Open wheel Fun Run Proxy?

[Audi1]

I was watching the Indy 500 today and I started thinking.......maybe we need an open wheel fun run/proxy(?) I know that we have the 100th Year of Indy Proxy getting ready to start, but I was thinking more of modern Indy cars/F1 cars, etc.

I've heard a lot of people say that you can't run these cars in a proxy race because of the fragile front ends. But, I'm not sure whether that's based on recent experiences or if it's leftover from the days when we used to run these cars with magnets at 12V.

I think that these cars can be "tamed" to make them sturdy enough to be driven in proxy races. Here are some of my thoughts on rules:

1. 1/32 scale
2. F1, Indy car, CART, etc. (1985 on model years)
3. plastic or resin bodies
4. motors - still under consideration
5. gearing - open
6. bushings - open
7. axles - open
8. wheels - open (F1 style after market wheels OK front and rear)
9. tires - rubber or urethane
10. chassis reinforcement - OK
11. front axle reinforcement - OK
12. no magnets
13. no duplicate numbers
14. all tracks run at 10V


Just some initial thoughts. Let me know what you think about them and about the feasibility of an open wheel fun run/proxy.

Allan

[chappy]

I dont see any reason it wouldnt work Allan.
I think with the care our hosts use we shouldnt need to worry about them getting trashed.
Might be a fun exercise in bullet proofing too.
I would be Interested, and the cars could run both oval and roadcourse.
Bob

[Retro Racer 44]

I will probably enter, but I'd rather see a few more entries for our Indy (Open Wheel) proxy.

[Audi1]

This wouldn't kick-off for awhile, since we're pretty flush with fun runs/proxies right now. I don't mean to get this in the way of the 100 Years of Indy Proxy. It's just a thought I had yesterday after watching the race, so I thought I'd gauge the interest of the members and, if there is interest, then proceed from there.

I did do a little poking around yesterday on one of the hobby supplier sites; just to see what kind of availability there is for these cars. Here's what I found:

40 Scalextric F1 cars
15 Carrera F1 cars
2 Scalextric IRL cars
2 Ninco F1 cars
2 SCX F1 cars

This would be in addition to cars that are no longer in production, but are probably part of the collection of most slot car racers. So, it doesn't look like availability is an issues for these "modern" open wheel cars.

Allan

[bookie]

1975 and on ?

[Audi1]

I was thinking '85 on (open wheel cars, midships engines, with front and rear spoilers), but we're open to ideas at this point. I'll take a look at F1 body styles for years before '85.

Allan

[Audi1]

I just scrolled back through the F1 years/body styles and front and rear spoilers were in the making in the 1968-69 season and were definitely in full swing by 1970. So, '75 and on would be fine from my standpoint. I use Ferrari F1 body styles as a guide, so I could be off a little, in terms of when other teams introduced front and rear spoilers.

I was thinking outside of the years that Scalextric has targeted with their F1 Legends series cars

1969 Ferrari:



1970 Ferrari:



Allan

[Audi1]

No limitations on chassis, Dave - brass/piano wire, plastic or any other material is fine.

Allan

[Changing-Gearz]

[Audi1]

[Z-carfan]

Heck yeah if that March come out, I'd be in.

[Retro Racer 44]

I looked at all my open wheeled cars. I have an IRL car, Dan Weldon Indy winner, and a six wheel Tyrell, but they have S-can motors. I have a Gilles Villeneuve McLaren, too early for the original rules, but now ok. I have a Fly JPS Lotus and a Senna McLaren, but definitely too fragile and already damaged. That leaves me with a Schumacher Ferrari and Mercedes, either of which will be perfect, so I am in for one of them.

Cheers,

Keith

[Audi1]

Chris (chrisguyw) clarified an issue that several of you could face in building out an open wheel car for this race that goes back into the '75-'95 timeframe and that is that a lot of those cars, like Retro Racer 44 refers to, have S-can (FC-130) motors in them; not FF-050 slim cans.

So, in order to make this work for those who want to run the older Scalextric, Fly, Ninco or SCX open wheel cars, we'll need to add an S-can motor to the FF-050 motor. I think that the best way to go would be to go to the Ninco NC1 -motor, which has the following specs vs. the M/T SL-1 slim can:

M/T SL-1 (FF-0050) 13,600 rpm, 74g-cm torque, 2.6 W power

Ninco NC-1 (FF-130) 13,500 rpm, 77 g-cm torque, 2.6 W power (note: the rpm rating on the Ninco NC-1 motor is 15,700 at 14.8 V; at 12V it has been measured at 13,500)

If the NC-1 turns out to be a problem, then we can look at another S-can motor; perhaps the M/T-1; although that one rates 14,000 rpm, 96 g-cm torque and 3.2 W power.

I understand that those open wheel cars that have long can motors (FF-180) can be made to work with S-can motors using an available adapter.

I'll ask Chris to add info on this topic; as I may not have stated the issue and the potential solutions incorrectly.

Allan

[chrisguyw]

[Retro Racer 44]

I like the idea of several available motors, and would suggest this list:

M/T-1, BWA NC-1, and Ninco NC-1. These are all S-cans and are probably in most people's parts boxes or readily available.

M/T SL-1 and BWA 050 are FF 050 motors of about the same RPM and torque.

Although I now have a supply of them, I don't think we should include H&R Jackrabbit in this list.

All five of these motors are sufficiently close to allow good tight racing, but the Jackrabbit is the next step up.

That said, by not allowing the stock motors, we exclude rookie participants who might just tune the stock RTR cars. Most stock motors are considerably faster, however, and that would increase the risk of damage to the cars.

This discussion is good.

Cheers,

Keith