October 2010 will see all of the world’s top Eurosport racers converge on Mid-America Raceway in Chicago for the 2010 version of the ISRA World Championships.
The week will start off with the annual teams race, where top racers will pair up and race “flexi” type cars together. From thereracing moves onto 32nd scale Formula One cars, then onto 32nd scale Eurosport, then onto the feature race, 1/24th scale Eurosport.
With entries from all of the worlds slotcar powerhouse countries like The Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Slovakia, New Zealand, Belgium, plus of course the USA it is sure to be one of the all time great slotcar clashes.
To get an idea of the track layout, here is a video form an unusual slotcar perspective, onboard.
With Formula One visiting Turkey recently it is the perfect time to feature some Turkish Slot Car Racing, yes, Slotcar Racing in Turkey.
The Turkish apparently have a thriving Slotcar racing scene, complete with national events. The event in the video was held in the Tepe Nautilus shopping center.
Tepe Nautilus, opened in September 2002, is the second-biggest modern shopping mall in Turkey. Built by Tepe Group, it is situated in the Acıbadem quarter of Kadiköy district in the Asian part of Istanbul.
Tepe Nautilus, in walking distance from Kadiköy port at the Sea of Marmara, is the first thematic shopping mall Turkey’s with its name, decoration and architectural features associated with sea and navigation. It covers an area of 170,000 m2. The shopping mall consists of 130 stores on 3 floors, a department store and Carrefour supermarket. It has a smart-parking lot with a capacity of 2,700 cars, which indicates empty spaces. There are Cinemaxx movie theaters with eight screens, a bowling alley and entertainment center. The food court hosts 16 restaurants and cafes. Concerts and exhibitions frequently take place in the mall. 50,000 people visit Nautilus on weekends.
Not knowing too much about Turkey, the interesting thing in the above excerpt is that this is the second largest mall in Turkey and attracts somewhere around 50,000 plus visitors each weekend, and yet it only has 2700 car parking spaces! Can you imagine an American mall with only 2700 spaces, it would be parking hell!
Now, back to the subject at hand, slotcars. Watching the video the competitors all seem very capable, and the competition looks tough. While we struggle here in the US to get slot car racing known, the Turkish are out there getting the slot cars in front of the people. Maybe some lessons can be learnt.
Next is the 32nd Saloon Car A main. These cars are basically the same as the 32nd scale Eurosport cars we run here in the US, but they are longer wheelbase and are powered by a C Can Group 12 motor.
Winner of this race, in a very close finish is Brian Saunders of BSP Slotcar. Brian is familiar to anyone who has been to the USRA Scale Nats over the last few years, as he has made the trip across to race.
[google 8128324977282469790 Saloon A Main From BOC at Ecurie Barnton]
First up is the 32nd Eurosport A main. The cars are the same as we race here in the US in 32nd Eurosport, but the track is a much tighter and twistier 4 lane track typical of UK Club Tracks.
[google -8652202190216144523 2007 BOC Round at Ecurie Barnton]
Following on from a look at the Ecurie Barnton Model Car Club in the UK, here is another video fro the club, this time are the British Slot Car Racing Association (BSCRA) visited for the clubs local British Open Championship (BOC) round.
In the UK BSCRA is the equivalent of the USRA here in the US, but unlike in the US, BSCRA organizes many races each year all over the UK (hosted by the local area reps and clubs). This event is part of the year long National Championship series for 32nd cars, and culminates with the 32nd Scale BSCRA 32nd Nats, for which you must run in a specified number of BOC rounds to qualify.
Here is a cool look in the pits, with a lot of closeups of the cars and equipment they race with.
[google 8718468279335824360 Pit Walk at Ecurie Barnton BOC Race]
Saturday 06/16/2007 saw the SoCal USRA Scale racing division visiting Scott Salzburgs Pacific Coast Hobbies for the first time in a few years. Since we last raced there PCH has moved and is now in Oxnard California, about a 45 mile drive for me.
Since this was the first time since I have been racing in SoCal that we visited PCH the track was all new for me, and what a track!. It is a Kingleman, but no ordinary Kingleman. At 155ft it is the biggest and fastest Kingleman I have raced on, and in fact is pretty similar in length and driving style to Buena Parks Hillclimb, but without the kink before the donut. Scott and Bob Maxwell did a fantastic job preparing the track, and even had master track builder Gary Gerding stop by after the recent Wing Worlds to re-braid the track, and of course the raceway was overflowing with inventory at the home of "The Wall of Parts".
