New guy, new forum...questions!

Jobe Monday, 4/26/2010

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Just found your old site Saturday, Sunday my boys and I built a track based on your plans...spent all day Sunday racing cars!

I'm going to take the track to my local bar next Monday for some racing, my friends and I meet with our old cars every other Monday night (I drive a 62 cadillac).
Anyway, trying to find some basic rules to go by on the racing...first races will be for fun. But I was basically going to do a best of three runs and then the car moves to the next round...and so on and so on. My boys and I did that yesterday until we got down to our two fastest cars, a 69 mustang and a new car we picked up yesterday with a track pack!

Any pointers?

Also thought about running a vintage class, open only to original redlines.
Also since it's a bunch of car dudes was going to have a hot rods, customs, muscle car catagory...to keep it fun.

Let me know...thanks!

Bryan


Discussion

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redlinederby 4/26/10
Site manager

Welcome, Jobe! Glad you found us and glad to hear you're taking your racing to the public! If you have any photos of your track we'd love to see them.

It sounds like you're on the right rack with the bracket-style racing. I love that you're taking Hot Wheels racing out to the bars and in front of people. Might I ask how you went about getting that setup with the bar and stuff?

I tried to take racing to bars after reading about a place in Omaha that got some local press doing just that. My efforts didn't pan out, but more so because I didn't really pursue it that much. I'm not a bar-goer by nature so I didn't have any "in's" with any place around town.

Here's a link to an article that talks about how they run their league.
http://autoracing.suite101.com/article. ... ing_league

The Omaha group is a pay-to-play league that runs off blind picks for cars, which I can totally see the fun in that for the non-hardcore diecast people. It also keeps things fair so guys like us don't bring or pick a car we know will out run them all.

As far as rules...
Are you switching lanes between heats? I do that for the official Redline races so if there is a lane favorite in the bunch it's not unfair. I might suggest going to 3 out of 5 runs only because that gives each car a chance to run on both lanes...assuming it goes past 3 races.

My only word of caution would be with racing different classes, like the muscle, vintage, etc. I love the idea and believe that classes make racing more fun, but I have to say it's A LOT of racing. Just doing the Redline races on the weekend ends up being nearly 100 races that cover 3 classes, but they are also all heads-up races, no bracket. Yes, it's fun but it takes up a lot of time...but it all depends on the number of people racing. Using a bracket may help cut down on races too. The Fantasy League here at RDR has 42 people currently and I had to shut down new sign-ups because I ran out of cars for one class. But if you require people to bring their own cars, then hey, skies the limit!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and plans. I hope Redline Derby can help you along the way. I think you'll find everyone here is a total geek when it comes to Hot Wheels racing, so you're among friends.

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Jobe 4/26/10

Well the bar is really cool, big porch and big parking lot where they cone off parking spaces for our cars. There is a perfect spot to set up the track in the parking lot under a big light and just run the races out there.

I think the first night is just going to be alot of fun, nothing serious. I'll bring a big box of cars for people to have fun with. I have a few I set on a shelf, out of the box of course. I mainly collect 50's and 60's customs and cars I like...was on a metallic green trend for awhile!

Yeah, I see your points about too many classes...but wanted to gear it towards the classic car guys...we're mainly a bunch of traditional cars guys, pre-64 hot rods and custom cars.

Thanks for the input, is there a way to attach a photo from my computer or need to upload it?

Can't wait for race night!

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redlinederby 4/26/10
Site manager

Let me check on attachments in posts. This is a new forum install so I probably haven't done all the settings right. You can also use Photobucket or even Facebook to host images and then link them...but let me see what I need to do to add that here because that's much easier

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Jobe 4/26/10

Yeah I had a lot to learn about Vbulletin when I started my Cadillac website...still learning about all the cool trick and parts of the program. I'm not on Facebook and I've never twittered...plan on keeping it that way!

Hello neighbor. I was just in Austin doing some racing with my track a couple of weeks ago.

I run a bracket with single eliminations. I have three standard classes and a feature race. The feature race is always something different, last time in Austin it was a slow race. Winner was the slowest car that actually completed the full course.

I"ll be in Spring (North Houston) this saturday for some racing. I know it's a long drive, but they have a good club and there's always a lunch afterward, lol. If not, you can find the rest of the race schedule here... http://txdra.yuku.com/topic/413


Would love to see that caddy one day.

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Jobe 4/27/10

Hey guys

Here is a pic of my track from last night under the lights!

Diecast Cars, Hot Wheels, Matchbox

b

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redlinederby 4/27/10
Site manager

Nice! What are you using as the starting line? Is that a vintage playset?

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Jobe 4/27/10

Yeah it's a starting block from the 70's I think. Two tabs come up to hold the cars, center buttons lets them go. Even has a place to use a clamp to hold it to a table! I modified it so the two buttons act as one so the cars go at the same time and screwed it to the 1x6. Going to put a divider block between the tracks at the top to protect the plastic when I fold up the track. Also placed adhesive backed velcro at a few points along the track to keep them straight and in place since I'm using sectioned track.

Here is another photo I took last night, sorry crappy phone pic.

Diecast Cars, Hot Wheels, Matchbox

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redlinederby 4/27/10
Site manager

I need to look into the velcro or magnets or something to keep track straight. Last time I tried velcro bits they didn't stick to the wood at all. I'm thinking strip magnets might do the trick.

Thanks for the photo.

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Jobe 4/29/10

Here is the online flyer I made for my races Monday night...so far some pretty good interest...should be fun...I'll take pics.

Diecast Cars, Hot Wheels, Matchbox

I picked up some new cars the other day at TRU, including a few FTE cars. I was disappointed in the fast fish, but the corvette smoked everything I had!...with one exception. I bought a new ambulance just because I thought it was cool.
It's running neck and neck with the corvette everytime! It's my sleeper...

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redlinederby 4/29/10
Site manager

Dude, that's awesome! Good nab on that retro art.

Did you get the Super Van ambulance? Yeah...that's a speester. I bought several, for racing and just because it has good real estate for customizing/painting.

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Jobe 4/29/10

Yeah...super van!

one question...do cars get slower/faster with use?

I might have to start some mods soon...think I'm going to pick up a few more vans to customize. My 9 year old was talking about putting the FTE wheels on the van.


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