Re: Working on the next generation
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:41 amWay to go, and what a nice facility to introduce him to the hobby on!
When I taught my two nephews on my old HO scale 4' x 16' A/FX 4 lane 55' foot road course, they were 4 and 2 years of age (they're now 38 and 36). My voltage limiter was a small piece of wood taped to the controller limiting how far the trigger could be depressed! The controllers were the smaller A/FX standard set "throwaways", and with the track fixed at 20 volts and about 1 amp maximum they never really overheated. The cars were my Aurora Thunderjet 500 Ford GT loaners with silicone rear tires. They eventually learned how to drive properly and I upgraded them to Parma "econo" 60 ohm units allowing full power, but with the brake wire still left off. The older of the two really had more interest, and quickly learned how to drive well with a non Magna Traction A/FX car, using a Parma 45 ohm controller with the brake circuit now in play. By age 7 seven he would accompany me to the 1/24 commercial track for race nights. I built him his own hard body cars for the oval, and he had one of his best nights winning overall, in the process beating out both myself and one of the other adults who would eventually go on to become a world class "wing car" racer! My nephew became very good with stock and modified Parma Flexi-Kars on the road courses, and partnered with me to win two different 1,000 lap Flexi endurance events at local commercial raceways before he was 12 years old.
They've both gone on to successful careers, the older in the financial world and his younger brother in the automotive world (he's already owned more specialty cars than I have cars overall in my lifetime). But they've never forgotten the fun they had with the their "first rides" at Uncle Ernie's house!
I can only wish you years of fun with your nephew, possibly you've planted the seed early enough where he'll be a "slothead" like us for life. I hope you can have at least as much or more fun than I did racing with my nephews. I very much enjoyed sharing my hobby them, and passing along the skill set that goes along with it all.
Good luck, have fun, and... Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)
When I taught my two nephews on my old HO scale 4' x 16' A/FX 4 lane 55' foot road course, they were 4 and 2 years of age (they're now 38 and 36). My voltage limiter was a small piece of wood taped to the controller limiting how far the trigger could be depressed! The controllers were the smaller A/FX standard set "throwaways", and with the track fixed at 20 volts and about 1 amp maximum they never really overheated. The cars were my Aurora Thunderjet 500 Ford GT loaners with silicone rear tires. They eventually learned how to drive properly and I upgraded them to Parma "econo" 60 ohm units allowing full power, but with the brake wire still left off. The older of the two really had more interest, and quickly learned how to drive well with a non Magna Traction A/FX car, using a Parma 45 ohm controller with the brake circuit now in play. By age 7 seven he would accompany me to the 1/24 commercial track for race nights. I built him his own hard body cars for the oval, and he had one of his best nights winning overall, in the process beating out both myself and one of the other adults who would eventually go on to become a world class "wing car" racer! My nephew became very good with stock and modified Parma Flexi-Kars on the road courses, and partnered with me to win two different 1,000 lap Flexi endurance events at local commercial raceways before he was 12 years old.
They've both gone on to successful careers, the older in the financial world and his younger brother in the automotive world (he's already owned more specialty cars than I have cars overall in my lifetime). But they've never forgotten the fun they had with the their "first rides" at Uncle Ernie's house!
I can only wish you years of fun with your nephew, possibly you've planted the seed early enough where he'll be a "slothead" like us for life. I hope you can have at least as much or more fun than I did racing with my nephews. I very much enjoyed sharing my hobby them, and passing along the skill set that goes along with it all.
Good luck, have fun, and... Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)