The day before the 2020 Carrera slot car range is exhibited at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, the catalogue has been posted on the Carrera website: www.carrera-toys.com/en/4849/catalogues

As in the catalogue, let's start with the 1/24 scale Digital124 range.


The only 124 set remains the Double Victory set with the two Porsche 911 RSRs - but there are some fabulous new liveries and a brand new Lola T70 MkIIIB...

                           

Anyone got an unloved SCX Audi A5 DTM bodyshell or complete car they want to sell? Not looking for pristine, just usable....

Good evening all, over the last couple of weeks I have finally sorted out the shed and managed to get a modest permanent track lay out. having spent all my money sorting this I found myself with no straight Scalextric borders, at work I have boxes of white foamex cut to size with those and the images through this forum I made a start with adding the long straight borders. great graphics on here many thanks to all involved with these, the red and white I measured the Scalextric ones and created my own pdf in AI, very please and only cost me some paper. 

   

My father is getting back into the hobby after a 50+ year hiatus. He has a track designed that consists of about 70ft of carrera track. Obviously, we would like to buy used b/c of the cost, so I thought id put out my feelers. Ill get the exact type and number of individual pieces we need, but suffice to say.....lots.


We are in the USA, but willing to explore international options too. If you have a large stock to unload, or can suggest someone who does, we would be grateful.


Zach

Having recently experienced my digital first race day at WHO, whilst the throttle control was reasonably familiar from 40 years ago when I last dabbled, what was completely new to me was what to do in a pit stop with the RCS64 system... 

On the day, I managed to get by with members telling me to press buttons, squeeze the trigger etc etc but I have no idea what I was happening during this process. 

Looking at the RSC64 website, it seems like a goldmine of information for its operation, but does anyone have an idiot guide as to what a Racer can do when they make a pot stop to save me hours of trawling through the site? 

(Just trying to over prepare myself for the next WHO Digital raceday!)

   

The 2020 Daytona 24 hours has begun. I'm watching live coverage in the UK on the IMSA app and the same feed (with IMSA radio commentary) is also on the IMSA website: imsatv.imsa.com

The free coverage is available worldwide - except for the USA, Canada, Latin America and New Zealand where local TV channels are broadcasting live.

I highly recommend Andy Blackmore's spotters' guide here: www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/20_imsa

   

Who am I cheering on this year?

• DPI and overall: Sébastien Bourdais, Loïc Duval & João Barbosa in the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac
  
• LMP2: Ryan Dalziel, David Heinermeier-Hansen, John Farano & Nicolas Lapierre in the #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca
  
• GTLM: Oliver Gavin, Tommy Miller & Marcel Fässler in the #4 Corvette C8R
  
• GTD: Christina Nielsen, Katherine Legge, Tatiana Calderón & Rahel Frey in the #19 GEAR Racing Huracán
  

The 1/64 scale Auto World Dragstrip system is a fabulous introduction to slot car drag racing. I've used it at home with friends, at our club and at public events - it is a simple set-up, but an enormous amount of fun!

This is how it works....



Featured in the video is a new set for 2020...


SRS330 Auto World Hot Wheels Legends of the Quarter Mile 'Snake vs Mongoose' Dragstrip Race Set

   

The massive on-track rivalry and close friendship between West Coast superstars Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme and Tom 'The Mongoose' McEwen is a thing of legend in the drag racing world. The Hot Wheels Funny Cars - in the liveries included in this set - became best-sellers in 1969 and helped to revolutionise sports marketing. They are two of the most iconic drag racing cars of all time...

   

Although pretty neat, the Auto World Funny Cars aren't quite as low-slung and stretched as the real cars. The highly-detailed bodyshells are fitted on top of the Auto World '4-Gear' chassis, which is a copy of the old Aurora 'Speciality' chassis. The new version has two traction magnets at the rear, which help settle down a pretty fast armature in the pancake motor.

The range of classic and modern Funny Cars, Pro Stocks and Top Fuel dragsters produced by Auto World over the past eight years must be heading towards three figures. There is also a smaller range of Legend of the Quarter Mile cars on the Thunderjet 500 chassis, focusing mainly on early to mid 1960s Super Stock cars.

In addition to the two Plymouth Funny Cars, the latest set includes...

• Electronic Start Gate/ Power Track
- Featuring fully-functional LED christmas tree
- In-Track sensors with red foul lights
- Pro and Sportsman racing modes

• Electronic Finish Line / End Gate
- Featuring win light indicators

• 2 x Variable Speed Thumb Controllers
• US Power Pack - 18 volts DC output
• 9 x 15” Track sections
• 1 x 3” Dead track section
• 2 x Track end caps
• Instruction sheet, Track assembly guide & Sticker sheet

That's thirteen feet of racing track, which can be expanded using Auto World or Aurora / Tomy AFX track pieces. A 1/64 scale Quarter Mile is 21 feet, 7 inches. The US power pack can be replaced with a UK / European Tomy AFX pack or the Auto World connector can be grafted onto a 18 volt laptop power supply (that's my preferred option).

