New Car: NSR Porsche 917K Hippie Car

 Here she is, first and last car of the year for me, the NSR Porsche 917K Hippie Car:

A beautiful car with an absolutely stunning paint job. I think this pic captures it pretty well.

Right around xmas of 2022, after making a pretty large amount of car purchases, I realized I needed a new bass guitar. My old one [Gibson EB3] is limited in what it can do, and I was looking for something a little more flexible. I found it in a Fender Jaguar Bass. Totally excellent. Of course, dropping that kind of drip meant I couldn't buy that many slot cars for awhile. Oh well. I had loads of new ones and plenty to race, and I really haven't had the chance to do much over the last year. I think I ended up buying two slot cars throughout that time.

So I put my mind to this bass and not thinking about slot cars. Of course xmas rolled around, which is usually prime slot car season, and I finally got a chance to look at the shops and see what was new. Once I saw the Hippie Car, I knew I had to have it. 

This one's gonna be really easy to see on track.

This car ran at Watkins Glen in 1970. That fits in just right with all the other cars I have from that era, and this is my sixth 917K. The Hippie livery is from Martini, which is my first livery from that brand. I'll have to look into others. I know there is a 917/10 in a more traditional Martini striped livery. Now I guess I have a good reason to pick that one up. Can never have too many teams. 

The 917 comes with the 21.5k Shark motor, which is in line with Classics not only from NSR, but many other companies as well. That keeps them competitive with each other right out of the box. The Shark is a fantastic motor, and the overall build quality of the car is as good as you can get.

For home use on your plastic track, they can pretty much be run as-is. They come with a magnet and three magnet socket positions, but I don't use magnets, so they go on my fridge. If you currently run magnets and are looking to get more out of your slot cars, take the magnets out. I've taken them out of all my cars but the F1 cars, which run better with the magnets in the car. But for the most part, running without magnets makes you rely more on car setup, driving skill, tires and overall tuneup decisions. Running with magnets negates all those aspects. So my track is pretty much No-Mag.

I don't have any other pictures of the car currently as I just got it today, took some quick shots, then started tuning it. Tomorrow will be track day, so this writeup comes before that. I haven't gotten it on the track yet, but I'm confident that it's going to run great. That's pretty impressive to be able to make that claim from a slot car, when you think about it. 

So, what about future car purchases? Good question. There are a few things floating around out there that I want, but I suspect they'll be around for awhile. I might try to go back to a one-a-month plan again, but I'm not sure there are enough cars to justify that kind of thing right now. Maybe a car per quarter. At most I can only think of two or three that I actually want. I might have to look at a new brand. Put it this way; I usually buy two cars at a time to save on shipping charges. I didn't this time, as I only got one. 

Okay, racing tomorrow. Probably an invitational of 10 cars or so. I'll try to get pics.

Holy crap, I just thought of something. The Hippie Car already has a teammate, and you're not going to believe who it is.....

Surprise.

Yep, the Porsche Spyder 918 with the modern Hippie livery. That team is doomed.

Racing has been happening - Pictures haven't

 I've kind of been singular in my approach lately due to time and all throughout the holidays. Setting up, racing, timing, etc, then shooting pics and then posting is a lot of stuff. Sometimes a guy just likes to run some laps in peace. So that's what I've been doing. 

I was going through some posts here the other day, and I noticed that, aside from not publishing very many races lately, posts were mostly in the form of new car posts. Well, last year I went a little crazy, and this year I countered it by not buying any cars. My plan was to make it to xmas, and I did. I finally ordered my first car in over a year yesterday. It should be here in the next day or two. 

Which brings me to what I was here for: In the last four published races, a Porsche 917k has not made it into the Top 10. 

This car...this beautiful sexy beast....has not even come close to a podium yet. Shameful really.

I think I have five of them, and the best any could do was an unimpressive 11th place. I mean, 11th is the result when people think, "oh, that guy ran? didn't even notice him." 

And I don't really blame the 917 for being what it is. It's a beautiful car that should be dominating here. Admittedly, I don't run very many long layouts anymore, so it doesn't really get to take advantage of it's long body, so it's pretty regular that it gets beaten by the 908 and Lolas and such. [Crazy part: the wheelbase on the 917 is actually a little shorter than the 908.] 

I wouldn't necessarily call it "Unlucky Strike", but I wouldn't go handing it the cup just yet.

They're fast. They're reliable. They're not the kings of the corners, but they don't stink at it either. They sing on the straight track. I remember that from the attic and running them on the big layout. 

It should come to no surprise that the next car will be another 917. I couldn't resist. They are one of my favorites, and when I buy so few I tend to make them special. Anyhow, coming soon.

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.