Setting up the Holiday Races

 It's nearing that time of year again when the track goes up and stays up for weeks. It's the holidays! That means a nice big track weaving in and out of our massive Lego city. This will be the 3rd year my daughter and I have put this together, and it really is a great source of fun for the entire holiday period. 

There will be plenty of time when it'll just be me around here, so I'm going to get started on the basics, so she has to worry only about decor. She's 6 years old, after all, so everything has to be just right. Before that all happens, I'm going to be running some preliminary races featuring pretty much every car. I'm going to run them in groups for an endurance race. Haven't decided on the length yet, but it will probably be pretty long. 

The 917/10 is a screamer, although it hasn't raced in anger yet. That'll happen soon.

Now that I have a good assortment of cars, I can pretty safely say that most of them are competitive with each other right out of the box. The NSR cars, as well as the cars from Thunderslot, are pretty much ready to run, and I haven't had to do more than a little tire sanding and a little lubricating on most of them. You can count on them performing from the beginning, and it doesn't matter what car you pick. 

The Slot.it cars have all required a bit more tuning to keep up with the NSR and Thunderslot cars, but they DO keep up. Cars like the Alfa and the Matra are still contenders and frequently end up on the dais. So while they often come in at 10 bucks less than the other brands, Slot.it cars are actually one of the better deals, as well as infinitely upgradeable. You really can't go wrong with one, especially if you like to noodle with the cars. Not that they need it...they're actually great runners right out of the box, but they also have the potential to be much faster. 

It's well worth it to bet on this car. I think I've gotten this thing tuned perfectly.

I didn't add any slot cars this season [yet], but I haven't had all that much time with last year's batch of cars, so I couldn't justify getting new ones just now. I might pick up a couple here and there, but not too many. 

I'll split the Classics in half and the Sports cars in half and run them in their own sessions. That way I can focus on less cars for a longer length of time. 

It could be any of the 9 sports cars I have that could win the class. So far they all are performing differently, and although I'm getting close with some of them, others are still a little troubled.

I've been looking online, and there are one, maybe two cars I have my eye on. If I end up getting them, it'll be after the holidays. Those will likely be the last cars for awhile. I really need to fun these beauties more. It's kind of gotten on me lately.

Upcoming Race Class Breakdown

 I'm carrying almost 50 cars now. The sidebar currently says 47, but I haven't taken a complete inventory lately and might be missing a car or two. Of course, this is all my fault and I have to live with what I've done to myself regarding the rampant collection of slot cars. But since I want to run them all, I have to figure out a way to do it so it'll be enjoyable and I'll have fun with each car. I'm not saying I don't have fun, it's just a difficult prospect when you only give yourself 2:30 for a short race to get through them all.

I currently have something like 33 Classic Le Mans cars, a few random F1 and race cars, and nine or so Sports Car class. 

In order to be satisfied with anything, I'll have to have significant time with each car. So my plan is to break the races down to class for racing, but keep overall scores for everyone. This will require me to race on the same layout on multiple occasions. The weather is going to be turning soon, and we'll be bringing the fun back inside, so I'll be ready for this undertaking. I'll pick a layout and post it here.

The Sports Car Class

This class could also be known as the Revoslot class, but since it's not all the Revoslot cars I own [minus the Ferrari 333 SP and Porsche 911 GT2], we'll call them the Sports Car Class. Nice thing is, since they're the same brand, they should run well together. All slot cars are different, however, so that metric can't be relied upon. I'll tune each up as best as I can, but it'll be about factors, that stuff. How close did I get it? Different pod setting? Tires not true?

Each car is a contender, as they have all made it around a track after being initially tuned up. I would say that each one of them is in running shape and ready for some fine tuning. I've made the same basic setup on each car: oil on the axles, lube/grease/fett on the pinion, truing the tires. Revoslot cars aren't adjustable for ride height, but you can adjust the pod and body to help with handling. I also checked for gear mesh issues and made the adjustments necessary to prevent it from happening. Revoslot has a nice sliding motor mount for just that adjustment. All of this makes this class interesting to me.

