[fsisto1@verizon.net]

Great review and summary.   Thank you for doing this.  I think it will take me several months to watch all 66 prior episodes, especially with the ads popping up.   It shouldn’t take me quite as long to read your reviews.  Thanks again, Frank

[Scuderia_Turini]

Hello Frank,
YouTube have a handy speed control in the settings, so you can fast-forward through some content. On a PC use the right hand arrow to skip forwards and left to skip back. Especially useful for my bits - LOL.

Leo

[MrFlippant]

[BAracer]

#68

“Happiness is a warm slot car”

Big news this week was that Paul has taken his 3D printer out of the box. End of story…or is it the beginning!

JohnK had the pleasure of making some figures to stand outside a building. But what a building! He gave us a ten minute zoom round of a stunning model of a house, but as Greg said, it was one of those fractal buildings where, when you zoom in, you see the detail, then you zoom in again and you see the detail ON the detail, and so on, and so on…As someone said “That is the best dirt I have ever seen”. So there was an old sign on the side of the building, weathered, including areas of rust, which had then washed down the brickwork wall, and left an appropriate stain on the brick. Or the guttering, with finely detailed fixing brackets back to the brickwork, with water staining where it runs out onto the pavement, and with leaves in the gutter…oak leaves. You get the picture, but take a look for yourself.

‘Fast Eddie’ then gave a presentation to the Chat on the link between slot car racing and wellbeing. Do watch it, but for me it showed that even thought this hobby is based around little toy cars (or buildings!), it provides all that good stuff like companionship, technical challenges, competition, and the like. Great to listen to, and good to be reminded that it is not just about winning.

Coincidently, Alan then told us the story of his weekend that encapsulated many of the criteria laid out by Ed. So he and two old friends had spent the weekend getting reacquainted with each other following the easing of the long UK lockdown, using the excuse of the DiSCA 6hr Rockbullring event as their prompt. It started badly for Alan, he lost the raffle and his car was chosen to compete in the event, and as he would show, get totally wrecked. Talking of which, it sounded like Alan and his teammates were in party mood at the hotel on the evening before the event. Not that it all went to plan…this is how Alan described the first part of the session, and possibly the only bit he remembers: -

Alan: "Where can we find some action round here?"

Bar staff: “Right...are you guys in a band?”

A: “No, we’re racing drivers”

B: “Wow, where are you guys racing?”

A: “We have got a six hour race at the Rockingham circuit tomorrow”

B: “Oh wow. What cars are you guys driving?”

A: “Little plastic ones”



B: “………..Anyone waiting to be served?”

Alan then described their racing strategy for the event. Rather than stick to a rigid ‘British Plan’, they went for a more flexible Italian approach, or as I heard it described, “The Morning After the Night Before in the Travelodge Bar Plan”. The criteria for this seemed to be i) if you could stand up, and you didn’t feel too sick, you were driving; ii) if you started to feel unwell, for goodness sake slow down, and one of the other two will come and grab the controller off you before you do some damage to the car; iii) don’t touch the car or try and make any adjustment to it in any way during the 6hr, as in their hungover state, they were bound to make things worse. Anyway, they think that they won the race. And they think that because Alan was in possession of a large trophy which, as Dennis pointed out, someone had written ‘GT3 Winner’ on with a sharpie. 

This little story tied in quite well with the final segment of the Chat which mulled over the collector vs racer dichotomy. No real arguments ensued, the collectors were happy that the racers wrecked their cars as this reduced the remaining examples in the carpool and upped the value of those remaining. The racers were happy that there were still collectors around, or as one racer called them “spare part stockists”. What this showed up though was that there is a third way. For example, a number of people openly admitted to buying two cars when they buy one. So one to race and one to put on the shelf (until they need the spare parts). And the crossover between the two was completed by consideration of Alan’s wreck of a car. As JohnK suggested, if Alan’s car was 1:1 scale, it would have been paraded at Goodwood Festival of Speed to great acclaim, and then placed in the Bonham auction of race winning cars with authentic race damage, to be bought by a collector.


