[Gareth]

In November last year, I finally made it back to the hallowed ground of the Barn to race in Nascar.  All the old excitement came flooding back and I was determined to go racing in 2024.  This is slightly hampered by clashing diaries with the wife but I'm sure we can work something out.  

This thread is going to document me prepping my cars and Dylan's ready for this year and beyond.  

Last night we raced in the Mod round.  We both raced in Tuners which is the hard body, stock chassis sub class.  Very pleased to come away with the win but hopefully we see more competition over the season as winning your class before you even drive your final does feel a little empty.  

Anyway here is the racebox today.  First order of business is clearing out the non-relevant cars, parts and other assorted bits and pieces.  

   

[Gareth]

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we have to think about Nascar and F1 as well as what Dylan wants to do for the rest of the Mod season.  Pulling his car off the track after his final, I quickly noticed that one of his traction magnets was missing.  Which explained his very patchy performance and struggles in the chicane.  And this was after his original chassis cut out in his first heat.  

So one of the jobs before April will be reviewing the LifeLike chassis stocks and making sure that if he does stay in Tuners that he has a reliable chassis.  

   

The other options for him would be to run in Modified.  We have 3 Vipers between us plus a brass weighted one for the ill fated old F1 sub class.  If I can get one running fast and consistently then he could move into Mod.  Alternatives could be buying another Viper (always a coin flip if that'll work), a Bulldog running one of my old bodies or possibly this LifeLike Mod which was used to great effect by Robin in the early days of WHO.  I've given it a new axle but last time I tried it, it was a bit off pace.  So more tinkering needed there.

   

Here is the chassis box as I've called it.  It's where my extra Super Gs, Mega Gs and some bodies were stored to make room in the pit box.  The yellow and black Hornet DW12 was my first ever winning car at WHO.  The orange Nascar was my championship winning Mod.  The rear end is too damaged to use it again unfortunately.  

   

[Gareth]

I'm happy with my Nascar Super G as it is.  3rd place in November was a nice result...could have been the win if I'd driven better but that's how racing goes!  

So that leaves me with F1.  The new rule removing the tyre restriction on the Super G is hugely exciting for me.  I've not had much luck with the original Mega Gs despite spending a fair chunk of money on chassis.  The fastest Mega G+ cars were trouncing my Mega G last time I drove it.  And again MG+s I seem to only have lemons so no desire to race those. 

I don't really want to pull my Nascar body off each month and move the front axle to accommodate bodies so I'll be relying on these four to see if they are competitive.  

   

I think I gave Dylan my #2 chassis so these won't be as good as my Nascar but hopefully will be good enough.  As usual more testing and tinkering is in the pipeline.  They all have flat pickups and balanced magnets.  Just don't know which is which from #3 to #6! 

Almost as important as being fast is looking good on the grid.    And that means having a nice body on the car.  

Before going on hiatus, I had built a new SG F1 body by fabricating a new rear wing and fitting it to a body. A daub of my usual orange paint and decals soon made it part of my fleet.  Unfortunately it didn't get on with the brass weighted Viper it was running on and a floor hit smashed the wing.  So that'll need much reinforcement.  As will the yellow and orange car's wing.  I have a plan for these and will show you that soon.

   

   

And yes the black car is a 3D test I made.  I was messing in Tinkercad trying to make the 6 wheel Williams.  I need to learn a real CAD package to progress this one I think!

[woodcote]

It's great to have you back Gareth!

   

Looking forward to lots of close racing and everything you bring in terms of knowledge and advice for our newer members.

The classes have become quite settled around Vipers, Super-Gs and Mega-G+ so having some alternative machinery on the grid will be pleasing. At the moment Duncan offers almost all the variety - running a very competitive Life Like T in Nascar and his Tyco in F1. I can see interest piqued for Tuners alternatives - and that is certainly a great way to learn how to tune an HO car. Maybe Duncan can be persuaded to join the scrap for Tuners glory?

[Gareth]

   

Thanks Andy. So nice to be back. Hopefully my dreams of success last longer than my hair did!

This is me presenting fellow WHO and Limit of Adhesion racer Oli with his GT3 championship trophy last night. 

I have been toying with the idea of doing a YouTube channel to document my hobbies and one area would obviously be my HO cars. Does make sense to put some WHO guides on there. 

I must admit I've always enjoyed exploring the esoteric and unusual options. Beating the Marchon MR1s with my Lifelike T, tinkering with SRTs and things like that. Here's another unusual option which Andrew Rose got me interested in; the Artin.

   

I must have the largest collection of Artin Mustangs in the world!

   

   

[Gareth]

Must head to the shed for the Marchons as well at some point.  Very enthused with options. 

The Artins are a tricky chassis to work on with the enclosed axle but it is reasonably quick and with a fresh Mabuchi could be interesting.

[Gareth]

Cleaning out the race box felt great to do.  I've tried to limit myself to the cars I'm actually going to race.  So I have my Super G Nascar and a spare body, a pair of Lifelike T Porsches for Tuners and 4 x Super G F1s.  Those were the chassis that I showed in the previous post.  I have put my Artin race car in but I doubt it will ever come into service.  

That's a top tip by the way, only bring the cars you plan to race and a backup or two. Track time is so limited on race night that there just isn't time for people to driving non-race cars and stopping people from practicing.   

I've got my tyres in the top deck of the box along with springs and pickup shoes, tweezers and glassfibre pencil.  The only other regular addition is my controller.

   

Having removed all of the tuning tools such as wheel press, gear puller, scales and axles etc, I decided to create a Tuning box.  As nice as it occasionally is to have those tools at a race in an emergency, the reality is they shouldn't be needed.  So I pulled them all out.  And now they're easily to hand when I work on cars.

   

Speaking of working on cars, the four Super G F1s had a lot of time put into them.  One received a new end bell and armature as it was stalling and then not running smoothly.  The others just had some running in time.  I made up several new axles and fitted the original axle retainers back on.  Might need some more of those.  I can't believe I threw them away as a kid!  

Running in is really important with these cars.  Even my Nascar Super G which is the smoothest and fastest thing I've ever built benefited from a running in session before it went racing in November.  I use this bench power supply and track combo to get the cars running nicely.  When the amps drop to below 0.2 then I know the car is getting into its optimal state.