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Sunday, December 31, 2006

Car of the year and predictions for 2007


Slot Car News Car of the Year-Carrera Corvette C6.R
Why? Well it was such a good car in many ways. The detail level was exceptional as was the paint and printing on the car, but what really sold me on this car as a stand out was the high quality of the build. The mechanicals on the car all worked well. The wheels on this car were perfect and that's what did it for me. So many cars with plastic wheels can't even come close to the wheels on this car, they were concentric...actually concentric. Which is saying something when you're talking about running a slot car on a wood track. I run this car often and it's still got the original rear end, gear, axles, wheels...everything (sorry not the stock tires though). And with only a tire change the car was amazingly fast and very, very fun to drive.


Trend of the Year-kits, glorious kits!

What else can you say! This year companies came out with so many kits that you had your choice of great kits from Slot It, Fly, Artin, Spirit and don't forget all those plain white bodies from many manufacturers. We can only hope that this trend continues into the new year.


Pleasant suprise of the year-Spirit

Seemingly out of nowhere Spirit has come to the US market with force and some interesting upcoming models. And they promise more in the next year. Another reason for this is that Spirit makes some really nice parts. Hopefully the coming year will find those parts in the hands of racers that need some great set screw wheel and motors that are torquey as hell! Also there may be some new models coming that will surprise some people.


Disappointment of the year...Ortmann tires.
Finding out that most Ortmann's appear to be so out of round that they're useless...shattering, just shattering.

2007 fearless prediction...this is the year of Nascar...yes Nascar.
Believe it or not, finally the slot car hobby's focus is shifting to the US market...oh crap now what do we do? We in the US have been whining for soooooo long about getting good Nascar slot cars and now guess what, WE'VE GOT THEM! Between Scalex and SCX making current (or nearly current) liveries of our weekend heroes and Carrera making all the vintage Nascar's anyone wants to buy, and Artin making low-buck plain bodies for the scratch builders out there, there's just about enough Nascars to go around.

Soon, very soon, there will be an announcement related to this post from a major company that will make many guys very happy I think...can't say what it is yet but it's an important car that will be made.

This is the year that a largely European hobby will finally take hold in the US...or fall flat on it's face because of lack of money put into marketing it. There is so much money tied up in tooling for US-specific slot cars this year that frankly I really hope that there is actually money being put into MARKETING HERE IN THE US and not just the vague hope that somewhere someone will stumble into the quickly vanishing local hobby shop to behold the latest Nascar slot car.

DaveK

And Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 30, 2006

One nice Camaro!

Here's a Camaro slot car I had to pass along...German scratchbuilder Marco Brandt offers this car in 1:32 scale at his shop www.shop4slot.de for 150 Euro...what a wonderful model! Rusty dents and all, this is about the coolest Camaro slot car I've seen.



24hour slot race video...

...no don't worry not all 24 hours just 8 minutes. So here's the 24 hours du Chesnay Automne 2006.

Friday, December 29, 2006

New Ninco Renault and Scalex BAR F1 Honda


Guido from Slotmagazin is the hardest workin' man around...yet more photos to show from him. A nice new Ninco Renault and a Scalextric BAR Honda.






Thursday, December 28, 2006

Global Proxy Race poster


A race poster has been added to the race photo gallery on Slot Car Illustrated.com. Two versions of the poster are there. A smaller one and a larger poster.

DaveK

1/43 Slot car photo contest


Schlitzrenner.de is having a photo contest for 1/43 slot cars.

From their site:
"We start on 01/01/2007 right here a photo contest for 1/43 slot cars. It doesn´t matter if you make a picture when they are standing or when they are in action...

We will have also prizes - more later.

The rating of the pics will be done by the sponsors (depends on their engagement) or in the forums participating at this conquest.

Rules:

- one pic per person
- there must be at least one 1/43 slotcar on the pic*
- it´s allowed to work on the pic, by using speciallized software
- the pic must be send with a width of exact 600 pix and in jpg
- the eMail-adress the pics must be send to is photo@schlitzrenner.de
- the pics must be send to us latest 31/01/2007 - 23.59 h MEZ
- by sending a photo you accept the entry conditions



* Slotcars in 1/43 are Carrera GO!!!, Artin, Racy, Fastlane and Jouef. If you send a full scratch, you must tell us in your email from where you did get the body and the dims of it."

Sounds like a cool contest to enter. And thanks to Zippo for sending me an email about this.
DaveK

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Slot It Lancia Martini-shaken or stirred?

Giacomo at www.amazingslot.com & www.italiaslot.com has allowed his great photos of the Martini Lancia to be reused here on Slot Car News.




Ninco News for January


Thanks to Bob Lewen for sending this news to SCNews.

DaveK

GPR video-another prototype video


Another video of the final laps of the prototype heet. Terry's car, Tony's car, and Rob's car. Rob won this heet.

Prototype video


More video's when I get home...very slow connection here with wireless aircard.

GPR video-GT heet


From a GT heet.

GPR-East New York Raceday

10:25am East New York Raceway-Whiskerville, Connecticut, USA-The track is quiet. On the start line the first cars of the day are already lined up hours ahead of the 12pm EST start time.

A few crews are out inspecting the road surface. The rollers have been brought out to smooth the copper tape and a track official is keeping back the eager media who've gathered for "track prep" photos.

...more updates soon.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Global Proxy Race coverage


For today's last race at the East New York Raceway there will be updated coverage throughout the day. I'll post photos, news and lap times as I can. Look for complete coverage also on Slot Car Illustrated in the Global Proxy Race forum. And looks for more photos in the Global Proxy Race gallery.

DaveK

Slotmagazin photos SCX Safety car and 550 Ferrari

Slotmagazin has again provided SCNews with great photos of new cars. Today some SCX cars, the digital safety car and new livery of Ferrari 550.











Monday, December 25, 2006

AutoArt Bugatti Veyron

Another great series of photos from Slotmagazin of the brand new AutoArt Bugatti....man, Guido sure has some great connections to get new cars so fast, huh?








Guido has sent photos of the real car for reference.


Sunday, December 24, 2006

Victory by Design-Porsche

So it's Christmas day (for those that celebrate it) so... got an hour to kill? Why not spend it watching Victory by Design's Porsche edition!

Toy Car Chase video link

Toy Car Chase

I can't seem to post this here but the link for this above will take you to a funny video that's worth watching.

DK

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Christmas cards

I thought I'd pass along the Christmas cards that Slot Car News has received.





Merry Christmas from Rob, Terry, and myself...

DaveK