New Spirit BMW photos

The Spirit BMW 2002 (#0601301) will be available about 3 weeks. Thanks to Cal and Jose for allowing Slot Car News to be the first to post the photos of the cool new car.

DaveK

Spirit Reynard Review

A few days ago an emerald green and silver slot car showed up. A Spirit Reynard NASA MAX Sport edition came from Spirit's new US distributor Kimrey Enterprises of North Carolina. I'd only seen one of the LMP cars Spirit makes before but I knew right away this car was a serious racer.

The hardware on this car is substantive and well made. The motor is in a pod with only 1 magnet position ahead of the motor. The magnet itself, a small bar magnet, has been tested by a borrowed Magnet Marshall and has a downforce of around 140.

The pod fits in the chassis quite well and the pod can rattle well without any sanding and ONLY touches the pod on the 4 mounting posts and doesn't touch the pod and stop it from moving when the 4 screws are loosened. Kudos on that bit of engineering and design!

Gearing for this car is a 9 tooth pinion and 27 tooth crown. Which gives this car its great brakes no doubt.



The molding on the body is exceptional and one thing worth a note is that Spirit has managed to do something that most other company's haven't been able to figure out how to do...leave the vents in the front fenders open! Those little grilles that on most slot cars are just bumps are actual vents on the Reynard!

While I don't pretend to be an expert on the shape of the Reynard in real life, from photos of the car, Spirit have captured the shape of the body very well. The car is suitably low, the rear wing is the correct design when compared with the real car. The wing (or roll bar) above the head of the driver may be a bit too high, but again it may just be the way the photos appear. But that's being a bit nit picky with what is a very fine model.

The finish on the car is very nice, especially for those that like the color green...a certain racer friend in Iowa I know will surely gravitate to this car I bet. The overall feel of the car is very nice and the one thing that does take away just a tiny bit is a lack of wheel inserts. In the reference photo Spirit has on their website the green and silver car has nice BBS gold lace wheels....I'd just love to have a set of those to slip into the wheels on this car. But then maybe that's just me.

I put the car on my small wood track and it became clear that this is no small track car. I could only give the car a small blip of throttle and the car would shoot down the straight and slide around the turn. Wow...that's brutally fast. The new S3X motor that Spirit makes is rated at 24k at 12 volts...with TONS OF TORQUE! The motor is a long NC type can and it's at home on my uncle's track with it's 16 foot straight away but even so this car could even use a longer straight. Even at the end of the straight it wanted more room to run!

I ran the car on my wood track and it was stuck down well enough to allow both tail out racing (ie lots of sliding in the corners if you like) or a more tight controlled type of racing. The car would grip well around the corners if you kept out of the throttle but easily break free with you gave it too much power. With the stock tires the car performed well, but did still feel a bit too loose. A trip to the East New York Raceway meant that those stock tires were going to have to be replaced...sure enough within half a lap it was clear that the tires weren't going to stick well. But then pretty much nothing sticks on that track really well except Ortmann tires. So a set of Ortmann's was found. The type used for the stock Slot It wheels on the 956/962, since the tires fit Slot It wheels fit Spirit wheels.

Times for the Reynard on the ENYR:
Stock Tires: 6.5 seconds
Ortmann Tires: 5.32 seconds (with faster times probable with some weight)

All the testing was done to the car in stock form. NO WEIGHT was added during these test. So the car with its 84 grams of weight felt a bit too light for this non-magnet racing. When the car deslotted it was the front of the car lifting out of the slot. The the Ortmann's in place this car was blistering. It easily got into "very quick" class in stock form. Generally cars in this class do around 5.0 seconds around the East New York Raceway.

Natural competitors for the Spirit LMP cars are obvious, Slot It and NSR go head to head in European racing with these cars all the time. With the new US distribution hopefully Spirit will take it's place in the hearts of serious slotters in the North American market...did I mention they make a whole line of cool replacement parts too? It's a great time to be a slot racer, eh?

Thanks to Spirit and Kimrey Enterprises for the Reynard to review!

DaveK
Publisher, Slot Car News

New Sloter Lola and Ferrari liveries

A Ferrari 312 and a blue Gitanes Lola from Sloter to show today.

GPR 2007: The Race Is On!

Woodbridge, Connecticut, USA

Race car transporters have arrived en masse at the East New York Raceway for the first round of the innaugural Global Proxy Race.

