Home Slot Car Raceways Versus Comercial Raceways (part 2)

Over a year ago, one of the first editorials I wrote was on comparisons of home raceways and commercial raceways.  My brother, whose dementia is getting worse, didn't really see or agree with what I was saying at that time.  I am glad to say he has come out of his fog enough to learn a little on this subject though.  With my new interest in other scale racing, I have brought that article back up into the current topics area so it can be read in conjunction with this article.  I suggest, in fact, you stop reading this now to take time to read the first article.  It's okay, I will wait for you.

Now that you have either read the first article or just decided it wasn't worth the bother, I will continue.  At the time I wrote the first article on the topic I truly felt there must be a lot of home racing clubs out there that I didn't know about.  Twenty years ago I had internet friends in Europe who raced in this form.  They had clubs with several tracks involved and created circuits to race on going from one track to another.  I also saw this trend taking place in California and Texas and figured it would expand to the rest of the country if people wanted to race.  A year ago I was exposed to people who had 1/24 scale tracks at their homes with organized races on a regular basis.  I did not see the circuits of 1/24th scale tracks though.  Today, I still don't see the circuits in 1/24 scale.  It is a shame as right here in my home area there are three tracks within 5 hours of each other.  One of these tracks is a home track, Dungeon Raceway, but it is by no means a lesser track than the two commercial tracks.  There is very little similarity to the race program at any of these three tracks.  Dungeon (Prattville, AL) runs DTM, Flexi GT, and GoKart classes that neither of the other two tracks run.  Heart of Dixie (Talladega, AL) Runs Group F and occasionally Retro class cars which neither of the others run.  Charlie's Garage runs Super Modifieds and USRA LMP which the other two tracks do not run.  If these three tracks were to coordinate on their classes they could each benefit from the others racers coming to visit.

HO and 1/32 scale, on the other hand, have a lot more home raceways than commercial tracks.  The amount of work that has been put into many of these tracks is incredible and has inspired me (my track is still in the planning stage, but I have started purchasing the needed material).  If you go to facebook and do a search on HO scale slot cars you will find an almost unlimited amount of home tracks that are holding races.  You will find much the same with 1/32 scale, but it seems HO is like 1/32 on steroids.  Many of the facebook pages you will see reflect a group of tracks that race together.  They coordinate their race dates and the classes they run to make circuits.  You will find some HO home club circuits that have their races scheduled a year in advance.  Some of these slot car racing groups, associations, clubs have locations in not just one town but several.  A few of the racing associations I have looked at have racing in two or three states.

Lets face it, racing at a commercial raceway is fun, but when these home clubs are having more racers showing up to race than most of the commercial tracks, the scene of slot car racing is definitely shifting.  Let this serve as a call-out to one of the slot car racing associations.  I would like to have an article concerning your racing circuit, club, association, rules, racers, whatever.  Please contact me at slotsnewmonthly@gmail.com so I can get with you about this and we can share the info about your group here.

Changes in Slots New?

As I stated when I started this blog about 45 days ago, I have no idea what I am doing.  I am learning as I go.  One thing I have learned is that people tend to check the Race Results for their local tracks, but they read the articles I write.  Sometimes they come back and re-read them.  In order for the Race Results to not push posts off the Home Page before some have had the opportunity to read them I have made some changes.  The Race Results will no longer be front and center on the Home Page.  The Race Results will still be reported on the tracks I am covering only they will show up else where.  You will now find the Race Results for the various tracks located on the side bar to the right under "Current Topics and Race Results".  There will be a page there for each track.  Instead of having a unique page for each day of racing at each track, I will be editing each tracks Race Results with the latest results at the top.  For example to find the most current results from Dungeon Raceway, look under Current Topics and Race Results, then click on Dungeon Raceway, Prattville, AL Results.  This way I will not be using as many unique pages and it will be easier for me to keep it organized.  For example Charlie's Garage has been condensed from seven pages to just one.

