Slotter's Blotter

Spirit Hobby Models of Spain have announced the addition of the Porsche 936/81 Group 6 Prototype to their range of LeMans Classique sports racers.

The mechanical specifications of the slot car are expected to be the same as Spirit’s currently available Porsche 936/76 which features “calibrated components".

The first livery will be the 1981 LeMans 24 Hours winning 936-003 of Jacky Ickx and Derek “Dinger” Bell. This car and driver combination was able to dominate the race, finishing 14 laps ahead of second place.

After the victory celebration was over, 936-003 was lovingly restored to pristine condition and retired to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, where it is on display.

Interestingly- the /81 specification was originally intended to allow the Porsche engineers a “real world” test bed for their new twin-turbo engine… no one was more surprised than Porsche themselves when this chassis which traces its roots to the 908 series ultimately won the race!

The sister factory car, 936-001, literally was removed from the Porsche Museum “1977 LeMans Winning Car” display, updated to the /81 specification and finished a creditable 12th. In addition to regular Porsche factory drivers, Jochen Mass, Vern Schuppan and Hurley Haywood, ovalmeister Rick Mears was listed as a reserve driver for 936-001 (race number 12) but the eventual 4-time Indy “500″ winner never was called on to drive in the event.

The main difference between the 1978-1980 Porsche 936/78 and the 936/81 was the engine change to what would become the 956’s 2650 cc twin-turbo flat-six. This was the start of an incredible 7 years in a row where Porsche sports cars, powered by this family of engines originally penned for the stillborn Porsche Indy car, dominated the 24 Hours of LeMans and continued winning endurance races into the 1990’s.

The 936 carried on the tradition of Porsche being the car to beat in endurance racing; and it is entirely correct to say that the 936 was the true link between the success of the Porsche 917 and the Porsche 962. Something that blows my mind is that the record shows a Porsche 917 qualified for and competed in the 1981 LeMans 24 Hours- which is an awesome testament to the longevity of that line of racing prototype cars!

Only four 936 Chassis were constructed by Porsche; the 4th chassis being a “Customer” car for a very special customer indeed: Reinhold Joest was able to attain a podium position in the first outing with 936-004 (which for official purposes was listed as a 908) in 1978, teamed with the Dynamic Duo of Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood. Joest nearly won LeMans outright with 936-004 in 1980; instead he and Ickx finished second- only 2 laps down from the winner due to a tactical error. This was Joest’s last appearance at LeMans as a driver- devoting his talent to unparalleled team management and tactics.

Team Joest continued to run 936-004 at LeMans with success until 1982 when it was no longer eligible for LeMans due to the implementation of the “Group C” regulations by the ACO.

936-004 continued to compete in the Internationale Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) piloted in the 1982 season by “Brilliant Bob” Wollek and in 1983 by Leopold von Bayern. 936-004 appeared in the DRM in both the colorful Warsteiner Beer and Vegla Cigarette liveries.

The Kremer brothers campaigned a self-sponsored white with red striped 936/81 “copy” (based on technical drawings and data provided by Porsche) dubbed 936-005 in some rounds of the 1982 DRM driven by Rolf Stommelen and Stefan Bellof. This car was unique in that Kremer had relocated the side coolers of the 936/81 to above the turbo intercooler- thus making the large NACA ducts on the side of the /81 redundant. The slab-sided look of the Kremer 936-005 strongly hinted to the final design of the Porsche 956 Group C car which would end up finishing 1-2-3 in the 1982 LeMans 24 Hour Race.

Mechanical differences aside, the SERA-design bodywork is fundamentally identical between the /78 and /81; this happy coincidence allows Spirit many liveries that can be applied to their 1/32 molds- including the 1978 LeMans “Martini", the 1979 LeMans “Essex” and the “Lui” and “Kremer” versions as seen in the DRM.

Let’s hope that this slot car sells well enough for Spirit to justify creating the somewhat different appearing 936-001 /77 specification which was able to win the 1977 LeMans 24 Hours at the hands of Jürgen Barth, Hurley Haywood, and Jacky Ickx.

Expect the 1981 LeMans Winning “Jules” version to be on your dealer shelves in mid-November as stock number 801601, price dependent on the exchange value of the US Dollar.

Additional parts in the Ninco ProRace “Evo” line have recently been released in Europe; I would expect them in North America in early July.