Even though a few tranporters are still en route, the first part of this contest of speed and endurance commenced today with the cars of the GT class taking to the track for their maiden competition runs. "Speed waits for no-one" GPR technical director and hotshoe Robert Livingston was quoted as saying as he relaxed his trigger finger between timed heats. "I am the driver for this heat. Center lane (61’), 13.6 volts, PM 2050 controller. This is a solo heat, driver marshalled, while the timer runs. Highest lap total determines place; tie breaker is average speed."

International competition in the GT class is no match for the American entry of proxy racing veteran Spirit Racer. His Ferrari 365 GTB Daytona coupe has taken the provisional lead with a total of 114 laps. Canadian team Dr Vanski Racing's Martini Porsche 911 clocked in with 112 laps for a provisional second place. Rounding out the provisional top 3 is proxy racing major domo Phil Kalbfell's BMW M1 with 110 laps.

Timed heats will continue over the next several days with prototypes taking to the ENYR's MDF pavement once the GT cars present in the paddock have run. Weather conditions and canine units employed by U.S. Customs seem to have delayed a few of the tranporters en route to Connecticut.

The final half of the first round of the GPR is to be run between Christmas and New Year's with several guest drivers making an appearance at the East New York Raceway.

MINIAUTO SLOT #26 December issue

The monthly magazine MiniAuto Slot #26, corresponding to the month of December, dedicates its cover to the track test of new the Scx Off Road cars, Mitsubishi Pajero and VW Touareg. In addition it emphasizes the presentation of the new Carrera Exclusiv range Hot Rod. In the interior the track test of the new Carrera F1 can be found: the Ferrari F2005 and McLaren Mp4/20; the AutoArt's Shelby Cobra Concept and the track tests of the new Scx Touring Car, Honda Accord R and Volvo S60 R. In this number a news article, with all the classifications of the Spain's Slot Championship, is also included.

New Scalextric Ferrari Formula 1 cars

Name: Ferrari F1 2006
Reference No:
C2752-Massa
C2751-Schumacher


Class: F1
History
Felipe Massa’s season in 2006 improved with time finishing with 2 wins and 7 podiums.

The Scalextric car
This is an important model for the F1 enthusiast to collect as well as, of course, a fantastic car to race bearing such an important pedigree.

Advantages: This car has not yet been produced by Carrera and TecniToys.
Our car benefits from finer detail and is a more accurate representation in scale and proportional terms than our competitor’s examples from previous years for this car. This makes our version of the car a better model to display as well as race. The super fast FF motor propels this light-weight 64 gm car to top speed particularly quickly. The ‘stepped’ magnet gives low down-force when driven in a straight line but greater down-force in the corners making our car a faster. The tampo printed livery is of our usual extremely high standard and is generally considered by the enthusiast to be the best available.

Features:
Rear mounted, in line FF motor. Fine detail wheels. Quick-change braid plate. Stepped magnet.

Dimensions & Configuration
Car: Overall length 143 mm, Wheelbase 93 mm, Weight 64 gm
Rear: Axle width 57 mm, Tyre diameter 21 mm, Width 12 mm
Front: Axle width 55 mm, Tyre diameter 21 mm, Width 11 mm
Magnet: Stepped 2 mm, Gear ratio 09:27
Motor: In-Line Rear Mounted 2 wheel drive Mabuchi S 18k rpm

Produced under license of Ferrari Spa. FERRARI, the PRANCING HORSE device, all associated logos and distinctive designs are trademarks of Ferrari Spa. The body designs of the Ferrari cars are protected as Ferrari property under design, trademark and trade dress regulations. Produced under license by Mattel, Europa B.V. All Rights Reserved.

HOT WHEELS and associated trademarks and trade dress are owned by, and used under license from, Mattel, Inc.©2005 Mattel Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The US Ninco World Cup car

From the Ninco press room...
"This is the car that Team USA will run in the NINCO World Cup December 2-3.

It has Kurt Moser's name on the left rear, George Bagley's on the right and Bob on the front. (No, I had nothing to do with the design of the car). Kurt was in charge of the design.
It will have small American Flags as well.....
Sorry, but the setup will have to remain top secret until next week."

This is a cool race and I'll add my voices to all those wishing Kurt, Bob and George good luck when they travel to Italy to do battle with the world's best racers.

