A comparative Project a 'Moby Dick' story.

[stoo23]

You know, I have always been 'Fascinated' by those Wonderful 'Loop Hole' finding and clever 'Creative' Rule Circumventing Porsche 935/78 'Moby Dick' cars!
Heck if you Like That Era of Motor racing, Endurance racing or Porsches,..then Ya Gotta Love that car as well Eh ??

Having over the Years collected Heaps of Info and reference material etc and even had a Tamiya 1/24th Kit, which was initially Built, then dis-assembled by myself, to add further detail and 'Fix it Up' after Many years. (which Never Happened and I Only have Bits of it Left).

As mentioned elsewhere, I have Lost Most of My Built and Unbuilt Kits, But Still Have the Martini 'Moby Dick',..which I might Just have to rebuild as a slot car Perhaps,..and although I Could Just Put a Plafit style chassis under it, I am thinking I wouldn't mind Building a Scratch-built variant for it,..along the Lines of some of Jairus Watson's and Dennis Samson's cars.

It's Not Really My Bag,..BUT,..as has been discussed now a number of times at HSC, with people like DaleA, Bill Wall and Others, (who Also Share this Fascinationn with All things Moby Dick), They are thinking of turning One/Some of their similarly acquired 1/32 Carrera Examples into Plafit Chassis'd Racers.
As we Might even be able to get a few of them Running, it Might even Make for an Interesting Class !! For Local HSC level ofcourse,..Unless Other people are interested??,..lol

BUT,..although I Now have a few Plafit 'Bit's Left-Over,..lol, I can and Probably Will get enough to Make up a 2nd car,..either for The Different 1/32 Class, and/or for the Moby Dick,..Much More Fun than an Aston, Mosler or JPGT Replica!,..lol
Thing is, with the Moby,..It's Damn Short !!, with a Long Tail,...lol But it Could get a reasonable Guide Lead for it's Width.
It Might actually be a Bit 'Tricky' Finding some Suitable BBS Replicant Wheels in the Right Sizes for Front and Rear !!!
There ARE Enough Real Liveries to Have a Complete Grid of cars!,..There are 4 or 5 available Just from Carrera and there are a couple of Liveries that could be Created if One was Into Creating a One Off Example as such.

BUT,..Whilst I can and Will Build Up a Plafit Moby,..I want to Also Build a Scratch-Built Chassis for My Moby !!
What Better method of Chassis comparison can there Be ??

On a Side note,..may I say IMHO it is a Very BIG Shame that the 'Vintage' guys have Chosen to Include Plafit Chassis into their Rules and racing 'Spec',..VINTAGE !!??,..PLAFIT !!???,..in the Same Breath ???,...Not Likely,...ROFL

I mean I always thought 'Vintage' was Racing cars Like They Used to Race Waaaay Back,..before Scratch- building became Popular for Racing.
Heck I would Still be Campaigning My 'Bert Kynoch' Prepared and Re-Wound Dynamic 36D, with Dymanic 'Mitage' body,,...IF I still Had it !!
In the Past Scale and Model Car Racing was done with Guys building Excellent Hand Built Chassis etc and In fact That IS What I expected to Find when I got back into Slotting,..BUT once again,..the Rules Stipulated I HAD to Run,..such and such a Chassis and such and such a This and That,..NOTHING I could Build Myself could be Run,... and I guess Here and Now is as Good a reason and Place as Any to ask,..WHY ???

WHY Can I Not Build and Race a Scratch-built Brass and Piano wire Chassis in a Vintage Lexan/Pet or Hard Bodied Race under the Current Rules,..Because it's Unfair ?,..for Whom?, Because it Will actuall Go HEAPS Better than an MJK Ladder Frame ???,..I should Hope it Would,..Without Heaps of Lead and Would Give Me and any Other Racer I would argue Much Greater Satisfaction having Built the Whole thing themselves !!!

Anyway,..I just thought I'd Start this thread and will Use it as a 'Build Article' for BOTH Chassis and Will Report on the Testing and Final Outcome When the cars are Built , Run, Raced and tested.


Anyone Else with a Spare 'Moby' possibly Interested??
Maybe we can get Porsche cars to Be a Sponsor of a Special 'Moby Dick' race !! lol

I will have to 'Wind Bill Wall Up next time I see Him to also build up a Brass car !!

Personally the Martini car and Especially John Fitzpatrick's JDAVID liveried car Is MY Favourite, in Fact Anything JDAVID Looks Like a Real Nice Clean 'Proper' Racing Car to Me!!,..ROFL

Some 'Moby's' and JDAVID's for Your Pleasure,..and Yes,..I Am at this Time Making My Own JDAVID Decals for Both a 1/32 and 1/24th 956 !!

So if I 'Bother' building a Group 'C',...Ya better Watch Out !!!,..

Cheers,..Stay Tuned,..

[SlotBaker]

On a Side note,..may I say IMHO it is a Very BIG Shame that the 'Vintage' guys have Chosen to Include Plafit Chassis into their Rules and racing 'Spec',..VINTAGE !!??,..PLAFIT !!???,..in the Same Breath ???,...Not Likely,...ROFL

Yeah, fair enough, I can follow your logic.

Apart from the FX/FJ class, all other 'Vintage' classes had to use (dare I say it) any commercially available chassis, as long as it was either true sidewinder (not angle winder) or inliner and met the other regs. Stop cringing Stoo.

So, that meant that Plafit, MoMo, Metris, Schoeler, MJK, etc could be used. In fact, when I first started, my Sports was an original Monogram Chaparral 2 body on a Plafit, with 1/8" axles and 48 pitch gears, and was the car to beat for a while.

