Slot Car Racing

Leisure

Welcome to the web page for Castello Slot Racing.

The History

First let me explain what this is all about. Fifty years ago my father bought me a Scalextric race set for my 7th birthday, just after it was first introduced. When I grew up I got interested in what I will call non-commercial (NC) slot racing where both the cars and the track are scratch-built. A friend and I built a four-lane track from hardboard panels in a big hut in his garden. Initially we raced Scalextric cars around it and eventually plucked up the courage to visit other tracks in our area. What we saw astonished us. The cars were travelling at speeds that made our cars look positively stationary! To give you some idea an NC slot car can accelerate from zero to 70mph and back to zero again within a 20 foot straight and the motors run at speeds in excess of 100,000rpm! The cars were blindingly fast.

We re-built our track as it was far too uneven for these sort of cars. The new track was 87 feet long and six-lanes, made from melamine-coated chipboard panels supported on forty-gallon oil drums. A lot of time went into designing it and it was widely acclaimed as the best track in the UK. It had a large sweeping curve over the bridge, three medium hairpin bends, and two six-inch radius corners (on all lanes), plus of course several straights. We ran both 1/32nd and 1/24th scale cars which were all custom built with some quite high technology. The motors and the back axle were fitted with phenolic resin ballraces.

The motors had tiny machined aluminium heat sinks and balanced armatures. The axles were made from high speed steel, normally used for drills bits. Even the guide shoes were fitted with PTFE washers for near-zero friction! The hand controllers usually had a resistor of 0.5 ohm, compared to a commercial one at 15 ohms, almost operating as an on/off switch. The lap record stood at just 4.2 seconds, and remember two of the corners were six-inch radius! I 'retired' after a particularly nasty episode at an international race meeting on our track when a driver disrupted the meeting. The track went to Rolls Royce in Bristol.

Castello Slot Car Club

Recently I noticed that slot cars had gone digital. This means that you can run up to six cars on one lane and with lane changing sections it is possible to overtake and dice between other competitors. The race management system is also impressive. It is possible to have qualifying laps for grid places, pit stops for fuel, and many other features. The cars are impressively detailed these days. I got the bug again and decided to buy a Scalextric digital circuit after studying the various makes on the market. I bought nearly all my track and cars through Ebay and I would like to say a special thank you to Martin Kay of Cheddar Gorge Model Motor Racing Circuit for his advice and help, and to Mike of Jadlam Racing in Glastonbury who seem to have the Ebay thing well sorted.

The track is currently being erected in the old stables of our villa here in Italy but will eventually have to move into my workshop, the old pig stys, as we now have planning permission to turn the stables into an apartment. I have based the track layout on the form of our old slot car track with some interesting additions, partly due to the scope of the new Scalextric digital system, but also because six cars now only need two lanes.

A Lap of the Circuit

Let me take you round a lap of the proposed circuit (shown below). The starting grid is just after the main straight. A short straight leads into a 45° left and 45° right, then starts to climb into the 'mountainous' section through four tight hairpin bends with the lanes coming together and separating to make passing a bit tricky. A medium bend to the right follows which has two options of lane changing, in to out and out to in, also giving the opportunity to follow the racing line. A longish straight then drops down and rises into a wide sweeping banked curve over the bridge and into another fast straight. At the end of this straight the cars can peel off into the pit lane or continue into another medium bend with a crossover leading into the main straight which goes under the bridge and bends to the right where the lanes crossover followed by a changeover option and back across the start line.

So, the track design has a challenging mix of corners, fast straights, and a twisty mountainous section and plenty of opportunity to change lanes and overtake.

Current state of build

The track is nearing completion. The pictures below show the build process. It took two months to design and a year to complete. However, I now have plans to build a rally section at one end where cars can complete a lap then turn off onto a single track road and climb a forested hillside, go across a viaduct and plunge down through a small village to rejoin the track.

Baseboard Construction

The baseboards are made from 18mm chipboard screwed down on 100mm x 20mm rough-cut timber. Each of the five panels is 2.12m long by 0.94m wide and they are clamped and dowelled together, enabling knock-down and transporting to another location. Each panel rests on its own pair of trestles.

Fitting the bracings

construction method

Underside of a baseboard

laying out the first track pieces

Baseboards built

Underside of the baseboards

Building the track

Laying out the track

and viewed from the other end

Building the 'mountainous' bit

The completed mountainous bit, ready for barriers and scenery.

The bridge under construction...

The pit corner under construction...

The grandstands and pits are added

The castle is finished

The bridge is faced with stone blocks made from styrofoam

then painted to look like local stone

The hairpin bends are completed

and the pit complex

a little bit of work needed to finish the far end

This shot shows how the track comes apart for moving to another location

The Track

The track is Scalextric Sport Digital. I am not keen on the black finish so it is being painted with dark grey primer suitable for plastic. Brushing it out in the direction of travel allows the black to show through a little and resemble tyre marks. Another thing I am not keen on is a step down at the edge of the track, so the whole infield will be raised up to meet the track level, partly painted to match the track as run-off, partly plastic grass and partly carved polystyrene to represent rock faces.

The Cars

There are several classes of cars - modern GT cars - modern touring cars - classic racing cars - classic rally cars. I also have a set of robust Ferrari and Lamborghini cars for beginners and when the track is hired out.

Here is a picture of my Maserati MC12.

Here is my Ferrari 250GTO coming up the avenue of cypresses to the castle

and my Alfa Romeo Giulia taking a bend

an Audi Quattro rally car storms up the hill

the hire cars line up

I am looking for sponsors for these cars. If you wish to have a car painted up in your company colours please let me know. Here is our company car to give an example.

Race meetings

I plan to run a race night once a month with practice sessions in between. There is no charge for practice sessions but 5 euros per head for race meetings to cover electricity, wear and tear.

Links

Scalextric - The official Scalextric website.

Slot Forum - Excellent forum, news, features, columns and resources.

National Scalextric Collectors Club - Does what it says on the box.

Slot Car Illustrated - Online magazine for all types of slot cars with an excellent forum.

British Slot Car Racing Association - The club for scratch-built slot racing.

Cheddar Gorge Model Motor Racing Circuit - A commercial enterprise in my old home village.

Slot City - Slot car specialists.

Oxford Scalextric Club - An excellent site with many useful links, including one to our track!

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