John Ford has been a leading
authority on slot car racing since 1965.John Ford has been a leading
authority on slot car racing since 1965.
| R |
R.J.R. - A reletavely new player in the slot racing game, with products including both motors, and ready to runs. The RJR stands for the initials of the company owner, Robert J. Root.
R.T.R. - Short for ready to run, which is how most slot cars are sold.
Race - Any competition where two or more cars (or anything else for that matter) compete against each other.
Race director - The boss of the race. Usually the raceway owner, but not always. Sometimes different organizations have their own race director to take care of the chores of running the race. With the advent of computers to do all the work, the race director has become more of a race announcer than anything else.
Race night - Most slot car raceways are run as just that, a raceway, with race nights many times during the week. Some raceways are run mostly as entertainment centers with only one race night per week. Either way, the avid slot racer looks forward to race night more than any other at the local raceway.
Race Pace - Former USRA President Bill Pinch is the owner of Race Pace products, a company located in Florida that manufacturers components for slot car racing.
Race prize - Those items, either cash or merchandise, that is won in competition. It is good for the raceway owner to offer race prizes in the form of merchandise certificates. Usually 1/2 the total income from the race entry fees. In this manner, the raceway owner is rewarding the racer for doing well, while not costing himself a single dime. The raceway owner already has the total raceway entry fees in his register. He must consider that half that amount can be rung in as track time, and the other half as merchandise purchases. With this system, the raceway owner makes 100% of half the entry fees, and 40% of the other half. It can be considered as simply pre-selling his parts.
Racer Products - This company rose to prominance in the early 80's. Through proper promotion and publicity, coupled with a good product, their popularity grew to make them the #3 RTR manufacturer. The company was sold while at its peak, and the new owners were not successful in keeping the product line going.
Race set-up - It is normal for a slot car racer to have more than one type of motor. One for qualifying, and one for racing. The race set-up is designed for a little less speed, and greater reliability. See qualifying set-up.
Radius - Equal to 1/2 the total diameter of a turn.
Rail track - The original slot cars actually had a slot in the car, and ran on a raised rail track. My earliest memories of slot racing was in the mid '50's when I ripped apart my Lionel train set to use the motor in a home made car, and one of the rails to make a race track for it to follow. This method dates back to pre World War II days. It was common to carve out a balsa wood car, powered by a small electric motor, and guided along the rail by a slot running along the bottom side of the car.
Rail - In H.O. racing the electrical pick-up located in the track is called the rail. Also in drag racing, a common term for a dragster is "rail", or "rail job".
Ratio - The numerical ratio of your gears is arrived at by dividing the number of teeth on the spur or crown by the number of teeth on the pinion.
Reaction time - In drag racing, it is the amount of time that has elapsed between the time the green light comes on and you pull the trigger on your controller causing the car to leave the line.
Re-Balance - When your armature comes from the factory, it has small holes in the poles. The process of balancing is to remove material from a heavy pole until it weighs the same as all the others. After you run your motor for a while, the epoxy heats up and the wires shift. This causes the arm to become unbalanced. For a small fee, there are companies that will take the arm and put it back in balance again. Hence the term re-balance. An armature should have its commutator re-trued and be rebalanced each time you replace motor brushes.
Record - A goal we all hope of reaching at one time or another. Whether it's the local track record for Group 10, or a Group 7 world record, the feeling of pride in the acheivement is just as great.
Red - What you'll see if you get nerfed. Also, the first lane on a slot car track. Also, the nickname for the American Imperial 150ft. slot car track. So called because of its red formica sides.
Red light - In drag racing, you'll get the "red light" and lose if you pull the trigger before the green light comes on.
Red set - In order to save time during major races, a type of consi racing system can be used where the racer gets to run only on four lanes. The choice of lane to start on depends on the competitor's qualifying time. The red set of four lanes consists of red, green, blue, and purple, and the rotational pattern follows in that order. See black set.
RehCo. - Back in a time when there was very few manufacturers, the distributors began making their own products and releasing them in a different brand name. Many of these products are still around. RehCo is the product line for REH Distributing.
Relay - An electronic switch used to transfer power from the batteries to the track. Each time you pay the raceway owner to buy some track time, he turns a switch which applies current to the coil of the relay, which closes the contacts of the relay, allowing the current to pass from the battery to your car.
Replica - Any item that is a copy of an original item is a replica of that item.
Resistance - As it applies to slot car racing, resistance directly affects the current flow from the batteries to your car. Everything in slot car racing has to do with resistance. 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. The wiring on a slot track has resistance. The larger the wire that is used to connect the batteries to the track, the less resistance there will be. The resistance increases at every connection. When it comes to the DC current used in slot racing, a clean tightly twisted connection is better than a soldered connection. This is caused by the fact that DC current travells over the outside edge of the wire, and a soldered connection takes the many strands of wire and turns it into a solid lump. In high amp draw applications, heat is actually generated at the soldered joint. So anywhere where high amp travel is present, clean twisted connections are more preferable to a soldered joint.
Retainer - Also called clips as in magnet retainer, wheel retainer, body retainer, etc.
Revell - Today, Revell is known for their plastic models, but in the 60's they were one of the top slot car ready to run manufacturers.
Ribbons - A common race prize, popular because they can be displayed in the common slot car box.
Ride height - The distance between the track surface and the bottom of your chassis.
Rider - A term used when one car is deslotted and lands in another car's lane. To alert the driver of the other car, a racer can yell out "Rider on red" for example if the deslotted car has landed in the red lane. The race director at his discretion may kill the power to keep a car from being wall blasted.
Rims - In slot racing, we usually just refer to these as wheels.
Road Runner Tracks - When American Tracks was sold to Baldemar Balderas, and moved to Mexico, one of the employees, Joe Feliciano, left to form his own track building company. While in the employ of American Tracks, Joe was responsible for more than a hundred slot car tracks construction and installation. His new company is based out of Midland, Texas.
Roadster - Any car with seats for only two and no top.
Rolf Lundberg - Rolf is from Europe, and is the designer of many innovations in slot racing, from frame designs to motors. When you see the RL symbol on a tech sheet, you can be sure Rolf played a part in that car's winning.
Roller bearings - Not used today, but a type of bearing using small rollers rather than balls that was popular in the 60's due to its increased effeciency and low cost.
Roll out - In drag racing, roll out is a calculated distance based on the size of the rear tire. Also known as that period of time where you can pull the trigger of your controller before the green light comes on without tripping the red light.
Rosen core - A type of cleaning flux allowing better soldering by mixing with the molten solder and by cleaning the metal, allows the molten solder to stick better. Some solder has no core, and the cleaning flux must be applied seperately.
Rotation - There are two primary rotational patterns. See staggered. See straight.
Round robin - A type of racing program where more than 8 people can race. Sometimes called "sit-out" racing because the racers in excess of 8 sit out during the time they are not racing. If there are 9 racers, there is only one sit-out, if there are 10 racers there are 2, etc. It is a normal requirement for those sitting out to perform marshall duties. See sit-out.
Rout - A method of cutting wood. Using a router, the slot and later the braid recess is cut in a slot car track.
Rules - A set of guidelines used to keep racing fair between competitors.
Run - In drag racing, making a pass down the drag strip is the same thing as making a "run".
Ruskit - Formerly owned by Jim Russell, this slot car company of the 60's, was purchased by Ken MacDowell of Parma International. And the rest is as they say history.
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