Pix of work on GPR cars

[Wet Coast Racer]

Another great looking car, Alan! Gonna crush 'em with that motor, eh?

[bartbrn]

Great model of a great car. Some say this was the best looking of the racing Ferrari prototypes. Is this a coupe version of the 312, which itself was the F1 car?

Robert --

Speaking of great models, I thought you, and anyone else within easy driving distance of Stamford, might want to check this out:

http://www.stamfordmuseum.org/builttoscale.htm

The Stamford Museum & Nature Center has an exhibit running through October 29 called "Built To Scale: Auto, Boat, And Plane Model Masterpieces." The foreword to the exhibit catalog is by Marshall Buck, one of the principals of Creative Miniature Associates. Several of the models are CMA items, there are also entries from the late Spanish master modeler Manuel Olivé Sans (among the best is a 1/10th scale rendition of Gus Andrey's 1961 Maserati Tipo 61 birdcage), the legendary Gerald Wingrove, Chris Etzel, Sean McKenna, Alain Bouissou, and others -- including Marshall Buck, of course.

BTW, the 312P Coupés weren't just a *version* of the envelope-bodied 312 F1 cars, they were the very same cars (only two of which were built), rebodied as coupés just for LeMans; typically for the 1969 312Ps they retired early with mechanical ills, and as Ferrari spent the latter part of 1969 playing catch-up to Porsche's 917 with their own 5-liter 512s, the two 312Ps were sold off to NART. Chinetti rebodied the cars to a form very similar to Ferrari's later 312PBs, so the beautiful 312P coupés were seen only at LeMans '69, and then were no more.

Bart

[Robert Livingston]

Thanks, Bart, I wondered about that. I looked on Barchetta.com and found the pics, but no narrative.

Love those pro models on the Stamford site. Could be worth the drive!

PS Alan, what is the origin of the Land Rover model?

[beejay7]

Robert.....It's a Series One Landy from the Britains range of 1/32nd Farm Vehicles.

Regards

Alan

[Terry Noe]

Shakedown laps with the 917.

Initial shakedown laps with the tsrf chassis yielded a 11.895 in the (center) yellow lane. A Slot.it 956 SW holds the lap record at 10.640. Now before you start making any assumptions lets get all the details on the table. TSRF main chassis and plastic center held together with tape, Ortman rear tires not trued, slot.it wood guide not secure in guide holder (i.e. no screw), no body, no additional weight and the SW mystery motor not secure in pod. I was too nervous to really push the car hard since all pieces are just being fitted together. I'm hoping to have all the loose ends with the chassis taken care of tomorrow night and the body mounted on Sunday. House of Kolors kandy (Orgasmic Violet Pearl) has been ordered and will be applied to the body next week pending approval of TDM PR manager.

btw-sorry, no pictures. Use your imagination.
Darko Slovic

[Austin]

Beejay7 I really like what you did with that Ferrari

[Austin]

Updated photo of SpiritRacers car



Austin's Mustang



plus a team car that we are both working on may or may not be entered, we will see how if works

[Robert Livingston]

Terry,
There are many tricks to setting up a TSRF chassis. One is to true the metal plate against a reference plane. Another is to clean up the plastic hooks to allow free motion of the plastic backbone/motor pod/guide holder. If you are running plastic wheels, I recommend Loctite or similar to ensure that they don't move on the axles.

The TSRF chassis has a high motor mount (higher than most), to allow a magnet under the motor, a layer of plastic, and 1/16" track clearance. This promotes weight transfer during cornering, so the car can be set up to corner faster than most of the plastic cars. Low weight on the pan may be needed, toward the front. Once you true those TSRF-Ortmann tires, the car should equal or beat the Slot.It's.

I tested one TSRF motor at about 35k, no load, on 12v. The stock gearing is good for tracks with 12 and 16' straights; more reduction could help on short tracks, as the braking is not the greatest with the stock gear ratio, at the end of a short straight. However, with larger spur gears you run into trouble with the gears hitting the track, if you take too much off the tires when truing. I have kept the stock gears, which run silently, as the spur is plastic. Other ratios rely on an aluminum spur.

Initial shakedown laps with the tsrf chassis yielded a 11.895 in the (center) yellow lane. A Slot.it 956 SW holds the lap record at 10.640. Now before you start making any assumptions lets get all the details on the table. TSRF main chassis and plastic center held together with tape, Ortman rear tires not trued, slot.it wood guide not secure in guide holder (i.e. no screw), no body, no additional weight and the SW mystery motor not secure in pod. I was too nervous to really push the car hard since all pieces are just being fitted together. I'm hoping to have all the loose ends with the chassis taken care of tomorrow night and the body mounted on Sunday. House of Kolors kandy (Orgasmic Violet Pearl) has been ordered and will be applied to the body next week pending approval of TDM PR manager.

btw-sorry, no pictures. Use your imagination.
Darko Slovic

[Terry Noe]

Gpr

Robert,
Thanks for the tips.
The 917 body makes the steel mounting tabs come real close to the back edge of the front wheel openings. Before I trimmed the sides of the steel pan, I cut and bent two new body mounts farther back than the front OEM mounts. This will allow me to mount the body more securely and it will look better.

I didn't use the tsrf motor, since there is at least one track in this series with only a 1.5 amp P/S. I don't want to chance being dq'd for tripping breakers.

After I ruined the stock spur, I installed a 46 tooth as per TSRF recommedations. The acceleration/braking on this car is excellent compared to my fastest Rothmans 956. I know their two totally different animals but Slot.it and Fly is all I own next to the TSRF, so my comparisons are limited.