The 'Vintage' part of the HSC group resulted from a few things, but nothing to do with the chassis.
1/ Apart from the Sports (which I never understood) all classes were to depict cars up to the early 1970's.
2/ Apart from FX/FJ, had to be hard body cars from commercially available kits or resin copies. The FX/FJ was unique as it was the Aussie class, and no hard body kits were available.
3/ Had to use hard rubber tyres. This changed over time because of the availability of tyres of consistant performance.

I usually stick inverted commas around 'Vintage', because it's not really racing for vintage cars (Cox, Tamiya etc).

The Moby Dick sounds interesting, but also looks like a challenge to come up with enough, different bodies being available.
It sounds like cars from Group 5 might fit in here, but it also sounds like you're more into the regulations boundary riders? Hey, there's a class name!!
Have you worked out a list of contenders?

[stoo23]

Attempt #2,..lol

I had just finished a Reply, Steve, when My ISP Drooped the Bundle !!,..DOH !!

Yeah,..I CAN understand what and Why,..is Just a shame I guess really, as the "Name" implies something else altogether.

The Moby Dick sounds interesting, but also looks like a challenge to come up with enough, different bodies being available.
It sounds like cars from Group 5 might fit in here, but it also sounds like you're more into the regulations boundary riders? Hey, there's a class name!!
Have you worked out a list of contenders?

Ha Ha,..well Put !!,..Yes,..I DO have a Personal Liking for THAT aspect,..Yes !!,..

BUT, you are absolutely Correct regarding Group 5.
Even from within the Carrera releases, there is the Chevy Monza and Now the De-Tomaso, Previously there was also the Ferrari BB512LM,..so there Are a Number of Just Carrera Cars that would be similar,..the Only things Missing are the Zakspeed Capri's and The Lancia Beta Montecarlo's.

But as I said, if Bill IS building a Plafit Moby, it will be an intersting Comparison between the Meccano Nut & Bolt and the Brass, Wire and Burnt Fingers cars.

Will simply be interesting to See which one drives and handles better,..I Kinda have my Own feelings here,... Which One do You think will be the Better Car ,... Hmmmmm,......

Interested ???

[SlotBaker]

Attempt #2,..lol
..the Only things Missing are the Zakspeed Capri's and The Lancia Beta Montecarlo's.

Nope, not missing, well at least 1/32 scale;
Gp5 Capri by Fly and Lancia Beta Montecarlo by Fly
MRRC does the Celica Gp 5 as well, with the red rocket motor.

I don't have enough experience with them to pick one. The only one I've got is the MRRC Capri, and you need the tyres pretty well glued on that sucker. The first time I put it on the track, the tyres spun half off the rims, making 2 egg shaped tyres and both out of sink to the point it bounced out of the slot, in the straight. Couldn't even make 1 lap!!! rofl!

Nah, although they are interesting, I don't think I would do them over flexis at Luddenham, or Retro, or car club stuff, or family, or.....

[stoo23]

Oh Heck,..I'm NOT Talking about actually Racing the Cars as they are Steve,..Only the Bodies !!

Yes,..That's True,..I actually Have a Fly Monte Carlo and I Guess it would be suitable, as it is No Light Weight and is as inappropriately Short !!!,..lol

I HAD Forgotten about Those Capri's being available,..(I have in Fact purchased one of the New Capri RS3100's).

Hey I can 'Dig' it,..it was Just for a 'Hoot' anyway,..But this Whole Era of Racing ,..let alone Just these Grp 4/5 cars All Looked So OTT they were Cool !!

Well Steve,..How about in 1/24th ???,..I Do have My Tamiya Martini 'Moby' !!,..

Like I said It was Just an Idea as Bill was Building one up (Plafit) and Using Plafit Wheels and Tyres, NOT the Carrera ones !!,..Eeek !!
and I figured I Could do That as I have a few Bits, so don't Need to get Much to Build a Plafit as well (Now that I Know what I'm doing!!,..lol), so Figured I'd Solder something Up and See !!

Not sure what Motor Bill is thinking of Putting in His,..Must check,..

Even though I Love the 'Moby',..as suggested, the Era and Cars being discussed are from;
4th Generation Group 5 – “Special Production Cars” (1976 to 1982) including such cars as below;

* Porsche 935 (includes the 935-77, 935-78 known as the Moby-Dick and the customer Kremer K3 and K4 and the JLP variation)
* BMW 320i
* Toyota Celica Turbo A22 (1st generation)
* Toyota Celica Turbo A45 (2nd generation)
* Nissan Skyline RS Silhouette Formula
* Nissan Nichira Impul Silvia
* Mazda RX-7 SA22
* Nissan Bluebird SSS Turbo
* BMW 3.0 CSL
* BMW M1
* Ferrari 512BB
* Lancia Stratos Turbo
* Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo
* Ferrari 512BB LM
* Ford Capri
* Ford Escort
* Zakspeed Lotus Europa Gr.5
* Greenwood Wide-Body Corvette

So whilst initially I was Just thinking Carrera Moby,..there certainly Would be quite a few other bodies to Choose from,..Ofcourse,..Once again,...Just like the Plafit Modern GT 1.32 cars, if Requires a 'Donor' car,..which IS something that Doesn't Really Sit very well with me,..it Is Only because I have a few of them that I even Considered it,..Plus I Guess,..being Carrera cars, there Isn't much Local Racing where I can race them except Rolands Occasionally, where atleast All the Cars are 'Std' Carrera and On Carrera Track. Non Magnet btw.

Anyway,..it's Just a bit of a Personal Project,..I am NOT 'Passionately trying to start a Series or Class of Racing, just thought a few guys might like the 'Concept'