I'd love to see Ninco sponsor more US racing and I hope this race is an annual event.

DaveK
Publisher, Slot Car News

Cruising with the Carrera Tuner

Bathed in the blue neon lights the Nissan slipped past the trendy club....
...a new nitrous bottle on display in the back dash gave fair warning that this ride was no one to mess with.

Cosmetics....the latest Nissan 350Z is all about the look of the car. A bright blue/silver/orange paint job really makes this car look completely different from the recent Fast & Furious Nissan Tuner. The first Nissan featured a flat gray/black paint job, this latest tuner Carrera has chosen a very different direction. The blue car's details are almost easier to see than with the first tuner Nissan. In the latest car the hood details really jump out at you.

The first tuner, the body panels were the first thing that you saw. The blue car is a slightly more "accessable" car because of the slightly more toned down graphics. This car is a very pleasing shade of blue with metal flake to catch the light.

The color that does grab the attention is the coral detail spread around the body. The detail printing, while a bit spartan by race car standards, is crisp and well done. Here a Nissan badge is seen on the side of the car, very clean, very simple detail but it's perfectly executed.

The wheels stand out on this car much more so than the first tuner... which is good news since this wheel design is well done.

Moving inside the car you can see the facial sculpting on the drive is more detailed than some models, the painting on the eyes is a bit...um...large!

Under the car...the usual dual magnet with sliding front magnet and fixed rear magnet.

And how well does that magnet system work to stick the car to the track?

Carrera's tried and true E200 and standard gearing are in place to make sure this car car rocket around the track as a brisk pace. Around the 17-foot Fast & Furious set track I managed to get times down to a speedy (but not blistering) 2.1 seconds fastest lap time. I tried the magnet in both the forward position and the rear position by sliding it back-and-forth...I saw no real change in lap times. The car was quick, fast enough for a street car...but where's the button for that nitrous bottle anyway?

Soggy A1 GP win for Germany

Germany now leads England in the A1GP standings with a win in Malaysia.

Zanardi makes F1 comeback with BMW.

SCNews Wire-Valencia (Spain). Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) has made motor racing history once again: At the DELL Formula BMW World Final, the leg-amputee successfully returned to the cockpit of a Formula One car. On Saturday morning, he completed a total of 12 laps at Valencia’s “Circuit de la Comunitat”. The 40-year-old’s fastest lap was clocked at 1:21.63 minutes. The 1999 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji had been the last of his 41 races at the pinnacle of motorsport. In 2001, Zanardi lost both legs in an accident, but made a spectacular racing comeback with BMW only two years later. Since then, he has managed to win two rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship for BMW Team Italy-Spain, thereby making a name for himself once again as a touring car driver.

“This is a special opportunity for me,” said Zanardi. “I saw some very happy faces; everybody was surprised that everything was working so smoothly. BMW always gave me maximum support, especially in the WTCC. Driving the Formula One car is another step. I am very proud that I am doing this. The car was fantastic. Everything is so precise; I was really amazed – because usually you need more time to work on all the details of the car. I expected the car to be much rougher. But it feels rather like a beautiful BMW 7 Series, not like a Formula One car.”
BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: “After just a few installation laps on Thursday, Alessandro Zanardi had far more time today to enjoy his Formula One comeback. I was impressed with how well the modifications on the car are working. Alessandro felt comfortable from the word go, which has also been proved by his lap times. It’s obvious that he is no Formula One newcomer. He has not forgot how to drive a race car like this at the limit.”

Because Zanardi can generate more force with his right limb, the engineers had moved the car’s braking pedal from the left to the right side of the cockpit. The right prosthesis is fixed to the brake pedal via Velcro tape. In order to make the most effective use of the narrow space in the cockpit, Zanardi uses specially made prostheses. They are considerably smaller than the ones he uses normally. He shifts gears with a paddle on the right rear side of the steering wheel. On the left side there is another paddle, which is used to accelerate the car.
On Sunday, Zanardi will complete more laps on the 4.005-kilometre track. The highlight of the weekend, the DELL Formula BMW World Final, will get underway at 14:30hrs (13:30hrs GMT). In total, 37 talented drivers will be fighting for title glory and an attractive winner’s prize: a Formula One test drive with the BMW Sauber F1 Team.

Copyright 2006 The News Market/BMW-used with permission on SCNews. No reuse without their permission.

