[mac p]

As we know, in the late 60,s there was a parting of the ways between the followers of scale and the hunters for speed, both having there good and bad points. there did not seem to be any common ground, but in the last month or so on my visits to oaklands park {members of the bsl } there has been much talk of looking for a formula that takes in both scale and high performance, 1 or 2 idea,s have been muted, has anyone got thought,s as how this may come about? cheers mac

 

[Tropi]

I am not sure if it can be made to work, Mac.
But Philippe at TSRF has some quite well defined and developed rules for spreading points between performance and appearance. Have you seen these? It seems to be used quite successfully for the Marconi Proxy Racing.

 

[mac p]

the thought,s tended not to have 2 types of cars gaining points from there good or bad totals, but 1 type of car, off the top of my head, brass or wire chassis with hard body,s?? the oaklands lads talked of something that sounded like bsl detuned production car, i think they will have to move a little further than that toencorage r t r people to consider the move. mac

 

[GRAH1]

I think the ALMS proxy races camepretty clse to what you are looking for mac
pity you wernt able to come up for the uk rounds ,maybe next year?
Graham

 

[howmet tx]

Might it be as simple as requiring scale sized (diameter, anyway) wheels? In my memory, the only really odd thing about the out and out race cars of the 68 onward period was those tiny wheels, front and back. Especially on open wheeled models. I have nothing at all against vacforms per se. There's such a range of models you can choose, and they're great for racing; cheap too. You can make them look as good as you like. I don't think the problem lies there, particularly. Whatever anyone else has to suggest, I think it well worth pursuing the idea of scale racing!

 

[vfr750]

i think part of the problem is the general dumbing down of skills in society and a culture of instant gratification. I know I'm generalising but I suspect the majority of those who enjoy scratchbilding etc are over 40. Its a pity that BSCRA or whoever don't have classes for scratchbuilt cars. It would be good to have one class if the proposed Stotforum event happens.

Cheers,

John

p.s. reading the above, I really sound like an old fart don't I :-(

 

[Tropi]

If talking sensibly and reasonably defines an old fart, then undoubtedly,YES!
Just a pity there aren't more of them around.
Old farts can have fun too!

 

[Ecurie Martini]

There is nothing that prevents one from putting a sophisticated chassis and motor under a scale body - viz. some of Russell's cars. A simple rule requiring scale size tires, front and rear, on scale size wheels, a ground clearance spec and dimensions limited to scale will provide the opportunity to combine both scale appearance and speed - but not for $29.95 - One can go a few steps further - outlaw cobalt magnets as PdL does for the Marconi series, require that qualifying and the entire race be run on the same motor, allow only commercially available laser cut chassis or hand built (non-laser cut) one-offs etc.

Limiting tire dimensions alone will put something of a cap on motor specs.

EM

 

[Coopdevil]

Mac,

If you think back to the retro meet we had at Oaklands at the beginning of the year (http://www.abslotsport.com/page15.html) I thought that was a nice mix of scale and speed - wheels were perhaps still a little too small to be scale, but cars were recognizable and went OK although admittedly the 'He Who Shall Not Be Named' (Oaklands joke) Chapparal didn't go too smartly after I hit it with my Ford Mk IV. My car was just an old Trinity with an old S16D with real-ish front wheels and tractor-level amounts of ground clearance on the back. Maybe a similar set-up with realistic modern shells would be a neat halfway house. A slightly more competitive version of that car with a realistic LMP shell stickered up with vinyl decals would look good and require a bit more skill to drive than the BSCRA 1:24 production class.

Actually at the moment I don't feel a need for scale in the Oaklands racing since Ralph and I are (shockingly) messing with racing Scalex (and I can't paint as well as their tampo printing machine can!) at Great Barr on Friday nights. Axeman is looking at the modified classes and has the bit well and truly between his teeth.

Coop (Owen)

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

Hi All
I agree that there is not much left for the scratch builder in BSCRA today, now and again you might come across someone who has a go building chassis but more often than not the effort is not realy competitive against the state of the art EDM/Lazer cut chassis kits around today.
I think the retro races such as the one run at Oaklands and the Tottenham retro meetings at North London and Luton allow the older racer [and some younger ones] to indulge in a bit of scratch building cars which are a bit more to scale than normally found in BSCRA at the moment.
I intend to organise more Tottenham meetings next year with the possibility of having a 2 day affair which could include 1/32 scale type racing, i know Ralph is keen on this, so keep tuned!
[oneofwos]