New Car - Thunderslot Lola T70 MKIII

 So my birthday was just the other day, and in all the craziness going on lately with me moving and starting my new job and everything, I had neglected getting myself my birthday present. So off to my favorite shop, Overdrive Slotservice to pick up a new car. I've bought about a half dozen or so cars from them and they're great.

So, the car came the day after my birthday, which also happened to be the day I was getting my Covid shot. Well, wouldn't you know it I got a shot that took me out for a couple of days, so I didn't get a chance to do much other than take the car out of the box. 

Another great one from Thunderslot. They are a very good slot car company.

This is my fourth Thunderslot car. I decided not long ago to get one of each body style available, and I think I have one more to get. Not sure about that, though. 

The impressive thing, aside from how great these cars are in general, is just how closely they run against each other. Granted, they share the identical setup/parts/etc. Small differences in chassis. But what that means is that you're going to have a much more competitive field all the way across it. One car won't have a clear advantage, although I think different cars would respond a little differently to things. 

Here's the T70. There's hardly anything to it in this configuration, making it low and fast.

The Lola T70 MKIII drives a bit like the Chaparral does. It's a little boxy in back, but that boxiness remains planted with the right accelerator application. 

The paint job is great on this car, as are the details. You'd think a light blue and yellow car wouldn't be an attractive pick, but it makes a damn fine looking race car.

I did a tune up and tire job to the car today, and I'm going to run it against a couple other cars on a new track I'm laying down. It's kinda fun and is taking up a nice footprint in the apartment. Pics when coverage starts.

"Howdy"

In real life this car ran about 47 laps in the 1968 Le Mans race before being disqualified when the driver went too far away from the car. Turns out I had another car from this race:

This car, driven by Willy Mairesse, crashed on the first lap of the race in 1968, giving him career-ending injuries. He committed suicide not long after.

At first I thought I had an obsession with a particular car, like the GT40 above, but the more I look, the more I like many of the cars from the era, and find beauty in many of them. I find the cars to look much better in person than they ever could on picture, at least that I've seen. 

It's looking better and better to getting started back into time trials again. I think I'll be able to do them on weekends, likely starting next weekend. I set up a track yesterday and will see if I can leave it out for the entire week. If not I'll just build a new one this weekend. I definitely have enough space to make cool layouts, and I haven't even tried one moving things around in the living room. So I even have more space than what I'm messing with now.

I can see lighting being an issue. I was so used to having permanent lights over my track and not thinking about it. Now I need to install some floor-level lighting that'll make things easier. 

Meanwhile I'm going to work in the MKIII and the M6A for awhile.