WORKING ON 0.030" PETG BODIED NEW GENERATION MODEL CARS

Victor Ferguson accepys to make the V8 Holden VE II & Ford Falcon FG 0.030" PETG bodies

October 15 2011 - Two months ago I tried to convince slotracing manufacturers to go with their products to the model car shops. This with qualitative cars at a reasonable price. I expected a serious response, but response was completely nil. Nobody wished to invest one single dollar in the project. That there is a serious market for beautiful cars has been proven in the Pacific by Scalextric (1:32 slot cars) and by Classic Carlectables (1:18, 1:43 and 1:64 die cast models). Both discovered how popular racing with V8 Supercars in the Pacific is. Classic Carlectables follows a very transparent policy, launching in the last quarter of 2011 no less than 12 models of the V8 supercars as raced at the famous Bathurst 1000. Despite the fact that the 1:18 models are sold above $ 200 US, at least 500 models per livery are sold (most popular models are even sold at 1250 copies!) It gives a good idea how wide the market is: at least 3 x 12 x 500 models = 18,000 models!!!
That success let me take the decision to contact the V8 Supercar boys for a descent sponsoring contract. So I reached a solid sponsoring agreement. Of that money a quarter will be used to let Victor Ferguson (USA) of True Scale releasing a 0.030" PETG version of the 2011 Holden Commodore VE II and of the 2011 Ford Facon FG. Victor accepted the deal and the 1:24 bodies will be available no later than end March 2012. Ferguson is THE very specialist in PETG bodies. Remember his famous Lister Storm body of 2006 with the rear spoiler integrated in the body.
Once there will be enough slot cars of the new generation on the Pacific continent, time will be ripe to organise or in Australia or in New Zealand an international competition with V8 Supercars and perhaps also the 25th Model Car Worlds. It's a shame that we never found the time to go with the Worlds to the Pacific. So the 25th Model Car Worlds take an option upon the Pacific. Much too long model car racing was inspired by what happened in Germany. Following the Germans - as NDW and Mark Campbell did blindly - resulted in hyper sophisticated cars becoming even more expensive than a good ES24 car or a G7/G27 car. By following Germany one created nothing else than a monster. GFK bodies of 150 euro, chassis of 250 euro, priceless German pimping-up stuff: it was the start of a surrealistic world.
So we continue working on cars that everybody can pay and that can find their way to the model shops. We hope to reach a situation where the new generation of model cars will cost less than 175 euro, going with their indestructible PETG bodies much faster than the hyper expensive German cars of the old generation. For the Barça 2012 Worlds we invited in total 9 racers from the Pacific, all very familiar with 1/1 V8 Supercars racing. For Australia it are Tim Tyler, Cody Bramble, Mark Fox and Troy Boldy. For New Zealand it will be at least Chris Radisich (his brother raced V8 Supercars) and on question by "Split" also Paul Heath, Kieran Dale, Chris Dillon & Gill Andrews (at least if they understand that after our investment in V8 cars, we can help them in the best case with no more than 1000 US dollars as travelling incentive). Surf to here.

Those are the 1:18 scale diecast V8 Supercar bodies in 2011 liveries as released by Classic Carlectables during the 4th quarter of 2011. Also 1:43 version are released. All this at 500 to 1250 copies per livery, proving how popular V8 Supercars are in the Pacific.

THE END-OF-THE-YEAR PROBLEMS OF A SLOT-RACING FUNDRAISER

Agreed F1 sponsoring $ 25,000 - V8 Supercars sponsoring $ 25,000 has been proposed

October 9, 2011 - In the past I was regularly asked why format of the already scheduled model car worlds change so often during the three last months of the year. That is so since 1999 and even at the end of 2011 it continues to be like that! Why? IMCA follows since 1985 a strict policy that racers coming from overseas receive a travelling bonus. The same principle is continued under MOCPA standards. With the globalisation of racing (especially the popular retro racing with roots in Australia, Japan, England and the USA) and with the sharply rising prices for plane tickets, needed budget for the model car worlds tripled in twelve years. An organiser paying no travelling bonuses at all - say: all other organisers than IMCA or MOCPA - has never to change something on scheduled races, as he needs not to find sponsoring income for those travelling bonuses. My own situation is completely different: as slot-racing lives a very marginal existence, without major manufacturers, and as the existing manufacturers never put cash money in the promotion of their marginal products, sponsoring money has always to come from auto sport. During more than 10 years we enjoyed a yearly sponsoring income from Winston (Nascar cars) and from the late Mello Yello. So we raced year after year Nascar cars and our racers could compete several years with one and the same car. This easy situation changed in 1999, so I had to find sponsoring money from the most diverse disciplines in auto sport: DTM, JGTC, Porsche Cup, Ferrari Challenge, vintage magazines, etc. For 2012 I focused initially upon the Porsche Supercup, but it appeared quickly tot no cash money could be found there. Then I focused upon F1 racing where, as a former team owner (Onyx ORE in 1989), I maintained good contacts. Unfortunately agreed sponsoring income ($ 25,000 US for 2012) is much lower than initially expected. Hope to find the rest of the budget in circles of GT3 racing was in vain. So, racing FIA GT3 cars in the endurance worlds, did not solve the problem.

The Holden Commodore VE II of Garth Tander/Nick Percat having won this week-end the Bathurst 1000, the yearly major event at the Australian V8 Supercars Series.

On changing endurance model car racing with FIA GT3 cars to endurance racing with 1977 Gr2 cars, faster motors (ProSlot Euro Mk1 Puppy Dog) could be used in combination with the lexan 1977 bodies as released by White Point (D). Here we hoped on proposed extra sponsoring income from two vintage magazines, but eventually the offered sponsoring ($ 2,500 US) was much too low. End September I contacted a couple of racing teams involved in the Australian V8 Supercars Series (the Australian Nascar Series). They invited me at the Bathurst 1000, but unfortunately I could not find the time to make the trip. Nevertheless we reached a principal agreement of minimum $ 25,000 US of sponsoring if, during five years, we can organise a model car version of the Bathurst 1000, the most popular endurance race in the Pacific. The sole problem to save is that there exist no detailed 1/24th 0.030" PETG bodies of the Holden Commodore VE II and of the Ford Falcon FG, the lonely two cars, existing in lots of different liveries, seen at the Australian V8 Supercars Series. So now I'll contact Victor Ferguson of America's True Scale with the question to release (no later than March 31, 2012) the 1/24th PETG version.
With a budget of twice $ 25,000 US it will be not possible to cover the plane ticket cost of all racers who subscribed for the 2012 Barcelona Worlds. No specific model car racers or retro racers such as Paul Gawronski (and his son), Herman James, Tracy Chin, Jorge Canaves, etc were dropped from the list so that total entry was reduced from 74 to 64 racers. Consult the list for the 64 invited racers! Te five year V8 agreement has as major advantage again stability in international model car racing, just as it was in the 1985-1999 period with the Winston Nascar & Mello Yello contract. Again racers will be able to build an endurance model car which they can use during several years, just as it was in the Nascar period! [JPVR]

The Holden Commodore VE II of Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife having finished 2nd.

