Is anyone on HOBBY TALK interested in racing HO Sprint Cars?

If so what kind of bodies and chassis do you race?

Zig

Hello,
I have raced Sprint Cars off and on, for the past 17 years in Indiana and Michigan, and have collected and raced HO Slot Cars since I was a kid... and have always had an urge to covert them into Sprint Cars.

I have made HO Sprint Car Bodies from Paper,Bondo,and even carved them from Balsa Wood. None of these mediums seemed to work well or last long,and the lexan bodies that were available didn't look much like a real sprinter and also didn't last long.

About 3 years ago a friend of mine bought some resin cast sprint bodies and when I seen them I knew I had to learn how to cast them... I have had some success at casting bodies, and I'm presently working up a "New" type of lexan body.

You can view some of my work at http://www.geocities.com/gregzickafoose/mypage.html

ZIG

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Hey Zig,

The rules meeting for HOCOC is coming up next saturday 4/2. I would like to propose a sprint division using your bodies. They are going to ask what is the availability. We have about 90 members. Would they all be able to get one in a reasonable amout of time? Also do you have a sampe of a finished car that I could present at the meeting? I would return the car immediately after the meeting. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.


Thanks TJ

We used to race lexan bodied super G+ with both wings, talk about harry. We also raced resin bodied ones with jlto chassis. I think with you zig. If your the same zig I'm thinkin of.

How do you get a hold of him? The email address link doesn't go anywhere.
--fordcowboy

Sure. We race lexan sprint cars bodies on stock Tyco 440X2 narrow chassis. Tried it with wings but the wings either fell off or made marshalling a real chore - so no more wings.

Hello AFxToo,
When we raced tyco 440x2's my favorite body was the MADD products sprint body with wings... it looked the most realisitic of all that were available.

Being from Indiana the non-wing USAC style sprints hit pretty close to home!

My Lexan sprint body was made to fit Thunderjets and JLTO chassis, but a similar one could be done for tyco's ???

Zig

Hello TJ,
This is interesting!
Please tell me more!
Who are the HOCOC? Where are you located? What kind of chassis are you using for your sprint class?

My newest body is made for Thunderjets and JLTO's using the Hot Rod Wheelbase.
It will be available as winged or non-winged version, the winged version features vacu-formed wing bodies and sides.

Zig

Hi Zig,

HOCOC is in New England. We are a slot car club that began in the eighties. You can check us out at. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOCOCSLOTCARRACING/
HOCOC stands for HO circuit of champions. We will be using JL chassis. I started racing with HOCOC around 81-82 I was 13 . Let me know how you feel. Also let us know if you can accomidate our needs..

Thanks TJ

Hey Craig,
Yep I'm the same Zig, We raced Tyco 440's at The Pit Shop in Huntington In. and JLTO Winged Sprints at Goshen In. and Bellflower Speedway in Elkhart In. Hi Tim!

My Lexan T-Jet Sprint Body was made with the JLTO's in mind... No more top heavy wings from the diecast cars rather lexan wings that look just like them.

Zig
P.S. I still have your hand carved Gremlin Modified body...

Hello fordcowboy,
Sorry about the Email link not working... I got locked out of my geocities page about a year ago,it's a long story but the page builder that I used was updated and my old computer with windows 95 would'nt load the page builder anymore. The old computer died and the new one with windows XP opened it right up! I'm in the proccess of updating my geo cities page... I'll get it fixed

Zig

Thanks TJ,

I had to join your group so, now you have to join mine!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hosprintcarracing_group/ I'm going to go back there now!

Zig

:wave: Hey Zig Long time no talk to. Bellflower Speedway was not active this year. I have a new job so next season we'll be back in shape to do some sprint racing. I had to move the track ( MY OLDEST MOVED BACK HOME) I have been thinking of trying to find a better place for it. Get somthing weekly going. Later Sundance

Hi Zig,

HOCOC is in New England. We are a slot car club that began in the eighties. You can check us out at. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOCOCSLOTCARRACING/
HOCOC stands for HO circuit of champions. We will be using JL chassis. I started racing with HOCOC around 81-82 I was 13 . Let me know how you feel. Also let us know if you can accomidate our needs..