Honda's F1 team to start testing Tuesday

SCNews Wire-The Honda Racing F1 Team will commence its preparations for the 2007 Formula One season next week when the winter testing programme gets underway at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on Tuesday 28 November.

Running on Bridgestone tyres for the first time since their sole supply came into effect, the main focus for the Honda team will be the evaluation of the tyre characteristics as well as developing an in-depth understanding of how the RA106, last season’s race car, performs on the new tyres. In addition, the team will be running development items in preparation for the debut of the 2007 car early next year.

Rubens Barrichello, newly appointed Test and Reserve Driver Christian Klien and test driver James Rossiter will conduct the driving duties.

Jenson Button is currently en route from Japan where he attended the Honda Racing Thank You Day at the Motegi circuit on Thursday. There he met some of the 26,000 Honda customers invited to a special celebration of Honda’s motorsport participation. He recently sustained two hairline cracks to his ribs whilst participating in a karting test scheduled as part of his winter preparation. As a result, Jenson will not take part in next week’s test to ensure that the condition is not further aggravated.

Following the three-day test in Barcelona next week, the Honda Racing F1 Team will be conducting a further six days of testing before the Christmas break at the Circuito de Jerez from 6-8 and 13-15 December.

A daily report and lap times from the tests will be available every evening on HondaRacingF1.com

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All news used with permission from HondaRacingF1.com. Photos copyright Steven Tee/LAT Photographic no reuse of news or photos posted here.

GPR.... will Vanski's entry dominate?

I got to drive Van's 936 a bit today...let's all hope that Vanski's 936 won't dominate in this manner (as the video)...but then there was another Porsche in the field that was very, very fast today.

Dave K

Jan/Feb issue of Model Car Racing

Some features in the Jan/Feb issue of Model Car Racing are: Strombecker and Revell 1962 Ferrari GTOs by Bill Wright

Track Test: Fly 1962 Ferrari GTO by Marc Purdham

Real Race Tracks on a Tabletop: Paramount Ranch Track (with optional lane-changing & pit lanes) for Scalextric Sport, Classic, SCX or NINCO in 9 x 23 Feet by Robert Schleicher

Real Race Tracks on a Tabletop: Paramount Ranch Track (with optional lane-changing & pit lanes) for Carrera in 9 x 23-Feet by Robert Schleicher
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Thanks to the man himself, Mr. Robert Schleicher, for use of his cover art and information here on SCNews.
DaveK
Publisher, Slot Car News

Spirit news-Peugot 406 and a surprise!

Photos from Spirit have just arrived! A Peugot to show and something else hidden in there....



Sharp eyes win a prize...what do you see in the photo of the new Peugot?

Rolex Series attendance up for 2006 season

SCNews Wire-DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – New racing venues, close on-track action and championships that came down to the final laps of the season all contributed to record numbers in television viewership, attendance and media placements for the 2006 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve.

Beginning with the 44th Rolex 24 At Daytona in January and ending with the Discount Tire Sunchaser nine-hour finale at Miller Motorsports Park on Labor Day Weekend, the 2006 Rolex Series season was full of door-to-door racing in both the Daytona Prototype and GT classes. Fans both at the track and watching at home took notice.

With a four percent increase in ratings on SPEED, and eight percent jumps in households and viewership, Rolex Series races attracted nearly a quarter million viewers per race. SPEED has been the home of the Rolex Series since its inception in 2000, and television ratings for Rolex Series races regularly rank among the top-tier of road racing series on the motorsports network.

Homestead-Miami Speedway saw a 75 percent increase in attendance and corporate sales were up 300 percent, while Barber Motorsports Park had its largest Rolex Series crowd to date in 2006. Strong crowds for the Crown Royal Grand American Challenge of Long Beach, the Mexico City 250, the Brumos Porsche 250, the Sonoma 250 and the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course also contributed to the record attendance figures.
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Only 3 months till Daytona!!!!
DaveK
News and photos used with permission of the Grand American Series.

GPR Prizes...MRE&AB Slotsport

Some great concours prizes to announce on the eve of the deadline for the Global Proxy Race 2007.

From MRE a Paasche airbrush.

From AB Slotsport 4 chassis!






Scrutineering has begun for the Global Proxy Race at the Technical Headquarters in Woodbridge Connecticut. We're expecting a hotly contested race and a great manufacturers battle between Porsche and Ferrari in the upcoming races next year.