THIS IS MY LAST WEEK IN SLOTRACING AFFAIRS

2012 Barsa Worlds a success - Champs Élysées & Cheap Model Cars for Shops: a failure

September 8, 2011 - This is my last week in slot-racing affairs. On September 15 I launch my new political party to return into national politics where I was a Parliament deputy from 1991 thru 1995. Main goal of the party is to make that our children can buy again their own house, something that became impossible in Belgium as prices for real estate tripled in 25 years. Without financial aid of their parents children can no longer buy their own house. As a professional economist I developed plans to make real estate again affordable in Belgian, the lonely country in the world where prices of real estate are still increasing by more than 6 percent per year.
At the end of this month my new book (700 pp) on Belgian uranium for atomic bombs will be released. It's the unwritten history of the "Belgian" uranium mine in Shinkolobwé (Congo). Until 1966 the mine was property of the biggest Belgian investment company (UMHK, controlled by the Société Générale). The mine was good for the blend with the highest uranium degree in the world. It's uranium was used for 98 percent in the 1504 first American atomic bombs (1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs included), but also for the first British atomic bomb in 1955 and, by accident, for the first Russian atomic bomb in 1949. The mine, still rich on uranium, has been sold in 2009 to the largest uranium seller in the world, the French public company S.A. Areva. Unfortunately the dubious businessman George Forrest could acquire 30 percent of the shares of Areva. The CIA and the Mossad know that Forrest tries to smuggle Congolese uranium to Iran, where last Sunday the first nuclear plant got critical. [Congo was until 1961 a colony of Belgium.] That implies that Iran has now the technical capacity to produce on its own plutonium for nuclear weapons. Officially Iran will use its uranium (a small stock of a couple of hundreds tons, acquired in 1975 from the Sovjet-Union) for the production of electricity. The International Atom Agency, however, detected that Iran built in Natanz and in Qum underground facilities with ... 50,000 centrifuges. If Iran had only plans to enrich uranium for its power plant (only 4 percent enrichment required) there was ABSOLUTELY no need to construct underground enrichment facilities, allowing an enrichment of uranium-238 into 95 percent of fissionable uranium-235. As it is impossible to destroy underground facilities by conventional nuclear weapons, Donald Rumsfeld ordered already in 2006 to produce nuclear buster bombs of type B61 Mod 11, to destroy the underground facilities the day that Iran should possess enough uranium-235 to make its first nuclear bomb. Should George Forrest be able to smuggle enough Congolese uranium from Shinkolobwé to Iran, world peace should come in great danger.
The book will be translated in French in the course of 2012. An English translation is scheduled for 2013. I have thus no more time to invest in slot-racing affairs.

ONLY ONE OF 3 ULTIMATE GOALS ACHIEVED
Preparing my definitive retirement from slot-racing I had 3 ultimate goals. The first was to organise at Peugeot's facilities on the Paris Champs Élysées a 1/24th version of the Le Mans 24 hours. With daily 3 million persons (more than half of them being tourists from all overthe world) passing the splendid Peugeot facilities, it could have been a unique promotion of slot-racing. In 2008 Tamar Nelwan and I tried to convince the Peugeot managers to accept the 1/24th model car version of Le Mans. When 3 years later everything was OK even not one slotracing manufacturer accepted to pay their part (1500 euro) for the French-English promotion guide to be printed at 20,000 copies. That guide was intended to give worldwide a survey of all slot-racing facilities and of most slotracing manufacturers.

Another goal, to bring professional slot cars back to the hobby shop, resulted in not one single support by the slot-racing manufacturers. Asking 20 manufacturers to invest $ 5000 US in a nice project can be done in a normal world, not in such abnormal marginal world as slot-racing where absolutely nobody wishes to invest in promotion. The truth is that the slot-racing world remains a poor men's world where 80 percent of the racers are unemployed (in England even 95 % with the words of Brian Saunders).
The third project - organising a true world championship with top-racers from the five continents: the 2012 Barcelona Worlds - was the lonely last success. I found more than 80 top racers, half of them coming from overseas. Finding the necessary sponsoring ($ 75,000 US) to cover the plane ticket costs will be no major problem as I, as former owner of a F1 racing team (Onyx in 1989) have solid contacts in F1 circles. But how many of those 80 subscribers will be confirmed by December 31, 2011, when they all will have to pay € 50.00 to the Spanish organisers? In a poor men's world even such small amount of money can be ... "too much".
So I quit slot-racing with a feeling of sharp bitterness. It's such a marginal world that all efforts to promote slot-racing have to come from one single person, never from a group of intelligent manufacturers. So NOTHING long-lasting could be achieved after 26 years of efforts to promote slot-racing. One short moment I believed to have found someone who could continue my efforts in the person of Canada's Mark Campbell. But already after a couple of months it became obvious that he too had only small commercial intentions, that he was unable to organise a true world championship, because the first thing he wanted to do was abolishing the system of travelling bonuses. But if, in a poor men's world, you wish to bring the best racers of the world together around one track, you'll be enforced to go after sponsoring money in order to pay the plane ticket costs.

NOBODY FOUND TO CONTINUE THE WEB SITE
During the last months I tried - at no avail - to find someone to continue the web site. Even before you ask someone if he can continue the web site, the first question is: "How many do you pay me per month to do the job?" Money, always money. This is thus the end of the unique web site in the world that brought you since 1999 results of all important races all over the world. The lonely thing which will be updated will be the IOC list, because it works on basis of a sophisticated computer program. Such program requires only the input of results, and even that is too much asked from organisers. Number of Keith Tanakas, Jiri Karliks, Andy Browns or Steve Kings in the world is extremely small. So I fear that after a couple of months the IOC program will be no longer fed. One thing became obvious the last year - and it may be a paradox - but retro racing with fast, beautiful and cheap retro cars, seems to be the future of slot-racing. Wing car racing and hard body model car racing - the last returning to local standards - are on their way back. The lonely positive point in hard body model car racing is the formula with 124 F1 cars, as promoted by Michael Niemas. In OEPS racing, where even Fola Osu quit the organisation committee, the masks fell of at Trier, where the winning Plastikquäler even refused to show at prize giving. So only ISRA Scale Racing - a creation by the late Perry Dekker - seems on its way to survive. And retro racing is the dream entry to ISRA scale racing. Wing cars go too fast, model cars go too slow. So gives us retro cars and ISRA cars. And move all the rest to the museums of slot-racing history! [JPVR]

8 RACERS EXTRA INVITED AT THE 2012 RETRO WORLDS

Racers & Sponsors ask: "Do the model car worlds with 24 actual F1 cars, instead  of Porsches"

August 29, 2011 - On his Slotblog Philippe de Lespinay wrote: "A championship is hardly run over a single race in any form of racing on the planet. What is being organised every year in slot car racing all over the world is not a 'national' or 'world' championship, it is a simple race where SOME people of different areas will mix with locals." When I answered him I gave the example of the world championships in cycling and of the sprint races at the Olympics, contested over a single race. Then he replied: "A 'world championship' run on only one race is total BS. An athlete has to QUALIFY in a series of contests before being eligible for the Olympics. The same applies to any serious contests such as the world championship of cycling they don't take anyone from the street side. One has to QUALIFY for it in many national races. So your argument does not hold water, mine does."
But who says that MOCPA uses no qualification criterion on making the entry list for the Retro World Championship? I ask PdL to compare the ranking of retro racers with the provisional entry list. Then he'll see that of the 12 best retro racers on earth already 10 subscribed. Indeed, the ranking list, based upon results in all important retro races, functions as the QUALIFICATION principle, just as in any other serious world championship. But we can make it much stronger than that. Only Duran Trujillo and Matt Bruce are still missing to bring the top-12 of the world's retro racers at the start of the 2012 Barcelona Retro Racing World Championship! And if Doug Matthes and Bryan Warmack can show, we'll even find the complete top-16 of retro racers at the start. In most other sports such is far from possible! 
Now Larry Mattingly & Cie were not interested that MOCPA injects $ 35,000 sponsoring money in the USA Retro Nats of mid-July 2012, that money can be used to pay the travelling incentives of more racers, among them also John Gorski who is an excellent Canam D3 racer.

