Eating Dust:Explore the DAKARtrack of Hub Habets

SlotCarMAG NASCAR:Richard Bennett worksthrough the last stages ofour car re-livery

Champion Slot Cars:A manufacturer forgottenby some and fondlyremembered by others

HONK HO Club:HO North Kent lays claim tothe first UK permanent clubtrack. Andy Player sets thepace on this large layout

Scalex Aston Martin:Part 2 from Rob Smith and the Scalextric Aston Martin

FOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS

ISSUE

9 • V

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Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders 1

ContentsFOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS

Pit Board:Another Dirty Issue......from all corners of the world; Dust of the Dakar Rally,green grasslands of Aus, Dilworth battling the French, SCSfrom Sweden and plenty of course from home soil. Enjoy!

Eating dust:DAKAR: by Hub HabetsHub is a renowned for his rally tracks and this issue welet him reveal his build secrets of one of the world’smost famous races.

Show time:SlotCarMAG NASCAR comes alive!At last... Richard Bennett concludes the re-livery of theScalextric NASCAR with the final episode concerningthe assembly.

Watching grass grow:Realistic grasslandThe thought of “planting” individual grass bladesseems daunting... until you read Lynne Haine’s easy-to-follow guide. The effect is fantastic.

Champion:Motor racing by Playcraft ToysKen Owens remembers an old favourite – Champion.Gone but not forgotten, this blast-from-the pastdeserves a mention in any slot car literature.

HONK......if you want to go racing!Andy Player drives the 230-foot HO North Kent(HONK) circuit home to its new premises and reveals atrack worthy of champions.

The Scalextric Aston Martin:Part 2 by Rob SmithPart two of a history lesson from Rob Smith – TheScalextric Aston Martin, continuing this issue with theDBR9, DBS, LMP1 and DB5 models.

Crying Wolf:A Wolf WR1 creation Ian Howard is a major force in the Heart of EnglandChampionships and has created some great models.Here we see a Wolf hiding in a Renault’s clothing.

Questionable Character:Steve WardMost know of his ward, Penelope Pitlane. Yet SteveWard is the man behind the ample frontage of thisfamous body of slot car shells and chassis.

Dilworth:There is nothing this man won’t do for EnglandIt’s building to be a face-off between our intrepid heroand the larger-than-life French TV presenteur. There isa plan... at least we think there is...

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In This Issue:

PUBLISHING / WEB: Wayne Tooke: info@slotcarmag.co.ukEDITORIAL: Ric Woods: ric-woods@slotcarmag.co.ukART & DESIGN: Marc Abbott: marc-abbott@slotcarmag.co.uk

SlotCarMAG is printed digitally by LDP Ltd ldpltd@btconnect.com

ISSUE 9 • VOLUME 2 • AUGUST 2012visit: www.slotcarmag.co.uk

SLOT CARMag

SlotCarMAG is an independent magazine for the Slot Car enthusiast. It is produced bi-monthly and available to purchase from either:www.pendleslotracing.co.uk (hard-copy, hi res digital)www.lulu.com/uk (hard-copy, print-to-order hi res digital with laminated cover)www.slotcarmag.co.uk (hi-res pdf download)For further information, please contact the publisher via email. Address opposite.Disclaimer:Whilst every effort has been made to accurately compile the information contained herein, SlotCarMAG or any of its contributors or advertisers accepts no liability for any errors and omissions or any inadvertent disclosure of any informationnot meant for publication. SlotCarMAG neither endorses or accepts responsibility for the reproduction of material supplied that is of sub-standard quality, such as photocopies, laser prints, pre-printed photographs, low resolution digital imagesetc, and reserve the right to refuse the use of such material, products or services of advertisers in this publication. Opinions expressed shall not necessarily be that of the SlotCarMAG. All information should be verified before being acted upon.Copyright:Contents of this magazine or our web site, cannot be reproduced in any way, shape or form without the written permission of the publishers.

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4 The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

Eleven years after SCX had stopped the rally-raid TTSeries, Ninco filled the gap by starting a whole newrange of rally-raid cars and special sandy-coloured

track pieces. Using them would be the easiest way to build adesert track, but to get it even more realistic, the trackshould be integrated into the landscape. This could be doneby building with MDF.

At first I made a little test track, to try the material and discoverhow small the bends could be made.

It soon became clear that a radius should be a minimum of100mm (4") to get a smooth passing by the cars, including thebigger ones.

I decided to make the track portable, to store it under anothertrack. A 12mm (1/2") multiplex baseboard, sized 2.44mx0.9m(8'x3') on two tubular welded frames on wheels, would be bigenough to get a total track length of about 10m (32') and wouldstill be manœuvrable in the garage.