Of course not only will these cars compete against each other, but ultimately against the entire field. And while this Class of car is smaller at 9 cars, the Classics might have to be broken up more. Maybe a split of Le Mans and Can Am cars. I'll have to do a count. 

Right now my plan is to run a 100 lap marathon with the usual rules. I've cleared off enough of the living room to get a little more space out of things, so I might try a more complicated track. We'll see. None of the 3-second a lap stuff. 

Each Class will race, even the oddball "Garage 56" entries, and the winners overall and in Class will sort themselves out. Team Rules apply here as well and are across-class, allowing for all cars across all classes to compete for points for their sponsors. Those scores will be tallied as well. Top 2 Team cars take home same points for Team as they do for the race. 

The room is about ready for the track to go down. Just gotta clean up from the weekend and get everything out. I'm really looking forward to this, especially with my improved vision. 

I will naturally post a completely report here.

A Necessary Pit Stop

 I've been having trouble over the years, particularly with my vision. I always wrote it off as slowly-declining, and left it at that. I'd get a new prescription with the new glasses and it would be fine. 

Until it wasn't. 

A few years ago the vision in my left eye got worse. I continued to deal with it until it came time to get another new pair of glasses. When I was taking the eye test, my left eye failed, reading -7.5 

I talked to my doc here, tried to book appointments and got nowhere. Finally I went back to California to visit family, and had it looked at in case there was a minor fix. Turns out I have cataracts. The left one needed to come out if I wanted to see through that eye again. I agreed and we did it. 

Long story short; I couldn't see very well for a long time and it caused me significant quality of life issues. I'm glad to have gotten the vision back. 

This will naturally make it a lot more fun to race cars, which I plan on doing this weekend. Lots of new cars to run that have only been tuned. 

Anyhow, thanks for reading. More posts coming.

New Cars: Revoslot BMW 2002ti Team Bielcke and Alfa Guilia #25

 Another car I somehow forgot to make a post for. It's shown up on a few pictures already, but with no representation. Here it is:

Revoslot BMW 2002ti Team Beilcke:

Not only do the cars look great, but they perform great as well. Not a dud in the bunch. And due to the excellent design of the cars, you can pretty much pick one up, do a little lube and oil and you're off to the races. Works great alongside other Sports Car Class racecars.

I'm going to add this here as well, as these cars came roughly at the same time:

This one has so far come out of the box on fire. I don't know what's so special about the setup on this car, but it's locked down. Runs great.

New Car: Revoslot 2002ti Spa Classic 2017

 Now this is a beauty:

I don't have any other pictures of this car yet. It's too new to me. I just got it. But it is absolutely gorgeous. 

Some cars have that appeal that you can't resist, and the great thing is it's different for everyone. You might love a car I do, or not. But when you find one you like, it makes it irresistible. 

The BMW 2002 line from Revoslot looks and runs fantastic. They aren't large cars, so they are deceptive in their capabilities. Surprisingly nimble for an aluminum chassis race car. 

I need to get this car in front of a camera for more pics. When I do I'll post them here.

New Car: Slot.it Ferrari 512M Sunoco

 The next livery from the newish 512M model from Slot.it is out, and it's a beauty.

I crowned the 1st iteration of this car the COTY in '21 and it was well deserved. To tell the truth, I think this one is even better looking than the other. Maybe I just have a thing for Sunoco race cars. I think this is the 4th or 5th one I have now.

Slot.it has really stepped up their game with these newer cars, putting them right back in the mix on my track. 

This is one of those models that's going to hook me every time. I can feel it. I'm sure I'll have every livery available.

New Car: Revoslot Kadett GT/E Castrol

 And yet another Sports Car to add to the collection, the kooky and krazy Knippschild Kadett:

Team Castrol - Zolder 1980

At the time of this writing, there are two of the Kadett, one with a rear wing and this one, which I like better. This one hooked me for the color scheme, although having a Kadett in a field with the Alfa Guilia, BMW 2002ti and Ford Escort makes for pretty fun racing. 