Other adjustments you may have noticed concern what I refer to as my monthly articles.  These are articles I will post each month on several topics.  Tip of the Month is one tip I will feature each month from another slot racer.  This post will be up for the entire month as will a post on a racer of the month and product review of the month.  You will be able to find these in the Current Topics and Race Results section and on a bar going across the top of the Home Page.  You will also be able to find them and any past articles under Articles.  Under Articles you will find a list of articles including past articles that go together.  Currently looking under Articles you can find Racer of the Month with the number 2 beside it.  This indicates there are two articles concerning Racer of the month there.  You will note the Editorials has 11 listed.  Here you can find oll the editorials I have written.  In the bar that runs across the top of the Home Page you will also find Scheduled Races.  Here you can find out who is racing when and what classes.  This information is to the best of my knowledge but is subject to change so you should check with any track you are traveling to before leaving.

If you have a product you would like to see reviewed let me know.  When reviewing a product I will contact the manufacturer of that product to find out more detailed information concerning the product.  I endeavor to bring out the best and the worst aspects of the products in a fair manner.  If there is a particular racer you would like to see interviewed as Racer of the Month, let me know.  The Tip of the Month will come from racers who are uniquely qualified to bring out certain tips each month.

I am hoping to be adding a Georgia track to the Slots New? coverage in this month.  Keep checking back and if you have any suggestions you can send them to slotsnewmonthly@gmail.com

That's all for now so keep the trigger squeezed and your eyes on the track.

Home Slot Car Raceways versus Commercial Raceways

Many years ago, I think it was about 20 years ago, I saw a trend starting and made a prediction about slot car racing. The prediction was that commercial slot car tracks would become less prominent and home clubs/raceways would become more prominent. I thought the home clubs, home raceways, or home raceway circuits would blossom. I thought these would be mostly 1/32 scale or HO scale tracks. This really took off in Europe and came to the U.S. shortly after. People started building tracks with landscaping and all kinds of interesting structures. Lots of tracks featured level changes of various types. These tracks range from plastic tracks with the surface built up to be level with the track to home routed tracks. The home raceways that clubs race on usually are anywhere from 2 lanes to 4 lanes and can be larger. Most are too large to fit on a single sheet of plywood and many will have “L” shaped tables to make better use of space.

It is remarkable what the people who have started these clubs have done. They have gathered friends and or family that is interested in racing slot cars and started being competitive in their own home. After they do this a while another member of the racing group or club may decide to build a track and a circuit begins. I have seen clubs where they will have 4 or 5 home tracks in their circuit. This kind of thinking and passion inspires me. They are taking slot car racing to a point where very few commercial raceway racers can even think of. I applaud these efforts and the ingenuity.

There are also some track owners who have built their tracks at their homes who have taken it to the next step. Some have made 1/24^th scale tracks at their homes. I am not talking about the plastic 1/24^th scale tracks. While I do not take anything away from those who have worked hard on a plastic 1/24^th scale track at their home, I place that in the previous category. What I am talking about are people who have built or had built a commercial style 1/24^th scale track at home. These are usually 4 lanes, but could be more or less lanes. I have raced on one such track and the racing was incredible. It was a 150', four lane track featuring a very interesting lay out and multiple banked turns. I will be racing on another 4 lane home track soon that is about 90' long. Earlier today I was talking to a slot racer in Ohio who built a 40 foot four lane track at his house. These tracks run from high bank raceways to flat tracks and the ones I have seen or seen pictures of were built as well as any commercial raceway you could go to. In fact some of the tracks I have seen or heard of were built by top names in the track building industry. I have not heard of home track owners of this nature starting a circuit yet, but that could be very interesting if it happens.

Commercial tracks are difficult to keep in business, they are plagued with high over head and it is very hard for them to stay in business. If a commercial track is in your area it deserves your support as you will benefit from the raceway greatly. The track owner has not only gone to the expense of getting the track, but he has brought in cars, controllers, and parts for you to buy. He has made a major commitment to the hobby for us. Also you have to consider the fact that we may not want to go to the track on a particular day. The commercial track owner is there even if he would like to go to a baseball game or some other activity. Unfortunately, many of these tracks do not last over 2 years. I have talked to many track owners who have been in business for many years. The common denominator here is they all have a specific plan for keeping the hobby fresh and bringing in more people. Also, many of these track owners work another job so they can afford to keep the track open. I have also talked to many track owners who had no clue as to keeping the racing fresh and interesting. These track owners also had no idea how to promote their track to bring in new racers.

