IMPORTANT 2018 T/A Proxy Announcement - Please Read!

[dreinecke]

For several years, I’ve asked proxy participants to ensure that their cars were packaged well in order to survive the vigor of shipping between multiple tracks. I was delighted to see that this year, every car was well packaged and no damage occurred during the travel between the builder and my track.
In the same vein, I had purchased some Plano cases and wrapped the cars with a cushioned shelf liner as I had seen employed on another forum, with the intent to provide better protection during shipping to the cars themselves and to help with the packing/unpacking each track host has to do as well as lower the overall shipping costs. One note: I used the cushioned liner instead of bubble wrap as several cars over the years with custom paint have reacted badly to the bubble wrap, destroying their paint.

I tested these new boxes by loading some of my own cars in them and dropping them from about 4-5 feet off the ground in the shipping box. I was thrilled to see that the boxes appeared to protect the cars perfectly and so I wrapped up each car carefully and shipped them to their next race host.

I received a phone call from the next host this week. He was rightfully concerned as several cars had sustained damage. After going through all of the cars, it appears that 17 of the 45 entries have sustained damages ranging from minor (a spoiler fell off) to major (total destruction of the car). In particular, a number of the Scalextric 1969 Camaros sustained bent or broken A-pillars, several cars did indeed have chin or tail spoilers come off, two cars (both custom) had their chassis separate badly from the body, and in one case – a car was completely destroyed.

The pictures the host sent me made me sick. I believed I’d built a better mousetrap only to have this happen. The box they were shipped in shows no sign of mis-handling, so the USPS is not to blame.

The host is going to bag the parts, wrap the cars in bubble wrap and send them back to me.

Once I have the cars in hand I will be cancelling the 2018 T/A Proxy and shipping the cars home. In fairness - several cars may never run the same and one car will never run again. I will be refunding the balance of the monies collected back to each participant and will notify everyone when their cars are on their way home.

I will have to re-think completely the shipping issues and we can try again in 2019.

Thanks, and again - my sincerest apologies to all affected.

[docdoom]

Boy have to feel for the guys that built those cars that got damaged.but things happen that's the risk you take when you ship anything .

[Austin]

Hi Dave,

Please don't feel bad as we all know this can happen. The way you packed them looked super to me and I was thinking you went way above the way they needed to be packed. Please don't stop the race, my car will be coming home to be rebuild but the racing must go on. I may even get the car rebuild to send it back in later on. Don't need any money back, put it towards the race anyway you may need.

Please it is not your fault.

[glasshorsevh]

Her head came clean off, but she’s still got a hold of the shift lever.... Good girl Alice!

Val

[alexis in greece]

So sad.
May i offer my proxy organizer experience?I pack the cars wrapped in bubble in separate boxes 4 in each one.I use empty boxes from washbasin taps which i got free from the local plumber.The advanage is that the 4 sides are of double wall and are very hard to squeeze.Of course IPS cars are small but i think that instead of 4, 3 t/a cars would fit.My 2 cents.

[Pepsi62]

Wow!
That's disappointing news, but I don't think cancelling the entire proxy is the way to go. There's still plenty of cars to run.

Send the damaged ones home, If they can be repaired and sent back, or even replaced with another car, to catch up at the next round. Obviously a couple are beyond repair and will not be returning to the competition.

Mine looks to be not too bad, bent pillars and the rear spoiler off, long trip back to Oz tho.

I would be happy for you Dave (or the host or anyone else over there) to fix it and keep running, but I will accept your final decision

[Aloha]

David,
This is so unfortunate as I know as a builder and entrant we know that you went above and beyond for this proxy.
Have a thought, what if the damaged cars are returned to owners and let them have a period of time to rebuild and/or unfortunately in some cases replace their entrant. A time of say two months is given for them to refresh the car and send back at owners expense.
I for one think this is a great proxy and do not want an incident like this to dampen the spirit of participation that you have in place.
On a personal note I feel for those whose cars were damaged as they are truly works of art.
Aloha
Dale

[Radarek]

Eh....

I think we should pause the proxy . All cars should be check, not only those with visible damage. Other cars may contain damage inside like loose weights for example. ...

[steeveew]

Holy Crap !!!
Something had to have been done to the box,just no visible signs of damage.
That couldn't have been caused by the way they were packed.
What ever you decide is fine by me.
Condolences to all who had their cars damaged.




Steve

[Audi1]

It looks to me like the cars sustained an instant, elastic, rebounding compression; otherwise you'd see more bent part and fewer broken ones and you would see damage to the outside of the box. I agree, the cars need to come home because as Radarek said, you can't be sure whether yours was damaged; from a performance standpoint, by just looking at the outside. My #44 Alfa clearly needs some work.

Pause and re-start or wait 'till next year - your call.

As a proxy organizer, I can appreciate the anxiety that you're experiencing. We just "found" 40 Ford-Porsche Wars proxy cars, after a 2 month "where are they?" search. They're intact, fortunately, but it could have gone the same way as what you've experienced with the TransAm cars. Proxy racing has its organizational and operational risks; it's hard to be reminded of that in this manner, but we all need to understand that.

Allan

[dreinecke]

Gents - I understand some folks want to continue - however, several cars have had potential internal damage, weights have come out, rattling is being heard. It is best to stop and send the cars home so the owners can check them out.

Due to several months of business work, my daughter's wedding, etc. I will not be able to pick this back up and simply delay the race. Sorry, that would force another host into the position of essentially re-kicking off the proxy. That is too much to ask another host to do.

I'll stick with my initial intent which is to send the cars home and re-start in 2019.

I do agree with Audi's theory - that is what I'm leaning towards.

Thanks,

[Mitch58]

Alright, thanks Dave. Don't worry about refunding my entry fee, just apply it towards any future endeavors.

[Dodgefarmer]

WOW!!! Un real. I agree with Dave that the cars should come home, as there will be more damage done than what we are seeing. Don't worry about the refund.

Randy

[BARC 1]

This definitely is from an impact . Box fell off the conveyer or something. The Barc Camaro looks pretty bad. I send these in expecting the worse. Everthing can be fixed. I will use some HO rail to make new A pillers, and it will be stronger then original. I used CA for the body mount. This type of glue is not that good for big impacts. Epoxy next time for sure

Its a shame, but agree, this is a setback that requires a reboot. Who knows what cars are suffering motor mount or other alignment issues.

[yebo]

Oh wow,sorry to all the builders that cars got damage.These thing happens.I'm good with your decision David.