John Ford has been a leading
authority on slot car racing since 1965.
Dadds tracks - A slot car track construction company
owned by Chris Dadds. Located in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Damm - Referring to an Air Damm. On a slot car it is
located at the rear of the body. The term is also used in other
ways, but it is spelled different, and will get you kicked out
of the raceway.
Daytona track - A generic tern given to many slot car
oval tracks.
Dead man - This is traditionally the first turn after
coming out of the high speed bank or sweeper.
Dead Strip - The part of the track which is connected
to the lap counter. In most cases, there is no track power on
this strip, hence the name...dead strip.
De-slot - Term used when the car comes out of the slot.
Detailing pen - Many slot car manufacturers offer a
detailing pen for marking in the body lines on lexan slot car
bodies. Another popular pen available universally is the "Sharpie"
made by Sanford.
Diaplane - A portion of the air control system on a
slot car. That part made of very tough mylar and extending out
in front of the body like a shovel.
Dial-in - A specific elapsed time selected during bracket
drag racing.
Diameter - In slot racing, the diameter is nearly always
associated with the armature. In most classes there is a minimum
diameter it can be. The measurement is made with a set of calipers
across the stacks. See stacks.
Diode - Used in the manufacturer of some modern day
controllers. A diode controller will only work on slot car tracks
which are wired in the standard "positive gate" manner.
Difalco - Jim Difalco manufacturers his Difaclco controllers
in New York. Over the years, custom controller manufacturers have
come and gone, but the Difalco controller is still around and
better than ever.
Doorslammer - A term given to a drag car with doors
that open. Basically a street car. Of course in slot racing, the
doors don't open, but here it would be a car body representing
one that does.
Donut - This referrs to a turn on the track which makes
a complete circle. It does not have to be a full 360 degree turn,
but must actually make a circle doubling back over itself with
an over and under bridge section. Some donuts are not round, as
is the case with original American Blacks and American Reds which
had what is called a "D" shaped donut. The tires on
your slot car are sometimes called donuts before they are mounted
on the wheels.
Down force - This is the pressure applied to the body,
or air control, caused by the air rushing over the body. The proper
air control allows greater downforce in the turns, and allows
air to spill over the sides down the straight reducing the "drag"
which slows the car down reletive to the amount of downforce that
is present.
Digest - The Slot Car Digest is a limited production
booklet featuring how to articles that are no longer available.
It is an archival source for these how to articles, and that is
its only purpose, to keep these good articles from dissappearing
all together.
Directory - The slot car directory is a list of all
the slot car tracks in operation today. It is very hard to put
together an accurate directory of raceways due to the regular
opening and closings.
Drag - A type of racing with two lanes and no turns.
In real racing, the track lengths are 1/4 mile and 1/8 mile. In
slot racing, 55ft. is a 1/24th scale 1/4 mile. Half that is a
1/8th mile.
Dragster - Term used to describe those cars which run
on a drag strip.
Drag strip - See Drag.
Dremel - One of those things that every serious slot
racer must have in his collection of tools. It is used for cutting,
polishing, grinding, and many other things that are needed in
the care and feeding of the average slot car.
Driver - What you are if you are standing in the driver's
station, holding a controller, pulling the trigger, watching a
little car move around the track. In some countries you would
be called a pilot. Just ask Gugu of Brazil. The driver is also
the little guy inside your car. Your car does have a driver doesn't
it? See interior.
Driver classes - Driver's classifications are a method
of seperating the drivers into various driving skills, and price
ranges of cars. There are too many organizations, and methods
of doing this to list here.
Driver of the month - A recommdation from Am/Slot is
to keep a running total of the points gained by your drivers and
award the top point driver with a trophy which he much return
at the end of the month to the one who beats him. Of course he
can keep the trophy as long as he can remain on top. At the end
of the year, there should be a competition between all those who
have held the trophy to see who can keep it forever. An easy method
for keeping points on a local level, is to award one point for
every lap gained in compeition. This will keep a racer from pulling
out if he has car trouble. He would want to fix the car and get
back in the race to "make points".
Durostick - This is a tool made by Sonic Products of
California. It will tell you how soft your tires are allowing
you to mix and match the tires in relation to the densness of
their compound.
Dynamic braking - In the beginning, slot cars did not
have any method of braking. American Model Car Raceways commercially
marketed a system called dynamic braking which has been used continually
since then, and adopted by all major controller manufacturers
as an industry standard. What causes the car to continue to roll
when the power is shut off is the fact that the motor becomes
a generator, and tries to actually run itself. This is called
EMF, or electromotive force. Naturally, this condition doesn't
last long, but long enough to cause a car to be hard to drive
deep in the corners. Dynamic braking in effect, shorts out the
leads to the motor. This causes the emf to dump into a giant dummy
load, which robs all the power so that none of the generated current
can be applied to running the motor. Then, the natural drag coefficient
takes over, and the car will stop at varying rates depending on
the strength of the magnets, and the friction of the moving components
of the car.
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