John Ford has been a leading authority on slot car racing since 1965.

C

C-15 - Another method of going fast with the gp.15 armature. Using small Gp.7 type set-ups without ball bearings, this class was invented by Craig Landry, the Zap chassis builder from Houston, Texas. Very fast, very easy to drive, much easier to build than the International 15. Lasts longer because of the cobalt magnets, the motor runs more efficient and much cooler.

C-64 - Short term for a Commodore 64 computer. A drag racing computer program for all scales of slot car drag tracks, R/C drag strips, pinewood derby tracks is available for the C-64 computer.. There is also a C-64 race director system for road courses. The system uses a Commodore 64 computer as the main platform, and sensors on the track to activate the computer. The C-64 system was developed by John Ford while owner of American Slot Car Tracks. It is still obtainable through the Ford Publishing offices.

C-can - Developed by Mura's Bob Green. It obsoleted more motors than any other in the history of slot car racing. It is still in use today. Mura Group 10 motors with the two small holes is the original design C-can. It is also known as the "green" can because of its inventor. This design has broken more records than all the others combined. See green can.

Calipers - A measuring tool used by machinests, and slot racers to make accurate measuriments. They come in three varieties. Vernier calipers are the old tried and true types which have markings like a slide rule. Much easier to read are the newer dial calipers which have a dial readout, and the newest calipers have a digital readout making them the easiest to read.

Camen - A slot racing manufacutrer originated by Joel Montague and Joseph Cotten back in the early 70's. It has been reported that camen stands for Cotton and Montague enterprises. The two went their seperate ways, and Joel began promoting camen as Pooch products. A bull dog is still used in some promotional material. Purple is the company's color, and a visit to the Camen booth is always a purple adventure. Joel Montague and Camen is still around today, having weathered all the ups and downs of slot racing in the 70's. Camen can boast many National and World records held by its racers. The most noted Camen racer is Jon Laster.

Can - A steel housing that holds the magnets. When fitted with an endbell and armature, it becomes a motor.

Carrera - Manufacturer of 1/32 and 1/24 scale home race sets. The company was originaly founded in Firth/Nuremberg by Joseph Neuhier. The original focus was the production of high quality "Tin" toys. These original tin toys are a great favorite of collectors today. In 1963, the company expanded into 1/24 and 1/32 scale model road racing cars and track. As of 2002, this is still their main focus.

Cement - The term cement usually means the glue that holds down the braid on the track. Contact cement is the choice.

Center section - That part of the chassis that you put the axles in, and the motor on.

Ceramic - Magnetic ferrious iron oxide powder is mixed and formed with ceramic to make the permanent magnets we use in slot car motors. See cobalt.

Challenge - A fairly recent term for a major race or series. The term was coined by Parma with their "Parma Challenge Cup" series of races.

Champion - One of the last remaining companies from the 60's. Originally formed by Bob Rule in Chamblee, Georgia, it is now owned by Carl Ford and operated out of his warehouse in Williamstown, New Jersey.

Chassis - The complete chassis is made up of all the parts of the car except the body.

Charger - Dodge had a Charger, but usually in slot racing the charger is what puts the amperage back into the battery that powers the slot car track.

Chatter - This referrs to the sound coming from the tires. Usually upon takeoff, and in the corners. It is a condition caused by too much bite, too much flex in the chassis, a motor flexing back and forth, or any combination of all three.

Checkered - The flag you want to see first.

Choke - A choke is a device used to "trim" back the power on a high power race track. It originally was a hand wound device using 12 Gage wire wrapped around a toilet paper roll. There was taps in the "coil" at various footages to give the car more or less power.

A choke is not needed with today's all electronic controllers.

Christmas tree - In drag racing, the pole with all the lights on it in front of and between the two cars is called the christmas tree. So named because of all the pretty lights.

Chute - Any part of the slot track that is straight with no turns.

Classic - A company from the 60's that manufactured slot car ready to runs and parts. They developed many innovative slot cars including the lightest car of the day called the Asp. Their Manta Ray was the most produced slot car in its day, and is still the one they are most remembered for.

Claiming rule - Some raceways allow claiming races. For instance if you are racing Group 10's with a retail price of approximately $35.00. A claiming race with a $40.00 limit could be run allowing any racer to buy any other racer's car for the $40.00 price tag. The idea is if someone consitantly beats you, you can buy his car. He will probably still beat you, because in these type of races, it is usually the driver, and not the car that is the reason for winning.

Class A - Am/Slot recommends you set your racing program up in A & B fashion. Beginners in the "B" class and Advanced in the "A" class. Then, on race nite, if there are not enough racers to make up two seperate races, they can be run together and scored seperately. Awards to the top 3 should be handed out at the end of each series.

Class B - See "Class A"

Clear - The term used when a dangerous condition no longer exists on the track. For instance, someone may yell "lookout on red", and then when the problem is no longer there, the person would yell "clear red" to let the driver on red know he can again hammer down. See hammer down.

Clearance - All cars, all classes, must have .063 (1/16) inch track clearance, at all points including gear. This is important as it is this clearance that protects your track surface. Post race inspections should show gear clearance of a minimum of .055. Some eurosports classes allow less clearance, but it is not recommended to have less than .063 no matter what class is run. This is due to the fact that the metal gears will bottom out and over time, ruin your racing surface.

Clip - Magnet clips hold the magnets in the can. Wheel clips hold the wheels on the axles. Motor clips hold the motor to the chassis. Braid clips hold the lead wire into the guide. However, a clip to the car next to you during competiton does not hold his car in the slot!