It should be pretty unfair to restrict the extra invitation to only those five racers. Look to the Japanese miracle. We all know that renting real estate in Tokyo is far beyond anyone's purse. During years Akitani could maintain weekly wing car races in Tokyo at the international calendar. They were well known as the J-Slot races. This year Haruki Kan and his friends realised a miracle. They succeeded in hosting a Blue King track in the heart of Tokyo and started a series of retro races on it. One can feel hardly anything else than deep admiration for such initiative. As Japanese racers discovered retro racing only this year, they are not ranked in the top-20. It should be pretty unfair if we didn't invite at least the three best Japanese retro racers at MOCPA's costs: Tebu Shabo, Haruki Kan himself, and Akitani. We hope somebody can communicate us at jppro@pandora.be their email address, so that we can send them a personal invitation.
Total entries at the 2012 Barcelona World Championship Retro Racing will be restricted to 72 entrants (the time schedule for Sunday July 30 doesn't allow more racers at the start). Until today already 65 racers (John Gorski included) subscribed for the 2012 Retro Worlds, what implies that we have still 7 free places for Akitani, Matt Bruce, Doug Matthes, Tebu Satoh, Haruki Tan, Duran Trujillo and Bryan Warmack. They can complete the entry form until September 15. Should some of them not subscribe the remaining free places will go to the highest IOC-ranked substitute drivers. 
Except for the motors we race under D3 rules as have been written by Paul Sterrett and Philippe de Lespinay, in 2006 the founding fathers of retro racing. As motor we opt for the handout ProSlot Euro Mk1 Puppy Dog, having been broken in, being double sealed, and having been engraved in the can with a number from 1 to 72. Those motors will selected out of a lot of 250. Raymond van Campenhout will use his special test device to detect the 72 best of the lot. May we remember that it was IMCA that ordered at Dan Debella already in 2008 the special can, having exactly the same dimensions of the Fox II motor used in German model car racing. In 2010 the can has been made from thicker steel, contributing to a higher reliability.
Technical inspection will be done by Dave Fiedler, assisted by Chris Radisich and Ron Hershman. Supervision will go, if we succeed to convince him, to Bob Demeyer, the best race director in IMCA's history.

The Model Car Sprint World Championship for Pros of 2012 will be contested with 24 F1 cars at scale 1/24th (instead of Supercup Porsches, which will only be used for the Production Championship).  There are three serious reasons for it.
(1) A profound legal inquiry gave full evidence that anybody can organise a 1/24th scale race with Revell bodies, even if they are painted in different colours (e.g. by painting a Revell copy of the 2010 Ferrari F150 in the colours of the 2011 Red Bull RB7 Renault), without any possibility that Ecclestone & Cie can claim rights for it. Those rights have been paid by the body manufacturer (Revell) and the buyer of such body can paint it in any colour he/she wants.
(2) Racing 1/24th models of the 1/1 F1 cars allows a fund raiser to find much higher sponsoring income than on working for the Model Car Sprint World Championship - already the 24th in history - again with the same Porsches Supercup as at the 16th Production Worlds. Indeed, one can make deals with each of the 12 racing teams in actual F1. For those team, investing at least $ 30,000,000 for one season, a small sponsoring of $ 5,000 is less than peanuts.
(3) Chances to bring the 1/24th version of the Spanish Grand Prix on a national TV net-work are much higher than racing for the second time the same day Porsche Supercup cars.
As there are only 24 cars starting in a 2011 Grand Prix, not ALL pros present in Barcelona will be able to start at the 24th Model Car Sprint World Championship for Pros, but in principle only the 24 highest IOC ranked racers among them. Pros having only subscribed for the 3 retro races of Sunday and Monday, such as Ron Hershman, Dave Fiedler or Jay Kisling, are not considered in making the list of 24 selected racers. That can easily be seen at the following table. Why we wrote "in principle"? Because the 8 non-selected, in that order, can enter ALSO a similar car as (in inverse order) of that of the racers of the 8 (last) selected cars. If they qualify faster (e.g. Baele faster than Trimborn, Heymann faster than Oosterling, etc), they do themselves the eventual race. The 8 racers missing the qualifications will receive not only their entry fee back, but also the cost of the car (max. € 150). 

Consult our F1 Sprint Worlds Page.

As chassis only one of the easily commercial available types, equipped with a front spoiler protector, can be used. That implies that there is no place for the Plafit F1 chassis or for the DoSlot F1 chassis. The VauMan F1 chassis has a front spoiler protector, but is commercially hard to find. Even its price remains unknown. So the lonely chassis being eligible are the 124F1 Niemas Racecars (#NRF124-1), the Jens Scaleauto 124F1 WWW (#96500) and the new Metris F1 chassis distributed by Austria's Slotfuchs.at. Handout motor will be the SR-49 Hi-Speed F124. Cost of all entered 1/24th F1 slot cars must always be under € 195.00.
Race format will be similar to 1/1 racing with 3 qualification rounds (always on lane "purple"). The eventual race will go over 3 straight heats of 8 x 10' with the 8 slowest qualifiers in the first heat, the 8 fastest qualifiers in the third and last heat.

THE NEW GENERATION OF MODEL CARS FOR 2013

Answer to MOCPA proposals of Brian Saunders -  cheap cars but 150% return on investment!

August 16, 2011 - Main proposal of Brian Saunders (GB) is that the lonely way to an effective promotion of model car racing is to release in the model car shops around the world nice model car kits, sold at a reasonable price under $ 200 US. That is his answer to Matthias Parke (D) selling a RTR model car Ferrari 512M at ... € 1,600. If we consider that the normal margin of the model car shop is 40 % a car as Parke's should be sold at 1.4 x 1,600 = € 2,240 = $ 3,136. Brian Saunders insist that no RTR model car offered to the model car shop can be made at a higher price than $ 142.50; Add to this the 40 % margin and the RTR car must be available at $ 199.50 (that's 16 times less than what a RTR Parkes car should cost at the model car shop).

