Updated 15th August 2010

The two 24^th Saloon bodies for the nationals championships and now available from Hobbies Plus, Gill tells me all the details are now up on his web site.
 Get you orders in and start testing.

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Hi Graeme,  I recently spent a week in Melbourne so I took a few cars over to run at the dragstrip which held the Australian Nationals a fortnight ago.
 
The track was still glued up and offered strong power with large capacitors on each lane. It was a little different to what we normally race on as the track braids are checked in and sit a few thou below the racing surface, which meant the car setups were strange, mainly the wheeliebar gaps were increased as a result.  I had taken minimal tools so just laid down what I could.  I experienced some difficulties on a few runs as the cars arched backward on the rear wheels as the horsepower kicked in at the top end so they recorded 60' and half track interval times but no ET - this was due to the guide flag passing over top of the sensor.  Anyway I had a great time, flying the kiwi flag. 
 
The Garth Hogan Arrow Funny Car was strongest running .997 @ 49mph with a 30 year ols Mura Green Giant
The Pete Lodge Fiat AA/FA ran 1.1 @ 47mph with a blueprinted S16D
Lastly the Aussie icon, "Goodalls Gasser" went 1.6 @ 30 mph with a stock 16D
 
Mark
 

Hi Graeme, The Australian Slotcar Drag Nationals were held last weekend in Melbourne . NZ played a small "bit part".
 
The Bracket 500 World Tribute Car,
You may recall, this  '53 Studebaker was built and raced in NZ. Well, it was tested in Sydney a couple of weeks ago (1.156 & 1.278).
Then at the Nats, it entered Street (DYO) bracket it ran really consistently:
1st run.......1.2566; 2nd run......1.2292 3rd run......1.2566 (all runs within 3/100 sec) Its winning run only stopped in the 4th round when the driver's controller clip disconnected so at the green, nothing happened.  Sorry for the fuzzy cell phone photo.
Anyway its next race outing will be at the upcoming Euro champs in France, later in Aug.
 
The Bracket 500 Worlds Fastest Vette,
This was really bad luck.  NZ completed its timed runs etc in Auckland, details of the global challenge were in my last report.  Anyway,  along with the car, I sent some good old Kiwi horsepower to try on their track  (A blueprinted Megamaster20 with 6 segmant purple dot magnet set up)
It was tested in Sydney with best numbers (.7663/66.29)   
Using the Kiwi motor, the USA Built car entered into the Super Gas Bracket (index .990) It ran way too fast during qualifying (.8665@61mph) wheelspinning all the way  
So the driver slowed it for the first round, which it won with a 1.02,
it won the second with a .996
but in the 3rd round, disaster struck. The car hooked up & the racer estimate was it ran 80mph+ torquing over on one side at the top end, it de-slottted and struck the centre divider, glanced off, then "hit everything it could find on its way".  Evidently it has the infamous title of being the most spectacular crash of the event.  The car was a write off (you can see why in the photo), It split the car in half.
 
The bits of the car are being sent back home to USA
The monstor motor was unhurt and is back with me now
 
NZ clearly won the Southern Hemisphere leg of the World's Fastest Vette competition. 
 
As an aside, I'm heading to that track in Melbourne next week, so I'll take a couple of cars to run while I'm there...
 
Mark  
 

The Henderson club ran a 12 hour enduro race on Saturday 10th July.
The Doug MacRae, Rob Jackson, Jan Pak, Dion DeGraaf team ran out the winners with 7528 laps.
Chris Wong, Alan Lee, Keith Cheeseman and Kieran Dale 7476 laps
John Crothers, Ray Jackson, Frans DeGraaf, Frank Hellawell 6681 laps
Rob Harrowfield, Paul Young, Erin DeGraaf, Hans DeGraaf 6327 laps

Bracket500.com is very active has taken a leadership role in promoting Slot Car drag racing in USA and around the world.
The second major project was to allow people around the world to actually compete against one another.
 
DVan came up with the idea of allowing different countries to fight it out and find the "Worlds Fastest Vette"
 
The concept is straight forward:
(and can be followed here> http://bracket500.com/links/vette/wfv.html) 

• Build two identical "rolling chassis"  using sponsored products

• Send the first around various Northern Hemisphere countries and the second to Southern Hemisphere countries.

• Each country to install their fastest running gear platform and run it as fast as they can on their own track.

After each country has made their runs, they submit the top speed in any or all of 3 categories (S16D; C-Can; Other) which will be mathematically compared (allowing for track differences like length, Voltage surface etc)
Eventually, the "Worlds Fastest Vette" will be crowned.
 
