New SCX Renault 8 TS-the blue one

New Sloting Plus axle stoppers

From Sloting Plus:

SLPL 2400 red is the same than old aluminium ( 0,22g ) EXCEPT color and reduced friction
( 6,20 mm diameter x 3,24 mm wide )
SLPL 2401 purple is more thin ( 019g ) with M2 screw and not Sloting Plus M2.5
( 6,20 mm diameter x 2,48 mm wide )
SLPL 2402 gold is in thin brass ( 0,54g ) with M2 screw for applications where more weight than aluminium is necessary
( 6,20 mm diameter x 2,48 mm wide )
SLPL 2403 purple aluminium ( 0,38g ) is for axles 3 mm, particularly 1/24 . Screw M3
( 7,15 mm diameter x 3,65 mm wide )

LeMans Miniatures Peugeot 905 back in the US

This Peugeot is back in stock in the US at REH Distributors.

Toyota's Hybrid Camry Concept Vehicle unveiled

Toyota has premiered its HC-CV (Hybrid Camry Concept Vehicle) ahead of the 2009 Melbourne International Motor Show in Australia. Using the same continuously variable transmission layout as a Toyota Prius, the new Hybrid pairs a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with an electric motor and battery pack, with the familiar Camry exterior lines tweaked in favor of aero efficiency.

The HC-CV is basically a body kitted Camry with the emphasis on aero efficiency. The front gets sharp lines, vertical fog lamps, larger lower opening and a streamlined upper grille. The sharp corners indicate aerodynamic efficiency, although sharp corners are more commonly found on the rear end of a vehicle to improve clean air separation. The "aero" theme continues along the side skirts, which flow into the rear diffuser, giving a sporty, functional appearance. The flat rear spoiler further enhances aero efficiency. The front fog lights and rear taillights are all LED lamps.

The new car is the second Camry to have a hybrid option as it follows the Hybrid Camry currently produced and sold in Japan and America. During spirited driving, the petrol and electric engines work together to provide 143kW of power. However when at a standstill or under light acceleration the car runs on battery power alone, with the battery being recharged via brake regeneration. If the US Camry hybrid version in any indication, the Australian based Camry Hybrid should get 7.1L/100km — a normal manual four-cylinder Camry uses 8.9L/100km.

Plans for the new hybrid was announced by Toyota Australia in June 2008 when it received $70 Million in taxpayer dollars for the project. Toyota plans to build 10,000 Camry Hybrids per year and the production version will be Australia’s first locally produced hybrid.

The premiere marks the start of a 12-month countdown to the car's launch and according to the company's senior executive director sales and marketing David Buttner, the concept being shown in Melbourne "is a strong pointer to the hybrid Camry we will manufacture right here in Australia from early next year."

Layoff's at Fly Model Car

A link to an article in Spanish about layoffs at Fly.

Renault 8 TS

New SCX distributor in Australia

The new Distributor for Austalia for SCX is B & B Hobbies Pty Ltd

t: 1300 857 883
f: (02) 8569 1838
e: frikkie@bbhobbies.com.au

Unit 4, Dural i Park, 280 New Line Road, Dural, NSW, 2158

w: www.bbhobbies.com.au

SCX Digital car disassembly

Sebring wrap up from Patron Highcroft

Leko - the Ikea car

Is Ikea planning to branch into automobile manufacture?

A microsite for the mysterious Leko suddenly appeared linked from the Ikea France site. It features a rotating car covered with cloth and a designer called Christophe Grazs talking about it in French. I have no idea what he's talking about but I can probably get my brother-in-law to tell what he is going on about.

It has generated a fair amount of interest but seems a lot of people are not taking it seriously.

I hope they are not going to ask their customers to assemble it using an Allen key.

Funny Mini Clubman ad

Watch the funny ad of two MINI Clubman on the German autobahn.

