Several racers are departing for the Fray today. More and more will be convening on the sleepy seaside town of Ferndale, California over the next 72 hours to compete in one of the hobby's biggest all T-Jet races. It may even be one of the biggest races in all of slot car racing with somewhere in the area of sixty competitors.

What is the attraction to the Fray? When I talk to people about it, there are two common themes. One is community and the other is competition, in that order. Everyone there enjoys reuniting with friends, meeting new friends and putting names to faces. The competition is hectic, fast-paced and intense. There will be cheers of joy and expletives of disbelief. It's all part of the experience.

The air is filled with anticipation and excitement. To all the Frayers this year, I hope you get seriously Frayed.

I've got one of those friends that, no matter what he touches, he's really good at it. His hobbies vary widely, but he's always successful at his endeavors. He's just one of those lucky, talented guys. We've all seen these guys on track who finish well, even when presented with an unknown track. That's pure talent.

I've got a family member who always has to have the latest technology. They love having all the latest stuff. You know this guy, too. They're in every family or circle of friends. Must be nice to have all that money!

I also have a friend who can MacGuyver anything. Give him some paper, a safety pin and some silly putty and he can make you a ham radio. Odds are that you were in one of those guys' garages or basements recently.

Successful slot car racers tend to be a combination of all three of these traits. Some tools in your slot box are probably from when you first started in the hobby, but the tires have silicone developed just last year. You've honed your skills on tracks throughout the region, state and country. You saw that cool thing that other racer did or had, but didn't have the cash to get one so you made one yourself. You should be proud of yourself. You're a talented high-tech MacGuyver. 

Through the combination and application of these three ingredients, we can all become successful when we apply ourselves.

Oh yeah, and then there's that lucky friend...

Now that you're done snickering about the title... Oh? You're not done? I'll wait.


Ok. Got that out of your system? Good. Let's take lube seriously. (heh heh)

What I've learned in my most recent return to slot cars is that there are several ways to lube up that hot rod of yours. These days I'm mostly running T-Jets, but what I'm learning often applies to other classes of HO cars, other scales of slot cars and radio control cars. There seem to be 2 camps of thought; oil the living daylights out of the gears so they have everything they need or oil just enough to provide the bare minimum film of lubrication needed to get you through a heat or two.

What have I taken from the advice I've been offered by both camps? Take them both seriously, but be selective where to apply that advice. In T-Jets, I've learned to oil the top gears liberally, oil everything else very sparsely, spin the tires a few times with my fingers, then put the car on a warm-up box for a minute or two. If I can reach it and have time, I mop up any oil that got spun off of the gears on the top plate with a paper towel. That gives everything a good coat without adding drag.

For magnet cars, I've found that the sparse method works best, no matter what. Again, no matter how much or how little oil you apply, spin everything you've oiled with your fingers first to coat it, then run it on the warm-up box to spin off any excess. That way less will wind up on the track.

Not sure where to oil? I've found a few resources on the Internet, but the common sense should be applied liberally. Gears, axles and bushings all get oiled.

T-Jet/pancake motor car oiling.
Inline motor car oiling.

One last note, don't forget to oil the front wheels. They turn, too, but they require far less lube attention than gears or rear axles.


Got any tips you'd like to share? Please do.

Using that old Carnegie Hall adage, practice, practice, practice.

Most people from outside of Northern California and Southern Oregon will fly into Redding, CA, San Francisco, CA or Medford, OR and make the drive from there. It's about a 5-6 hour drive from San Francisco up highway 101. If you want to see some of the most beautiful terrain on the planet and have a couple extra hours, head up highway 1 along the Pacific coast. You might need some Dramamine from all the twists, turns and switchbacks.

Here's Rick Burneson's experience at the 2002 Fray. He drove from Southern California.

Old Weird Harold (I think) talks about his trip to the 2003 Fray, which took place in a new, larger venue. 

One industrious race, Tom Bowman of BRP rode his motorcycle from Virginia to the Fray in 2008. Here's his article on the experience.

Here is racer Smalltime's account of his experiences at the 2011 Fray.

I swear I'll make it up there someday.

Some people say slot cars of all scales are making a comeback. For some, they never went away. That said, the local news in Fresno, CA did a story on a local track and the characters that frequent it.

It seems that on the East Coast, slot car racers are getting nostalgic for the dirt track cars of yore. There have been more and more 50s, 60s and 70s cars showing up on Ebay under the description Fairgrounds. Ebay sellers NovaSSman and wert-wert are prolific with their creations. They're not inexpensive, but the craftsmanship appears to be top notch.