The set is due to be released in March 2020 and will retail in the US for $169.99. Shipping to Europe can be expensive, but H0 Slot in Switzerland do import Auto World cars and might be able to help. Contact Stephan at H0 Slot here.

It is very nearly a year since SCX returned to the slot car world at the 2019 Nuremberg Toy Fair. It'll be interesting to see what new cars and sets SCX unveil at Spielwarenmesse next week, but the last few 2019 cars are due to arrive in the UK at the beginning of February. These are all SCX Advance digital cars, but will run on any analogue system by flipping a switch under the car - a little like Carrera Digital 132 & 124 cars. It is expected that these liveries with be Advance-only releases.


E10286 Lancia Fulvia 1.6HF Amilcare Ballestrieri / Arnaldo Bernacchini - Winner San Remo Rally 1972

         

The Fulvia dominated the International Championship for Manufacturers (forerunner of the WRC) in 1972 and the San Remo win was the last of three picked up by the Lancias. Ballestrieri and Bernacchini beat the sister Marlboro Fulvia of Barbasio and Sodano by 42 seconds and those two were a country mile ahead of the rest of the field.

As with most models of this the car, SCX have taken a few liberties with the accuracy of the Marlboro livery - it should read Lancia-Marlboro at the front of the bonnet. It still looks good, although I'm not sure the correct livery would have slot racers gasping for a nicotine fix (Scalextric released a Marlboro Torana last year and no-one raised an eyebrow).

This SCX Advanced digital car will run on any analogue track system by flipping a switch on the underside. RRP is £54 (as opposed to £44 for an SCX 'Original' car) and MRE have the Fulvia on pre-order for £48.60.

Although the Fulvia is the star of these SCX Advance releases, there are also two very tasty GT3 cars...


E10285 Audi R8 LMS GT3 - Audi Sport Team Saintéloc - Haase, Vervisch, Winkelhock - Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup 2018

         

This is a lovely GT3 livery from the 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The #25 Saintéloc car ran in the Pro Cup, scoring a  fourth place finish at the Spa 24 hours and finishing on the same lap as the winners. RRP is £54 for this SCX Advance digital car. MRE has it on pre-order for £48.60.


E10284 Mercedes AMG GT3 - Black Falcon - Haupt, Al Faisal, Piana - Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup 2018

         

The #6 Black Falcon 'Sport Code' sponsored car ran in the Silver Cup class of the 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup competition. Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt and Gabriele Piana won Silver Cup honours at Silverstone. Helped by his points in the Sprint Series, Haupt finished runner-up in the 2018 Silver Cup standings. RRP is £54 for this SCX Advance digital car. MRE has it on pre-order for £48.60.



In addition to these two GT3 liveries, the SCX Advance GT3 set (E10283) contains two more 2018 Blancpain cars - the #87 AKKA ASP Silver Cup Mercedes AMG GT3 and the #17 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Pro Cup Audi R8 LMS GT3...

   

At the moment, neither the SCX Advance GT3 set nor the SCX Original GT Open set (which contains two more GT3 cars with non-Blancpain liveries) are available in the UK. I hope to have more news about the SCX sets soon.

SCX have chosen some cracking Blancpain liveries - plus there are two more Blancpain GT3 cars in the 'Original' guise, one of which is discussed here: slotracer.online/community/showthread.php?tid=910


Many thanks to Steve at Staffs Slot Cars UK for the pictures and release details.

Racer Sideway ZakSpeed Capri

A one-off review of the Group Five Zakspeed Pentosin Capri for Slotracer.online
   


The car
Racer-Sideways have been on the ascendancy for a while.
Recent releases such as the Lambourghini Huracan are making inroads at many clubs against far more established "high end" manufacturers.
So why review the Capri now given that it is quite an old release?
   
I race at two clubs weekly, both of which run a class for Racer Sideways group five.
Club one is an even split between two cars, the BMWM1 and the Capri.
The other club has far more of a spread in the types of cars but the Capri is the best performer and although the M1 shows much promise but is yet to get a firm grip on the top of the results table.

At the M1 dominated club, my racing pair is made up of two M1s.
Both of these cars are on their second (or third) motor after three years of hard racing.
The format at that club is that the cars are "virtually standard" (don't ask me what that means, I don't really know)

As a start point for racing group five at the second club, I took my pair of M1 down there, fitted the tyres that are permitted (urethane) and tried to compete. No chance! The second club permits multiple upgrades including unlimited inline motors.

So, a decision was made to take one of my trusty M1s, convert it, lock stock and barrel, to an inline.
This left a gap in my "racing pair strategy" so I was on the lookout for a replacement for the M1.

Swindon swap meet 2020, new in box, £40. Good value!

First impressions.
Lovely paintwork, well constructed. Straight out of the box, The car ran on my rolling road without any issues at all. ?
No paint flaws, no binding axles, no rubbing wheels. The guide even self straightened. ??
A quality build. The only issue with the car was a rear wing upright that had broken free (probably through hard handling as it was boxed up at the factory). A dab of super glue, easily fixed.

