NSR Support Slot Car Clubs Offer

autoavia · 9th-Jun-21, 08:27 AM

Unfortunately Southend Slot Racing Club didn't make the list.

I had a plan to use the cars for a club championship where we had a pool of 10 cars all prepared by a the same couple of club members so that the cars were as identical as possible. I wanted to work out a way that everyone got to race each car at least once during the championship so any car advantage would be minimal. Hadn't worked it out fully as the first priority would have been to build the cars.

It is a shame we weren't successful, but on the other hand at least I don't have to find the time to help build 10 cars.

Qman · 6th-Aug-21, 05:41 PM

Have any club received their cars from NSR yet? rumours are that one club in Florida now have them but I haven't heard of any others.
I know that our club are still waiting

chrisguyw · 6th-Aug-21, 06:21 PM

(6th-Aug-21, 05:41 PM)Qman Wrote: Have any club received their cars from NSR yet? rumours are that one club in Florida now have them but I haven't heard of any others.
I know that our club are still waiting

I can confirm that the one club in Florida that was to receive them has had them for a week or so.........I have not heard anything about the other clubs on the list.

Cheers
Chris Walker

SavMolo · 14th-Aug-21, 07:14 PM

Hi,

I put the application in for Melton, but all I have heard since is having to "AGREE" to the T&Cs.

While we are all waiting, I did throw together a set of technical regulations for these cars, which you can find below;

http://www.slotcar.club/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SCC_NSR_997-Technical_v0.1_Draft.pdf

As I explained (in more detail) on the 'other' forum, there are 10 clubs in the UK who were lucky enough to be selected. This would be the perfect opportunity to get a standardised technical regulation going between a large number of UK clubs. This could then hopefully promote some closer clubs ties and enable people to visit and race at tracks they would not usually have the cars to compete.

It would be good to get at least a couple of clubs interested, but so far, nothing!

If any one has any feedback on the regulations or if you could help persuade other clubs members to think about participating, that would be great.

Cheers

James

Qman · 15th-Aug-21, 04:21 PM

(14th-Aug-21, 07:14 PM)SavMolo Wrote: Hi,

I put the application in for Melton, but all I have heard since is having to "AGREE" to the T&Cs.

While we are all waiting, I did throw together a set of technical regulations for these cars, which you can find below;

http://www.slotcar.club/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SCC_NSR_997-Technical_v0.1_Draft.pdf

As I explained (in more detail) on the 'other' forum, there are 10 clubs in the UK who were lucky enough to be selected. This would be the perfect opportunity to get a standardised technical regulation going between a large number of UK clubs. This could then hopefully promote some closer clubs ties and enable people to visit and race at tracks they would not usually have the cars to compete.

It would be good to get at least a couple of clubs interested, but so far, nothing!

If any one has any feedback on the regulations or if you could help persuade other clubs members to think about participating, that would be great.

Cheers

James

Regulations for this series seem pretty self explanatory.

Bog standard EVERYTHING, as they come out of the box (except painted)

That's of course when we actually get them, could be a problem fitting in enough rounds by the cut-off date.

SavMolo · 15th-Aug-21, 05:06 PM

(15th-Aug-21, 04:21 PM)Qman Wrote: Regulations for this series seem pretty self explanatory.

Bog standard EVERYTHING, as they come out of the box (except painted)

That's of course when we actually get them, could be a problem fitting in enough rounds by the cut-off date.

Yep, that's pretty much what they are, but to stop any arguments all standard part codes are listed for reference, sets the standard on how to build the kit and clamps down on any modifications to try and gain an advantage.

I fully understand, its all just to prevent someone turning up at a club that runs them "bog standard", but then to hear "but... we allow you to".

We can then have a list of clubs that use a set of standard regulations they can all refer to, and will hopefully get more people interested in visiting as they know the car they have taken is going to be 100% legal, and competitive.

We have scheduled our first race in for November, if the cars do arrive as expected in August, should allow people a couple of months to get them prepared.

Qman · 15th-Aug-21, 05:26 PM

or you do what we plan...
The cars are (will be), owned & maintained by the club, painted in lane colours, and the same cars used by all participants, that way we will have 4 cars plus a spare for each race night with another complete set ready for any breakages.

You cant get fairer than that.

woodcote · 15th-Aug-21, 07:32 PM

Nice guidelines James - definitely important if the cars are being handed to racers to prepare.

I'm sure different clubs will come up with various formats for the NSR freebies - and that diversity will be great to see. If we'd have been lucky at WHO, they'd ended up as club cars for our digital racing in a GT3 team race format.

Although I do - in theory - like the idea of clubs sharing regulations, they doesn't always work out in practice. Plus, I do wonder if it stifles the innovation that clubs 'going solo' can bring to the hobby. Some of our WHO/digital regs are based on DiSCA standards, others on CSCRA regs. However, they are all tweaked to match the character and requirements of our club, our tracks and our racers. Ultimately, that's what comes first. And we've had plenty of visitors from other clubs, quite a few of whom are now regulars.

I also think there are enough excellent national or regional events series with straightforward regs to keep everyone happy. It's not the end of the world to have to build or modify a car to run in those events.

In terms of 'one-make' racing, NSR produced regs for their 'English' Championship in 2019...

GT3: https://www.nsrslot.it/assets/regolament..._GB_Mo.pdf
Classic: https://www.nsrslot.it/assets/regolament..._GB_Mo.pdf

Slot.it also have some racing regs for their models, although you'll need a bit of Italian, apart from the Group C regs: http://slot.it/technical-rules/

And Thunderslot too: https://www.thunderslot.com/download/Can...nglish.pdf

SavMolo · 15th-Aug-21, 11:42 PM

It just seems a shame and a bit of a wasted opportunity for clubs to set their own rulesets or to keep hold of them themselves, rather than distributing them out to their members. 100 identical cars in the hands of racers across the country, for free, is something that will never happen again.

Though I can fully understand the reasons why a club may want to do that, I don't begrudge them at all. In fact, Melton was very close that as well, but in the end it was decided that the club to purchase additional kits in the hope of attracting even more members back, plus Club Car events are our least well attended.

The only thing that is stifling at the moment is a lack of any community between clubs, while they all do have their own niches and interests, a little commonality couldn't do any harm. Post Covid, wouldn't it be great to have the ability to easily visit new clubs across the country with no worries about rules or costs, plus clubs having the potential to reach 90 new racers?

But hey, at least you cant say no one hasn't tried!

Cheers

James

woodcote · 16th-Aug-21, 08:55 AM

I am absolutely sure you'll be using the NSR freebies in the right way for your club. But every club is different - and the lucky ten will have weighed up how those cars will benefit their clubs best. NSR offered these cars to help clubs coming out of the disruption of the pandemic - and their main condition was the cars get used.

Club car team racing has always worked very well at WHO. The average attendance over our first ten years was 21 per event, but our club car races have regularly hit the high 20s and into the 30s. We make a big push to get new people along - all they have to do is turn up and pay their £3. That way, we manage to attract new racers who've topped up the numbers over the years. I think it's a perfect no-pressure introduction to club racing.

Having said that, we do work on publicity for our club car team races and create a special buzz on the night - and that helps get people through the door and have a memorable evening...

Another perspective on the NSR offer is that anyone (out of a UK population of 66 million) could come and have a go at an NSR club car night... it wouldn't limit the potential participation to the new owners of those 100 freebies. There are a lot of new people who've got into slot cars during the pandemic. Yes, it would need clubs to actively publicise the events, engage with their local communities and maybe do things rather differently at the track - but it would certainly be an interesting experiment!