Down under, New Zealand got first crack, and if you look carefully at the car you can see the NZ flag is painted way out in front of Australia. so on 25th June in a special Auckland closed racing session, Dave W & Jan P mounted NZ's challenge.  They made a series of speed runs in the s16D class using Dave's Arm in Jan's SpeedFX set up, then replaced the motor with my Proslot MegaMaster 6 segment motor to complete the night.
The main difficulty was getting all the power to the track with brand new tyres.  The guys admit the car was still wheel spinning through the lights.
 
We can't share the performance numbers as they remain confidential until the end of global competition, but they did NZ proud.
 
This car will be sent to Sydney next week (without the Kiwi power plant) and they will install their best for runs at the Aust Drag Nationals in Melbourne, late July.
 
I expect the "Worlds Fastest Vette" winners will be announced by October or sooner if Austria. Malta & USA complete their runs.
 
Thanks to all concerned, particularly the sponsors: WRP, JDS, KD Lube; Precision Fixtures, RAS decals & Bracket500 for making it possible.
 
Mark  

D van Moppes (DVan) from Vallejo California, has a passion for slot car drag racing. 
He runs a website/community called www.Bracket500.com. 
Its a place where like-minded racers world wide meet, discuss issues and share ideas to improve the hobby. 
Earlier this year, when I was in L.A. I met DVan and talked about how NZ could contribute to the world of slot car dragracing.
DVan had a vision to get sponsors together to supply the parts for a purpose built car so it could be featured at various Drag Race events around the globe.
We, in NZ, got the honour to build the car and be the first to host an event.

The sponsors eagerly supplied parts and support:
WRP: a stainless chassis and tube.
JDS: beautiful Star Convo wheels.
Precision fixtures:  An amazing chassis jig to build the car.
KD Brush Lube: Comm Drops.
Bracket500: A Hard body Studebaker
Uncle Gary: A detailed interior.
RAS: custom decals.

My stepdaughter, Hannah,  was chosen to build the car. That way she could showcase how, a novice, using good products and a good fixture could build a quality piece that could race around the world with the best.
  
The build was done during May and is covered step by step here:
http://bracket500.com/links/wtc/hannah/hannah.html
Seeing we don't have a dragstrip in Wellington, we sent the car to race in Auckland.

The first global race event was 14 June in Auckland, with photos and details here:
http://bracket500.com/links/wtc/nz/nz.html
The car was a pleasingly consistent runner. 
3 different drivers managed to get it into the semi final round of each of the 3 bracket races it competed in. (2x 3rd and 1x4th finish.)
 
The car now leaves NZ shores to race at the Australian Nationals in July then the European Champs, August in France. 
Then on to USA.  Later in the year it will appear in Malta, Puerto Rico etc.

While that is the end of NZ's part of that story, we are already heavily involved in the next international slot drag project "The Worlds Fastest Vette", but thats for another day

Mark
 

Another group of friends are racing 1/32nd scale cars on a four lane track.


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First View - 1/24th Scale Holden VE Body
 

The first molding of the finished shape of the VE Commodore,
still has to have fine detailing of doors, windows, lights etc to the mould,
 but this will give you the general look of the new shell.


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Hope this is of some news 
Mark   
 

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Kiwis go drag racing in America

Graeme, Tony asked me to do a quick story for NZSCA website about us drag racing in LA recently.
 
here goes...
 
