Topic: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Hi all,
Some update on next season.  Greg is trying to see if he can get a sponsor for a group of 6 cars to do an IROC style race.

I have looked at some sites and found that there is a lot of places to buy Porsche 956 or 962.  The newer ones are suppose to have a better chassis.  They are the 03F chassis, the C17A car and the TicTac car.  These cars are called Group C cars and raced in the 1980's.  But also in the group c class are Jags, Lancia, Mercedes Sauber and Mazda 787.  Fantasy has a limited selection of the 956 and 962.  But there is a wider selection of the other cars.  You can go to other sites and ebay and amazon.com and there is an abundance of 956 and 962 cars available.  The cars all seem to come with S2 silicone tires but Rico has the P6 tires which are better grip.

So my questions to you all is this:
1.  Do you want to go with an IROC series if Greg's deal comes through?
2.  Do you want to stick with the Porsche 956 and 962 cars only?
3.  Do you want to open it up to all Class C cars as mentioned above?
4.  Would you rather race a class like the NSR cars?
5.  Other class of cars you would like to race?


Thoughts and concerns about the 5 choices.  In order of least expensive to most expensive choices.
1.  IROC:  this would be the cheapest way to race for next season.  There would be a fee for the cars as I don't think they will be donated.  Not sure on the fee but I can almost bet you it will be cheaper than buying your own car and maintaining it.  And all the cars are equal in the sense we would race them all.  Downside:  You don't race your own car and the deal may not come through, so it would be slightly higher in cost, probably still cheaper than owning your own car though.

2.  Porsche 956/962 only:  The chassis difference is suppose to make a difference in the way the cars run, so if you don't have this newer chassis, you would seem to be at a disadvantage.  There are not many cars with these chassis so we all might be racing the same car.  There are different body kits so we could customize our own cars with this chassis.  This would cost more, but give us an unique car.

3.  All class C cars:  This opens up the field greatly and gives a wide variety to the type of cars we would be racing.  But like most things, when one finds a certain style of car is much better than the others, most will want to buy that one too.  If you have it, your set, if not and you want to be competitive, you would have to buy another car.  This could get expensive.  Other than that, I don't see much of a problem, but that is going to be a big issue.

4.  NSR:  These cars are the most expensive, but seem to run the best right out of the box.  They are wicked fast and stick very good.  Chances are you would not need another car but at $100 a car...  If we find that one type of car is better than the others then you might want another car.  Very expensive option to be competitive.  Limited selection.  Fantasy only has 2 styles of 917 cars.  Ebay has the 917 and a Mosler maybe a Ford.  I am not too familiar with this manufacturer so others can chime in.  But from my initial search, it seems there is not much of a selection and they are expensive.

5.  Got any ideas on a class to race next season?  Now is the time to chime in.  Make sure there are enough cars available as they work and can be maintained.

Please send me an email and let me know your thoughts.  I welcome your input.

Randy

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

My personal preference would be option C.  And that's only because I have Lancia's sitting on the shelf.  The question in my mind is should we allow the new EVO chassis or not.  And it's only a question due to the fact that the EVO chassis though very cool is only available for some of the cars and not all the ones in the C class.

And maybe we should consider running rubber rather than silicone.  As a minor test, I tried my Fly Lola the other night at Randy's using the NSR rubber tires rather than the IndyGrips.  I think if hooked up as well if not better than my cars with the IndyGrips.  Perhaps some testing is in order.  It would certainly reduce the need to clean the track.

"Big Smooth"

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

I think Randy is leaning towards the Slot.it P6 rubber tire as the spec tire. 
My choices would be options 2 or 3 but a preference for 3 as more options is usually better.  As far as the EVO chassis, I have both and can do some testing to see if there is any kind of measurable difference between the two.

Rico

Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win.

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Hi Randy & All,
Well lets see, this feels like some of the earlier series & with the 5 sided box the only thing I'm not reading is this is a return to mag racing.
Mag but the basic set-up only allows for 1 stock mag in the 1st spot front of the motor and apparently S2 and/or P6 slot it tires.

I think I overheard that no tuning in added weight was going to be allowed. If that is right, I think it is a big mistake!
Tuning the cars, seeing what the other guys have done has been major fun & truly helped me across the board.
I know once that mag lets go - then the balance of the car is going to keep in the slot & under control!

While I have some of the cars mentioned, even I had to shell out $ for another or different model, I'd rather have my own car or cars ( backup).
I'm ok with running just the Porsches,,,,,,,,,,,BUT the full group c idea gives a greater visuall field and you get chance to see & learn about a model you may not be familiar with. A+++++ for me on more then one front!

Then no mention of HRS bodied cars --- I'm in favor!!!! - Lets call that Jack's #6 suggestion!!!!!

