The Grand Meeting [Part Three] - Also Rans

 The slot gods gave me the time and wherewithal to finish up the race today, which I was completely surprised by. I've been spending a couple hours daily with my daughter racing cars, so I've had some good track time over the past few days. She wants to go every day, so I know I have time to do stuff. 

So here it is, the last batch of cars to see just where everybody stands at the end of 2020. Here's where we are so far:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

9.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

The fact that there are two Slot.it cars in the Top 5 so far is pretty cool. There are still more cars to go, so lets not go party without our masks on just yet. I wasn't sure how much time I would have, so I just ran cars until they were all ran out.

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Today's Entries;

Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2

Again with this car!

I ran this car yesterday and it posted a dismal time. So bad that I needed to look at the car to find out why. It's normally a performer, not a slug. The only things I changed were the Paul Gage tires and the extra weight. I looked at the tires and they didn't look right. So I changed them back to the Slot.it rubber tires and ran another one. I decided that I'd take whatever result I ended up with and be fine with it. 

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93 [6.24*]

9.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

10.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

* on Paul Gage Urethanes

That was a little better than before. Faster with the rubbers by 8 seconds total, or .3 faster lap time. That's why I like posting both lap times and total race times, because I think it helps put into perspective just how far a car has to go to get to contention, and it'll also show how far off cars may have been from each other, even if they had matching lap times. I know that the Alfa can run faster than it just did, say nothing about the previous attempt. It has Top 5 capability. When you look at it, that only means it needs to go a tenth faster to get there. But it needs to go 3/10ths faster to get on the podium. And that's just at this stage in the race. There are still more competitors to go. 

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Carrera Audi R8 Safety Car

Blurtastic photo, Mikey!

Weight: 98.3 grams

Tires: Ortmann Urethanes. I needed to get new tires for both Carrera cars as the previous ones had turned to rocks about 4 years ago. They had been sitting on the shelf collecting dust all this time, and I decided to get them out when I recently expanded brands. I figured, why not? I'm going to be buying tires for all the other cars, and these ones really only needed new tires to go, so I did on the provision that they would get back into the race, whether they could keep up or not. 

This is all going to evolve into one giant slot car psychological experiment, I'm sure of it. And I'll be messing with myself, having a bad run with a good car and then getting a lucky run by a slower car. That kind of stuff. 

Okay, so the history of this car is this: jumpy, light, a little draggy, loose on straights. All standard tuneups have been done, just like any of the other cars. Let's get on with it:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

9.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

10.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

11.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

This car needed Ortmann urethanes in order to post this lap time. This car will forever be in last place, unless the Audi R18 drives a bad race. Just like the old days.

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Porsche 911 GT2 Playstation

Playstation.

Weight: 98.9 grams

Tires: Revoslot rubber. 

One of two aluminum cars. I haven't been running these as much as the others lately, mostly due to the others needing more setup time. The Revoslots are kind of tighten and go. These cars still need work, and will be the only two still on their factory tires until I figure out which ones replace them. Until then, we'll keep running them. They're really fast, so the 70% power limiter keeps them down to a competitive level. Balance Of Power and everything, old chum. Has to happen. Here's the result:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

6.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

7.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

8.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

9.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

10.   Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

11.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

12.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

What a hunk of a slot car. This thing is just planted to the track. I know there's more in it than that, and maybe enough to compete for 1st. We'll have to see, but this car ran this race easily. It's such a different feeling racing an aluminum chassis slot car when you usually race plastic chassis. It just feels so durable and able to be run really hard. 

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Ferrari Momo 333SP

I was very butthurt when the wing popped off and wouldn't stay back on, but I got over it by the pure speed it laid down.

Weight: 104.6 grams [heaviest car]

Tires: Revoslot rubbers.

This car was my fourth pick of the first round of the expansion draft, where I got four cars. It also came before any of the other ones, so I had time to run it around first. Once the other ones came, this one took a bit of a backseat, mostly due to its best setup being the tighten up. Pretty easy.

