• wb0s
  • wb0s
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  • From: Vancouver, Washington
  • Registered: June 16, 2008
  • Posts: 5,895

Topic: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

Here's something for y'all to consider; Rob is considering these for a Monday Racing class at Redline Raceway. The kits are sold by Mid America Products. The kits contain all the parts needed to fully assemble a running car. The motors in the kit are Mid America's FK motor rated at 25K. The kits are very nice! The body and driver figure are very nicely molded. The kit includes all the chrome detail parts the original 1960s kit came with.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I completed a quick assembly of one of the kit cars for a short test session. To be honest I was not expecting much. The chassis went together easily, the only "tweaking" mine required was a little grinding on the grub screw for the crown gear (it hit the motor's pinion gear). Pretty minor stuff, and it may of just been my kit (the pinion could have been pressed further onto the motor).

After assembling the chassis, I taped the incomplete body onto the completed chassis and headed over to the track. I hit the throttle and off it went, backwards. I have had the best luck running FK motors wired in reverse, so I swapped the crown gear to the other side of the chassis to get the car to go in the correct direction.

I was actually surprised by the car's performance! I've had a lot of experience racing Womp class cars, and this little guy had similar characteristics. Cornering speeds were not as high as those with Womps, but hey, this thing is narrow with a 10 gram body (without any of the chrome detail parts). So my next thought was; how much worse will the handling be with the 4 gram driver figure sitting way up on top of this body? I taped the driver figure in place on top of the midget body. To my surprise I could not detect any difference in handling.

The handling of this car right out of the box really surprised me! I would have bet money it would not handle this well! Especially when you consider in box stock configuration; the front wheels do not rotate independently, and there is not added weight/ballast for tuning. The car also has foam tires all the way around that are pretty grippy! At this point I don't know exactly what Rob has in mind for this class as far as any allowable modifications or changes. I would be fine racing these things "box stock" with no modifications!

Bottom line for me is; these midgets look really cool and they are actually fun to run! They are challenging to get around the track at a fast pace, but that is part of their appeal to me. Now I need to paint this thing!

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Rob_Redline_Midget3.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Rob_Redline_Midget2.jpg

wb0s's Website

  • Registered: February 16, 2025
  • Posts: 27

Re: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

I just ordered one and definitely looking forward to getting it. I agree with the box stock aspect and make it more of a drivers race rather than a tuners race. I am excited to get mine going and watch these go side x side

  • From: Hillsboro, OR
  • Registered: June 15, 2008
  • Posts: 1,756

Re: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

It does look like fun, I've got my order in with Bob.

"Big Smooth"

kidvolt's Website

4 Reply by wb0s

  • wb0s
  • wb0s
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Re: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

Today after prepping the track fro Monday's race we did some testing of the Mid America Midget kits. It looks like these things are going to be a lot of fun! They handle a lot better than I ever thought they would!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghHMz55_5_0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Xo1pGhRjQ

wb0s's Website

5 Reply by wb0s

  • wb0s
  • wb0s
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  • Registered: June 16, 2008
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Re: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

Here's some updated photos of Rob's midget.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0347.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0348.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0349.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0350.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0351.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0352.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0353.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0354.jpg

wb0s's Website

  • Registered: February 16, 2025
  • Posts: 27

Re: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

That Midget looks awesome !! so what is the thought process for these are we going to try and run 4 classes on Mondays now?

7 Reply by wb0s

  • wb0s
  • wb0s
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Re: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

That's a good question Steven. I think at this point it is play it by ear. We can discuss more on Monday.

While I am at it, we discussed rules for the Midgets just a bit. The plan is to race them as close to "out of the box" stock as possible. 

Here is a first draft of some rule considerations:

- Cars must be built using Mid America Kits parts.

- The cars come with those old crappy Cox plastic crown gears. These crown gears can be replaced with another plastic (i.e. Parma) crown gear. The original kit crown gear is a 29 tooth. Replacement gears must be 28 tooth to 30 tooth only.

- Mike Guthrie has made some brass weights to use as ballast. They are made out of "of the shelf" .092" brass strip, 1/2" wide and cut to 1 1/4" in length, with a hole drilled in them for the body mounting screw to pass through. They brass piece weighs 6 to 8 grams and sits in the bottom front portion of the chassis. The piece cannot be soldered or glued in place (must be left to rattle loosely). We plan to make these up and have them available for racers. This will be the only additional weight allowed - NO LEAD!

- Front wheels/tires can be made to rotate independently.

- The stock tires are approximaitely .915" diameter and .415" width, both front and rear. Bob Nakamura stocks Pro_track Daytona fronts that are .900" tall with a width of .340". These will be allowed as replacement front tires. Front tires must be kept close to .900" to maintain minimum ground clearance.

- Minimum ground clearance at the lowest point under the car will be .062".

- Overall width is 3.0" (determined by track width).

- Motor must be the stock Mid America 25K motor supplied with kit. Motor pinion gear must also remain stock as supplied.

Again, these are first draft considerations for rules. Voice your opinions and concerns now!

wb0s's Website

8 Reply by wb0s

  • wb0s
  • wb0s
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Re: Midget Racing at Rob's Redline Raceway on Mondays?

I had concerns about attaching all of the cool looking chrome detail parts onto my car's body, worrying they would just be broken right off. During the testing today Rob suffered some spectacular crashes and none of the detail parts were broken on his beautiful car. After some reconsideration, I have decided to put on my "big boy pants" and complete my build with all of the chrome parts provided in the kit! They just look too cool not to have those parts in place!

wb0s's Website