¶1. THE BODY
First step to achieve such is to return to nice 0.030" lexan or 0.030" PETG bodies as made by Victor Ferguson (USA) of True Scale. Here we can contact several specialists in England, in Czechia, in England, in the States and look who of them is able to release tampon printed versions, all with the same height (1.73" = 44 mm), the same width in rear and in front (3.35" = 85 mm), in the middle - at the inner side - 3.00" = 76.2 mm wide, and all with the same wheel basis (4.50" = 114.3 mm). The bodies should come with machine cut wheel arches, machine cut bottom line, and already tampon printed in the correct colours. Price of such RTR body with light lexan interior should be never higher than $ 25.00 US. Interior should contain a moulded dash board, driver, fire extinguisher, and steering wheel.  A hard plastic roll cage should be released fitting to each of the released bodies. Someone should start up negotiations with the best known body manufacturers in order to detect who can do the job. Personally I think that Victor Ferguson is the best placed, but I have no idea if he can release tampon printed bodies, coming in the correct colours. An other option is going to China and letting the bodies being made there. Also to be considered: AutoArt, Scaleauto, NSR, Carrera. One can release two types of kits, one with an RTR car with clear body (to be painted by the buyer himself, but with the right decals in the box) and one with an already tampon printed body in the box. The $ 199.50 standard version should come with painted body & interior, the "competition version" with a clear body, a better motor (e.g. the ProSlot Mk1 Puppy Dog instead of the Falcon Mk7) and ball bearings for front and rear wheels.

Making 1/24th scale bodies of which cars? If one thinks on the future costumers, one has to go after dream cars. And what are better dream cars than the Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3, Audi R8 LMS, BMW Z4 GT3, Corvette Z06-R GT3, Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3, McLapen MP4 C12 GT3, Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 and Porsche 997-R GT3. Those should be the nine basic models that must be released in 0.030" PETG.
Once one masters the technique of tampon printing it's very easy to release several variants of the nine basic model. There are at least three variants of the Aston Martin, three to six variants of the Audi, four variants of the BMW, two variants of the Corvette, six variants of the Ferrari, three variants of the Lamborghini, three variants of the McLaren, seven variants of the Mercedes and five variants of the Porsche. By making nine standard models one can release a coherent group of 36 different cars - some of them just differing from the standard model by there race number (as for the 3 & 4 Aston; as for the 12 & 23, 32 & 33 and 98 & 99 Audi, as for the 1 & 2, 10 & 20 Ferrari); as for the 24 & 25 Lamborghini; as for the 58, 59 & 60 McLaren; as for the 15 & 16, 54 & 55 Mercedes. In ten kits one can include a decal number shield for two or three versions. 
One practical problem will be to get the production rights. For eight of the nine makes I think I have the correct relations to obtain the rights for free. I can negotiate the deals. For Porsche someone else has to negotiate.
How to finance the production of the first kits? Here I think on the formula of a new company working under the name Dream Cars Ltd. One needs a start capital of at least $ 100,000 US. That must be brought together by all firms delivering parts for the model cars, where each firm enters $ 5,000 in the capital of the new company. There should be 20 shares of $ 5,000 US. Who could be the associates in the new company?

¶3. THE CHASSIS
Slot-racers are grandmasters in slotcar talk, but they come hardly any further than to the sterile traditional "blablabla". Waiting that someone develops a new chassis is waiting on Godot. So I propose to use an existing chassis. Here I see 3 possibilities.
(1) The Bryan Warmack chassis needs to be modified for higher fronts and higher rears. Opening must be 6mm if one wishes to work with bushings (or ball bearings) for 3mm axles. Of course Bryan Warmack can never make several thousands of his chassis in one year time. If one goes for a Warmack chassis it must be assembled in China with a fee per sold chassis for Warmack. At any rate it should be interesting to test a Warmack chassis for 3mm axles and with a 4.5" wheel base.
(2) The once revolutionary "one screw" TSR chassis, launched by Philippe de Lespinay remains an option, but then it must be equipped with a guide flag instead of the guide pin. Some testing should be started in order to detect where ballast is needed. Here one has to work with 3/32" axles, with the TSR hubs and the Ortmann tyres. Price ($ 79.95 for the racing version) must be lowered to maximum $ 59.00 should one work with that chassis.
(3) Probably the best start can be made with the Formula "S" chassis #S7-554A as released by Slick 7. The chassis is equipped with high front and rear wheels, permitting the use of stylish wheel inserts. The Formula Brass "S" chassis is assembled with axles, guide, guide nut , guide spacers, wheels, wheel spacers, and 64 pitch spurgear. Ready to install the Slick 7 Mini-Brute motor, or better the Falcon 7 motor for the standard version (ProSlot Euro Mk1 Puppy Dog for the improved competition version).  The chassis is sold at $ 75.00 what should be lowered to $ 59.00. One has to add four body pins ($ 0.20), four body pin retainers ($ 2.50), brass body washers ($ 3.25) and correct wheel inserts (which can be of any make - but certainly not with those of Germany's Slot Work sold at €8.90 = $ 12.95 for four small plastic inserts). If one goes for the all-Slick 7 RTR chassis the official cost is $ 75.00 + $ 0.20 + $ 2.50 + $ 3.25 = inserts = $ 81.00. It must be possible, if ordered by 500, to lower the price to never more than $ 62.75.

¶4. THE MOTOR
For the standard version one can work with the 5100rpm @ 12V TSR Falcon 7 motor, sold by Electric Dreams at $11.95 and in TSR version (#TD301) at $ 10.95. Motors must be delivered with a 64 pitch 9T steel pinion soldered to the motor axle. Bought by 500 price may be never higher than $ 7.25. For the competition version one can work with the ProSlot Euro Mk1 Puppy Dog 47000rpm motor (#PS-4002B-B) with higher torque (160 gr/cm) and with 90° springs. This should increase the cost of the motor by some $ 18.00 more than for the Falcon 7. The ProSlot motor should come with cut motor axle and pitch 64 8T pinion soldered to the motor axle.

¶5. ADDITIONAL PARTS FOR THE COMPETITION VERSION
The competition version will not only receive (1) a motor with a higher torque, but also (2) ball bearings ($9.95 + $ 24.95), (3) hollow 3/32" axles ($3.98 + $ 5.98), a (4) better 64 pitch 39T spur gear ($ 5.98) and (5) electronic light installation of Z Machine, the world leader in lightning sets ($ 19.00). Total of all extra costs is $18.00 (motor) + $ 9.95 + $ 24.95 + $ 3.98 + $ 5.98 + $ 5.98 + $ 19.00 = $ 87.84($ 5.98). As the competition kits are delivered with a clear body costing only $ 8.00 instead of $ 25.00, we can deduce $ 17.00 from the total of $ 87.84, what results in $ 70.84. As all those pieces will be ordered at least in hundreds, we can negotiate to lower the extra cost for the competition kit from $ 70.84 to $ 60.00.

¶6. A STYLISH BOX
Both types of cars, the standard version and the competition version must be presented to the model car shops in a stylish box, at least of Tamiya or Revell quality. In the box there must be a moulded plastic piece adapted at all parts. A well looking box will cost easily $ 10.00, assembling plan and list of race centres included. Now that we brought all figures together we can calculate the effective cost of both types of cars.