Slot MiniAuto #54-April

SLOT MINIAUTO 54 – APRIL

Lotus is the great protagonist of the magazine in April. Lotus Exige of Ninco, Ostorero’s Lotus 79 and Lotus 28 (Lotus Cortina) of Scalextric have an interesting story inside. In addition, the track test of the new SCX Ferrari 599 GTB, Peugeot 908 HDI FAP of Scalextric, AutoArt Jaguar D, and the new Citroën 15-6 of Hobby Classic.
The Triumph Spitfire Le Mans by Ocar also has their role.
It also contains an interview with David Cosculluela of Ninco, explaining the new XLot reasons.
This issue informs the readers, the model chosen to offer to subscribers. A great surprise!
(More information on www.revistasprofesionales.com)


SLOT MINIAUTO 54 - ABRIL

Lotus es la gran protagonista de la revista del mes de Abril. El Lotus Exige, de Ninco, Lotus 79 de Ostorero y Lotus 28 (Lotus Cortina) de Superslot tienen un reportaje destacado. Además la prueba en pista del nuevo Ferrari 599 GTB de Scalextric, el Peugeot 908 HDI FAP de Superslot, El Jaguar D de AutoArt, y el nuevo Citroën 15-6 de Hobby Classic.
Los Triumph Spitfire de Le Mans realizados por Ocar tambien tienen su protagonismo.
También se recoge una entrevista a David Cosculluela, de Ninco, explicando las razones del XLot.
En este número se da a conocer a lo lectores, el modelo escogido para regalar a los suscriptores. ¡Una gran sorpresa!
(Más información en www.revistasprofesionales.com)

Tata Nano launch today

Tata Nano the World's cheapest car will be commercially launched today.



Watch the 10 things you should know about the Tata Nano slideshow on the Time site.

Go to the Tata Nano microsite for more information about the car.

New Abarth Fiat 1000 by SCX

A link to a few shots of the new SCX Fiat Abarth 1000 I shot recently. This car is lots of fun to drive no-mag even with the stock tires.

Sebring Flying Lizard wrap up-spoiler alert!

March 21, 2009 -- Sebring, Florida -- The Flying Lizard No. 45 and No. 44 Porsches finished their sixth consecutive Sebring race fourth and fifth in GT2, respectively. The twelve-hour race was another contest of will and endurance: nearly half of the starting cars were no longer running by the end of the race.

With Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45 starting second and Seth Neiman in the No. 44 starting 13th on the GT2 grid, both Porsches ran into trouble within the first ten minutes. The clean race start quickly turned ugly for the Lizards when on the fourth lap the No. 45 was hit by another GT2 car, causing rear suspension damage to the No. 45. The Lizard crew made the repair in the pits but the lengthy stop dropped the No. 45 from third to 13th. Meanwhile, the No. 44 had its own issues with an early race spin which sent it back to the pits for an unscheduled pit stop and fresh tires.

Over the next 10 hours, both Lizard Porsches cycled through their drivers, who patiently worked their way up from the back of the field. The 12-hour race had only three cautions, making it more difficult to find opportunities to regain lost laps or gain time in the pits. But by hour 10, the No. 45 Porsche was in fourth (Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marc Lieb) and the No. 44 (Neiman, Darren Law, and Johannes van Overbeek) had recovered to fifth, with the No. 45 (Marc Lieb) having set the fastest race lap of 2:02.494.

At hour 10, the No. 62 Risi Ferrari was in the lead (having led most of the race) and the No. 95 Advanced Engineering Pecom Racing Ferrari was in second. The No. 21 Team PTG Panoz in third. The No. 45, with Marc Lieb at the wheel, was running a faster pace than the No. 21, and worked over the next hour to overtake the No. 21, putting pressure on in the corners, but losing ground on the long straights and to traffic. Taking an opportunity to pass, Lieb moved past the No. 21, but was not able to complete the pass, and the two cars made contact, with the No. 45 spinning into the tire wall. Although the radiators were not damaged and Lieb was able to make it back to the pits, the crew had to adjust bodywork, replace all four tires, but then was unable to fuel the car because of the damage to the hood. With Joerg Bergmeister behind the wheel, the No. 45 went out on track again, then pitted one more time for additional repairs and refueling. He was back on track again quickly, having lost just one position to the No. 44 with Johannes van Overbeek at the wheel, which moved to P4.

With the car nearly undrivable, Joerg was able to maintain a fast enough pace over the final hour to keep fifth and stay ahead of the No. 61 Krohn Racing Ferrari in sixth. The No. 44 was in fourth, but lost time in the pits with a late race pit stop, and finished fifth, just behind the No. 45 which took fourth place. The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari won in GT2, the No. 95 was second, and the No. 21 third.

