Where to start?

[gordon]

Yesterday morning I went through most of my cars that are eligible for our upcoming Historic Saloon, American Pony Car and Vintage Sports '60-'75 classes (with the 2017 amendments) and pulled out the ones I would like to try to prep:



Where to begin? Well I buckled down to it and about ten hours after starting, I had basically completed the lone APC Mustang, the VS GT40 and Chaparral 2 and the HS Escort and Capri. Five cars done, so halfway there.

Here are the key areas which took some time:

Historic Saloon

• Escort: Getting the car to comply with the USD rule.
• Capri: Relocation of the magnets and getting the car to comply with the USD rule. Also changed and relocated the chip and this caused issues with fitting the interior that took a while to sort out.

American Pony Car

• Mustang: Not a lot to do here, as I had the car ready since late last year, however it wasn't passing the USD rule and I had to re-do the magnet setup. In the process I burst a wire coming off the chip and had to remove the chip and re-solder the wire. Sometimes its more haste, less speed.

Vintage Sports

• GT40: The GT40 wouldn't pass the ground clearance requirement, but was able to solve this with some slightly taller rear tyres. Decided to remove all the weight which I had installed for the last event to keep the front of the car in the slot and install a second magnet ahead of the motor. Got this all set up and working well then decided to re-check the 2017 regs and realised that the class only allows magnets in a single location. Back to square one. Had to remove the second magnet and add back much of the weight to prevent wheelie de-sloting.
• Chaparral 2: Fitting magnets in the very tight space between the motor shaft and the pinion gear took some time, but had no problem with either the ground clearance or the USD rule.

So, be aware that getting your cars legally set-up for these classes can take a bit of time.

[RameshB]

Hi Gordon i am still smiling after your post because i had similar challenges and had to check back with regs to be correct with set up . I must say you have gotten a lot of work done , i was only able to decide which historic and which pony cars to set up since i also have to put aside some for TSCC . My VS cars are ready , but will have to fine tune., the pony and historic are still on the drawing board , lots of fun.

[gordon]

Yes Ram, prepping cars is always relaxing and enjoyable time spent despite the setbacks and time it can take. Lots of satisfaction in solving problems and coming up with cars that (hopefully) run well.

[steveaca]

Hi Gordon,
looks like you had a very productive day, despite the setbacks. I also very much enjoy setting up these cars but I do not have your problem of trying to decide which of my cars to prepare. In APC for example, I only own one car (ex Historic Saloon Mustang) so no choice there. In HS, my choices were already limited and then the motor in my MGB recently expired. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get a new FF motor to fit this car. I still have a few options though so hopefully I'll be able to come up with a reasonably competitive car. In VS 60-75, the usual suspects (Ford GT40 and Alfa 33/3) will be present and legal although, with no major work done, competitiveness is suspect.
Very much looking forward to racing these cars .

[steveaca]

What about the NSU Gordon ?

[gordon]

What about the NSU Gordon ?

Its amongst the five that I haven't done yet (its in the pic).

[Luke]

Gordon,

I happened to read this topic over today but with more understanding for your written details and realized - more so now, it's a very encouraging and energetic subject ..!

On the whole, you have really made this slotcar hobby of yours (with such unbelievable passion) reach some inspiring heights ... Of course with great support/replies from Ramesh and Steve - just to name a few on the forum.

As you know and informing the other (132 scale) racing guys ~ thought I didn't have any cars at all for the upcoming HS and VS classes but only for the new APC class. All because I had 2 cars from the previous (not raced again) AM event which could be used in this new class.

Mind you - I use to have one HS and maybe one or two cars for the VS/G5SC events and turns out (overtime) they all won't very competitive. So long story short - just parted with them ... Anyway - did another study of my 1/32 collection of cars and was surprised I still have one VS car ...

So like your subject title - Where to start?

This is my list (with amount) of cars for FRC Class Grouping B:

• Historic Saloon ......................... Zero
• American Pony Car .................... Two
• Vintage Sports '60-'75 ............... One

All the same - I will try and find that slotcar ~ setting up/tuning ~ drive (for at least 1 APC and the 1 VS car) that I use to have in the next couple days because I looked up the new regs and things seem pretty straightforward plus having all the components available.

Thanks for making these things worthwhile.

Luke

[steveaca]

Hi Luke,
good to hear that you'll be preparing both a APC and a VS car. Too bad you parted with your HS car though.

[gordon]

Its great news that you have two cars in preparation for Thursday Luke. Even better news though is that sense of enthusiasm that I see in your words. Let me know if I can be of any help with the cars.