¶7. COST & RETAIL PRICES OF THE CARS
Cost calculation of the standard model car can be summarised as follows:
 

1. Complete painted body (master to be made by Victor Ferguson, production in China), body with painted interior and roll cage	$ 25.00
2. Formula S rolling chassis of Slick 7	$ 62.75
3. 51,000rpm motor (Falcon or TSR) incl.	$ 7.25
4. Box + assembling plan + list of slot-race centres (worldwide)	$ 10.00
Total cost	$ 105.00
Sold at the retail shop at	$ 142.50
Sold at the consumer (40 % distribution margin)	$ 199.50
p.m. gross profit per car: $ 142.5 - $ 105 = $ 37.5 (35.71 %)	$ 37.50

Cost calculation of the competition version can be summarised as follows:
 

1. Unpainted clear 0.030" PETG body with machine cut wheel arches and machine cut bottom line, delivered by Victor Ferguson without going to China	$ 8.00
2. Formula S rolling chassis of Slick 7	$ 62.75
3. 47,000rpm motor (ProSlot Euro Mk1 Puppy Dog) with ball bearing in the can (as such cars will be used in 24 hour races), incl 8T pitch 64 pinion	$ 25.25
4. Box + assembling plan + list of slot-race centres (worldwide)	$ 10.00
5. Hollow axle front wheels (Slick 7)	$ 3.98
6. Hollow axle with flat ends for rear wheels (Slick 7)	$ 5.98
7. Pair of ball bearings for hollow front axle (Slick 7)	$ 9.95
8. Pair of ultra precision ball bearings for hollow rear axle (Slick 7)	$ 24.95
9. Hybrid 39T 64 pitch sur gear (Slick 7)	$ 5.98
10. Xenon electronic light set by Z machine	$ 19.00
11. minus reduction suppliers 5 to 10	- $ 15.84
Total cost	$ 160.00
Sold at the retail shop at	$ 196.40
Sold at the consumer (40 % distribution margin)	$ 274.95
p.m. gross profit per car: $ 196.4 - $ 160 = $ 36.4 (22.75 %)	$ 37.50

Even the standard version, sold in Europe at € 137.60 (= $ 199.50) will lap the € 1600 car of Matthias Parkes every 10 laps. With an artist as Victor Ferguson making the bodies they'll be extremely attractive. Now we reached a point were all who wants so can give useful advise. O.K., it will be an all-American car, but was American technology not always superior? [JPVR]

THOSE ARE MY PROPOSALS FOR PROMOTING SLOT-RACING

If top-racers refuse them, slot-racing will stay with its marginal existence

August 3, 2011 - During more than a quarter century I got the impression that I was the lonely person on earth who invested large amounts of money into the promotion of slot-racing, although I had nothing to sell but my ideas. When I speak about "large amounts" it concerns several millions of dollars, not always covered by sponsoring income. I launched several great ideas, without being followed in a conservative Europe where manufacturing is in hands of Lilliputian firms where interest is mostly restricted to the national boarders. In 2007 Tamar Nelwan and I launched the idea to go with model car racing to the splendid Peugeot premises on the Paris Champs Élysées. It took four years to convince the Frenchmen to accept the deal. And now they accepted the idea there is nobody to follow! Ignoring that their products could be discovered by more than hundred thousand persons - having no idea what slot-racing is - the European manufacturers rest enclosed in their miserable small little world, where the ambition to grow as a firm doesn't exist. When I tried to launch the idea again this year NOBODY answered. In Paris they could have sold in one week more than what they sell in several years. The bare fact is that nobody of the European Lilliputian firms can produce at once more than a dozen models, not the several hundreds they could have sold in one day in Paris.
Shortly before going to Barcelona for the Worlds I launched another great idea, nl. the organisation of a slot-racing combat USA vs Rest of the World in Chicago, racing retro cars followed by actual F1 cars. The idea was well accepted and even a provisional organisation committee was created. Unfortunately there is no more time left to materialise the idea. Since more than a year I have the idea to return into Belgian politics. As the following elections were scheduled for 2014 that gave me time to work on the Chicago project. Unfortunately the political situation in Belgium - where 13 full months after the previous elections there is still no new government - have changed in July. Chances are seriously growing that there will be early elections by the end of this year. That implies that there is no more time left to invest in slot-racing. All my free time has to go now to the new political party that I wish to launch and to the presentation of my new book over Belgian uranium for American nukes.
So, IMCA has been dissolved and MOCPA is now under construction. I think that Brian Saunders is the best placed person to be the MOCPA president. He has a thoroughly sound vision upon what promotion of slot-racing has to be in the future. It will be necessary to investigate who in Europe or in the States has the necessary equipment to make such bodies. Here one should opt for real series of bodies, e.g. copies of the best performing Le Mans cars or of the best performing cars seen at the Blancpain Endurance Series (with the Spa 24 hours as most important event). Going after actual F1 cars seems impossible to me because manufacturers will find on their way a shark called Bernie Ecclestone.

Basic idea is that one has to launch new fast model cars, able to be sold worldwide at the model car shops. With the actual model cars such is impossible. Developing GFK or carbon bodies is only possible after more than hundred hours of hard work, so their price can only be high. Moreover there are no hundred persons in the world knowing how to paint GFK or carbon bodies. If one realises that the model car shops count on a distribution margin of 40 %, one understands that GFK or carbon bodies (costing easily 100 euro in non painted form) are not the way to go: they are too expensive and allow no mass production. I follow Saunders when he puts that thick lexan bodies are the way to go. If one wants to seduce the costumer they need to be true scale repructions of existing race cars. Under such bodies one needs a complete other style of chassis than the actual chassis on the market. Here one has to go to the style of IRRA retro chassis with a cheap but fast motor, e.g. a Falcon motor. Those chassis must be reconsidered for 25 x 6 mm front wheels and 25.5 x 13 mm rear wheels on 3 mm axles.
Such chassis can be made in the USA, in England, in Czechia or in Slovakia. Development will easily cost one year or more. Released bodies need to be already painted by using tampon painting techniques. Compared to the actual model cars the new generation will be seriously faster. In Barcelona the IRRA cars with Falcon motor were 2 full seconds faster than the hard bodied model cars. They give the racer a feeling of speed, whilst the actual model cars - being so slowly - give the racer a feeling of sleep.
Once finished the model cars have to go in a well presented box where the buyer will find the RTR car on a glass fibre clear tech bloc. It muste be possible to manufacture the car, box and tech bloc included, at a cost of $ 117.50 US. Add to it $ 25.00 US as profit per car, then the car in the model car shop can by sold at 1.4 x (117.50 + 25) = $ 199.50 US. That is in a nut shell the way to go if one wants a serious promotion of slot-racing. [$ 199.50 corresponds with what Matthias Parke asks for a complete unpainted Audi R8 LMS body!]

On developing model cars of the new generation Saunders & Co have to keep in mind that during the 1960s slot-racing reached such high boom because it was so close to 1/1 autosport of those days. Most released models were 1/24th or 1/25th copies of the cars having been seen during the Ford-Ferrari battle for Le Mans. So the golden rule remains that released products have a direct link with actual autosport!
But what to do with model car competition in 2012 if we wish to avoid that it is not a lost year? We should avoid that the world championship sprint, world championship endurance and world championship IRRA retro racing should be interrupted during one year. Here I launched three simple ideas how to continue model car racing during the year of transition that 2012 always will be.