Team principal and driver of the No. 44 Porsche Seth Neiman said, "This was another classic Sebring -- a race where you have to give it everything you have just to finish. A podium spot was not in the cards for the Lizards this year, but I'm proud that both cars finished the race in the top five. It was unfortunate that the No. 45 was knocked back so far in the field so early in the race, but a testament to the crew and to Joerg, Patrick and Marc that they came back not just once, but twice during the race to finish fourth. The No. 44 also had a rough start, but together with Darren and Johannes we were able to climb back up to fifth. Congratulations to Risi Competizione on their well-deserved win and seamless race."

News and photo used with permission from Flying Lizard Motorsports, no reuse for any reason.

Voting!

http://www.scxworldwide.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=1232

Click on the link above to be taken to the poll to vote for the RX42B for all SCX Nascars, GT, DTM, and LMP's. Voting will close at the end of this month, SCX needs to know that the faster RX42B is the motor we want!

If you'd like to vote but are not a member of SCXWorldWide's message board please email me at slotcarnews@yahoo.com and I can set up an account for you to vote for the motor. Random voters will win the SCX Hobbytown Nascar.

DaveK

Truth in 24... in a few minutes.... tick, tick ,tick

ESPN 8pm EST

Sloter Opel Corsa 1600

A review by PeteN95:

The entry level rally car in Europe is the S1600 class which consists of small, FWD hatchbacks made by most manufacturers and seen commonly on roads all over Europe. This is the stepping stone rally class to the faster S2000 class and eventually the mighty AWD turbo cars of the WRC, the World Rally Championship. The smaller cars of the S1600 rally class are already well covered by other slot car manufacturers, with the Citroën Saxo, Fiat Punto, Ford Festiva, VW Polo, and SEAT Ibiza all available. Sloter enters the class with the Opel Corsa 1600.

The Sloter Opel Corsa is an aggressive looking, but small car with a spoiler at the rear and an air scoop at the front of the roof panel. It is covered in a factory rally livery of silver, blue, and yellow with a large Opel logo on the roof. The paint and striping quality is pretty good, but the yellow on the scoop and spoiler is a little thin and there are places where the stripes are not as crisp as they could be. There is a fairly well detailed, full depth interior with a full roll cage and driver and navigator figures. The Corsa is also available in a “roll out” livery, as well as a plain white version if you’d like to do your own livery.

The reason the Opel has a full depth interior is it’s a sidewinder (SW) drive train, which I believe is a first in it’s class and unusual in slot rally cars in general. It also has a very unique and innovative motor pod design. The pod looks a bit like a Slot it type at first because it has four screws near the corners, but it is not designed to float. Instead, it is made to be modular, allowing different types of motors to be mounted in different orientations using the same pod! They do this by using some very clever inserts which simply snap into the main pod. The inserts are then locked in place when the pod slides into the chassis. The pod actually slides up into the chassis about ¼” into a very tight fitting cavity, eliminating any possible movement or flex required to remove the inserts.



The motor is a standard Mabuchi (18k) similar to other RTRs mounted in a bell drive SW configuration, but the pod also allows a long can boxer style motor to be mounted in an inline configuration. This is done by removing the front insert in the pod, after removing the pod assembly from the chassis. The rear pod screws also function as the rear body mount screws, so after removing the body with two screws in front and the two rear pod screws, all that is required to remove the pod from the chassis is to remove the front two pod screws. The pod then slides down out of the chassis and the front insert, which contains a thick Fly/Ninco sized button magnet, can be snapped out. After the motor is removed, the extra pod insert that comes with the car can be snapped in place of the SW motor and you have converted the pod to a long can inline set up. Of coarse you will have to change out the SW spur gear for an inline crown gear (not included), but a very clever design!



I ran the car straight out of the box, with the magnet, and it went very well. Not too stuck down, but very stable. It read about 180gms on the Magnet Marshall total, with a weight of about 79gms, so about 100 grams of additional down force. The car did have quite a bit of gear noise from what turned out to be a slightly tight gear mesh. It has quieted with additional running and I would prefer a little tight out of the box, as opposed to too loose to begin with. It was now time to remove the magnet, as I believe all rally cars should be set up, so I lubed the bushings while I had the body off. This is where I ran into problems. The tires are rather soft and although there was no problem running with the magnet, the tire spin when the magnet was removed caused the tires to expand and come off the wheels. I had a similar issue with the Sloter Opel, so I got some glue to fix the tires to the wheels.