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

9.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

11.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

12.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

13.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

There isn't anything at all bad about this car. It's running great, yet I still feel like I need to tune it. Or maybe I am tuning it and don't know it? Like, maybe there's snug, tight, supertight, bedbug, etc. Maybe there is no loose. That would make sense, considering there's not all that flexible plastic around. Just the hard stuff. But this car doesn't need any of that. 

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Audi R18

Weight: 102.4 grams

Tires: Ortmann urethanes.

If there's going to be a toublemaker, this would be the car. Not fast enough to overtake you, but fast enough to pass you if you spinout in the corner. One wrong move and you'll see this car in your rear view.

Other than that, it's slow as F. 

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

9.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

11.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

12.   Audi R18                            2:32:67       6.08

13.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

14.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

Well, there ya go. That answers the big question - can a Carrera slot car beat an NSR slot car? The answer is yes, but only under extreme circumstances, and on a Tuesday. 

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Chaparral #65

 

Weight: 64.8

Tires: Slot.it rubbers.

Out of the two Chaparrals, this one is the lesser tuned. I'm not sure what it's going to do, so let's get right to it.

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

9.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

10.   Chaparral #65                     2:28.04       5.92

11.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93

12.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93

13.   Audi R18                            2:32:67       6.08

14.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

15.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40

Okay, a Chaparral in the Top 10. I never thought I'd have 10 cars, much less a Top 10. One more car to go.

__________

Chaparral #66

Weight: 58.7

Tires: Slot.it rubbers.

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap        Manufacturer

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60               NSR

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64              Slot.it

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64               NSR

4.     Porsche 911 GT2                2:23.54       5.72              Revoslot

5.     Ferrari Momo 333SP          2:25.58       5.80            Revoslot

6.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84              Slot.it

7.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84               NSR

8.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88              Slot.it

9.     Chaparral #66                     2:27.67       5.89              Slot.it

10.   Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92              Slot.it

11.   Chaparral #65                     2:28.04       5.92              Slot.it

12.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:28.68       5.93              Slot.it

13.    Ford Gulf GT40 #11          2:28.79       5.93             Slot.it

14.   Audi R18                            2:32:67       6.08            Carrera

15.   Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12               NSR

16.   Audi Safety Car                  2:40.54       6.40            Carrera

Okay, a different Chaparral in the Top 10. I'll take it. 

So let's talk about this race. What we know is that we're waiting on tires. That'll make things a little more even. Also, the newer the car, the less tuning it's been through. The NSR and Revoslot cars don't have near the amount of attention paid to them that the Slot.it cars have had. So while a bulk of the Slot.it cars finished mid pack, there were a few standouts. The Shell #8 was especially impressive, as was the Leyton House 962C. 

I already started work on the Montjuich 908. It has absolutely no business coming in 15th when it's virtual twin came in 1st. It doesn't make sense. I'll re-tune it and see what happens. Probably run a make up session so see if I can improve the lap time. 

I'm not all that worried about the Rothmans 917K. While it came in 7th, it's a tire change away from kicking ass. 

Speaking of tires, if I'm looking at this as a rubber comparison, while I find Slot.it stock rubber totally fine and functional, but NSR tires are a bit softer and feel like they can grip better. Hard to say what's happening on the Revoslot cars. Their tires are fine [?]. The Carreras are already loving the urethanes. It's not going to magically propel them into any wins, but they'll be fun enough to compete.

The urethanes will probably bring some of the cars that struggled into more competitive positions. Should tighten up the field a bit. 

I don't think I need to make any class separations. A majority of this field was within 3/10ths of each other. That makes for a tight enough field for me. I'm running 25 laps and taking average lap times. So these cars can't just set a fast lap, they have to be consistently fast throughout. 

The Grand Meeting [Part Two] - Familiar Faces

 Now is when it starts to get interesting. The NSR cars, in all their glory and awesomeness, are really only one of the stories going on here. Another is a hot and pretty serious competition between a number of cars that have been racing here awhile. These cars are no slouches. If you think about it, an out-of-box NSR is probably going to be faster/smoother than an out-of-box Slot.it. Thing is, these Slot.it cars are not out of the box. They've been tuned and worked on, each with its own story to write. 

