More Power For Digital Racing? 83 September/October 2015 $6.95 State-of-the Art Tech: • Controlled Four-Wheel Drive • Front Wheel Differential Design Your Own Wood Race Track Formula 1: •1955 Ferrari-Lancia D50 •1971 Tyrrell 003 •1975 Brabham BT44B www.modelcarracingmag.com •2014 McLaren MP4 Flip to Page 7 to compare with the real car! The Audi Sport Team driver Joest: Marco Bonanomi driving the Audi R18 e-tron quattro on June 9th at the LeMans “Test Day” two months before the 24 Hour race where the Audis finished 1-3. — LAT Photo 83 Model Car Racing 3 15 TRACK TEST Sedan Racing Ninco Seat Leon Cup Racer 83 by Marc Purdham 15 TRACK TEST Supertuned Racers, Part 122: CONTENTS Magnet-Free Sedan Racing Ninco Seat Leon Cup Racer by Marc Purdham ON THE COVER: ON THE COVER: The Flyslot (Slotwings) 1/32 scale replica of the Brabham BT44B at the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires January 12, 1975. — LAT Photo 1/32 SCALE MODEL CAR RACING: 7 Formula 1 Flyslot (Slotwings) 1975 Brabham BT44B by Robert Schleicher 9 Historic Racing 1975 Formula 1 Grid In 1/32 Scale 10 TRACK TEST LeMans Slot.it 4WD 2013 Audi R18 e-tron quartto 17 Digital Racing by Marc Purdham More Speed? by Robert Schleicher 10 TRACK TEST LeMans 19 Race Tracks on a Tabletop Slot.it 2-Wheel Drive 2013 Audi R18 e-tron quattro 2-Lane Hockenheimring Circuit for Scalextric Sport, by Marc Purdham Classic, SCX, Ninco or Carrera (with optional lane- changing) on a 5 x 9-foot ping-pong tabletop 13 Tech Tips by Robert Schleicher Changing the Front/Rear Drive proportions by Robert Schleicher 20 Real Race Track Plans 2-Lane Hockenheimring Circuit for Scalextric 14 Tech Tips Sport, Classic, SCX, Ninco, Carrera (with optional One-Way Front Wheels For Any 1/32 Scale Car lane-changing) on a 10 x 18-foot tabletop. by Robert Schleicher by Robert Schleicher 4 Model Car Racing 42 Home Racing Build A Wood Race Track Part 2: Planning the Track by Robert Schleicher 45 Tech Tips Design Your Own Racetrack by Robert Schleicher 46 Tech Tips How To Use Track Plans for Plastic Track To Build a Wood Raceway by Robert Schleicher 23 Home Racing Buildings For Your Race Track 51 Your Track by Robert Schleicher Slot Mods 9 x 13-foot Four-Lane Wood Vernola Raceway 28 Formula 1 HO MODEL CAR RACING: Scalextric 1971 Tyrrell 003 by Albin Burroughs 25 Home Racing Innovative Hobby Supply Building Kits 32 Formula 1 Scalextric 2014 McLaren MP4 49 Track Plans by Bill Wright 4-Lane Hockenheimring Circuit for 4 x 8-Feet by Robert Schleicher DEPARTMENTS: 6 Editorial: The Ultimate Race 48 Club Directory 50 Pit Board 54 New Stuff On Your Tablet: Model Car Racing is now available for iPad or Kindle. Just click on the Apple iTunes icon and search for Model Car Racing to order individual 34 Vintage Racing issues, subscriptions or a limited number of back issues. There’s more Formula 1 information on page 56 of this issue. Strombecker 1954 Maserati 250F by Robert Schleicher Where To Buy Model Car Racing Products: Dealers: A listing of the addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, 35 Formula 1 and websites of all the dealers that carry Model Car Racing magazine Cartrix 1955 Ferrari-Lancia D50 appears on our website at www.modelcarracingmag.com by Albin Burroughs Manufacturers: A listing of the addresses and websites of firms that manufacture model car racing products appears on our website at 39 Historic Racing www.modelcarracingmag.com: 1955 Formula 1 Grid In 1/32 Scale More Information: 40 TRACK TEST There is an Index of all of the past issues, a Digest of the results of the Supertuned Racers, Part 123: first 257 cars in our Race Track Test series, Pros and Cons of plastic Magnet-Free track by brand, the Pros and Cons of the four digital systems, Pros and Flyslot/Avant 1980 BMW M1 Cons of 1/43 scale and an index of the 157 previously published track by Marc Purdham plans, by size, on our website at www.modelcarracingmag.com. Model Car Racing 5 The Ultimate Race ������������������ There is a wide range of opinions among us racecar fans tems, variable valve timing and variable valve lift profile it, a belt drive to the front wheels. The possible adjust- there about what constitutes the most exciting racing. systems are not permitted. That engine can only drive ments for the motor pod alone are complex (see the There is probably a near-equal mix of fans who believe the rear wheels but the “Motor Generator Unit" (MGU) “6-Screw Hop-Up” in the number 69 issue, which is nothing is more exciting than NASCAR, those who can drive any or all of the wheels. That’s about it. The also on www.modelcarracingmag.com under “Sample favor Formula 1 or fans who live for LeMans or… I mechanical specifications and the appearance