My car has aluminum wheels. You ever try to get those things off? Yes, I removed the axle and wheel set screws first. The wheels and spur gear must be pressed on also. Extremely tight fit there. I had to use a vise. I figured I'd rather ruin the axle than both wheels. Somehow the spur gear got caught up in the process and was heavily damaged also. The spur/pinion was $9.79 and the axle was replaced with a spare slot.it axle. Needless to say I was po'd at that point.

I plan to fasten the steel pan and plastic pod together towards the front of the chassis. This will still let the rear move up and down. IMO, the guide area doesn't need to float around. I'll test it both ways to be sure.

Terry

[Robert Livingston]

Terry, you might want to think twice before you change the articulation of the TSRF chassis!

Robert,
Thanks for the tips.
The 917 body makes the steel mounting tabs come real close to the back edge of the front wheel openings. Before I trimmed the sides of the steel pan, I cut and bent two new body mounts farther back than the front OEM mounts. This will allow me to mount the body more securely and it will look better.

I didn't use the tsrf motor, since there is at least one track in this series with only a 1.5 amp P/S. I don't want to chance being dq'd for tripping breakers.

After I ruined the stock spur, I installed a 46 tooth as per TSRF recommedations. The acceleration/braking on this car is excellent compared to my fastest Rothmans 956. I know their two totally different animals but Slot.it and Fly is all I own next to the TSRF, so my comparisons are limited.

My car has aluminum wheels. You ever try to get those things off? Yes, I removed the axle and wheel set screws first. The wheels and spur gear must be pressed on also. Extremely tight fit there. I had to use a vise. I figured I'd rather ruin the axle than both wheels. Somehow the spur gear got caught up in the process and was heavily damaged also. The spur/pinion was $9.79 and the axle was replaced with a spare slot.it axle. Needless to say I was po'd at that point.

I plan to fasten the steel pan and plastic pod together towards the front of the chassis. This will still let the rear move up and down. IMO, the guide area doesn't need to float around. I'll test it both ways to be sure.

Terry

[Terry Noe]

Tsrf

Terry, you might want to think twice before you change the articulation of the TSRF chassis!

Which part? Replacing the pin guide with a slot.it wood guide or fastening the plastic and steel parts together as shown on the tsrf site or the new body mount flanges?
I highly doubt the body mounting flanges will affect anything except eliminate the chance of the body being broke due to a careless racer.

Terry

[Robert Livingston]

No, "the articulation" refers to the way the pan floats on the plastic chassis. The TSRF site shows some nuts and bolts holding the plate to the plastic, but I do believe (could be wrong) that this is a loose, rattly fit. The bolts are there only to prevent separation during hard impacts, not to limit the relative motion. At least, that's the way I understand it!

As for the guide, replacing the pin with a shoe can help, under many Proxy conditions. However, the front tires are intended to be weight bearing, and keep the pan level.

[Terry Noe]

TSRF and new track plan

Robert,
I agree with you on the floating pan of the tsrf chassis. The way the site describes it, these bolts can be tightened or loosened to however much "play" is needed on the chassis pan. I wasn't intending on fastening it solid. The reason I used masking tape was to temporarily hold it togehter while testing. In fact, the tape probably wasn't needed. I shouldn't have even been testing it since its no where near ready for testing. I just couldn't resist.
Take today for example, I went out and started weight jacking the chassis to see how it responded. Times were all over the place, then the spur side rear wheel came off and the non-fastened motor started to climb the pinion and worked its self out of the pod. Its time to stop running it and start loctiting a few fasteners. Speaking of which, what type of "blue" do you use? I want to be able to take it apart again at some point. I really enjoy "messing" with it. Hopefully my "messing" will pay off in about 104 days.

Ortman tires revisited.
I trued the Ortmans and it went fairly well. The spur has plenty of room before hitting the track. Before the wheel came off the car was smooth and the track straight is way too short for this motor to reach its maximum.

Off topic. New track plan.
I just found/modified a track plan and just finished putting together a bill of materials for it. This track will find its home along the North wall in my shop and will fold up to the wall when not in use (highly doubtful it will ever get folded up). Long term plan is to sell this track to one of the regular racers in/around Iowa and have another track to go race on.

Have a great weekend.
Terry

[Robert Livingston]

I received two pair of TSRF Ortmann tires today; they are the same size as the Fly Classics replacements made by Ortmann, and fit on the same rims. They are better than the Fly replacements because they are more concentric, and they have nicely rounded outer shoulders. They are made in a different mold. I also got two pair of TSRF aluminum set screw rims; they seem to be seem be the same rims sold and made by BWA (32006), with the idea of replacing Fly Classics rims. Set screws are nice and big, I think it is size 3-48.

I use Permatex Medium Strength Blue Thread Locker, which sometimes lets go when used for wheels. It works well on less stressed threads such as chassis nuts and bolts.

My TSRF car has the motor screwed in with little flat head 2mm screws. I think they came in the kit. Motor doesn't budge in the mount.

[Terry Noe]

Tsrf

Robert,
Is there such a thing as too much grip? My car is ready to go sans the body but it seems at times the tires are gripping too much. Its like the tires are working well in the corners then all of a sudden they let go and the rear of the car jumps towards the outer edge of the curve. It doesn't deslot btw. I'm hoping weight will help with this.
Is it permitted to shave some of the tread away to reduce the contact patch made by the tire? This will most definitely be a last resort.

mailman