So this batch of cars should look familiar to anybody who's been around here awhile. But before we get to the entries, let's see where we stand so far:

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

The Sunoco 908 and the Gulf 917 ran pretty good runs, while the other two felt a little sluggish. I'm going to be digging in to the Montjuich #83 tonight. It should be comfortably in the 5.7 or less area. The Rothmans 917 should also be going a little faster. But remember, we're waiting on tires. This race will be a good gauge to see what they do on their own tires, though. 

All cars are running at a set power limit of 70%.

Today's Entries

Ford GT40 #5

This car's M.O. is it's a good, solid race car that occasionally impresses with flashes of brilliance. An accidental podium finisher, but still mostly running mid-pack.

Weight: 70.3 grams

Tires: Slot.it well-tuned.

The three GT40s I have have all been very consistent runners for a long time. They don't run the same speed with each other, but they're all three spirited in their own way. This is the baby brother of the three, picked up three years after the first two. It ran the track well today, not getting overly pushy or wiggly. Weight seemed to help the car through the curves better, although it still felt middle of the pack. Here's the result:

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     GT40 #5    2:28.02      5.92

5.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

Like I said, I didn't expect the Slot.it cars to lay down. I expected them to bring the heat, and that's what they are doing. The #5 set a good lap time that scored above the 908. Good on ya, Ford. Nice work.

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Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2

It's Johnny Racetrack!

Weight: 64 grams

Tires: Paul Gage PGT Urethane tires. I thought I would test these tires against the Ortmanns since I had them. I figure the Alfa is a podium finisher on the rubbers, so we could use whatever that time is for a rough idea of what it would run. 

The car ran a little rough. The added weight seemed to make it twitch a bit more. Not sure if the Paul Gage tires helped at this point, but I'm pretty sure the weight didn't. Maybe a bit too much. I think getting it down to 58-60 grams would be better. Here's the result:

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     GT40 #5    2:28.02      5.92

5.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

6.     Alfa #2      2:36.79      6.24

Okay, no. It's either the tires or the weight. I think I'm going to have to go with tires first, then cut the weight down a little. But now it's just wrong and feels that way. This isn't the Alfa I know. That thing should be right up towards the front.

__________

Matra Simca #10

Party crasher.

Weight: 68.4 grams

Tires: Slot.it well tuned.

No special tricks with this car. The weight seems to be sitting nicely. I don't think I want to add any more at this point. We'll see what happens with the Ortmanns.

Pos     Car             Time          Lap      

1.     908 #6         2:20.77       5.60

2.     917K #19    2:21.35       5.64

3.     917K #9      2:26.89       5.84

4.     Matra #10   2:27.17       5.88

5.     GT40 #5     2:28.02       5.92

6.     908 #83      2:33.00       6.12

7.     Alfa #2       2:36.79       6.24

Interesting how this is starting to shape up. While I had a clear speed control of 70% on all the cars, that's still plenty power to get into trouble. It's good to see the Slot.it cars rise to the occasion. The Matra is such a good runner. If there was a car in the Slot.it line I was going to recommend, it would be that one. I think it is a very sneaky car, and one that will always be up front. And being 3/10ths off the leader? I'll take it.

__________

Porsche 962C Leyton House #11

Big race car on a big track. What could go wrong?

Weight: 71.5 grams

Tires: Ortmann Urethane.

This is the first Slot.it car I outfitted with the Ortmann tires as a test to see if they were worth buying for the line. I like the results so far, but this is the first timed test. Result:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

3.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

4.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

5.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

6.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

7.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

8.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

I eagerly await our Ortmann Tire overlords. If that's what I'm going to end up with, then I'll take it. That's a fantastic lap, by the 962 no less! Guys, this isn't a normal occurrence. You know this car; sluggish, needs more power and is butt heavy....all that stuff. But put a little weight in and some urethane tires and it comes unglued! It just split the NSRs right up the middle! Granted, it squeaked by the Rothmans 917, but it still beat it. 

I'd have to look back, but I can't remember any time prior to this that the 962C beat the Matra. 

