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Scaling the heights in a slot car
MARK JACKSON PHOTO
Beginning Sunday, 32 competitors from around the world will pit their 1/24th scale race cars against each other on this 45-metre track in Concord.
Terry Dalton has been a competitive racer for years and this weekend he chases a world championship. But he won't do it from a driver's seat.
Instead, Dalton will stand outside the circuit with a remote control, watching as his No. 12 Ferrari 430 circles a track inside a 6,000-square-foot grey building in Concord, Ont.
The track is miniature – 45 metres long – and so is Dalton's car, a petite replica of one that races in the Ferrari Challenge North America Series. Dalton competes with a model that's 1/24th the size of the original.
From Sunday to Thursday, he will be among 32 scale-racing competitors from a dozen countries participating in the Ferrari Challenge and American Le Mans Series World Endurance Championship. These are shrunken versions of the Daytona 24, Le Mans or Monza grids.
"The cars that we race are very adjustable. You may change springs, move weight around, add weight, change ride height and track width. Just as easily as you can take a perfectly good car and adjust too much and slow it down," says Dalton, who raced slot cars and go-karts as a teen, and won 10 championships while competing in the CASC-OR ice racing series in Minden, Ont.
He and the other competitors will pay about $200 to take part in the Lilliputian sport's championship events, which make their first appearance on Canadian soil and also return to North America two decades after the finals were held in Chicago.
The drivers will compete for bragging rights while racing their Ferraris, Porsches and Lolas, to name a few, all built from the specifications of last year's actual size race cars.
The competitors are not all men. In fact, a Belgian woman won one of the series championships last year.
They race in sprints and endurance races. The LMP and GT races each last a total of 12 hours.
The attention to detail the racers put into their cars is remarkable – the racer's name, sponsors' decals and paint job matches their full-size, or 1:1, counterparts exactly. The Endurance race cars have working headlights.
It is the price tags that are so very different between these cars and the ones they emulate.
A Ferrari 430 race car costs approximately $270,000 and an American Le Mans Series Prototype can be in the millions of dollars – shrinking the car to 1/24th can cost you about $500-$600.
Scale racers take their cars and their "hobbysport" seriously.
Mark Campbell, the official organizer, says drivers can spend up to 300 hours working on the racers that will take part in the championships.
Just as in full-scale racing, each car must pass an extensive technical control. In each race, all the competitors get the same tiny tires and motors, which are handed out at the venue. Without this rule, competitors could gain an advantage by soaking the tires to improve grip and tweaking motors that they've tested over time.
"Whether you are racing at scale or at full scale, everyone wants a level playing field. And like 1:1 racing, the tires play a big role so these are always provided to the racers or openly drawn by each team prior to the start of the technical control and before the cars go to parc fermé," says Campbell, who participates in a biweekly scale-racing series that runs in Toronto from September to May.
"The racers are very competitive and everyone is constantly looking for a small edge, a small way of doing something that will yield them an extra tenth of a second in the race."
Only one car body can be used during a race, whether it is carbon fibre like those of the scale ALMS cars or plastic of the miniature Ferraris – and some will need repair if a collision occurs.
When the racing starts, marshals are stationed at every corner to return those unlucky cars that jump the track to competition and to ensure fair racing. The race director can stop the race if three or more cars collide.
During a practice run, Dalton finessed his controller as his car zipped through the corners.
"You are able to adjust braking and sensitivity (throttle response) as track conditions change or to suit a particular driver's style," he says while manoeuvring his Ferrari.
Scale racing started in the early 1960s with tiny cars that were created to be as accurate as the technology of the day would permit. Although most of the cars were sold as collectibles, their owners began to race them and soon many took to scale racing with zeal.
"We all love motorsport, be it NASCAR, Formula One or Le Mans. It is in our blood and we take our spirit of the sport to scale racing with an equal passion and commitment," Campbell says.
Many of participants had started with a 1/32 scale car that costs $60.
"Anyone that gets really hooked sees the larger scale cars at 1/24, the carbon fibre and other technical details and they are hooked. In this case, bigger is a little better. After all we would be racing the real thing if we had the opportunity."
Related links:
For more information on scale racing, visit torontoworlds.com.
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