The track should contain some steep mountain sections and atypical African village by a little stream. To get some ideas andinspiration, I looked for pictures of the Dakar Rally in rally booksand on several web sites.

With the minimum radius of 100mm (4") for a bend still inmind, I started drawing the track and the village on the multiplexbaseboard. The result was a figure-of-eight track shape, with onecrossing.

Vertical supports, made from 9mm multiplex pieces matchingthe contours of the mountains, were glued and screwed 20centimeters apart onto the baseboard. On top, the 8mm MDFtrack was glued and screwed, which resulted in a stiffconstruction. The 8mm thickness enabled the bending of thetrack, even on the steep hairpins. With two blades of a pendulumsaw, soldered to each other, I sawed the slot gap of 3mm. I usedthe pendulum saw to get the steep sections right, but otherwisea router would also do the job. In some places the slot ispositioned to the inside of the bends, so the inner wheels willget airborne, like the real thing.

Now the outside borders were glued and screwed onto thebaseboard and the vertical supports. With a chisel, potholes werecut in the track surface. To avoid tyre wear and rear axle damage,some sanding of the sharp edges was done next. A woodenbridge was made by sawing and cutting with a chisel just about2mm into the MDF, to imitate the wooden beams. After the firstlayer of surface was in place, the copper tape was laid.

Eati

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders 5

Dakar Trackby Hub Habets

Back in 2004, the idea of a desert track started while drivingthe then-new Ninco Mitsubishi Pajero on my Scalextric track.For the usual rally cars, the track was ok, but this cardeserved more. To get any benefit from the Proshocksuspension and drop-arm guide, it simply needed the bumpsand big potholes of the African desert roads.

ng Dust:

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders 9

By now, after what seems an eternity, you have your cardecalled and lacquered. Now it’s time to put it all backtogether, but unfortunately it’s still not too late to

muck it all up. The key here is remembering how you took itall apart; if you are using one of the superb Slot.it white kitsthen you won’t even have that luxury or foreknowledge.

Everyone has their favourite glue and will swear by it. In myexperience it is probably best to use a variety of glues, as eachhas its own pros and cons. Use whichever adhesive is mostsuitable and which you are most comfortable using. I use acombination of superglue, hot glue, Klear & XXX.

The main advantage of superglue is that it dries fast and stickslike... well... superglue, but it is very unforgiving, and in the handsof the wrong person can be disastrous and end very badly.

Another downside is that it can react badly with paint. The Klearlacquer can protect the paint to some extent, but superglue canmelt a paint job, and if you get it on your fingertips and transferit to the car body… well that’s it, game over. So if you feel youhave to use superglue, use it inside the body. Use it where it isnot close to any clear parts and use it very sparingly. I tend touse it for small parts which fit through openings in the body, forexample a roof aerial or air intake. Where the mounting postpushes through the body, glue it from the inside. Don’t betempted to apply the glue to the mounting post then push itthrough the body, it could get messy. Also, if you think youmight have used a drop too much, soak it away with somekitchen towel, but give the superglue a chance to get up andinto the joint first.

It’s...

Show TimePart 8: Assembly

by Richard Bennett

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders 13

Having finally taken the plungeon track painting, it wasprobably time to get to work

on another task that I’d been delayingfor a while.

The intention had always been tohave some grass covering on the TyersTarga. But of course, being wild opencountry rather than manicuredraceway, there was always thequestion of how to achieve the rightaffect. Static grass seemed the obviousstarting point...

Sit back andwatch the

grassgrowby Lynne Haines

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders 19

HONKa first permanent HO club track

Main pic: The HONK trackAbove Pic: The first national race, October 2012 (photo: Marc Townsend)

by Andy PlayerConventional wisdom tells us that everyslot car club has a permanent layout. Eachweek the club bigwigs unlock the door,switch on the power and everything isready to roll. That’s not been the case forHO clubs here in the UK. Partly due to a lackof premises, we set up a track for eachfortnightly or monthly race and then packeverything away again when the racing isover. It is a lot of work, but the benefit is anew track each time and therefore a newchallenge for every racer...

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders 21

&Scalextric

Aston Martin featured at the very start ofScalextric, but after the 1960s there ensued along wait before Aston Martin resurfaced in

the Scalextric catalogue with the introduction of theDBR9. This was followed by the DBS, again with aBond theme. The Bond theme continued and anaction-packed DB5 was added to the range, whilstAston Martin enjoyed success on the tracks with theLe Mans prototype Lola-Aston Martin LMP1.

