This is the Can Am page. (Page 2 of 5)

I am with Howie 100% on this issue! The rules regarding minimum ground clearance on a car are there to protect the track from unnecessary wear and damage. Racing accidents can happen but under normal operating conditions no hard parts of a slot car should come in contact with the track surface.  It is every racer's responsibility to ensure that nothing other than the car's tires, plastic guide flag, and copper contact braid come in contact with the track. As a track owner I have replaced copper contact tape on a track because a car's spur gear, which had insufficient track clearance, had cut it up like a skill saw. I have also heard spur gears making contact with the track surface as cars have passed by me. This is another issue that needs to be monitored and addressed in the rules detailing out minimum track clearance.

In regards to chassis equipped with "suspension" components, my opinion is; if your chassis has some sort of active suspension that in any way reduces the minimum track clearance the car should have a technical inspection where the minimum track clearance is checked with the "suspension" under compression and at its lowest minimum clearance position. Again the rule is to ensure hard parts do NOT make contact with the track surface! As far as it being an issue of "to what degree or level of damage"  the contact is causing to the track surface, I say that is irrelevant. This becomes nothing more than a subjective argument around car weight, how often it makes contact, at what points on the track, etc., etc. No track contact means NO track contact, period! You cannot say it's OK for one car and not another!

Howie and I will be working next week to review existing and re-write new rules regarding minimum track clearance. We feel strongly about this issue and would like to see other track owners adopt the same regulations. Right now there is a lot of inter-club racing going on, which is awesome! Most tracks have a minimum ground clearance of .055" rule already in place for 1/24 racing. I believe those rules could be better enforced, or better yet better observed. The 1/32 rules I am familiar with should be updated, include a minimum spec for ground clearance at the spur gear, and be better observed and enforced.

There is enough maintenance involved with owning and operating a track. There is absolutely no reason for additional and unnecessary maintenance and repairs because cars are in violation of a rule designed to prevent such an occurrence!

=========Bill

On my NASCAR the guide flag keeps the front end of the chassis from compressing enough to touch the track. The only chassis I have ever had a problem with was one that had the side pans extending in front past the centerline of the front axle. The front of the pans would touch the track when cornering. The problem was evident by the black sludge build up on the leading edges of the pans.

The OSCAR rules state in addition to the required .055" ground clearance, "All chassis must have beveled pans to protect track surface from gouging". This also includes the rear edges of the pans.

I have come up with a way to show that a car is dragging while racing. I am currently going over the rules for Rapid Raceway and every one will know what they are when I send out a notice for the next race on Dec. 7, 2019. I will be teching the cars at every race and every class. Suspension systems are fine at Rapid as long as they do not drag the track and are in the rules for that class. There are two classes, NASCAR and Can-Am that is for the builders to do pretty much want they want for a chassis, I do not want to change that.

Here is the deal for me: I really enjoy close racing, I would rather loose a race by one lap or so than win one by 10 or more. 

There are always going to be top drivers, if we want to be able to challenge them then we all need to be competing under the same rules.

I am fine with any rule that is consisntently enforced. I am going to bevel my pans today as well !

Zack

I am very much looking forward to building a car during the clinic we have setup on the 11th of the month. Before we had done that I had purchased a couple bodies and sent them to Jersey John (a pretty well known Retro chassis builder) to have something custom built up for the rules.

I am using the Betta and Classic Porsche 917/30 body. I also had a Dennis Samson make me a custom set of his front ball bearing wheels for the car, so it could have a fixed axle. This is what he came up with, needless to say I am excited to see how she chooches.

Zack

Great looking cars Dennis.

I discussed going with a sidewinder or an anglewinder with John. I know there is a performance advantage there, but the simplicity of the inline motor setup cut the costs to build the car quite a bit. Being that the whole thing was an experiment anyway I just decided to try this first.

Retro is still going pretty strong out on the eastcoast, that is why I went there to get the car built up!

Zack

Dennis; are you going to give me a chance to tech your fine chassis after all? Go ahead "MAKE MY DAY", although I will keep my pistol in my holster..............................................................maybe!

Of course you can tech my fine car there Howie! You will see I have nothing to hide .... ie. same as the pics I shared. Plenty of ground clearance and plenty of front end tension to support the weight of the front of the car even if a guide flag wasn't there. But of course there WILL be a guide flag and it will also support the front of the car ...  so as to maintain .055" or more clearance.

The whole car weighs less than 4 ounces ... and the front of the car weighs less than 2 ..... so not a lot of tension is needed to support the weight. A have a combined 4 oz of tension plus the guide  ... to support 2 oz of nose weight keeps the bottom side nice and shiny.

Your welcome Terry! It turned out nice well (i hope).

It was a great day of learning for a lot of people!

Zack

Here are some pics of a car I put together using one of Bill's used Chassis's. I did a center mounted axle to give just a little bit of flex up there, small tire, and bracing on the pan between the rear bushing mounts.

Body is a Betta & Classic 917/30. Just waiting on decals.

Looking forward to testing a couple cars on Saturday at Rapid!

Zack

AND THE WINNER IS ..... this basic and simple to build CanAm car!!  ANYONE can do these simple MODS on an old Champion or Jk flexi and have a great CanAm race car at Howie's. Will it also run strong at Inslot? If so, fantastic. I am all in favor of simple solutions to complex problems. My custom built car might have been a few tenths faster ... I think I saw a 4.00 second lap time and I was trying to stay IN and out of trouble more than I was trying to cut a track record lap. Little did I know that Zack with his modified flexi was ripping off huge lap totals! Never heard of such a thing ... but glad it happened. That car is easily duplicatable and other racers can use it to go faster and be a contender!

Fun night of racing. I was very pleased with my flexi for its maiden run, it was pretty decent