.     Porsche Rothmans 917K    5:52.43    7.04

3.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           5:55.15    7.1

4.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

Okay, a couple things. First, only one of my cars got slower from the changeover from rubber to urethane, and it was by a few hundredths of a second, so I consider it a wash. And that was the Rothmans Porsche. So far it's not the fastest 917 of the three, but I'll tell you this: this is NO WAY any of my cars are beating the time the Elva just set. Not a chance. That thing is so locked in it's insane! Are you kidding me?! 6.38!!

If I'm racing, and there's a difference of 2/10ths between a couple of competitors, I can think that making up 2/10ths is a reasonable expectation for most cars. For example, it's not far fetched enough to think the Chaparral could get into range of the 917. It's not that far off. 

But this Elva. This is different. This is what I thought of back when I had initial worries about trying other brands. To find a brand that made a car so formidable that it blew away competitors. I mean HANDLED. Nobody is touching it. 

And if you're telling me that the 917, or any other car that might be running 2/10ths or so faster are going to find 7/10ths of a second? On a 7 second lap? I don't think it's possible. The Slot.its are all stretched out and while I might be able to shave a couple tenths off one of the NSR cars, not 7/10ths. Not without a gear or motor change. 

So I'll be ordering those tires tonight so they're here soon. I'll get the Revoslot tires as well and that'll be that. If they show up by Friday, I'll put 'em on and get all three of them in the race. The rubber time for the Elva will have to go once the urethane time is posted, which I'm curious to see how that turns out.

But how? How did the Elva do it? What made such a huge lap discrepancy? They have a similar build to an NSR car. And much like NSR cars, Thunderslot cars are built for racing. I know that sounds a bit stupid as it would presume that Slot.it cars aren't built for racing. They are, but not like this. Thunderslot sometimes sacrifice scale details if racing is improved. Thunderslot cars have been accused of by scale purists as being not 100% true to their full-scale counterparts. For me, I don't care. It looks great, and it absolutely runs fantastic. I showed a pic to my brother and he thought it looked badass. It might not look exactly like the 1:1 Elva looked, but I still see the Elva when I look at the slot car. And you know what? This thing hauls ass! Exemption for ass hauling! It didn't flinch once the entire race. Not even close. And if felt so sure and confident that I just kept accelerating. Not so much as a peep out of it. It just kept hauling ass. 

I know that's not a very technical description of what's going on here, but basically we're dealing with a race-ready, as in Competition slot racing car. The workmanship is even finer than the NSR cars, which are certainly fine cars themselves. It weighs in about 10 grams lighter, too. More in the range of the Slot.it cars. So you mix the lightness with the design and attention to detail and you end up with a slot car that stands out among the rest. If I was to start a championship today, I'd call it for the Elva now and the whole thing would be about the race for 2nd place. I really don't think there's going to be a car that can touch it.

__________

Meanwhile, back to the racing. Next up:

Porsche 908/3 Tergal

This car had a rough start. I jumped the gun on putting it on the track the first race before setting it up and ended up regretting it. It ran a dismal first outing and needed a bit of work to get into a position to redeem itself. I think I've gotten it there, or near-there. Ride height set, pod [tightened works best and still has flexibility], urethanes sanded and slick. 

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva                     5:19.60    6.38

2.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

3.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

4.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

5.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

Nice run. I had to push the car a bit, but it seemed capable of what I asked of it. It came off the track once due to driver error, but otherwise has been running around about as fast as the Sunoco 908 is. That's definitely a good thing with this car. It didn't feel that way when I got it, and I wanted it to badly. I added some rubber washers to the body mounts to cut down on the vibration that was coming through. And it loves the urethanes. 

__________

Shell GT40

This car has been so good throughout its existence that it's a pleasure to drive it. It feels like it has gotten so comfortable with itself that it can do just about anything. It's almost an organic feeling, or what's that called when inanimate objects are alive? Yeah, that. Anthropomorphic? Some cars feel very much like a plastic toy running around the track, but this car feels like you could go up and talk to it. Let's see how this sexy beast runs:

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva                     5:19.60    6.38

2.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

3.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

4.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

5.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

6.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

Once again proving that a Slot.it car can beat an NSR car, taking the Rothmans Porsche by 2/10ths. So let's put that question to bed. The GT40s all have a reputation on my track of being very capable but not flashy in the turns, and an overall competitive race car. So here's the Shell car checking in to the upper sixes. Feels pretty good seeing the ol' guy up there running with all the new hot rods. I got that car for 40 bucks. 

