Club Racing: Tried & True vs. Experimentation?

[Giddyup]

Something I’ve always wondered, when you race...do you stay with a tried and true car you trust in terms of how it drives/handles? Or will you experiment with an unproven or less battle tested car?

I guess this question probably is more applicable to those who race in a more competitive series or environment.

In our little club, our results are cumulative over a season and year. Up until this year, it felt like there was too much “at risk”, at least that was my thinking. But in year 5 our current club, my old fleet of class cars while set up to my liking, I found I was bored racing them. So I’ve strarted experimenting - quick pic of new class cars (and new back-ups) below. I think out of our ten classes I will be racing 9 new cars this year...



But am interested in hearing what other racers are up to, especially those where their race results count towards something or maybe where you consider yourself a competive person. Are you always trying out new cars a tire races or do you tend to stay with what you know...and if so, your reasons why? Is it a lack of time / to avoid the extra set up and tuning time, or maybe you have dialed-in car so why mess around with another, etc?

[Slot GT]

I don't always race a car that's competitive. I like to race cars that are interesting to me in terms of looks etc.

Like in our Trans-Am class, I'm the only one racing a Mustang. The car du jour is the Camaro for everyone else. I usually run something that's out of the norm whether it's competitive or not. Hence the GT40 in the TT. Not the popular choice, but I like the look of the car. And I got lucky that it was competitive.

[wanabgts]

I enjoy the testing and tuning part of the hobby. I usually show up on race day with something I think is Competitive, but I am always testing alternates before and after the race.

In my experience thus far, nearly anything can be competitive if you try hard
enough.

Zack

[RichD]

I have a number of cars for each class that I race. I know which car is likely to be the fastest, but I always get to the track early so I can try everything. I tend to only do routine maintenance on my best car and continue to tweak the rest. My club has a variety of tracks and sometimes a car that is not very competitive on one track is a better choice on another one.

[War Eagle River]

Wow! Interesting that this topic has come up. In June of this year, I made the declaration that I would be racing a different car from each class until the end of the year. Mainly cars that have never raced competitively. We have 20 classes that are in our race rotation. 4 classes that are add ins, like an Indy, and 2 NASCAR, and a couple of IROCS, a Team Enduro, as well as an Individual Enduro. We run our classes at 6 week intervals, so it gives us ample time to get them ready. That being said, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of taking cars off the shelves, tuning them, and putting them up against cars in our group that have been racing all year. Been a lot of fun, somewhat fulfilling. Not racing my fastest cars in each class can be a challenge psychologically. Bot now more cars are getting set up, not just sitting there staring at the track and wondering if they'll ever get a shot! And the racers in our group never know what I’m coming out with next!

[HO RacePro]

I am new to 1/32nd scale racing, and while I study what the most successful racers in our IHSR club are doing, I have been trying to develop my own equipment. I have always been eager to try off-the-wall mods and fabrications, and on a few occasions, in HO scale, been highly successful at it.

This past season, in 1/32nd scale, I tried low gear ratios -- as low as 1:1. While I was not winning any races I showed that a direct-drive 1/32nd car was not that far off of competitive. So I tried 2:1, and now I'm up to 2.4:1, which seems to be competitive. I've got the speed now. I need to work on handling.

I am currently developing 3D printed car components that fasten with screws onto a flat chassis made from 1/16" thick melamine perf board. Rick Gondenk has been printing the parts for me. I have prototyped a mount for front stub axles. The first prototype worked. The second prototype is better.

I have also prototyped a guide mount. Again, the second prototype looks to be good. Both the stub axle mount and the guide mount are designed to work with printed shims, so their elevation can be adjusted in 0.5mm (0.020 inch) steps, from zero to 3.5mm.

To complete the modular chassis I have just prototyped an inline motor pod. Again, I am taking lessons from the first prototype towards designing the second. I also hope to develop a sidewinder motor pod, and maybe an anglewinder pod. All these motor pods will be designed to pivot in the roll axis, so that all four wheels stay in contact with the track and the guide is always perpendicular to same.

