UK Slot Car Festival Heart of England F1 Race - Sponsored by Policar

2014 UK SLOT CAR FESTIVAL
"HEART OF England"
1970's RETRO F1 SCALEXTRIC RACING
SUNDAY 18 MAY - 11.00AM

Hello - I guess many of you will have seen or heard about the series that Bearwood Scalextric Club have been organising for the last couple of years or you may have seen us featured in the souvenir program for the 2013 Festival, indeed some of you may well have joined us last year and ran some of our actual race cars and seen how surprisingly well that they actually ran once you have done a couple of simple things to the front axle & tyres - despite the fact that they originate from the early 1970's onwards, and are getting on for well over 40 years old in some cases !

Well, for the 2014 Festival the organisers have asked us back to the event and we are now able to announce that we will be giving you the opportunity to come and have another go at racing these marvellous little cars once again, but this time under "full race conditions" where the regulars take on the "newbies"...................... so let's see if you can beat us then !

.........OK, fear not - I'm only joking, the actual idea is to give other people a chance to race rather than just filling it with all of the people who have done it before or are doing it already, so if you are new to the series and fancy joining in with us on the day then please add your name to this thread.

The entry fee is £5 which will be payable on the day please and there will be trophies & prizes for the winners.

Your cars will need to be built to the "improved" class rules ideally but if you want to keep your cars more or less standard rather than improve them then you can still run them on the day with the original Johnson motors in as well to save modifying the original motor mountings etc.

We will be racing on the 3 lane "Slot Fire" track that we used at last year's event and our allocated slot is an 11.00am start on the Sunday - thereby giving you plenty of time to look around the Festival before & after the racing.

We envisage the racing lasting around 2 hours or so with the maximum entry of 24 drivers that we are looking for.

The track will be open for practice prior to the start of the racing so please feel free to come along earlier if you wish to try out your cars and get them scrutineered & register etc.

The basic rules for the "improved" class are outlined below, and please remember that no traction magnets are allowed at all please.

BEARWOOD SCALEXTRIC CLUB'S 2014 HEART OF England "IMPROVED" CLASS RULES

BODY & CHASSIS - must be UK or French Scalextric or MRRC 1970's period car only BUT "Bodywork Modifications" ARE permitted to create variations of cars as per the 2013 spec/standard class.

"Open pan" cars - ie those without a chassis (eg Yardley BRM) are also allowed in this class.

Weight (eg Blu-Tack or Lead) may be added inside the car, or areas of the chassis may be removed and filled with a heavier non-metallic substance (eg Milliput) in order to lower the centre of gravity but only to the point that it is flush with the original chassis.

No weight in any form is to be added to the bottom of the chassis. No "brass chassis" (eg Penelope Pitlane) or "brass pans" (eg sheet brass) are allowed, nor are they allowed to be "incorporated" into the design of the car.

The chassis used for an "improved" car must be a "Scalextric" chassis from a car of the correct period and of the type used in the "2013 spec" standard class, although it may be modified as stated above if you wish.

Filing & removing areas of the chassis in order to allow the guide to rotate more easily or to create "body-rock" and/or "chassis slide" / "other movement" is also allowed in this class. No drop-arm guides are allowed. Ninco "Springy guides" (or similar) are allowed.

Rear aerofoils must be fitted where applicable on the real car but replacement ones may be made from plasticard and/or resin (eg - BTS) if the original ones are missing or do not wish to be damaged.

Front wings may be removed if they break off or would appear to be "of the era" to everyone.

MOTOR - The basic rule is that it is to be 20,000 rpm (Max) at 12v - but as the Ninco motors tend to be stated as at 14.8v then when scaled back to 12v then the following ones are also allowed as they come out in the correct rpm range at this voltage.

Examples of Motors allowed are detailed below and must be mounted "in-line". All motors are to bear correct stickers/wrappers/printing and are to remain completely standard with NO exceptions.

Pinions may be of any size you wish.

Motors may be fitted using the original plastic adapters (which can be modified as necessary) or by simply gluing or taping in with a Glue Gun or Araldite etc. No form of "motor pods" (eg - NSR motor bracket) are allowed to be used.

