My attic was invaded by wasps a couple of months ago. They ended up building a nest and taking over. Today the guy came and took away the nest. The wasps are gone, and hopefully won't be back.
So, here's what I have for a plan forthcoming: I have the wood to build the extensions, and since this wasp thing took so much of my quality springtime away, I'm going to get started on that right away. I'll have to wait until the end of the month, but that's when it's going to happen. In the meantime, I'll take down my track and go over track plans with the extensions on. I have extra track ready to add, but I'm not sure how much extra track. I think I'll be able to cover one wing, but I'm going to go ahead and build them both. I can always get more track.
My birthday is coming, and my wife is throwing a small party. It's mostly with friends that are also parents, but with babies, so there will be no kids running around. I want to set up the track outside in the grass and make a nice, big course. I'm going to try and put it somewhat in the corner so there's still room to do other stuff. It's a surprise to my wife, who probably thinks I'm going to bring people up to the racing room. It'll be in pieces.
I'm going to take the 2" wings off and rebuild them with the new 4" extensions, then attach them to the side of the main table. I'll get more stability all the way around.
But that's not for a week or two. Until then, I'd like to lube and tune my cars, dust my track and run a few last races on this layout for all the marbles. I'll post extensive coverage here as usual.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Spring Plan - Rebuilding
I've been thinking of a track layout redesign for awhile now, and I'm finally pulling the trigger. While I enjoy what I have pretty much, I still think about my original plan, which was to add wings to the table to get a U-shaped layout. Well, I'm going through with it, and work will start within a week.
The frustration was that, while I think my current layout is fun, it's not long enough, nor is there enough technical stuff to keep my interest. I've gotten the cars performing great, all clocking in a roughly five second lap times. But five seconds is pretty damn short.
One of the reasons that I waited on the scenery aspect was because I wanted to be sure I was satisfied with the layout. Good thing I waited.
So, the plan is to extend both wings by 4 feet, bringing the whole thing to roughly 18x8 feet, with the center being 5 feet deep.
Now, the controversial part is the design I'm planning. Long time forum regulars believe that a U-shaped design makes for too many possible obstructions. I'm not all that concerned about that. I mostly race alone, so there's little chance of a human being an obstruction. Also, as my track stands now, with the smaller 2 foot extensions, puts my curves on either side directly behind the posts in my attic. With an extra 4 feet, I'll be able to get a bit more straight area in there so there's not so much in the way.
There it is.
The frustration was that, while I think my current layout is fun, it's not long enough, nor is there enough technical stuff to keep my interest. I've gotten the cars performing great, all clocking in a roughly five second lap times. But five seconds is pretty damn short.
One of the reasons that I waited on the scenery aspect was because I wanted to be sure I was satisfied with the layout. Good thing I waited.
So, the plan is to extend both wings by 4 feet, bringing the whole thing to roughly 18x8 feet, with the center being 5 feet deep.
Now, the controversial part is the design I'm planning. Long time forum regulars believe that a U-shaped design makes for too many possible obstructions. I'm not all that concerned about that. I mostly race alone, so there's little chance of a human being an obstruction. Also, as my track stands now, with the smaller 2 foot extensions, puts my curves on either side directly behind the posts in my attic. With an extra 4 feet, I'll be able to get a bit more straight area in there so there's not so much in the way.
There it is.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
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.
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.
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.
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. |
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. |
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.
Friday, April 20, 2018
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
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. |
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. |
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. |
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.
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| 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....? |
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| 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. |
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.
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.
Friday, March 30, 2018
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, March 4, 2018
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.
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.
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