Gears:

80229 ProRace EVO STD 31T/13T Angle Winder Kit - Red
80230 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 31T/13T Angle Winder Kit – Gold
80231 ProRace EVO STD 32T/12T Angle Winder Kit – Silver
80232 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 32T/12T Angle Winder Kit – Black
80233 ProRace EVO STD 33T/11T Angle Winder Kit – Blue
80234 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 33T/11T Angle Winder Kit – Gray
80235 ProRace EVO STD 24T Crown Gear
80236 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 24T Crown Gear
80237 ProRace EVO STD 26T Crown Gear
80238 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 26T Crown Gear
80239 ProRace EVO STD 27T Crown Gear
80240 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 27T Crown Gear
80241 ProRace EVO STD 28T Crown Gear
80242 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 28T Crown Gear
80243 ProRace EVO STD 30T Crown Gear
80244 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 30T Crown Gear

These gear sets are lighter overall and have a smaller inner collar than the original ProRace Gears. Inline gears have an aluminum alloy hub rather than brass. The mesh is improved and are noticeably quieter than the original gears.

Axles:

80426 ProRace EVO STD 51.5 mm Wide Axles (2)
80427 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 51.5 mm Wide Axles (2)
80428 ProRace EVO STD 53.5 mm Wide Axles (2)
80429 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 53.5 mm Wide Axles (2)

The new EVO axles are polished Titanium alloy available in 3/32″ or 2.48 mm diameter.

Wheels:

80736 ProRace EVO STD 15′’ Wheels (2)
80737 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 15′’ Wheels (2)
80738 ProRace EVO STD 17′’ Narrow Wheels (2)
80739 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 17′’ Narrow Wheels (2)
80740 ProRace EVO STD 17′’ Wide Wheels (2)
80741 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 17′’ Wide Wheels (2)
80742 ProRace EVO STD 18′’ Narrow Wheels (2)
80743 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 18′’ Narrow Wheels (2)
80744 ProRace EVO STD 18′’ Wide Wheels (2)
80745 ProRace EVO 3/32′’ 18′’ Wide Wheels (2)

These wheels have a narrower collar and have less hub material than the previous ProRace wheels.

Bushings:

80424 4 X ProRace EVO Bushing fit 2.48 mm axles
80425 4 X ProRace EVO Bushing fit 3/32 axles

The ProRace EVO bushings are drilled to be lighter than the original ProRace bushings.

Please note that Ninco have said that the 3/32″ items WILL NOT be legal for the 2008 Ninco Super GT World Cup or any officially sanctioned qualifying races.

The 3rd Annual 24 heures du Meadowdale slot car race is being held on June 21st 3pm CST to June 22nd 3pm CST. You can watch the race and the race results via a webcast of the event. You can even chat with the racers!!

The race has ended, but you can view the race results here. You can also find the race results at: WSSCA Slot Car Portal

This is my first blog article for Slotter’s Blotter and I now have my own blog called Home Racing. I have been hesitant to write one since I have seen what Vincent Vega (Slot Blog) and Michael Delaney (The Pits) have written, and not being the motor sport experts they are, it seemed a little intimidating.

But I do race slot cars, home racing my specialty, and have so for many years, so I figure that qualifies me as an expert, maybe in my own mind. So you’ll not hear anything about 1/24th scale racing (commercial racing) or even HO scale since those cars are much to small for my bifocals to focus on. 1/32nd scale is what I grew up with and still race.

One of the urges to write this blog article actually came from reading about the slot car hobby in the Wall Street Journal, an article by Julie Jargon. She had contacted me and since she also lives in the Chicago area, we decided the best way to learn about the hobby was to visit the stores and race with the racers. I thought she did a great job in her research and certainly spending a whole night with 18 slot car racers didn’t dumb her down at all for writing the article. This along with the video she took was a great shot in the proverbial slot car arm. Here is a link to the Wall Street Journal article. Imbedded in the article is the video.

All in all the health of the home set slot car racing hobby seems stable, even though the price of our hobby is escalating on a consistent basis. Here in the western suburbs of Chicago, we have one of the largest concentrations of home set slot car racers. Some of these racers have formed racing groups and some have formed a more formalized club. No matter what kind of slot car racing you yearn for, there is a group around here that does it. How much better can it be?

So I’ll just let Vincent and Michael do their thing in keeping us informed as to what is coming down the road or just arrived and how it runs. They do a great job. I’ll be concentrating on the local racing groups, the series racing and special events they do and the “spirit” of the hobby.

Peace,

Father Bob

Slotcars 4 U is a small company in England that offers original design decals primarily for NASCAR 1/32 slotcars.

Their decals are printed using the ALPS process with a coating applied after printing. I feel that the artwork for these decals are among the best of the cottage industry decal makers.

Some companies using ALPS printers to produce decals use gray and yellow to simulate metallic colors. The decals made by Slotcars 4 U use silver, gold and chrome inks (when appropriate) which are more expensive but cause the finished decal job to appear much more realistic. Overall these decals “pop” with bright colors and good overall color density.