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Ford Shell GT40 #8

If there are any cars that I own that are comfortable in their own skin, this one is it. It has run so reliably that it requires almost no adjustment.

Weight: 68.3 grams

Tires: Slot.it well tuned.

This car is in the zone, especially with the added weight. After running 8 or 9 cars you can feel which ones are doing better than the others, and the Shell #8 is just breezing through every section of the track. Nothing bothers it in the least. Results:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

9.     Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

The Shell car just squeaked by the Gulf 917K, pretty much beating it by a couple car lengths. Very impressive run by the #8 today. The added weight looks very good on the car and just makes it run even better. I'd say by now that it is without a doubt that a well-tuned Slot.it car could compete against an NSR car. Maybe not a fully-tuned NSR, but out-of-box certainly. And mine are no longer out of box. I've started work on all of them. 

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Ford Gulf GT40 #11

Up until as recently as today my ex wife refers to this as "her car" even though she's only driven it once. My 3 & 1/2 year old daughter, who is ripping up the lap times these days, is claiming it as hers. She's going to win that battle.

Weight: 68.3 grams

Tires: Slot.it well tuned.

Aside from adding about 5 grams of weight, this car is mostly awaiting tires. It's in pretty much the same boat as the other cars. I haven't given this car any other treatment lately aside from the standard lube/oil I give to each of the cars. So here we go:

Pos          Car                                Time          Lap      

1.     Sunoco 908 #6                    2:20.77       5.60

2.     Ford Shell GT40 #8            2:21.26       5.64

3.     Gulf 917K #19                    2:21.35       5.64

4.     Leyton House 962C  #11    2:26.07       5.84

5.     Rothmans 917K #9             2:26.89       5.84

6.     Matra Simca #10                2:27.17       5.88

7.     Ford GT40 #5                     2:28.02       5.92

8.     Ford Gulf GT40 #11           2:28.79       5.93

9.     Montjuich 908 #83             2:33.00       6.12

10.   Alfa Romeo 33/3 #2           2:36.79       6.24

Displaying a bit more health than the two cars below it, it could still use some work. We'll see what happens when the tires come. Not that I think this car's problem is only tires, but I have a feeling we'll see a more even playing field on the urethanes than we're seeing on the rubbers. I'm not saying this car is going to get better. It might get slightly better, but it's not going to pull off times like the #8. 

Interesting result so far. Kinda goes right up against my thoughts that I'd need to run different classes, when clearly there is no separation here. I've got NSRs going as slowly as 9th place right now. Neither of the 917s, which I thought were going to run away with this event, are leading, and one of them isn't even on the podium! And the other is at risk of being run off! How dramatic this is. 

Very impressive showing by the 962C and the Shell #8 so far. Quite unimpressed with the Alfa. Still probably haven't figured out the Monjuich 908 yet.

So we still have to run the Chaparrals, the Carreras and the Revoslots. There are still plenty of challengers and spoilers left to come. Holy crap this really is exciting!!

UPDATE: 

I replaced the Paul Gage tires on the Alfa and will run it again on the Slot.it rubbers. I think the PG tires are fried. I took a closer look at them last night and they don't look right. Don't know what happened. I do know that they sat in the attic in a small parts box all winter. That would have done something to them. Either way, I don't think it's fair to saddle the Alfa with that result when it was the fault of some defective tires. I wouldn't do that to any other car, so I'm not going to start now. This renders my Paul Gage / Ortmann comparison moot, which is too bad. I paid a lot for those Paul Gage tires, but it's my fault for not using them.

I also set the Montjuich 908/3 back to factory snug settings, and readjusted the ride height. I'm not going to add weight just yet.  It won't run again as it was a setup issue and not a defect.

The Grand Meeting [Part One] - 25 Laps All 16 Cars

So here we are. Of course I had to get times down for these cars. Right now all I have to go by is how they feel to me. And while many feel pretty good, some are not quite there yet, including some of the new cars. But I wanted to get all the cars out and see what kind of times they were going to run. 

