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What I find humorous is how often those who complain the most about BOP or handicapping or various rules that "level the playing field" are often on the podium. They'd probably be on the podium just as often in races that have all the restrictions and handicapping, so why the kerfuffle? I have personal experience with such a person, who was also found to be the most adept at following the letter of the rule, rather than the spirit of it. He wasn't TECHNICALLY cheating, but he knew darn well that his interpretation of the rule was counter to the intent. But why? I can only assume that he had some kind of insecurity that would be exacerbated by any more losses than he felt he was personally due for (none).
 
If more honest conversations were had around the fact the ā€œfast guysā€ are fast because theyā€™re actually good drivers and not just because of their car choice or spec then maybe rule makers would not need to create this artificial barrier that prohibits the inevitable rainbow chasing of the back markers who think theyā€™ll just go a bit quicker if they had the latest XYZ..
I went to a well known University on a golf scholarship, and had the latest and greatest equipment going......as well as the best coaching and training, yet here I am playing with toy cars,......I can't figure what went wrong,.....I still blame it on the equipment ;)

Cheers
Chris Walker
 
What I find humorous is how often those who complain the most about BOP or handicapping or various rules that "level the playing field" are often on the podium.
They're more interested in retaining their advantage than they are in promoting close racing.

In my opinion, what clubs need is a benign dictator in charge of the rules, one who understands that close racing is the best way to keep and attract members rather than rules that mean the gap between the best and the worst drivers is huge. Someone willing to implement handicaps to some of the racing classes so that the weaker drivers have at least some hope of being reasonably competitive. The handicaps needn't be so large as to make it possible for a weak driver to win, merely large enough so that he doesn't finish miles behind. Sadly, that type of club doesn't seem very common.
 
If I ever go four lanes and approach "club racing" on the track I think I'd have three classes. Race what you brought (analog), spec class (stock without magnets, custom tires and guides} and finally identical club cars (voted on spec - everyone chips in to purchase them). Something for everyone and most would probably want to race in at least two of the classes.
 
What I hate the most about the slotcar hobby is that you need other to race and fully enjoy it...and when you bring others in the picture, anyone has an opinion.
Compromises need to be made and I am not good at compromising.
Then you need to work on your persuasiveness, Grunz. :giggle:

I race at a traditional club and love doing so, but also run race meetings at home fairly regularly. Tired of the same old NSR, Slot.it, Scaleauto, Sideways rocketships, and the more usual methods of racing that clubs use - fixed-time races where highest cumulative distance wins, or fixed-distance races where quickest cumulative time wins - I implemented my own rules and classes which, despite initial scepticism by some, have proved popular and successful.

I wanted to race Pioneer Legends when most of my "racer" friends turned their noses up at such cars, so bought and modified a fleet for us all to use. Likewise with a fleet of Carrera vintage NASCAR and also modern Scalextric BTCC. Yes, most "serious" racers won't give a second glance to a Scalectric BTCC car because it's poorly built and slow (and I concede that they're justified in not doing so. The cars' mechanical bits are sh*te) so I bought and substantially modified a fleet, retaining the body, chassis and motor, but upgrading everything else, and now that class is one of the most requested of all the classes we race.

We race two classes per meeting, one where the drivers build and supply their own cars and which caters to the common NSR-type club-racing classes, and the other where one of my fleets is raced. Each of my fleets consists of at least twelve cars. Drivers are free to choose any of the cars, but must use a different one for each heat.

Instead of cumulative time or distance, heats a scored with points, 4, 3, 2, 1, so a disaster in one heat doesn't necessarily mean a driver's entire race is ruined. Everyone races once in each lane, points are totalled, then, depending on the number of people competing, drivers are seeded into last-chance, quarter and semi-finals, all leading to a single final.

My track is typical four-lane Ninco where the outside lanes are slightly slower, so to handicap the best drivers and give some hope to the worst, the lowest qualifying driver for any last-chance, quarter, semi and final is given first lane choice, the second-lowest gets second choice, and so on. This sort of reverse-seeding does occasionally mean that the best driver doesn't win, and it can lead to tactical racing where drivers deliberately try to qualify artificially low down so as not to get last lane choice in the final, but it works well.

"Build it and they will come" is the saying. If you believe strongly enough in a format and can be reasonably persuasive, "organise it and they'll enjoy it" is often very true.
 
Then you need to work on your persuasiveness, Grunz. :giggle:
Amen to that!
I am curios about the typical monthly schedule for your slotcar activities: how many times do you meet at your club and how many times do you meet at your track over a month?
 
