HBMRC - Hawkes Bay, NZ

[SlotsNZ]

Results from Hawkes Bay club tonight on Oakland Raceway. Mac smashed the outright lap record with a 4.680 in his Mosler. I’ll try and make a video tomorrow- knackered.

sorry about the timing issues … weird. Never plays up any other time. 

[slotmadmac]

Thanks for hosting, Mark.  
It was quite a tough day on the track for most - with far more deslots than normal in the slower classes and plenty of associated fallout affecting other drivers. Not many clean runs tonight. 

[SlotsNZ]

Bumpy as it may have been on track, it pales into comparison with that other hobby in which some of our members dabble. Mutual friends Andrew and Jane are in Bulgaria for some world soaring champs thing. Between the food poisoning, the lack of hotel service, the mid air collisions, shredded team shelters, the “grid based ground searches” (for remains), and the “gentle breeze” as in this video ……. I again swear allegiance to this “food and weather moderated” hobby.

Our cars do not drive backwards around the track due to some reverse voltage attempting to throw them into the air then throw them at the track and disassemble them with the nose embedded in the earth’s core.

BTW - Team NZ has fluctuated from fourth up to the lead and back to fourth

 

[SlotsNZ]

A selection of infirmities and insanity from last night 

 

[Pedro51]

Thanks Mark, I had a lightbulb moment as I unplugged my controller at the end of my racing. There are 3 adjustment knobs on my controller for a reason!!

See you all next month, Melbourne is calling to me.

[slotmadmac]

My place this week, ladies. 

Week 3

1 Fly Classics

2 DTM [Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft 1984 - 1996]

3 Group 5

[David Carter]

im out, got a dinner to go to that night

mate is heading off to Europe with the NZ trout fishing team to compete in the world champs

[SlotsNZ]

Yep, see you there

[Bingo]

See you there. Time to have another go at the old dog. 

[Roscoe]

Hey Mark, Team NZ won the event in Bulgaria.

[SlotsNZ]

1 hour ago, Roscoe said:

Hey Mark, Team NZ won the event in Bulgaria.

Yep, I heard. - Jane H. has been sending us a daily briefing with videos of “Hurricane Bulgaria” attacking the gazebos .

Andrew made the individual pilot run-offs, and I think he placed 14th overall 

[slotmadmac]

Holy Guacamole! Our very own PieBone was a heat winner at this years US Slot It Nationals. I hope the scrutineers knew what they were up against!
Here he is with NorCal slot car legend Jim Rose at Electric Dreams. Go The Bone!! 

[L8n]

I can't make 2moro nite unfortunately. See u fellas next week

[Toyoda]

Yup

[Smithy]

Yep see you there.

Okay another thought on Le Mans. I have just had a look at the cars that raced in Le Mans from 1980 to present.  Heres the google search then click images

 Le Mans cars from 1980 to present.

A thought guys. Why dont we make Le Mans a class. The cars shown means that we can race many of the classes that we already have which means there would be a great mix of cars racing each other. Motors would be restricted to 23k maybe. Just a discussion point guys for HB boys. I think it would be cool . I know we have a class but its LMP and GT1

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Smithy

[Mad-Marty]

Marty's ready

 

[Bingo]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

Yep see you there.

Okay another thought on Le Mans. I have just had a look at the cars that raced in Le Mans from 1980 to present.  Heres the google search then click images

 Le Mans cars from 1980 to present.

A thought guys. Why dont we make Le Mans a class. The cars shown means that we can race many of the classes that we already have which means there would be a great mix of cars racing each other. Motors would be restricted to 23k maybe. Just a discussion point guys for HB boys. I think it would be cool . I know we have a class but its LMP and GT1

 

No objections but what do you cull……thats the hard bit. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Bingo

[SlotsNZ]

Results from Thunder Road tonight, sorry didn’t get any race pics 

[SlotsNZ]

Mac - the Portuguese 3D chassis maker whose name I couldn’t remember last night, is Olifer. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/olifer.pt

They sell through Shapeways unfortunately, so a bit expensive, but good product.

[slotmadmac]

3 hours ago, SlotsNZ said:

Mac - the Portuguese 3D chassis maker whose name I couldn’t remember last night, is Olifer. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/olifer.pt

Thanks. I remembered later on. I have had a few from them. Good quality for sure. 