I've added weight to the cars, getting each Slot.it up to about 6-7 grams heavier than they were before. I'm still waiting on the Ortmann tires, but it looks like they're not going to arrive until after the holidays, and I need to time some laps. I've gotten most of the cars to a comfortable spot, so I decided to elongate the course, doubling projected lap times. I did this for a few reasons: I wanted to see how the cars ran on a more complicated layout, I wanted a longer lap time to give more separation between cars. 

Might not work on this Softybahnplaner software, but it works in my attic.

I still wanted speed, so I kept most of the test track and extended the end sections. I jazzed up the 180° U-turns at each end so that they were a little different from each other. So it's a fast track that can get a little twisty at bits. I like it so far, and the few cars I tried on it seemed to like it too.

The plan is to run 25 laps with each car and set their time. I'm going to see how much of this I can get done over the holiday. If it works out I should have numbers on all the cars before I gotta pack this all up and move out.

Each car will have their current condition listed, including upgrades, tires, tuning info and whatever other pertinent info might be there. Each car will run with the SCP-1 controller set at 70% power.

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The Grand Meeting - 25 Laps

Porsche 908/3 Escuderia Montjuich #83

I have no idea what any of these cars will do. 

Weight: 66.4 grams. I added 2 gr just behind the front axle.

Tires: NSR roughly sanded

I haven't gotten this car exactly where I want it yet. It still seems to need a little work. I haven't done much to the tires as I'm waiting for the Ortmanns. You'll hear that excuse with a lot of the cars. I have been sanding the tires over time, but they're not completely sanded down. I'm running it as-is and will accept whatever consequences may arise from it. 

Pos   Car          Time          Lap      

1.     908 #83   2:33.00      6.12

I don't know if that's good. If felt okay. Didn't feel completely fast, but I didn't feel out of control either. Could have been first car syndrome, could have been nothing and it's a fine lap time. 

I love the shorter cars for how forgiving they are. They're much more easy to correct when things get weird. It never feels like you're flailing about in the car. A slight deceleration and it snaps right back into place. 

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Porsche 917K Rothmans #9

Yeah, arty. I know. I take those kinds of pics too. I just never put them up here.

Weight: 70 grams

Tires: NSR roughly sanded. I've done even less to these tires than I did on the #83 908/3. 

This car seemed ready to do this, so I went for it. I haven't spent all that much work time on it, but I have driven it a lot. It might be the quietest car of the entire bunch. I haven't added any weight, and spent the most amount of time on the ride height. I have it where I like it now. 

Pos   Car          Time          Lap      

1.     917K #9  2:26.89      5.84

2.     908 #83   2:33.00      6.12

That's quite a difference in times between those two cars. 3/10ths would still be competitive between the Slot.it cars, so I'm good with it now. There is a long way to go on my tuning adventure. 

The smoothness in the 917K wasn't there in the 908/3, which I'm going to blame myself for. But that's a by product of doing a race with so many cars in the middle of a transition. They'll almost all have new tires, so this could be a rubber tire showdown. 

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Porsche 908/3 Sunoco #6

I haven't been able to take a pic yet that does this paint job justice.

Weight: 64.7 No weight added

Tires: NSR roughly sanded

I gotta say before this gets started that it already feels smoother than the Montjuich 908/3. I don't know if that'll translate to the race track, but it has that smooth feeling of the Rothmans 917K, or the Matra, or the GT40 #9. 

Pos   Car          Time          Lap      

1.     908 #6     2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #9  2:26.89      5.84

3.     908 #83   2:33.00      6.12

A thing that happens when you have two similar cars from the same make is that you are always comparing them, even if they are not tuned similarly. Such is the case here, and now I'm thinking I'm going to need to look at the Montjuich 908/3. The Sunoco 908 ran so well that I can feel everything wrong with the way I set up the other car, and why it's a half second a lap behind. Again, I'm still at the early stages of getting these cars going, so they're at wildly different points of the tuning process. Dang, that Sunoco car is fast.

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Porsche Gulf 917K #19

More arty stuff.

Weight: 70.5

Tires: NSR roughly sanded

The first 917K did some hot laps around this track. This car has seen about as much shop time, and even less tire time and less overall laps. But it feels really good, so we'll see what happens. 

