[woodcote]

HO is all very small

Gareth - no problem at all. Just needs to be there Saturday morning for a Tuesday/Wednesday race (or Wednesday morning for the weekend trial run).

I will be putting up an event sign-up thread in the next few days for the first 'proper' race on 9th & 10th June - 5 weeks away. Any cars for the trial (15 & 16 May) would be nice, but not essential. That's more for me to figure out how it'll work ready for June.

[BAracer]

So...is this a legal motor?
   

[woodcote]

It certainly is 

The wires on the stacks are soldered to the raised ‘fly wheel’ rather than directly to the commutator plates, as is the case on similar motors used in Tomy cars. I should really take a motor apart and show the differences...

[woodcote]

This is one of the little HO Mabuchi cans taken apart - can/magnets, armature and end bell (with the brushes)...

       

I have a couple of these for the very occasional STEM sessions we've been asked to do.

The green wound armature in that can is not a legal Micro Scalextric one. Here it is side-by-side with a dirty old Micro armature showing the 'fly wheel'...

       

And then two more cans side-by-side - one from a Tomy Turbo chassis and the other from a Micro Scalextric car...

   

They are almost identical - apart from the armature.

Your chassis looks pretty new and clean

[woodcote]

Part of next weekend's trial will be some tyre testing to see if the theory of big tyres plays out in practice on the seven-foot strip with the Micro Scalextric cars and stock Tuff Ones T-Jets. I have quite a few SuperTires sizes - and I will post the results here. It will at least give a guide to how different tyre sizes work on the strip.

   

[woodcote]

The summer series will be sponsored by both Super Tires and Jadlam Toys & Models...

   

In addition to some goodies provided by the sponsors, there will be medals for the class winners at each event and trophies and prizes for the class points winners at the end of the series. The points system is based on the IHRA Clubman championship...

• Appearance points - 10 points for taking part
  
• Qualifying points - 16 points for top qualifier through to 1 point for sixteenth place qualifier
  
• Competition points for eliminator, depending on progress and field size...
  

   

[BAracer]

Woodcote

Started watching the daily lock down videos from Leyland Sklar. They mainly feature him playing wonderful bass lines from his greatest hits back catalogue...but a couple feature this beaut.

(Warning...video contains over 1000bhp)

https://youtu.be/41txjcFwG3U

[woodcote]

Thank you BAR. I have now identified my goals for 2020 - beard, bass and a Ford Hot Rod...

I do have a '34 Ford resin body to put on a T-Jet chassis...



That's one of the fabulous Jimmy Flintstone HO drag racing bodies. Most are designed to fit the 4-Gear chassis, but there are a half a dozen or so that fit a T-Jet. The full range is at jimmyflintstonestudios.com/?product_cat=ho-slot-car-bodys

Lucky Bob also sells most of the Jimmy Flintstone bodies for $10, plus the  Auto World T-Jet cars ($20-$27.50) and rolling  chassis ($13). The Auto World 4-Gear rolling chassis are $14.

[woodcote]

I had time to do some tyre testing on the drag strip, using one Micro Scalextric chassis and Audi TT body...

   

I used six types of Super Tires - four sizes that can be used in the Street Stock class and the 464s and AFX 490s that can only be used in Super Stock...

   

The Tyco sizes are all .280" (7.12mm) wide, the Mega-G tyres slightly narrower at .250" (6.36mm). The high, but narrow Aurora AFX .490" tyres are .200" (5.09mm) wide. All the tyres are silicone, apart from the Tyco .464 Pro Series which I only had the urethane version of.

All the tyres were measured on the same yellow Micro Scalextric hubs. I ran the car in for 5 minutes before the test and revved the car with the wheels off the track before every timed run. I also experimented with some weight (Blu Tack) in the nose of the Audi body, if the front of the car seemed to be lifting and the car stalling or stuttering - which was the case occasionally using the higher tyre sizes. The speed trap reading at the end of the strip is approximated using the length of car and the time the sensor is covered. Because of this approximation, the program rounded the speed to 6.793mph, 7.102mph, 7.440mph or 7.812mph in these tests.

Here's the data...

   

The speed for the AFX tyres should read 7.812mph - they were quick at the end, but not 80mph quick!

What I saw was a clear progression of lower ETs and higher speed trap readings, until we got to the two highest sizes. Although the 464 urethanes gave the quickest ET and average ET of the test, at least 0.5g of weight was necessary to prevent the front lifting, which caused poor starts and occasional deslots. The car was more consistent with the weight - and a wheelie bar would certainly have helped too. I don't know if the softer urethane compound helped or hindered that initial grip... The silicone version would have been good to compare. The Aurora .490" tyres caused problems at the start, although the car was rapid by the end of the strip. It's probably a combination of a little too tall for the motor/gearing - although that will be part of the fun building and tuning a Super Stock car.

In terms of the Street Stock tyres, the .448 tyres gave the quickest ET and average ET, although they did need a little weight - 0.2 to 0.5g - in the nose of the Audi body to help with the front end lift on acceleration. Because of the odd poor start with the bigger tyres, the smaller tyres gave more consistent times. The gap between the ETs was so small, that I think the .448s also make a decent entry-level Super Stock tyre.

This begs a question:

Super Tires want to send us all some tyres to play with - each competitor would get a pair each of two sizes. As people can buy the 448s (and lower sizes) from Barry at Slot Car Direct, should I ask for larger sizes that aren't available in the UK?

The .452R Pro Series tyre (available in urethane or silicone) will just sneak into the Street Stock class
The .464R Pro Series tyre (urethane or silicone) is the biggest in that series and came out well in the test for the Super Stock class. There are also two intermediate sizes (456R and 460R) in that series.

Any thoughts on which two sizes and which compound - standard silicone or softer urethane? Or the .452R in both compounds? I will also ask Nick and Sandy at Super Tires what they recommend.

[BAracer]

Happy to go along with your recommendations, noting that...

I am currently only entered in the Street Stock class, and not sure whether I would progress to Super Stock to make use of the the larger t(y)ire.

I not sure as to the difference between urethane or silicone compounds.