[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.