This is how the downfall of a typical commercial track takes place. It grows quickly in the first 90 days and starts races. The race participation continues to grow for a while then levels off after about a year. Looking for more challenges some of the racers want faster classes and spend more money on cars and motors. This makes the track owner very happy and he caters to these racers who are spending more money at his track. The focus of attention is moved from the beginner classes to the more advanced classes. While this is going on his newer racers who did not grow as fast as others in the hobby are getting disinterested because they are constantly at the back of the field. Soon the newer racers are few and the focus grows even stronger on the older racers spending more money. The problem is after a while the racing base has been reduced to just a few in the beginner class and a few of the faster classes. Without a significant racer base the commercial track cannot afford to be open. Either that or the track owner becomes disillusioned with so few racers and wants to get out of the hobby.

The track owners I have known who have stayed open for 10, 15 or even 35 years all have one thing in common. These track owners keep the focus on the beginner or entry level class. I have also known track owners who knew that it is much easier to keep a track open for 2 years than 5 years and made plans for this. They would sign a 2 year lease on a space for their raceway. After two years they would evaluate if they needed to move to another part of town. The existing racers who were really committed to the hobby would follow them and they would be exposed to a new traffic pattern for drawing new racers. Often people discover slot car tracks quite by accident. Most slot car tracks don't do much advertising so they count on word of mouth or traffic in front of the track. This is why so many tracks have opened in shopping centers and will move to another shopping center a few years later. There is one track I knew of that was open in the same location for 35 years. It was run by a man I only knew as “Doc”. He was very strict in his rules and stayed focused on the lesser expensive classes. He also understood the need for special races to keep interest up. He would have special races spread out through the year such as a Black Light Race, Endurance race, races with special bodies on the cars, and various theme races. These variations would be done about every two months and kept everyone’s interest. Unfortunately “Doc” passed away and another person took over the track who did not have his vision. Two years later the track closed after being open in the same location for over 35 years.

The great benefit of a home track is that it is not dependent upon sales and track income to keep it open. On the other hand, these tracks usually do not have a supply of parts available to purchase. Also, home tracks are not dependent upon any certain number of racers. As long as there are people to corner marshal the race goes on. If there are not enough to corner marshal then you race in a crash and burn format. Perhaps if there are not enough people to corner marshal you can call track when you deslot and you are penalized one lap as a result. As property prices and store space rent continues to grow it is a fact that it will be harder and harder to keep commercial tracks open. With this in mind, those who have thought of home tracks as being substandard to the commercial raceway need to rethink their position. One day home tracks may be all there is in your area. You will have the choice, don't race or participate in a great form of racing maybe you have not explored. After all, racing is racing, even if it is on a shorter track or one with less than 8 lanes.

Thank you for an outstanding first month!!!

I want to thank everyone who has viewed Slots New? over the past month.  It was an incredible first month with Slots New? receiving over 1,100 views from 13 nations.  I started out knowing nothing about blogging.  Shoot, I had never even been on a blog.  I knew nothing about how to start a blog, organize a blog, or what to put in a blog.  Please, stick with me as I learn more about this blogging stuff.  One of the major issues I am having is the comment box.  It has not allowed comments.  I have pulled my hair out trying to make this work.  I have now tried a new format to see if it helps.  Please try to comment on my posts.  If you cannot get your comments to go through send me a letter through slotsnewmonthly@gmail.com and let me know.  Let me know also what you saw when you tried to post your comment.

Now I want to thank the tracks who are allowing me to cover their race results and are working with me by letting me know their race schedules.  These tracks currently are Dungeon Raceway in Prattville, AL, Heart of Dixie Raceway in Talledega, AL, Charlie's Garage in Pearl, MS, Greg Gilbert in Robertsdale, AL, and Hot Slots in Lewisburg, TN.  I would also like to thank Greg Gilbert for giving me the first tip of the month.