Pos     Car           Time         Lap      

1.     908 #6       2:20.77      5.60

2.     917K #19  2:21.35      5.64

3.     917K #9    2:26.89      5.84

4.     908 #83     2:33.00      6.12

I need to insert a "I'm having a great time" break. I really am. These cars are so much fun to drive. This car especially. Gulf colors, 917, it's just so cool. And it's right in the running. Curious to see if either the GT2 or the Momo can beat these numbers. Something tells me the Montjuich 908/3 is in danger of being beaten by another car or two. 

I'm going to lay a lot of the blame on tires producing some funky lap times. I really should take the time and sand the tires to slicks and do it all right, but I just don't have it to spare. I have to run 16 cars. I need to do as little pre-race prep as I can, which is one reason I'm going with urethane tires. Longer lasting and require less maintenance. Better grip, too. 

So that's all the cars I ran today. I'll hopefully do another group tomorrow. 

Thoughts at the Current Time

 In case you haven't noticed, I've been having a tremendous time with these cars, and not only racing the new ones, but bringing the ones I already own up to snuff. I wondered quite a bit what it would be like with different brands of cars on the same track, and I'm going to work on these to get them all running competitively. I'll probably approach it a lot like I did before - taking long looks at the slower cars to get them up to speed. So some of the faster cars will just have to be content to be fast and be a little patient for upgrades. 

I decided this morning that I am going to run all my cars on Ortmann tires. I've been wanting a good urethane tire that isn't expensive, and at 3.50 a pair they're a good price. And in the interest of fairness, they'll all run the urethanes. Nice thing about that is that besides providing more grip and lasting practically forever, they don't take nearly as much care and cleaning as rubber tires do. So that'll allow me to run races at a faster pace without so much prep for each car. The 962C is running really well right now, much better than with the stock rubber tires on. I based my decision on that alone, first buying only a few pair; a pair for the 962C Leyton House and new sets for the Carreras. Once I did a few laps in the Porsche I knew it was a good idea.

This thing has a BIG TAIL. It tends to get really sideways through the turns but is a rocket down the straight. Adding weight and urethane tires ought to help straighten it out.

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I'm making so many adjustments to so many cars that I'm going to have to go back and detail what the heck I did to each one. It's gotten to the point where I'll work on one for a half hour or so and then move on to the next one. Some need more help, some less. One cool thing; the new cars have not made the old cars less fun in any way. I'm having even more fun with the Slot.it cars because they're all now being challenged to go even faster than they've gone before. Like, a lot faster. It's going to take quite a bit of work for some of the cars, but I'm hoping that most respond well without much trouble. I'll be getting the tires next week and will be adding weight to some of them. 

So if you're curious and on the fence on whether mixing brands works, I'd say yes it does, but with some provisions. The brands should share similar design features, motor power should be similar, that sort of thing. I wouldn't expect a cheaper no-name brand of car, or even some major brands to perform as well as these cars do. I wouldn't expect either of my Carrera cars to consistently outperform any of the Slot.it cars. They'd have a good race against Scalextric cars. But against Slot.it, NSR and Revoslot, Carrera will forever be a back marker. 

Sometimes you can successfully mix brands. I have a feeling these guys are going to have some spirited races against each other.

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In a few short months I've doubled my collection. I had six working cars just before getting the Chaparral two-pack, but if you really want to see when the boom happened, it was very recently. I've got one more car coming, then I'm going to stop for awhile and work on what I have. At the time of this writing, I have 16 cars, all running. including four NSR race cars. I think 16 cars is a good amount for a race series, but I don't know if I'd want to do many more than that. There are some other smaller races I want to do, as well as one-on-one challenges. But ultimately I want to see just how close I can make these cars run against each other. I'm not going to slow any down, but try to get them all up to speed. Fun thing is, I have no idea how some of them are going to do. 

Tires

 If you read back into the past on this blog, you'll see I've put a lot of emphasis on factory stock tires, whether good or bad. I wanted to touch on tires for a little bit. 