__________

Porsche 962C Leyton House

Now that things have been ramped up with the arrival of all the new cars, some cars have absolutely blossomed from the addition of weight and urethane tires. The Leyton House car, while needing very little additional weight, opened up due to the improved power that came with the additions. The car requires a unique approach to driving it: it works better when solidly maintaining a high speed than it does shooting in bursts. It's a big, heavy car and needs to have its weight kept in control, meaning it gets pretty squirrely when you punch it. But drive it like a diesel and it really rips. 

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva                     5:19.60    6.38

2.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

3.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

4.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

5.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

6.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

7.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

This thing runs like an automatic lawnmower. You know how you just put those into gear and they take off? Yeah, like that. It just goes and mows and mows. Pushing down the straights, pushing through the curves, always pushing. Tail staying in. Running like a hyperspeed tractor. I'm going to get further into to tuning that car up soon, now that it's responding so well to the changes. Under 7 seconds. I'm cool with that.

__________

Matra Simca 670B

Another car that has responded surprisingly well to the extra weight, the Matra is one of those cars that just feels great to drive. I think it has potential to always be a threat. Such a great configuration, all the way around. So what if I can't adjust the ride height? Hasn't stopped it from performing so far. I'm going to keep racing it.

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva                     5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

4.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

5.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

6.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

7.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

8.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

The Matra has what I think is a combination of all the best aspects of a car: good long wheelbase, short nose, medium tail, low profile. This gives it great grip, keeps the tail behind the car, and has excellent straight line speed. It was consistently fast before all the new cars arrived, and it's not going to stop now. It's not afraid of any other brand of car, that much is obvious. Excellent race today. 

__________

Chaparral #66

Every since I got this pair of Chaparrals, I've tried to make them independent race cars. Not relying on similar settings or equal adjustments. I didn't want their race to be a two-car race. I wanted them out in the world, running on their own. So I spread their races apart as well as their tuning sessions. Slot cars can't be treated that way anyway. I would never be able to identically tune them, nor would they respond the same. We've gone over this. Three different GT40s, no two cars the same, all that stuff.

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva                     5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

4.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

5.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

6.     Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

7.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

9.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

There it is, the 7 second lap. On the money. Mid pack. Still only 4/10ths separating 3rd from 7th. That's pretty good. Some of those cars can make that up; Rothmans, Alfa maybe. Some won't, but might get near it. 

__________

Porsche Gulf 917K

I've had a quick and sweet crush on this car since I got it. It's a mover! The only thing that I've done to it is change the tires and adjust the ride height. I set the ride height on all the NSR cars as the tires cleared the track, and I prefer mine on the track. Up until the Elva came along, this car was the best out-of-box. Smooth, clean and on the money. 

Race Results

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva*                   5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Gulf Porsche 917K             5:36.60    6.72

4.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

5.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

6.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

7.     Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

8.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

9.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

10.   Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

*factory rubber tires

This is right around where the Rothmans car should be. But I'm not going to talk about that car right now. The Gulf is built for the lead. I haven't even done anything to it yet, and it is blazing fast. When cars do this well, I tend to not mess with them too much. I'll keep them clean and oiled, but I don't start making changes when changes don't need to be made. 

__________

UPDATE: 

The tires I have been waiting for have arrived. I have some good news and some bad news. The tires fit great on the Revoslot cars, but not so great on the Elva. So....what to do. This has gone from getting an exemption in lieu of new tires, but the tires that came don't fit. But the time has been run, and it was such a whopper of a time that you can't just ignore it. And I can't just shelve the Elva because I don't have urethane tires for it. That would be stupid. I didn't do that with any other cars, so why start now? I'll keep looking for a set of tires for it, but I'm going to run it until I do. And if it gets first every time, well that's saying something. 

None of the other cars had fitment problems, but if they did they'd still be running until replacements could be found. And if it's not Ortmann that makes them, I'll look elsewhere, but I'm not going to buy tires overseas again. Learned that lesson. And if there isn't a suitable urethane, then he'll run on the factory rubbers. Case closed. 

So this means we're counting the Elva's time, and we're also going to race the Playstation GT2 car and the Momo Ferrari, once I've sanded the tires. 