Upgrades Upgrades.
Racer Sideways construct many of their cars around Slot.IT compatibility and Slot.IT parts.
The Zakspeed Capri features a yellow Slot.IT 28tooth GA-1268 anglewinder crown.
Slot.IT compatibility can be very useful when upgrades are required.
The only upgrade permitted for this class of racing is the motor pod.
   
The racer sideways 5point pod (see pic) is perfectly adequate for most needs.
The pod even comes with parts to adjust the ride height of the car, effectively providing two offset options without changing the pod itself.
So... why change the pod? ?
Under high grip conditions the Racer Sideways pod can exhibit tramping, also colloquially known as "Ninco Hop".?
The tramping occurs because the axle is not held rigidly enough in line with the axis of the rear axle.
There are some fixes for the Tramping which may or may not be permitted at your club (if you do club racing)

1. A DIY truss/strut glued in place between the motor can and the right hand edge of the pod ( the non crown side)
2. Resin-fill the trough in the pod between the motor and the axle.
In the pic of the racer sideways pod above, I have pointed the long end of the Allen key exactly at the location of the trough.

At our club, these kind of DIY fixes are not permitted. A Slot.it CH75 zero offset anglewinder pod is the upgrade path.

The Motor was fluid dipped and tested and runs at specification, probably the first Flat Six motor I have owned that meets spec.?
Track is Ninco polymer track.
Tyres : retrofit NSR Reds, the current fashion at our club. The Reds appear to give good adhesion, predictability and wear rate.
Fro t tyres : Slot.IT zero
Braids : NSR 0.2 race braid which do seem to have the best balance of low-spring, good contact and good wear rate.

Apart from the mods listed above, NOTHING has been changed.
   
Guide to rear axle length is identical to the M1, maximum rear axle width (before body fouling occurs) is also the same.
The Capri has slightly more overhang at the front and the rear making it a longer car. The length makes the Capri look thinner but its rear wheel arch measurement is identical to the M1 , 65mm.

See chassis pics above.

Final touches.
Some black sharpie to cover some of the car's graphics.
The rectangular yellow on the roof was sure to confuse some Marshals when reslotting the car after an in-race incident. That yellow rectangle looks far too much like lane ID tape.

A touch of oil on the axle bushes.

Testing.
"One on one" against a racer sideways BMWM1 JPS special edition at my local club. Watford Nascot Wood.
   
Despite the motor in the capri being 8% faster than the motor in the M1 , it was not able to cut faster laps times.
It was , however, able to match the M1 which is indeed quite feat considering how many small refinements the M1 has had over the last 2 years or so.
The capri has quite a noisy and rattley behaviour on the the track, as opposed to the m1 which is whisper quiet.
Maybe some chassis&body trimming, damping gel and some mileage will sort that out.

In summary.
A well put together car of quality construction.
If you collect Group Five cars, The Pentosin Zakspeed Capri is a worthwhile addition to your collection.
If you race these cars and are looking for a new car to slam around the club track, the car will acquit itself well against other cars of this class.

I hope to use this can in anger on 31st Jan. Only then will, I see if it is able to replace the M1 as my "number one" in this class.

Hope you all enjoyed the read.
Comments and questions are always welcome.
AlanW - NonFractal ?

After Leo's thread about slot car transporters, it seems only right to look at this spectacular new set from Avant Slot and Resinas Maralic.

   

AVS-M001 Avant Slot Opel Manta service van with trailer and slot car

Originally due before Christmas, the release was delayed to make sure everything was perfect. With a retail price of £280 and only 225 units worldwide (50 coming to the UK), this is a very special release. Everything is now ready, boxed and on its way to distributors...

         

The Avant Slot Opel Manta 400 is an exclusive livery for this set and is the car entered by the Opel Rally Team in the 1984 Rallye Alpin Behra - a round of the European Rally Championship. Guy Fréquelin drove the car to third place overall, seven minutes behind winner Jean Ragnotti in a Renault 5 Turbo. The Opel Rally Team service van can be seen in photos from the event...

         

The Chevrolet van and trailer are resin models produced by renowned resin model makers based in Madrid. Resinas Maralic specialise in rally cars and are planning a similar collaboration with Fly Slot for later this year. They already have a couple of interesting 1960s transporters in their range... The Chevy van in this set is a working slot car model.

Avant Slot also have a single Opel Rally Team Manta on its way - the car that Fréquelin drove to ninth place at the 1984 Tour de Corse the month after the Alpin Behra event. This car (ref AVS-51508) is another limited edition of 300 pieces worldwide. The RRP for the #3 car is £69.99 and it makes the perfect companion for the set...

   

Thanks to Steve at Staffs Slot Cars UK who distributes Avant Slot in the UK. Both MRE and Pendles will be receiving the Opel Rally Team limited editions and have them on pre-order now. They will arrive in the next seven days.