With the digital technology now available a slotless race
set is now a credible idea.I am going to hold off from buying
a 1/32 set untill they go slotless.It could be almost like an
RC car but without all the battery issues.I want one!

It actually sounds like a great idea tjettim, but I have yet to see any news or any 1/32 slot car company looking at or developing any sort of slot less cars or track sets. Like you said, with the digitial revolution here and the control capabilities of switching lanes, etc., that would be cool, but remember how these cars switch lanes - the chipset in the car is synched with the controller and the track layout. If you want to switch lanes, the controller and car communicate with the track, so to speak, and switch lanes at the next track crossover piece - I guess its almost like a real railroad in that the rail switch is remotely controlled when a train needs to go a different direction or switch tracks too.

At any rate, it would definitely be cool to see something like this happen. I think about the closest thing I've seen is Tamiya's 1/32 racers that are like battery powered slot cars that race like pinewood derby cars in their own, barrier set lane. If you have no seen those do a search for (I think it's called) Tamiya Racers.

PD2:thumbsup:

The 1/32 cars today carry alot of wasted space.Aurora put an electric
steering selenoid in an HO car 25 years ago.They had two one way gears
and the motor could run in either direction.If the Japanese go to work
on slotless racing I think we could be surprised at the outcome.

I agree! I guess it all depends on the market for it or not. Today, between HO, 1/43, 1/32, and 1/24 racing, its going to be hard to slide in a slotless and pull these guys away for their racing. Definitely going to have to be extremely convincing, both technology wise and dollar wise. HA!

PD2:thumbsup:

It is realy hard to put together a 6 or 8 lane 1/32 track
in your basement unless you have a huge house.With
a slotless set, 6 or 8 drivers could run at the same time
on a narrower track, waiting to pass like in real racing.
Cars could be run by computer so you would never have
to race alone.It will happen,it is just a matter of time.

If they went as far as making a digital switching track....you should not be surprised of them coming out with a slottless. I told my guys that years ago. The TRC, was the 1st...i think. This Is a huge world and it's round, that means....what Is round goes around and comes around. Just look at today automobiles, clothing, eyeglasses Etc.

Thx RCR!

I've been talking about this for years... I would have thought with the rise of NASCAR, this would have been a no brainer.

I've been talking about this for years... I would have thought with the rise of NASCAR, this would have been a no brainer.

That's true and I'd agree - to me, it would be a great driver for it! But they though the #3 release of Dale's car was going to be a complete sellout. I think you can still get the car for most places without having to go to e-Bay. So I'm not sure what's going on, except maybe the lack of exposure to that crowd of people?

PD2:thumbsup:

Kyosho makes Mini-Z radio control cars that are about 1/28 scale. You can buy tracks and a computer based lap counting system for these cars. This is truly slot-less. The downside of these cars is it takes a lot of skill to drive these cars on a tight circuit.

The 1/32 digital systems are good in that each car is contained to the slot with the added advantage of being able to change lanes at the lane change tracks. So you can build tighter tracks and still be able to run consistent laps.

Best regards,
Brian

We race Mini Zs, 1/18 1/12 1/10 1/8....out of all of them, if you add the right itres, motor & gear combo....the Mini Zs are a real blast to drive. I can drive the heck out of them. They do have a track and Kyosho....does have a series for the Mini Zs. You can hop them up to worth $300.00 To $400.00 RTR.

RCR

How about slotless 1/43 racing. Kyosho now has the dnano. This thing is truely state of the art.

Here are a couple of clips;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfU6yxVEqAw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hze9j8wFY8&feature=related

...and to see the speed of these things;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4d1i5ycD-U

I also heard a modular track system, intended for home use, is in the works.

Kyosho makes Mini-Z radio control cars that are about 1/28 scale. You can buy tracks and a computer based lap counting system for these cars. This is truly slot-less. The downside of these cars is it takes a lot of skill to drive these cars on a tight circuit.

Best regards,
Brian

Before slot car racing I used to race Mini-Z's. They use almost the same motors - a little bigger and a bit more RPM. PN Racing used to make the best motors. And battery life was unbelievable! We even did Enduro's with them. With the right radio setup, the cars could be very easy to drive. They were a lot of fun and yes, due to how small they were, we could setup some monster track layouts.

We even used 1/18 scale off-road stadium trucks on the track - slight modification to the RCP track with some jumps, washboards, and an on-road track went indoor, offroad. Fun stuff!

PD2:thumbsup:

We race Mini Zs, 1/18 1/12 1/10 1/8....out of all of them, if you add the right itres, motor & gear combo....the Mini Zs are a real blast to drive. I can drive the heck out of them. They do have a track and Kyosho....does have a series for the Mini Zs. You can hop them up to worth $300.00 To $400.00 RTR.

RCR

For Mini-Z's? Try more in some cases! My good friend and the World Cup Mini-Z Champion, Christian Tabush works for Atomic Mods (local Mini-Z modification and reseller here in Houston) and they have some of the cars he has built that has taken him to the World Cup - check these out:

http://www.atomicmods.com/Categories/AtomicBuilt-Cars.aspx

The 2007 F1 is what his setup was for his most recent win. Christian is an awesome driver and someone that taught me a lot when I raced 1/10 on and off road.