What is a fairgrounds car? It's a representation of cars that you see or would have seen in the past at local dirt tracks which are often located at the county fairgrounds. On the VASCRA Yahoo! Group, Mr. Stumpy gives a history and vocabulary lesson on fairgrounds cars. He writes:
Actually, we call these "short track" Stock Cars. Up until the mid fifties, they were all coupes and sedans. Only NASCAR, USAC, and the few other "national" sanctions had "new" cars then.
During the mid-fifties "modern" cars with the "envelope" bodies (no fenders which stuck out) began to appear on local tracks and were often called "Hardtops" as the feeling was that "real" Stock Cars were still the coupe and sedan bodied cars. Few local guys could afford a late model car tro chop up for a Stock Car anyway.
By the early sixties, the Hardtops were popular enough that the coupes were relegated to support class status. The '56 Fords, '57 Chevies and such were the now the top class.
In the mid-sixties the debate began as to whether to allow the "mid-sized" cars to race, such as Chevelles, GTOs, Fairlanes, and so on. In '67 and '68 tracks began to allow these cars to run with the herds of '57 Chevies and '56 Fords in the "Hardtop" class. Eventually, the term "Late Model" was applied to any car five years old or newer, but many tracks allowed the fifties cars to keep running as "late Models" anyway.
The "Pony Cars" were NOT allowed as they had no frames and the wheelbase was considered too short. It was not until some pavement tracks allowed home made or custom built chassis to be "legal" under Stock Cars that the Pony Cars appeared in the mid-seventies. These cars used the longer wheelbase of the mid and full size cars which led to bodywork further and further from "stock" until we have the flat tin, wedge shaped cars which look nothing like a highway car.
So, if you're going to run a sensable Fairgrounds class, you would have to run 1950 to 1969 bodies and no Pony Cars."Joe M of VASCRA reports that they are adopting fairgrounds cars as a support class in the next race season. The rules will be the same as their stock class, using RT-HO wide double flange wheels on the rear and narrow double flange wheels on the front using stock axles. The rest of their rules for the stock T-jet class are pretty simple, stock magnets, stock gears, stock chassis (can cut the gear plate to lower the body), stock, unbalanced 16+ ohm arm, stock this, stock that, stock the other. Road Race Replicas has been supplying fairgrounds cars and inspiration for quite some time. In addition to bodies, they have the tires, wheels and decals to whip up a fairgrounds car or two of your own.
Whatever you're nostalgic for, keep it going. There's an unlimited amount of inspiration, tools, pieces and parts out there to bring whatever you have in your head to life. Time, however, is often in short supply.

At the most recent race I attended, I overheard a couple of veteran, respected drivers and car builders talking about what it takes to win races. Sure, a competitive car is needed. Bringing a knife to a gunfight never does anyone any good, except the people with the guns. However, where you invest your time is more important. If you spend a full day working on an already competitive car, you may only get a tenth of a second per lap faster, if that. However, if you spend a full day on a track, running multiple cars on each lane, you're likely to gain four tenths of a second per lap per lane. Experience is king.

I had first hand experience with this at that same race. I showed up late in the practice session to a track I had never been on before, got set up, was able to run 3 minutes on 4 of the 6 six lanes and then qualify. Luckily, qualifying was on one of the 4 lanes I ran on. I qualified second to last. The first race I finished 15th out of 18. I had the same result in the second race. However, as my time on the track increased, my finishing position started to rise. The third race I finished 13th out of 17 and the fourth race I was 11th out of 17. All of this happened while I had almost no time to adjust my car to suit the track. It turned out that, while my car wasn't the fastest, it was competitive and my knowledge of the track grew. Experience is king.

As I drove home that night, I was able to feel good that I learned quite a bit that day and would be able to bring that knowledge back with me the next time I raced there. In addition, any track time is useful track time, especially in a competition environment. Take a deep breath, get in your rhythm, race the track, keep lady luck on your side. Experience is king.

Here's a video of the most recent race I attended, courtesy of Jeff Hurley.

It seems everyone in slot cars and their brother knows about the Fray in Ferndale. It's a long-running, highly competitive, fun and innovative race that pushes the boundaries of what the Aurora Thunderjet is. There are quite a few other big-time races coming relatively soon.

There's the Greenbrier Thunderjet Challenge, hosted by HOSCAR in Rochester, NY. March 31, 2012 will be its 20th running. This race is for box stock T-jets. The term "box stock" has been eased somewhat as I've heard of parts being swapped, massaged and some minor parts updating is allowed. The format goes like this:Mini-Enduro - 2 Qualifying heats / 8 Racer Main
Qualifying 1 - All racers, Top 6 go to Main - 5 min. Heats
Qualifying 2 - All Racers except top 6, Top 2 go to Main - 5 min. Heats
Main - Top 8 Racers from Qualifying - 20 min. Heats

The 38th annual HOPRA National Championships are coming up June 21-24, 2012 in Akron, OH. This event is for many classes including T-Jets and many varieties of magnet cars. In addition, there is a Concourse D'Elegance. Last year 86 racers entered 288 cars into the 6 classes of racing. Sounds like a lot of fun.

MASCAR hosts the UFHORA National Championship Races in Gloucester, VA June 14-17, 2012. This is another event hosting multiple classes from T-jets to brass cars to unlimited magnet cars. Tom Bowman of Bat-Jet and MASCAR is prolific and relentless in his slot car enthusiasm. Should be another great event.

The Quarrel - A Mid-West race, held in Milwaukee, WI on May 15-19, 2012, that has been going since 2004. Fray rules are used as the standard. There is also a Quarrel Class which allows the use of 12 and 14 tooth pinion gears. 

Got any events you'd like to add? Feel free to comment.

In an email to Al Perscilli, Executive Director of HOCOC, Tom Heister (and family) of Tom Heister's HO Raceway has acquired the Penn Valley Hobby HO silicone tire making processes, and presumably the molds as well. Pricing on Tom's site have been adjusted. The "cow tires" are currently unavailable until Heister and company get their production processes squared away. Heister also suggests pricing could be further adjusted as production continues and that there is the potential for "some new colors never seen in H.O. silicone tires before."

In other silicone slip-on tires news, Mike King of HO-Tips of Rochester, NY reports that Nick Laratonda of Super Tires has new molds for his tires and is very excited for the potential they offer. The new tires have a rounded outer edge which should allow for less tire prep time by the racers, as well as better performance off the shelf. King has posted a video showing the new shape of the tires. Ebay seller FrankTheRacer has some of the new profile tires for sale. Also, Super Tires have traditionally been offered for magnet cars, but King reports that Super Tires may soon be available in T-Jet sizes as well.