Thoughts On New Cars

 Over the weekend I had setup and started running a race between all cars on a fast track. I wanted to see how the new cars performed, so I set them up and ran laps with them. Then a malfunction in my controller caused me to stop the race and work on that. But I did get a good amount of time with the two new cars before that happened, as well as got to compare them a bit with some others, so I thought I would talk about that a little bit.

My third Porsche 908/3 from NSR

While the model itself might be new, this isn't the first 908 I've had. But like all other slot cars, the three that I have all run differently from each other. I love that about slot cars. 

The Gulf 908 is extremely planted, rips through curves, and has enough to keep itself going down long straights. That's not the norm with most of the short-body cars that I have; they tend to be a little slower down the straights than the longer model cars [917, Matra, 962, etc]. But this one doesn't have that problem. The tires sanded nicely and the car has a good, solid structure. It doesn't feel too light or dainty, and there's no tightness out of the turns like the shorter cars tend to have. It almost has a little heft to it. Definitely different than the other 908 cars I own.

In the big picture, this is a highly competitive model that pushes all the right buttons. Not only does it look great, but it IS great. In its current state, it's more than capable of competing against the Thunderslot and Slot.it cars in my collection. 

But that's what makes a good slot car. You should start out with something that's well-built and built for racing, meaning: not a 150 gram clunker [I'm looking at you, Carrera]. And that's the difference. You can't, or probably shouldn't, go into it thinking you can take any ol' slot car off the shelf and it'll be competitive. There are lots of slot cars that can really only run against their own model/brand or there wouldn't be a place for them on race day. That would be like me buying the Scalextric Batmobile. As much as I love that car, I would inevitably try to race it against what I have now, be severely and soundly trounced by the competition, and ultimately let down by the car. I could never just put it up on the shelf and look at it. I'd have to race it. And that would mean either trying it and failing to get good results, or buying more models in that range that it can race against, effectively forming another class of cars in my collection. 

Today's track layout. Fast with a few 90° turns. Inside lane only.

As it stands now, with a couple of exceptions, I have mostly what would be considered LeMans Classics. Or just Classics. Mid-60's to mid-70's or so. Targa Florio. Can Am. And even if it wasn't the Batmobile. Let's say it was a Scalextric or Carrera Classic. It would still be the same result; cars not fast enough to compete against my Big 3 of Thunderslot, NSR and Slot.it. 

So it matters what you start with, and it matters which car in the class you start with as well. The Gulf 908 will be great on short and medium tracks, especially those with technical sections. All three 908s should do well at that stuff, as will the M6A and the Alfa Romeo, and to a certain extent the Chaparral. 

Now, about the Elva:

Beauty

This has the distinction of being my first black slot car. I was on the fence at first, as I wasn't sure the car would look like a shapeless, formless blob running around on the track. But this car has enough detail and color to highlight it nicely. The light gray underside gives definition to the wheels, and since that gray closely matches the gray of my race track, it also gives off a feeling of speed, in a weird way. 

Since all the Thunderslot cars are essentially the same, with a few chassis differences due to body shape, they theoretically should set similar lap times, and they do. This car falls right in with the others as far as performance and potential. It's such a good platform that any Thunderslot car is going to start off with the advantage over other brands. NSR cars are proving to be highly competitive with them, but in my experience so far, not all of the NSR cars are that way. But tweaking and tuning will continue, so I'll likely change my opinion there. But out of the gate, you definitely can't go wrong with Thunderslot.

This Elva's performance against the other Elva: the other one is a tad quieter, but I expect most of that is in the brushes, as it makes some contact noise while running. It's very fast, so it's not in the axles. Just has that new brushes sound. That'll go away after a couple hundred laps. Otherwise this Elva is every bit as fast as the red one.

This Elva's performance against other brand cars: I would say it's definitely at the top, but it could be beaten by an NSR like the Gulf 908 if the conditions were right. One of the Slot.it cars like the Matra could give it a run for its money, or the Alfa if the track was tight. 

I'm not a reviewer. I'm an end-user. I don't do any promotion or advertising here. I'm the guy reviewers do reviews for. And if I like a particular thing, I'll talk about it. I may not go into the detail that many reviewers will, but that's not my purpose. As an end-user, I want to get the most out of what I bought. And if that's something where results would show some kind of...well....results, then maybe I should talk about that too. Of course, many reviewers wouldn't want to badmouth a brand or car, so they often don't. But end-users can pretty much do or say what they want about it. I mean, as much as I love the track, I think anybody reading this can guess my opinion on Carrera slot cars. But that's not what this post is about. 

If you're a shopper on the fence, wondering if an upgrade like this is worth the money, I believe it is. Both cars are prime examples of great racing platforms. 

