Nuvolari Repair, September 7-11, 2009 at Elmsford Raceway

The Nuvolari, one of the oldest, most famous and most challenging slot car tracks in the world, is getting some badly needed repairs.  Bumps and dips are being smoothed, and two turns, deadman's and Hoyt's corner (after the driver's straightaway) are being entirely replaced.

A high power capacitor was added in spring of 2009.  This brought the track power up to a steady 13.7 volts.  This has reduced lap times by about 1/2 second for open blueprinted S16D wing slot cars - to about 6.3 seconds for the best cars and drivers.

Here are some photos to help you gentle readers at home follow the process.

Sep 7:

Smooth out bump before the bank and strip the copper from the turns to be replaced.

Sep 8:

part of the work area:

two turns removed for replacement:

Deadman's removed:

Hoyt's corner removed (you can see the original track beneath the new surface on the left):

bump smoothed:

even the drag track got a smoothing and new surface:

Sep 9:

Deadman's:

Hoyt's:

overview:

Sep 10:

New deadman's:

New Hoyt's, added a few inches in the straights:

New view:

Sep 11:

Never Forget those families, friends and world citizens who were affected by the tragedy of September 11, 2001.  I'll not dwell on it here, but I ask anyone who reads this to say a prayer to your God for healing and respect.

Serious debate over the straightness of the lane stripes 8*}:

deadman's almost done:

hoyt's almost done:

yes, the stripes are straight here:

and they are not straight here:

lastly, new bumpers on the walls and a final coat of trim:

Time to let the paint dry.

While these final steps were being done, the Friday Night Racers had a special race on Hawthorne, 250 laps with brand new hardbody NASCAR slot cars specially made by Friday Night Racer!  [These cars are available at the Friday Night Racer Online Slot Car Store]

September 12, 2009:

All the paint is dry.  Two new turns completed:

Lots of different slot cars were run on the track today.  We ran modern F1, Retro F1 and Retro GT Coupe, GTP, Group 20, Friday Night Race cars, Hardbody NASCAR, and even our tractor trailer.  Many other types were run by many other racers.

Update Sep 28, 2009

Reports from Thursday night GTP of 0.2 sec or more better lap times, down to under 7 seconds.  Friday Night cars also faster, especially on the middle lanes.

This page was last updated 01/24/12

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