PD2:thumbsup:

How about slotless 1/43 racing. Kyosho now has the dnano. This thing is truely state of the art.

Here are a couple of clips;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfU6yxVEqAw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hze9j8wFY8&feature=related

...and to see the speed of these things;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4d1i5ycD-U

I also heard a modular track system, intended for home use, is in the works.

I had not heard about these! Wow! Those are almost as small as the Losi Micro's - maybe even smaller since the Micro's are 1/28 scale. Interesting, but not surprising with Kyosho. Definitely cool stuff!

Thanks for posting that up!
PD2:thumbsup:

Thanks for posting the information about dnano. These cars look really cool and won't need as much space as the Mini-Z cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hze9j8wFY8&feature=related

This video shows what I mean about not having the cars contained to a slot can make it harder to control on a tight track. Generally, the mini size R/C car tracks are much wider than a digital 2 lane 1/32 track. Having a slots on a track is not necesaarily a bad thing as it allows the cars to run side by side without as much nerfing. Not saying one is better than the other, just providing some insight into the different options.

Best regards,
Brian

Thanks for posting the information about dnano. These cars look really cool and won't need as much space as the Mini-Z cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hze9...eature=related

This video shows what I mean about not having the cars contained to a slot can make it harder to control on a tight track. Generally, the mini size R/C car tracks are much wider than a digital 2 lane 1/32 track. Having a slots on a track is not necesaarily a bad thing as it allows the cars to run side by side without as much nerfing. Not saying one is better than the other, just providing some insight into the different options.

Best regards,
Brian

Brian,

The link is not working. But I can imagine what you are referencing. When I first started racing those Mini-Z's the biggest issue was that the steering of the transmitter was not proportional to the steering of the car. So most racers would automatically upgrade their transmitters to either KO's (a bit too expensive for my blood) or what I did was upgrade to Airtronic's MX-A which had the same features as the KO's but for around $60! The controlling of the cars was definitely key. Outside of that, there were some special setups we used to run for RCP track and carpet tracks on the car. And yes, it did take quite a bit of room with the track paths being about 2-3 feet wide - sometimes wider if we knew we would have more racers.

PD2:thumbsup:

PD2,

Thanks for the heads up about the link. I edited the post and fixed it.

Some of the high end transmitters have some really cool features. Why did you get out of Mini-Z racing?

I try to stay up with the radio control car market. It is cool to see the new products that come out. The big thing now is the brushless motors and the lithium ion batteries. Back a few years ago, almost everyone was going to gas cars and trucks. Now with the electric motors and batteries, electric is becoming more popular. I read some of the new Traxxas brushless trucks can hit 65 mph.

Best regards,
Brian

PD2,

Thanks for the heads up about the link. I edited the post and fixed it.

Some of the high end transmitters have some really cool features. Why did you get out of Mini-Z racing?

I try to stay up with the radio control car market. It is cool to see the new products that come out. The big thing now is the brushless motors and the lithium ion batteries. Back a few years ago, almost everyone was going to gas cars and trucks. Now with the electric motors and batteries, electric is becoming more popular. I read some of the new Traxxas brushless trucks can hit 65 mph.

Best regards,
Brian

The only reason I got out of RC and Mini-Z racing was that the tracks are any where from 40-50 miles, one way, away. Yeah, they are still in the city of Houston, but they were still far. Plus, the hours the track was opened and the time they held the racing was never working with my work or personal schedule. They always wanted to race on Sunday night or Saturday all day. Friday night is about the only time I had clear. And to top all of that off I got tired of my cars just sitting and not having even a place to run them or practice with them to get to know them better - the only time I was getting to know them was when I was at the track. There were a few other factors, but those were the main ones. They keep telling me that the hobby shop that is closer to me (within 10 miles or less) will be moving into a bigger space in the shopping center and will have an indoor 1/18 scale and smaller track setup. If that happens I might think about it again, but they are going to have to keep the hours.

As for the going brushless and the li-ion and li-poly batteries, I kind of saw that coming. A buddy of mine got permission to run his li-poly, brushless powered (back when they were first releasing the li-poly - he already had a brushless because he could not stand motor maintenance on an electric motor) AE RC104 truck in the ST Gas race at one of our local tracks. He was not only keeping up with them but he was at times beating most if not all of the pack. And the battery lasted a complete 5 minute qual and almost ran the entire 10 minute main. That was at least over a year or two ago, so I can about imagine where the technology is for these cars now. Having longer running times and electric motors that keep up with gas engines is definitely going to give RC drivers an option of going electric again.

I don't keep up with things like I used to, but I do hit a few places and see what's new here and there. Plus, all the newsletters I signed up with different forums and sites keep sending me the newsletters with new releases, etc.

For now, slot cars fits my time and driving distance, and definitely comes in below my budget. If things should change with a track localize, I might think about doing a little RC again.

PD2:thumbsup:

I got out of RC because the factories control who gets the best batteries.
In slots,we all have the same power.In 1985 I spent 1000 bucks on batteries
to win a 20 buck state champ trophy.With magnetic downforce a 1/32 slotless
car should handle way better than a Zipzap.