MB Slot Ferrari 430 Challenge kits and RTR's

New Ferrari F430's at REH Distributors in Cincy this week.
BBR SL002/A Ferrari F430 Challenge RTR Limited Edition Retail $105.99 (very limited quantity)
BBR SL002 Ferrari F430 Challenge kit Retail $79.99

BMW F1 video - press conference

Schumacher returns!!!!!!!!!

From SpeedTv.com it's official!

Michael Schumacher has returned to Formula 1 for Ferrari in place of Massa.

BMW leaves F1

The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season. Resources freed up as a result are to be dedicated to the development of new drive technologies and projects in the field of sustainability. BMW will continue to be actively involved in other motor sports series. The landmark decision to restructure BMW Motorsport’s activities was made at the Board of Management’s meeting yesterday.

“Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it’s a resolute step in view of our company's strategic realignment," explained Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us. Mario Theissen has been in charge of our motor sports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula One racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this,” said, Reithofer.

Dr. Klaus Draeger, the member of the Board of Management responsible for development, said: “It only took us three years to establish ourselves as a top team with the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in the current season. Nevertheless, our ten years of Formula One experience have had a major impact on our development engineers. We have racing to thank for numerous technological innovations as well as the competitive spirit that drives us to develop mass-produced cars.” Possible redundancies in Munich and Hinwil cannot be quantified at present. Says Draeger: “Since we only made this decision yesterday, we cannot provide any more precise information. We will develop and assess various scenarios and do our best to find a solution for the employees in Hinwil and the staff members involved in the Formula One project in Munich. We are aware of the responsibility we shoulder and will inform the staff as soon as we can make a clear statement."

Says BMW Motorsport director Dr. Mario Theissen: “Of course, we, the employees in Hinwil and Munich, would all have liked to continue this ambitious campaign and show that this season was just a hiccup following three successful years. But I can understand why this decision was made from a corporate perspective. We will now focus sharply on the remaining races and demonstrate our fighting spirit and put in a good result as we bid farewell to Formula One racing.”

BMW will continue its programs in a number of motor sports series: BMW will appear on the starting grid in the touring car series and young driver promotion program in Formula BMW. This will be supplemented by BMW’s participation in ALMS, the American Le Mans Series, endurance races and close-to-production customer sports. Furthermore, BMW Motorrad Motorsport will continue its campaigns, with the super bike world championship leading the way.
BMW looks back on a long track record of success in the field of motor sports:
BMW achieved eight Formula One victories from 1982 to 1985 with Brabham. In 1983, BMW won the driver’s championship with Nelson Piquet (Brabham BMW). The last win with the legendary turbo engine followed with Benetton in 1986. Ten victories were scored during the partnership with Williams (2000-2005). BMW had a total of 19 grand prix wins and 33 pole positions before the BMW Sauber F1 Team era.

In its debut season in 2006, the newly established BMW Sauber F1 Team wound up fifth in the constructor’s championship. In 2007, the German-Swiss team came in second after McLaren-Mercedes’ exclusion from the points standings. The 2008 season saw the team in the hunt for the world championship until the end of the season, winding up third. Polish-born Robert Kubica achieved the first and hitherto only GP victory in Canada on June 8, 2008. So far, the BMW Sauber F1 Team has taken one pole position (Kubica in Bahrain in 2008) and 16 podium finishes. The BMW Sauber F1 Team occupies the eighth spot in the manufacturer’s standings in the season presently underway.

News used with permission from BMW Motorsport.

Powerslot Lola's

These two Powerslot Lola's have arrived in the US at REH Distributors.

86965 Lola T-298 Repsol
86964 Lola T-298 Banco Occidental

New Avant Slot Peugeot 908 HDi #8

Criccrac.com is showing the new Avant Slot Peugeot 908 HDi from LeMans 2008, the blue and black No.8. at this link.

Mainline Rush 36k Motor, New Version

The following report was filed by Robert Livingston of Slot Car News.

Les at Mainline Hobbies kindly sent us two samples of the new-production Rush 36k motor. The first version was tested by the Slot Car News Motor List staff at 36,600 RPM at 12 volts; with torque at 215 gcm/12v, about as close as you can measure to the specified value of 218 gcm. Overall power in the mid range of RPM (the maximum power band) was computed at 19.7 Watts, which is plenty powerful indeed. By comparison, a Slot.It long-can Boxer 2 puts out 18.3 Watts.

The new Rush 36k has cooling holes in the top and bottom of the case; these vents should allow the performance to stay strong for a longer time during a race. Heat in a motor increases current draw and lets the torque fall off, so heat is the enemy (especially in heavily loaded magnet racing, for which this motor would be well suited).

