Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Time To Kick The Tires, And Light The Fires....

Which in my case translates to: Let's charge the batteries and head to the track!

The 1/10th scale Vintage Trans Am car is over 95% finished, and now needs a trip to track for inspection, transponder installation, and a few laps.




I still have to build-out the interior insert, or just add a driver figure, but since I'll be running in "Touring Stock" for a while (wonder if I'll have rookie stripes?) it might not be needed.

The lap times on this track for the VTA (Vintage Trans Am) class seem to run around 10~11 seconds per lap, and I have no doubt my first dozen or so laps will be about twice that. I set up a bunch of 6" tall traffic cones in the garage the other day, and "practiced" with my teeny-tiny Kyosho "Mini-Z", which is a little smaller than a 1/24th scale model car.

I have a long way to go to get to be smooth around a circuit.......

6 comments:

  1. A very wise Navy Ltjg (I know, I know, a contradiction in terms) once told me, "If it can't be functional, it should at least be aesthetically pleasing." So revel in the knowledge that as you take your first Sunday drive around the track, your car looks good!

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    1. Thank you, Rev Paul!

      For the first one I've built in 30 years, it came out "OK". I have some paint flaws caused by not firmly pressing down the masking tape and the weather here not being conducive to painting out in the garage.

      I know the next one will be better.

      Delete
  2. We need a VIDEO of the monster machine in action.

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    Replies
    1. I'll see what I can do about getting some video once I take it to the track.

      It should be quite amusing watching me run into things.....

      Delete
  3. I see you added my side pipes. Nice.

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    Replies
    1. Well.....they're stickers over the molded-in detail. The other Firebird body I have is different, and I might just make up some dummy pipes out of scrap sprue or get some tubing the proper diameter.

      The first iteration of Titus' car had YUUUGE exhaust pipes exiting behind the rear tire. I'm not sure when they went to the side exhaust. I'm going to have to buy some books on the early Trans Am Series and see what I can dig up. He was a good guy and a very talented driver who left us too soon.

      Delete

Keep it civil, please....

For Phil......

 My buddy Phil from Bustednuckles brought up a good point on my previous post. Since I have things on the engine torn down this far: It wou...