Floor Notes: Need Some Space

 We're about ready to get into the winter holidays, and I'm making my plan for how to make the most of it. I have some ideas, just trying to decide which direction to go. 

First, I need to free up some space. I took two more loads [the last two] from the house and now I need to sort and re-store that stuff here. I have a basement room dedicated to just that sort of thing. I also need to get my drums to a practice room. In fact, all my musical gear needs a place to go. 

Then, there's the matter of which direction I want to travel in. Do I:

1. Buy the latest crop of new cars

2. Buy the track pieces I have been looking at [large radius curves, another overpass, analog lap counter]

3. Buy the power supply I've always been talking about getting

So let's break those down. Number 1 is definitely the easiest, most fun of the options. I'm at 21 cars now or something like that, so I don't know if I particularly need any new ones. I might go with one of the other options and include a car or two to satiate that thirst. I have no cars in mind at the present, except for the 917/10 from NSR. So I might be looking at NSR pretty heavily, unless Thunderslot has a new release this year, which they likely will.

Number 2 is really where I should be focusing. Every time I set up a layout I complain to myself about the lack of large radius track pieces. I've got it in my head to do some major straights replacement with flowing curves and more flowing track designs, and getting rid of as many 1/60 track pieces as I can. Plus, as I'm now experimenting with lap-over track layouts, I want to have another overpass so I have more flexibility. I really really like the overpass. I makes total sense to me now and is a real space-saver. I'm also leaning heavily on the analog lap counter. I want a better timing setup that my current one.  So between those three things, I can pretty much complete layout issues and devote my time to new layouts in my new apartment. 

Number 3 is tricky. I should have taken care of that long ago, when I first built my table. The 2018 track design gave me my first power trouble. I should have taken care of it then, but I instead did a design that was a little shorter. 

This track design took all the power I could muster. Racing two cars was a dicey proposition, and it was not uncommon for cars to strain for power.

So here's my solution: Power.

This post has been sitting for a couple of weeks while I did my research and decision making. It's going to cost me about 120euro for a 5A/0-30V supply and necessary cables. That'll still leave me room for some track pieces. I think I could drop 80 bucks or so on those and be fine. 

A couple of weeks ago I shopped around for another SCP-1 and had a hard time finding them at a good price. And since I had been having power issues, and not so much controller issues, it makes more sense to go with a power supply now and later add another SCP controller when needed. It's not that much more expensive to go with the PS over the SCP controller, but it would solve a lot of problems.

What's the fastest slot car?

 First off, disclaimers have to happen. I'm talking about off-the-shelf, out-of-box slot car. No modifications other than coming out of the box, getting lubed and getting on the track. I'm not talking about scratchbuilt cars, modifications or other stuff like that.

Is a fast car the one that gets down the straightaway the fastest? Or is it the car that runs the fastest lap? Is it the tight handler? Or the road eating sled? 

There has to be a combination of things that makes a great race car. Even if that car might be part of a group that all share the same specs, it'll ultimately come down to how the car is tuned and who is driving it. But it's also things like body shape, chassis shape and design, and measurements that contribute to the overall worthiness of a fast car. 

Thunderslot Lola T70 MKIII

What I have noticed over time is that a car that has a well-rounded approach, meaning it isn't better at straights than at curves and vice-versa, is a car that is a much better candidate for being fastest car. Something that is light, smooth and relatively quiet also has a good start. And for me, the body shape plays in a lot, even if it's mostly psychological. The Lola, above, checks all the boxes, and has an especially nice body shape for racing. There's practically nothing to it. It could easily be the fastest slot car.

But how do you tell? Every slot car should have an equal opportunity to be the fastest car. But they're not. For every fast, Lola-style car I have one that won't cut the mustard. A car that just wouldn't be able to tow it around fast enough to beat the field. 

Revoslot Ferrari 333 SP

The Ferrari above is a huge, massively massive ginormous car. The fact that it has a aluminum chassis adds to the weight, as well as the performance. And putting it up one-to-one against a car like the Lola will show exactly how different the two cars are. There's just no way this car can compete on my home track against the Lola. 

Check out these two cars. The Alfa [left] has a shorter wheelbase than the GT40 [right], as well as a shorter chassis, resulting in an overall shorter length. Helps with handling.
There's also this thing. It doesn't really have a name, but it's about two triangles. They are: the distance from the guide flag to the back wheels, and the distance from the guide flag to the front wheels. Lots of discussion about the benefits of the various types. Between the two, I'd call the GT40 a well-rounded car, where the Alfa is a shorter, technical racer. 

