Super Modifieds Racing At Charlie's Garage (part 1)

It is not the purpose of this blog to promote any track or any class they run, but to report race rules and results, along with a variety of other topics.  However, the uniqueness of this class bears describing.

For a little while you will see a Super Modified pictured on the home page of this blog so everyone will know what they look like.  These cars will run for the first time at Charlie's Garage in Pearl, MS on July 21, 2017 at 7:00 pm local time.  These cars are 1/32 scale and are typically Parma Womp Womp chassis which have been cut down for left turn only racing.  I do know of one Super Modified that will be using the Champion Thumper chassis which was modified for left turn only.  These cars are a hand full to drive.  Most people are using Hawk 7 motors in them at this point.  There may or may not be a motor rule later, as for now there are no rules concerning the motors.  If you want to put a Group 20 motor in one and take out a corner marshal, at this point it is acceptable.  Driving these cars is about like driving a jet powered rock with no steering.  It will take a cool hand on the controller to do well in this class.  Discipline and caution are going to be the key words for this class.

Most of the racers who have these cars had someone else build it for them.  Since I was one of the few who actually built their own car I will try to describe the steps involved.  First you take a Womp Womp or other suitable chassis and throw it in the garbage, leave the track and take up golf.  That is the best advice I can give, but I know there are some who will actually dare to take this class on (they are as stupid as I am).  Here are the steps for construction of a Super Modified as they are going to be run at Charlie's Garage.

Parts; Womp Womp chassis, body clips, Super Modified body from nymodifieds.com, motor, axles front and rear, oilites, wide tires for front (no orings), suitable rear tires, guide flag, pinion gear, crown gear, lead wires, and braid.  That is it.  With these parts, a dremel tool, soldering iron, and a little effort you can build one.  I will not go into any specific modifications but will give the instructions for the basic un-modified Super Modified.

1st step
You will be removing the right side of the chassis from about a line running from the right rear axle pillar block to the right front axles pillar block.  By removing this the body from nymodifieds will fit as it is made in that fashion itself.  Before you remove the right side you have to think about how you are going to mount your body after that side is gone.  You can take a dremel tool with a cut off blade and cut the side that sticks up and has holes for the body clips off.  For convenience will call this an ear from this point on.  You will cut this ear off by laying the cut off blade flat against the chassis with the blade cutting into the ear as low as possible.  The idea here is to cut off the entire ear so you can solder it back onto the chassis after the side has been removed.  It is very important that you do not start and stop while you are cutting this piece off.  If you start and start you will be more likely to have an uneven cut.  Be cautious about keeping the cut off disc flat against the chassis as you are cutting to prevent an uneven cut.  The chassis will have some scratches from the cut off disc but that is ok as you will be cutting this part off later any way.  Once this is done you will have a long narrow bar with two holes for your body clip.  Save this bar for use later.
Now you are ready to remove the right side and make this a truly left turn only chassis.  As noted earlier you will see and should actually make a line to follow from the rear axle pillar to the front.  This chassis is a solid pan, but if you look at it as a center section and the outer wings section you will find the front center section is wider than the rear center section.  This means you cannot draw a straight line from the rear axle pillar to the front axle pillar.  You will have to cut as straight as you can from the REAR pillar to just inside the FRONT pillar.  This cut will actually be approximately 0.20-0.25 inch inside the front pillar.  You will then make a cut to the outside of the chassis just behind the front pillar.  This will allow the assembled body to fit properly on the chassis.

At this point I would put in the oilites and set up the front and rear axles on the car.  With this in place you can now assemble the body and see how it sits on the chassis so you will know where you want to solder your "ears" back on the chassis.

Assembling the body.

Wow, I wish I could just do it for you.  It would be a lot simpler.  The body comes as a laminated sheet you will cut body parts out of, fold, and assemble.  Once the body is assembled it is stronger than you would think a paper body would be.  Before you start cutting any parts out of the sheet, get a good over view of what you are doing.  The parts are as follow; body, side pod, wing, roll cage, rear panel and spoiler.  Before you make any folds understand that this material does not want to be folded.  The manufacturer advised me to, and it worked, score the body on the under side of where you want to fold it.  in other words, on the inside part of the fold.  This does not mean cut into it with a knife, it only means to score a line.  I found success using the back side of a hobby knife.  This helped the fold line come out nice and straight.  Once you make your folds use something hard to fold against to assure the crease is there and the body will not unfold.

The wing will have a note on one side to cut it out along the lines there.  If you use the wrong side your wing will be the wrong dimensions and will not go together properly.  The wing will have two cuts that extend into the panel farther than you would think, that is until you actually think about folding the wing and the back part will fold up before the back end of the wing.  With this is mind it is a simple matter of folding the side dams up and the rear spoiler up.  Note the rear spoiler will have two bends in it.

The side pod is pretty straight forward, you cut it out and make two folds.

The roll cage is the same, it has two folds.  The roll cage actually has two tabs that extend down below the roll cage which will be inserted into the body later.

The end panel has a spoiler for the back of the car attached to it.  This piece will have two folds.

The main part of the body has two folds.  It also has a line on each side of the drivers cockpit where the body will be cut all the way through making slits for the "tabs" on the roll cage to fit through.

Once you have all these pieces cut out and folded as needed you are ready to build the body.  You can use staples if you like and it will make it stronger, but I have had success with only two sided clear tape.

Before starting assembly you may want to cut the axle spaces out of the main body.  There are some marking on the body for where the cut out should be, but this is only an indicator and your situation may not be exactly the same.

First assembly is the side pod to the main body.  Place the body on the chassis to see where you want the side pod to be mounted.  You will be attaching your body clip on the left side to the pod so it is important you place the pod where you want it.  You will use two sided tape to hold the inside of the pod to the main body.  The fuel cap goes to the rear of the side pod.  Where the side pod is taped to the body you may want to use a staple for extra strength.

Next the roll cage is attached by inserting the "tabs" on the roll cage into the slots you cut in the body.  Note, the roll cage has one vertical bar in the front and two vertical bars in the back.  On the inside of the body you can use two sided tap to attach the "tabs" to the inside of the body.  Staples can be used, but they will show on the finished product.

The wing attaches to the top of the roll cage.  On the bottom of the wing you will see a square box which is the appropriate location for two sided tape.  Once again you can use staples at this location, but hey will show on the finished product.

The rear panel which has a clear spoiler on it is the last piece of the body to be assembled.  Lay the flat spoiler against the top of the rear section of the car lining up the back panel with the back of the car and tape underneath.  This attaches the spoiler to the rear deck and as you fold the rear panel down you slide the two folded pieces inside the rear of the body.  You can now use two sided tape to hold the side inserts to the inside of the body.  Once again staples are optional, but they will show.  The tape from the underside of the back panel to the underside of the rear of the body help hold the end panel in place for the spoiler to work.

The body is now completed and can be set on the chassis to line up where you want to reattach the bar which has the body clip holes on it.  This "ear" needs to be soldered into place at a location where the body will properly mount.

Solder the "ear" back onto the chassis taking care that they are soldered straight in a suitable position.

Once this is done you simply need to install the pinion gear on the motor, mount the motor (soldering it in), install the crown gear, mount the guide flag, install the lead wires and braid.  Adjust your wheels using axle spacer so it is off set with the wheels sticking farther out to the right.  Put your body on and you have your Super Modified.

I assure you it is not as hard as it may sound.  Driving the thing is a different story!