OPEN WHEELED RACING AND SLOT CARS
by
Daniel J. DykeOpen wheel racing is a diverse class of racing that cover everything from Midgets to F1 cars.
Many slot racers get confused on the terminology used for cars from the various 1:1 racing series and often call the cars by a single term such as Indy cars or F1 cars.
The term Indy car is a difficult term to define currently it can only beapplied to the cars that run in the IRL (Indy Racing League) but a few years ago it was alsoo applied to the cars running in the CART series and the little know series called the AIS. A feud started internally in open wheel racing between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and CART and by 1996 the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) had severed all ties with CART, whose cars had been the mainstay of the event since the early 1980s. It was always a strange and strained relationship between IMS and CART and the strain broke the two apart. For nine seasons the two groups battled over domination in this style of racing. Some attribute NASCAR's ascendency to this situation. CART went her way and Tony George, the owner of the Speedway, went his and started the IRL.
During the first year of the IRL's existence they ran the used cars left over from CART. The first race, which I attended, was at the Walt Disney World speedway and had a collection of 1991 through 1995 cars. The race was won by Buzz Calkins who is now retired. He barely beat a guy named Tony Stewart who is a legend in the making. There were only three races that were run that season and the champioship ended in a tie between Scott Sharp (A. J. Foyt Racing) and Buzz Calkins (Bradley Motorsports).
The title Indy Car should only be applied to the cars currently running in the IRL. Only one slotcar manufacturer, Scalextric, makes one of the three brands that have run in the series after the first year of it existence. The sad part is that the car they make is the 2000-2002 Dallara chassis. Many of the great cars were manufactured by GForce (Panoz). The 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2004 winners of the Indy 500 were all GForces. The third brand, Riley & Scott, was short lived and only scored one victory, one second, and one third place finish and never did well at Indianapolis.
The Indy cars currently run only on oval tracks, but IRL has scheduled road races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen for the 2005 season. It will beinteresting to see how the transmission holds up in a style of racing it has not been tested in before.
The Scalextric Indy cars fall into three categories:
1. Real liveries: These are the cars that cost $29.95 and have Firestone TiresCHAMP CARS (a.ka. Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford - CCWS / OR / Open Wheel Racing Series - OWRS)a. Pennzoil (Panther Racing)2. Fantasy Liveries: These cost a whole $10 less and have Pirelli tires which were never used on an Indy car. Thankfully Scalextric-USA does not list them as Indy cars, but as "open wheeled racing cars." I guess I am a purist at heart.
b. Redbull (Team Cheever)
c. Corteco (Kelley Racing)
d. Delphi (Kelley Racing)a. Coca Cola (This sometimes sells on Coca Cola memorabilia for over $50.00)3. Plain White: These cost $17.95 and are the best deal in slotcars today (IMHO). If you can make decals, you can make any car that ever ran in the IRL
b. Mobil 1
c. Gulf
d. PirelliThese are the cars of the now defunct CART series and also of the newly formed CCWS/OWRS series. The term champ car has been used differently over the years, but now is the proper term for the cars in the CCWS. There are two chassis brands: Reynard and Lola. The Lola is the chassis of choice. In 2003 one race was won by a Reynard and the remainder by Lolas. Currently only Walker Racing runs a Reynard chassis.
Two manufacturers make the current Lola chassis, but only Ninco makes a Reynard.
Ninco now (6-29-04) makes five liveries from the CART series. They have listed five liveries from the 2000 and 2003 CART seasons. Please note that all these cars were driven by Hispanic drivers. None are current models.
2000
Reynard
Toyota
Firestone#96
TelephonicaOriol Servia PPI Motorsports This was the last year of PPI in CART before moving completely to the more lucritive fields of NASCAR. PPI scored one win, but not with Oriol. His best finish was third at Detroit. 2003
Reynard
Ford
Firestone#5
Corona BeerRodolfo Lavin Walker Racing The livery looks fantastic in the pictures on the real car. The driver and sponsor moved to Forsythe Racing for the 2004 season and compete as the #3 car. The 2003 car is the natural choice as it is much nicer looking than the 2004 car. 2003
Lola
Ford
Firestone#9
GiganteMichel Jourdain Team Rahal This was Team Rahal's last car to compete and win in the CART series. They now compete in the IRL. It was with this car that Jourdain scored his only wins in the series. 2003
Lola
Ford
FirestoneHerdez Mario Dominguez 2003
Lola
Ford
FirestoneHerdez Roberto Moreno SCX has just released the 2003 Lola of Patrick Racing which was driven by the Spaniard Oriol Servia. To view pictures of the cars and their liveries go to Action Shots.
It seems our two manufacturers have a penchant for the Spanish Speaking driver.
These are the front engined cars that run on the 1/4 and 1/2 mile ovals that abound throughout the USA. Nothing can be finer than to see 24 winged sprint cars with 800 hp engines raging around the dirt oval at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg Ohio averaging over 130 mph. Craig Dollansky holds the absolute lap record at 141.654 for a 1/2 mile dirt oval. Oh mama, I was there the night he did it. It was glorious! This is something that must be seen, heard, smelled, and touched to appreciate fully.
No major manufacturer currently makes these cars although there are people who make bodies. I make a fuel tank for them as this is the only body part that can't be easily fabricated out of styrene.
USAC = United States Auto Club (No Wings). They run midgets, sprint cars, and silver crown cars. Consult their site for the distinction.F1WoO = World of Outlaws (Winged Sprint Cars). These are the fastest cars of this type and the most espensive.
The Little Leagues: Just look at the number of associations they list. Also look here.
F1 stands for Formula 1. These are the highest tech cars in the world. The budgets for some of the teams are staggering. The engines will rev to over 19000 rpms like a good NC-2 motor. By comparison an IRL engine is limited to 10300 rpms.
Carrera, Scalextric, SCX, Artin, Proslot, Strombecker, Bum, and Ninco have all made various models of the F-1 car. Fly has never produced an F1 car or any other open wheel car.
These are the minor league cars in Europe. If you dominate you will get an offer from somewhere to drive their cars. The chassis is a Lola B2/50, the tires are Avons, and the motor a Zytec V-8. Line drawings are avalable here if you wish to make a body.
SCX makes the F3000 car but does not import it into the USA.