Part of these choices by clubs is simply to reduce some of the cost and also reduce the number of redundant cars that members have sitting on the shelf because they are no longer competitive.
We try to introduce one new class per year and that class is run close to standard for the first year.When raced again limited upgrades are allowed.
But even though we do restrict some cars over the years you still end up with redundant cars.
 
Amen to that!
I am curios about the typical monthly schedule for your slotcar activities: how many times do you meet at your club and how many times do you meet at your track over a month?
I race once each week on Molesey's wood track, plus usually test there once each week too, although test is really too grand a word. Mainly it's just a social for me. Once you've done a million laps of a track, there's not a lot more to learn unless a new class or component is introduced. :giggle:
I race twice a month at another less serious club on Scalextric Sport.
Meetings at my home track with 'serious' racers average about once a month but don't follow any particular schedule, plus I organise meetings at home for family and non-enthusiast friends several times a year. I'm doing my bit to try to keep the racing part of the hobby alive! And then I have daughters and grandchildren to keep happy, but they're very tolerant...

PS. Should anyone be reading this who's within reach of Molesey (click the link in my sig for the club's website) and fancies joining us, you'll be made very welcome, whatever your ability or experience. We're a friendly bunch who cater for everyone, with the added benefit of having some very good racers and builders amongst our membership from whom you'll learn a lot.
 
I have personal experience with such a person, who was also found to be the most adept at following the letter of the rule, rather than the spirit of it. He wasn't TECHNICALLY cheating, but he knew darn well that his interpretation of the rule was counter to the intent.
Then surely such an intent should be explained in the rules. He sounds like a Smokey Yunick kind of guy.
 
I race once each week on Molesey's wood track, plus usually test there once each week too, although test is really too grand a word. Mainly it's just a social for me. Once you've done a million laps of a track, there's not a lot more to learn unless a new class or component is introduced. :giggle:
I race twice a month at another less serious club on Scalextric Sport.
Meetings at my home track with 'serious' racers average about once a month but don't follow any particular schedule, plus I organise meetings at home for family and non-enthusiast friends several times a year. I'm doing my bit to try to keep the racing part of the hobby alive! And then I have daughters and grandchildren to keep happy, but they're very tolerant...

PS. Should anyone be reading this who's within reach of Molesey (click the link in my sig for the club's website) and fancies joining us, you'll be made very welcome, whatever your ability or experience. We're a friendly bunch who cater for everyone, with the added benefit of having some very good racers and builders amongst our membership from whom you'll learn a lot.
that is a busy a schedule you got there.
 
Then surely such an intent should be explained in the rules. He sounds like a Smokey Yunick kind of guy.
Almost EVERY rule can be "interpreted" by "creative" people to get something to work how they want while not "technically" breaking the letter of the rule. That doesn't make it OK. It just makes the rules get longer and longer every year.
 
Discussion starter · #36 ·
Human nature seems to come into rules , can remember in the mid 60,s and things were really hot slot car wise and there were loads of clubs in Essex and we went inter club racing which was great fun until the rules got bigger and bigger .
The so called fast boys normally managed to benddddddddddddd the rules in some form or another, others just started to give it up as regards a hobby , they could not afford to do it anymore .
Then there were the engineers who came up with some great ideas so once again rules were ammended because through their skill they gained a advantage especially in the brass chassis dept
Now i look on from the sidelines have my own 2 lane track in the garage , can go down there with who ever wants to come along and play slot cars , there are no rules just a bit of nostalgic fun , but i still miss the club days, think we all learned a lot and things today have not really changed on that score, bet there still is the good the bad and the down right argumentive competitors in most if not all clubs.
 
The so called fast boys normally managed to benddddddddddddd the rules in some form or another, others just started to give it up as regards a hobby , they could not afford to do it anymore .
Which is why I argue that box-standard, single make classes are easier to police and more attractive to newbies.

Liberties can be taken, of course, but the playing field starts off looking more even and the liberties are smaller.

...bet there still is the good the bad and the down right argumentive competitors in most if not all clubs.
Hmmm? Which would you say you were, then? Back in the day?? šŸ¤”

And which would your contemporaries have said?šŸ˜

P.s. Oxford doesn't currently have any argumentative souls and we're one of the grid slots for @zero5 - top five last time I looked in that National Drivers' League thing that makes me giggle - a very competitive fella.
 
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