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Saturday, June 30, 2007

Racer 250LM


Ferrari 250LM - MECOM Racing Team - Sebring 12hrs 1965 - M.Donohue / W. Hansgen. Car is due to release in about next 1/2 weeks.

SCX Subaru newsletter




Blue Sloter Zytek photos




Thanks to Sloter for use of the photos.
DK

French GP-qualifying report


Image copyright Sutton Images via SuperAguriF1

1 Felipe Massa-Scuderia Ferrari-1m15.034
2 Lewis Hamilton-Vodafone McLaren Mercedes-1m15.104
3 Kimi Raikkonen-Scuderia Ferrari-1m15.257
4 Robert Kubica-BMW Sauber-1m15.493
5 Giancarlo Fisichella-Renault-1m15.674
6 Heikki Kovalainen-Renault-1m15.826
7 Nick Heidfeld-BMW Sauber-1m15.900
8 Jarno Trulli-Toyota-1m15.935
9 Nico Rosberg-Williams F1-1m16.328
10 Fernando Alonso-Vodafone McLaren Mercedes-1m15.084
11 Ralf Schumacher-Toyota-1m15.534
12 Jenson Button-Honda Racing-1m15.584
13 Rubens Barrichello-Honda Racing-1m15.761
14 Mark Webber-Williams F1-1m15.806
15 Scott Speed-Toro Rosso-1m16.049
16 David Coulthard-Red Bull Racing-1m15.915
17 Tonio Luizzi-Toro Rosso-1m16.142
18 Alex Wurz-Williams F1-1m16.241
19 Takuma Sato-Super Aguri-1m16.244
20 Anthony Davidson-Super Aguri-1m16.366
21 Christijan Albers-Spyker F1-1m17.826
22 Adrian Sutil-Spyker F1-1m17.915

Image copyright McLaren.com

Lewis Hamilton
"The French round of the GP2 championship last year was not my best weekend, I had a coming together in the first race and therefore started race two in 19th. I did make my way up through the field to 5th to score some points, so it is possible to overtake here. Although you always want to be on pole, you can pass at Magny Cours and there is a short pit lane that means there are more strategy options, as it is not as much of a penalty when you stop for tyres and fuel. The pit lane is slightly longer than it used to be but it is still very quick. After the results in Canada and the United States it was great to come home and see my family and friends. I will also have the opportunity to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend; I expect the atmosphere will be incredible and it should be great to drive the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes car up the hill in front of the British fans. For the past week I have been spending time at the McLaren Technology Centre working with the engineering team and catching up on some training and I participated in an event for Vodafone in London on Thursday. Now I just want to get back out on track. My aims remain the same, to take it race by race and keep focused on scoring good points for myself and the team."

Images used with permission of Sutton Images/SuperAguri and McLaren.com no reuse for any reason.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Exclusive news here Monday

Slot Car News will have an announcement Monday morning (12:00 am EST)...

SCX DTM Mercedes-newsletter

News from SCX to share today.



MB Slot Zonda F-first photos

These are the first photos of the prototype of the MB Slot Zonda F.



More photos...









Thursday, June 28, 2007

Slot.It Martini-review


The hits keep coming from Slot.It. The newest release is surely a slot car that needs little in the way of introduction, the Lancia Martini livery will be the "one to buy" for many slotters.

There are no breaks in the tampo printed stripes along the sides and top of the body. And none of this will come as a surprise to anyone familiar, as most are, with Slot It's products. There are no blemishes on the outside of the body of this car. Inside the body, near the front wheels, there is a bit of over spray, but you can't see this unless you remove the body. So it's another cosmetically wonderful slot car from Maurizio.

The Martini car has the black paint between the windows that the BP-Malardeau lacked. This detail isn't something that really took away from the first release of the Lancia, but it's nice to see this black tear drop shape around the greenhouse.

Thankfully for everyone out there who's a fan of Slot.It cars, Maurizio is never content to just release another car without trying to improve on his product. The Lancia body was supposed to have been lightened a bit, but both the Malardeau and the Martini weigh the same (22 grams), no big deal, since the real change can be seen when you flip the car over.

And there you have it. Not only the 21.5k "orange endbell" high torque motor, but the cut outs for an angle winder pod.