I am also looking into different pickup braids and controllers. And I am planning to develop my own guide.

I hope to have the first of my modular chassis ready for the next IHSR race on October 12th. I don't expect to have a winner right off the bat, but I do hope to have something I can develop in that direction. A modular setup should allow me to tweak things towards high performance.

Short story, when I race I want my hardware to be testing the limits. Otherwise I lose interest.

Ed Bianchi

[Cgyracer]

For myself club racing is a good way to experiment with various car setups (experiments) so when I enter proxies I might have a better idea how to set up future Proxy cars. Even if I happen to have a winning car in a certain club class I’ll constantly make changes even if it causes that former winning car to fall like an 18 wheeler off a cliff. Changing up cars that are raced week after week with fresh cars always bring a little pep to a club on race day I find as well and is good for the hobby.

Psychologically it’s hard to change a winning car but I personally think it’s better for the club to hopefully have more parity.

Just my opinions.

Rob

[Fast Co.]

I'm a better driver than I am a builder. When I've got a car running well, I don't usually take it apart for fear of "letting the magic out". Of course, over time braids, tires, bushings, motors, etc... all must be replaced. So, I'm fortunate that my fellow SCANCs, the Atlanta Gang, and the members of this forum are all very gracious to share their car-building tips freely.

Since I've entered my first proxy race two years ago (Gr 5) I've been slowly developing my car-building skills. My 2020 GT3 entry, an NSR Corvette C6R, is a car that I've been racing in our GT class for about 8 years. In that time it's had three motor transplants and countless braid and gear and tire changes. For the proxy it is getting an entirely new chassis and all new parts. So far, I've tried 4 different motors and several different gear and tire combinations, but I've yet to stumble on something that will be competitive. The competition will be fierce. Proxy racing provides a great opportunity to hone one's car-building skills. Both in entering a car to see how it does and also in hosting events to see firsthand the work of other successful builders.

[chappyman66]

We do a little of both. Some nights, people want to go fast. That means our best tuned cars.
I generally have two or three cars for each class except two - I only have one F1 car (Gurney Eagle) and one TransAm car (Camaro that came in a package).
So in those two classes, I run what I have.

Lately we have been doing different things, trying to encourage running cars we don't normally see. Despite it's 3DP chassis, the Monogram March is simply not competitive with the Slot.It Group C cars but running it did spur me to do some more work on the car. It's too heavy to be close, but at least it's fun to drive now.
Of course, our CanAm class is welcoming the 3D cars some of which are close to the Slot.It cars. Can't quite touch the McLarens and Matras....but as fast or faster than the Chaparral. The Thunderslots are an entirely different class of car.

So....a little of each. Otherwise too many of the cars never get run.....

[Giddyup]

Some interesting thoughts.

From what I can glean from the responses so far, it sounds like people want to run what they feel will be competitive cars, or at least competitive cars for a particular track.

Rob and Scott’s responses seemed a little more aligned to my thinking. I like to tinker with cars to get them going well, and sometimes I unwind my progress. :roll:

But usually once I get a car into the sweet spot, it’s basic maintenance like Rich mentioned. Since I’ve got my club classes to that point, I am really experimenting with almost a secondary fleet. Like Scott, I like the chance to pull new cars off the shelf (and some oldies who are need of some TLC) to finally give them a chance to stretch their legs, especially since I sold off most of my spares and old runners to clubmates.

I’ve noticed over the lifespan of our club in current form, there have been waves of evolution within our club where certain racers have peaked, emerged or improved. New “weapons” have emerged to raise the bar and even new tracks to learn. This brings up to one interesting point that a few have raised - the psychological aspect.

While it’s definitely uncomfortable racing something new and possibly unproven, I think what drives some of us is a desire to stay ahead of others....in a quasi-arms race sort of scenario --> similar to the F1 “development curve” where teams are constantly evolving their cars/package to stay ahead of the competition.

