[Barry Boor]

For the benefit of the multitudes who do not know my particular, strange slant on the slot race hobby I will explain very briefly that I race on replicas of real circuits which are built, raced on and then broken up in a few days.

To obtain as accurate a replica as I can I have made numerous modified pieces of track by cutting curves in half to enable me to get as close to the correct degree of turn for each corner as possible.

Here is my version of the Bremgarten circuit upon which the Swiss Grand prix was run:

I should add that my track has just one centre lane which again enables me to get double the number of different radius curves compared with standard 2-lane track.

This is Reims in 1959:

and finally for the moment, I have just run an early 1950s race at Chimay in Belgium:

Circuit experts will note that there are a couple of very subtle bends missing from parts of the Chimay circuit but hey, it's my hobby....

Apologies for boring everyone. You don't have to return to the thread again, do you?

 

[Barry Boor]

Regarding Reims, the widest radius curve that I have, which is the outer rail of the outer outer curve is still rather sharper than that first corner should be so it wasn't as quick as perhaps it should have been.

The circuit really did blow the cobwebs off of the old Johnson motors I use. I've never been flat out for so long on any track before.

The big problem was the final hairpin at the end of the longest straight. It was so easy to lift off the throttle either too early (slow lap) or too late (no lap) and of course, the fact that I am racing twenty odd cars against one another - via the clock - means that as every car's ability to slow for the corner varies, it was quite difficult to get it right.

But all in all in was o.k. though not one of my favourites, albeit nicer than the other two I've illustrated above, especially Berne, which was very difficult.

 

[Barry Boor]

Cor, what a question - my favourite track....

Well, I do really enjoy my Monaco which is the pre-swimming pool version. I created two pieces of wooden track for it because it's not possible to make a long gentle curve from commercially produced track so:

This is the Tabac-Gasworks-St. Devote section, while:

this is the section around the harbour with the old, short tunnel.

When I build Monaco I build it up from ground level to around 40 cms high at the Casino Square, then back down again onto the harbour side. It's brilliant to drive on because you can settle into a rhythm with it - very satisfying.

Many, many years ao - 1968 to be precise, I had a much smaller area to build circuits in but still managed it. Jo Siffert's Lotus 49 left the track at the chicane and landed in an area that would have been the harbour. So I took the car into a bowl of water! Well, I was only 20 at the time.

 

[Barry Boor]

I don't think I should go into any details about how I race my cars.

I suggest you have a look here:

http://website.lineone.net/~barrybboor/

with particular attention to this page: http://website.lineone.net/~barrybboor/racing1.html

If you have sufficient time and inclination, you will find two You Tube clips, one of which is the aforementioned Monaco with a 1950 Alfa Romeo going around, while the other is Zandvoort with a 1959 B.R.M.

These were circuits built in my shed in Wales but now I live in Malta, for the reason shown at the top of my website, I have a considerably bigger space in which to build my tracks, although I won't build short circuits like Monaco any larger because 100 laps, even with just 16 starters, would take forever to run a race.

 

[Barry Boor]

Yet again I cannot get far enough away to photograph the whole circuit so my computer-drawn track plan will have to suffice. This is my current circuit upon which I am running the 1959 F.2 Rouen Grand Prix:

 

[Barry Boor]

At last I have a circuit that I can photograph.

It looks a bit distorted but that's because of the position I had to photograph it from.

 

[Barry Boor]

Sorry, stupid of me not to name the circuit. It's AINTREE, where the British Grand Prix was held five times.

 

[Barry Boor]

Well, you could guess this one but I'm afraid the title rather gives it away:

You Tube item

 

[Barry Boor]

Cannot see any photos.

 

[Barry Boor]

The race is over now and the circuit has gone.

Best lap of the entire event was 15.35 seconds. Comfortably the longest circuit I have ever built.

Next up is AVUS - good job I have a long corridor!

 

[Barry Boor]

O.k. guess the circuit.

If you get it, you are even more of a sad b****r than I am.

 

[Barry Boor]

Here's another reasonably accurate version of a real circuit:

The big problem is always the long, wide radius curve. The start-finish straight at this circuit was curved for most of its length. I get over it by cutting the widest radius commercially available pieces in half, thus getting just about 10 degrees of curve per piece. It still creates a 50p piece type situation (apologies to non-Brits who wouldn't know what a 50p piece looks like.)

It's not possible to take the section flat out but it's pretty quick.

Lap times with my old Johnson-powered 1959 F.1 cars is around 9 seconds.

 

[Barry Boor]

The last circuit is Montjuic Park - in Spain, yes, but not Madrid. Montjuic is in Barcelona and the roads are there today for anyone who visits that lovely city, to walk around, as I did four years ago.

 

[Barry Boor]

O.K, step forward all smart-a***s and clever-d***s. This is a pretty accurate replica of a real circuit, but can you identify it. And a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to anyone who dares to say Spa!

 

[Barry Boor]

This one is far more recognisable to most race fans, I guess:

 

[Barry Boor]

It certainly is - and it's a lovely circuit to drive on.

 

[Barry Boor]

I wondered if someone would eventually ask!

It's the Douglas circuit on the Isle of Man and it was used for the British Empire Trophy race in the late 1940s - before the government decided that cars would not be allowed to race on public roads any more.

The start and finish straight (where the yellow straight is on my plan) was part of the T.T. circuit and used the same pit area. It was a very nice circuit to drive slot cars on, though not as enjoyable as Oulton Park (post 34).

 

[Barry Boor]

This circuit turned out to be about as accurate as it could possibly be:

A lap time of over 11 seconds makes it one of the longest I've built so far.

 

[Barry Boor]

Sure is. Couldn't be mistaken for anywhere else, could it?

 

[Barry Boor]

Although an accurate representation of the original Nurburgring is nigh on impossible, I have had a shot at it in order to run the 1951 German Grand Prix. Here is my effort:

and here is a video lap of the completed track:

Video lap of the Ring

After three practice session the fastest lap by any car is 18.07 seconds by Fangio's Alfa Romeo.