These cars are very sturdy and made for hard racing. I can see this car surviving many offroad excursions, not that I'm planning on sending it on them.

New Car: Revoslot BMW 2002ti Gosser Beer

The Gosser Beer BMW 2002ti:

Such a great stance.

I've been on a bit of a tear picking up cars for the Sports Car class. They're such fun runners that I can't resist. And each runs a bit different, despite them being of a similar design. Also due to a lack of front ride height adjustment, you're limited to chassis adjustments for tuning. It doesn't seem to really suffer for it, though, as none of the 9 cars that I have in this class are weird in any way. 

Racin' a homie.

I've mentioned it quite a bit, but it bears repeating: Revoslot cars run on an aluminum chassis, so the experience is a bit different from your standard plastic chassis slot cars. They're heavier, but still nimble because of even weight distribution. Get one of these properly tuned up and you have a real challenger on your hands.

The quality and detail of the car is quite good, with a very nice paint job. It's got the flared fenders that I love and looks like the big car. 

When I got the first three Revoslot Sports Cars, I didn't think I'd be so hooked. They're going to make me go broke collecting them.

What's your favorite slot car?

 I was talking to my friend, who is a real human woman, the other night and she asked me the big question: what is your favorite slot car? I thought about it for a bit, and even kinda remember writing something about it. Turns out I did write about it just before xmas in '21. I thought about sending her a link to the post I made, but as I was reading that post, I realized how incomplete it is. 

A favorite slot car would be one that is attractive, a model that you like, something that runs great, reliably and is always near the top of the field. It's the one you take all the pictures of, and the first car you grab when you start your race session. It gets way more laps than any of the other cars because it's so much fun to drive. The following are cars that have become my favorite slot car.

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The GT40

Before I even bought a track, I was looking at this car. I don't know why it appealed to me so much, but it did. It took a year of track ownership before I got this car, but it was a favorite right out of the box, and still is.

The Alfa

I got this at the same time I got the GT40 above. Poor thing had a warped chassis, but once I dealt with that, it became the contender and eventually the champion. Incredible race car, and is absolutely at home on short tracks, even today. 

The Matra

This is such a fast race car that I often don't race it against newer cars because I don't want to get depressed over my purchases. The Matra is one of the best slot car racing designs, and can win races against pretty much anybody. A top favorite.

The Elva

Beauty, grace, smoothness and handling I hadn't come across yet. This car leaves all the others in the dust, and does it with artistry and precision. It's one of those cars that always seems to have a little extra in the tank when you need it.

The Lola

The Lola was the 2nd Thunderslot car I bought, and rocketed to the top. This car against the Elva is such an insane race you'd think you were in slot car heaven. Still one of my absolute favorites.

The Gulf 908

I called it COTY in 2021, and I still think that. This isn't my first 908, but it's the prettiest, and it's also one of the best handling. It fills out that crazy combination that just gives it an edge over the rest of the field, favorably speaking.

The 917/10

This is the current first-on car. It's getting a lot of laps because it is absolutely a blast to drive, great to look at, and the 917/10 is a great slot car model. 

The Ferrari 512M

The hype around this car was well-deserved. It is SO GOOD. Arguably Slot.it's greatest slot car, this was my COTY for '22. Absolutely beautiful, smooth as glass and extremely competitive. Worth every penny and could very well be my favorite out of all of them.

The Sports Cars

I'm adding sports cars like crazy, so the jury is still pretty much out on the whole class, but these two are so far getting the most attention from me. I'm picking up so many that I have two I just got and haven't even put on the track yet.

So that's it. I've narrowed down the field to 9 cars. Asking me to pick a favorite out of these would be very difficult. I could probably take away are car or two, but there are just too many strong competitors to decide. 