1. My first proposition concerns the 2012 world championship sprint with 32 simple Porsches 997 GT3-Cup as released by Scaleauto, being all copies of the cars having been seen at the 2011 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. In principle this race will be exclusively open for pros, but I preview four wild cards for such racers as Gustav Heymann (RSA), Luca Bernardino (BR), Jorge Canaves (ARG) and Mauro Carreira (ARG). It's absolutely necessary to restore the link with South-Africa, having been completely lost after "Big" Al Paterson retired from business and racing. It's also important to install a link with Argentine. As the Scaleauto Porsches are quite simply to assemble it should be great that two Argentine wing car racers can join the 2012 MOCPA Worlds. There too they'll discover all the fun of IRRA Retro Racing. The same holds for Brazil having been always present at world championships (except for 2011). At the 24th world championship sprint (and one warm-up race) I propose that 4 types of chassis can be used under the inexpensive Scaleauto Porsches 997 GT3-Cup (€ 23.95): (a) NDW Agent Smith (€ 99.00) (b) Plafit SLP1 (€ 43.78), (c) DoSlot GT-C 13D (€ 78.00) and (d) Slotfabrik nSF 7TX v4 Evo (€ 99.95). A complete RTR Porsche for the 24th world championship sprint can be assembled by any racer and costs less than € 185.00. Decals can be manufactured for any entrant, prior to the race.

2. Concerning the 2012 endurance world championship I made a detailed proposal that one can find here.

3. To the 2012 IRRA retro world championship a second race has to be added with retro cars.

At the three parts of my last proposal one can race with cars having never cost more than 200 euro (Semi-Pros) or 300 euros (Pros). The last thing that I'll do is to send a personal invitation to the top racers. That will be necessary to realise my sponsoring plans. I'll explain those plans in detail to Brian Saunders. If he accepts the plan top model car builders will have to make 40 perfect models of the cars having been seen at the 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series. They'll be a present for the event sponsor. Such top modelers as Michael Niemas, NDW, Fola Osu, Matthias Parke and many others can mail me how many and which cars they can have assembled by the end of this year and what's the price they wish to receive per car. Cars can be mounted on a simple chassis with a simple Fox motor. Here ends my task and I still have not the smallest knowledge if someone will continue this web site or not. I am finishing the rule book for 2012. The IOC list will be continued, as it is an automatic computer program. Mails can be sent to the old e-mail address jppro@pandora.be until the end of September, but it can take time to answer them. Concerning the plans for a major IRRA Retro Racing World Championship in Chicago, I have to discuss the whole concept with Sandy Gross, as he seems to me the lonely guy being capable to make it a success in 2013. He sent me already a short message but I didn't find time to answer it. Perhaps I'll try to meet him in November when I have to fly to New Yorkto speak with candidate editors of the English translation of my latest book.

Now it's up for the racers themselves if they decide to follow my proposals in this article: as well those for the 2012 worlds as those for the model cars of the new generation. If those plans will not be materialised slot-racing will remain a marginal activity and continue its catacombs existence. If the proposals are realised a new era in slot-racing will be possible. Best regards to all. Jean Pierre van Rossem

IMCA IS NO MORE, BUT HERE COMES MOCPA

July 27, 2011 - The political situation in Belgium is so disastrous that at any moment new elections may be expected. More than 400 days after the previous elections there is still no new government and chances that new elections will be necessary grew day after day. So, at the Barcelona Worlds I decided to stop definitively my career as organiser of international promotion races of slot-racing. On Monday July 25 IMCA has thus been dissolved and exists no longer. At Barcelona I spoke with most of the racers and I noted a strong will that they wish to continue the promotion without me. Most of the new ideas are from Brian Saunders.

THE NAME: MOCPA
A new international sanctioning body is now under construction. I proposed "EMKA" as name for the new organisation, but that name - where the "E" referred to Europe - has not been accepted by the majority of racers who wish to continue the international promotion of slot-racing. Eventually the name "MOCPA" - standing for Model Car Promotion Association - has been accepted by the majority of the racers. It has not already been decided under which law the new federation will function. It may be England as well as France or the USA. That will be decided once the new standing rules have been put on paper. The idea is that model car racing is an excellent introduction into slot-racing for the thousands of home racers all over the world. But then things have to be changed thoroughly. The two major objections can be resumed as follows: (1) production of model car articles is mainly restricted to Germany, Spain and Japan with catalogues in German, Spanish or Japanese, but rarely in English; as the market is a multitude of nothing but small production units, sales go directly by the small firms to the client, leaving no room for serious delivery of the produced parts to the model car shops; under such conditions a real promotion seems impossible because the home racers, used to buy Carrera, Ninco, Fly, Slot-it, NSR, etc. at their model car shop find no professional model car items at the same model car shop; (2) actual prices of model cars - going up to € 1,600 for a RTR car - are so high that it is impossible to sell the finished products with a 40 % margin to the model car shops.

BACK TO LEXAN BODIES
Actual model cars are not only extremely expensive, they are also unbelievable slow. That is due to the fact that the hyper expensive hard bodies risk to be completely destroyed at serious crashes. That's the main reason why actual model cars are equipped with very slow "lady shave" motors. In Barcelona the retro cars with lexan bodies went 2 seconds per lap faster than the hard bodied model cars. Returning to true scale (thick) lexan bodies implies that a completely new generation of chassis will be needed. Developing such chassis - inspired by those used at IRRA retro racing - will cost at least 18 months. So there will be a long period of transition. What must be done is that the retro chassis, as made by Brian Warmack or Rick Benardo, are adapted to higher front and rear wheels (25.5 mm high) and to 3mm blank axles as used universally in model car races. Used motors can be much faster, e.g. by replacing the PS4000 motors by cheaper and faster Falcons or PS puppy dogs. At the US and in Czechia there must be capable manufacturers to release low priced RTR products which can be sold in nice kits with a 40 % discount to the model car shops. That's what MOCPA will try to realise during the coming 18 months. Model car racing needs no more promotion in Germany and Spain, but promotion in such countries as the USA, France, Italy, Canada, Brazil, Australia, the UK. Such can never be reached by a market where no other nations than Germany, Spain and Japan are the lonely players.

QUID WITH THE 9TH GIANOTTI TROPHY
At such races as the (2) 16th Production Worlds, (6) the 21st Euronats Sprint and the 24th Model Car Sprint Worlds, top-10 finishers collect res. 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point(s). A classification based upon the collected points over the 3 races will be the final ranking of the Gianotti Trophy.

LOWER HOTEL COST
The 32 semi-pros and amateurs will have only one race day on Saturday. That implies that they never will have to pay more than two nights in the hotel (in most cases only one night, from Friday to Saturday). Of the 32 pros only 24 will have to pay maximum 4 nights hotel costs (for European racers only 3 nights). The 8 remaining pros, only involved at the endurance races will have to pay only one and never more than two days hotel costs. That is for all racers a serious reduction of the hotel cost.

2012 MOCPA WORLDS: NOT AGAIN IN BARCELONA
Although the foreign racers were happy with the 2011 Barcelona Worlds (especially Brian Saunders) it is excluded that the 2012 MOCPA Worlds will be contested again in Barcelona. There are two serious reasons for that. (1) Although Spain counts thousands of active racers, only twelve of them showed at the Barcelona Worlds. That was not conform with the initial conditions to give the MTT track free for rent to the club of Francesc Reyes: minimum 20 Spanish racers was the firm initial condition. (2) At the end of the 2011 Barcelona Worlds not only the winning car of the 10th Endurance Worlds was stolen, but also all handout tyres, a retro chassis of Howie Ursaner, a Niemas F1 chassis, a camera and a small amount of money (only coins). Among the racers such thefts were enough to let them decide, seriously shocked, that Barcelona deserves no second chance, despite the great efforts by organiser Reyes to make it an enjoyable meeting. If the stolen goods are not back by August 15, 2011 the MTT track will be removed from the racing premises. If they come back the Reyes club can use the MTT track until June 1, 2012.

