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SF (for Sci-FI)

4K views 28 replies 5 participants last post by  Rail Racer 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
[this is just a pretext for saying how much I enjoy the Inspector Thumb saga - I suppose it must be the Wodehouse I was raised with - anyway, I don't have anything near that writing ability, so I'll do the usual gig as agent provocateur for my fixation....]

It's 2007, and slot racers from all over the world are flocking to the Emirates for the season's premier event, the Dubai Classic

The general excitement is dampened by the prospect of confronting the redoutable Abu Rus'l, the Sheikh of Slot, in his very lair

It will also be the debut of the new top category, GT 1.2 A - after endless negotiations, this will provide an answer to the ageless question : Who is the best scratch builder of the world?

And the entrants are :

............
OK, why don't you step in and tell us what your car will be like ??
 
G
#2 ·
Entered by the totally egotistical egocentric self-made billionaire Richard Hardric rail car manufacture to the stars from the newly restored capital of Great Britain isca on the west coast at it was in ancient times.
A model of Parry Thomas's BABS, capturing perfectly every curve of this 27,057cc monster.
The bodywork was carved with a laser out of a leek which had been harden in liquid nitrogen until it was as hard as a diamond, powered by a handwound RX motor with a diamond trued arm and solid gold windings using magnets from the old Russian space station recovered when this fell to earth. The tyres were rubber impregnated with diamond dust for grip. This car was more a work of art that a slot car and had been constructed at a cost of 1billion $UT the US had long gone. Surely this would be enough to show the brilliant but deeply disturbed Hardric was indeed good enough to beat Abu Rus'l in the Dubai Classic??????
 
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#3 ·
Some days before the race was due to begin, a large crate was delivered marked "Hazardous materials". Opening the crate, having dug through a vast amount of packing, a lead box the size of a shoebox was unearthed, liberally plastered with radiation cautions. The entry of the flamboyantly moustachioed Mad Baron Montague had arrived.

Cautiously opening the box, a model of a chrome blue Ferrari Daytona lay nestled innocently amongst the packaging. Within it's deceptive outer shell, however, lay a power plant of unprecedented power. A micro-cold fusion unit, the car housed enough power generation to light half of London for a year. Unfortunately, this was entirely consumed by the halogen headlights, capable of lighting up the track ahead or cutting through a steel vault door, depending on the setting.

Baffled by the apparent lack of motor, an explanation was finally found in a note explaining that the wheels needed feeding: microscopic hamsters within the tyres. Cunning! Additionally, at the press of a button the car transformed into a fully functional intercontinental missile. Was there no end to the Mad Baron's talents? Was there no start to his sanity? Would the car (built of pure unobtanium) actually move? The race would decide.
 
G
#4 ·
A dark cloud was forming over Abu Rus'l house, had the predicted blackhole appeared and would the multi talented Abu appear? or would the blackhole swoop down and stretch him to infinity and over the event horizon. As no sign of his entry was apparent.
 
#5 ·
This just in via my 'Mystic Meg Faxes-from-the-Future' connection...
Bengt Axel's entry for the 2007 Dubai classic. Based on the famous Mac's It Special Can-Am car, it features independant four wheel drive via a motor at each wheel. The short stack low-rev Hi-torque motors have a belt transmission, and a microchip onboard regulates the curent to each power unit. Each motor/wheel unit is hinged on a central backbone and features torsion bar suspension. The whole chassis is of magnetized steel. At least he tried.........

 
#7 ·
I can't see 4WD cars working in a slot car, they do exist, but I think the front wheels only slow them up, electic motors in slotcars put out more power than the cars they are modelled after, and they don't get the traction, the axle cog is driving up, which takes the weight off the front, look at real cars, front wheel or real wheel drive cars all lift the front, but we can dream
 
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#8 ·
I am sorry to say that Historical facts say you are wrong, some of the most successful 1960's slot cars were 4WD.

As for 4WD 1/1 vehicles I had been in Range Rover driven up a slagheap you could hardly climb up OK it took several attemps to get to the top and a very skilled driver (I was not driving) this was for a road test article I was writting. but it would have been inpossible in a two wheel drive vehicle.

RR
 
#9 ·
Some probably were, but are they as fast as the rear wheel drive cars now,and probably then? can you get a 4WD slotcar to go as fast as a rear wheel drive, and for 1:1 scale, of course you can't beat a 4WD car, but they aren't slotcars, they don't have to keep their braids on the track, disconect the front wheel drive on your slot car and see if it goes faster.
 