Unfortunately, a bumbled and hurried attempt at using fast Superglue resulted in destroying the stock tires. Slower glue gives time to seat the tires correctly, for future reference! Normally this would not be a problem, but the Corsa uses a strange size tire, about 20mm x 8mm?! Even in my large collection of spares, I had nothing similar. Fortunately, the wheels were a standard size and some Ninco ribbed rally tires in 19x10 size fit just fine. A little Dremel work in the rear wheel wells was required to give clearance for the wider tires, but just a bit. The stock tires are pretty soft and I think they would work fine for non-mag running if glued to the rims, but be careful and use a slower adhesive, unlike myself.

With new tires installed, we were ready to do some real rally drifting! And drifting is what this Opel excels at! I was amazed as I got up to speed by the degree of control afforded by this very small car. The more I drove it, the more I liked it. Most of the smaller slot cars tend to be rather tricky to control at the limit because of the short wheelbase and narrow track, but the Corsa was very easy to drift in a nice controlled arc, all the way through most turns. The standard 18k Mabuchi motor is plenty powerful for this small car, but an NC-2 might also work well in the long can, inline configuration. I just can not imagine the car being any better balanced than it is now. Sloter still could work on making the wheels more concentric, as the car vibrates a bit, but overall this car is an improvement over their first rally car, the Opel Manta, and probably the fastest S1600 class slot rally car available at this time.

Michelin Active Wheel System to hit roads in 2010

Michelin has announced that it will partner to bring an affordable electric car powered by its Active Wheel System to the roads in 2010. Featuring two electric motors housed within the wheel, one for traction and braking and the other for electric active suspension control, the system has revolutionary potential - no more engine under the hood, no more traditional suspension system, and no more gearbox or transmission as all the essential components have been integrated into the wheel itself.

The Future of Car Design

First showcased at the Bibendum Challenge in 2004 in a fuel cell powered electric concept vehicle called Hy-Light, the Active Wheel System could outperform Ferrari and Porsche in a straight line when it comes to braking. While a typical high performance supercar takes about six seconds to come to a complete halt from 100km/h, the Michelin concept does it in a mere 2.8 seconds at up to 1G.

Michelin have been developing the Active Wheel system for over 12 years in conjunction with Swiss based Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and has now unveiled the Opel Agila based Heuliez WILL - the first production electric car with Active Wheel drive system. The WILL results from a partnership between Michelin and coachbuilder Heuliez and although it may represent the next generation in transportation technology, its designers and builders want to convey a comfortable familiarity with the empty storage space in both the front and rear trunks being the first hints that something unusual is afoot.

Wheel Motor technology should trigger a paradigm change in car design. Without engines, transmissions and ancillary systems, smaller cars can carry more people and cargo. Impact absorbing collapse zones in both front and rear offer potential safety improvements and advanced active safety features such as anti-lock brakes and stability control can be taken to new levels with direct computer control of each wheel motor. For example, electric active suspension can react in 0.0003/sec and control ride height, pitch under braking and roll during cornering replacing passive anti-roll bars.

Technical Specs

Each Michelin in-wheel motor weighs 42 kilogram (95 pound) and includes a 30 Kilowatt water-cooled drive motor of a similar size to a conventional starter motor. The motor has a spur gear that drives a rind gear on the hub. A second electric motor operates the active suspension via a gear rack and pinion that effectively replaces the normal hydraulic shock absorber (no news on if they are used as regenerative shocks). There is also a coil spring to hold the static load of the car and a small outer rotor disc brake. The wheel motor is attached to the vehicle chassis by a single lower control arm suspension arrangement.

With the smallest of the battery packs on board, the prototype Heuliez WILL weighs in at 900 kg, 75 kg less than the internal combustion engine powered Opel Agila.

While the earlier Hy-Light prototype had four wheel motors and could be switched between two wheel drive and four wheel drive the Heuliez WILL comes with only two wheel drive. Together, the two front wheel motors deliver a combined 60 Kw (81 horsepower), which can peak up to 120 Kw (163 hp) for short sprints. The car should do 0-100 km (0 - 62 mph) in 10 seconds and will have a max speed of 140 km/h (87 mph).