There are a lot of considerations going into something like trying to determine the fastest car. It's not an easy question to answer. It definitely has to be a well-made race car on top of all those other things. A 30 dollar slot car isn't going to have the tech to win it. 

For quite awhile it was understood that nothing was going to beat the NSR Mosler in club racing. It was all I read about. For whatever reason, I was thinking that I was going to find the answers from some genius on the internet. After awhile I realized that nobody knows the answer to what is the fastest slot car. Besides, what happens to you when you have raced all the cars and they are less than .01 of a second apart? Can you give the title definitively to one car? That's kind of why there are so many classes of racing. 

Why I Race

 When I was a kid, and I've told this story here before, I raced HO cars. AFX and Tyco specifically. My parents were divorced, and we lived with my mom. She was very poor, working as a single mom of 3 on a teacher's salary. Every year at xmas she would get us what we wanted, and every year I wanted a new race track. 

Needless to say, after a few years, netting that many kits can significantly increase your piece count. I would also save my allowance for cars, many of which wouldn't last a weekend. They were, however, on sale and affordable for a kid like me on a budget like mine. Magnum 440 I think they're called. G+. Had a couple of those. 

Then came the dark ages. Between my teenage years and my 40's, when other things took importance. I was also not in any position to take up and maintain any hobbies of significance back then. 

But upon my move here to Germany, that all changed. Opportunities arose, as indicated in this blog, and I was able to commit to the hobby finally like I wanted to. And while it's a much more well-known hobby over here than in the US, it's still a niche hobby. Either way, I was doing it. 

But what did I get out of it? I quickly found that I was going to do most of my racing alone, as my wife didn't share my passion for it [we had separate hobbies that we both enjoyed and pursued]. So racing became an escape for me. I became a dad....a stay-at-home dad, so I needed an outlet that was within reach and could give me a quick fix. Slot car racing was perfect for this. And I had an attic spot I could dedicate to doing just that. 

Over time, my marriage deteriorated. As that happened, which took a few years, I fell more into the hobby as an escape from what was happening. It wasn't to any obsessive level, but it was my preference of things to do when I had free time. As the marriage came closer to the end, I bought cars. Now it's over, and I'm at a new place, alone. I miss my daughter, but I get to see her quite often and we race a lot. 

So now it's no longer part of that escape, but a part of my existence. I set up and race at will, and don't have to move the track for anybody. I know it sounds like a dumb little thing, but it's not. It's all part of me getting my life back. These last few years have been very weird, I'm not going to lie. Giant gaps in my post timeline here are pretty indicative of other stuff going on that kept me away from doing what was fun. 

I've been sitting here for the past month or so, wondering who I am now. I think I have it figured out finally, but it's still a work in progress. Thankfully, whenever I need to break away and do something to distract myself or just to have some fun, I've got slot cars. 

Today's street find: slot car box

Today I was out walking with my daughter and someone left this curbside: 

I've been looking for something like this for the longest time, and I pretty much tripped over it today. 

It's plywood, and nicely crafted. It's one of those things that just seems like it'll last forever. It's probably just something from a DIY shop that's been painted. Anyhow, I've been keeping my eyes open for just this sort of thing.

In that configuration it'll hold 7 cars and all my tools, but I'm going to try some other stuff too. Maybe cram the tools in one of the double boxes and add more cars. Not sure yet. But I like this very much.

My Problem with Thunderslot

 When I got my first Thunderslot car, I bought it alone. No partner. These cars are pricey, so I wanted to try one before sinking too much into it. I worry that I'll eventually find something that really would be better at the commercial track rather than my track, and I'd rather not spend too much at the outset. So the first car I bought was through a coin flip with about six other cars. It was the Elva:

There are a few different options, but they're pretty much cosmetic differences.

As I explained in previous posts, this thing is absolutely insane, yet is still tame enough to run on my track. It's a great running car, smooth as can be, and it's an absolute pleasure to race. So much so that I'd be out of my mind not to get a partner for it. So I did.

I picked the Lola because it looked like it would be a good competitor.

The Lola turned out to be EXACTLY as good as the Elva. Like, less than .01 difference. Now, I've been around long enough to know that something like that is extremely difficult to come by. You just don't come across two cars so perfectly matched like that. Every track I tried, no matter what, they ran practically perfect with each other. 