of the Issues”), and you have the option of swapping-out the believe that mile flat-track motorcycle racing is the 2015 LeMans Audi, Porsche, Toyota and Nissan LMP1 entire pod to replace the anglewinder with an inline most exciting racing on the planet, followed closely by racers reflect just how far an open-end set of rules can (but the interior will need to be cut away—there’s not MotoGP motorcycles, then the World of Outlaws. You be implemented, from diesel to gasoline engines, four enough room beneath the rear deck of this Audi for the may notice a common theme here; all three of these wheel drive to front wheel drive, and much more. sidewinder motor and pod). machines do drift through the corners (yes, MotoGP Engineering For 1/32 Scale There are no rules about 1/32 scale model car racing machines do drift---look closely). Since none of my top design so, given the constraints of tracks and power, the three really exist as tabletop racers, I can pick or choose Model racecars are essentially simple machines with little Ninco Seat Leon and Slot.it Audi 18 e-tron ultra 4WD among NASCAR, Formula 1, LeMans and more with- differences in their size or performance. They are toy cars. represent the extremes of design in mass-produced out ever betraying my faith in my favorites. Accept that they are toys and you can enjoy the range of models. If you consider yourself a possible reincarna- If you want to start a fight at a bar or Starbucks, among pleasure that “toy” includes, which begins with my green tion of Colin Chapman, you will certainly want to play race fans, however, just express you opinion that one car beating your red car (because I am, of course, the su- (whoops, experiment) with the Slot.it Audi and its range type of race car is the ultimate machine. For most of the perior driver and builder/tuner). But today’s toys are often of adjustments. If you’re a “tuner”, see what you can do previous century, the cars that raced in Formula 1 were replicas of real cars and very precise replicas at that. Mod- with the Ninco Seat Leon. Replace the motor in the Nin- the most sophisticated machines on earth. The rules ern production techniques have allowed the manufactur- co car with a Slot.it motor to provide equal power, then limited little except engine size and turbocharging spe- ers to produce exact replicas for very little more cost than spend a maximum six hours tuning and adjusting both cifics. As Formula 1 cars’ flanks became the “facade” for just ejecting a lump of plastic (which a was what toy cars models and you may be surprised at which of these two some formidable corporations' logos, however, the For- looked like a half-country ago). So you get an exact scale cars is the quickest. mula 1 rules became more and more restrictive. Today, replica of, for example, The Mirage G8 that won LeMans in 1975---the Avant Slot 1/32 scale replica of Mirage G8 a Formula 1 car is the most-finely-controlled racecar in Volume 14, Number 5 is correct in every detail from the colors on the driver’s (issue number 83) history. That is also true of NASCAR, however, no one September/October 2015 looks at a NASCAR car as pinnacle of sophisticated en- helmet and the patterns of the wheels with the marking gineering---the rules are designed make the cars as equal so fine you need a magnifying glass see that, like the full- Publisher: Technical Editor: as possible (regardless of the sponsor’s images). Formula size car, the names of both drivers are painted behind the Robert Schleicher Chris Walker 1 claims to be the pinnacle of racecar engineering. doors. So whether you care or not, you have something more than just a simple toy---you have very complicated Editor: Track Test Editor: Robert Schleicher Marc Purdham No Limits toy that is a smaller replica of a very specific real racecar. It’s comforting to know, too, that you have the choice of ex- Aaron Tipton - [email protected] Colin Chapman, who created Lotus cars (with the help Layout & Design: periencing all the visual and mechanical complexities that of dozens of equally talented people), was an innova- Contributing Editors: toy offers or of just using it as a blue and orange toy car. tor. Chapman is credited with introducing monocoque Mark Gussin Jeremy Dunning Jason Boye body/chassis (on the Lotus 25), wings, carbon fiber and 1/32 Scale Design Spectrum Dan Wilson Alan Schwartz Dan Esposito ground effects to Formula 1 racing, Argue as you wish Brad Bowman Bernard Sampson Pat Dennis about how much he created, the cars that followed Lo- The essential engineering of a slot car means that there Editors Emeritus: tus machines were forced to use those basic principles is not a lot of leeway in the design of model.