Slot car drag racing
Discussion
Probably not be seen as very scale model like but this has been my first venture into scale model building since doing airfix kits as a kid.
Slot car drag racing is based on the 1/25 scale and uses either pre made chassis or complete home brew chassis based around the scalextrix style slot track.
My local hot rod club have built a full size scale drag strip, including timing slip machine which prints out your RT, ET and scale speed.
The club uses a few home brew chassis but mainly cars are based on the Parma Edge chassis, which comes fitted with a Super 16D motor.
Just like real drag racing gains are based on chassis tune up, gearing, tyre and compound selection, wheelie bar set up as well as being keen off the lights.
Tonight is the first meet since there was a group buy and I picked up 2 chassis to play with. It's a bit like being a kid in a candy store when you realise this is a chance to choose any model of car you've always liked and be able to actually race it. Sadly though 90% of the model in the box doesn't get used, where really you only want the shell, glass and few bits of trim.
For my first model I decided to keep it fairly simple yet also unique and opted for making some funny cars. I bought 2 1/25 scale Rexell funny cars. At the moment I've only had time to modify one of the chassis to accept the frame. The wheel base needed extending and some rather inventive thinking for how to hold the body on.
This is so far what I've come up with. The two bits of ally may seem a bit ott for holding the front axle, but directly below are the two braid pickups. Keeping the chassis well balanced so the front end doesn't lift and lose power is key. So weight over the front and also well set up wheelie bars at the back.
As yet I have no idea how competitive my car is. I have simulated wearing in the rear bronze bushes on the rear axle but the motor is still box fresh and probably quite tight.
After tonight ill report back with how it went and some photos of the other cars.
Here's my 1996 Dodge Avenger Fruit of the Loom funny car, as driven by KC 'Hollywood' Spurlock (I've never heard of him either) :
Slot car drag racing is based on the 1/25 scale and uses either pre made chassis or complete home brew chassis based around the scalextrix style slot track.
My local hot rod club have built a full size scale drag strip, including timing slip machine which prints out your RT, ET and scale speed.
The club uses a few home brew chassis but mainly cars are based on the Parma Edge chassis, which comes fitted with a Super 16D motor.
Just like real drag racing gains are based on chassis tune up, gearing, tyre and compound selection, wheelie bar set up as well as being keen off the lights.
Tonight is the first meet since there was a group buy and I picked up 2 chassis to play with. It's a bit like being a kid in a candy store when you realise this is a chance to choose any model of car you've always liked and be able to actually race it. Sadly though 90% of the model in the box doesn't get used, where really you only want the shell, glass and few bits of trim.
For my first model I decided to keep it fairly simple yet also unique and opted for making some funny cars. I bought 2 1/25 scale Rexell funny cars. At the moment I've only had time to modify one of the chassis to accept the frame. The wheel base needed extending and some rather inventive thinking for how to hold the body on.
This is so far what I've come up with. The two bits of ally may seem a bit ott for holding the front axle, but directly below are the two braid pickups. Keeping the chassis well balanced so the front end doesn't lift and lose power is key. So weight over the front and also well set up wheelie bars at the back.
As yet I have no idea how competitive my car is. I have simulated wearing in the rear bronze bushes on the rear axle but the motor is still box fresh and probably quite tight.
After tonight ill report back with how it went and some photos of the other cars.
Here's my 1996 Dodge Avenger Fruit of the Loom funny car, as driven by KC 'Hollywood' Spurlock (I've never heard of him either) :
I asked about what rules there are to follow and the guy who organises the meet simply said, experiment and have fun. I actually want to see what this will do stock. I have another chassis that I plan on doing the same thing with so we can imitate funny car racing as opposed to this being up against a bog standard car.
I don't have any track, i'm in the process of making up a tune up box which will be a flat top box with a slot cut in it and two electrical contacts, then I can mess around with gearing and axle float etc.
The key is apparently having it all hook up and being loose so you don't bog the motor down from the start line. The tyres are meant to work as a clutch but you don't want to be running out of speed before the traps.