Of course, I thought more about the two great cars I got than the idea that they were basically the same car. Not that that's a bad thing. So I did what any sane person would do: I settled on the two cars and never got another one.

So the third one I got was because it was too pretty to pass up. And it had to be different enough that I would be totally happy with it anyway.

I had read about how the owner of Thunderslot used to work at NSR and was a designer and stuff, and he had ideas. He had ways he thought things should be. So he broke away and formed his own company. Part of the ethos of the company is to produce cars that are competitive with each other. So they are their own class. A hugely insane, crazy fast class of cars. And I've purchased three of them. And they all run .01 of a second from each other.

And that's my problem with Thunderslot: they are everything they have advertised. Their cars do exactly what they're supposed to do. And they're extremely good at doing that.

The fourth one. I haven't found a bad Thunderslot car yet. 

Where do they fit in the big scheme of things? Well, on my track they sit right at the top. Thunderslot > NSR > Slot.it. And while they race with good odds, it's always possible for one of the other cars to take it all. 

I'm planning on buying one or two more. Then I'll have to wait for new releases. I think I have all the body styles they offer. 

Floor Notes: Getting Settled In

 It took me almost two weeks before I was finally able to set up a layout on the floor. I had lots of boxes to deal with and needed enough space to make it worthwhile. Since my intention has been to use the living room floor for layouts, the room is designed with a nice open area. The only thing taking up space is my desk, but I could even use most of that space in a layout if I needed to. The couch is small, so I leave it where it is. 

Setup and shakedown of a recent layout first thing in the morning. I elevated the straight after taking this pic. This is about half of the room, with the other half having about as much space. Once I get rid of those boxes back there, I'll get almost another meter to work with, which will open up that area very nicely.

Is the floor as awesome as a table? No, but it's still awesome. I'll get used to it, since it was the way I raced up until a handful of years ago. So the table didn't spoil me, thankfully. 

I've been looking at picking up more track pieces, notably more 3/30 curves and a bunch of 4/15 curves, of which I have none. My plan is to take advantage of every layout, so I'll be replacing straight sections with varying curve sections, and the 4/15 curves will help a lot with that. Not planning on getting any banking, but I am strongly considering getting started on adding borders to the track. I think it might be time. Being in a tighter environment means tighter racing and slower speeds than on a more open track. You end up driving on the edge taking advantage of those curves, and it would be nice to have that extra space. I have a few for 1/60 curves that work well enough for me to want more. I'll probably get some 2/30 borders as well, but likely that'll be all. I haven't had a car come off a 3/30 yet, so I'm not worried about needing borders for that. 

Porsche 917K climbing the hill in the morning.

Getting shots of the track action is going to be kind of tough, but I'm going to figure out the best way to do it. I think a GoPro might be in my future. I'm going to need something flexible and compact to get good footage. I'm also going to build a lightbox so I can do photography. That won't be on the floor, but probably in my bedroom. It'll be probably 3'x3' so it'll handle more than just cars. That'll be my ongoing winter project.

I think the racing will be good, but it's going to be on more technical tracks than what I was racing before. There will be more work for the controller on each of the cars to get just the right settings. I think the action will be tight across all brands. 

I'm still going to do time trial racing, but it'll definitely be split up in groups. Since I'm splitting them up, I'll likely run longer races, which will allow for more competitive racing. Doing 20 laps on a 5 second track is a pretty short race. I'll have to do some tests to see what works best. I have a lot of cars now, and I'm not planning on benching any of them [well, except possibly for one, although not quite yet]. 

Two cars that are itching to get in their first race: Sunoco M6A and Lola T70 III. Definite challengers.

I'm also thinking of getting another overpass. I like it a lot better than putting 8 pieces in the air to get over another part of the track. The overpass is just so much more convenient and is still a challenge. But with tight tracks, where you can fold them over themselves, more overpasses will definitely come in handy. 

I'll be working on some car reviews for YouTube. I have enough cars to do a decent series, so I'm going to work on that for awhile. I want to review every car I have, so they'll be new and used car reviews, kinda like the one I did for the Lola T70. I'll probably go a little more in-depth than I did before, but not too much. I don't want to just put redundant information up just to do it. I want to do interesting videos of cars that have been used, and how that experience has been. 

Alright, my daughter has been here for the weekend, and we got some good racing in on a small kidney oval I put together. She's getting really good at it and enjoys it very much. She even requested that I set it up so we could play when she came over. That's my kid. 

New Car - Thunderslot Lola T70 MKIII

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Howdy"

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

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

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

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

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

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