New Car: Thunderslot McLaren Elva Mk1 - Canadian GP 1964

 Yes, that's right. Another gorgeous Elva:

That's Bruce McLaren in there driving. No, really.

It was kind of a given that I was going to pick this one up. It was the next on my list. I admit that I have an obsession with Thunderslot at this point. I don't know what else to call it. At first I thought the cars would start showing faults, doing weird things. But there's nothing like that. They just keep going, and are extremely fun to drive. 

The entire Thunderslot line uses the same components, which makes them very competitive with each other, as well as with other brand lines [NSR, Slot.it, etc.]. They'd be great for club racing whether they had to have their own class or could fit in another. 

What would make this car stand out against others? It's a combination of things, all in the right places. The great design, workmanship, lightweight, low center of gravity, quality tuned parts...it's all there. And all of it together makes for a great race car.

If you're looking for your first Thunderslot, and you race with magnets, you need to know that this car comes without magnets. So make sure you ask your dealer for magnets when you buy the car. I don't use them, so I like them not being there. But that's me.

Blurry pic, but there's actually quite a bit of detail there. More than the NSR Porsche had.

There's another thing about Thunderslot: if you're the type that likes to mess with gearing and things like that, the rear axle is a little larger than normal [3mm], so you'll need to plan for that. If you're not, and you're like me, then you'll totally be fine with what you have and can tune to your heart's content.

I took this car out of the box and gave it my standard setup: lube, oil, basic loose pod setting, checked connections, prepped braids. I'll get it out on the track in a day or two, and I'm really looking forward to it. 

The first Elva I got was an instant favorite. It took me no time at all to fall in love with it. So smooth, fast and nimble. Then I went and got a few Lolas and put off picking up a second Elva. Now I'm glad I did. I thought about the gold Elvis car, but liked this one better, even if it's mostly black. It'll probably be a dust collector, but it'll be a fast one.

New Car: NSR Porsche 908/3 - Gulf - Nurburgring 1971

 Let's get right to the picture, shall we:

When something like this comes out, I just gotta have it.

This is my third Porsche 908/3. The other two, the Sunoco and the Tergal, are such good cars that I knew adding to that collection was a no-brainer. 

The NSR Porsche 908 is a great car for someone with a home track. It handles corners so extremely well that you'd be hard-pressed to find another model that can do better. The 908 is consistently on top of the lap times around here, with the Tergal being one of my fastest cars [Thunderslot included!]. It's shorter than the 917 Porsche, which makes it seem a little boxier in comparison, since the widths are pretty much equal between the two. That shorter wheelbase puts it in the Alfa 33/3, McLaren M6B category: short cars that can burn through the turns.

My first #1.    I wonder if it'll be #1.

Performance wise, it's absolutely responsive and doesn't tend to swing out around turns. Very planted, and not lacking straight speed when needed. The Alfa Romeo 33/3 from Slot.it tends to sacrifice straight speed for cornering, but that might be the cause of the model that I have, as the entire model had warping issues. I have another one from Slot.it in my future. 

The back view is your standard, quite open rear end. One can see the junk in the trunk.

The practicality of buying an NSR slot car is a bit of a tough one, I know. They can be expensive, but here's the thing: when you buy something like a Slot.it car, which usually runs about 15 bucks cheaper than an NSR car from the places I look at, the possibility to get the Slot.it car to a level the NSR car is at is achievable, but could end up costing you quite a bit in accessories. For a long time I was under the assumption that I would never purchase a higher-end slot car, so I was able to convince myself that I could get my existing Slot.it cars to a comfortable place, racing as well as they can. And I think it worked out pretty well. But then something happened: I ran out of Slot.it cars that I wanted, and I wanted more cars. So I went for it. I bought a couple of Revoslot and a couple of NSR cars. The differences in the three brands was immediately noticeable, which translated to the track.  While the Revoslot were competitive with the Slot.it cars, the NSR cars were in a world all their own. And while it's not impossible, it's extremely difficult to get a Slot.it car faster than an NSR car, at least the way I do things. 

The cockpit detail is nice and clean with not very many breakable pieces. 

The Porsche comes with the Shark EVO 21.5K sidewinder motor, a 3-point pod and fantastic factory rubber tires. Otherwise it's about as clean of a slot car as you can imagine. The body sits nicely on the chassis and allows for plenty of float adjustments. It comes pretty loose from the factory, which is good, I think. 

Overall, I'm very happy with it and am excited to get it on the track. I'm sure it'll be a contender, as the other two 908s have become. And the Gulf colors, I tell ya. I'm never going to get tired of that fantastic color combination for a livery. 

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.