Michigan... hotbed of slot racing!

On the drive back from iHobby I decided to make a stop along the way... ok, 2 stops. I was invited to visit a commercial track owned by Bill Curtis in Belleville, Michigan at TSS Hobbies. Bill and his buddy Nick gave me a personal invite and said I must stop along my way home and I had to take them up on it.

I had a great time at the shop, a huge track with massive banked turns was just the ticket for my BRM Porsche... it was great running the car wide open about the turns! I was lovin' the digs at Bill's new store. A scale quarter mile drag strip for HO and a scale quarter mile for 1/24 as well as the large, twisty road course and a large tri-oval as well... what's not to like! Not to mention the HUGE selection of plastic models Bill has on hand too! Ya gotta love a slot shop that's ONLY a slot shop!
A fun, friendly, well laid out place to hang out and talk and race slots... what a great place.
Here Bill puts a top fuel slot car on the track and storms down the track. Very cool!

And after an afternoon of racing and a great time discussing slots the guys said it was time to visit The Professor... yes, that's right Professor Motor in nearby Livonia. Well if you don't know about Professor motor than it might be hard to impress upon you what a thrill it was visiting the place that's a one-stop-shop for hardcore slot car folks. Need a slot motor... need OLD mix Ortmann tires? Well Andy's got 'em!
And here's the man himself, Andy, the Professor himself! He's feelin' good (which we're all glad to hear) and loves to talk slots. He gave us the 10-cent-tour which during which we snaked around the shelves which were packed with slot-car-goodness. Of course being a complete Ortmann tire nut I was transfixed by the selection of tires he has on hand... evidently so much so I forgot to shoot the boxes of tires he had just to show the tons of tires he's got on the shelves. Suffice to say it...was... COOOLLL!

So thanks Bill, Nick, and Andy for the hospitality!

TSS Hobbies.com is in Belleville Michigan.
Bill Curtis, owner.
tsshobbies@yahoo.com
2055 Rawsonville Rd. · Belleville, MI 48111
734 · 487 · 8410

Spirit Peugeot 406 Digital Special Edition

Photos showing the commemorative edition Peugeot 406 SCX Digital car marking the agreement between SCX and Spirit.

BMW 135i by Hartge

German based BMW Group tuning specialist Hartge first showed us off-the-shelf parts for the 1-Series coupe when it was first released, and then shortly followed with the aerodynamics kits. Now Hartge have developed an ECU upgrade for BMW's already potent 3.0-liter bitrubo engine in the 135i coupe releasing an additional 44hp.

The result is a total of 350hp at 5660 rpm and 480 Nm (lb-ft 354) at 2950 rpm. The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) arrives in 4.8 seconds – a half second faster than its standard 5.3 seconds. Also, an unrestricted top speed allows 280 km/h (174mph).

Hartge states that a 135i fully equipped with the entire suite of components will cost in Germany € 48,162.14, excluding VAT.

Spirit BMW 635i prototype photos

A few more photos of the prototype of the Spirit 635i BMW I shot recently. The car will have an inline long can motor and this prototype was made without a motor pod, I understand the production car won't have a pod either.

Ford Mondeo by Rieger

20 year old German based tuning firm Rieger has released a subtle styling package for the new Ford Mondeo wagon that builds off of the standard appearance with something that is a bit more noticeable without being to extravagant. The kit offers a front lip spoiler, side skirts with cutout shaft and rear bumper fascia. All components are available in either ABS plastic or carbon fiber look. The rear bumper fascia comes in three versions depending on exhaust configuration – dual pipes on both right and left side, single sport pipe or single downward curved pipe. Moreover, Rieger also offers for the Mondeo a coilover suspension by KW and chip tuning upgrades from SKN Technology.

New SL-Class Facelift by Lorinser

Following the teaser image from earlier this month, well known German tuner, Lorinser, have finally pulled the sheet off their new facelifted SL-Class. Designed in characteristic Lorinser form, the SL-Class program includes front bumper fascia, wide flare fenders with grille vents, side skirts also with grille vents and diffuser look rear bumper fascia which accommodates four pipe exhaust system. Also available for the package are the Lorinser RS9 wheels and lowered suspension. Lorinser states in their press release that performance engine upgrades are currently in development.