Ok where am I, hmm oh yea #4 NSR awesome cars - wish they were cheaper - enough said.
And to complete this pentagram, at the last race I brought it up - "I am what I am" so give me some AM --- Can Am & Trans Am.

We have the Rev/Mono Lola T70 and Mclaren M6 - Carrera's Mclaren M20 & Porsche 917/30.
The Fly 917/10, 908, 917  & others, some were racing now - so a transition would be easier for some.

Then all the Scaley camaro & mustangs, the newer Pioneer mustangs, a re-built (slot it HRS2) Revell Cougar & Firebird & other TA cars.

A series like that would great fun, the sight of the field would be super cool and with more choices in the make - model & tuning you get a chance to see & learn about a much greater variety of cars. --- COUNT ME IN!!


Anyone else?

Regards,
Jack Attack



And from Greg P;

Hmmmm.... a BYO series (Build Your Own) series? I  LIKE that! We're practically doing that now.

The Pioneer TRANS AM IROC series would give the run cars to the 1st 6 winning drivers (If we get 6 from Pioneer). OTOH, if we vote for a BYO race we ALL get a car at the end of the series.

True, NSR Cars are pricey (~$100 per copy). The rumor is that they don't need much tuning or extraneous parts to make them run better. In the long haul this might be cheaper.

I'm a fan of no mag... but if the series calls for allowing it I'll race one. I gotta tell you though once the racing is done there won't be a whole lot of car left. I would go for a Group C Slotit race... but I won't be up for buying a 962 to race it. I'm no Porsche fan. Getting a given car to race in a series smacks of "we don't care what the car is or looks like just so long as it's fast..." which drove me out of slot racing the first time around. Besides a Group C race is more true to period racing of the time...

Greg Petrolati   Lafayette, Oregon

That's not a leak... My car's just marking its territory...

5

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Thanks for cross posting my response from the email, Randy... `saves me the trouble to hunt it up in "sent" stuff to do it myself.

I too have several Group C cars and vote with Monty re the series, `though a truly American series (like Trans Am or CAN AM) would be seriously cool too.

Greenman62

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Ok, I did some testing tonight between the old version Schiesser 956KH and the new TicTac 962KH.  First they were both set up the same with a single mag in the front position, same adjustment of pod and body screws and both had Slot.it P6 tires on the rear.  At first they ran nearly identical lap times but the harder you pushed the newer car ended up being faster.  The old version had a best lap time of 5.60 and the new version had a 5.45.  Not a huge difference and I think with a few tweaks the older car could keep up.  One of the problems corrected in the new cars is that the pod hits the interior on one side limiting movement in that direction.  The new cars have a redesigned interior that could be swapped in or I have just taken a Dremel to the bottom of the interior to make some additional clearance.  The other difference is in the pockets for the motor pod screws with the newer car having more movement in the form of larger pockets.  Once again the chassis can be swapped out or the existing pockets carefully enlarged with a Dremel.

Hope this helps
Rico

Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win.

7 (edited by reek455 October 7, 2010 7:21 pm)

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Some more testing news.  I broke out the Dremel and did a little surgery to the Schiesser car.  I ground the slot bigger on the bottom of the interior so the motor pod no longer made contact.  Next, I slightly enlarged the screw pockets on the bottom of the chassis and took a sharp Exacto and enlarged the screw holes as well.  The pod was still a little tight so I filed the pod opening until the pod moved free.  I installed the pod and then backed the screws off 1 turn and then it was off to the track. 
I could tell right away the car was quieter, smoother and less twitchy.  After a few more laps the lap times had dropped to the 5.5 range, so I pushed just a little harder and was rewarded with a 5.45.  So, in conclusion with just a little work the old and the new chassis are capable of running equal lap times.  This should correlate to the old and new versions of the Jag as well.  I believe they are also coming out with a new version chassis for the Sauber so the same tricks should work on the old versions of those too.

Regards
Rico

Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win.

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Judging by what we saw last night I don't think there will be much difference between the different cars that a magnet and good motor can't fix.  They all looked pretty good to me.

I suggest we use rubber tires rather than silicon.  I had a set of these on my Lancia and I thought they worked excellent for a no-mag car.

I'm sure it would have been even better with a magnet.

"Big Smooth"

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Did somebody say IROC?

Here's a pretty cool answer with at least 4 liveries planned.

"Big Smooth"

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

Randy, Gotta say I really enjoyed racing out at your place last Tuesday night. The Group C Slot.It Class is a blast, and I like the new track layout. Excellent job!  ---------------Bill

Re: Winter 2011 Season ideas for a class of cars to run.

I gotta say I'm really enjoying it too, probably because I'm doing better than normal.  It was good to see you at the track Bill, you've been absent too long.

Rico

Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win.