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Post by woodcote on May 29, 2020 9:27:27 GMT -7
My old Auto World strip has seen a bit of an upgrade this year, with a new track surface and Track Mate Drag Basic installed. We're now nearly ready for a summer season of monthly proxy drag races - designed to keep HO circuit racing club members engaged and entertained. It is likely to be a few months before we can meet and race face-to-face. The current track surface is the new Micro Scalextric plastic sectional track. It is very smooth and has excellent connectivity. The rails are flat - like 1/32 and 1/43 scale track - but with the correct spacing for traditional HO pick-ups. That means cars must be fitted with braids to work well. My long-term plan is still to route a traditional Sintra HO strip.
The classes we are starting with include two Micro Scalextric classes - Street Stock and Super Stock. The Micro cars are readily available here and very cheap - most people will have some - and there are some nice modern street-style bodies. They are also perfectly powered (ie 'slow') for the short seven foot strip (1/8 mile in true HO 1:87 scale....) and they stop promptly in the tight 22-inch shutdown. I find 12 volts perfect for these cars - and stock pancake cars.
The decoration of the strip still requires some finishing touches, but it functioned perfectly during a full practice run-through of the race format two weekends ago. Here's a short clip of the action...
The Micro cars are being supplemented by a Nostalgia Super Stock class, using T-Jets running at 12 volts and with braids soldered to the pick-ups. The regs are otherwise very similar to the NTRA pancake stock rules. Quite a few of our racers have T-jets for some oval racing we've enjoyed in the past, so this seemed a sensible class to choose. We will also have some 4-Gear match racing for the few of us that have (or might be getting) some of the AW Legends Funny Cars and NHRA Top Fuelers. The series starts on 9-10 June and there will be four more races - 7-8 July, 11-12 August, 1-2 September and 29-30 September. Not only local club members, but racers from around the UK are sending cars. With ten days to go, we've just hit sixteen entries for Street Stock and are up to nine for the T-Jet Super Stock class. We'll see how it develops.
Build-up and race coverage of all the events will take place on our club's forum at SlotRacer Online here. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2020 17:38:40 GMT -7
WOW, great to see that you have developed a program for your guys that recognizes the availability of parts on your side of the pond.
always good to have your guys join our races. maybe I can put something together to send to one of your events then!
carry on
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Post by AJR on May 30, 2020 6:13:58 GMT -7
WOW and WOW again! Very cool set up and format! Please keep us updated on your racing...both proxy and face to face. Maybe a few pictures from time to time. I love to see what others are doing. Thank you for the forum link as well. It is now Bookmarked. I would also put something together to send over if it were allowed.
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Post by dave632 on May 30, 2020 8:03:40 GMT -7
Very nice Andy, great to see HO racing going on in England. Please keep sending pictures.
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Post by woodcote on Jun 6, 2020 1:16:53 GMT -7
Thanks everyone! Yes, I shall definitely post some pictures. Let's see how the first event goes next week and then it would be great to welcome some cars from the other side of the pond!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2020 9:19:14 GMT -7
I have a couple chassis marked Hornby 12V on the bottom.
are they the same as Micro Scalextrics?
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Post by ecbill on Jun 6, 2020 18:39:21 GMT -7
I have a couple chassis marked Hornby 12V on the bottom. are they the same as Micro Scalextrics? Al, I think one evolved into the other but not certain which came 1st. Probably some sort of corporate merger or takeover. |
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Post by woodcote on Jun 7, 2020 0:24:41 GMT -7
Hornby are the parent company - owning various brands including Hornby, Rivarossi and Jouef model railways, Airfix model kits, Humbrol paints, Corgi diecasts, Pocher metal kits and Scalextric slot cars. The original 1994 Scalextric Micro cars and track were Marchon MR-1 with the track and ‘wide’ chassis still having the Marchon name on the moulding. In 1995, the new Micro Scalextric track and cars were introduced - an evolution of the MR-1 stuff, but having the Hornby name on them - as did the bigger 1/32 scale Scalextric cars at the time. Micro Scalextric sets have always been sold with a 18 or 19v transformer, so the 12v on the chassis was an error on someone’s part.
And yes, those are the cars we are running. They could get a free ride to the UK after your race!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2020 7:06:18 GMT -7
very informative, thank you.
and, yes, I'll be sending some.
just have to check your rules and figure out bodies to use.
the chassis I have don't have bodies.
looking forward to racing your cars and sending mine to your races.
thank you,
al
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Post by dave632 on Jun 7, 2020 9:41:56 GMT -7
Sounds good to me to. I will have to see what I can come up with also.
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Post by woodcote on Jun 12, 2020 11:50:11 GMT -7
The first UK South Coast proxy happened this week - qualification runs on Tuesday, elimination rounds Wednesday. I was delighted to get 31 cars sent in for the 3 core classes by 17 different racers, plus eight 4-Gear cars for some heads-up match racing. Here are the cars sorted into classes (minus one very late S/S arrival)...
The first competition was to choose Best in Show, which was judged by Mrs Woodcote (aka Rebecca)...
Alan also topped the time sheets in qualifying for all three classes, but he wouldn't have it his own way in the races.
First up on Wednesday was the Nostalgia T-Jet Super Stock...
Clive's brand new AW 'Tasca Ford' Thunderbolt qualified fourth in the eight-car field, but came alive on Wednesday - beating top-qualifier Alan in the Semis and lining up against my 'Georgia Shaker' Thunderbolt in the final...
And Clive took the win by 0.083 seconds to win the first medal of the Summer Series.
Next was Micro Scalextric Super Stock, with seven cars. Clive beat the top qualifier in the semis again - to line up against Rebecca in the final...
Clive's green Nissan was no match for the silver 350Z, Rebecca taking the win by 0.089 seconds.
The main event was the sixteen car Micro Scalextric Street Stock race. It was really exciting racing with some very close finishes, a dead heat and quite a few upsets. Top qualifier Alan had no problems getting to the final this time, but Rebecca's Porsche Boxster was a surprise finalist - having qualified sixth. It was a routine win for Alan by 0.055 of a second...
Finally, there was time for a little 4-Gear match racing. We had four nostalgia Funny Cars - three stock AW 'Legends' and Clive's fabulous Li'l Hoss on an Aurora speciality chassis...
Rebecca's Bounty Huntress was unbeaten and took away the MonopolyTM prize money.
Brothers Dylan and Noah had an AW Top Fuel contest, ending 2-0 to Dylan. And father and son Doug and David did the same with two AW Pro Stockers, Doug narrowly winning the decider.
I've put together a pdf Fanzine-style booklet with all the results, reports and pictures - plus some drag racing basics and the class regulations. It is available to download from SlotRacer here.
If we keep the UK proxy racing going, that could be a historic document one day  |
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comet
Pro Stock
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Post by comet on Jun 12, 2020 12:38:58 GMT -7
really awesome pics,checked out slotracer .thanks for the ride keep on draggingit!Comet (Hank)
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Post by dave632 on Jun 12, 2020 13:09:19 GMT -7
Thanks for the race report Woodcote, nice job. Enjoyed the reporting and congrats to the winners and finalists.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2020 14:29:23 GMT -7
good race report!
congrats to all who made the race and especially the winners.
but anyone who participates is a winner in a big way too.
Alan, love that HOT yellow!
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Post by GTS on Jun 12, 2020 14:32:43 GMT -7
Wow! That is impressive! What a meet you folks had, stellar to say the least! Thank you for sharing with us all and I especially enjoyed the *.pdf you linked us to. That was awesome! Congratulations to all the racers, finalists and winners! Y'all Rock!
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