How do you race?

[viejoronnie]

Delayed bump for this topic.

About 15 years ago I was really into 1/43 and acquired several of the 4 lane Childford Formula 1 sets, building a portable rolling 4'x12' oval layout I transported in a 6'x12' enclosed motorcycle trailer w/ramp. I bought a lot of NASCAR cars from Frank at SCW for this track. I took the track to car shows, school carnivals, and kid's birthday parties. It was a hit.

It came equipped with electronic lap counters for each lane. For the younger kids, I equipped the cars with guide pins that made it difficult for the cars to deslot.

The rules were simple: 2 minutes per race, maximum laps completed wins. Your car deslots, you were out of the race; no track calls; no marshalls. Lane choice was determined by roll of a die, with #s 5 and 6 wild cards; your choice of any lane.

Fast forward a couple of years, more folks wanted to race at the same time at birthday parties, so I recalled my old Eldon Selectronic set, and rewired the Childford track, cars, and controllers to AC2CAR to allow 2 cars per lane, but no lane change, with an old Lionel AC train transformer.

This time each lane had a team of two cars; The team with the most laps in two minutes wins.

I am now working on adapting this same team racing game play to a portable two lane 1/32 Artin track, wired for AC2CAR, but no lane change, but with an additional electrical circuit per lane to allow a team of up to 4 drivers per slot. Looking to put together a diy lap counter; no timing for simplicity.

While I believe that two slots and 8 drivers to be the maximum for enjoyable racing fun, it's quite possible to increase the number of lanes and cars.

[MikeyAutobahn]

At my house we usually run 25-50 lap heats, and you have to reslot your own car under green. I have no friends locally that own cars, so anybody coming over races mine. If a mechanical incident happens, they put that car away and pick another. If there's not one free to pick, we fix it there after the race.

Most of the time with new people I like to start them first with a 25-lap time trial, which only counts if they don't crash. It gives them something to work on while focusing mostly on their driving and not on a competitor just yet.

Cool game with a lap timer: FASTER - racer with the most laps without crashing wins. Must run each lap faster than the last. Clock a slower lap time than the previous lap and you're out. Car stops on the track and you're out.

[Flounder]

There are usually 2 to 4 people in my man cave for racing (I have a two-lane track). Two people are racing, the other two are waiting to take on the winner. with the layout I have, there could be a long delay until a deslot can be put back on the track. So the following rule applies:
If you are in front and you crash, the other driver can catch up to where you are. if you aren't back and running yet, they wait until the deslot is put back on the track.
If you are behind and you crash, the driver in front stops his car and waits for the deslot to be corrected. Once both cars are on, a restart is given.

These rules keep the cars running closer together, which makes it more fun.


Flounder

[BIG E]

I fortunately get to race in a few different disciplines. There was a time when I was able to run all of these series each week!

1/24 spec hardbody on an 8 lane commercial road course, @ 12 volts. Computer run "European" style rotation - every other lane, to a predetermined number of minutes per heat, until everyone has run 8 heats. The nice thing about this method is that you are moving across the track lanes quickly, and not running with the same people on either side of you for the entire race. I prefer this method, even with six or four lane formats. Of course, live corner marshaling with color stickers on all the cars, and a race director running the computer and master track call switch if absolutely needed. This usually requires at least 12 participants, depending upon the track configuration. Once a week, year 'round.

1/24 oval club that runs this same rotation on a four lane, 40 foot track, but with track calls for deslots. There aren't as many "offs" as you might expect, and with laps generally in the low 2 second range, live marshals would be impractical. Cars are also spec hardbody type and laminated fold up "Reality Racing" bodied type spec modifieds. Race power is 12 volts. Also running once a week, year 'round.

HO club racing on 4 and 6 lane tracks, AFX TOMY construction or custom routed circuits @ 18 volts. Computer controlled lane rotation is from one lane to the next, so you're running between to the same 2 drivers the entire race. These are pancake motored cars, of both Thunderjet and AFX style specification. Live marshals and colors stickers on the cars at these events. Once and occasionally twice a week, year 'round racing. Five different circuits, VERY competitive!

HO club racing on two different large 6 lane AFX TOMY tracks, nearly stock inline cars with factory type snap on injection molded bodies @ 22-24 volts. Crash and burn style racing, where each driver runs 2 heats on each lane, and all drivers move over one lane at a time, again running between the same 2 drivers until the race is concluded. Winner is the first to a predetermined number of heat wins (usually 8), and racing is tight because each heat only the winner matters. The race director keeps track of the lead car, it's usually only a 6 lap heat. Driver's wins are marked on a score sheet, and we run three classes - NASCAR style stockers, Sports/Prototype cars, and Indy/Formula 1 open wheel cars. One of the tracks alternates the Stock Car bodies with a NASCAR style truck body every other week. I'm a pancake motor guy at heart, but have lots of FUN racing with these guys, mainly because of the car specification keeping the price down, and there are a few different inline chassis that are competitive in this series. This series runs late fall through early spring, as many participants run 1/1 scale cars at the short track ovals in the area.

That keeps quite a few of us here on Long Island busy slot car racing. The nice part for me is that there is very little crossing over between the different series, so I get to race with almost on entirely different group of guys in each series. Enjoy the racing! -- Ernie :>)

[noddaz]

I race pretty badly at times, but I hope to race better...
But that is not what you meant, is it...

Scott