[Kevan]

You'd have no such problems at our club, next time you're visiting the Isle of Man bring your slot cars.

 

[Kevan]

Saloons is the biggest headache of all, Bentley Continental GT...4 seater..."but it's a GT" yes but it's not a 'Sports' so what class does it go in?

Spirit Peugeot 406 Coupe...another problem car but goes in our Saloons but definitely only has one seat.

 

[Kevan]

What about Scaley Gr.C's?

 

[Kevan]

The biggest improvements are found in tyres and tyre prep regardless of equipment used.

 

[Kevan]

...The only real answer to that is to run club-car classes where everyone drives the same cars.

And you'll find the usual fast guys still at the sharp end of the podium.

 

[Kevan]

We created classes to cater for all, Standard, Modified, Open.

We have Drivers and Engineers in this thread, there's also Artists, those whose skills centre around form over function, as I'd be classified as an Engineer I'm acutely jealous of those with the ability to create something that would look right at home on the cover of a magazine.

I was a racer first and foremost in my early Slot car days, now I focus 75% on enjoying the evenings proceedings and the winning aim has dwindled greatly.

 

[Kevan]

NSR Porsche 908...right this way sir, Standard Sports Class...and you can run with the magnet for a couple of weeks whilst learning the circuit.

 

[Kevan]

We must have just enough then

 

[Kevan]

Not really, every club has members who never even read the rules no matter how few/numerous.

 

[Kevan]

Probably 50% of drivers in the full sized world aren't conversant with all the rules but they still drive their cars.

They don't need to be conversant with technical rules, they drive, that's their job...and look as we saw last year the FIA aren't even conversant with their own rules

Slot car club rules usually cover car types, tyres, motors, gears, dimensions etc. etc. and it's your job as the car entrant to make sure it meets the requirements of the rules because that's what they're there for.

 

[Kevan]

Sorry but I wasn't referring to racing drivers, I meant 'all' drivers and most don't do it for a job.

Not sure who 'all' drivers are but if you're 'racing' then your vehicle of choice may have to go through scrutineering before you can race and to get through scrutineering requires the car to meet the rules before you can drive.

If there's no rules it's all irrelevant.

 

[Kevan]

We specify 1st & 4th generation cars in our Gr.5 racing or it just becomes another Sports class probably dominated by Thunderslot Lola T70's.

 

[Kevan]

"I started a Lethargy Society but nobody could be bothered joining"

Anon

 

[Kevan]

There's some good sig file quotes here

 

[Kevan]

Not allowing tyre treatment is impossible to police, you can do them at home where nobody is watching.
We allow treatments but tyres must be dry when put on the track.
So you have two choices, ban any form of tyre liquid on race night or open it up to all. With clubs closing you need to try to please as many club members as possible.
Once you start getting overly serious then the dreaded rules start multiplying and those that do the most boundary pushing will complain the rules are targeting them which they obviously are. Usually those guys are just quick drivers anyway so you'll spend years tweaking the rules to keep up with them.
This all sounds very familiar as with anything in life some are always better at doing something than others.
..so remember the taking part is more important than the winning.

 

[Kevan]

I know, I'm probably one of hoardes of racers who've been there also.

 

[Kevan]

For many it isn't. Nor should wanting to win be frowned upon. One of the reasons that this thread has garnered so many responses is because a lot of those who are not capable of winning are dissatisfied with not being able to win. If they genuinely believed that taking part was all that mattered, they'd not be bothered by those who win repeatedly.

Well there's numerous ways to look at this:

• The 'not happy unless I'm winning' - goes home grumpy when he doesn't win, usually blames someone else, often the guy the scrutineers have to keep an eye on.
• The 'not happy because I've never won' - goes home thinking the rest have an unfair advantage. Usually the same guy who only gets his cars out on race night as he can't be arsed doing anything with them at home (or doesn't know what to do - plenty of help on race night brings these guys on leaps and bounds).
• The 'I'm not really bothered either way' - club regular that sometimes wins and is always competitive but with a little extra bench time would start worrying the 'not happy unless I'm winning' guys.
• The 'I'm not coming back because I can't win regularly' - these are the guys who are easily as quick as any others but would prefer winning wasn't made so difficult by the regular winners.
• The 'been there done that seen 'em come and seen 'em go' - winning is no longer the primary goal, this guy used to be a 'not happy unless I'm winning' but now wants to focus on enjoying the hobby and help the 'not happy because I've never won' guys.

These descriptions cover everyone I've seen at our club including myself.

 

[Kevan]

I got a good laugh out of those categories of yours Kevin ! Being a relative newcomer to this game (2-3 years) I'd like to add one more category though, certainly from our clubs perspective.

Its sort of a tweak to the last one really:

• The veteran, been there done that, knows how to prepare a bloody good car & has been doing it long enough that driving fast is just second nature, regularly wins but is more than happy to pass knowledge & actual assistance onto any newcomers. So that the club continues to attract (and not turn away) new members. An absolute gem. Of which we have at least a couple at our club !

Yeah, definitely.

Compared to some I'm still a newcomer, only 'nearly' 7 years.

 

[Kevan]

How many of those have you been, Kevan?

Three, the first (although I went out of my way to stay well within the rules), third and last ...and hopefully the one @malomay1968 added if we can keep the club going long enough

 

[Kevan]

Race craft is something we learn with practise , watching those who drive faster than us, look at the equipment they are using and try to follow suit, no shame in copying others if they are better than you in their approach to slot cars .
As i said i no longer have anywhere to race but when i was racing used to spend a lot of my time with the newbys in the club , most Friday nights at least one would come up to me and say , me car don't go very well, so there i was explaining to said person in the little shed what was wrong and better still show him.
On cheaters towards the end of my racing time i was at this club and there was a guy there who i won't name used to have spare sets of treated wheels and tyres in his box , and after sussing this i watched him and this is how he operated.
After his heat he never used to marshall but sit in the corner and switched his wheels ready for the next heat , and so on right up to the final he was usually in and quite often won.
Now i didn't really know why he did this as he had ability , was a good builder but a poor looser i never outed him just had a quiet word in his ear about what would happen to certain parts of his anatomony if he carried on , luckily for him he realised that he didn't want to speak with a high voice so he stopped doing it.
He still won on the odd occasion as he was pretty good , but not by the amount previous , but i always kept my eye on him and he actually learned to marshall.

As the old sayin' goes 'you can't kid a kidder'