July 31st, Odd Thursday Racing at TooBad Motorplex in Fairview. Man, it was HOT! But even with the heat we had eight racers on the starting grid at 6:00 pm. First on the grid were the Trans Am cars. This new class has seemed to settle into a field of American made pony cars of the sixties. We had no under 2 liter cars entered to race, although I did see a few around the pit area. The racing in this class is very close, even with the rules not yet firmly established. The current NASTE Point Series Champion Terry Abbott showed why he is the champion by winning the Trans Am race in a totally out-of-the-box stock Pioneer Mustang! Nice drive Terry! A lot of discussion about rules for the Trans Am Class took place after the end of the night's racing. 

  We saw a new scratchbuilt car from Glenn Heath on the start line for the Classic Sports Car Class. Glenn's Mercedes was not quite finished but showed some real potential. It was fast and very smooth. But on the top of the podium it was yet again a Ninco classic Corvette. Those Ninco Vettes are hard to beat in the performance department, although Goose's Ninco Vette had a very slim margine of victory over Rico's scratchbuilt Ferrari GTO!

  The BRM Porsche race was a hoot! We had a field of five, with NO loaner cars on the track! There was the usual pushing and shoving, and a punt or two here and there. These cars supply plenty of action on the tight for 1/24 cars TooBad track! In the end The Goose had pulled off the win by a beak!

Race Results:

Trans Am Class:

1st Terry Abbott 54.1 laps - Pioneeer Mustnag notchback / box stock w/mag.
2nd Rico Locati 53.0 - SCX Cuda / stock 42B motor, Paul Gage rear tires w/no mag.
3rd Greg Petrolati 52.7 laps - Pioneer Mustang Notchback / stock 21k motor, alum. wheels, upgraded axles & gears, no mag.                                                                      4th Goose Gossett 50.9 - Scalextric Challenger / super glue axle-bushing fit stock w/mag.
5th Tracy Flood 47.1  -  Pioneer Mustang Notchback / 18k motor, alum. wheels, axles & gears, slight body low'rd w/no mag.                                                                     
6th Bill Bostic 47.0  - Scalextric '70 Camaro / stock, Paul Gage rear tires, weight w/no mag.
7th Glenn Heath 46.5  - Pioneer Mustang fastback / alum. rear whls, chassis clear'ncd for float, body slight low'rd w/no mag.
8th Mitch Brooks 45.7  -  Scalextric Mustang / Pioneer 21k motor, Paul Gage tires w/no mag.


Classic Sports Car Class:

1st Goose Gossett 52.8 laps
2nd Rico Locati 52.4
3rd Greg Petrolati 48.7
4th Tracy Flood 48.1
5th Terry Abbott 47.7
6th Glenn Heath 46.2
7th Bill Bostic 45.4
8th Mitch Brooks 45.3

BRM Porsche 962 Class:

1st Goose Gossett 61.6 laps
2nd Rico Locati 60.2
3rd Bill Bostic 56.4
4th Tracy Flood 55.6
5th Mitch Brooks 47.7

4,277

(3 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

Now that is totally bizaar!!!

Did you notice the proper use of safety ROPE!!!  And of course there's the Driver/Rider safety gear!!!

That guy is CRAZY!!!   Find any videos of a FlyMow at the Reno Air Races yet????

4,278

(3 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

Now that is some grass roots racing!!!!

Although I do think to be actual lawn MOWER races they should have to actually mow some grass!!!

4,279

(2 replies, posted in Cars)

You're turning out some great cars Mike!!!

Just how many have you built so far?

Good info Rico, thanks!

We'll see how it looks Thursday.

4,281

(2 replies, posted in Cars)

VERY cool Mike! Thanks for posting it up!   ===========Bill

4,282

(0 replies, posted in Cars)

Goose completed some awesome work on this Chaparral.

Looks stock...........

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/GooseChap.jpg

Oh, maybe not so much!

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/GooseChap2.jpg

SCORE!!!!!

Hey, speaking of score. I found two boxes of Aurora Thunderjet 500 track, controllers, transformers, and car bodies at a garage sale Friday. I haven't found any of that stuff at a garage sale in years! Both boxes cost me $4.00! Out of it I got a good uncut T-Jet AMX body, an uncut Ford GT40 body, and a fair but uncut Mako Shark body. Of course the track and stuff isn't worth much, but I'd pay $4.00 for just one of the bodies!!!

Very cool!!!

I suppose you got it for about $2.00.........................shipped...................!!!!!????

Maybe you could bring one of those three cars you already have set up with the ProSpeed motor and we could see how they compare to the other Trans Am cars as far as speed?

4,286

(16 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

John, It's great to have you out to the races at my place. We enjoy your company and racing with you! Looking forward to more good times and competition with you in our ranks!