2012 MOCPA WORLDS: WHERE?
MOCPA's real first goal is to promote model car racing as step-in level for home racers. That implies that in the coming years serious efforts will be done to promote model car racing and IRRA retro racing in such countries where that type of racing is still largely unknown. Here we think on such countries as France, Italy, Portugal, the Baltic States, Czechia, Ukraine and Russia where both model car racing and retro racing are completely unknown. In the USA and in the UK retro racing is well known, but model car racing needs still to be discovered. In the transition period France makes the best chances to organise the 2012 MOCPA Worlds. Here one can think at the club of Serge Blouet at Le Mans or at that of the Havet Bros at Duinkerque. It will be up to MOCPA's board of directors to take the definitive decision in the upcoming months. The MTT track, now owned by MOCPA, will be transported to the organising club early June 2012. Date of the MOPCA Worlds will be the first week-end of July 2012. For the IRRA Retro Worlds the 6 best Americans on April 15, 2012 will be invited. Actually that are Howie Ursaner, Jay Kisling, Ron Hershman, Dave Fiedler,  Matt Bruce & Dran Trujillo.

PIC ABOVE RIGHT: No more 1/32nd Production Worlds with handout NSR Moslers in 2012. The formula will be replaced by cheap 1/24th Scaleauto cars to be assembled by each of the racers. The 2011 Production Worlds were won (once more) by "Piki" van Rossem (B), ahead over James Cleave (GB) and Brian Saunders (GB).

Those were the cars having been raced at the Barcelona Giganten Party. Unfortunately the series can not be maintained for the future as Jörg Obermoser, manufacturing the Interserie 1973 model cars ceased this year his production. Nine of those cars have been given away to Paul "Split" Heath who starts up a MOCPA series in New Zealand. The cars have been given to Chris Radisich who'll send them to "Split".

HOW TO SELECT THE 24 + 8 PROS FOR THE 24TH MOCPA WORLDS OF 2012?
The selection of the 24 pros doing all races at the 24th Model Car Nats of 2012 will no longer be based upon the global IOC list, but upon the specific ranking of model car racers. Goal is that the 24 selected racers are be found among the top-40 of the still active model car racers. The top-40 of such racers is as follows: "Piki" van Rossem (B), Nick de Wachter (NL), Michael Niemas (D), Ralph Seif (D), Gabe Inäbnit (CH), Josef Korec (CZ), Alexander Ortmann (D), Youri van Rossem (B), Chris Radisich (NZ), Christian Schnitzler (D), Kai Kivekäs (SF), Sebastian Nockemann (D), Dieter Jens (D), Desmond Dekker (NL), Tamar Nelwan (NL), Fola Osu (NIG/GB), Matthias Parke (D), Yannik Horn (D), Gilles Dohogne (B), Björn van Campenhout (B), Andre Linberg (D), Marcel Oosterling (NL), "Javi" Checa Lozano (E), Andreas Laufenberg (D), Peter Oberbillig (D), Vladimir Horký (CZ), Jan Uhlig (D), Børge Haug (N), "Gugu" Bernardino (BR), Howie Ursaner (USA), Thomas Spicker (D), Jan Schaffland (D), Thomas Nötzel (D), James Cleave (GB), Brian Saunders (GB), Jozef Miskolci (SK), Ladislav Szalai (SK), Yves Welter jr (B), Caroline Schnitzler (D), Tim Tyler (AU), Dirk Baele (B), Carlos Checa Lozano (E) and Paul Gawronski (USA). Racers in bold face were regular entrants at IMCA races. We hope they'll be also regular entrants at MOCPA racing. The 8 remaining racers, entering only the endurance races on Saturday can be chosen out of the above list and out of the remaining pros (having collected at least 120 IOC points). 

MOCPA REPRESENTATIVES
Before the end of 2011 we hope to announce the definitive composition of MOCPA's Board of Directors. We need at least national co-ordinators of the USA (min. 3), Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, South-Africa, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great-Britain, Czechia, Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic States. Task of the national co-ordinators is (1) to get the e-mail addresses of racers from their country, (2) to convince racers of their country to enter the MOCPA/IRRA worlds, (3) to communicate the firms or persons able to make (a) the lexan bodies for 2013 and (b) the new chassis needed under those bodies. All persons interested to be national MOCPA co-ordinators are asked to send their candidature by mail to jppro@pandora.be.
Among the national co-ordinators a board of directors will be chosen. Directors will be involved in the organisation of the annual MOCPA Worlds and in the organisation of the annual IRRA Retro Worlds. They'll have to publish the entry list, to decide upon the entry fees per race, to decide upon the racing schedules, etc. They'll make the MOCPA Rule Book up for the lexan cars up from 2013 and they'll have to co-ordinate the production of lexan bodies and of chassis for lexan bodies.

MOCPA TECHNICAL DIVISION
If MOCPA wishes to race the new model car generation with lexan bodies and IRRA-like chassis, it will be necessary to create a MOCPA technical division. For the manufacturing of true scale thick lexan bodies MOCPA thinks on Victor Ferguson (USA), on BPA (CZ) and on a couple of British body makers. For the development of IRRA-like chassis, adapted for 3mm blank axles and 25.5mm high front & rear wheels, MOCPA thinks on Bryan Warmack (USA), on Rick Bennardo (USA), on Jozef Miskolci (SK), on Vladimir Horky (CZ) and on the multiple Czechs producing items for ISRA scale cars. MOCPA will contact Dan Debella (USA, ProSlot) to produce a speedy low cost/low weight motor for the new generation of model cars. Once the definitive chassis and bodies are ready it will be necessary to study how can get them into the model car shops all over the world. Without model cars of the new generation into the model car shops promotion of model car racing will have no real effect. The finished products must be presented in a nice looking kit mentioning "homologated by MOCPA, the Model Car Promotion Association. It should be great if we could do the same for the IRRA retro cars: they too should be present at the model car shops in attractive kits, mentioning "homologated by IRRA". [JPVR]

RIGHT PIC: Racers at the 2011 Barcelona Worlds with f.l.t.r. organiser Francesc Reyes (E), vice world champion Dirk Baele (B), new world champion James Cleave (GB), the surprising Arttu Salomaa (SF) who finished third at the 6th EEC, 2011 Retro world champion and 2011 Endurance Racing world champion Howie Ursaner (USA), Marko Salomaa (SF) and slot-racing legend Terry Smith (USA).

