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This chassis was one of Bob' mules. It had been built and reworked many times, as evidenced by all the soldering residue and cut pieces. There was all kind of experimentation going on with this one! Evidently it didn't work out as I have not seen any other chassis with any of these innovations included.

This is a later chassis, built in early 2001. Sometime after I acquired this chassis, Bob and I were talking about chassis design and I had asked about weight and chassis thickness for hardbody cars. Bob told me .090" brass was optimum for chassis pan thickness. He said he had experimented with .105" but found it too be too heavy. I did not realize until today I actually had that experimental chassis. I noticed all the holes drilled in it and thought that was odd, so I mic'd it. This is that McFarland .105" chassis, from now on to be known as the McFarland 105!

With this Coronavirus thing going on I've been spending a lot of time in the shop going through boxes and trying to get things put away and organized. I think I have found most of the chassis I have that Bob McFarland built. I first started collecting Bob's chassis when I attended one of the races at Lee Dundas' in Wilsonville in the early 1908's. In addition to this particular race up in the attic of his barn, Lee held a swap meet where guys could sell some of the stuff they were no longer using. Bob had brought out quite a few of his "no longer current" chassis to sell. The later ones went really quickly as I remember. At the end of it all there was still a little pile of chassis left over. I have always felt that all of Bob's chassis were works of art, and his ingenuity just fascinated me! So I bought the remaining pile from him. After that I would pick them up whenever he would part with one, or somebody else would be selling one. So here's some old Bad Bob stuff for you guys to check out.

I was away from slot car racing with the PASER group from 1989 or so until right around 1995. Somewhere in that time frame they were racing their NASCAR class using this type of rattle chassis. I remember Larry Cockerham calling them sliders as the side pans would move for and aft. I don't know who came up with these but, it wouldn't surprise me if it was Bob! You can see by the rear axle and motor bracket this is one of Bob's older designs. Before the use of the machined motor and axle brackets Bob would fabricate his own set up using a brass sheet motor plate and steel rod to locate the axle bearing. Bob had a special metal block machined to serve as a jig to perfectly align the motor output shaft with the rear axle centerline.

I have some of those cars. I'll see what I can find out today.

I have just two words for you Mitch:

POND & RUN!

Another beautiful and well constructed car Zack!

What type of tech tools are you looking for?

Have you ever started a project and about half way through wished you hadn't started in the first place?

Today I started sorting through some of the slot car related tools I have run across. I had a pretty good assortment of tools that got boxed up for our move here to Vancouver. I have finally found some of those boxes and have added to the stack with tools I got from Goose's stuff. So, if you have tools you want or tools you are looking for send me your list and I'll help you fill what I can. I have extras of most all hand tools used in the slot car hobby! I also have some very cool old vintage wheel wrenches (for nuts on threaded axles) with the old school logos on them (i.e. Cox, K&B etc.).

I am cancelling the third race of the series originally scheduled for April 18th here at Inslot's Checkered Flag Raceway. I will work with Howie and Bob to get this race rescheduled at a later date. Everybody stay safe and stay healthy!

SWMBO?

The Mom "threw it out" stories are abundant in our hobby! My story is a little bit different in that Mom would throw my stuff out, but my Grandmother would pull the stuff out of the garbage and store it away for me! When my Grandparents moved from their home of 40 years I found all kinds of toys stashed away in their attic storage areas!

I usually clean the track off completely and reglue it before a race. If I leave it like this with the rubber on it it stays grippy for practice sessions.

After getting the lane length measurements I was able to order new braid for the track. I ordered a 500 foot roll of 1/4 inch tinned copper braid and a 250 foot roll from Slot Car Corner. This will give me a little bit of extra braid for any future repairs. I also ordered a new router bit for cutting the recess next to the guide slot for the braid to sit in. I have a bit, but like most everything else I have I have no idea exactly where it is right now. It could be next year by the time I find it.

When I measured the lanes on this track I did something different to get a feel for how the course change I have planned will affect the whole layout. I used small pieces of tape to mark the track at each 6 foot increment. The result was pretty interesting to me as it gave me a better idea of how "equal" the lanes really are.

Here is the 6 foot tape from the tape measurer I used to place inside the slot.

I started measuring each lane at the start finish line. I marked the end point of each 6 foot measurement with a piece of colored electrical tape. This point is approximately one foot into the banked curve, and you can see how the yellow lane already has an advantage in distance covered.

By the center of the banked corner the yellow lane has greatly increased its advantage.

In the right hand "dead man" curve after the bank, the lanes equal out as the yellow lanes advantage is erased. This point is 30 feet into the circuit, or just under halfway around. The first 30 feet of the circuit clearly favor the yellow lane as far as distance travelled (the preferred distance being the shortest distance).