NSR Porsche 917/10 Update

 I don't believe I've done a proper post about these cars yet. Maybe a little bit here and there, but I'm probably not putting enough emphasis on just how great these cars are. The NSR Porsche 917/10:

When I got my first of these cars, I was very impressed with the balance and quick reacting rear end. I lump them all together in this post because they're so similar that there is pretty much no difference between them but livery and color. 

One noticeable feature are the huge, meaty rear tires. These are way larger than pretty much any of the other NSR Porsches. 

Meaty tires makes for great grip and acceleration. I say bring it.

The NSR tires are fantastic and go very nicely on the Tire Truer. Once initially tuned, you can count on them to run for a very long time. If you're a weekend racer, you'll love these cars. Great balance that doesn't give anything else up to get it. Not as twitchy as the 908. Handles better than the 917. Would race competitively against either, as well as most cars in Classics categories. 

The whole gang.

Real quick......

The L&M cars:

I had this car in HO format when I was a kid. Had to get it again.

So far it's been a little back and forth between these two regarding who is ready and who still needs work. They both seem great sometimes, good most of the time.

The Bosch racer:

This car is such a stud. It just kicks ass. Does it being freakin yellow, too.

I love the Bosch Porsche. I know all these cars are pretty much the same, but once you get to tuning them, you notice differences in how the cars react and perform. It's crazy but cool. This car was so impressive when I took it out of the box. Still runs incredibly well and keeps getting faster. 

The Jager Porsche

Part of the fledgling Team Jagermeister along with a Ford Escort [I think this has the Escort beat]. 

I find modern slotcars these days to be extremely well made and reliable. Yes, they may be built differently, but as long as they're built well, they can be raced. The 917/10 setup NSR has made is very nice indeed. You can't go wrong with it. The Jager car is going to be tearing it up come trackday. 

The Uniroyal Porsche

Emerson Fittipaldi drove this one. Yes, this slot car. He shrunk down and drove it.

While the Uniroyal car might not look as flashy as the others, I think it's the perfect companion to the other ones. The liveries of these cars have bright, solid colors that are very nice to look at and make finding your speeding car on the track easy. 

These cars come with the 21.5 Shark sidewinder motor. The are a perfect competition car for the Classics / Le Mans classes.

1st Summer Weekend

 Hello, all one of you reading this, namely me. It's been a crazy few months, but I finally have time to dedicate to running some race cars. What started off as a weekend idea has expanded into a full week of various projects and races. 

Before that, I had a Lego Holiday Racing City built for my daughter and I to race on xmas. Worked out great and our "race" became a big adventure to see how many minifigures we could get to the pizza place in time for lunch. 6 year olds,  awesome minds. The answer is 28. 28 people made it in time for lunch.

Two sports cars a sporting. The #79 Escort pulls the #25 Alfa Guilia through downtown Lego City.

Speaking of the new Sports Car class that I've been developing over last year; there will be a race to crown a first champion of the class this week, likely in the next two days. That's 7 aluminum chassis Revoslot race cars going at it for early bragging rights. Personally, I think it's anybody's race. The Revoslot cars are so well made and designed that they run practically identical to each other. Kinda crazy, I know. And due to the slightly heavier-than-plastic chassis, I'm not sure how much effect the different body styles will have on the overall performance of the race car. There honestly seems to be no difference. This is the class of cars you break out at a party when you want everyone to get a fair shot with an equally-tuned/designed car. Totally great. Can't say enough good things about Revoslot.

Arty night shot of two 2002ti, caught in the wild at an imaginary street gathering. Donuts were made.

I just realized that I hadn't included a number of cars to the right sidebar, which is basically most of the cars in this post. I'm fixing that now and it should be up to date.

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Also on today's list of things to do: fix up the Porsche 918 Spyder. As you might remember, I bought my first Carrera slot car in quite some time recently, and have been waiting to get it up to speed. I'm finally there,  so I'm starting on the most glaring issue: tires. Holy geez Carrera has terrible tires. Even doing a double sanding hardly helped and they slip-slide all over. I remember the summer heat having an influence on my old Carrera cars, causing them to slide and have practically zero grip. It was how I decided to turn that Safety car I had into a drift car. I've since changed it back, but probably shouldn't have.