While it opens the door for more parity in the meantime, I believe the chance to experiment also helps to stay one step ahead of the pack or at least feel like you are! LOL

[Slot GT]

[wanabgts]

I only started racing with a club about a year ago. Within a few months I had some of the faster cars in many of our classes. I shared tips, helped members setup their cars, and posted how-to articles
on our club forum.

Overall I think it has elevated the racing in the entire club, all the classes are not only faster but the racing is much better. Less deslots from poor handling cars, and way closer averages. That is part of why I am always trying to new cars, I have sold or traded many of mine off to club members who aren't as into the tuning so they will have fun competitive cars to run.

Zack

[Dogsbody]

We do roughly 8 race classes per year running two classes at a time (3 months each) with points for each series. It's just for bragging rights but it does seem to focus the drivers and the marshals attention more. It's been a year since ran T/As so that's next on our race series replacing the Group Cs. Currently we're running Slot It Group C and Sideways Group 5, the former with lights and we run in the dark.

I try to be competitive and if in a car that's not the hot ticket for the class that's okay as well. For example, I ran a Fly 911 in our Trans Am class (and yes, with ton of bloody of weight up front...) I was generally on the podium but not better than 3rd and that was against the usual Scaley Camaros and Pioneer Mustangs. I love to fiddle with and tune cars and I've done more than my share of tuning for other racers. In fact, I can't leave well enough alone even with box stock cars, I'll blueprint as much as I can within the rules and I always run Supertires so that is one variable permanently sorted. We do run the occasional spec series of sorts but it's brand driven generally and find that's quite competitive and fun. One "odd" thing about our group is that almost half are real racers but most are loathe to really tune their cars beyond tires - I find that a bit odd.

We're always about running whats new(ish). We kicked off the year with the RevoSlots then on to the Thunderslots, both hugely popular, much to the delight of our LHS. We occasionally do tried and true race series if only for keeping the costs down for the club - some complain if they have to buy too many cars though that a different yardstick for each person.

[kkracing]

Great topic G. For me personally, it's all about the venue. I almost never run my fastest cars at my own home track events unless we run a "bring your fastest car OPEN race" but I always have some on hand should I go racing out somewhere else.
A couple of years ago we adopted a format in our club that would allow our club racers to race a different car in every lane or heat if they wished to do so. I love this format and take full advantage whenever possible. There are advantages and dissadvantages to running this way however. Dissadvantages are many and would include, but not be limited to: cold motor and tires at the start of every heat, the fact you are rarely if ever "running your best car" and getting used to a completely different car, motor configuration and setup every heat can also be challenging when racing some of the faster and open classes especially when away from your home track. Advantages would go to: fresher tires (if you didn't take all the magic out of them up in pre-race practice), reliability due to the fact the car need only complete a single heat and the fact that you get to race as many as a dozen (3 lane track) to sixteen cars (4 lane track) at one of our weekly four race events. A few of us in our club race this way pretty religiously now. This format really gets all of those slot cars off the shelves.

Obviously this is not common place in most clubs and not something that I would even recommend trying if your a racer that is consistently finishing mid-pack or further back but if you're consistently finishing up front or on the podium and your host and club will allow it, try reaching the podium with three or more different cars in the same race. Throw into to this mix, being that guy who is running some of the harder to tune brands like Avant Slot, Carrera, Fly, SRC, Sprit, Monogram, or Scaley models when others are running their best NSR, Slot.it and Thunderslot cars in all heats. More often than not, one of the cars your running may let you down slightly but hopefully the others will be tuned well enough to keep you in the race, fighting for that podium spot and keeping the racing close.

Cheers

[HomeRacingWorld]

Guys - PLEASE stop creating new posts on this forum and register/post on the new HRW forum (www.hrwforum.com) instead. We will be turning off new posts here in the not-too-distant future. Thank you!