AOB/Previous Actions

Out of level Tyre Razor issue – solutions tabled. [Query Closed]
Sunoco Pioneer Legends – worldwide search undertaken, and examples for sale found. [Query Closed]

[MrFlippant]

(Deleted old links to avoid accidental clicking.)

[MrFlippant]

[BAracer]

#69

"Too much chitter chatter"

This episode started with the moment of birth of 'Worldwide Slot Car Chat on Zoom Enterprises Inc' when JohnK unboxed the donor Chaparral 2G body shell from which he will start casting copies for any worldwide slotter. Ed showed off a 1:32 version of his 1:1 home car, a cute little old Saab 99. The response from the Chat was similar to that received whenever a picture of a little kitten come up on twitter. Gary showed off his Scalextric Bathurst winning XJ-S. All very neat and tidy, but he had to lower the front a fraction to get it to look just right. Dewann was chuffed that he had managed to source the one piece of curved Revell track that was missing from his collection of 3000 pieces. His unbridled joy was slightly tempered by the fact he had had to give away an equivalent piece of straight track in exchange. All because he did not want to pay the price quoted on the box, $1.50.

Greg than spent a few minutes reeling off the list of recent blue and yellow car purchases he has had to make. I don't think he has twigged yet that some of the manufacturers watch these chats and have embedded his specific needs on their future produce releases. He then unburdened himself of a learning process he had gone through to eliminate a problem with a car that seemed to be suffering from incurable chatter. I will openly admit to being an overthinker when it comes to trying to understand and resolve tuning issues with slot cars, and Greg also had suffered from the same problem initially with this car. However, as the old guard on the Chat often say, at some point you have to stop trying to think a problem away and just try things out on the track instead. And after some reflection on the other cars in the field, Greg came up with an idea that went against his perceived thinking and, what do you know, it solved the problem! Weight placement lesson filed under "How does that work!"

We then had two slotters in perfect symmetry. Michael has been busy slowly removing magnets from his and his mates cars without them noticing. Alan has been busy 3D printing art deco style chassis but is struggling for consistent downforce, which people thought could be solved by adding more magnets. JK from 'Worldwide Slot Car Chat on Zoom Enterprises Inc' face lit up at this '5% introductory fee' opportunity.

Dennis gave us a masterclass in how to sort out the large gaps between the wheels and wheel arches on the latest Revoslot Mercedes. Not all masterclasses have to be complicated, Dennis's solution was effortless, as masterful solutions sometimes are. Neil was at the receiving end of further wise thoughts from Dennis and Chris with his request for guidance on building his first brass chassis.

And clever thinking was in abundance when Neil then described a handling problem with a 'straight out of the box' Carrera that de-slots exiting corners. Lots of clever 'pin point' questions were asked, and further explanation was provided. This was repeated a number of times and we were witness to a clear and logical analysis of a problem, and a logical and sequential explanation of how to solve it. Neil was following all the troubleshooting as best he could, with car being held upside down, forward, backward, in the slot, out of the slot, all with the body on, than with it off. His homework was to repeat everything he had learnt from the discussion over the next 7 days, but with the body screwed in position, data on left hand bends, and then on right hand bends. Tyres on, and then tyres off. All results to be handed in at next week's Chat. Had his screen frozen, or was Neil locked into a death stare of the front of the car, trying to 'think it' solved...?

Along with Greg and Neil, Wayne had been thinking about a problem and thinking about solutions. This time about weight distribution and guide lead. Once again, insightful questioning and analysis of the issue distilled it down to a simple solution. However, it was highlighted that whilst a lot of slot car problems can be resolved with solutions based on robust, logical analysis, sometimes empirical solutions simply based on something learnt from trying things out on a track trumps any engineering explanation.

Did I just see Neil move at this bombshell? No... it was just his glasses exploding.

[MrFlippant]

(Deleted old links to avoid accidental clicking.)

[MrFlippant]

[MrFlippant]

(Deleted old links to avoid accidental clicking.)