__________

Today it's snowing out, which dries the air up around here, which feels a little less cold. Here come three more cars:

Playstation Porsche GT2

I had to get this car on as quickly as I could as I was very curious how the new tires would work out. The factory rubbers were good, but not quite what I was hoping for. And on this twisty track, it needs help with grip. So here we are. I glued and sanded the tires, which fit great, and away we went:

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva*                   5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Gulf Porsche 917K             5:36.60    6.72

3.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

4.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

5.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

6.     Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

7.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

9.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

10.   Playstation GT2                 6:02.54     7.24

*factory rubber tires

This car didn't feel right. At first I thought maybe it just needed to get used to the new tires, but it's definitely got handling issues. I think I'm going to rebuild the rear end so I'm sure everything is set right. I'd accept a mid-pack run, but not a lower-mid-pack run. This is one car that I need to look at when this is over.

__________

Audi R18 eTron

I'd love to replace my Carrera representation here with a car that ran well, but unfortunately I don't have that car. If my daughter continues to have fun racing with me, I might get her a car. But even if it was a Mariokart or a Lightning McQueen, I'd run it if it ran well. This car took a lot of early, hard abuse in my hands. It busted the wing off within seconds, the rest minutes later. It always drove like a sled, no matter what I did to it. But now I keep it here as the line you never want to cross. Keeps me honest about my other cars. I don't expect much, but would be pleasantly surprised if it beat another car on its merits alone. I also don't expect that to happen.

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva*                   5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Gulf Porsche 917K             5:36.60    6.72

4.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

5.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

6.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

7.     Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

8.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

9.     Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

10.     Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

11.   Playstation GT2                 6:02.54     7.24

12.   Audi R18 eTron                 6:16.51     7.52

*factory rubber tires

Just like I expected. A distant 12th.

__________

Ford GT40 #5

This GT40 has always been a very solid race car. It has quietly held its own throughout quite a few races, sometimes surprising with good results. Now that the weight has been added these cars are even better. I still have a ways to go until this car is tuned like I like it, but it'll get there.

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva*                   5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Gulf Porsche 917K             5:36.60    6.72

4.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

5.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

6.     Gold GT40                         5:46.05     6.92

7.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

8.     Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

9.     Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43    7.04

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15    7.1

11.   Chaparral #65                     6:00.70    7.2

12.   Playstation GT2                 6:02.54     7.24

13.   Audi R18 eTron                 6:16.51     7.52

*factory rubber tires

Not a bad race. The car felt fast while I was driving it. I even at one point said "very fast car" out loud. And that's a good time. I'll take it. I'm happy with pretty much any time under 7 right now.

__________

Porsche 917K Lucky Strike

I've gotten so many cars lately that some of them get run and don't get much time under the hood if they're running right. The Lucky Strike car ran great right out of the box, so it didn't get much more than a lube job and some new tires. So this race is more of a discovery than a proof. I know this guy is going to run faster, even before I run it. 

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva*                   5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Gulf Porsche 917K             5:36.60    6.72

4.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

5.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

6.     Gold GT40                         5:46.05     6.92

7.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

8.     Lucky Strike 917K             5:49.74     6.98

9.     Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

10.   Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43     7.04

11.   Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15     7.1

12.   Chaparral #65                     6:00.70     7.2

13.   Playstation GT2                 6:02.54     7.24

14.   Audi R18 eTron                 6:16.51     7.52

*factory rubber tires

Unimpressive run. It's obvious I need to get under the hood of this car, and it's going to be one of the first I work on. This car has a lot of potential. And I don't want to make excuses, but this track isn't the best layout for a car like the 917.

__________

Porsche 908/3 Sunoco

Another case of "this is a great running car so I'm not going to touch it" syndrome. I've done this before. I get a car that ran a great race and don't do anything to it afterward or all the way up until the next race. Invariably it ends up running a mediocre next race, and I wouldn't be surprised if that happened here. Regardless, the Sunoco 908 has taken well to the urethanes. 

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva*                   5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Gulf Porsche 917K             5:36.60    6.72

4.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

5.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

6.     Gold GT40                         5:46.05     6.92

7.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

8.     Sunoco 908                         5:49.60     6.97

9.     Lucky Strike 917K             5:49.74     6.98

10.   Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

11.   Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43     7.04

12.   Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15     7.1

13.   Chaparral #65                     6:00.70     7.2

14.   Playstation GT2                 6:02.54     7.24

15.   Audi R18 eTron                 6:16.51     7.52

*factory rubber tires

So yeah. Probably should have been in the top 3, or at least above the Tergal 908, but it did stay in the top 10. Right on the edge of dismal. I'm starting to show plenty of cars that are in need of more tuning before they're ready to compete. This one must just be a screw or two away from being ready. Either way it and all others like it will get thorough checkups post-race and in the days and weeks to come.