When you're running without magnets, cars tend to do some pretty special things, especially when they haven't been fully tuned. And tires play a huge part in that. Almost without exception, tires on a new slot car need some attention before they're truly running effectively. And not all companies share the same idea of what a good tire is. Carrera tires are absolutely bad and should be replaced as quickly as possible. Their hardening power is next to none. Slot.it stock C1 tires are actually really good, and can be made to be very competitive. NSR tires are even better, stickier, gummier. Revoslot tires feel like they're from another world. 

When I first got the Carrera cars, I thought they were durable, but they slipped around a lot. The R18 had hardening issues pretty early on, which made it impossible to run without magnets, and I didn't have a chance to replace them at the time. But that's when I was under a strict financial restriction, which I didn't need to have and am glad is over. But anyway, I digress. The Carrera cars got to be so uncontrollable that I benched them not long after I got my first three Slot.it cars. By that time a year had gone by and the Carreras were just too far gone to compete. By the time I took the Carreras down off the shelf to go for a spin they had turned into rocks. They sat unused for a good couple of years. 

The Slot.it tires are fantastic. I've never had a problem or issue with one, and they always run nicely. I think I've gotten the stock tires tuned up about as well as I could hope for, and they compete very well against each other. 

And that's where my problem is. The other day I got a pair of Ortmann tires, which are urethane, and tried them on the Porsche 962C, which had been giving me control fits ever since I got it. The Ortmann tires worked great and solved the loose butt syndrome that the car had. This will undoubtedly improve lap times and put them very near the NSR cars. So my problem is that I need to upgrade from the factory stock Slot.it tires to the Ortmann tires all the way around. I just ordered them, and they should be here in a week.

The NSR rubber compound tires have been so far very good, although each tire has a small nub in the tread. It doesn't seem to affect performance, so I'm not worried about it. I like the tires so far, but if the Slot.it cars improve too much with the urethane Ortmanns, I might have to switch the NSR cars too. 

I've run urethane tires before. I bought some Paul Gage tires for my Alfa and one of the GT40s, and they ran really well on them. Problem was I didn't have urethane tires for everyone, and it wasn't fair to only run two of the three cars with them. So I didn't use them. I'd put them on occasionally and tell myself I have to get urethanes again someday. The Paul Gage tires turned out to be pretty expensive, as they came from Canada and I paid duty and international shipping fees. 

So I made the decision and just ended up outfitting seven Slot.it cars for the same price as two pairs of Paul Gage tires cost me. No offense to Paul Gage, it's just that Ortmann tires cost 3.50 a pair. That price just can't compare, even if his tires are better. If I was commercial racing, I'd probably care more about that, but then I'd probably grab one of the two pairs of PG tires I already own and run those. But since I'm only doing this here on my track, it would be kind of nice to have one brand of track tire. It would feel more fair and evenly balanced, as each car would have similar grip. I'll admit that it's kind of fun having different acting rubbers on some of these cars, so I'll miss that a little bit. Urethane tires have always felt easier to deal with. 

So I would say if you're racing one brand of car, if you're happy with the factory rubber tires, keep at it and stick with them. If you want to change to urethane or silicone, do all the cars at the same time. It's pointless to do it piece by piece. You'll either use them and blow away your other cars, or find out it's boring to blow away your other cars and not use them. Either way, new tires is an extremely inexpensive improvement to make to a slot car. 

Various Shop Stuff

 I've gotten to the point where I pick up a car, do the things I want to to it, go upstairs and run it, and if it's satisfactory, move on to another car. I've been keeping notes of what I want to do to each one. Here's a list of what I've been doing: 

• I wanted to dial in the Sunoco 908/3 so that it and the Montjuich 908/3 run roughly equal. They don't have to be too close, since no car is exactly like another, but I want to get them running in a way that I can know what's working and what's not. Having two models helps speed that process up, and you get two faster cars out of it. So I worked on ride height, which pretty much needs to be right on the money for the 908/3. I put a little weight in the Montjuich, but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it in. It occasionally deslots from the front around corners, so I added a little weight behind the front axle. I might change that as the Sunoco car doesn't seem to need the weight and is handling corners wonderfully. 