In the future I am looking to add more tracks, but I am not going to add them at a rate I cannot handle.  I will be including a monthly tip coming from a qualified person to give tips on Slot Car racing.  I will also be posting a product of the month and will be writing a review on that product each month.  There will be a poll each month to spur thoughts about topics of interest.  I will be writing an article about a selected racer each month.  This racer will be someone whom I feel is of interest to a number of people.  There will be plenty to read about.

I am trying to organize the blog into topics you can navigate easily.  For example if you are interested in the race results at a particular track you can go to the "Topics and Results" section and click on a track you want to view.  You will see posts on race results from that track only.  If you would like to view my editorials, there is a page listed as "Editorials" you can click on and get every one I have written...etc.  There is now a search bar where you can type a word or two in and it will serve as a word search.  If you wanted to find any resulting article that mentions a specific racer it will show up by typing the name in.  At the top of the blog you can now find regular articles, such as racer of the month, tip of the month, scheduled races, ;and product of the month.  This will help you find articles of the most interest to you.  If you see an article that you especially like and would like to see a continuation of it, be sure to let me know through slotsnewmonthly@gmail.com or by making a comment on the post.


Be watching for more content as it is my plan to add content at least every other day to the blog so there will always be something new to look at.  If you have a topic you would like to see discussed in this blog please send me a letter through slotsnewmonthly@gmail.com and I will see if I can work it into the blog.

Once again, thank you all for the fantastic first month.  Hopefully by the end of month 2 we will have more raceways added to the coverage.

Slot Car Memories

Have you ever thought back to your introduction to slot car racing? For most people it was not at a commercial raceway, it was a home racing set. It may have been an HO set or it could have been something larger. It was probably something you set up on the floor in your bedroom, on the living room floor, or perhaps even on the kitchen table much to Mom's distress. I remember my first contact with slot car racing. It was at about the age of 5 or 6 years old and it was a Christmas present to my brother and me. My brother is close to 4 years older than I am so he had a distinct advantage when it came to racing back then. I am sure my brother would disagree on some of my memories, but this was close to 60 years ago. I am sure he is suffering from the early stages of dementia by now.

I remember it was a Strombecker home racing set. If you are not familiar with this, I think it was later bought out by Atlas. The track was an 8 foot long, 2 lane, figure 8. I believe the track was actually 1/24^th scale track but the cars that came with the set were 1/32^nd scale. The cars were plastic with the chassis being the bottom half of the car. There were two cars, a red roadster and a green roadster. Upon choosing the cars on Christmas morning I chose the green car. This was an easy choice for me as my brother first chose the red car. I don't remember much about our first attempts to drive these cars, but I do seem to remember a plastic rail type fence that was broken from almost the beginning. This could very easily be due to us not being able to keep the cars on the track at first. My brother would say it was because I couldn't keep the car on the track not him. Remember I mentioned the dementia?

I do wonder how my brother managed to enjoy the race set with a 5 or 6 year old brother and the way a 5 or 6 year old must have been driving. I imagine I was deslotting every lap or two. There is much I do not remember about this race set, but I do remember us taking the cars apart to see how they worked. There were two screws that held the top of the car to the bottom. The bottom held the motor, gears, axles and wheels, guide pin (at this time cars had pins that went into the slot not flags), and pick up “shoes”. What my brother figured out was that the bottom of the car was what made it go and not the top of the body. I had no concept of this, all I knew was the green car was faster than the red. My brother came up with the great idea of making our cars be two toned cars by switching the tops or bottoms of the cars. The green car being my car it was not hard for my brother to convince me we needed to keep the tops of the cars the same and switch the bottoms of the cars. Now my car was two toned, green over red. I thought it was pretty neat that we could do that. I didn't understand at that time why all of a sudden the red car was now faster than the green car. Boy, was I gullible! Later I figured out what my brother had actually done....Thanks bro.!!!