The changes aren't limited to the pod. The wires are routed under the front axle via the same channel design used on all recent releases. A great feature that is now a standard on new releases. The front wheels on this car didn't turn easily or touch the track on this car out of the box. Removal of the "cups" that are under front fix this with not too much trouble.

The car has the usual 28 tooth crown gear which now has a Slot.It logo on it. One of the very noticeable differences between the first Lancia release and this one is how much quieter this car is than the last car. Like the final black and red Nissan 390 and the McLaren this car is whisper quiet. I have a theory that in addition to a logo being added a slight change might have occurred in the gear mold yielding a gear that meshes just a bit better. One feature that the McLaren does have, however, is larger holes that the heads of the pod screws sit in. So, when you loosen the pod, the heads of the screws have plenty of room to move around. This small change was not incorporated into the new chassis made for the latest Lancia. The benefit of larger holes for the heads of the screws might be doubted by some, but personally, I'd like to see this small change made in future releases. When it comes to pod movement, every little bit helps.

On track performance at the East New York Raceway wood track yielded these times:

6.229 stock tires, tight pod - the car feels too tight and twitchy around the corners.

5.9 stock tires, loose pod - car feels much smoother, and even with the stock tires the car is much easier to drive.

5.5 with the provided S2 tires

5.4 with Technical Editor Robert Livingston driving, in a different lane on the track.

A note about times. Times on this day were slower than normal, cars that normally were sub-5 second racers barely cracked that barrier around the 61 foot track. We'd expect this car to be slightly slower than the 956 and Nissan, and much slower than the McLaren (which still stands alone as the fastest Slot.It out-of-the-box, in testing by Slot Car News).

The new orange endbell-driven car is much faster down the straights than the older 25k powered Malardeau Lancia. Also, the car can be driven much further into the corners, because of the better brakes on the 21.5k. Gear ratio and weight are the same.

You just can't go wrong with any of the Slot.It cars. It's nice that there aren't really any negative surprises with their cars. You put them on the track and they fly around as fast as your driving ability will allow. The Martini Lancia LC2-84 should sell briskly because it's "one of those" liveries that many slotters collect.

Dave Kennedy
Publisher, Slot Car News

Ninco F50 reviewed

Harry Wise of Home Racing World has done a review of the latest kit from Ninco...

It seems like yesterday when I acquired my first NINCO Ferrari F50 slot car. In truth it was 2001 and I purchased it because it would be a good running mate to go with the NINCO McLaren F1 GTR. I was right too as this car had very good balance and control and I enjoyed it very much. Sadly, not many of them were produced and I ended up with only one. Fast forward to 2007 and here is the Ferrari once more, and in kit form as a bonus.

Not everyone appreciates these new kits that seem to be coming more and more in our hobby, but I do. Given that we do perform various levels of tuning to our slot cars, having them in kit form just saves us a little time. Our box arrived safe and sound from MRC and it was time to assemble this famous Ferrari and see what she could on the track.


The rest of this extensive review can be seen at this link.


Ninco World Cup '07

Press release from Ninco's US distributor MRC:

THE 2007 NINCO WORLD CUP WILL BE HELD IN STUTTGART, GERMANY, NOVEMBER 17TH AND 18TH.

THE ONLY CAR TO BE RACED IN THE COMPETITION WILL BE NINCO'S NEW PORSCHE 997.
The first two Porsche 997's are due in a few weeks. They are the 50445 "Forum Gelb" & 50446 "Road Car"as shown in the June 2007 newsletter.
Based on last years competition car, (the Mosler MT900R ), we can expect sales of the Porsche 997's to be "brisk"!!


Wednesday, June 27, 2007

NSR King tested



Fantasy World Hobbies was kind enough to send a sample of the NSR King, an FK-180 long can, high torque motor. The motor is rated at 21,400 RPM on 12 volts, no load, with torque at 270 gcm. This motor has been encountered on the race track, and it is a mover, despite its massive 32 grams of weight. The armature is balanced, resulting in smooth, vibration-free running. After letting it run up to operating temperature, the tach read 21,404 average RPM, with very little variation. It is not often that a motor runs at the same speed its manufacturer claims, but this one does!

The Motor List is updated frequently. You can find the link, highlighted in yellow, by scrolling to the foot of this page.

Formula 1-French GP preview