Toyota TS-030
Thinking outside of the box
By Tamar Nelwan
F
or me one of the most appealing and unique features of the Slot.it oXigen Le Mans 24hrs is the many options it offers to build and create your own car. Whereas most international 1/32nd events tend to have ‘box stock’ or ‘spec class’ tech rules, this event kept its rules true to the Le Mans spirit, challenging the teams to think ‘outside of the box’. Sure, you can take the tried and tested route, buy the latest box standard car, make it fast…and win. But you can also take the challenge to use whatever is in the rules to build something special and unique…. and then try to make it fast…and win. Maybe it’s because I’m not a slot racer, I love race cars, the ones I create and race are just a little bit smaller. Every time I would go to Le Mans there would be one car of which I would say: “That’s what I want to race.” I would come home, build it, the slot was just the place where I would race it. So when I got word of the first edition of the Slot.it oXigen LM 24hrs and read the rules..I knew immediately that I had to take part, and also which car I would build: the Racing for Holland Dome S101. In its box stock form the SCX Dome wouldn’t be on top of a slot racer’s ‘most competitive cars’ list, but under these rules all its so-called ‘deficiencies’ could be overcome. It took some time and effort to lighten and widen the body and to make room for an anglewinder, but its not rocket science, just basic hobby skills. So when we placed the Dome on the grid in Henley I was surprised to see that there was only one other ‘hybrid’ car…the Sports Carazing Peugeot 908HDI !!! The race was a blast with a three-way battle between our scratchbuilt Dome and a Lola and Radical in near stock form, thus proving the balance of performance within the rules. The time period chosen for the 2nd edition ruled out a return of the Dome, so sticking to the ‘Racing for Holland’ theme meant racing the Lola BK98. For this car I made a master based on the Fly Lola, from which we drew a silicone form to laminate a GRP body. The same process was also used to create bucks to draw lightweight lexan parts like the cockpit and headlight lenses. Back in Henley the only other team that had entered a non stock car was again Sports Carazing with their Audi R8R. Thinking outside of the box was apparently not as popular as I had imagined. For this year I have taken on an even bigger challenge; of the 2014 list of eligible cars there was only one that I would want to race – one of the few prototypes that
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Dome SCX base bodyshell with raised rear deck to make room for Flat-6 anglewinder. Louvres added conform to 2005 version, as can be seen in ref pic above. Below; the same but from a different angle
The Dome also had a scratchbuilt chassis made from 0.5 mm thick GRP with a modified Slot.it 1mm offset motor mount.
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