__________

Ford Gulf GT40 #11

Not sure why I waiting until nearly the end for this car. I guess it just kinda happened that way. A perennial back marker, we're not expecting much today. Might get lucky, though. 

Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

1.     McLaren Elva*                   5:19.60    6.38

2.     Matra 870B                         5:34.42    6.68

3.     Gulf Porsche 917K             5:36.60    6.72

4.     Tergal 908                           5:41.03    6.82

5.     Shell GT40                         5:42.33     6.84

6.     Gold GT40                         5:46.05     6.92

7.     Leyton House 962C           5:47.85     6.94

8.     Sunoco 908                         5:49.60     6.97

9.     Lucky Strike 917K             5:49.74     6.98

10.   Gulf GT40                          5:49.79     6.99

11.   Chaparral #66                     5:50.05     7.0

12.   Rothmans 917K                  5:52.43     7.04

13.   Alfa Romeo 33/3                5:55.15     7.1

14.   Chaparral #65                     6:00.70     7.2

15.   Playstation GT2                 6:02.54     7.24

16.   Audi R18 eTron                 6:16.51     7.52

*factory rubber tires

__________

Audi R8 Safety Car

Heeeere we go! The last ever chance for redemption! It's now or never! You have to come within 5 seconds of the R18's TRT of 6:16.51 or it's off to the plastic smelter for you! I gave you another chance. I spent money on new tires for you. Gotta beat 6:21!

 Pos  Car                                        Time       Lap          

15.   Audi R18 eTron                 6:16.51     7.52

16.   Audi R8 Safety Car            6:34.31     7.88

*taps plays softly

Well there you have it. He's dead again, Jim. Time to turn it over to my daughter. She likes the mee-maw on top and doesn't care that in underperforms on the straights. I should rename this car Fido. Good grief.

I just looked...by the 5th post on this blog I had pretty much given up on trying to make the Safety Car run right and had put the magnet back in as a last ditch desperation attempt. So it really has no right being here today. I sound harsh. Sorry.

And let's not let that be on Carrera. I'm sure they have cars that run much better than the Safety Car does. It just happens to be what I own, so it ends up representing things around here, much like all the cars do. 

Well, that's pretty much it. Aside from how completely wonderful the Elva is and how you need to go out and own one right away, gotta hand it to the Matra for keeping the dream alive. That should be what every other car strives towards. A couple of the GT40s are running hot laps as well and deserve mention, as does the 962C, which is really starting to grow into quite a threat.

A note about this race: It took almost two weeks to do this, mostly due to not having time and very cold weather. Once I finished the Safety Car I rebuilt the track to something faster. Once the weather calms down I'll go back up there and do stuff.

Hey, thanks for reading all this way. 

New Car - The Elva

 Thunderslot McLaren ELVA Mk1 - Can Am #2 - Riverside 200 Miles - Bruce McLaren

I've gotten a lot of cars lately. Some very fast, very impressive cars. And then I got this. It's easy to blame a car right out of the box on all your troubles, but it doesn't really amount to much when you end up getting it tuned and running great. That feeling when you buy an 80 dollar slot car and put it on the track and it chatters, or squeaks, or otherwise sounds like it needs TLC before putting its dainty self back on the tarmac is a bit of a strange one. You want cars to run like lightning and blow you away so badly that you're sometimes left with that empty feeling [until you get under the hood and get it running right]. 

I took the Elva out of the box, did a standard lube/oil job, bearings, gears, checked all the screws, sanded the treading down a bit on the tires [they're sooo sticky], and away we went. Now ever since I've been doing this blog here, I've always posted about new cars and my first impressions when driving them. This will be no different. 

It has been very cold up in the attic, but that hasn't stopped me from running laps until I'm uncomfortable. It has an effect on the cars and track, especially when things are hovering around freezing, like they are now. I'm triple-layered up there in order to do this fantastic hobby. 