Both new test motors have balancing marks on the armature stack; one motor had blue epoxy applied to balance it. The other was evidently in balance and needed nothing. Both seemed smooth as they sang at full RPM.

No-load RPM tests of the two new sample motors resulted in 38,145 RPM at 12 volts for one motor, and 38,146 RPM for the other. These are average values for about thirty seconds of running, after a few minutes of warm up. Torque tests (an average of nine readings at stall, around a full rotation of the armature) showed a hefty 257 gram-centimeters for both motors. This is remarkable consistency for production-quality motors. The test motors are exceeding their specs (36,000 RPM, 193 gcm) by a considerable amount.

Maximum power output was computed at a whopping 24.5 Watts on 12 volts, in the mid range of both torque and RPM. Looking through the Slot Car News Motor List, only the 38k and 46k NSR long-can Kings produce more power. The Rush weighs only 22 grams, with long shafts on both ends; the Kings are 10 grams heavier, at 32 grams.

The new version of the 36k Rush motor is a bear. If you need high revs and LOTS of power, in a small, light package, this is your motor.

Thanks to Les at Mainline Hobbies for the chance to test these motors.

Live Spa 24 video feed link.

http://www.fiagt.com/live.php

And here too!

No plain Jane for sure... Sideways DP white kit!

A surprise from Sideways, a Sideways Daytona Prototype white kit is being shown on Electric Dreams via their newsletter. Check it out, very cool to have a plain white kit... now... where are those Brumos decals I bought last years????? Hmmm....

24 Hours of Spa

Check this site for details about the 24 Hours of Spa, which is this weekend. http://www.total24hours.com/24h/index.html#/en/about24hrs/

3 teams penalized for rules infractions in Grand Am Series

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 23, 2009) - Three teams competing in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, have been fined and penalized for rule infractions committed this past weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.

Penalized were two teams competing in the Daytona Prototype class, the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley and the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, along with the No. 86 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 competing in the Acxiom GT division.

The three teams were found to be using equipment in violation of Section 9-7 (refueling equipment).

The infractions were discovered following the race on July 19.

The two Daytona Prototype teams were fined $15,000, while the GT team was fined $7,500. In addition, each team and driver was assessed a 15-point penalty in their respective championship.

News used with permission from Grand Am Series.

Porsche CEO forced out... merger with VW?

GTSlots Pa website

Rich Shanfeld of Great Traditions has a website showing the dates of the Regional and National Final races for the races he will be hosting. See the website at this link.

MasBlog?

Well you find a new site every day... well new to me anyway. Mas Slot is one of the best slot magazine's in the world and, naturally, they have a blog. Check out MasSlot's blog!

Races at Professor Motor

A charity race benefitting Habitat for Humanity.

And a Sideways Daytona Prototype regional race.

An honorable man has died

I had the good fortune to meet him years ago in the Leica Gallery in Manhattan. We talked for a few minutes, and because of my awe I completely forget what we talked about. I remember is gravely voice and easy smile. As a model for young journalists you couldn't ask for anyone better. His straightforward style should be emulated by more journalists today...

DaveK

Ken Block and James May... an unlikely pairing!

SpeedChannel on Slot Forum!!!!!

A member has shown up on Slot Forum that shocked me... "speedchannel" is now a member. I've made lots of noise about my distaste for the type of programming that Speed is focusing on. So, I'd like to know if you feel the same. Whether you do or not it's not my aim to support my own feelings, I'd like you... whoever you are... to go to Slot Forum and tell this new member how you feel.

My response:
...No, I like shows about racing, and coverage of racing. I find these shows to be aimed not at fans of racing. Speed, and many threads on slot car message boards have shown this, would like to see RACING.

It's great to see Speed reach out to slotters in this way. But if you look at the slot cars that are made by nearly every slot company, you will find that the VAST majority of the slot cars are NOT the theme that speed is choosing to aim nearly all of their programs on. Sure I like to see a variety of "speed" themed shows, but the core of Speed... IMHO... should be coverage of racing...

I know that it's more costly to cover racing and very cheap to produce reality shows... but coverage of racing is what I'd like (ie a regular show about sports car racing).

2009 LeMans 24-Peugeot video

A video from MotorsTV with highlights of the LeMans 24 from the Peugeot point of view.

Top 100 slotters of all time?

This website has a list of their list of the top 100 slotters of all time. See this list at this link.

New NSR 917k team set

Criccrac.com is showing the new NSR 917k set.

Audi R8 LMS GT-video

From MotorsTV, a video about the new Audi R8 LMS GT car.