• I added some weight to the Alfa, and it improved its tendency to get squirrely through some tricky parts at speed. I think it can be a challenger. Weighted Slot.it cars are responding very well to the increase in track power, too. They're very happily running at 70%. 
• I got a set of Ortmann tires from Overdrive Slot Service for the 962C, as it just wouldn't settle down around the corners and had consistently ended up in the middle of the pack. I blamed it a lot on the body shape, but I think in this case it was more a situation of it being the tires. I wanted to test a set of Ortmann tires, since eventually I'd need some, and it would be nice to be able to get a good, inexpensive pair when I need them. But I had to try them first. They had to be at least as good as the factory rubbers for whichever car I was putting them on. And since I was having trouble with the 962C's control, I thought I would give the Ortmanns a chance. I put them on, went upstairs and it was an instant improvement. I not only now expect the car to be competitive, but I'm probably going to end up taking out some of the weight, now that I probably don't need it so much. More on the Ortmanns later.
• I noodled around a bit with the 911GT2, but it was mostly as an excuse to take it upstairs and run it for awhile. It doesn't really need much of anything, and it's running very well. One thing I wish Revoslot did was give you a chance to adjust ride height. Otherwise it's a very fun car to drive.
• Oh, I just put in an order for Ortmann tires on all my Slot.it cars. 

I am enjoying myself very much.

One More New Car - 908/3 Sunoco

 It's probably not a surprise I bought this car. I go on and on about short cars being great and everything, and when I got the NSR 908/3 Escuderia Montjuich and ran it, I immediately knew it was going to need a partner. I thought a 917K could do it, but they're too different. And this car hadn't been released yet, and I didn't bother with pre-ordering or anything. Then when it came time to buying one it was there and in stock. 

Since this was my second 908/3 in a very short time, I pretty much followed in the other car's tiresteps regarding the initial tuneup. I wasted no time installing the grub screws and setting the ride height. Did a full lube/oil, checked and set all screws, flared out the braids and sanded the tires. I can't say enough about how good NSR slot cars are. They're very well put together, don't really have any weaknesses, and are pretty forgiving in regards to tune-ability. They don't really need much in the way of tuning to run well as they run great right out of the box. 

All of the NSR cars have a break-in period, which seemed to last around 1000 laps or so on my current track. You can feel the newness when you first get them running. 

There's definitely going to come a time for a huge showdown between all the short track cars. Between the two 908s, the Alfa and the Chaparrals [yeah, I'd put them in there], it should be a good race.

Something else came in the box, and that's some replacement tires. I didn't want to do a wholesale tire swap, as I thing the Slot.it tires are just fine, but I wanted to try it. I picked up a pair of rear tires from Ortmann, which is a well known company that makes tires you either like or you don't. Since I wasn't sure I needed them or that they would improve things. I did pick up a couple of pairs for a specific purpose:

After years of sitting off to the side, neglected, I finally bit the bullet and bought new tires for the old Carreras. Neither of them is particularly old, mind you. It just seems that way. Anyhow, with all this talk about adding brands to the collection, well, Carrera's a brand, and they should have some representation. And I know is this R18 isn't the greatest car they have, and Carrera doesn't have the tune-ability that the other brands do, but it should be fast enough to make it a spoiler if a Slot.it car crashes. I don't expect it to be anything but a backmarker, and a lowly one at that.

And last, but well, last....the Audi Safety Car. Both this and the R18 above got a fresh set of Ortmann tires, which gets them back on the track and respectable again. The Ortmann compound seems kind of hard compared to the stock Slot.it rubber, but we'll see how things iron out. 

I'm going to do a thorough retune of both of these cars to get them in optimal shape, and they'll run in the Sport Class with the Slot.it cars. I think the R18 could be a troublemaker, and can catch a car that's out of shape. 

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Having 16 working cars is going to be a challenge when it comes to racing. Races will take longer to complete, and cars may or may not get their best treatment before setting a lap time. I hope that doesn't occur, but it's happened before with much less of a field. So it may happen that a race takes multiple days to complete. Either way I now have a goal to compare brands as well as potential performance.