earlier gears

Summer 55 > In the Southport MES club a circuit is being built and for September the first race of our sport will take place. D. J. Laidlaw-Dickson in his capacity as director of the magazine Model Maker is invited to make an article of this historical event. Because in celler where the circuit resides has a limited space, the invitation is made some time before the race, coinciding with the training of 3 of its members and a few cars, which will pass to posterity ( MM Oct´55 ).

This report of the training will be published a few days after the race itself, the first of our hobby in end September´55.

In this article describes how cars have been built, most of them take advantage of Scalex cheap gears, although it has been commissioned to a master watchmaker who is also a member of the club (probably same person in charge of Venner chronometers for the circuit - does anyone know who was that person ?) for the manufacture of worm transmissions with a 4: 1 ratio that is considered ideal for the system of cars and circuits built.

Feb / Mar'56 > The previous article is done before the race, so we have no information of what happens until a few months later, when D.J. Laidlaw-Dickson rewrites an article in 2 MM issue "Electric Rail Racing for everyone", already with the constructor / driver and car winners and with a little more information about it:

Some worm transmissions were entrusted to the master watchmaker with a 4: 1 ratio, among which one of them was mounted on the winning unit, the legendary ERA by Colin Sinclair.

It is a special commission made in an amateur way to a member of the same club. I can not list it as a brand of our hobby, but your case is very interesting to consider.

MM April'56 > G. Atkinson collects the experience of the Southport MES club, as well as the home circuits made by Ron Warrin and D.J. Laidlaw-Dickson and incorporates improvements. However he insists ... he prefers to use the gears of the Precision Model Engineering Co of Liverpool in front of those in charge of a master watchmaker.

An address note adds " we have now received samples of these gears sets from Precision Model Engineering. They have as suggested, an been drilled with a 1/16 inch central hole to gear, which is fractionally under 1/2 inch in diameter, thus providing clearance or just over 1/16 inch between guide rail and wheel, provided track is accurately constructed. Price is 4s. per set plus P.T. is applicable.

At the suggestion of G. Atkinson, the new Precision gears have been modified to be solded to SMEC axel/wheels, the best of that time. (by the way, I'll make another post dedicated to the first wheels).

Is there still someone who does not believe there was a marketing relationship between G. Atkinson and Precision? This is why I consider Precision as the first brand that was offered to model racers.

to be continued

MM Oct´56 >

2nd Grand Prix of Southport MES in end-September´56 was even best mythical race ever, because was the first under the umbrella of a sports organization ( MRCA ) and because it was the first INTERNATIONAL open ( the first edition really was an inter-club race ).

By the way : electrical problems caused that only 5 of the 6 tracks were operational.

Majority english cars use Tri-Ang MK IV motor and some Keyser MK I. All its transmissions used are worm gears, because the hobby inherited from the electric train to scale. This time new Precision gears are the best english gears, because the 1º open was 100-lap and this 2º open was 200-lap, then Precision gears they are harder and survive better than the rest.

The exotic 4 American units cause a sensation and surprise in 2nd and 4th final position. They use a Pittman DC60 motor and at least 2 of these 4 transmissions do not use worm gears!.

car nº67 ( 4th ) used the most common solution today, that is the pinion and crown.
car nº66 ( no final ) used the early old solution : worm gear, but banked.
car nº65 ( no final ) no photos, no info. ?.
car nº64 ( 2th) used bevel pinion and crown. Also the position of the motor is not straight, but it is banked.

The absence of companies dedicated to this hobby / sport, caused that the first pioneers were supplied with anything valid to which they could access. The English pieces did not reach America, so the solutions to which the American fans came were identical or similar, although with American pieces.

American fans could not access the precision gears and used as gear resources of the American industry or American toys.

It would be almost impossible to know exactly the origin, but you can point the following marks as possible:

* American standard gear Div of Illinois.
* Model Racing Inc of Ohio
* Boston (possibly origin of the bevels gears)

They are not brands of our hobby / sport, but resources.

to be continued ...

No solution for my bad english translation

BUT Geoff corrected me several things privately :

the real name of the first club is Southport Model & Engineering Club ( Southport M&EC ), not Southport Model Engineering Society ( Southport MES ) and its " 1st Grand Prix " was not a "inter-club" race, but an " invitational " race.

A fatal error in the translation made me think that the worm gears used in the first Grand Prix 1955 was maded to a master craftsman, this is not the case. The handscraft that made these gears come from the knowledge of the club's own members. For exemple Tom Nelson was mechanical engineering lecturer.

I thank Geoff for the correction, because I want to help towards the truth, not the create errors.

Note: I already have almost all the issues of the Model Maker magazine and I am doing a data analysis with a list of articles, news and even announcements.

In another excell document I am collecting all the information of all the Grand Prix of Southport ... which were their cars and the pilots who participated.

When I finish it (it may take me a lot of time ) I'll let you know.