P-BOP A Parts Box Open Proxy Idea

[strangebrew]

[Retro Racer 44]

Hi Strangebrew;

Your cars look great and I love the old jalopy pics. They remind me of racing at the Grandstand at the CNE when I was a teen in Toronto. The track was the size of a football field, maybe 1/4 mile at the most.

Here are my suggestions for running a race. First off, use your 12v setting.

If you have four lanes and four drivers, line up the cars beside the track and rotate them through a heat on each lane, approx 2-3 minutes per heat. The drivers race the same lane for the whole event and don't move. That way it is fair across the session.

It works best to have one person handling the recording and car shuffling and four drivers, and a marshal or two if needed.

If you don't have enough volunteers run longer heats on fewer lanes. For example, if only two drivers, you could either run two lanes then the drivers move to the other two, or only run two lanes and about 4-6 minute heats.

If you are all by your lonesome, you can still run a proxy, only you run all the cars in turn on lane one and then move to lane two etc.

Generally in proxies I have done, the total time per car averages about 10 minutes. That is enough to make it worth doing. It could be longer if you are keen and there are not too many cars. I was a driver for the SCX Rally proxy on Auslot that had between 40-50 cars. We had to shorten the time to get it done in one session, but it worked using my first suggestion above.

Anyway, let me know and I will add your name to the track list.

Cheers,

Keith

[Slot Therapist]

I have everything together. The only parts I needed to buy was the urethane tires, the tongue, and motor mount. I hope you'll still allow me to participate.

[TuscoTodd]

Nope Terry - you are denied! :)
In all seriousness though - I think the spirit of this proxy was to try to use things that have been sitting collecting dust in the ol' parts bin as much as possible - and if you have to buy a couple pieces to finish it, it should be all good - as long as you dump them in your "parts box" first - before installing them on the car. :D
Looking forward to getting back to work on mine hopefully later this weekend!

[Slot Therapist]

What's the criteria for hosting a race?

[strangebrew]

[TuscoTodd]

WOW! Those are some sweet looking rides! It looks like we are going to have quite a varied field! :D
Should make for some cool cars to run and give everyone some different ideas on things to "create" down the road!
(I love the cut down / resized bodies you did!) :D

[Slot Therapist]

Definitely going to be a good looking field. :banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance:

[Retro Racer 44]

My intent for this proxy was to let people use whatever they had or needed, so they didn't have to go out and buy a certain brand of motor, wheels tires etc. That does not prevent someone from buying everything they need, and then it will be a parts bag car.

Slot Therapist- re hosting an event, see my comments to Strangebrew above, (Aug 8th) and ask away if you still need any answers.

Cheers,

Keith

[Slot Therapist]

Thanks Keith. I definitely won't let you guys down. Todd got a sneak peak of my car. I think all of you will love the Ohio cars.

[Retro Racer 44]

Strangebrew;

I just re-read your post above re cleaning tires. With urethane tires there are several different ways the guys in our club clean them. Some keep a damp cloth with them and after each heat wipe them, some lick their thumbs and wipe the tires until dry and clean, and most use a sanding block to give the tires a bit of a buff if the traction goes off. If you don't have a sanding station set up, you can just take a sheet of medium grit sandpaper, slip it under the car on the track, hold both the car and the paper and give it a bit of power. It doesn't take much.

All that said however, if you are using a track that usually runs silicones, or spongies with goop on the tires, you may have a bit more of a problem. We don't usually worry about the "rubber" urethane dust on the track, but we only run urethane or rubber. A few years ago the CanAm proxy ran sillies on Luf's Targa and it was a disaster. Even with meticulous cleaning of the track, the tires went off to the point the race could not be run, and we suffered with a slippery club track for weeks.

Hope that helps.

Keith

[strangebrew]

I guess that lets me out of the hosting deal. I've run mostly silicone coated & straight sponges for years, seldom used any tire glue.
once in a while rubbed them up witha' dab of STP. I cleaned the track pretty well with laquer thinner. It isn't dirty or gummy
to the touch. As I said, it's masonite with a pretty shinny enamel paint. I've run 150 laps at a pretty good clip with my white coupe
without an off. It has the wide shore 40 urethane tires I cast myself, but the last 100 laps you have to be careful. It starts drifting more.
It is a small banked oval, so once you get into your rythm, it's not too tuff.
Maybe I'll do a video & you can decide if its too slick.

[TuscoTodd]

Dave - that is definitely looking cool!

[Retro Racer 44]

Very nice looking build, Dave. I will be following this one, and thanks for the plug. I will be contacting those who previously expressed interest to confirm entrants and hosts.

I have access to several tracks here and if we don't get enough in the US, we can for sure make a run of it here. One possible track is Luf's old bullring. It is a three lane oval whose lanes cross each other, on a 4 x 8 sheet of mdf, seen here. It would be a blast with these cars, just like old time jalopy racing, eh?

http://www.oldslotracer.com/Bullring1.html

I hope we still have enough interest to do this, as it should be lot's of fun.

Keith

[btaylor]

If These boys qualify Im in. MPC Bodies,Artin chassis Carrera wheels and axles, Parts box drivers and everything else homemade.