==============Bill

I have made a change to the classes we will be racing at the next Odd Thursday Night Race at TooBad motorplex in Fairview. With the interest that has been shown for the new Trans Am Class I would like to get some more testing completed so we can finalize the rules. A few racers have some ideas and set ups they would like to try out under race conditions. For this reason I have made a change to the schedule to include another Trans Am race at the next Odd Thursday get together. We will be racing the Classic Sports Car Class, Trans Am, and the BRM Porsche 962s. At this point I will hold off on scheduling the Vintage Formula 1 class races. I plan to work the Vintage Formula 1 class into the rotation by the end of August.

=============Bill

Thanks for the reply Goose. I really like the traction magnet rule we use for racing at TooBad. I don't see why we couldn't apply it to the Trans Am class also. I agree that we need to do some more testing to really see how the cars compare and what rules we should initiate.

=========Bill

I was thinking your Cuda was running a 42B motor. Whatever it was it seemed to keep pace with the Scaley cars. It would be interesting to see how the 42Bs compare. Testing would be a good idea.

Very good points gentlemen.

Rico, do you have any of the ProSpeed motors we can use in an SCX Cuda for testing purposes?

Goose, with the modifications you have in mind, do you think we should keep the two divisions for Trans Am, Stock & Modified Production?

=============Bill
================Bill

I like the 18k cap on the motors. If we don't do something like that, everyone will want or need a Pioneer car and we'll have a field entirely of Pioneer cars. I am always concerned about the "new" racers or racers with limited funds to devote to our hobby. The Scaley cars are cheaper and somewhat easier to acquire. I might be able to part out some Scaley cars to have low cost 18k motors available or I have a few Scaley trans Am cars that are BEAT I could offer for sale cheap. The only concern I have with upgrading gears is; doesn't that open the door for upgraded axles and aluminum wheels? Monte beat the stock Scaley's with his SCX Cuda & 42B in Thursday's race. The 42B is rated at 18k on the motor spec sheet we are going by. I'm on the fence when it comes to the 2.0l cars also. I think we would have to score them separately. The heats with Pony cars vs 2.0l cars would give the pony cars an advantage as far as not having to race side by side (less chance of interferrence between cars - less nerfing etc.). This to me gives the faster (pony car) driver an advantage as far as being able to run faster and more laps. Plus as previously stated, you get WAY more variation in elligible cars. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing???

===============Bill

Some feedback I received via email:

"I would allow a change of tires and any 18k motor, blueprinting chassis to allow clearance between chassis and body.  I would let gears be upgraded but must maintain stock ratio which is I believe is 3.27.  Not sure on wheel upgrades, stock is probably ok at the slower speeds.  I would also consider some balance of power between the Scaley/Pioneer and SCX cars.  I'm not sure the RX-42B is on the same level so maybe a slight upgrade to the ProSpeed motor but we would have to do some testing before making a final decision."
"I'm kind of on the fence on the 2.0l cars, the big bore cars are all fairly equal right out of the box as the chassis are all similar but you get way more variation once you get into the various small bore cars."

When the Trans Am class idea was first brought up to me the idea was pretty much a "stock" class. My thinking is we already have 2 classes (Classic Sports Car & GT) where the rules allow most any modifications, so I was thinking the Trans Am Class could be closer to a "box stock" type of class. Maybe something along the lines of the BRM Porsche class, where all you need are quick simple modifications to be competitive? Any thoughts?

List updated from July 17, '14 race.

July 17th and another Odd Thursday! We had eleven racers on hand for the drop of the green flag. This was the first race with the new Trans Am class. This first race showed the Pioneer Trans Am cars with somewhat of an advantage with their motors out running the Scalextric cars. The field consisted of box stock cars as well as some that were slightly modified. There were even some replicas of cars that competed in the 2 liter and under division of the Trans Am races. Questions were raised as to whether the U2 cars would be allowed to compete in the Trans Am races at TooBad Motorplex. The answer to that question is still up for debate.
   
    The GT race had a new entry from John Morse. John brought out his new Nissan R390, and was able to put down some good lap times once he got use to the new car. During his last heat race in the GT class, Rico not only fought off the other racers but battled a kamikaze fly that for some reason decided Rico was tasty. The fly kept Rico out of the top five in the GT class. Some said it was probably MY fly, working as trained..........I'm not tellin'!

    The BRM Porsche race had six entries, with NO loaner cars on the track! This class is becoming very popular and for good reason! These cars set some of the fastest lap times on the TooBad circuit, and they are just a riot to race! If you could imagine Porsche 962 short track cars, you can get somewhat of a picture of what goes on racing these cars on the tight TooBad course. The racing is just brutal!!! We push, shove, slam, punt, and crash but these cars are tough and just take it! They are really a lot of fun, and the racing is extremely close!

