Its Not Authentic

[jphanna]

‘Its not Authentic’

Preparing old school cars1/24, brass, spring steel etc with pin on lexan bodies, function more than beauty was always the priority. There were shining lights in the past (RIP John Ward), where a beautiful engineered chassis (very fast) was matched by and equally beautiful lexan body painted to perfection.

so most of today cars are basically models with motors. Even 1/24 cars like Scale auto and plafit make cars that are actually nice to look at as well as drive.

 

I have to admit, in nearly every race venue I have been bailed up with the ‘its not authentic’ line and please change the necessary bits. Rims too big, rims too small, chassis mods not right, lights missing, just shoddy looking cars. Not painting a pretty picture but I wont deny it.

 

On the weekend I went to mallala raceway to watch classic car racing. I spent a few hours in the pits as well as watch the racing. That is still fresh in my mind, but since about 1976……I have been frequenting race tracks in Adelaide, our orig grand prix, local car rallys and interstate tracks including sandown and Bathurst.

 

One thing they all have in common…….take a good look and you will see dents, scratches, botchy repairs, mismatched wheels (look at moffats 1973 bathurst win, with his rims at front, and john goss rims at back)

Some of the cars I seen at mallala, looked like they were a barn find with chickens still in them and repairs been done with sledgehammer and oxy torch by a person who was under the influence.

 

Maybe a F1 car just as it rolls out the factory and unloaded from the truck and getting ready for its first test session, may be immaculate, but every other race car out there has scars.

 

So for all the scrutineer’s out there, take a walk in the pit paddocks of your local races, and look at real racing cars, and reflect on that, next time you tell someone that there car at your local track is not authentic.

 

[slotbaker]

What you say is true, they are race cars built for racing and not usually for concours, and they often get changed from race to race.

 

The drama as I see it, is in the rules for each particular event.

 

If it's written in the rules that the car should have this, that, or the other at certain times during the event, then that's what should happen.

 

It's near impossible to write in 'grey' allowances that are workable, although things relating to straight out aesthetics I think could be accommodated.

 

When it comes to significant details relating to performance, then the regs need to be enforced to discourage the Smokey Yunick types of the slot car scene.

 

Just a thought.

[kalbfellp]

Full size race cars may not all look like concourse cars, BUT they must still comply to the rules of the class.

IMO nothing is worse than guys turning up with bits missing from there slot cars,just because they cannot be bothered to refit parts.

Leaving part off some cars can result in better performance, so if the cars had wings and spoilers fitted out of the box then they should be there for each race.

Minor things like mirrors are a different story and like real cars they just get knocked off and lost.