At first when I started running the Elva, I thought that maybe my throttle had stuck, or maybe the car had a secret magnet I didn't know about, but everything checked out. This car was just going lightning fast and sticking to the track. I wasn't sure what I was looking at, so I grabbed the Gulf 917 and ran it for a bit. It was fast, so I pushed it to see how fast. Then I put the Elva back on and there was just no comparison. I could feel the difference between the two cars' lap times without even taking them down. This car is insanely fast. 

Outside it's beautiful. Maybe not exactly to scale, but I forgave it in about one second after seeing it. The color is what I would call ketchup red. Red with a little bit of an orange hue to it. The details on the car are much better than I saw in pictures, especially for a race car. The more serious race cars always seem to skimp on the detail first. But this car looks great from every angle. No skimping.

A word of warning for anyone reading this: if you prefer to run with magnets, you'll need to order one when you buy the car. They come with NO MAGNETS. It comes with a few spots for magnets, but it doesn't come with any. Good on ya, Thunderslot. Save the magnets.

It has a 21k sidewinder motor slightly angled, aluminum rear wheels and a really interesting guide flag that has some of its bottom carved out and a very aggressive front angled blade. The chassis is very nicely designed and assembled, and everything is within easy reach. Bonus points for including all the necessary screws for setting up the ride height. Nice to buy a car and not have to buy something else right away. 

The pod is not of your average rectangular shape. It's different. First, it takes up a lot of floor area of the chassis compared to other brands. Seems to me the larger the pod, the more fine-adjustable it is. This one responds really well to 1/4 turn or 1/2 turn screw adjustments and various pod/body float setups. I've been tweaking the heck out of this thing since I got it and it's really responsive to what I'm doing. Every setup has something in common; unbelievable speed. It's checks all the boxes for what makes a great race car; lightweight, low profile, wide stance, responsive, and it simply NEVER comes off the track! It goes where other cars can't. You're driving it and thinking that any second now this car is going to bail and crash into a million pieces, but it doesn't even flinch. You haven't gotten any of your other cars up to speed like this, so it feels a little out of your comfort zone to continue pushing, but you do. And it keeps giving. 

__________

It's been a week since I wrote that last bit. Every time I got up to the attic I run that car. I gotta say, I can't find a single thing wrong about it. It is fantastic in every way. Such a smooth ride and so insanely fast. It's outrunning everything I have. It's not going to be my last Thunderslot car.

Painting Carrera Slot Car Track - The Movie!

 5 or so years ago I made a post here about painting track. It's the most popular post on this blog. Well, I finally got around to making a video version of it. 

I lost battery on my camera for the second coat. Sorry about that. 

Below is a reprint of my first blog post about painting Carrera track [published 7/21/2015]:

I had been looking for information about painting Carrera track, found a few resources, checked some forums, and read some conversations. So now I'm trying it.

1:32 Track Pieces I'm Going To Paint:

12 Straights [including power straight]

8 1/60 Curves

4 1/30 Curves

These are not set up in a permanent layout, but are used for multiple designs and are routinely stored away when not being used on the rug.

Since the 50's, slot car track has always been black [or some form of deep deep gray] to resemble asphalt. After seeing some great paint jobs that used lighter colors to look like concrete, I thought I'd give it a go. I've always felt it was easy to lose the cars on the dark track, especially black cars, and especially if you're a rug racer [which I currently am due to my living with my wife in a small apartment]. I've read that painting Carrera track can give it more grip as well. More on that later.

I went to the hardware store and picked up some latex all-purpose paint. I wanted something light grey so that the cars would show up easier.

At the store I also bought a 4" wide foam roller, a small tray, a roll of masking tape and a touch-up brush. 

Before doing anything, I had decided that I wanted no traffic lines, so I colored them in with a black Sharpie. This is a purely subjective thing. I'm sure if one was properly inspired, one could tape over each line and still paint the track, but I don't want lines. It always made the track seem too busy. Carrera is big, beautiful track, and that's especially brought out by painting. 

I was unsure what to do with the Carrera logo and the Start/Finish line. I considered painting around the logo, but it was a bit more complicated than I was ready for. So I used a standard black Sharpie and inked over the logo [sorry, Carrera] and let it dry. I decided last minute to keep the Start/Finish line, and taped over it for painting.

Sorry, big red logo. I'll make it up to you somehow, Carrera.  

Once I had blacked-out the things I wanted to paint over, I cleaned the track and laid my tape. After little bit of trial-and-error around the curves, it laid down nicely. Since masking tape isn't very laterally pliable, I had to do a fold-over in the curves, folding the tape onto itself a little bit every few inches. This kept the rails covered and made things go quickly and smoothly.

