The governing principles for this event are as follows:
Keep it simple. (for both the entrants and the organizers)
Keep it inexpensive (as much as possible)
Keep it scale.
Keep it fun.
Put 1/32 scale slot racing's best foot forward to the public (through magazine and Internet coverage)
And, within those parameters, give lots of room for creativity.
Rules Determinations:
If you're concerned about borderline stuff that might or might not be legal, best run it by us ahead of time. None of us locals who will be putting this on and driving the cars will be entering our own cars in the race (the home-track advantage would be overwhelming), so your secrets are safe. (Actually, we'll probably have an unofficial race afterward in which we run our own cars against the fastest of the proxy entries, but that's just for fun--it won't count for anything.)
Track:
The track is a 70-foot 4-lane road course with 8 turns, 5 right and 3 left. The smallest inside-lane turn radius is 4.5". The largest outside-lane radius is 28". The distance between lane centers is 3.5". The two tightest turns, both 180 degree hairpins, are right-handers. The largest-radius turn, a 180 degree sweeper, is a left turn. There is a 6" difference in elevation between the highest and lowest points on the course. There is no overpass. The longest straight measures 16 feet. There are 4 other straights of 8, 6, 5, and 4 feet. The track is made of plywood with a marine polyurethane finish.
Power is supplied by a 60's era commercial raceway power supply, rebuilt several years ago with a large bank of capacitors. Backup and supplementary power is provided by a 12-volt deep-cycle battery. Contact strips are copper braid. The slots are 5/32" wide and deep enough to accept any commercially available guide flag.
Tires:
Any kind of black sponge rubber is allowed. The tires that work best at DW on our I-32's and Demons are the Parma 678 MX tires and the PSE 70932 Euro Tires. Both are .790" in diameter, too. The really sticky natural rubber tires tend to be too sticky. Bob Ward's Porsche 936 Demon conversion uses modified Cox mag wheels with tires made from donuts from Sonic. They are said to be the same compound that used to come on Parma I-32 RTRs.
Appearance:
Beyond the actual rules governing the appearance of the cars, here's what we are aiming for:
We'd like all the cars to be appropriately painted and detailed, with numbers in the proper positions. For NASCARs. That's one on each side and one larger one on the roof placed so it is right side up when seen from the left side of the car. On the sports cars it's usually one on the nose and one on each side.
We don't expect all the cars to be exact models of a particular car as it appeared in a particular race. We'd just like them to look as much as possible like cars that could have appeared in an actual race. The more you can do to make the cars as realistic as possible, the better, but feel free to be creative. You might like to paint and detail your car the way you would have done a 1/1 scale car if you were a team owner.
We don't want anyone to be intimidated because you might think your building or painting skill level is not as high as someone else's. All entries are welcome whether you are a beginner or an expert. No one will be made to feel embarrassed if their work is not contest-caliber. Remember that the camera is very kind to slot cars.
Also, we hope you will enter regardless of how fast or slow you think your car might be. We realize that everyone has different preferences in how they build. Some build for local racing series with more restrictive rules than apply elsewhere. Perhaps you like to keep your cars simple, inexpensive, and evenly matched, even if that means they are not particularly fast. Send a car in anyway. Someone else may be interested in seeing how you build simple, inexpensive, and evenly matched cars.
Every car has something interesting about it. Your car is probably more interesting to others than you may think. You are almost certainly your own harshest critic.
There will be awards for appearance, innovation, originality, and all kinds of things besides winning the main. We plan to photograph every car and put the photos in OWH, as well as other publications if the opportunity arises. We encourage you to send as much information as you can on your car, the kind of races it normally runs in, and your approach to racing and car building. This will help us write interesting articles on all the cars in the race. An information form will be provided to help you list relevant information on your entries.
Again, we hope many of you will enter and all who enter will find it a rewarding experience.
email: bobward@oldweirdherald.com
