Slot Car Proxy Racing Information

[Super Tires]

Slot Car Proxy Racing

Around 2002, 15 years ago, slot car proxy racing became really big around the world. We think that there is information that everyone should know about this sport, especially all of the newcomers starting out now. So here are some questions we hope will help generate some interesting info on slot car proxy racing:

Does anyone know who was the creator of this style of racing? He deserves a lot of credit!

Does everyone in the race run with the exact same car? What parts are allowed to be different and/or tweaked? Wheels? Tires?

For anyone who has taken part in slot car proxy racing: Did you ever win a feature race? What race program and year was it?

Who won the points championship after racing on 10 different tracks around the world?

Who are some of the best track hosts ever?

Has anyone won a proxy race with Super Tires? Was it with silicone or urethane (yellow dog) Super Tires?

Team Super Tires

(Okay, so the last 2 questions were just for us. We do like to hear when our Super Tires products work well for our customers )

[RichD]

I have never entered a car in a proxy race, but my club has hosted many of them so I am familiar with the hosting end of the deal. I expect that proxy racing has been around for a long time, but with the Internet and e-mails it is now much easier to organize a proxy race. Imagine what it would be like if you only had snail mail and phone calls!
I know that thre are proxies for a single make of car, it is probably rare for those to be limited to a specific model. In some cases complete specifications are published for all of the cars that have been entered in a particular proxy series. If you have a lot of time on your hands Slot Car Illustrated has a proxy section and you could look at the older posts for results, specifications and pictures of the cars. You could also find out who ran each proxy series.
Several members of my club have entered cars in various proxies with considerable success, hopefully they will speak up here.
With respect to the folks that host races I can only judge them by what they post. A few clubs or individual track owners did not seem to be completely prepared to host a race, others do what I might call a professional job.

[Sports Racer]

Many years ago I started the International Proxy Series (IPS) which is now managed by Alexis. In it's early years the default tyre was Ninco Classic 7 x 20 which provided the entrants with a standard tyre which worked well on all the tracks that were part of the proxy.

The reason we had a standard tyre is it takes the guesswork out of the biggest variable in a proxy. You can choose the wrong motor or chassis and still do OK in a proxy but if you get the tyre choice wrong you are stuck with a poor performing car for the entire proxy.

This year I resurrected the Slot Car Illustrated Touring Car Proxy and after 1 round (13 to go) there is a noticeable difference in the performance of the entered cars due to the tyres they are using. It's way too early to tell (and I'll know more after tomorrow's 2nd round) but the performance by Radarek's car with yellow dogs has prompted a lot of questions amongst the local racers on where can they buy these tyres.

If Radarek's car continually does well on all the tracks in the proxy I will seriously look at having yellow dogs as the standard tyre for next years Touring Car Proxy.

Well done on making such a good product.

Paul

[RichD]

In my experience you would be better off if all of the cars use the same type of tire. The hitch with doing that is that if people normally use something else they will probably be at a disadvantage. Each type of tire has its own unique properties, that also might be the case with different makes of the same type of tire.
I believe that Axel Umpfenbach is the European distributor for Super Tires.

[Super Tires]

Hi Sports Racer,

"The reason we had a standard tyre is it takes the guesswork out of the biggest variable in a proxy. You can choose the wrong motor or chassis and still do OK in a proxy but if you get the tyre choice wrong you are stuck with a poor performing car for the entire proxy."

This quote is well stated & I think most everyone would agree with it.


Where are all of the feature & points champions? Let’s hear from you. Did anyone here ever win more than 10 features wins in their racing career?

Team Super Tires

[GTOking]

NASCAR Proxy

I manage the DaVols Forum Cup Proxy which is listed in the Proxy section here on SCI. Our rules mandate Super Tire urethanes be on all cars entered. The tires work well for us and have for many years. We have a group of top notch proxy car builders that makes our series very competitive and difficult to win a feature or the championship. Super Tires is a big part of our proxy series. I invite any and all to check our forums and consider taking part as either a host, car builder or both.

[GTOking]

Where are all of the feature & points champions? Let’s hear from you. Did anyone here ever win more than 10 features wins in their racing career?

Team Super Tires[/B][/SIZE][/QUOTE]

The DaVols Forum Cup Proxy all time feature winner is The Old Jaybird with 20 total feature wins in his career. Jay has retired from slot cars. Tied for 2nd are myself, GTOking and 34ever1 with 19 career wins each. My proxy racing experience began in 2013 and in the 2013,14,15 seasons I was able to win championships in the COT Division, not an easy task. All on Super Tires.

[Radarek]

Nick


So far on yellow dogs

Targa Florio 2016/2017 proxy
1st and 3rd in classA

Trans Am 2017/2018 proxy
Still in race -2 more rounds
1st overall, only car to finish in top 3 every round 3x1st, 2x2nd, 2x3rd along rubber and urethane

Ford vs Porsche 2017/2017 proxy
Highest scoring car on urethane but that just started

SCI touring 2017/2018 proxy
First after 2 round laping 3 and 4 laps extra over second car..