Thanks TJ

Since your using JLTO's here's some pictures...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455HT02.jpg
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455HT01.jpg
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455HT03.jpg

This body is similar to today's Eagle Sprint Cars...
Features include modern style scoop hood,flat right side arm guard,vacu-formed wings,and molded in nose wing mounts.

The PROTOTYPE shown here does not include the most recent revisions,mold now has front and rear bumpers,and all four torsion arms.

The chassis is a Box Stock JL tuff one,rear wheels are AJ's threaded aluminum dual flange with slip on silicones... Fronts are old SUPER II o-rings,I used 1/16" eyelets for front axel bushings.

The body is mounted by putting the front axel thru the body in the hot rod wheelbase holes. The wings are mounted with shoe goo or foam tape.

Zig

Hey Zig,

What are the chances of getting a sample by next saturday? How much is a finished car?

Thanks TJ

Oh Zig ,

Almost forgot, I am a member. Already.


TJ

Sweet Jebus, Zig, thats an awsome body! I have bookmarked your site! I would love to own some of those! :thumbsup:

Zig,
Can you shoot me some prices on the 2 ea of the NW-1, SL, JL-1, and 440X2 Sprints? You can email me. kmottaz@nemonet.com
Thanks,
Fordcowboy

Looks like you will be busy for a while Greg. I have finaly scraped up enough cash to get the bullring oval routed. Are you still interested in racing maybe in Ft Wayne? How thick are your new JLTO sprint bodies? Moose

Hey Zig,

What are the chances of getting a sample by next saturday? How much is a finished car?

Thanks TJ

I started out wanting to make two versions of this body, one with wings and one without... at this point I can produce this non-wing body.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455Mar27_01.jpg

The Lasoski car that I posted earlier was a test shot that I pulled over a different plug some time ago... it has a few cobwebs and rough spots that are not visible in the photos.

I have a few more test shot and blem bodies laying around but I don't really want to send you one of those,if you know what I mean!

I have been tinkering around this weekend and the winged body master mold will be poured before I go to bed tonite... along with the masters for the nose wing, main top wing body, and the driver.

What I can do is keep you informed on the progress and post more pictures as the project comes together, I can at least have a bunch of pictures ready for you by Saturday! I'm planning to offer kits for both cars and a line of replacement parts...

Zig

Hi Moose,
Racing in Ft. Wayne sounds interesting!

I'm still playing around with different sizes of lexan, most lexan bodies are .005 to .010 I think that is too thin! You spend lottsa time painting them up... and destroy them in a few races.

I'm thinking .015 to .017 for the bodies that's about the thickness of a 1/10 scale R.C. body and should hold up for a good long time... .005 to .010 for the wings.

See Ya!
Zig

I have been tinkering around this weekend and the winged body master mold will be poured before I go to bed tonite... along with the masters for the nose wing, main top wing body, and the driver.

What I can do is keep you informed on the progress and post more pictures as the project comes together, I can at least have a bunch of pictures ready for you by Saturday! I'm planning to offer kits for both cars and a line of replacement parts...

Zig

The master mold came out good and I pulled a few sets of wings and a couple of bodies. So far so good!

Zig

Zig send me an e-mail I have some questions to ask you. Tim :)

The master mold came out good and I pulled a few sets of wings and a couple of bodies. So far so good!

Zig

Project is still moving forward... I have started a photo album over at Yahoo groups HOCOC showing instructions for building one of my lexan body kits.

It's down to wings and decals...

I am still having a bit of trouble getting the nose wing mounts to form without leaving cobwebs between them and the hood scoop, and am starting to wonder if its worth doing two versions or not because the nose wing mounts are the only difference???

What would you guys think about mounting the nose wing on the non wing body with two sided foam tape?

Zig

Project is still moving forward... I have started a photo album over at Yahoo groups HOCOC showing instructions for building one of my lexan body kits.

It's down to wings and decals...