Seat Leon Body Kit by JE Design

VW Group tuning specialists JE Design have gone ahead and developed a fourth, no wait, fifth aerodynamics body package for the Seat Leon. Still closely resembling the base Leon P1 kit (non-Cupra, FR & wide body), the German tuning expert now offers a carbon fiber look adhesive film in various colors.

The body kit consists of a front bumper fascia with new LED daylight running lights, grille, headlamp lens strips, side skirts and newly designed rear bumper fascia skirt attachment which accommodates four 90mm exhaust pipes.

Under the hood, JE Design is offering a new power increase via engine management upgrade that bounces the standard 103 kW (140 hp) up to 130 kW (176 hp). Torque also increases by 85 Nm to 405 Nm.

New 19-inch multispoke wheel-set, 4-piston brakes and coilover suspension capable of lowering ride height from 35mm to a ground scraping 65 mm round out the package. See press release below for full details.

Widebody Kit for W204 C-Class by Expression Motorsport

Belgian Mercedes tuner Expression Motorsports have put together a DTM inspired wide body package for the new W204 C-Class. Larger air vents in the bumper and hood enhance engine cooling while the widebody kit allows for the larger wheels up to 22-inch to be fitted. The kit consists of front bumper fascia with fog lamps and LED indicators, front carbon fiber lower lip spoiler, hood from C 63 AMG, hood vents, 10 piece fender flair set, side skirts, rear bumper fascia with carbon fiber diffuser and integrated LED F1 brake light and deck lid wing plus additional carbon deflector. Finally, a double twin-tip exhaust system along with an assortment of wheel packages round out the kit which Expression Motorsports refers to as their EX C Motorsport kit.

LeMans Miniatures Pescarolo

The LeMans Miniatures Pescarolo will arrive in the US within the next day or so according to REH Distributors.

What is your preferred Motorsports era?

The members on Slot Car Illustrated.com are working on a poll to see what the majority of slotters feel is the greatest area of interest for slot cars. You should go to SCI at this link and let your voice be heard. There are thousands of members on SCI and it would be great if thousands voted to really get a true sampling of slotters out there. Please vote!

BRM Toyota, Porsche, Mazda photos

Photos from iHobby of the BRM Mazda and Porsche prototypes and production Toyotas. The Toyota's will be available this year.


First the new chassis for the Toyota. You can see brass inserts in the pan of the chassis. These are new laser cut brass weights that fit perfectly into the chassis between the reinforcing ribs. These will be sold by BRM to racers that would like to be able to weight the chassis as they see fit. You will be able to place the weights around the chassis in places you feel need weight, an innovative idea.Here you can see the wing of the Toyota. Why show the wing? Well the question was raised at my club asking how durable the wing on the Toyota will be since it's behind the back of the body and mounted very low on the chassis. Guys have been concerned that one good "WHACK" and the wing will be broken. Francesco of BRM (seen below) must have heard this question before. When I asked this, he picked up the Toyota by the wing... AND STARTED TO SHAKE THE WHOLE CAR HOLDING ONLY THE WING! It seems it will be quite durable!

CLK 63 AMG Black Widow by Vorsteiner

The Vorsteiner name is still somewhat fresh in our brains following the recent E92 M3 CSL package story, but the California based tuner wants us to remember it permanently. So they've quickly released another kit but this time for the Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series dubbed, “Black Widow”.

Striving to subtly enhance the already dangerous looks of the Black Series CLK, Vorsteiner have crafted functional front and rear spoilers which are constructed of lightweight dry carbon fiber. Vorsteiner states the spoilers improve down force & aerodynamics during high speed tests at the track over 321km/h (200mph).

The carbon fiber rear spoiler balances the fr

ont end out by extending the original factory rear lip spoiler design by approximately 50mm with a more aggr

essive wing profile. Both of these components are a direct bolt onto the factory body panels without any modifications required.

New Sloter Zytek prototype pix

Sloter has a new Zytek on the way. I shot these pix recently at iHobby of the new body they're going to produce. Please note this is a white body and I had to darken it substantially for the contours to show here.

LeMans Miniatures slot cars from IHobby

A batch of photos from IHobby showing the LeMans Miniatures slot cars on display.