Although they have a few modern decals in their range, most of their decals are of the so-called NASCAR “Darkside” era which (depending on who you talk to) spans the years 1955 through 1971.

This was a time in NASCAR’s history when the cars raced were largely hot-rodded versions of what you could buy in the showroom; of course this is not the case any longer as the cars raced today are pure racing cars with little or no resemblence to production automobiles.

Slotcars 4 U has offered a few 1965 Ford Galaxie decals in their line that work fine with the recently released Monogram 1965 Galaxie, but just this week added 14 new sets of decals for the Monogram 1963 Galaxie.

Most of these decals are for replicating the top NASCAR drivers and teams of the early 1960’s but there are a few sheets that allow building stars of the USAC stock car series also.

Here are some example decals and placement sheets:

Ned Jarrett. 3rd 1963 Daytona 500. Sponsored by Burton & Robinson and Courtesy Ford.

Dan Gurney. 5th 1963 Daytona 500. Prepared by Holman-Moody. Sponsored by LaFayette Ford.

A.J. Foyt or Jim Hurtubise. 1963 Zecol Lubaid USAC stock car team. A.J. was runner up in the championship.

Check their full line of NASCAR Darkside Decals at: http://www.slotcars4u.net

I would highly advise you to purchase whatever decals that you are interested in now, before the NASCAR licensing lawyers come with their “cease and desist” orders.

Fly have changed the release dates for their new “Fly Flyers” line (yes I know it is shocking).

The first “Flyer” to be released, stock number 97001, will be the Riley-Lexus #01 of Team Ganassi sponsored by Target and Telmex. The prototype of this car was driven at the Daytona 24 hrs by J.P. Montoya / S. Pruett / D. Franchiti and M. Rojas.

My best guess price is $51.99 when they arrive in North America in late July.

Ninco has announced a new series of high-performance parts in their ProRace line that should be of interest to regular readers of this blog.

Due to the apparent lack of sales of their ProRace “RTR” MT900R “Votrom”, Ninco have gone another direction entirely to satisfy builders of 1/32 “Euro” style slot racing cars.

It would seem that Ninco’s new parts line will address the two biggest complaints about the Ninco RTR cars when serious Slot racers attempt to use the existing line of ProRace parts to construct a racing car.

The new ProRace chassis parts will be made of the nearly indestructible Lexan clear polycarbonate material that is used for crash helmet visors (and the “ground effects” skirts of certain Can-Am racing cars!).

It is expected that the design will be the same as the current RTR chassis with the exception of a mounting screw hole that will allow your choice of Ninco motor to be securely bolted to the chassis.

The Lexan material used to make the ProRace chassis is also stiffer and will reduce overall chassis flexing; this in combination with the secure motor mounting will allow both a noticeable reduction in rear-axle “hop” and allow the builder to set a more accurate gear mesh.

It is expected that the new ProRace chassis will be marginally lighter but not to a huge extent due to the same molds being used as the RTR chassis.

Estimated price $14.98.

ProRace chassis have been announced for the following Ninco cars:

80869 – Mosler MT900R
80870 – Porsche 997
80871 – Renault Megane Trophy
80872 – Lamborghini Gallado
80873 – Ferrari 360 GTC
80874 – Lexus SC430
80875 – Citroen C4 WRC

The new ProRace EVO bodies will be lighter weight versions of the bodies found on some of Ninco’s most popular RTR cars.

The New ProRace bodies are supplied unassembled and undecorated so that you can apply your favorite color scheme without the tedious disassembly and stripping that is required to repaint a RTR slot car body.

The body will be unpainted and molded in a white color similar to the “spare” body provided in the Ferrari 360 GTC ProDriver “kit”.

The included interior will be a lightweight unpainted black vacuum formed “platform” similar to what was supplied in the Toyota Supra and Ferrari 360 ProRace kits.

Exterior detail parts and windows will be supplied in a separate bag; the detail parts will be of a flexible black “tear-proof” material while the windows (and headlights, etc.) will be the same type injection molded clear plastic as used on Ninco’s RTR cars.

In addition to the advantage of being able to easily custom decorate the ProRace body, the lighter overall weight of the ProRace body will enhance acceleration, shorten braking distances and lower the car’s center of gravity. These factors will make a very noticeable difference in lap times for non-magnet racers.

Estimated price $32.98.

The following bodies will be available:

80861 – Mosler MT900R
80862 – Porsche 997
80863 – Renault Megane Trophy
80864 – Lamborghini Gallado
80865 – Ferrari 360 GTC
80868 – Lexus SC430

The release dates and prices for these new parts have not yet been officially set (above prices are estimates) and the Ninco website has not yet been updated with photos of these parts.