Brumos 250 "mishaps" video

I'm glad that Grand Am has started to put video's online from recent races...

New Sloting Plus wheels

From Sloting Plus:

We are pleased to present you new America Aluminium_Magnesium alloy wheels Silver finishing 1,1 g average weight in photos joined...
References are ( selling by packs of two units ) :
SLPL 4715 America wheels 15 15.0 x 8.0 mm
SLPL 4716 America wheels 16 15.9 x 8.5 mm
SLPL 4717 America wheels 17 16.9 x 8.5 mm

AutoArt Alfa!

Hey now! AutoArt snuck this one in... I didn't see this before. 1/32 Alfa!

ALFA ROMEO GIULIA GTAM JARAMA 1970 HEZEMANS #1

Save Milwaukee?

Danni O'Laisip is trying to start a campaign to save the Milwaukee Mile track... see this link for more info.

From his blog:
I could write about a lot of things this week. The ALMS is denying all rumors about Grand Am DP buyouts or mergers. The ALMS is closer to the ACO than ever. The ALMS admits that the 2009 Le Mans break was too long. OK. That's all great - really. I could say more but do not have time. The FIA and FOTA are still fighting and plans continue to move forward for a new FOTA series. This is just getting silly. FOTA - go for it. Bernie and Max have shown their time has passed them by. But there is something that has been keeping me up at night all week and now the news broke - The Milwaukee Mile has been driven into the ground by a promotions hack and it needs your help.

Some background - The Milwaukee Mile is a $150 to $180 million, newly renovated asset owned by the State of WI, overseen by the WI State Fair Board, and it's promotional rights are leased out. The current promoter is Wisconsin Motorsports' Claude Napier. The Giuffre Brothers successfully ran the track from 1983 until 1991. The Mile is 106 years old. It's North America's oldest continuously run race track and has always had a major sanctioned race.

Stories (1, 2, 3) have been out there for a few weeks now. On July 2, Mark Belling discussed the situation in depth on his radio show. The Milwaukee Mile can't pay the bills it owes to the IRL and NASCAR. We are talking about nearly $4 million for the 2009 races. Claude "The Hack" Napier, head of Wisconsin Motorsports can't seem to make money with a NASCAR weekend. As of July 8 the remainder of 2009's races have been canceled. In 2010 the track could be closed.

The Giuffre Brothers have offered - pleaded with the State Fair Board to allow them to come out of retirement and take over the running of The Milwaukee Mile. The Giuffre's have reported that they have backing from John Menard. Mr Menard runs a small lumber yard hardware store business and has a small interest in motorsports. The offer seems like a no-brainer for Governor Doyle and Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Mile needs your help. The following people or organizations can make a difference but they need to know that Wisconsin's racing heritage and The Mile are worth saving. Please contact them now.
WI State Fair Board
640 South 84th Street
West Allis, WI 53214
1.800.884.FAIR

Jim Doyle
WI Governor
Madison Office
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707
608-266-1212

Senator Herb Kohl
Washington Office
330 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5653
Fax: (202) 224-9787

Senator Russ Feingold
Washington, DC
506 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4904
(202) 224-5323
TDD (202) 224-1280
Fax (202) 224-2725

Scott Walker
Milwaukee County Executive
901 N. 9th Street
Courthouse, Room 306
Milwaukee, WI 53233-1458
Phone: 414-278-4211
Fax: 414-223-1375
countyexec@milwcnty.com

Dan Devine
West Allis Mayor
7525 W. Greenfield Ave
West Allis, WI 53214
(414) 302-8200

Posted by Danni O'Laisip

Aston Martin Vantage-Cargraphic deco

Timo Glock introduces us to his crew

Timo and his F1 crew in this video.

"Smoke" on Nascar, team ownership, racing...

Tony Stewart during a recent interview after the Firecracker... er... 4th of July race.

New GM's coming again?

SCX Pro Nascars

See the specs and read the newsletter for the new SCX Pro Nascar at this link.

Racer Ford P68-photos

RCR51A - Alan Mann Racing - Nurburgring 1000kms 1968 - #7 R.Attwood / F.Gardner
RCR51B - Alan Mann Racing - RAC TT Oulton Park 1968 - #31 R.Attwood

Both models will be ready for deliveries by the end of July.

Volvo... racing? Sure!

Volvo's racing history on this video.

New Sideways Gainsco Daytona Prototype

Coming soon, the Gurney Gainsco Daytona Prototype from Sideways.

Ninco Xlot photos!

Photos, tons of photos, of the new Ninco Xlot cars.
Thank You Giacomo of Amazingslot.com!!!!