The trip really started 6 years ago when Tony & I began saying, "We gotta go to America". It was more dreams than anything.  But in November, when NHRA began calling for cars to celebrate their 50th Anniversary, it got inside our heads and we both started hearing the voices, "Go to the Winternationals... you're mad if you don't go...".
So, some online research found us the best possible deal: Wellington to LA return for NZ$1160. At that price, the voices in our heads started yelling, "Do it... book before its too late..."
With that, we added Ashley (Tony's Son) and arranged everything, in a week and there were "only" 45 sleeps to go.
Catherine & Sue, (Our better halves) reluctantly accepted it was the ultimate boys road trip, provided there would be some presents returned.
The time whistled by, and early in Feb we we boarded the plane for Sydney.  To get the cheap fares, we went to USA via Australia - isn't it obvious!  Flying "cattle class" for 3hrs and again for another 14hrs with a 4hr wait in plastic airport seats is as fun as going to a bull fight dressed as santa - you feel smashed at the end of it and really don't want to think you have to do it all over again in the near future.
On arrival in LA, we picked up the mighty Chevrolet Cobalt and following the instructions of the most patient lady in the Nag Man (GPS) went south to set up our home in Anneheim.
The Los Angeles Traffic could drive someone mad in weeks!  In 10 days we racked up 900 odd miles and must have seen a couple of hundred thousand cars. Giving credit where its due, the bow-tie never missed a beat. To tell you the truth, it was so reliable, I'm glad we picked it instead of the Chrysler Not Rod (PT cruiser)- keep that under your hat.
Anyway, even with the GPS, you need to channel "the force" to drive around Southern California.  When you are motoring down 8-10 lane freeways at 75/85 mph and cars are passing you all around, it pays to look in the mirrors and out the side windows more than out of the front windscreen because people change lanes quicker than TV channels (with less indication). I'm sure we have more grey hair than before.
One of the highlights we planned was a good old fashioned Bull-Shit session and slot car racing at Buena Park International Raceway (BPIR)...But we fell into the trap for young players, we got caught up on the Hollywood freeway at 3pm.  I explained to Tony, holding my thumb & forefinger up, with a 1/4 inch gap, its only this far to go on the map. But they were famous last words as we limped along the "5" for four more hours at a blistering high speed of 15 mph (it saved wear and tear on 3rd and higher gears).
Our hosts were fantastic, despite being over 6 hours late, Vince, ChrisM, Jim, Paul, Gary, Octavian. Rickster, PapaDave, KeithD and so many more wholeheartedly welcomed us to their track. DVan (Bracket500.com) had made the trip from San Fran to see us and chat while DanT who came from Kansas, was showing the way with his MM/PS car.  There was a full on bracket meet going when we arrived and we were invited in, but with no practice, we didn't want to upset the fields (also we avoided getting our arses kicked).  The field was fast, these fellas know how to race - The cars were all very high quality, everyone was right on their dial in.  To see Hardbody Gp20 cars consistently running .7s was awesome.   The winner took out an All Black (NZ rugby team) T Shirt.
Everyone made us feel so welcome sharing their pits, tools, controllers etc as we had travelled light - we had a single Allen Key between us.
We talked for everyone for ages, getting ideas/tips etc and then had a chance to run.
Tony had purchased a brand new WRP spring steel car built by Dave Nap, installed a fresh Dragmaster 20, a lexan avenger body and with little glue/lots of wheelspin ran in the mid-high .9s @ 60 odd mph.
I had bought 2 kiwi cars along, the first my 16D powered, scale chassis, Hardbody Hombre Amco Fiat. With no glue it was skittish but after some light gluing it ran in the 1.0s mid 50 mph.
The second was my uber nostalgia Funny Car.  A WRP chassis, with genuine Mura Green Giant from the '70s.  Initially spitting sparks and brushes, a few runs were needed to tune the chassis and glue the tyres, it got down in high .9s at over 60 mph.
It was great to see Garth Hogan & Pete Lodge cars (NZ '70s racing icons) running in California in 2010, albeit 1/24 scale.
More plans were made, including a tour of NZ before we shut shop at 11pm.
To quote Forrest Gump, "that's all I've got to say about that"

We did manage to meet with some of the guys before we came home:
Jim & his girlfriend Chris, shared a lovely evening meal, when many plans were hatched.
Chris M & Gene (Slixx) met us at a scale exhibition/fair ant Wally Parks Museum at Pomona.
DVan www.bracket500.com discussed plans for later this year and how NZ can be involved.

The American guys gave us gifts (thanks heaps), advice. contacts and tips, we can wait to put into practice.
 
We got on with the rest of the trip:
Highlights - Winternationals; T/F & F/C qualifying by night; side by side 3.8s; 6.5 Pro Stockers, HOOters & Universal Studios
Low lights - traffic; a broken wrist; 1 day in Pomona ER rather than the track
         
I guess we must start saving for the 60th US Nationals in Indy
Later
Mark
 

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At last year's NZSCA 1/24th  Championships a decision was made to replace the Flexi Falcon Saloon class with one using the JK 4" Open Wheel Chassis with Formula One bodies.

The rules for this year's championships have been placed on the "Rules" page.
The Approved Body List for 1/24th classes will be added to the rules page once this years listing is agreed.

This year's 1/24th Champs will be raced on the Wellington Slot Car Club's track at Petone over the weekend of
Friday 15th  to Sunday 17th October 2010 (see the "Calendar" page).