Race Results:

Trans Am Class:
1st Greg Petrolati 53.9 laps - Pioneer Mustang Notchback / Modified Production stock 21k motor.
2nd Rico Locati 53.0 - Pioneer Mustang Notchback / Modified Production stock 21k motor - prep by Greenman.
3rd Goose Gossett 50.6 - Scalextric Camaro / Stock w/no traction magnet & weight, stock 18k motor, Paul Gage tires.
4th Bryan Dickerson 50.1 - Scalextric Mustang / Stock w/rear tire change.
5th Monte Saager 48.8 - SCX Cuda / Stock w/42B motor & rear tire change.
6th Tracy Flood 47.8  -  Scalextric Mustang / Stock.
7th John Morse 47.7  - Scalextric Mustang / Stock.
8th Bill Bostic 45.8  - Scalextric Camaro / Stock w/no traction magnet & rear tire change.
9th John Fisher 45.7  -  Fly Alfa GTV U2 / Stock w/rear tire change. Motor ? = slow.
10th Mitch Brooks 45.1  -  Scalextric Mustang / Stock w/no traction magnet & rear tire change.
11th Perry Petrequin 40

GT Class:
1st Goose Gossett 58.1 laps
2nd Tracy Flood 57.1
3rd Monte Saager 57.0
4th John Fisher 54.8
5th Greg Petrolati 54.3
6th Rico Locati 53.5
7th Bill Bostic 53.2
8th Mitch Brooks 47.5
9th John Morse 35.5

BRM Porsche 962 Class:
1st Goose Gossett 61.1 laps
2nd Rico Locati 60.9
3rd Tracy Flood 59.1
4th Bill Bostic 58.6
5th John Fisher 55.3
6th Mitch Brooks 53.9

Thanks Goose!

See you Thursday!!

Odd Thursday Night Vintage F1 Class. This class will be raced with cars compliant to the NASTEburgring Rules. This class is open to the Scalextric Lotus 49 and Eagle Vintage F1 cars.

Modifications: These are the only modifcations allowed!
  - No traction magnet. Traction magnet must be removed.
  - Any rear tire may be used. Tires may be glued to the stock wheels.
  - Motors and rear axle bushings may be glued to chassis.
  - Weight may be added, but must be located inside the confines of the body, not in view from the top or bottom of car.

Here are the rules we are going use to get the Trans Am class started.

NOTE - these rules have been updated as of 8/1/2014. Please refer to the OFFICIAL RULES posted in the Race Rules portion of the NASTE Forum.

Trans Am - In this class we will run 2 divisions for at least 3 races to establish a baseline of performance.

   Stock Division - Cars will be raced as "out of the box" stock with the traction magnet in place, and only two modifications allowed.
1, any rear tire may be used, but must be mounted on the stock wheel and not exceed 8mm in tread width.
2, weight may be added but must be positioned in front of the interior, on the inside of the car. No other modifications.

   Modified Production -
Chassis - Stock manufactured chassis only.
             - NO traction magnet. Traction magnet must be removed.
              - OK to enlarge body mount screw holes to allow body float.
              - OK to may trim off up to 1/16" around chassis perimeter for body float.
              - OK to cut off body bumpers and valance from chassis and glue onto body in stock position.
             
Body - Stock body, same manufacture as chassis only.
         - OK to remove stock spoilers.
         - No flaring of body fender wells or enlarging of wheel opening.

Tires & Wheels - OK to run any tire or wheel as long as they are not wider then 8.75mm.
                         -  Tires can not protrude past body, meaning wheelbase width cannot exceed body width.     
 
Gears, Axles, Axle Bushings - OK to use after market parts.

Guide Flag - OK to use Nova adapter for stock chassis flag mount repalecemnt or repair.

Interior -  Stock interior, same munufacturer as body only.
             - OK to sand bottom of interior for body float, floor boards must remain in stock location, no chopping or sectioning.

Motors - Stock 18000 rpm motors.

With these two divisions racers should be able to race any Trans Am car they currently have. For at least these first 3 races the two divions will be scored separately. The first race date with the Trans Am Class included is July 17th, 2014.  I will update the calendar to reflect which classes we will be racing on each Odd Thursday race night.

I received another suggestion to run the Trans Am cars "box stock" with the exception of added weight and rear tire changes. The suggested included possible changes to the "box stock" rule after a baseline of performance was established, and or problems developed requiring modifications to eliminate them.

As a box stock class, I believe we could allow all the different manufacturers and the competition would be pretty even. The Carrera cars are the only ones with motors rated in excess of 18k, but typically the handling of the Carrera cars is not up to par with the other brands. After a couple of races we would probably have a better idea of how the competition measures up.

Actually I have not finalized the rules. The list above are just some suggestions I received. I'm still soliciting input.

What would be your preference on gear ratios?