Australian Slot Car Racers Association

Hi guys
I dont know if this should go in the retro or scale forums.

I race modern vintage 1/24 cars (that is hard bodied vintage cars on modern and MJK chassis') here in the southern suburbs of Adelaide with Neil Owen, Steve Kerr, Mark Dolphin, Ian (MJK), Dave(MJK), Micheal(MJK), Chris Clarke, as well as others.
There is a bit of a connection with the guys that race at AMR (Adelaide Model Raceway) but we tend not to run the older 60's chassis' and motors.

We allow ANY chassis in many classes, but the MJK chassis is specified in some classes. Only one person in our club runs a plafit chassis under one of his cars.

We have a can-am class but it is different to the retro rules. We run a specially made MJK chassis, fox motor (side winder), 1/8th axle rear end, and big solid rubber tires.

Basically all of the tracks we run on are painted with a ferrador surface.
John Smedly (central Adelaide) has just built a new track with a smooth surface. He will run most classes of 1/24 including BRM's.
Thunderbird Raceway (northern Adelaide) has started to run scaleauto 1/24th cars with NSR motors in them. They have tracks with ferrador and smooth finishes and will have the old/modern Redline blue king track running in their new premises.
I have not been to the AMR track for a long time, but am looking to get up to there at some stage.

I used to race flexi's and wing cars and have travelled interstate occasionally (mainly to Melbourne). I am keen to do this again in the future with retro cars (wing cars are getting too fast and too expensive for me).
It would be great to be able to share our results etc on here and eventually, in the future, have some sort of common class to run. I dont own a plafit chassis (and have never built one) but am keen to build one up and i have always been keen on building a retro car (since i have been soldering cars together from the age of 12).

Well, thats enough from me for the time being. Catch ya's round here.
Chad Raven


please ask any questions (as that's what i intend on doing!)

Hey Chadly,

Great to hear about 'Other' Slotting activities around the Country.

As far as Retro Racing goes, there Now seems to be a relatively Healthy number of individuals regularly running at Both King Willy's and Mobile Raceways in Victoria, as well ofcourse up here at HSC.

Not sure if you have noticed, but there IS a local HSC group running cars/classes similar to yourselves on a regular basis.
They have a 'thread' that has been running for a while on the 'Ausslot' forums,..see here; http://www.auslot.com/forums/index.php? ... ar-racers/

Like yourselves, they run MJK chassis in a number of classes, although the perhaps 'Dreaded' Plafit chassis was allowed into some of the classes a while ago, but I believe that they are perhaps changing the rules again, as I think it maybe 'changed' the class into a sort of One Chassis class, as the Plafit chassis created a 'Must Have' scenario.
They also run Retro's on their race night and a lot of the classes run Plafit Fox or Cheetah motors.

In NSW, the Retro racing has really been very, very good and although the numbers of attendees might Not always be as large as we might Hope for, we have a really enthusiastic and competitive bunch of guys and gals that really Do Enjoy their racing and have made Retro racing at HSC both Extremely enjoyable and challenging.

Whilst we (HSC) have held the Retro 'Nationals' at HSC over the Last couple of Years, there has really Only been a Few competitors travelling from interstate for the event.
This year though the Retro Nationals will be held in Victoria at Mobile Raceways, although at this point in time there Does seem to be some Confusion regarding the Style of Car and Rules, which is rather unfortunate but as it is Not until later in the year allows plenty of time to try and sort it out.

Within the 'Framework of current Aussie Slotting, there Aren't Many opportunities for the True Scratch-builder to 'Ply His Craft' apart from Retro, so having Another Keen builder join the ranks would be Most Welcome !!!

Asking questions and swapping information is always a good thing I believe and is what forums like this are for, so thanks for Your 'Info' and am More than happy to Help with any queries you might have regarding Retro or 'Dare I say it',..Plafit,..lol

Hope this helps,...
Cheers,
Stewart

Thanks Stoo (can i call you that?)

Interesting you should mention about the plafit chassis' taking over, that's what i thought would happen here but it hasnt. Infact Mark Dolphin, who has quite a few different sports cars, usually puts the plafit chassied car back in the box and uses an MJK dog bone. The only real performance leveler i can see is the fact we run solid rubber tyres, not sponge.
Yes, i have read the HSC thread on Auslot. I think i put a post up there.

I got started on 1/24th cars at Redline Raceway when i was 12. I soon had a soldering iron and was putting crude chassis' and cars together. I actually made my cousin a group 20 wing car (chassis and all) that went quite well. Infact i wound the armature, initially, myself.........and it screamed for about 3 laps until it dropped a wind or shorted out (it was just Dick Smith brand wire).

I say i was 5 when i started slotcar racing cause thats my parents bought me a big scalextric set for xmas. I had old plastic 1/43rd sets growing up which i would modify.

Can i ask how you run in your plafit motors.
One of my fox's is real good (a freak) but my other ones dont usually make it to the top end of the feild.
I have a lot of experience running in fast 1/24th motors (up to and including opens), but some of the techniques dont transfer too well. Everyone has their own methods it seems.

Chad

Regarding the 'Running In' of my Plafit motors,...I don't get too carried away lol,...

I just put a few drops of "Voodoo Juice" on the Comm's/Brushes and run them initially on about 3 volts on the PSU for about 15 minutes or so, checking them occasionally for Heat/Vibration whatever.

Am careful Not to use too much oil on the Comm' end, but make sure they are Well oiled to run smoothly and quietly.

Often let them cool down and give them another shorter run at about 5 volts.

In my own experience, the motors I have found to have the Greatest 'Variance', are the Plafit Pointer motors!
They seem to have a different construction (Commutators Especially) as compared to the Fox's and Cheetah's.

Perhaps fortunately, Most of the Fox motors I have purchased seem to have been Very Good,..(Well Good Enough to get quite a number of Wins and Places with anyway) and Most of the Cheetah's have been Pretty good as well, although I have had One or Two Truly Outstanding Units !!

Mind you having gone and done a bit of quick testing Today at HSC (In Preparation for Tomorrows ADC Retro CanAm event), swapping out my previous Very Well Used and arguably Still Fast motor, was Truly disappointed with the First New Motor I tried,..it easily being the Worst brand New Cheetah I have ever had,..,..So changed it for the Other New motor which was far better.

I seem to have acquired a small Heap of Pointers though and realistically Most of them are Only OK, Only having found 1 or 2 that were Very Good.
I will Probably have to Work My Way through them in Testing to confirm which units will be 'Allocated' for Racing,..lol

Wayne B had a rather Good Gadget for checking Motor performance that I believe Jerry Kuhlitch of JK fame had a number of made some years back, which was a rather expensive device, but Certainly allowed you to 'Sort' the Good from the Bad Very Easily. Troy Boldy Now has it,..(As If He Needs It !!???,..lol), but am hoping to finish Building a somewhat Simpler "Performance' Tester myself soon.

Will 'Post' some Info If and When I get it finished, ... if it Works that is,..lol

I'd have to say though that atleast within the Retro Events we have had over the Last few years, the General performance of the Motors across the Class has Been Very even and around HSC, seem to last quite well.

Cheers.

can you explain how these motor testers work?
i have seen many different types of testers, but none really worthwhile!