All taped and ready for trimming. It took about 45 minutes to tape all the track. I considered painting individual track pieces, but decided that doing it in larger chunks would give me a bit more control over the paint flow.

If I was going to change anything, it would have been the width of my tape. I deliberately chose a width just wider than the rail, but the lack of extra tape made the trimming take a bit longer than I hoped for. With extra width on your tape, you have more tape making a connection to the track, so there's less chance for it to tear or pull away while you're cutting. Plus, it gives you a bit more to work with than what I had in the picture below.

Probably the most painstaking part of the whole project is the tape trimming. I used tape just a bit wider than the power lines themselves. Once it was laid, I trimmed the edges with an Exacto knife. There were some mistakes, but the nice thing about working in the masking tape medium is if you screw up, lay down more tape and do it again. Overall time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

A word about painting: I'm no master. To me, the most daunting part of the whole project was the worry that I was going to permanently screw up my track. I thought of experimenting with a single piece, but then decided that it wouldn't give me enough perspective to tell if it was worthwhile. There was no other thing to do but to go for it. After all, I can always get more track.

Once I finished trimming I cleaned the track again and started painting. I used a weatherproof latex paint in "Silver Grey". I chose the color so darker cars would be easier to see, I chose latex because it can take a beating, and since this is a Carrera track, there will come a time when it'll be set up outside in the garden.

Painting was much smoother and quicker than I expected. I used about 1/8th of the .75litre [less than a quart] can. A little more paint than would fit in a Dixie cup. I chose a roller instead of spray for the practical purposes of doing this in the living room of my apartment. I didn't want to be remembered as the guy who asphyxiated painting his slot car track. I've got grander schemes planned.  Total time: about 35 minutes.

Carrera track is quite receptive to paint, and there were no issues or problems. Because I was painting the track in assembled chunks, I was able to use longer strokes, and I think it helped with the uniform color. It would have been a pain in the butt to individually paint each piece. Glad I was mostly thinking at that point.
After rolling the coat on, I went over it with the roller dry, and it helped further work the paint into the track surface. The original surface texture can still be roughly seen, but I couldn't get a good shot of it with my camera. I expect that the surface will have quite a bit more grip. This is a good thing, as I'm running without magnuts.
I also made a conscious decision at that point that I wasn't going to paint the sides of the track. I don't know why...probably convenience.

End of the 1st coat. 

I let the first coat dry for a few hours and applied the 2nd coat. The first coat had darkened a bit as it dried, but still looked like concrete. The 2nd coat retained the original surface texture of the track. I'll leave that to dry overnight and, if all goes according to plan, take off the tape and go racing.

End of 2nd coat. Leaving to dry overnight.

Next day. Now comes the part that I thought would be oddly satisfying, yet became uniquely annoying: taking off the tape. I started with the U-shape piece, and the tape came off in little slivers. It took over an hour to get all the tape up off those five pieces. I found that if you cut with the Exacto blade down the small crack on the outside of the rail, it frees the tape up from the paint/track. Once I did this, the tape started coming off in longer, more satisfying strips. I recommend the cutting down the crack prior to taking the tape off.

Closer view of the track texture. The only way I was able to see proof of previous traffic lines was only when I looked at the surface under natural reflected light [as above].

After 3+ hours of tape peeling, I finally had a pretty well finished product. I realized that if I take apart my track before peeling the tape, the whole process is easier. This required me to cut the tape at the section breaks so it wouldn't tear away. Once disassembled, it was much easier to finish. There were the occasional slip-ups and mistakes, but a little bit of touchup paint and a little more time with the Exacto blade and it'll be just right. I needed to touch up six pieces, so I did that and will let them dry overnight. Until then, I made a little oval out of the track I had leftover.

This was exactly what I was hoping for. In this room, the black track virtually disappears. This grey shows up much better.

I spent about an hour testing the track. I have to say that the cars have considerably more grip than before. Powersliding is still possible, and there's no weird tire chatter or anything. I had to talk myself into running without magnets before, but now I think the track texture is perfect for it.  I'll probably spend another hour or so with the blade taking off rogue paint chunks, but otherwise it's pretty close to ready.