The best guess for availablilty of these parts in Europe is the first part of July 2008.

Pre-ordering of these parts is strongly suggested by Ninco.

Somehow the Italian craftsmen at Slot.it have managed to keep the latest 956 “longtail” version (which will be catalog number CA02f) secret… until earlier this week when your reporter confirmed the as of yet unpublished information deep in Slot.it’s website.

I don’t yet have pics of the slot car; but here is the livery (taken from a 1/24 decal placement sheet long out of production);

…and here is the actual car in a 1984 period photo:

The Porschephiles among our readers will recognize that this is chassis number 956-103, the third “customer” 956, purchased from the factory by Ft. Lauderdale flea market owner, Preston “Sultan of Swap” Henn. More information about Henn’s amazing flea market by day and 14-screen drive-in movie theatre by night (so large that it has a CIRCUS that entertains daily in the food court) can be found at: http://www.floridaswapshop.com .

Among 103’s race history is its appearance in the “Swap Shop” livery shown here at the 1984 LeMans 24 hours- guided to a 2nd place finish by Jean Rondeau, John Paul Jr. and Preston Henn (listed but apparently did not drive). 103 trailed the race winner (R. Joest’s quasi-factory 956-117 which also won LeMans in 1985) by less than 2 laps at the end of the twice ’round the clock endurance contest.

After the 1984 LeMans 24 hour classic, Henn sold 103 to be raced in the Japanese Sports Prototype Cup and it ran in “From A” colours until it was crashed heavily at the 1984 Fuji JSPC round and was subsequently retired from active competition.

In 2003, the remains of 956-103 was purchased by Chris Crawford, owner of “Group C Ltd.” UK Porsche restoration experts. Crawford claims that 956-103 is one of 15 remaining “customer” 956’s in existence in the world. 956-103 is currently for sale and pictures of the fully restored car (below) can be viewed on their website.

It is expected that Slot.it’s 1/32 scale model will have all the latest updates including the sidewinder-pod-ready chassis.

Expect to see this on your local dealer’s shelves in late June or early July of 2008. Unfortunately you should also expect the suggested retail price to rise to slightly under $65 due to the weak US Dollar.

Slot.it had previously announced stock number SICW05 as a single presentation box containing the 1989 LeMans 24 Hour race winning Sauber-Mercedes #63.

This has been changed to a 3-car set similar to the previously released Rothmans 956 Set. The set will contain all 3 Sauber-Mercedes C9’s participating in the 1989 LeMans 24 hour race:

#63: 1st overall Drivers: Jochen Mass, Manuel Reuter, Stanley Dickens

#61: 2nd Drivers: Mauro Baldi, Kenny Acheson, Gianfranco Brancatelli

#62: 5th Drivers: Jean-Louis Schlesser, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Alain Cudini (pole winner)

North American importers, Scalextric-USA expect the limited edition and numbered set to be on dealer’s shelves late in July 2008 at a retail price of $179.99.

Just for the readers Slotter Blotter here are three of Revell/Monograms next slot cars. It’s no secret they were on display in Las Vegas last week at an industry show, but these should be the first time you’ve seen them. There will be minor changes before the production run. First is the red and white number 21, 1963 Galaxie of Marvin Panch.

Next is the yellow number 27 ‘65 of good ol’ Junior Johnson. It may not show here but the yellow on this one is a little too bright. It’ll be more pastel in the production version.

Both of these Fords are RTR like the Jarrett and Roberts cars. Also for my examination is the new Ferrari 275P. So beautiful I wanted to steal it. It’s the 1964 Sebring winner just like the good old days.

This will be in kit form for you folks including the same size case and clear cover as the ready-to-runs. The graphics are tampo printed on and protected with a clear coat. The chassis is the MRRC that we’ve seen on the Chaparral 2, King Cobra, and Porsche 904 but you will assemble it. Accompanying the 275P will be a GTO/LM number 30 from Daytona also in kit form. It wasn’t there to take pictures of. I think somebody stole it. He,he.

The Fords will probably be June releases while the Ferrari kits a month or two later. I did try to ask about production numbers for these cars and why the Galaxies were sold out so fast. The frustration at Revell under the new owners keeps them from betting on slot cars very heavily in their overall investment. We are a much smaller niche than they’d like. It could also be the market of people wanting these old 60’s racers is shrinking.

Are you shrinking? Take more calcium tablets!

Seriously. If you like what Revell is doing, write them. They need encouragement. Not criticism. a letter from a customer is a powerful thing. Tell them we want models, not toys.