A PERIOD OF TRANSITION: MID-2011 TO EARLY 2013
In Barcelona the racers being interested to join MOCPA as active members insisted that the world championships are continued, but under reduced form and restricted to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday will be limited to (1) the 3rd IRRA Retro Racing Worlds and the (2) 16th Production Worlds where no more than 32 pros will be allowed to start. The formula with handout 1/32nd NSR Moslers for the Production Worlds will during the transition period be replaced by a formula where exclusively bodies of the Scaleauto Porsches 997 Cup (€ 23.95) fit on the MSC-2014RTR chassis (€ 66.25) will be used. All entrants will have to assemble themselves their production car. Bodies will be painted in the colours of the 32 cars having been seen at the 2011 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. MOCPA will release the decal sheets for all bodies.
Saturday will be reserved for the endurance races. One will start with the (3) 7th EEC as warm-up race for (4) the 11th Endurance World Championship. Here MOCPA will allow 32 pros and 32 semi-pros or amateurs at the start. There will be two racers per car and 32 cars. Bodies will be 1/24th models of cars having been seen at the 2011 Total Spa 24 hours. Semi-pros and amateurs can only use polystyrene or lexan bodies having never cost more than € 50.00, such as Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, Corvette Z06-R, Mercedes SLS AMG, Ford Mustang FR500, Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 and Aston Martin DBRS9. They have the use among four types of chassis (a) MSC-2014RTR (€ 66.25) (b) M-Racing C1-KSC (€ 89.00), (c) Plafit Excel Pro Racing (€ 46.65) and (d) WWW GT Jens (€ 79.00). A complete RTR car of a semi-pro or amateur can never cost more than € 199.95. Pro racers are allowed to use GFK or carbon bodies such as models of the Ferrari 458 Italia, McLaren MP4 12C GT3, Audi R8 LMS, Lamborghini Murcielago LP600 and Ford GT. Pros are allowed to use four types of chassis, never costing more than €100: (a) NDW Agent Smith (€ 99.00) (b) Plafit SLP1 (€ 43.78), (c) DoSlot GT-C 13D (€ 78.00) and (d) Slotfabrik nSF 7TX v4 Evo (€ 99.95). No RTR Pro car can cost more than € 299.95. Bodies will be those seen at the 2011 Total Spa 24 hours.
Sunday will be reserved for the (5) 24th Benelux Cup contested with IRRA retro racing cars, for (6) the 21st Euronats Sprint contested with Porsches 997 GT3 Cup (in their Worlds Configuration) and for (7) the 24th Model Car Sprint Worlds, contested with the same Porsche bodies as at race #2, but now with the four potential chassis: (a) NDW Agent Smith (€ 99.00) (b) Plafit SLP1 (€ 43.78), (c) DoSlot GT-C 13D (€ 78.00) and (d) Slotfabrik nSF 7TX v4 Evo (€ 99.95).

AGAIN ON LINE

On April 22 the IMCA Worlds track will be moved definitively to Spain in view of the 23rd IMCA Worlds of July 19-23, 2011. The IMCA slot-racing centre at Herentals will be closed at the end of April. There will be very little time for regularly updates of the IMCA site. Main reason is that I am busy to write a thorough study of Belgian uranium and the first atomic bombs. It's good to know that without Belgian uranium, coming from the Shinkolobwé mine in Congo - until 1960 a Belgian colony - America had not enough high grade uranium. The two other mines in 1940 were the one of Eldorado in Canada and on the Colorado Plateau. Belgium delivered 85.7 % of all uranium used to make American bombs. At the end of the war it was again Belgium that made the Cold War possible. Four Belgian ministers subscribed an illegal anti-dated contract so that the Americans and the Britons received during ten full years all "Belgian" uranium. It served to make 1054 nuclear bombs in the States, but also to make the British atomic bomb and ... the first Russian atomic bomb in 1949. Indeed when the Russians - who had no own uranium, except for the bad quality one coming from the St-Joachimsthal mine in Czechia, found during the occupation of Berlin in the caves of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut für Physik 164 ton high grade uranium which they took with them to Russia. From a former German spy, who worked with the Americans at Los Alamos, they learned how to make plutonium out of uranium and how to utilise the famous implosion method for plutonium bombs. All this is somewhat the unwritten history of the atomic bomb.

I have already finished Tome I (450 pp with more than 500 bibliographic sources). The Dutch version of Tome I will be released in June. My editor wishes that Tome II will be ready by mid-July, so I'll need all my time to finish it in time. Up from September both tomes will be translated in English for an edition on the American market. Belgian uranium counted for two of the three political assassinations in Belgium (Julien Lahaut and Patrice Lumumba). The Shinkolobwé mine in Congo was closed in 1966, but the last years local people dig again uranium with their bare hands, despite the high radioactivity around the mine. A great part of this pitch blend is shipped along illegal ways to North-Korea and probably will serve for the first North-Korean atomic bomb.

To all those who doubt if the 23rd IMCA Worlds will be contested at Barcelona, I wish to repeat that there is not the smallest reason why those races should be abolished. Here I count on such American entries as those of Chris Radisich, Howie Ursaner, Paul Gawronski, Mike Stahl and Herman James. From Brazil I count on Gugu and Felipe Tavares. Britons who can count on the traditional money incentives are Brian Saun-ders and James Cleave. I hope that Gabe Inäbnit & Marcel Oosterling will join the party. [JPVR]  

ON WORLD RECORDS

New Plzen King ultra-fast - 3 WRs at Czech Open with 1317 laps for Mario "MSP" Schöne in G7

Another reason why I have no more time to follow up the IMCA web site, results from the fact that I agreed with my former editor to write a book on the unwritten history of Belgian uranium. Indeed, in the 1054 atomic bombs the US military dropped between 1945 (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and 1960 (all other bombs where dropped as military tests during the Cold War), used uranium came for 75 percent from the Shinkolobwe mine Belgium owned in its former colony Congo. Contracts for the delivery of uranium to the US were initially made, at the end of the second world war, under continuous pressure of the CIA without any knowledge of the Belgian Parliament. It resulted in at least two political murders and in fabulous riches for the small clique of persons involved in the delivery of Belgian uranium to the US. Unveiling the truth behind such hidden transactions is a work of several months - I guess between nine to fifteen months.
So you probably understand why my enthusiasm to organise still international races, or to write daily new articles on the IMCA web site, has disappeared. This year I'll only be seen at the three rounds of OEPS and at the Barcelona Model Car Worlds. Concerning the Barcelona Worlds I am seriously disappointed that - up to now - only ... one German racer subscribed. So, how Germans can complain that nearly no Spaniards come to their races when the Germans refuse to show at Spanish top-races. Why Ralph Seif, Philipp & Christoph Kremer, Alexander Ortmann, Christian Schnitzler, Andre Linberg & the Slotringer don't subscribe for Barcelona? International races are based upon mutual solidarity, at least among the two leading nations in model car racing - Germany and Spain. The subscriptions of the Spanish racers - 15 up to now - are lower than expected, mainly due to the fact that there are language difficulties and that the Spaniards are not familiar with subscription forms. I hope that Francesc Reyes and dr. Javier Checa will do an effort to convince their country mates that they have to use the entry form to subscribe for the Barcelona Worlds. At least 20 Spanish entries are required to let the Steve Ogilvie MTT track in hands of the CM Les Franqueses!  
One of the highlights of the 2011 season will probably be the Wing Car Worlds at Plzen (CZ). For that event a new Blue King was built, undoubtedly faster than any other King track in Europe. That has been fully proven at the Open Czech Masters of this week-end at the Plzen King. No less than 3 world records have been realised: Vladimir Horky in G27, Ulli-Edgar Pietsch in OMO G7 and Mario "MSP" Schöne (D) in G7. As the results were published nowhere, all I know is that Schöne improved the 40 minutes laps total by achieving 1317 laps in G7. I have no knowledge if Beuf's 1"404 as fastest qualification lap has also be improved. I ask all racers having been present at Plzen to mail details, and if possible the complete results, to jppro@pandora.be.  [JPVR]