I don't have any track, i'm in the process of making up a tune up box which will be a flat top box with a slot cut in it and two electrical contacts, then I can mess around with gearing and axle float etc.
The key is apparently having it all hook up and being loose so you don't bog the motor down from the start line. The tyres are meant to work as a clutch but you don't want to be running out of speed before the traps.
Very cool - there are a few slot car drag strips in the UK, and a European championship. We run a strip every January in Swindon. Linky to slot car drag forum
Hi Camaro, take a look at my website for the cars etc belonging to club members.
http://slotdragracing.weebly.com/index.html
Cheers
MrD
http://slotdragracing.weebly.com/index.html
Cheers
MrD
Hi, yep one controller each lane (basically an on/off switch) if you tried to feather a drag motor with a standard type controller it would just burn it out. You can get controllers with a roll-out button which allows you to blip it and get the glue from the tyres on the track at the start. I have a separate 20 Amp power supply for each lane wired through the controller with a tap feed to halfway down each side of the track. It's down to car set-up, tyres,reaction time and motor used.
Cheers
MrD
Cheers
MrD
Went to Gaydon last year & the year before, the drag cars were superb - my lad ran his racer down the track, quite interesting to see the difference between a standard Scalextric car, his Le Mans spec race car & the dragsters - the plastic F1 cars barely hit 20mph, his was into the 30's iirc, the dragsters left it for dust!
Didn't realise this thread had picked up!
MrD we need to talk! As yet I don't know of any future events for the track. It's owned by one of the local hot rodders, completely home made including the computer printing out the timing tickets.
There's also no track prep which is something I notice from yours and all the yank videos is that they heavily glue the tracks.
I've just completed a 1970 Dodge Challenger model, needs glass to finish off, imported some tyres from the states for it.
MrD we need to talk! As yet I don't know of any future events for the track. It's owned by one of the local hot rodders, completely home made including the computer printing out the timing tickets.
There's also no track prep which is something I notice from yours and all the yank videos is that they heavily glue the tracks.
I've just completed a 1970 Dodge Challenger model, needs glass to finish off, imported some tyres from the states for it.
My track is also homemade, from 20mm thick polycarbonate roof sheets, 10 X 2 metre sections. Timing system is Trackmate from Canada, it does have facility for print out but we don't use it as I keep a hard copy record of race times etc. for use on my website. If you need any more parts, try me first as I get them at trade price and place bulk order with supplier in France, reduces shipping costs. MrD slot drag racing meets start again in September (after the Hot Rod show season has more or less finished) and we race every three weeks on a Friday night.
Cheers
MrD
Cheers
MrD
Hi Camaro and hello again to you MrD in your guise as ModelY32 (you can run but you can't hide!!)
I'm actually part of the same slot racing club as Robless (see earlier post), which is Four Lane Blacktop (FLBT), based in Marlborough in Wiltshire and as Rob says, we currently air our Drag Strip at the Swindon Slot Racing Swapmeet each January, but would like to get it running more at our regular haunt in Marlborough, when we normally meet every Tuesday evening. A comprehensive Blog about the FLBT strip and its development can be accessed via THIS LINK.
MrD and I are also Moderators for the SlotForum Drag Racing forum - HERE.
Here are a couple of pics of my 1/24th cars running on Parma Edge with 16D:
Also, here is a pic of the FLBT Strip from last January's Swindon swapmeet:
I hope that is of help and also inspiration.
Cheers, Robin.
I'm actually part of the same slot racing club as Robless (see earlier post), which is Four Lane Blacktop (FLBT), based in Marlborough in Wiltshire and as Rob says, we currently air our Drag Strip at the Swindon Slot Racing Swapmeet each January, but would like to get it running more at our regular haunt in Marlborough, when we normally meet every Tuesday evening. A comprehensive Blog about the FLBT strip and its development can be accessed via THIS LINK.
MrD and I are also Moderators for the SlotForum Drag Racing forum - HERE.
Here are a couple of pics of my 1/24th cars running on Parma Edge with 16D:
Also, here is a pic of the FLBT Strip from last January's Swindon swapmeet:
I hope that is of help and also inspiration.
Cheers, Robin.
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