Posts by BEEJAY7
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Joined
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4,042 Posts
Thanks Chaps
I did phone up an old Slot car Racing friend of mine the other day to see what was happening in my local area. He told me that the Bath Club was still operating, (after all these years!), and would I like to come down and "try my hand again!".
I did go last Wednesday, and I have got to say I was very dissapointed. The cars they use nowadays bear no resemblance to scale models, and although very fast , are fairly easy to drive and to be honest pretty boring.
The front wheels, always pretty marginal, are now almost non-existant, thin little roundels of plastic which would not look out of place inside a watch. The bodies are truely awful, and so thin and I'm afraid it appears that very few are interested in producing great paint jobs, instead tending to make do with multi-coloured spray finishes.
It is a great shame as Bath has such a wounderful new track, but I'm not interested, I'm afraid, in taking part in this type of racing. (Whatever happened to the ECRA ?).
I think I am going to have to build my own track and race the type of cars that I am interested in, (mainly 50's/60's Grand Prix cars, with a smidgen of Le Mans cars).
Great Shame but I think technology has moved on too much for my liking, or maybe it's me getting too old......
What is the Swindon Club like?.....Do they race similar cars to Bath or more commercial stuff like Fly, SCX etc?....That could interest me.
Once again thanks for your replies, and I must stress these are personnel comments and in no way should you take my views as having any relevance at all !,.......... each to their own.
Cheers
Alan
I did phone up an old Slot car Racing friend of mine the other day to see what was happening in my local area. He told me that the Bath Club was still operating, (after all these years!), and would I like to come down and "try my hand again!".
I did go last Wednesday, and I have got to say I was very dissapointed. The cars they use nowadays bear no resemblance to scale models, and although very fast , are fairly easy to drive and to be honest pretty boring.
The front wheels, always pretty marginal, are now almost non-existant, thin little roundels of plastic which would not look out of place inside a watch. The bodies are truely awful, and so thin and I'm afraid it appears that very few are interested in producing great paint jobs, instead tending to make do with multi-coloured spray finishes.
It is a great shame as Bath has such a wounderful new track, but I'm not interested, I'm afraid, in taking part in this type of racing. (Whatever happened to the ECRA ?).
I think I am going to have to build my own track and race the type of cars that I am interested in, (mainly 50's/60's Grand Prix cars, with a smidgen of Le Mans cars).
Great Shame but I think technology has moved on too much for my liking, or maybe it's me getting too old......
What is the Swindon Club like?.....Do they race similar cars to Bath or more commercial stuff like Fly, SCX etc?....That could interest me.
Once again thanks for your replies, and I must stress these are personnel comments and in no way should you take my views as having any relevance at all !,.......... each to their own.
Cheers
Alan
Joined
·
4,042 Posts
Swiss
I'm afraid I don't have any picures of the stuff I raced in the 60's, as I gave most of it away when I finished racing.
Most chassis then were constructed by their owners from brass and piano wire, with either Group 20 or Group 7 motors, although some racers used custom motors of their own design and construction.
Chassis configeration was mainly 45 Degree Anglewinders although by this time Sidewinder designs were creeping in.
Racing was divided up into 1/32 Formula 1, 1/32 Saloon, 1/32 Sports cars and 1/24 Sports cars. I remember the most popular Saloon chassis was the Daytona, a horrible American car, with a long wheelbase, (9'-9" If I remember correctly). They then introduced a convertible version to race in Sports cars, but this caused outrage at the time as there was no 1:1 model actually produced. I think it was banned by the ECRA eventually.
Bodies were lexan, but thicker than those produced today and with more detail I seem to recall.
As far as todays cars go, I think they are superb. The stuff produced by Scalextrix
in the 60's was pretty poor, hence the reason no "serious" Slot racer would give them a second look. I really like the Ninco Classic range, but then I'm very much into 1:1 Classic cars (see http://community.webshots.com/user/atadd). I must get me one of those Ninco Healey's!.
As far as my own track is concerned I had intended to use the new (new to me anyway), Scalex Sport track, but now I'm not so sure......I (will be) posting about this soon.
Jon
Thanks for your guidence.
I will contact Swindon and see what they can offer.
I have found a Club that seems to offer everything I'm looking for, and that is the Southend Club. These guys really seem to be on the same wavelength as me, It's just a shame they are so far away, but I will be making contact with them.
Best of luck with your "retro" event I'm sure it will prove very popular, and if possible I would like to attend.
Best Wishes
Alan
I'm afraid I don't have any picures of the stuff I raced in the 60's, as I gave most of it away when I finished racing.
Most chassis then were constructed by their owners from brass and piano wire, with either Group 20 or Group 7 motors, although some racers used custom motors of their own design and construction.
Chassis configeration was mainly 45 Degree Anglewinders although by this time Sidewinder designs were creeping in.
Racing was divided up into 1/32 Formula 1, 1/32 Saloon, 1/32 Sports cars and 1/24 Sports cars. I remember the most popular Saloon chassis was the Daytona, a horrible American car, with a long wheelbase, (9'-9" If I remember correctly). They then introduced a convertible version to race in Sports cars, but this caused outrage at the time as there was no 1:1 model actually produced. I think it was banned by the ECRA eventually.
Bodies were lexan, but thicker than those produced today and with more detail I seem to recall.
As far as todays cars go, I think they are superb. The stuff produced by Scalextrix
in the 60's was pretty poor, hence the reason no "serious" Slot racer would give them a second look. I really like the Ninco Classic range, but then I'm very much into 1:1 Classic cars (see http://community.webshots.com/user/atadd). I must get me one of those Ninco Healey's!.
As far as my own track is concerned I had intended to use the new (new to me anyway), Scalex Sport track, but now I'm not so sure......I (will be) posting about this soon.
Jon
Thanks for your guidence.
I will contact Swindon and see what they can offer.
I have found a Club that seems to offer everything I'm looking for, and that is the Southend Club. These guys really seem to be on the same wavelength as me, It's just a shame they are so far away, but I will be making contact with them.
Best of luck with your "retro" event I'm sure it will prove very popular, and if possible I would like to attend.
Best Wishes
Alan
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