2013 Land Speed Record Race at CincySlots

[ElSecundo]

Hi, guys. It’s that time of year again when the snow flies, the kids get out of school, and you generally see ho’s in groups of three. It’s also the time when we get serious about posting rules for the Land Speed Record race at CincySlots. I have a proposed change to the stock class that should prevent this from being another display of nicely tuned NSR Moslers. I have nothing against them, except that they’re ugly, boring, and run basically contrary to the ultimate goal of the LSR, that being a fun showcase of the talents and creativity of our best builders with a variety of cars from around the slot car world.

I'd like to steer away from just a stock "tune your NSR as well as possible" class. I am considering a stock "benchmark class". In this class, we would take a broken-in car from several manufacturers and run them down the track to set 'benchmarks' for each maker. There would be a Carrera benchmark, a Scalextric benchmark, a NSR benchmark, etc. You can choose any brand to tune, and we'll run a benchmark for that brand. After your three timed runs, we'll take a ratio of your best run vs. the benchmark run for that manufacturer. Highest ratio, ie, biggest improvement over stock, wins. This way, it's possible for a Carrera to be in the same league with NSR (might even have the advantage). This class would essentially use the stock class rules, but in a way that promotes car variety and improvement over absolute speed.

Pros? Cons?

I have other ideas for the modified and unlimited classes, but nothing as drastic as the changes to the stock class. For now, let’s keep the discussion to the stock class. The goal is to nail down the stock class asap, and have all three classes decided by January 1st. Let’s confine all rule discussions to this thread, so that none of you will have to search the forums for little tidbits here and there. When a working rule set is developed, it will be posted at the top of this thread for easy reference.

So who wants to start this off?

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I can't think of a thing wrong with it, assuming that the rule is consistent with original stock cars. No Scaley motor in a Carrera claiming to be in the stock class, for example, but I guess that's covered by the modified class, huh? Anyway, I'm in.

[Cincyslots]

I love the idea. We may need just an NSR class. Otherwise I could see them winning under these rules too.

bruce

[ElSecundo]

If we look at the NSR winners, they were what, 20-25% faster than an untuned (but broken-in) NSR? If you can take a Carrera car, or an SCX car, and make them 30% faster than stock, they win over the NSR by those rules. So NSR could still win, but it's not necessarily tilted in their favor any more. In fact, it might actually be tilted towards companies like Cartrix. I would hate to make a rule set that penalizes a company like NSR.

I am concerned that the rules will eliminate the more obscure companies. I mean, I don't expect to do a Le Mans Miniatures benchmark, for example, but it should be pretty easy to do benchmarks for Slot.It, NSR, Carrera, Scalextric, SCX, Ninco, Flyslot, etc. We may even be able to do benchmarks for TeamSlot, AvantSlot, Black Arrow, and others. We might require people using cars from these companies to let us know in advance so we can arrange a benchmark car.

What was lacking before was a reason to choose a car besides NSR. Do you think this rule provides sufficient reason for somebody to use cars from other companies?

[wleslie]

Absolutely a great idea. I would love to try my hand at some different makes and know that I have a fighting chance. I too love NSR's. But I also love my Carrera's, SCX's, etc.

[Cincyslots]

That makes good sense to me. Lets give it a go and tweak them after someone finds a loop hole. :lol:

[nhdungeonracer]

I'm not sure if there's pros or cons to what you're suggesting here Kurt. But as with any new idea, sometimes you just have to do it and then fine tune it for later events.

It's obvious why the NSR's have the big advantage. They have very well setup cars straight from the factory, and then have a monster motor to propel them. For a stock class, it's hard to beat...

[Dyno Tom]

It sounds good, It would be fun for me to run 3 of 4 different manufactures cars just to how fast I could make each of them go. I would suggest that we keep track of the top speeds for each brand, there would not need to be any type of award for each but an announcement of the top speeds at the end of racing would be cool. Are the rules for building a "stock" manufacture class car going to stay the same. If I remember wright you could use any parts in the build as long as the were for a1/32 scale home type slot car and as long as the car still had the stock look, stance etc.
Thanks for all you hard work

[ElSecundo]

[Cincyslots]

The date, rules and info will be posted here as always. As soon as I get the spring schedule, I'll pick a couple dates and see when my helpers are free and go from there.

Bruce

[Hotrodbob]

I like it!!! Maybe I will be able to attend again this year as well...

[Dyno Tom]

Did you know that you do not have to run each benchmark car to set its top speed. All you need to know is its motor RPM, gear ratio, rear wheel/tire diameter. You can get most of this information from web sites.I can supply a chart that will do this for you without any math. Out of the box cars are not that fast so aero dos not affect top speed. I have checked this with a radar gun and it's quite accurate. This also would eliminate having a benchmark car that's a dud, a car that is too fast or not being able to find a good example.

[Dyno Tom]

I think you should let a racer enter as may cars that they would like in the stock class, just as long as they are all from different manufactures(no two cars from one racer can be the same manufacture) Maybe this should be the same for the Mod class! What about not letting a car run more then one class?

[ElSecundo]

Tom, at first, that sounds like a good idea, but after thinking about it a bit, using the 'theoretical max speed' actually defeats the purpose of the benchmark class. The reasoning goes like this:
If we have two entrants, one a Cartrix, one an NSR, the Cartrix might run 80% of the theoretical max out of the box. The NSR might run 90% of its theoretical max out of the box, because it's built better. The car with more flaws out of the box will have a harder time getting close to the theoretical max than the car with fewer flaws, so using this theoretical max (instead of an actual benchmark car) favors NSR again.

I'm totally on board with not letting a car run in two classes this year. Let's set that one in stone, actually.

The other idea, I'm on the fence about that one. If a racer has two entrants in one class, they need to be from different manufacturers. But more than two entrants in a class? I'm a little gun-shy on that one.

[Dyno Tom]

Testing is a good way of setting the base line. You would have to test more then one of each car just to get a good sample. At Electric Dreams they list 30 different manufactures of 1/32 cars, I know some are high end and most likely will not be run, but some like the Arrow slot are good cars, at a low cost and would make a good LSR car. Even if we test only 1/3 of these cars, that's a minimum of 20 runs, 10 manufactures (2 cars per manufacture) and that all needs to be done Friday night before the race.!! It looks like we will end up with an eligible car list, need to have this list as soon as we can. I am going to hold off working on may cars until I know what ones will be eligible. If someone brings a car that has not been tested (not eligible) we should not turn him away but let him run for time only.
Thanks Dyno Tom (the pain in the a%#.