Wing Slot Car racing

[@michaelschneider3575]

Doug Henline, Mike Stuebe, John Cukras etc.. The Jet Set of Slot Car racing.. I followed these guys from 1968 on.. Long Live Slot Cars!

[@angelolopes]

Long Live Slot Cars!

[@shevetlevi2821]

I agree with raythackston1960. It would seem that at the breathtaking speeds we see here that human reactions couldn't possibly be a factor. Still fun to marvel at though and it would be cool to have a micro sized point of view camera attached to these cars. In the mid 1960s, about the time of Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward, I got into slot cars for about a year. I eventually scratch built my own car, a Ford GT, and I rewound the engine. I didn't really set it up right. I made it a large can motor and as a sidewinder configuration. It was so rear heavy that it popped wheelies when launched and fishtailed alot.

[@bradsanders6954]

I cant even tell they are cars.

[@jjr56991]

Really cool cars. Not too many tracks left around any more.

[@1ktanaka]

Rich Curnutte (he's standing on a foot stool, green lane in this heat) has a grand opening for his new slot car raceway (Piranha Raceway and Hobbies) in Whittier, California today (10-17-20). His raceway has the fastest King track in the country (formerly owned by Tracy Brown in Tennessee) as well as a modified flat track (originally from Frank Sarkela's raceway in Rohnert Park - now closed) and a new 4 lane dragstrip. The raceway is first rate and the racing at this facility will be world class soon as the best racers in SoCal (and other areas) begin racing there soon.

[@1ktanaka]

The video above is the G27 Lite race during the recent D1 Western States at Buena Park Raceway (March 1-3, 2013).

[@1ktanaka]

Yes, G27L is spray glue only.

[@sduke39]

Is G27L spray glue only?

[@jamescouden8730]

Lot of negative comments on this, if you're running a car, you can certainly see it, not so much from videos and so forth. We have an 8 lane wood track from the 70s at home, not a monster, 78 feet in length.Wing cars do the 78 feet in +/- 2.5 seconds. I am 71 years old, I can see the cars just fine thank you. Don't knock it 'till you've tried it......JC

[@1ktanaka]

For a complete race report on the above wing race (and others at BPR), here's our website: socald3.smugmug.com/ Go to the "D1 Wing Car Races" section.

[@realmagicjon]

Must be something wrong with my eyes,dam thats fast.

[@geetarnut]

This borders on the ridiculous,,, sorry to have to say that! If you can't see it for the most part,, then what's the point?!?!?!?!?! Sorry fellas! I'm 63, and a long time slot car proponent,, but this is too much! Are there any webcam videos made from one of these cars here on youtube?!?!?!?!?!

[@ontariohvac]

Not to my taste, either, but there's room for everybody. That's one hell of a track they've got there. I'm 63 also, so you probably remember back in our high school days when the slot car boom was just peaking, cars like this were called "Thingies". The body was a simple wedge, about light as air, the chassis was soldered wire, the guys were total fanatics and many of them built their own motors. Just a blur out there, like in this video, same as today. Myself, I like a model car - a skilfully crafted replica of a motor car, precisely scaled to 1/32 or 1/24, and we'd get out there and rumble. At my track there even two older gents who ran die-cast mint cars, by Hubley, and I'll never forget the Duesenberg. Larger scale than 1/24 though, and they ran their cars slow, more like a parade than a race. I had a 1/32 Pontiac Ventura, kind of awkward looking because the wheelbase wasn't quite right, and I'd dream about putting suspension and steering in it, which never happened. I never won a race, either. I wrecked that car so many times I finally resorted to just leaving the pieces off. Had to tape the remains to the chassis. Then I got protested off the track. And that was that. I had fun, though.

[@nicparker3809]

lol yeah they run magnets and have no front wheels.

[@evenmorefunTV]

Wing cars only have magnets in the motor.

[@evenmorefunTV]

They do have front wheels, at a major angle to the track

[@eddiedulko4937]

Totally agree. Total bullshit there is no skill involved here. Give me a beautifully landscaped representation of a real racetrack anyday.

[@1ktanaka]

Besides this video, there's a better quality video of the 2013 World's OMO race at Buena Park Raceway. I recorded both of these videos at BPR in 2013, but the OMO race video is a better quality as far as the video quality is concerned: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWOchJKLpLh8jJY By the way, all types of slot car racing are good. Each type requires a different focus, but they all require a lot of skill and ability in order to be competitive.

[@fredrickfletcher2823]

You can barely see the cars

[@georgejohnson1124]

Insane speed.............................

[@Steve-dv8zr]

Love the pros, but to me, I'll take LMP, or winged 12's over not being able to even SEE my car 1/2 the time...

[@normg2242]

I don't understand how this is humanly possible. Do they actually control the cars at every curve or do they just try to find the fastest default speed at which the cars can do the entire track without falling off? And if they do control it, do they learn a certain thumb pressure pattern by heart until it becomes muscle memory and they could drive this particular track blind? Sorry but I'm honestly just trying to understand what I'm seeing here...

[@1ktanaka]

These wing cars are a blur to watch and drive. The speed of these cars is beyond the reflexes of most humans, but these cars have tremendous down force coupled with fast King track layouts which are banked and glued to provide maximum traction for these cars. The name of the game for wing racing is having a car properly setup along with very fast, reliable motors and a pit crew to help support the racer. The main focus of the racers is to keep their cars in the slot by avoiding any cars that crash into their lane while keeping the choke (adjusts the power to the motor) adjusted properly to avoid burning up their motors. The speed of these cars is quite an adrenaline rush to race.

[@1ktanaka]

By the way, since these cars have so much down force and glue on the track surface, the drivers normally don't brake for turns (full punch) except for maybe the gutter lanes (inside and outside lanes). The best drivers do blip a turn or two on the gutter lanes but that's about the only braking required to keep their cars in the slot.

[@normg2242]

Thank you Keith, now it makes sense. Thanks for taking your time to explain that...☺

[@normg2242]

So I guess the real skill is probably shifted a bit towards fine-tuning the cars and trying to trick the laws of physics into working with you...

[@TheEnragedGamer]

this track is were i used to live

[@islphrs1350]

You lived in a building with slot car tracks? Weird.

[@evenmorefunTV]

I tried practice "racing' with of these cars and it was just as fast as these..... I noticed I did not release the controller trigger at all during the practice "race". I don't notice anyone here moving their fingers either. I was wondering what is the challenge if you don't need to slow down? Waiting for the commutator to let go?

[@KAUZ1240]

They are definitely 'driving' these cars. You can see their finger move. You know the triggers never moved very much. We always wired in an on/off micro switch at the top of the rheostat so we know we were full on when you punched it. These cars seem to be about 2x as fast as the cars we used to race.

[@shonw2318]

MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

[@TheMotoKing]

Sign me up right away!

[@sean2val]

shit forgot how fast they are

[@pauletxfish4976]

see what ???? blurs

[@raythackston1960]

At some point...wing cars become skill-less cars. I raced them a while and found that a great car becomes almost self driving. One a flat track they do require a little help...but I got out of wing cars because it was too easy and not near as much fun. Again to each his own...some people like drag cars too...1 second of fun in an hour at the track. YEE HAWW!

[@johnwakamatsu3391]

I am racing on Orange lane and it is not easy to race G7 slot cars. The cars are not full punched on any lane and you have to watch for wrecks.

[@marcusbrown1767]

This is not vintage slot car racing.

[@jdracer111]

This is a wasted video. You can't even see the cars on the track.

[@paker51]

That's the most no-skill slot car racing I've ever seen! Bring your doorbell button and press it.