Monday January 30, 2006

Slot Car Adventure - SEMO

If you are not from around these parts, SEMO stands for South East Missouri and the towns of Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, and Dexter (among others) are all located here. Having this website has allowed me to meet some great people in this hobby, and some of them are actually pretty close to home.

Saturday Night! - 1st Stop: Bottomland Raceway!

Bottomland Raceway is located just a few miles East of Poplar Bluff. Nick Nesbitt and his wife Donna are very involved with the hobby and have visited our home many times to race with us. Nick wanted his own layout, but he simply did not have any room in his house to create what he wanted. The answer? Purchase an old mobile home and convert into a race place! And that is just what they did. They still have some work to do in order to finish it off the way they want, but it is now functional and they have built 3 layouts to enjoy the hobby on.

Above we see Nick (in the hat) battling "Big Mike", Hogan and "LocoRacer Tom" on the oval. To the right we see the oval getting more use as Doyle Burke ("Vintage1952" on our forum) in back next to our own Cindy "General MyWay" Wise, Tom and Mike battle it out! To answer the age old question: Can you race Pro-Track 1/24th scale stockers on Artin? YES. They rub, hit, scrape and generally abuse each other at this scale of track...but that is one of the things that make this series as fun as it is.

It might be an old trailer, but Nick and Donna have done a lot of work in a short amount of time. To the left is the view you get when you walk in. On the right is the Artin 1/32nd scale layout. Do not let this track fool you, this track is a very technical layout to drive and an extreme amount of fun. The black areas are patches Nick painted using Rust Oleum Textured paint. This paint gives a slight abrasive surface and just allows the tires to stay cleaner for longer periods of time.

On both the oval and road course, Nick uses PARAM Econo controllers along with a Pyramid PS26KX power supply that powers both tracks. When it comes to powering your track, you can find many different approaches but if you are investing this much into your hobby, a good quality adjustable supply cannot be beat and is well worth the investment. This race shop proves it.

One thing is certain: Slot Racers need food! Nick and Donna made sure we had a few "little" snacks! Fresh Bratwurst and hot wings started things off and for "dessert" Donna brought out her famous homemade pizza! I liked the pizza with the Jalapenos the best.

Sunday Afternoon - 2nd Stop: SEMO Raceway!

Located a few short miles West of Poplar Bluff is the home of Doyle Burke. Doyle has been involved with this hobby for quite awhile and has hosted races many times in the past. He has a race shop that most of us would die for. It is an old horse barn/garage that he is slowly renovating to make it a very nice place to enjoy the hobby.

On the left is an Artin 1/32nd scale road course and on the right is the huge Carrera oval. Both of these layouts use PARMA Econo controllers and after-market power supplies. Once again, a Pyramid PS26KX handles the road course and will also pull double duty on the oval.

Doyle has placed the drivers stations at all 4 corners of the layout to give all drivers and excellent view. At the top left, you see (from left to right) Tom, Doyle, Nick and Mike at each of the stations getting ready to do battle Pro-Track style. The stations are about as easy as it gets as Doyle simply made large shelves he mounted with common L brackets and utilized the standard 3 bolt hook-up. This gave us room to add tape for tire cleaning and they double as a good cup holder:)

 
The track uses Laptimer 2000 for timing and it is easily seen from even the back stations. This track is painted using a combination of gray primer with a light top coat of Rust Oleum. This helps the foam tires of the Pro-Track cars grip the track nicely and also helps keep regular rubber very clean. At the right we see 4 of the Stocker Series Pro-Track cars screaming out of turn 2. The broad radius of the Carrera 2/30 and 3/30 degree curves certainly make for fast and fun sliding through the corners.

Again, you simply cannot race on an empty stomach. Doyle and Nick made sure we had a few snacks before the Slotburgers were finished!

We want to thank all of them for inviting us down for a great race weekend. The hospitality shown by them is what makes home slot car racing so much fun.  If you are ever in the area, stop by for a visit...I promise you won't regret it!

- Harry