Please also note that no substances are to be sprayed into the motor prior to a race in order to gain an initial "off the line" speed advantage.

EXAMPLES OF TYPICAL MOTORS ALLOWED :

NINCO - PINK NC-5, GREEN NC-6 CRUSHER, ORANGE NC-12 CRUSHER+, BLUE NC-7 RAIDER
SCALEAUTO - SC-0011B long can, SC-008B short can
SCALEXTRIC - Silver Can MABUCHI "S" MOTOR as fitted to many UK Hornby cars in recent years
SCALEXTRIC - Johnson 111 (must be standard as per the "2013 Spec" class rather than "tuned")
SLOT.IT - ORANGE BOXER/2 (OLDER VERSION) NSR - SHARK 20

FRONT AXLE - May be improved by fitting an axle tube or similar arrangement in order to stiffen it up. Hubs may be metal or plastic. Hub & tyre width should be between 8 mm & 9 mm and the minimum overall diameter is 14mm. Maximum overall "tyre bulge to tyre bulge" axle width = 70mm. Front tyres may be made "zero grip" if so desired with nail varnish etc.

Appropriate wheel inserts should be fitted if the hubs you use are meant to have them. NB - Penelope Pitlane do metal hubs of the same size as the original plastic ones should you wish to use them instead of the original ones. You can also make your own wheel inserts if so desired from any material that will work.

REAR AXLE - Free choice from "Standard" axle/plastic contrate/nylon bearings/plastic hubs or from "Slot.It /NSR/SCX PRO/PENELOPE PITLANE" type axle/metal hubs/plastic contrate/metal bearings - but including ball race (eg Slotting Plus) or single flange "oil-lites" off Betta & Classic etc. Contrate gears may be of any size you wish. Minimum overall diameter of wheel & tyre is 19mm. Maximum width of each rear tyre, at widest point = 15mm. Appropriate wheels inserts - and "home-made" ones are OK - should be fitted if the hubs you use are meant to have them. A simple flat disk painted black will suffice in most cases if an off the shelf one is not available, and painting the inside of the hub black will further add to the effect.

We have found that Slot.It Sauber Mercedes C9 (PA30) and Jaguar XJR9 (PA31) wheel inserts are quite realistic ones to use.

Maximum overall "tyre bulge to tyre bulge" axle width = 74mm. Axle stops (eg Slot.It PA25) may also be used if desired.

TYRES - In order to maintain the spirit of the event then only NSR OR SLOT.IT OR ORIGINAL OR REPRO SCALEXTRIC TYPE "SUPERSLIX TYPE" RUBBER TYRES OR HORNBY GOODYEAR EAGLES OR NINCO F1 TYRES are allowed to be used.

NB - "Ortmanns" or any other type of silicone tyres are therefore not allowed. "F" Type Slot.It tyres are further "not allowed" and nor are any similar types of tyres that you may also come across on the www etc.

For those new to NSR & Slot.It type products we have found that the following items will work very well together, although you may well find that you can "Mix & Match" further.

- NSR 5220 SUPERGRIP FORMULA ONE 20 X 13 TYRES together with NSR 5005 AIR SYSTEM WHEEL FORMULA 1 W/INNER TUBE

- NSR 5210 SUPERGRIP 19.5 X 12 LOW PROFILE FOR NEW GT CAR together with SLOT.IT PA49-ALF ALUMINIUM 15 X 8 SHORT HUB WHEEL

We don't really want to see "GT" wheels on your cars as the Tyre : Hub proportion looks wrong.

You will also find that by using the correct F1 hubs then your tyres can be wider too.

Tyres may be glued on and must be "dry" when presented to the grid and not have been treated with any tyre additive that is known or likely to cause damage to the track.

OTHER INFORMATION

Should you not have a car but want to have a go at the racing then we will have a small number of "pool cars" available for you to borrow.

Please feel free to talk to me if you require any further help or guidance, and we look forward to seeing you on the day.