When are you officially going overboard....

[Ky.Slot Racer]

LOL
"and then, lastly, the newbies to the track"

yep that old COMMERCIAL TRACK suck em in trick has been around awhile. The newbies are good for a few hundred or more bucks in the till until they decide whether they really like it or not.

[DAVE]

You have officially gone overboard when it is more work than play.

[Ember]

I had a laugh at the idea of 'freezing' the motor. Any motor that I have runs better when warm.

I'm not a competitive person. I don't have access to a club. Even the proxies I choose to do are fairly closed down on rules to keep things fair.

I'm a beer and laps relaxationist.

I've known people to buy boxes of motors, run them all in and then test for the fastest one to put in their car.

[JESIV]

I'm hearing a lot of stories that remind me why I went away from all 'organized' racing. For my $$ I think the 'overboard' point is when you are tuning a car and doing something you know no else is doing (changing motor timing, dipping motors in whatever juice, etc.).
I think the key is finding a like minded group, once you ID the 'has to win guy' it's best to steer clear of him IMO.
What happens at my place is essentially a ton of sprint races, with minimum rules, running the cars as close to stock as possible (this means replacing broken/damaged parts) with no magnets. A person is more than welcome to pour a ton of $$ into their car to race with us...then they 'win' the 10 minute race and that car won't race again for another 9-10 months (if you're lucky) as we cycle through all the variety of cars/manufacturers this great hobby gives us. The only motor tuning we do is trying to slow down the rocket cars, which is typically solved by going from 12v to 10v. Again, it works because we are like minded in what constitutes fun.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I have to say it. I am very warmed by these comments. Being among friends is very profound comfort.

[SuperSlab]

[Dangermouse]

I like that - think I will keep my cars in the freezer between races.........not!

That is funny and I think a bit over the top.

So the question that popped to my mind was if you discovered cooling the motor made a big difference to the performance of the car would you do it or not.....

and there in lies the issue with any form of competition - there is usually someone who wants to win and that is all they care about.....

As I have participated more in racing I have decided that I need to focus on my driving and do my best to stay in the slot as we all no the more laps you do staying in the slot the quicker your overall time will be.....

now where is that can of magic spray

[Cincyslots]

This is a great comment.

You have officially gone overboard when it is more work than play.

[Czar]

For each season at our club we pool our money and buy two different cars we think will be competitive. I tune the the cars to be as close as possible. Everyone races each car on each lane throughout the season. We have fun on a scale that is greater than 1/32.

[WB2]

Does this mean your "race ready" cars are getting beat?

[Ember]

You're officially going overboard when you call racing toy cars a sport.

(Hiding behind the couch)

[dreinecke]

I'll be the first to admit: I'm not much of a competitive driver in a club setting. Ask SuperTuner and anyone in Minnesota ;)

I enjoy driving in a club when the camaraderie is high and the smack-talking is PG-13 and makes Pepsi come out of my nose.

I cannot imagine being so driven (pun intended) to HAVE to win in a slot car race. This is my hobby that I cherish. Now, put me in a 1:1 car and that changes. I LOVED racing. What ruined it for me were the same people that are being described in several replies here. Those same type of people that also ruined the Chevelle Club for me. Why did I go back to my basement and small cars? People. What keeps me playing with small cars? People. Weird, isn't it?

I love a timing system with either a break-out or that includes the fuel strategy like the guys in MN introduced me to. That really made it a great time for me. And as I mentioned when I came back - those guys would still wait for you even if they were loosing time.

[Abarth Mike]

[ccobra]

Ok I figured it out for you Cincy. What you need to do is find an old computer that has one of those liquid cooled processors on it. Then fit the cooling system around the motor in your racer. That should strike fear in the competition and give you a temporary heads up on the other racers. Just think, then you could show it off on HRW for having the first liquid cooled slotcar.

[FootScoot]

It's the guys who have to win by any cost that ruined competitive racing for me. So now I'm more of a track cruiser than a racer. I've seen guys take a stock motor apart put the armature in the oven to soften the epoxy on it and advance the timing so it would run faster. When it gets like that I give up. I go more for looks or oddity nowadays. I'm not above building a scratch built chassis for a body that isn't in production by anyone, and some that are. That's what my fun is. :)