Three versions will be available in 2010 with three different sizes of Lithium-Ion battery module configurations, offering ranges of 150, 300 and 400 km (93, 186 and 248 miles). Drivers will have the option of changing from one module size to another in the same vehicle depending on their needs. Just like hybrids, the Active Wheels recover energy during braking to extend vehicle range. The in-wheel motors are reported to be 90% efficient, compared to about 15% efficiency for a conventional vehicle in city driving.

Test versions of the WILL are on the road now with production scheduled to start in 2010 with a first year output target of several thousand vehicles. The target price of 20 to 25,000 euros (USD$27 – 34,000) puts the Will in the affordable electric vehicle class, along with the much anticipated Chevy Volt. If you are willing to wait a bit longer, and spend a bit more, look for Active Wheels on the Venturi Volage in 2012.

Foiljet MR1 hydrofoil: the motocross bike for water

The Foiljet MR1 is a new personal watercraft concept that takes the best features of a motocross bike and jetski, throws in two hydrofoils plus a silent, energy efficient electric motor to create what would have to be a surefire recipe for outrageous fun. The design looks something like a motocross bike, but instead of wheels there are beams with small hydrofoil wings mounted at the ends that can be raised or lowered. The concept would use a 15 kW (20 hp) electric motor housed at the end of the rear beam with its instant electric torque lifting the craft out of the water to become "foil borne".

To cope with shallow water the beams can be raised at the flick of a switch. The electric motor runs off a 48V battery that should see three hours of full load running with the possibility of a theoretical 10 min recharge time.

While still at the purely concept stage Matt De Bellefeuille & Robert Vandenham have come up with an original design that most definitely deserves to reach the prototype stage.

The designers have selected a T-shaped fully submerged foil system which, while not affected by surface waves is not self stabilizing, so it needs constant adjustment of the angle of attack of the front foil to keep the craft level with the surface. Front foil angle adjustment on the Foiljet MR1 is made manually by what would conventionally be the clutch lever on a motorcycle. In larger applications this sea-keeping function is automated with a computer system that measure either surface height or pitch and roll to make constant fine adjustments to the front foil.

Hydrofoils produce relatively no wake and electric propulsion is near silent, so if the Foiljet MR1 makes it into production it may allow current laws against jetski’s on inland water ways to be relaxed around residential areas.

Worlds most powerful Hybrid - Is Nissan working on a Hybrid GTR?

To celebrate 20 years as a brand Infiniti has produced a stunning concept car for the 2009 International Motor Show in Geneva. The Infiniti Essence is the world’s most powerful Hybrid car with a total of 600 horsepower combined output from its V6 twin turbo and electric motor. The luxury sports car hybrid offers enormous power on the open road and zero emission driving in urban settings.

In specification the car looks very much like a hybrid version of Nissan’s GT-R. (Infiniti is a Nissan owned brand) With a 3.7 liter V6 DOHC Twin Turbo VQ based engine (VQ37DETT) putting out 434 hp (320 Kw) in a rear wheel drive FM (Front Midship) platform currently used in modified form in both the Nissan GT-R, 350Z and Infiniti V36. An additional 158 hp (116 Kw) and 500 Nm comes from the twin clutch mounted Disc type electric motor giving a total of 592 hp (435 Kw). No combined torque figure was released by Infiniti but it should be in the region of 1088 Nm (802 Ft/lb)

Strictly a two seater, the front-engined rear wheel drive super-luxury coupe is Infiniti’s first super-performance car with design cues that Infiniti says will distinguish its production cars of the coming years. The Essence is a real styling exercise featuring razor sharp lines, side windows that appear to be resting on a ledge and a steeply raked windscreen that combines as a sun roof and extends all the way to the B pillar while the car rides on 22-inch wheels. The Essence also comes complete with Bespoke Louis Vuitton luggage.

The petrol engine and electric engine can work independently or together as a “parallel” hybrid system. At urban speeds the Essence operates as a pure battery electric vehicle. A lower trunk mounted laminated lithium ion battery supplies power to a new type of electric motor called the 3D Motor. The motor is a BLDC design that maximizes torque density to meet tough requirements on size and power output. The result is a particularly slim, disk-shaped motor that has twice the torque of a conventional unit. Its design was achieved by 3D magnetic field analysis to optimize the layout of the electromagnetic coils and permanent magnets. The motor is positioned between the engine and transmission and provides 158bhp (116 Kw). The 3D Motor operates in both propulsion and power regeneration modes to recapture braking energy to keep the battery pack charged up.