I am still having a bit of trouble getting the nose wing mounts to form without leaving cobwebs between them and the hood scoop, and am starting to wonder if its worth doing two versions or not because the nose wing mounts are the only difference???

What would you guys think about mounting the nose wing on the non wing body with two sided foam tape?

Zig

Here is a picture of the Lexan Winged Sprint...
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455ZIGs_Lexan_Winged_Sprint.jpg

What do you think?
Zig

Zig,

I didn't know anyone else was producing a resin sprint car kit! They look nice, very much like the modern cars.



I'm interrsted in your vintage GR cars though....what do you make for the standard Tjet chassis?



-------------------------

www.SlotCarJohnnies.com (http://www.SlotCarJohnnies.com)

Zig-

What happened to you?

GP cars for standard Tjet chassis in resin, what do you make?

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www.SlotCarJohnnies.com (http://www.SlotCarJohnnies.com)

Zig-

What happened to you?

GP cars for standard Tjet chassis in resin, what do you make?

--------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com (http://www.SlotCarJohnnies.com)


The only one of my grand prix cars that will fit a standard t-jet is the Ferrari.

I'm still planning to get the molds back out and cast some more,but I'm trying to get the Lexan Sprint Car up and rolling first...
Thanks for your interest,
Zig

New PIcture...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/174559_7.jpg

ZIG

Looking good Zig

Roger Corrie

Zig, your cars look great, and light!


Here's a Heister body on a Lifelike...

Good looking car ED

Roger Corrie

Thanks Roger! By the way, it's Erik or "EB", but not "Ed". :)

Thanks Guys,
Here's a progress report on my lexan body project...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/174557bodies.jpg


I think that the non-wing body is ready to go!
The bodies are all coming out good with very few cobwebs, smooth and uniform thickness. I'm using SIG .017 Polycarbonate "lexan" they seem to be pretty tough.
I also deepened the lines in the plug to make the top of the hood, rollcage openings,outline of the headers and torsion arms, and the trim line around the nose stand out better.
Now I need to get one of these painted up too!

ZIG :thumbsup:

When are you going to start selling them? :confused: Tim

Hi Tim,
I hope to have some ready to sell real soon, as you already know mandatory overtime at work takes away a lot of hobby time at home...

Zig

Hi Guys,
Like I told Tim my fulltime job is requiring a lot of extra time these days...

However, I have met my required hours early this week,and plan to get some body work done this weekend.

I purchased enough lexan to produce about 100 kits,

The bugs seem to be all worked out of the winged body,

And I have also started tinkering with a Winged Sprint Body for the narrow Tyco 440x2 that looks like the T-Jet body but it's been slammed down into the weeds! :thumbsup:

ZIG

Thanks Zig Keep me posted on whats happening. We have started our every other week schedule for the summer Bellflower will be running this fall. It will be portable so I hope to have more shows. Tim :wave:

Zig if your still hanging around the board you got mail
thanks
COROKID

Here's a picture of the master for my 440x2 Winged Sprint body...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/medium/17455May19_01.jpg

I used a bare 440x2 chassis for the plug to be sure it will fit just right.
The body is the same as my T-Jet Sprint but it's lowered to be competative with Madd Products, and Thunderbolt bodies...
This body will have the nose wing, side panels, and headers formed in and use the same top wing as my T-Jet sprints. :thumbsup:

ZIG

I used a bare 440x2 chassis for the plug to be sure it will fit just right.
The body is the same as my T-Jet Sprint but it's lowered to be competative with Madd Products, and Thunderbolt bodies...
This body will have the nose wing, side panels, and headers formed in and use the same top wing as my T-Jet sprints...

I pulled a test body today to make sure what it will look like, have to be real carefull at this point because the master plug is fragile...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455ZzzMay22_01.jpg

ZIG

I pulled a test body today to make sure what it will look like, have to be real carefull at this point because the master plug is fragile...

