The Austin Slot Car Club’s 2018 racing season will start next Saturday the 6th of January and the big change is that it will not be with the Slot It Group C cars we have run for the past four years. The club elected to instead run the new RevoSlot Porsche GT2’s by BRM.
The series will be run with absolutely stock cars with the only tuning of the existing parts being allowed. Being a completely stock series will put the emphasis on driving skill and car preparation more than who can find and buy the most expensive modification parts from the farthest reaches of the world.
The work in preparing cars for this series has been challenging as these cars are new for BRM and have yet to be fully sorted out. Some cars were perfect while others had issues. This has led to some much-needed filing on axle bearing holders, bending/straightening of chassis, understanding the differences in tire compounds and how best to true them and some additional tweaks here and there. One club member had figured out how to quiet the cars noisy gear mesh by putting a super thin shim between the motor and the motor mount. This shim aligns the pinion with the crown to such a degree that the noise went away but the shim is not stock and will not be allowed for the series.
Another challenge for these cars is the lack of crown and pinion gears other than what comes stock – 11/28. As a result, the club is upping the voltage for this series to 12 volts as opposed to the normal 11 volts. The idea here is to let those drivers that have the skill to set up and drive a car at 12 volts the ability to do so while those with less skill will have to watch how much they pull the trigger. This is the way we will keep the playing field level without having the ability to play with the gearing.
In a stock series any modifications outside of the rules can have a big impact on the results so for this reason the series will have some of the strictest scrutineering for any series we have run. The cars will be inspected before the race with the bodies off and then held in parc ferme until the race. They will also be quarantined in parc ferme after every race for the post-race inspection. There will be no tolerance for any rules violation and all of the pre-racing has stressed this fact.
On top of all the items mentioned about there is also the variable of the weather. The clubs track room is not heated and the expected low temperatures and humidity in January can play a big role in how the cars perform. The colder and drier the air the less traction the cars will have with their stock shore 30 tires. Having said that, it’s the same for everyone and will only help those with better driving skills.
The series should be great for many reasons. I can’t wait for it to all begin. Come out and watch the races and see for yourself or keep up with the series on our website and Facebook pages. See you at the races.