Club - This is a tiny device which when attached to your slot car steering wheel will make it virutually impossable to steal.....had you going didn't I. Actually, a club is what you use on the guy that nerf's you in the corner.... no wait, that's probably not right either. How about this..... Club racing today may be the hope of tomorrow. There are easily more club tracks in the World than there are commercial operations. Most are 1/32 scale because the smaller size will fit nice running tracks into a smaller area.

Cobalt - The strongest magnets used in slot car racing motors. There are stronger magnets available, but they do not have a tolerance to the extreme heat put out by our motors. Cobalt magnets are not appreciably affected by the heat.

Combo chassis - Craig Landry of Houston, Texas perfected this process back in the '70's, using both wire and steel to make his chassis. Craig has reached a mark in slot racing with Zap Chassis that few will dispute is the best of the best.

Com - Slang for commutator.

Com Cooler - A small round aluminum finned cooling device that fits on the armature shaft on the commutator end of the motor. Originally designed and marketed by John Thorp. Thorp is currently manufacturer of R/C car products. The design was picked up by Phil Hackett of Sonic Products, and is still available today.

Com tab - The little tab, or knuckle that the armature windings are attached to. One tab to each of the three comm sections.

Com vent - That little space or gap between each of the three sections on the commutator of the armature.

Com lathe - Precision tool for making a worn commutator smooth again.

Commutator - The little gold colored thing at one end of the armature. The wires of the armature are connected to each of the tabs (in most cases 3). Each motor brush makes contact with a section of the commutator passing current through the pole of the armature causing the pole to become magnetized and attracted to its opposite polarity permanent magnet. Repeat this process 200,000 time per minute for a Group 7 motor.

Computer - A necessary item for the modern raceway. Computers are very cost effective for raceways these days, because the programs written for data collection, race lap counting, lap time keeping, and recording of results are not of the type that require an expensive computer. Perfect racing systems are available from a number of manufacturers from the Commodore 64's which cost under $200.00 and the older IBM clones which cost under $300.00.

Consi - What you run in first at a big race when you qualify poorly. There are as many consie's as it takes to list all the racers into.

Cooling hole - Some motors only have one. See Cooling holes.

Cooling holes - Those holes in located in the motor can that let out all that nasty hot air.

Controller - That thing you hold in your hand with the trigger on it. You have a resistor in your controller which, if 2 ohms, would have that amount of resistance when the wiper is on the first band. That would decrease to 0 when the trigger is pulled all the way. Lower class slot cars such as Gp.10 need a higher resistance such as 3 or 4 ohms, while the upper classes, like Gp.7 may only need .8 ohm resistance to work well. It all has to do with how fast your car goes when the wiper is on the first band. No matter whether you have a 20 dollar controller, or one of the new 200 dollar electronic versions, the principal is still the same. The resistance is raised or lowered, allowing the current to be increased or reduced, causing the motor to rev higher or lower. The controller has undergone many changes over the years, but the purpose remains the same.

Copper tape - Sometimes used as the electrical contacts on slot car tracks. It takes the place of braid and works well on home tracks but is not recommend for commercial raceways.

Color dots - Ever since the beginning of slot racing, the color dot system has been used to determine which lane a car belongs on during competition. The system developed by American Model Car Raceways in the 60's. Originally these were the colored round stickers purchased at office supply stores and furnished free by the raceway owners. Today, they are made by various slot car manufacturers and have an advertisement on them. They can be purchased at your local raceway. See lane sticker.

Competition - A competiton in slot car racing is a race. You knew that!

Commutator - The little gold round thing located at one end of your armature. It is divided in three sections, and each section is connected to the wires wrapped around each pole. The motor brushes apply current to the comutator when they come in contact with each section, and in turn, the wires of each pole receive their current via the wires which are attached to the com tab.

Concours - Referres to the best looking car in any racing event. Usually this competition is judged prior to the competition. In some cases, the "concours" winner gets points, and / or other awards for the effort.

Contact cement - See cement.

Continous rail - A term used by H.O. racers. The electrical conductor on plastic tracks have a "broken" spot at each connection. The new wood cnc routed tracks have one long rail inserted on each side of the slot. This makes for very

Corrosion - Usually caused by using acid core solder, or acid flux to aid soldering. To stop corrosion, use a baking soda and water solution to clean your chassis after soldering.smooth racing.

Cox - John Cox had the most popular hand control of the 60's. It was lightweight, and fit the hand and thumb perfectly. Yes, we used our thumb, not our finger back then. Cox equipment is a good choice if you want to start a collection. In my own efforts at collecting slot cars of the past, I have fond Cox to be one of the hardest to find here in the U.S. I have always thought that it was because when they got out of slot racing and moved into the model airplaine business full time, they dumped the slot racing stuff to make room in the warehouse for the more bulky plains. For more on the Cox dumping, see AMF.

Crash & Burn - While this name was given to a well known California raceway, it also referrs to a type of racing where turn marshalls are not used. If your car comes out, you are out of the race. There are three types of crash & burn races. One where you are out for the duration of the heat and your car remains on the track where it came off. One where either you or a marshall removes the car but you are still out for the duration of the heat, and one where the heat is broken up into one minute segments and you are only out for the duration of each one minute segment and can come back on after a short break between the segments. Example: A three minute heat would contain 3 one minute segments. Each deslotted car would be able to get back on where it came off before the start of each segment.

Crawley - The Crawley's are distributors of slot racing equipment. Formerly located in New York and founded by Roy Crawley, the distributorship is now located in Florida and operated by son Pete. Their parts cross-reference book is the only one of its kind in the industry, and with its proper usage, a raceway owner can find anything they may want in the way of slot car parts.

Crown - The gear attached to the axle used on "in-line" drive cars such as the Parms Womp, and Champion Thumper.

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