Couldn't resist fitting it to a chassis...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455ZzzMay22_010.jpg

ZIG

I slapped a quick Kinser paint job on the test shot body...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455ZIG440_01.jpg

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455ZIG440_02.jpg

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/510/17455ZIG440_04.jpg

ZIG

These pictures show size compared to MADD Products sprint body...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455ZIGvrsMADD_02.jpg

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/17455ZIGvrsMADD_01.jpg

ZIG

Looks great Zig Keep up the good work Sundance :thumbsup:

Thank's Tim,

How is your portable maxx track project coming?

ZIG

Hey Zig Its not as far as I would like ,but it will be ready for Fall racing.
Tim :thumbsup:

I was reading about a true scale gp car on another thread, and it got me thinking about what a true scale sprint car would be...

The biggest difference between Midgets, Sprints, and Champ Dirt cars or "USAC Silver Bullet Series" car, is the wheelbase and the cubic inches of the engines.

Real Sprint Cars have a wheelbase of 84 to 89 inches, a car that was built for 1/4 mile bullrings would use the 84 inch wheelbase to help get them around the tight corners.
A car built fo 3/8 to 1/2 mile tracks would use an 86 inch wheelbase, the 89 inch wheelbase would be for the biggest tracks 1/2 to 1 mile.
Also most chassis builders offer what they call 39, 40, and 41 inch cars,this is the distance from the back of the engine to the center of the rear axel,this places the weight of the engine forward or rearward to give it more or less forward bite... the 40 inchers are the most popular.
The maximum width is 78 inches from the outside of the left tire to the outside of the right tire,with a maximum offset of 4 inches.

Let's scale one down...
84 + 89 = 173 divide by 2 = 86.5 average wheelbase.
86.5 divide by 87 = .994" wheelbase in 1/87 scale.
78 divide by 87 = .898" width in 1/87 scale.
Conclusion: A true scale HO or 1/87 scale sprint car would have a 1" wheelbase,and a max width of 7/8" isn't that a micro-machine slot car?

Now let's get realistic...
Most HO slot car chassis have aprox. 1-1/2" wheelbases if you use the longest front axel holes,with exception to a Marchon MR-1, and Tyco Pan in the longest holes measure aprox. 1-11/16 inches, and an AF/X Specialty chassis could be as long as 1-13/16 inches.

Let's assume that if we use the long wheelbase of 1.5 inches to be equall to the longest sprint wheelbase of 89" and round up to 90"
90 inches divide by 60 = 1.5 inches 1-1/2" wheelbase in 1/60 scale.
78 inches divide by 60 = 1.3 inches 1-5/16" max width in 1/60 scale.

Conclusion: What we think of as an HO Scale Sprint Car is really 1/60th scale. Anything longer than 1-1/2 inches is a champ dirt car or "USAC Silver Bullet Series" car, a short wheelbase t-jet with tuff one or t-jet size wheels and tires is a midget...

Now I know why the Lifelike Renegage Racer looks so wierd,it has a 1/60th scale chassis,with a 1/50th scale body???

ZIG

Hi Guys,
Ran into trouble with my lexan bodies...
It seems that the material I purchased, enough to produce 100 bodies, doesn't want to form properly...

I have been using "SIG" .017 polycarbonate for most of my prototypes,and have had pretty good results.

The new material is "GE LEXAN" .015, What's happening is that this material seems to have a bit more tensil strength, and is not wanting to form up tight to the sides of the body plug.

I have done a little more smoothing to the plug, and added a bit more detailing but don't think that's the problem?

Just wanted to let everyone know what's going on...
ZIG
P.S. I would value any suggestions :confused:

Hi Guys,
Ran into trouble with my lexan bodies...
It seems that the material I purchased, enough to produce 100 bodies, doesn't want to form properly...


All is not lost...
I spent about 6 hours forming bodies today, tried to make about 20 pulls with the GE Lexan and got ONE usable body...

The material is the problem,
I also pulled 12 bodies from .030" polycarbonate with no problems at all.
Man these things are tough!
2 bodies from SIG .017 polycarbonate,no problems.
And 2 bodies from Evergreen .020 styrene,I gotta say that the styrene did a nice job of bringing out the details...

Is .030 too thick to use for an HO Body ???

Zig