A couple years later we received an HO scale Aurora Model Motoring set for Christmas. This was the Sterling Marlin set. I had no idea who Sterling Marlin was at that time, but he was apparently a race car driver.  I figured this out because the box had a picture of him wearing a helmet.  It had the steering wheel controllers and I thought that was really neat. The only problem was these steering wheel controllers had a tendency for the steering wheels to break. This set was where I learned you could change gears around and lubricate the motors. The Model Motoring “Hop Up Kits” taught me you could actually work on slot cars. I still think fondly of the Thunderjet 500 cars from that era. Later on in life I had the opportunity to play with faster HO scale cars like the AFX cars and all that followed. I still like the T-jet 500 cars better than all these Magna Track and related types of HO scale cars with the magnets holding them to the track. Maybe it is something about how they were slow enough to drive them through the corners and see the back ends sliding out as you went around the turns. Or, maybe it is just reliving a nice memory.

Years later we got a 1/24^th scale Sears race set. I remember we went on a trip and my Dad knew there was a commercial track in the town we were going to. He had us bring our cars and controllers with us so we could go by the track and run on it. Much to my disappointment when we got to the track we were told we could not get on the “big” track with the big banked turn. We were told our cars were not fast enough to run on that track and we would have to run on the smaller track that did not have a banked turn. This was probably a set up consisting of an American King track and a smaller American Black track. This was my first introduction to a commercial raceway and I was hooked.  I couldn't wait to actually drive on a track like the one with the big banked turn.

In the years that followed I have been fortunate enough to race on several local tracks that have opened and many tracks across the country. I have seen new racers who are enjoying the hobby for the first time and have that excitement of discovery about them. I have also seen the racers who are jaded from all that they have done and have seen in the past.

Today, I am still trying to out run my brother. We enjoy a very spirited racing relationship, with each of us trying to our run the other. Currently he has a car in one specific class where he out runs me in every race it seems.  Hey, Bro.....how about this, we swap the tops and bottoms of our cars. You and I keep the top part of our cars and give each other the bottoms of our cars in swap? We could do it just like you suggested when we were kids. Wouldn't that be fun to do again?

Super Modifieds Racing at Charlie's Garage (part 2)

As I said previously, it is not my desire to promote any one specific class or track over another, but this is just so unique it needed to be done.  This is a follow up to the previous editorial and will be the last time I write about this class except to report results or race schedule as I would with any other class or track.

The Super Modifieds were run tonight at Charlie's Garage in Pearl, MS on a 90 foot tri-oval.  We all expected this to be a demolition derby with the winner being the last person with a car actually running at the end.  This was not the case.  There were 7 entries and 7 finishers.  The racing was actually door to door, so to speak, with some of the cars.  Maybe it was because everyone was afraid of causing the "big one".  Or, maybe it was just everyone understood they had to drive these cars more carefully than any other class they had ever raced.

The race started very clean with very few deslots.  Some people actually made it a couple rotations without any deslots at all.  The race was determined much by the cars that were not involved in the big crashes and the people who stayed on top of maintenance between rotations.  What was determined was these cars were much faster than we thought they were and were actually race-able.  One of the problems we encountered was that some of the cars would actually come out of the slot going down the longest straight under acceleration, kind of like a drag car without a wheelie bar.  Another problem was deslotted cars sliding down the bank to the inside lane.  If this happened on the back side of the track, if they corner marshal was not quick enough, the person on black might not see the desloted car due to the inside wall of the track.  This caused a couple spectacular crashes including cars taking to the air up to 4-5 feet above the track.  Also, there was the problem of cars getting upside down.  If you have ever seen sprint car racing on dirt you know that when one gets upside down the wing may dig into the dirt and send the car tumbling.  We had much the same happen quite a few times when people would go into a turn fast enough to deslot and roll over.  Once a car would get on its top it would get a spring board effect from the roll cage and wing causing it to tumble in much the same fashion.

OK, they were difficult to drive and even harder to race.  They took a lot of maintenance to keep going.  They were a danger to some of the turn marshals (one flew over a marshals head almost hitting him).  You can race almost any other class easier with less trouble.  With all that said, they were more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and the racing was better than we thought it would be.  Will everyone that raced decide they want to continue with the class?  Probably not which is a shame.  Some people just don't have a masochistic side to them.

If you have a chance to race this class... take out an extra life insurance policy on your favorite corner marshal, get a helmet for yourself for when you are marshaling, and go for it.  The worse that can happen is you give someone a concussion, tear a car up, put a hole in the wall at the end of the longest straight, and have a lot of fun in the process.

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!