My opinion yellow dogs are great, gonna make a video how to get most of them when touring proxy is over

[Super Tires]

Question for Radarek:

I hear through the grapevine that you are one of the best slot car builders and set up person around. That being said, you should be a winner with any urethane tire. Is that true, or do you feel that the Yellow Dogs are the deciding factor?

Team Super Tires

[Radarek]

Ok.....
To everyone. ....
I'm not been paid by Nick to said that.....but...

I have use diffrent urethane in the past with different results like: othmans, Pg, xpg, yellow dogs and some homemade too. Most consistent out of box if I can say that were old grey dust Othmans and Yellow Dogs. As times goes, for me best on the market are Yellow dogs for now . That is a good tire to start setting up your car and I can be sure that performance will not drop drastically during 10 or 12 races. I have still some cars with tires installed 3 years ago which still go strong.
I did some proxies few years ago when Pg tires where mandatory and it ended bad for me but I that in the past I have also knew less then today. What I found with yellow dogs that that tire really improve performance of the car vs other tire competition. I don't want to say any negatives about other brands as I have friends using them with good results too but I can go further then them on yellow dogs.
That is my opinion

Radarek

[Super Tires]

Hi GTOking,

It’s great to see that the Super Tires urethane (yellow dog) are the top choice for the DaVols Forum Cup Proxy Program.

If you open the program to any urethane or rubber tire, do you think that you would get more racers in your proxy program?

Team Super Tires

[F1Fan]

Replying to your question hopefully does not come across as bragging.

I have won many races, and have not kept record of them all, but here are some of the series that I have won overall.

CANAM - very proud as I was the first Canadian to do so
Last Open Road Proxy
SCI Touring Car Series
Group 5 North American
SCCC & MR Slotcar Canadian Proxy

I am only a rookie with only about 5 years of proxy racing under my belt, still a long way behind the legends like Smokeio, Redlynr, Mody Dick, Mark and others.

Tyre choice and preparation is super important in doing well in any proxy.

Cheers

Chris

[Super Tires]

Hi F1Fan,

Appreciate your input, but we were trying to determine if it’s better to leave the tire choice to the racer. Since you have raced and won in a number of proxy races, what is the criteria? Do the programs usually allow any urethane or rubber tire or are you limited to one standard tire for everyone? Do the same rules apply to silicone tires?

Team Super Tires

[F1Fan]

Hi F1Fan,

Appreciate your input, but we were trying to determine if it’s better to leave the tire choice to the racer. Since you have raced and won in a number of proxy races, what is the criteria? Do the programs usually allow any urethane or rubber tire or are you limited to one standard tire for everyone? Do the same rules apply to silicone tires?

Team Super Tires

Then it is best to respond as the current Race Director for the Group 5 proxy series. Rob, Dennis and I are now in the 3rd year of running this series and it has been very well received, with very positive feedback, multiple track records along the series and innovative features like live streaming, colorful car specs reports, stickers and thropies.

The field is limited to 24 cars and we have had a waiting list of entrants that wanted to join us.

Tyres and/or Tires:

This proxy is a rubber tyre proxy - rubber tyres IMO are the best compromise for performance and their ability to work on multiple track surfaces. If correctly prepared they are very fast, just check the results from the Porsche / Ford proxy on HRW. Rubber is leading the pack in a series that have a mix of both urethane and rubber.

The Group 5 does not allow silicone tyres, there are very few tracks in this region that race with silicone tyres and it will thus be hard to test your car and find a suitable race venue. Silicone requires a very clean track to work well.

Urethane - great tyre and we use it for local club racing. Hard to single-spec it as tyre, since it will be hard to tell one make urethane from another once the tyre has been sanded and profiled. (unless you sand it again). There is also the "grey" area of original Ortmans. Some racers from before my time, still has some of these available to them and this tyre is known to outperform many other types, however it has not been available for some time.

Cheers

[GTOking]

Hi GTOking,

It’s great to see that the Super Tires urethane (yellow dog) are the top choice for the DaVols Forum Cup Proxy Program.

If you open the program to any urethane or rubber tire, do you think that you would get more racers in your proxy program?

Team Super Tires

Great question, one that I really do not have an answer for. The DaVols Forum Cup Proxy has consistently featured good car counts each season. I have not seen the tire rule prevent newcomers from joining the proxy although there has been off season discussions about allowing other makes of urethane tires. Our proxy is not a dictatorship and all entrant opinions are considered. My own personal opinion is that the Super Tire urethanes perform well and have worked for our proxy for many years. So, knowing this, I prefer to not to have a tire war being a factor in the proxy and keep the entrant focus on car setups and tire prep. My practice has been to review how we operate the proxy each off season and adjust the rules if needed.

Let me pose this question to Super Tires: Would Super Tires prefer to have tire competition in the DaVols Forum Cup Proxy?