Been Away for Awhile

[Audi1]

Hi,

Old newbie here.

I last raced slot cars in the late 60's; back when motors like PItman and Bonner dominated in most of the cars. After a good long "retirement", I've discovered that the town that I grew up in has a dedicated slot car shop with a nice Carrera track set up that will run 1/24 and smaller cars, and it's located 3 miles from where I live now.

My last car was a scratch build Porsche 904, so that gives you an idea of the time frame in which I was really having fun with this hobby; back when Ford was fighting Ferrari at Le Mans in the endurance class and when the names in F1 were Surtees, Hill, Brabham, etc.

The new cars look great! I like the added detail and realism.

I plan to spend time at my local track, get some schooling from those who are active in the hobby now and get myself a new, competitive car (or two............).

Any suggestions as to a good place to start would be much appreciated. My favorite chassis styles are the LMP, the older CanAm and F1. Favorite marques are Audi, Porsche, Alfa and Ferrari. Most of the racing at my local shop is with 1/32 scale cars, so that's what I'll probably concentrate on for the time being.

Audi1

[waaytoomuchintothis]

We have some guys in Mass! Bound to be fairly close. Welcome to HRW. From those of us who still remember Pittman (which were modified HO train motors), and all the other stuff from the early to middle 60s, we salute you for living this long (we did, too). Was your 904 a Dubro body? I still have one of those. I painted it a few years ago just for fun, and it had yellowed, so the silver paint came out really weird looking. Hey, did you have an blue MRRC thumb controller with a brake wire attached with a brass nut on top? I was in London, Ontario in those days and that little controller was the pinnacle of being cool for us. I always wondered if that trend got around. Yes, I ask all the old farts I meet from those days.

[sidedraft]

Welcome! fairly new here myself, also been away from slot cars awhile too, man have they changed. You didn't say if the Carrera track you visit is digital or not. You will have to install a 'chip' to make the car of your choice work if it is, i am sure they can help you out there. Check into the slot.it brand cars they may have what you're looking for,, they are fast out of the box & can be easily chipped if needed be. We love the Carrera digital 4 wide lanes with 10+ cars racing around here. Again welcome & have fun!

[oldtymer]

Welcome Audi 1....I also got back into it last year after being out of it for about 50 yrs (yikes) . I built a 8x18 table and did an 81ft replica of the road course in Spain. I run 1/32 Carrera Digitals and have about every division of cars and its a blast . This site is awesome for info and loaded with a great bunch of guys . I also belong to a club that races 1/32 and 1/24 on wood tracks and it really is nice being able to race on both types of surfaces ...keep on slottin and remember FUN AIN'T FREE

Fred :text-welcomewave:

[dreinecke]

Welcome back to the hobby!

[RazorJon]

:text-welcomewave:

well you are into Carrera so you are of to a good start, check out the Cheetah and Cobra easy 2 of the fastest out of the box cars I have raced

lots of great reviews here, just dig around

[Audi1]

Thanks for the welcome and the replies.

waytoomuchintothis, I can't remember (I say that a lot nowadays) who made the body for my 904. I remember is came clear, was pretty flexible and needed to be painted on the inside. I don't think that your blue MRRC controller was around when I was racing. My last stint at a track occurred in the early winter of 1966, when I was at school in Brunswick, ME. Most of what we had were push button Coxs and some MRCs. When I started, there were no brakes; just reduced current to the motor......... I remember installing a braking device on one of my early cars; a cam-shaped structure that mounted right next to one of the rear wheels on a sidewinder.............

sidedraft, no the track is not digital, but it is Carrera 4-lane track. It's a nice layout; recently expanded.

oldtymer, that track of yours sounds really nice. Is it modeled off the Jerez course in Spain?

RazorJon, thanks for the tips on the Carrera Cheetah and Cobra cars. When it comes to US-built cars, I'm a Chevy guy, so the Cheetah could be interesting................... thank you Bill Thomas.........

Audi1

[Wolseley Hornet]

[FootScoot]

Welcome to HRW! I too was a '60's racer, back when the Ram's, Pittman's, Wilson's ruled. Then the Mabuchi's took over. I agree the Slot It. cars are among the best out of the box, well worth the few extra dollars, but anything can be made to run well with enough tuning. I run all mine no-mag, but if your a magnet guy that's cool too. Again welcome. :D

[GFG 3]

Welcome back to the hobby. I believe I met you at the track in West Newbury a couple of weeks ago. They race a variaty of classes, with and without magnets, ask Matt, the owner what they will be racing in future events. There is a regular Wednesday race that will be starting soon, but the class has not been decided yet. Then there are Sunday races that will change from race to race. Slot-it(brand) or trans-am(class)are popular. LMP are run also, but there are 2 classes depending on the brand. There is a race Sunday the 3rd at 3PM if you want to go Matt usually has some loaner cars. I will not be able to make it Sunday, but hope to see you in the future.

George

[Audi1]

[Audi1]

[Audi1]

Did a little Trans-Am snooping this afternoon and came across a nice site that lists all of the races and finish orders for the Trans-Am class from 1966-72. Interestingly, the Alfa GTA and GTV were part of that class and, it seems they did pretty well against the big displacement engines from Ford, Chevy, Dodge, AMC and others early in the series; not so well later on. I also noticed that the Porsche 911 was a Trans-Am class car. So, if Trans-Am is a class that's raced frequently at my local shop, then I have a place to start. I noticed that Carrera has a GTA in 1/32; looks pretty good from the pics. Anybody with any experience racing that car? Would there be a better choice? I haven't checked out who makes 911s yet, but anticipate that there will be more choices with that car than with the Alfa.

Here's the link to the old Trans-Am race results.

http://www.historictransam.com/Results.html

Audi

[dge467]

Hi Audi1.Welcome to this great slot car site. I believe I was at the shop in West Newbury too when you stopped by. Hope to see you there tomorrow.

[Audi1]

Thanks dge467.

I'll probably be there after 4:00PM tomorrow. My mother (92) lives in West Newbury and there are some Sunday things that need doing.

More importantly, I pulled the trigger and purchased my first slot car in roughly 50 years today. :auto-driving:

It was an Audi R18 from Slot-It. For me, not having driven a car on a slot track for that number of years, it was really quite impressive. So much has changed - for the better I would add. I was slow lapping today, but I think at least some of what I had will come back with more track time. I was going to stay for 1/2 an hour.............I stayed for 2 hours.

Audi1