Slot Car Racing

[Steve Holmes]

Ross, what happened to that slot car set?

Also, do you know what happened to Dougs photos?

[Steve Holmes]

a few more - Sunbeam is scratchbuilt from an old sedan kitset , with a 60s Maruso Jap chassis and a Cox engine - goes like the clappers

Wow, Bry, post more pics! These are awesome! I just love the Cheetah's. Where did you get the bodies from?

[Ross Hollings]

THe track at the Auckland Car club was broken up and dumped !!! As regards Dougs photos,I saw him a year or so ago on the Goldcoast and impressed upon him the importance of them .Looked into getting them scanned etc and the 8mm [great shots of mini races at Pukekohe ] but the cost was quite high for me to get them done,there are slides and movies,also gymkhanas with John Crombie in his beat up ,well used MiniCooper.Even some up at Murray Firths orchards where we used to test our little cars before the hillclimbs,[I think of the noise we use to make !!!!!]
Ross H

[Oldfart]

PM sent Ross

[bry3500]

Wow, Bry, post more pics! These are awesome! I just love the Cheetah's. Where did you get the bodies from?

The 2 x 32nd scale cars in the previous pics were complete Cox kits Steve. The black one was bought as an unopened kit, the blue one made from bits. The 24th scale one was assembled using a 60s vac formed body and Cox running gear. The Blue #3 in the following pic is a Strombecker

[bry3500]

more

[bry3500]

and some more

[Oldfart]

All on a very Low tech display surface Yeah Right.
Great set of cars.

[bry3500]

that low tech display surface came courtesy of 105Angria and his wonderful furniture designs
http://www.mapinternational.com.au/products/sofas/flow/

[bry3500]

ebay Cox Cheetah
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1-24-Cox-Cheetah-Slot-Car-/261096052902?pt=Slot_Cars&hash=item3cca8998a6

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Bry, I just love those. Do you still get to use them much?

[Steve Holmes]

THe track at the Auckland Car club was broken up and dumped !!! As regards Dougs photos,I saw him a year or so ago on the Goldcoast and impressed upon him the importance of them .Looked into getting them scanned etc and the 8mm [great shots of mini races at Pukekohe ] but the cost was quite high for me to get them done,there are slides and movies,also gymkhanas with John Crombie in his beat up ,well used MiniCooper.Even some up at Murray Firths orchards where we used to test our little cars before the hillclimbs,[I think of the noise we use to make !!!!!]
Ross H

Thanks Ross, too bad about the track.

Yeah I've heard of a few people who have interesting collections on slides, but the cost to convert them is pretty significant unfortunately. Slides really make for amazing images, their clarity is incredible. Most of the images in the Steve Twist collection on here are from slides. I hope one Doug gets them converted.

[Steve Holmes]

Check this out. Its late 1964. The tv show is I've Got A Secret. Special guest is Stirling Moss. From a nation-wide slot car racing competition, contestants were whittled down to four finalists, who would compete on tv to win a new Ford Mustang, and a $2,000 scholarship. Ford are obviously sponsors, as all the slot cars are Ford's. Slot car racing was BIG in the '60s! The kid who won looks neither very excited to have scored a brand new Mustang, which had only just been released a few months earlier, nor old enough to actually drive the thing!

[video=youtube;j9MZXw-xoI4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9MZXw-xoI4[/video]

[jnr356]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBXQWwxoUAs

[Steve Holmes]

Check out Batman and Robin's impressive layout.

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[Chris Radisich]

Slotcar racing as it started out in the 60's, scratchbuilt cars raced on routed wooden tracks is still alive and well in many countries across the world.

I started out racing when I was 5 years old, introduced to our local club in Henderson, Auckland by my brother Paul who was racing there at that time (1970). That club is the oldest in NZ (dates back to 1962) and is actually one of the oldest surviving in the world still racing today. Denny Hulme was a patron to the club, and Paul was added as a patron in the 90's.

You can find the Henerson Minature Motor Racing Club online at:
http://www.hmmrc.co.nz
and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/HendersonMiniatureMotorRacingClub

There is a New Zealand Slotcar Association which has run National Championship events every year for 49 years, only 1 year short of the oldest world nationals, those held in the UK. You can find it online at:
http://www.nzsca.co.nz/
and a list of currently operating clubs in NZ
http://www.nzsca.co.nz/Clubs_new.htm

There is still a very active scene here in the USA where I live these days, with around 200 commercial raceways still operating. Some resources to find raceways can be found at:
http://slotblog.net/forum/74-raceway-list/
and
http://www.oldweirdherald.com/owh-raceway-directory
The most active forums are:
http://www.slotcartalk.com/slotcartalk/forum.php
and
http://slotblog.net/

In Australia there are still a few raceways surviving. The oldest is Hornsby Slotcars in Sydney:
http://hornsbyslotcars.com.au/
and a good directory of Australian tracks is at:
http://www.slotcartracksaustralia.com/

Lots of activity throughout the UK and Europe as well with the UK Association site at:
http://www.bscra.co.uk/

There is also a world body, ISRA, which holds a yearly world championship, which for 2013 is being hosted in the Ukraine:
http://www.isra-slot.com/

There are many many different forms of slotcars, from the plastic track cars that are collected and raced all over the world, to the more specialist wing aero cars (covering more than 110 feet per second, or 75mph in real speed) to brass and piano wire scratchbuilt chassis cars. Just as in real motorsport there are many many different forms and classes, all with their own race venues, rules and groups that race them.

Here are a few videos showing a couple of the many different types of modern slotcar racing.

A video taken in Helsinki at the European Wing Car Championships, and gives a look at the racing, plus a look around the pit area as competitors work on their cars. These are the fastest slotcars on the planet, covering the 155ft Blue King track (A world standard layout design and length) in under 1.5 seconds. They are very dependant on aero to keep them on the track as they weigh around 45 grams in total.
[video=youtube;II8hXA16_ZA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II8hXA16_ZA[/video]

[Chris Radisich]

A world endurance race promoted by Italy's NSR using NSR plastic molded 32nd scale cars like the ones most people are familiar with
[video=youtube;pUX4j4w94wI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUX4j4w94wI[/video]

These cars are plastic chassis and injection molded bodies and run generally on plastic molded tracks like the traditional Scalextric type tracks

[Chris Radisich]

A different type of racing at the 2010 IMCA Model Car World Championships in Belgium, with entrants from 30 countries where we raced 24th scale screw together chassis with carbon fibre bodies
[video=youtube;0lSwk6-ev6U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lSwk6-ev6U[/video]

These cars are pretty hi-tech with laser and edm cut chassis pieces that must be held together with small screws and nuts. The bodies are highly detailed models, but made of out carbon fibre to ensure lightweight and strength. The Europeans competing in this type of racing are real scale modelers and the body detail is incredible.

[Chris Radisich]

Some footage from a Retro race in Columbus Ohio I was at a while ago on an original American Blue King track that has been at this same location since the early 1970's. Retro racing using scratchbuilt cars built form brass and pianowire with lexan vacuum formed bodies is amongst the most popular racing here in the USA currently, with classes for pre 1970 Indy/F1 and Can-Am cars.
[video=youtube;H1_6WP_YB2k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1_6WP_YB2k[/video]

These are a direct attempt to re-create the cars of the 1960's and 1970's that evolved originally from the kits that were sold in the 60's and 70's by companies like Cox, Aurora, Strombecker, Monogram etc and raced by the slotcar pro's of the early 1970's.

Retro F1 Matra
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Retro Can-AM TI-22
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[Oldfart]

These are great Chris, must be time to have some more tracks in NZ again!