600 hp + 30 MPG

Optimized energy usage across the widest possible range of driving conditions is guaranteed by two separate clutches which “switch in” the motors as required. It is a system that needs no torque converter and the result is a 600 hp sports car with combined fuel economy of 8 liters / 100 km (30 US MPG).

The Essence also previews some next-generation collision avoidance safety features. Distance Control Assist (DCA) and Lane Departure Prevention (LDP) systems are available in today’s production Infinitis but the Essence adds Side Collision Prevention (SCP) and Back-up Collision Prevention (BCP) to extend the anti-collision shield all the way around the car.

With SCP, when the driver decides to change lanes, side-mounted sensors activate a warning if an approaching vehicle is detected in the driver’s intended lane. A yaw mechanism is then activated through brake control of individual wheels to help prevent a potential collision. Back-up Collision Prevention works in a similar way, sensing a vehicle behind, giving the driver a warning but then, if the warning is not heeded, activating the brakes automatically.

New Racer 312P-NART

A new Racer 312P to show today, photos from AmazingSlot.com.
RCR49 - 312P N.A.R.T - Le Mans 24hrs 1970 - T. Adamowicz/ C. Parsons

Robotic Electric Motorcycle concept capable of MotoGP speeds

We're familiar with the soccer playing exploits of intelligent machines in Robocup and have been treated to a taste of what autonomous robotic systems are capable of in events like the DARPA Urban Challenge, but could a rider-less motorcycle robot compete with the speed demons of MotoGP? That's the vision of Japanese computer graphics designer Yutaka Igarashi who has conceived a new robotically controlled motorcycle design aimed at beating the lap time of a MotoGP bike around a circuit.

Powered by an electric motor, the concept is controlled by swinging a boom (which replaces the rider) through hydraulic actuators. The design is still at concept stage, so no power output or battery details have been specified.

With robots now used for everything from automobile manufacture to robotically assisted heart surgery, a robot motorcycle could no doubt be very accurate at high speed. It may even be possible to replicate a fast lap using telemetry recorded from a human rider but we do have our doubts about whether the talents of a MotoGP riders can be successfully be digitized into G code to allow a Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) machine to outperform them.

We have previously seen a robotic motorcycle called Ghostrider which has contested the DARPA Grand Challenge, but has never finished the course.

TH!NK FROST: AWD, all-wheel-steer electric sports car concept

While World Rally Championship cars travel at incredible speed on ice covered roads using studded tires, something with more surface area is needed for an Artic Off-Road vehicle. Taking cues off four track snowmobiles Norwegian designer Anders Gloslie designed the FROST as a concept proposal for TH!NK, an electric car company based in Norway.

The layout of the FROST is a 2-seat sports car platform based on a tubular space frame chassis with double wishbone suspension front and rear teamed with push-rod actuated in-board coil over shock and spring units. The suspension features hydraulic wheel extenders to increase the track when required. The exterior styling was inspired by Arctic conditions and features numerous ‘cracks’, which house the lighting systems.

The electric drivetrain of the concept features All Wheel Drive (AWD), all-wheel-steering and includes radical tracks instead of conventional wheels that should offer superior traction when driving on snow, ice and slush. The fans at the back of the vehicle control air flow into the cockpit and adjust the temperature of the electric motors and battery packs. An “information hose” takes measurements of the weather and temperature at the rear of the vehicle and relays the information to screens inside and outside the vehicle.

Spain sets new wind power record supplying 40% of total demand

Wind Turbines in the north west of Spain set a new record for power generation on March 5th as gales blew across the country, with more than 40% of the country's energy needs being generated by wind turbines.

The new record stands at a peak of 11,180 megawatts (11.18 GW) of electricity supply beating the previous record of 10,032 megawatts. The percentage of demand supplied depends on time of day as demand rises and falls throughout the day.

Spain is the third largest producer of Wind Power in the world, behind the US and Germany, with 16,740 megawatts wind capacity installed at the end of 2008. At the moment of peak production, the country's turbines were working at 69% of their maximum theoretical potential. Wind energy alone has covered 11.5% of demand so far this year, with production up by a third on last year.