[Roscoe]

here is a topic for a thoughtful discussion ...

Car Classes

F1 - how about we use NSR, they run sweet and for those going to Nelson, a chance to set up and race.

DTM - these turds have had their day

Aussie Touring - mix it in with USA V8's

Thunderslot - run separate class of just 65-80 Thunderslot cars

Lets the screaming begin...................................

 

[Pedro51]

12 minutes ago, Roscoe said:

here is a topic for a thoughtful discussion ...

Car Classes

F1 - how about we use NSR, they run sweet and for those going to Nelson, a chance to set up and race.

DTM - these turds have had their day

Aussie Touring - mix it in with USA V8's

Thunderslot - run separate class of just 65-80 Thunderslot cars

Lets the screaming begin...................................

 

F1, no issue with running NSR’s, I have not seen carnage at Tony’s, Omomoroa, or my track.

DTM, too soon to drop these - I have just built a new, as yet untested one. 
 

Aussie Touring, whatever.

Thunderslot, big fan, run them all night, every night. Let other makes in if they think they are up to the challenge.

[Bingo]

We could go back to a 5 week roster which would be my preference. I was sad when we dropped LMP.  
Thunderslots is ok with me. 

[SlotsNZ]

 Le Mans cars from 1980 to present

I don’t think Smithy or others commenting have really thought this through.

It kind of runs contrary to what we usually do in all our classes - which is to run a range of similar cars that actually raced together in a time period, are of comparable shape/size for natural handling competitiveness, and providing a set of mechanical rules which for at least half the classes, which avoid having to completely rebuild chassis, pods, lighten bodies, change motors etc

When you look at the cars we WOULD race under this proposal, and what is produced by the various quality hobby manufacturers, it would essentially be combining Group 5, Group C, our Modern GT1 and LMP, and a few NSR classics models that straddled the 1980 cut point, most of which already fit into the 65-80 Sports class.
There are also GT3 type cars which raced Le Mans as GT1 spec there.

Then you would have to drag a series of differently engineered and powered cars by these various makers from different eras, into a common mechanical specification, and that regardless of body shape and size.

- and an RPM rule for motors doesn’t work due to the variable torque of different can shapes - it has to be a power/wattage rule. 

So a new Le Mans class would mean placing cars of unequal body shape and size together, which never raced together, are from different eras, have different Slotcar mechanical specs and forcing them into a common mechanical specification at some cost, while simply duplicating the same cars we already have in other classes. It would also mean a double up of those cars to get a fit of mechanical specifications.

Paul - we didn’t drop LMP - we combined it and GT1 which are same era cars and come with similar mechanical specs out of the box, to form that open class - roughly speaking we could have called it  “Le Mans 2000 - 2023” ie those cars which ran and run together, and for which the slot car body shapes, and their mechanical specs are similar from the various slot makers. Easy and convenient. It is in fact half of what Smithy proposed - except without the mechanical, size, era, and mechanical complications of 1980-2023. 

Ross - drop DTM ? Men have disappeared never to be seen again over less . It is the only tin- top saloon class we have, and is actually one of the more recent classes.

Paul - 12 classes is already a lot, and the more we add, the higher we set the entry barrier for new members.

So in summary, I think it is a bad idea.

If we were to drop a class, I would ditch the old Scaley F1 of which nearly half the field last time at Paul’s appeared to be running alloy wheels which isn’t legit under the rules, and I imagine with those, quality bushes, axles and gears.
To quote Ross “Those turds have had their day”

I would “sigh” suggest we replaced it with the NSR (and the ScaleAuto) F1 models, which seem similar. The current Policar classic cars that Smithy and I quite like, are lovely, but are a much lower powered, narrower, smaller model, so wouldn’t compete, and the Slot.it “monoposto” cars are also about 60% of the power, and are narrower so wouldn’t compete.

BUT - those NSR and ScaleAuto F1 would be a real handful on the smaller circuits - Oakland, Tombstone, and even Paul’s track. I think they would be best restricted to Thunder Road and Leighton’s track, and maybe Bahia Vista.

[Bingo]

To clarify my comment on LMP. My dilemma is i like to race both, under the current arrangement I have to choose one or the other.