Two stock classes were run at the nats.A youth race was held with SRTs.
All the cars ran great to my knowledge.In the Lifelike challenge 58 entries
entered with 58 cars.Three of the four cars in the main reportedly burned
up.I was having a similar weekend in some other classes, but the turnout
was good and the level of competition this year was fierce.If any of you
have never been to a HOPRA nats,you are missing quite an experiance.

Where these hard body races?

It was the anual HOPRA nationals,which was held this year at Lucky Bob's in
Milwauke Wisconsin.Just do a HOPRA or Lucky Bob's search and check out
their websites.Bob has other races and a large mail order HO slot car business,
well worth checking out.

Three of the four cars in the main reportedly burned
up.

If I was LifeLike/Walthers, Id be concerned........

Did they burn up because of the corner marshalling? Do they upload video on any of this?

If I was LifeLike/Walthers, Id be concerned........

To some degree, yes. This was definitely a stress test for these cars because they were outfitted with fairly low silicone tires and were run on a high downforce track with virtually no break-in time. The cars that made the main had to survive a 2 min/lane qualifier, 3 min/lane semi (may have been 2), and 5 min/lane main and could not be touched by the drivers. If the cars had been broken-in properly and run with the stock tires they probably would have fared much, much better. The cars were driven hard and some of the wrecks were pretty hard too. You may think that little kids are rough on toys but adult slot car racers are even worse.

It was the anual HOPRA nationals,which was held this year at Lucky Bob's in
Milwauke Wisconsin.Just do a HOPRA or Lucky Bob's search and check out
their websites.Bob has other races and a large mail order HO slot car business,
well worth checking out.

I have been following these Nats on POS, and I know some of the lexan guys and hard body affecionados needle at each other but it sounds as if the twain can meet.

But did the corner marshals burn them up? Were they holding them with two fingers, on the sides or at the front or back? You know, when you're waiting for them to put the car back on, and you wait for their hand to clear before you go, and in that split second the marshal thinks he didnt put it on right, or the contact isnt good, so right as you are pulling the trigger, he presses down on the car and zips the crown gear! I mean, there goes that heat, and the national championship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Am I reading too many threads?

But did the corner marshals burn them up? No.

Am I reading too many threads? Yes.

I've never known any racer who wasn't pulling the trigger before the car was on the track.

The Life Like Race was hard body, don't know about the SRT, but I imagine it was too.

In the last 6 years, I have yet to burn up a T-Chassis, or even get one hot.

I should jump in here and comment. I ran the race and set up the cars. All cars of the original 50 were tested and set for tires. Only 1-2 minute break -in run for each. Cars ran .250 dbl flanged rims with slip-ons at .420. The cars ran and handled well with the hard bodies. All cars were oiled only once at break-in. Heat shields were left on. Originally the plan was to open the package and run. 3-4 years of experience running the cars would indicate that even with LL improved QC there might be 1 or 2 that had pick-up shoe contact or some other problem. The decision was made to check them to make sure they ran and worked before putting them into the race.All cars were numbered on the chassis and body from 1-50. Cards were numbered from 1-50 and upon entry a card was drawn to determine which one you got. When it was apparent we had more interest than cars, we opened 8 more cars from prizes and a lucky Bob twin pack donation. These were put into the mix with the last 8 entries drawing for these 8 cars at random. I think if we would have had more cars we may have had 70-80 entries. At least a dozen people wanted to enter but did not because they could see it was going to be a late one and could not stay that long. All cars ran great in the 2 minute round robin. No problems. In fact, in 3 years of regular weekly races we never burned one car. Bruce Gardner runs local races based on these cars running IROC sometimes. He said that they have run these cars 3-4 hours straight and had no heat problems. We also ran with no heat shields and had never run on 21st century track for a race except one Iroc at Craig Nothstines track.The last thing I expected was motor problems. The cars did not burn, the arms threw a wire on one pole but continued to run slowly. The 21st century track has a very sticky surface, cleaning the tires would most likely slow you down and create heat. Racers who run on that track regularly run low tack or old tires to address this. We concluded that the combination of heat shields on, no oil, sticky surface, 19 volts and room temp approching 90 because of all the people, could have been too much for some cars. It could also just be a defective arm that caused the wire on one pole to be thrown. Either way my LL contact has been notified. Also Walthers had 4 company employees there for about 3 hours. OVERALL THE RACE WENT GREAT AND I'D LIKE TO THANK LIFELIKE/WALTHERS AND EVERYONE WHO HELPED AS WELL AS ALL WHO PARTICIPATED.

Great first hand information. Is there any video of the event?
Any pics?
Did you use all different bodies?
Did you use professional corner marshals?

Rich

corner marshalling is a profession? lol

Corner marshalling does not pay enough.Hard body racing can be
just as much fun as lexan racing.My dot car had different colored
flanged rims than the rest of the cars in my heat and was a turd.
The tires looked more like a stock tire and had no bite.Some of the
guys could hold the throttle wide open in the sweeper,the resulting
rpm could have thrown wires.We have had many armature failures
in SWMSRA with lowered cars.The cars that have had 20 tooth
gears installed did seem to last longer so it may be RPM related.

I am impressed that company reps from Walthers were there.

What did they think of the "abuse" that their toys are put through? :p

Scott

There was a discussion on making spare parts more available for the cars,
motors etc.I had to be in another race and missed it but Lucky Bob talked
with them.One car in my heat blew a pinion but the bodies stayed on and
were unbreakable.( I tried) On my personal cars I have noticed quite a variance
in comm timing.I don't know if there are different comms or if the comms
slip when the motor gets hot.I have marked a couple to see if they move
but I haven't tried them yet.

Hey Tim --- were your rims yellow, black or white?

Yellow,all the others in my heat were white.

Tim--- all tires were .420. All rims .250. I had 8 rear sets-- there was no difference in set-up. Some bsrt, some quicker, some wizzard rims. Luck of the draw. I think the car that had fastest lap had one of the yellow rim sets. Random draw gets some variation for sure. I know you are one of the best hard body drivers out there-- if you drew one of the faster cars I'm sure we would have seen you in the main.

Hey Bob, fantastic job with the Life-Like Challenge! You're efforts were very much appreciated and your contribution to the hobby will have a very positive, long lasting effect on the quality of the hobby. Major kudos.

Sounds like a great time. Any pix? :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr

Hopefully Luck Bob and the HOPRA website will post some soon.