View Point - Why should we travel away from our home track to race?

Why should we travel to other tracks to race?

Obviously this topic is a two edged sword. The track owner does not want his racers leaving their home track to race somewhere else, while at the same time he would love to have racers from other tracks come to visit his track to race. The racers view point can vary concerning this from “Why should I travel when I can race here?” to being excited about the opportunities presented by racing elsewhere. This point of view will look at the racers view point first and the track owners view second.

The local racers view point of not wanting to travel is usually because of two reasons. The first reason not to race elsewhere is convenience. It is simply more convenient to race close to home and not travel. It does not cost as much to race at home since you do not have the traveling expense plus you do not have to buy parts or cars to fit into another tracks program. When racing at home you are comfortable with the track and know it better than you could possibly come to know a track you visit. You will naturally be more competitive on your “home” track and less competitive on a strange track. Going off to a different environment to race in is a very unsure scenario. It is completely understandable for a racer not to want to venture away from home to race.

The local racers view point of wanting to travel to race is one of an adventurous person who is always wanting to improve his skill set. Where a track that you are not familiar with is more difficult to drive on, it forces you to increase in your abilities as a racer. Traveling to race allows you the opportunity to cultivate a completely new set of racing friends. Racing with new friends allows you the opportunity to learn things these people are doing that your local racers may not be doing. By combining the technology of both locations you gain in your overall technology. Thus, you have learned set up techniques that your local friends may not be aware of. It is then up to you whether you should share this information or not. After all, you were the one who took the initiative and the expense to travel elsewhere to race. Racing at other locations than your home track adds another dimension of excitement to racing. You have the pleasure of the anticipation of the event you are going to, the excitement of actually being in a new racing environment and racing with people whom may or may not be more advanced than you, you also have the pleasure of meeting and getting to know these other racers and making new friends.

Whether you should travel to other raceways to experience new adventures can only be answered by you. It boils down to how adventurous you are. Some people will enjoy these experiences and some will just dread the thought of having to race a bunch of people who are probably faster than they are. Then there are those who are locked into convenience. None of these views are right and none of them are wrong. It all depends upon what is correct for you.

The view point of the track owner falls into two directions also. He can look at it as losing a racer on a given day and that racer possibly spend their money on parts at another location. There is not much a track owner can look forward to concerning a racer traveling elsewhere to race. However, there is the possibility that this racer can learn of new technology and bring that technology back to the local track where other racers will want to spend money to have this technology themselves. There is also the possibility that people from the track a racer visits could come to visit his home track. This would undoubtedly bring extra sales to the slot car track in parts to be legal for them racing in a class that is new to them.

The major view point issue is not whether a person travels to race elsewhere or not, in how the racer and the local track owner perceive this. The local racer needs to understand the investment that a person has made to bring slot car racing locally. It is not an inexpensive venture. The local track owner should be respected for this investment and the local racer should support the local track by purchasing every thing possible through the local track. The local racer needs to understand that when he travels, if it is on a local race day, it diminishes the local racing experience. At the same time the track owner needs to understand the desire to improve ones racing skills and the adventure involved in traveling to race. This added excitement might be the thing that keeps a person interested in racing where racing against the same people week after week might leave them desiring more excitement.

The end result is both the track owner and the local racer need to understand and respect the opinion of the other while not demanding the other accept their opinion as the only way to do things.

Slots New?

This is the re-launch of Slots New?. In the 1990's Slots New? was published each month as a news letter to pass on information concerning slot car racing at a local track in Clinton, MS. This blog will present information concerning slot car racing in several locations around the South.  You can expect news from various raceways, information on the classes they are running, their race schedule, race results from the past month, and any special events coming up in the near future.  Slots New? will still be available by email as a monthly newsletter by contacting slotsnewmonthly@gmail.com and requesting it.  This blog will report race results from slot car raceways around the southern United States as they are sent in to us.  Also, there will be an interview with a “Slot Racer of the Month”.  We will also be posting a Tip of the Month from a selected racer or our own experiences.  There will be product reviews and a “Point of View” editorial. It is my hope that this blog will bring the slot car racing community closer together in the southern United States and promote visiting to different tracks by local racers.