When Atlantic storms generate strong gusts wind turbines supply more than either Nuclear power, the second largest contributor, with 6,797 megawatts, or coal-fired electric generation, the third largest, at 5,081 MW. Spain has plans to install a total of over 21GW of wind generation capacity by 2010 to help meet their target of 30% of annual demand for electricity from renewable sources by next year.

New Jeff Burton "CAT" Nascar-newsletter

SCX Porsche 911 GT3-UPS deco

New Sloting Plus gears

From Sloting Plus:

Here are some photos of our new crown gears AngleWinder in duraluminium alloy :

Z27 ( purple ), Z28 ( blue ), Z29 ( green ), Z30 ( yellow ), Z31 ( orange ), Z32 ( red )

Z27, Z28, Z29 and Z30 Normal diameter 15.70 mm. Mod. 0.50

Z31 and Z32 SRD ( Special Reduced Diameter ) 16.90 mm. Mod. 0.50

Nascar vs. F1... a tired argument taken to new... um.. heights?

Spirit SxXx/LeMans motor testing

Rob's updated the motor list with Spirit SxXx and LeMans motor tests. Here are his results:

I happened upon a Spirit SxXx long can in my mailbox, and immediately proceeded to the test lab (basement).

This is a long can FK-180, with open slots, which resembles a Slot.It Boxer 2. The performance turned out to be nearly the same:

RPM at no load, 12v, after a few minutes of warm up: 20,745 RPM. Factory spec is 20,640 RPM/12v, 25,380 RM/14.8v, 57g mag downforce. Motor is revving very close to spec.

Torque at 12v, based on three times the average of nine 4v readings around one rev of the armature, measured against a scale with a torque arm and push rod: 329 gcm.

Power output wattage computes to 17.1W at 12v. This is one powerful motor. The test sample was not balanced, and felt a little buzzy in my hand (but not bad). I would call it typical quality for a slot car motor.
_____________________________

I was then blessed with a Spirit Le Mans motor, out of Dave's new BMW 635. Another long can, FK-180 type.

Rating on the Le Mans wrapper is 24,000 RPM at 14.8v, which would convert to 19,459 RPM at 12v. At one point, Spirit released these specs:
20,100 RPM/12v, 23,500 RPM/14.8v, 39g mag downforce.

I believe Spirit considers the LeMans to be a milder motor than their earlier long cans.

In any case, the rating of 39g magnetic downforce cannot be, as it is a solid, closed can, with approximately zero downforce on a Magnet Marshal.

The tach showed 20,926 RPM/12v running no-load. Just a little faster than spec.

The torque tester showed 280 gcm at 12v. A little bit lighter torque than the SxXx, but not much. This motor is still a powerhouse, pumping out 14.6 watts.

New Dale Jr. Camo Nascar-newsletter

New MRC/Ninco tools

From Ninco Bob (www.modelrectifier.com):

We're introducing NINCO precision hand tools in the most popular metric hobby sizes designed for Slot Cars and Radio Control hobbyists.
These are beautifully made, with quality and precision equaling or exceeding any similar tool available. The handles have a rotating top piece, perfect weight, grip texture and 'feel'. These comfortable hand tools give you sure grip for the most precise adjustment or 'muscle' when needed.

Comes in 0.9mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm Allen tips, 2.0mm Phillips and 3.0mm flathead, 4.5mm and 5.5mm socket head drivers.

*Available individually.
*Designed for Slot racing and RC.
*Engraved aluminum handles and CNC precision machined.
*Interchangeable heads, flat, Phillips, Allen & Socket
*Hardened tips.
*Handles easily identifiable.
*Precise adjustment for all kinds of screws.

MSRP for each hand tool is $16.98, and replacement shaft/tips are only $7.98.

www.modelrectifier.com

Video coverage of the 24 hour enduro-Area 51 SCX Enduro

Coverage and results here

SCXWorldWide.com:
http://www.scxworldwide.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=1539

North East Slot Cars message board:
http://northeastslotcars.yuku.com/forums/98

Area 51 SCX 24 Hour Enduro-live coverage

See coverage of the Area 51 SCX 24 Hour Enduro race at this link.