I drove up to PCH on Friday and got in some running to learn the track and to test the various combinations of motors, chassis and bodies for the three classes I was going to race on Saturday, 4" Stockcar, LMP and GT 12. The track was a little slippery to start with as Bob was putting the finishing touches to a new race directors booth, but with a little running ti cleaned up and was fast and smooth.
A good nights sleep in a local motel overnight and we were ready to go on Saturday. With the raceway opening at 7am, and the track turned off at 9am there was two hours of testing time, and as usual with so many combinations it was difficult to decide what to run. For 4" Stockcar I settled on a Parma Flexi 5 with a Parma Taurus body and for LMP a .025" JK Cheetah 7 with a JK Audi body. With Greg Gilbert, Jonathan Forsyth and Jerry Johnson all lining up for the 4" Stockcar race it was going to be a tough race. Looking a the practice times there didn’t seem to be much between the 4 of us, with 4.5-4.6 second laps being about where the pace was going to be.
4" Stockcar
First race was 4" Stockcar, and as expected we were all very close. I led the first heat and managed to put a lap on Jonathan and two on Jerry and Greg. Jerry and I traded high heat totals, but we were locked together racing within 1 lap all the way through the race, although we did manage to pull away form Jonathan and Greg. In the 5th heat Jerry ran the high heat of the race, on black lane, 38 laps, and took the lead from me, and then he took almost another lap form me in the 6th heat, to put me about 1 1/2 laps down in 2nd. In the last 2 heats I managed to match his pace, but it was too late, Jerry took the win, his first ever win in a SoCal USRA Expert race, something he has been trying to get for a few years.
LMP
The second race was LMP race for flexi cars with contender motors and LMP bodies. This time I had decided to run a JK Cheetah 7 with a JK Audi body. in testing I had run plenty of 4.0 laps, which was very fast. There had been some 3.9 laps run on the track earlier, but on the day 4.0 was as fast as anyone had run. When the power went on at the start of the racemy car was immediately fast, adn even going into the first corner I was leading by about 4 feet. The track had become a little loose since the 4" Stockcar race as they had been racing the 4.5" Stockcars which had changed the traction pattern on the track, so everyone was sliding around more than they would have liked. I concentrated on keeping the car as straight as I could and easing off the corners, and it paid off, running 7 heats of 40 or 41 laps, and one of 39, more consistent than anyone else. Jerry Johnson pushed hard towards the end of the race and tried to run me down, but in the end I ran out the winner by 5 laps over Jerry, with Greg Gilbert 7 laps behind Jerry.
GT 12
Once again in practice I managed to find a great GT 12 car, running the same BSP chassis I ran at the USRA Nats this year, and with some great Best O The West horsepower I would be competitive. The first heat saw myself, Jerry Johnson and Greg Gilbert all running 44 laps. I then put a lap on Jerry and Greg in the second heat, and then stretched it out to a 5 laps lead by the end of heat 4. Unfortunately after that I started to struggle a little, the car became a little loose on the second set of tires, and I just could not push as hard as I had. By the 7th heat Jerry was one lap behind me, and going into the last heat with me on red and jerry on black I knew I was in trouble. Red was just no match for Black lane and Jerry took his lap back, and then proceeded to put a lap on me, so at the end it was another race that I was 1 Lap Short, and Jerry had his 2nd ever Expert win. Greg had also picked up the pace in the last few heats and drew to within 1 lap of me by the end, making it a very close race.
Overall it was a great day, the track was fast and smooth, and the racing was very close. There was one incident that was quite unusual. During the GT12 race James Grinsteads GT12 car launched in the bank and lodged itself into the wall of the building, and was actually left hanging on the wall, and has to be pryed out of the wall, pretty amazing and the first time I have ever seen anything like that. It will be great to go back to PCH again and run on the fastest Kingleman I have ever been on.
The final video of the 2007 Wing Car World Championships from Buena Park. See the end of the Main Event, including the victory celebrations at the end of the race.