I got lucky with the Start/Finish line. I hadn't really thought about it until I came up to the painting [even after taping]. Once I decided I was going to save that part, I taped it where the line made most sense. What I mean is, the two checkerboards on the sides don't line right up with the Start/Finish line. They're a little larger. So when I taped them, I did it a little back so that the checkers were more in line with the edge of the Start/Finish line. The latex creeped over the edges enough to give the finish line a bit of a sprayed-on look.

My wife came in the room as I had set up the track and she was very impressed. Maybe it's because I got off my butt and did something, or maybe it's because she actually liked the track. She mentioned that it looked "classy". She also asked what I was going to do if I got more track. My wife. She actually said the words "more track" without the F-word in the middle.

The full track.

A closer look at the Start/Finish line [pre-cleanup]. I have since trimmed the rails and touched-up the edges a bit.

Update: In the past day or two I have run a few 2+ hour sessions, trying multiple layouts, assembling, re-assembling, and being otherwise standard-play abusive to it, and have noticed no chipping, scratching or peeling of the paint on any surface. There is a definite increase in grip. Cars handle better, having a bit more to grab in the corners as well as better acceleration on the straights due to less wheel spin. Drifting [if that's your thing] is still manageable, if not better as there is less chance of losing the car on the way out of the turn. 

Driving the track feels different than before. More substantial. More like a circuit and less like a collection of track pieces. Not only does it improve the ability to see the cars, but it also improves the ability to read layout of the track. With the white lines gone, the flow is better, and it doesn't feel so busy. It's easier to pick up the action, which makes it feel easier to drive. Seeing how the cars would go through turns allowed me to better control my speed. Even while pushing it, it felt like I had less de-slots than before. These things could very well be purely psychological, though.

[I'll be updating this post, as something like painting track should be reported on over time. It's nice that it looks good the first weekend, but it should look good two years down the line as well.]

Update - One Week Later: While I wasn't expecting anything significant to happen after a week, I did want to do one test. I left a few sections of track out on the coffee table for a week to see how much dirt and debris they would pick up. While there wasn't much, what was there was easy to see and therefore easy to clean. A lint-free cloth picked the dirt right up.

Regarding Grip: I'm still trying to work out if there truly is more grip, or that I'm imagining things based on being able to see the track better, therefore driving more carefully. Not sure about that just yet. It still feels to me like the grip has improved, so I'm going to go with that for now. You might be a seasoned pro and be reading this and think I'm huffing the paint, but I'm not. It really feels that way.

Update - Three Months Later: The track looks and performs great. There is increased grip, but it's marginal. But it has a feeling of grab that wasn't there previously, perhaps from the rubber that is being laid on the track.

Update - 1 and 1/2 Years Later: I have since tripled the amount of track I have, and have done three separate painting sessions for new track. There has been no difference between the new painted track and the earlier painted track, with the exception of the older having a slight rubber racing line. This helps improve grip, so the newer tracks have a tendency to be a little slippy at first. After a few hundred laps they break in nicely. I'm running 7 second laps now, which is nice a long.

Update - Jan. 2018: 2+ years later and still going great. It's gotten to be second nature. I've gotten about a dozen new track pieces in the last few months and they were a breeze to paint. Two coats in 8 hours, then dry overnight. Perfect. Rubbered-in in about 1000 laps.

Update - Feb. 2021: I've done two more paint jobs since 2018 and the only difference I'm noticing is between the freshly-painted pieces and the well-rubbered pieces. I also just now switched to urethane tires on all my cars, so I won't have the rubber laying tendencies like I used to have. I'll also be getting off the table soon and back on the rug, so we'll see if there's a difference. If it bugs me, I'll just repaint all of it. We'll see.

Verdict

If you occasionally rug race in small rooms under poor lighting conditions and need to see...or if you like racing cars, just don't like them spending all their time sliding off the slippery track....or if black plastic isn't your idea of a good time, then I strongly encourage you to attempt this. It didn't cost more than about 25 bucks for the supplies, and took about as long to do as two normal slot racing sessions. It feels like a whole new track.

Skills needed: not much. A little patience, attention to detail, being cautious with the blade, the lowest-level roller-painting ability. Probably not something for kids to do unless under adult supervision because of the blades.

Upside: Runs great, feels a bit more authentic/scenic, gives better grip, easy on the eyes.

Downside: I pretty much have to paint any other track I add to my collection until I have decided on a permanent layout. But since I enjoyed doing it, I don't foresee this being an issue in the future.

Downside Update: I actually very much enjoy painting the track, so there really isn't a downside.