The DBR9, DBS, DB5 & Lola are still in the Scalextricrange and new versions are expected in 2012 andfurther into the future.

Part 2 of the Scalextric and Aston Martin storycovers the modern era, both on the road andracetrack.

Aston Martin DBR9In 2005 Aston Martin and Prodrive formed a partnership toreturn Aston Martin to the forefront of international motorracing. The new DBR9, named in homage to the Le Mans-winning DBR1, was designed to run in GT1, thehighest-performance class, where the cars are based onstandard two-seater and coupe road models. With somesignificant re-working and the introduction of high-performancemodifications, the cars are capable of racing over long distances –anywhere between 200 and 3,000 miles.

The DBR9 used the DB9 road car’s aluminium chassis and alsothe production V12 engine’s cylinder block and heads. After thisthe car was comprehensively re-engineered for competition use.The gearbox on the DBR9 was a 6-speed Xtrac sequential unit.The double wishbone suspension was purpose-built and, beinga GT1, there were large-diameter carbon brakes front and rear.The forged magnesium wheels were also specially designed forthe car by OZ Racing. In the cockpit, a carbon compositedashboard, lightweight racing seat and the driver’s instrumentpanels replaced all the original car’s trim.

The engine is an Aston Martin Racing V12 based on the AstonMartin DB9 V12, with a capacity of 6 litres and producingapproximately 600bhp @ 6500 rpm.

These notes are based on models in the author’scollection, with reference to Roger Gillham’s excellent‘Ultimate Scalextric Guide’ and help from a number ofexpert Scalextric dealers. The author would appreciateany additional information, such as DBR9 liveryvariations or special releases.

Aston MartinPart 2 – by Rob Smith

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders 25

I’ve always been a huge fan of the1977 WR1 Wolf, driven to victory atthe Monaco Grand Prix in 1977 by

Jody Scheckter. Polistil and various vac-form body companies have had a stab atbuilding the car, but I wanted to build myown car which conformed to the Heart Of EnglandGrand Prix series regulations and looked truer to the original carthan any of the previous attempts. After a good rummagethrough my spares box I found that I still had a scrap RenaultRS01 bodyshell that I had for Christmas way back in the veryearly 1980s. It was in a very sorry state and I must say I felt that ithad languished for too long in the spares box and deserved anew lease of life.

After looking long and hard, I thought that it was possible to“cut and shut” the RS01 into a WR1.

I started work on the bodyshell by cutting the top surfaces onthe sidepod and joining them together. I also trimmed down thebodywork behind the driver and added some filler around thewindscreen to emulate the basic shape of the WR1.

I filled the inside of the side pods with Milliput and in thisimage you can see where I've reprofiled the left-hand side podto give a more ‘Wolfish’ appearance. The excess filler on theinside of the body was machined back later on in the build tosave weight.

During the build I always find it useful to temporarily assemblethe car to look at proportions. From this picture you can see thatthe roll bar is in the wrong position, as is the front axle location.Luckily you can see that I’ve no need to scratch build a rear wing,as the WR5 Scaley version is already a perfect fit.

I then ‘cut in’ the chassis pan to the body shell and moved thefront axle forwards, as well as cutting out the existing frontradiator housing to make way for new one. The front axle will beheld in position using a 1/8” axle tube, which will also improvehandling immeasurably.

CryingWOLF!Building Scheckter's

1977 Monaco WR1 Wolf winner

by Ian Howard

– LIMITED EDITION CARTRIX –

BRM

Cartrix have issued a 200-car limitededition run of the BRM piloted byHans Hermann at the 1959 German

Grand Prix. The ill-fated number elevencar is probably best known for itsinvolvement in a horrific crash that sawHermann walk away virtually unscathed.

The inner sleeve shows a picture of the actualcrash and also has a brief description of the race, plus asmall plan of the circuit that was feared by all the drivers.

The Automobil-Verkehrs-und Übungsstraße was basically a publicroad – or essentially just two long straights (part of a dualcarriageway), with a hairpin corner at one end and steep banking atthe other.

The disastrous weekend saw the death of Jean Behra in a supportrace on the previous day and then the crash of Hermann during theGrand Prix itself. The race was split into two heats and after theaggregate times were calculated, the overall winners were Ferrari, claiming thefirst three places with Tony Brooks, Dan Gurney and Phil Hill.

Images and film footage of the race are easy to find on the ’net and the crash involving theBRM is well documented, showing just how lucky Hermann was!

Visit: www.cartrixgpl.net for more details.