It was worth the money, even if to just do the comparison.

I feel like this needs to be said whenever I mention this car and what my plans are to do with it. Bottom line is, Carrera doesn't make competitive hobby level slot cars. They don't care to make them, and that's okay. They still exist, so doing comparisons to other brands is fun, until it isn't. So I'm going to get this running as well as I can make it as is. I've been messing with the tires today and I'm going to get some replacement urethanes. I don't want to waste any more time on the Carrera tires. Otherwise, the car is sound, maybe a bit [okay, a lot] heavy, but otherwise should run well with new tires. I don't predict wins, and would be surprised to see it run with the pack, but you never know. 

I don't have a class for it to run in yet, so it's going to run in multiple classes as a special entry. I plan on running it in every race for awhile so it gets a chance against every car I have. 

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There are also two other cars that I'm running, only because they were a few of the more recent cars I picked up and totally beautiful. The Ferraris:

Beauty of a car. Did I mentioned that I bought this?

Last year's Car Of The Year. Incredible to look at, incredible to drive.

When I first started the session this morning, I wasn't sure where to start, but I grabbed these cars first. Whatever was going to happen, these two were going to be involved. I haven't done much to the Sunoco car yet. Still have to do a basic tuneup to it. The #16 runs so smoothly I forgot how great it is. 

Once I've finished with the Sports Car race, I'm going to run a Le Mans special, featuring only cars that would have run there. I have a lot, so it'll be a big race. Also, it's a marathon of as-of-yet-unknown duration. More on that to come.

So there it is. The track is a basic out-back config, nothing special. Just what fits in the room and leaves me space to still get around in. I'm looking forward to the Sports Car class. There are still others I want to pick up, but not until after summer's over. 

Back to the track.....

I wanted to add; since I got the tire truer, I have had great handling on every car that's come in contact with it. The differences in handling are huge. And they run like they've been tuned forever. Put a tire truer on your holiday list. 

A New Carrera

 Yes, that's right. I bought a new Carrera car after maligning them so much all these years. Why? Because it was on sale, that's why. I found it in the Carrera aisle at my local toy store on sale for 25 euro, which is way below the standard retail price of the cars normally. 

Porsche 918 Spyder

I don't know what it's capable of. At best, an impressive middle of the pack finish. At worst, no better than any of the other Carreras. Either way, I'll put this car through the paces and he'll run all the races. I'm ordering replacement urethane tires immediately. The rest of the car will have to remain stock. I'll try to "tune" it as best as I can. 

You never know. If it were to do well, I might sing a different tune. Or maybe what I would do was try a different Carrera car and see how it does. And if that one did well, I might continue. THEN I might sing a different tune. But you're talking about this car going up against Slot.it, NSR, Thunderslot cars. Real racing slot cars. This car is at a tremendous disadvantage.

Slot Car of the Year 2022

This is a bit of an easy one this year, even though it took forever for me to finally write this up. Ferrari 512M from Slot.it is a masterpiece. If Slot.it is going to step it up this far, the other companies have something to worry about. They already were a powerhouse slot car maker, and they have certainly put out some great stuff, but this just passes all the competition right up. Nothing that I've seen has been better.

 It showed up at the top of pretty much everybody's list as COTY, and it's not a surprise. While some brands put out some impressive cars [NSR's Porsche 917/10K and Revoslot's Ford Escort], they just weren't enough to beat this beauty. 

It's not just the looks where this car shines. It's also very nicely built on the inside, and is an extremely fast and well-balanced race car. It will win races. Lots of them.

I think it's all about the detail and workmanship. Not a millimeter was spared detail on the 512M. I'm sure this isn't the last model, and I've already heard Dave Kennedy talking about a Sunoco Special. You know I'll have to have that one.