#11 ·
To get back to Xslot's original premise...
I notice that by 2015, according to agents Fox and Cheetah in the 'Blood on the Tracks' story, the FBI had perfected the use of linear induction motors for slot cars. This eliminates the need for wheels, since the chassis hovers just above the track rails, supported by the magnetic field. Wheels being a major source of friction and drag, and the lack of any moving parts, bearings or drive train means that potentially this is potentially a very quick setup indeed. An official FBI slot car wouldn't qualify as a scrtchbuilt, I guess, but perhaps some ingenious builder had knocked up the first prototype in time for the 2007 Dubai race?
Just an idle thought.
 
G
#16 ·
"That was a really neat trick to make Dubai disappear like that David Bottomfeel and get your hand off my shorts, Now bring it back or you will feel the cold steel of my blade" said Adu Rus'l Welsh half-brother 49.5 time removed.

This well muscled lunatic from the cultural centre of the world (WALES) knew he would have to help his brother Adu Rus'l to keep him out of the hands of Richard Hardric and the Mad Baron Montague as well as other assorted mad SlotForum members entering the Dubai Classic.

Dubai re-appeared and David Bottomfeel disappeared in a cloud of his own smoke.
Would Adu Rus'l still be alive when the race started? Would the micro-cold fusion re-actor in Daytona overload and permanently remove Dubai from the face of the earth? and does anyone care?
 
G
#19 ·
Abu Rus'l's entry arrived packed in a box marked experimental, this was a magnificent model of Nuvalari's 1939 D-type Auto Union, this model came complete with a 1/32 scale working supercharged V12 petrol engine which was used to generate electricity for the micro-electric motor driving the model.

The attention to detail was unbelievable the cockpit had the pedals drilled with the right number of holes in each, 14 holes in the throttle pedal and 19 in the brake and clutch pedals. The bodywork was handbeaten Aluminium, Abu Rus'l had never built better, would this win the Dubai Classic?
 
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#20 ·
Where was Xlot entry????????

Just then Abu Rus'l mobile rang answering in his soft South African accent, Adu Rus'l was deeply disturb (what new) at the news. A warning from his Welsh half-brother that Richard Hardric was out to end his slot building Career. Driven crazy with jealousy over the wonderful model Rus'l had built over the years Hardric was planning to bury Rus'l up to neck in sand. Would Abu Rus'l make it to the start line?
 
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#21 ·
JohnP's entry arrived packed in a wooden box marked hazardous to other entries. Unpacked this turned out to be a magnificent scratchbuilt fibreglass ERA with a working driver that turned the steering wheel though a gear fixed to the guide. The finish on the car was enamelled so that it look more like a piece of jewellery than a slot car.
It had a rewound MRRC 3-pole with gold wire and extra frame pieces the motor was also ballraced, the chassis was built out of soldered fine bore brass tube gold plated to match the motor, England would be proud of him. Handmade wire wheels completed this miniature masterpiece. John P had built his finest but would it be good enough?
 
#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
Excellent. What a fabulous proxy entry for me there RR


It looks like I already have the Concours d'Elegance trophy in the bag. Abu Rus may have been a contender but it's a well known fact that Nuvolari's D-type had only 17 holes in the clutch pedal - certain disqualification heh heh


Anyway 3 years. Do-able. Better get started... England expects and all that
 
G
#24 ·
This John Bacon built Ferrari is the only slot car I own where the driver really steers the car. The driver is connected to the guide though the steering wheel using a shaft with a pinion and crown gear so that the guide turns more than the driver. This car performs brilliantly and is a real joy to use.

RR
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
I wonder if Herb Adams, the designer of the Escort CanAm, was related to the late "Smokey" Yunick?

Yunick built this "side-saddle" car for the 1964 Indianapolis 500. Called the Hurst Floor Shift Special, it featured a catamaran-like layout with the driver placed in a pod adjacent to a second pod containing the engine, front and rear suspension, fuel tank, and radiator:-



Unfortunately, neither Duane Carter Sr. nor Bobby Johns were able to make it "raceworthy".

The Adams Escort CanAm, with its 5,0 litre V8 Chevrolet inclined at 45°, faired somewhat better. It made its debut in the 1983 "born again" Can-Am series at Mosport, where it finished 17th, and finished 11th at Lime Rock, 8th at Road America, and 8th at Sears Point, with Milt Minter driving.

Kind regards

Russell
 
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