Tonight’s guest founded the Slot Mods brand in 2007 and serves in the dual role of designer and lead artist for each commissioned project. Every Slot Mods track bears David Beattie’s signature passion, artistry, and meticulous attention to detail.
David grew up in a suburb of Detroit with ten siblings, one who worked for McLaren Racing’s Can Am team. His love of auto racing began when Peter Revson’s Can Am car appeared on a car hauler in the family’s driveway. He is a fan of all things motorsports, including Formula 1, NASCAR, and sports car racing and he’s here tonight to chat with us about how he turned his passion Slot Car Racing into a second career.
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- Spotlight
- Notes
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Spotlight
Notes
- Superhero origin story! – 10 kids? Take us back to Motown and how your passion for Motorsports got started. How were you introduced to Slot Car Racing?
- How did you turn a hobby into a career? Did you go to school for art? Design? Industrial design? What was the road that led to Slot Mods getting started?
- Let’s talk about the Design / Build Process for these tracks. Are they all commission based? or do you just decide, ok… this month we’re going to build a replica of X?
- You’ve also had the opportunity to chat with Legendary drivers to get their perspective on the replica tracks you’ve built. Famous Names with Slot Mods tracks?
- Are there any public locations where people can go see or race on a Slot Mods track?
- 1/32, 1/24 vs HO-scale – why/why not?
- The good/bad/indifferent of the various brands? Do you recommend any?
- Tips & Tricks for slot car racers; what’s the best way NOT to fly off the track?
- What’s next for Slot Mods?
and much, much more!
Transcript
Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder what’s How did they get that job or become that person?
The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
Crew Chief Eric: Tonight’s guest founded the slot mods brand in 2007 and serves in the dual role of both designer and lead artist for each commission project, every slot mods track bears David Beatty’s signature, passion, artistry, and meticulous attention to detail.
But did you know that David grew up in a suburb of Detroit with 10 siblings? One who worked for McLaren’s K& M team. He’s a fan of all things motorsports, including Formula 1, NASCAR, and sports car racing. His love of auto racing began when [00:01:00] Peter Revzin’s K& M car appeared on a car hauler in the family’s driveway.
And he’s here tonight to chat with us about how he turned his passion for slot car racing into a second career. And with that, let’s welcome David to BreakFix.
David Beattie: Gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to be here.
Crew Chief Eric: And joining me tonight is William Ross, who you might remember from MPN’s Ferrari Marketplace podcast and other fine programming that we have here on the network.
Welcome back, William.
William Ross: Hey, it’s awesome to be here. It’s gonna be a fun one tonight. Just so you guys know, listening, I’m That I actually was blessed to be able to tour David’s studio, which was fantastic. It’s really cool. And if you haven’t seen the video, check out the video to the tour. Cause it’s really, really cool.
Crew Chief Eric: Like all good break fix stories. There’s a superhero origin, 10 brothers and sisters. You got to take us back to Motown and how this all got started. It starts with your brother. Back in the
David Beattie: early seventies. I was only nine or 10 years old. My brother, Leo was working for McLaren. He was kind of a gopher tiger guy and such like that here in Livonia, Michigan.
Yeah. We were watching speed racer and really enjoying that. [00:02:00] And we had slot car tracks and things like that, but with him working for McLaren, coming home and going out on the road, and then with the Peter Revson car, the car hauler coming back from road America was really kind of like the, uh, you know, the aha moment.
And it was super cool. We just really wanted to ride the pit bikes because we had an acre of land. You know, we’re like animals. We just all wanted to get on the bikes and he’s like, Hey, chill out. Seeing Peter’s car there. You know, that was really impressive. From that comes the story of us getting the burned out tires off the truck and put into our garage and we had, you know, all four of them.
We like to roll them around. I mean, they were big. We were little. That was kind of my introduction. And one day my dad came on and said, we’re going to clean the garage and I want those tires thrown to the road. We rolled them out there thinking, okay, yeah, we’re just going to throw them away. You can see the cord sticking through them and such.
And now I think back and I go, God, I wish I had those in my office. And, you know, it’s just one of those things when you’re in the moment, you’re not really thinking about it. As he went on the road and, you know, he’d come back and we’d always talk about speed racer and talk about racing. And I [00:03:00] believe he gave my brother and I the snowmobile slot car set.
And he also got us a Bachman Turner overdrive album, which is really cool for Christmas. Something else. Little BTO. Yeah. You know, we started watching the Indy races cause he was working for, I think it was Gordon Johncock was driving for McLaren, but I believe he was the driver in the Indy series for McLaren at the time.
He was in the music business after that, but being able to go to McLaren with him one day was super cool. When I had the chance to go pre COVID to a reunion and the dynamometer is still in the room and it was really a small place. So it was really kind of cool to see some of the guys who worked with him.
William Ross: Dave, how old was your brother at that time?
David Beattie: 19 or 20. Oh, that’s it. Oh, wow. He was young. Yeah. He was out on the road and you know, I have this great picture of He came home and it’s my birthday and there’s a cake and he’s in his McLaren shirt and we’re all sitting there around the table. It was pretty cool.
Crew Chief Eric: As adults, we raced slot cars, but as kids we played with slot cars. It’s very different. So that snowmobile set, was that the Genesis of [00:04:00] your getting into slot car racing, or were you already playing with slot cars before that point?
David Beattie: We were playing with slot cars before that point, because I have six brothers.
They were racing one 24 scale, big Strombecker, one 24 cars in the house. You know, it got down to where we were just racing chassis, the bodies and such were torn off. And so the way our house was set up, you could go in a complete H through all the rooms and come around. So we’d have our corner marshals and we’d host races.
They would humor us. I have a twin brother and he’s actually more of a car guard than myself. So that’s when we were like racing slot cars in our minds. And then when we got the Stummobile thing, that was more of a toy ish, it was kind of fun, they didn’t go fast. And to your point, Eric, we weren’t really racing, we were more, more or less playing with them.
And so, with life, as it changes, and I started finding myself watching more Formula One, I was enjoying Indy and all that kind of thing, and it was when I got older, and I would say, When I [00:05:00] turned 45, six or 48 ish is when I had a franchise that I was running and I was kind of bored. And I said to my wife, I got a hummock or schlummer Christmas catalog.
It’s a little green. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it. Love that catalog. I think it was great. Yes. Yeah. It was like a Brookstone or one of those kinds of things in there. I said, Hey, you know, I’d like a soccer track for Christmas. And I showed my wife it and, uh, it was Christmas morning and I got up and I was all excited and there was no slack car track set there for me.
I was kind of bummed out and then she went down the hall and she came out and she gave it to me and I was like, ah, yes. And I looked at him like, ah, one of the 132nd set, but she got me the 143rd. I couldn’t show that I wanted the bigger track. I went downstairs, we set it up on the floor and I was down there on my hands and knees and racing.
And I was like, I felt physically too old to be on the floor racing. And so over the course of the next four months, I purchased over 120 feet of plastic track went to one 32nd, half of my basement was all just plastic track. And then, then I was racing with my brothers and a couple of [00:06:00] my neighbors. So I would say my late forties when I really re engaged with the hobby.
Slot car racing and collecting.
Crew Chief Eric: There’s a huge gap there between little David playing with the snowmobile slot cars and let’s say 50 year old David racing with slot cars. So you mentioned that you had a franchise in between. Now in your second career as the founder of Slot Mods, it’s chief designer and artist and things like that.
Did you go to school for like industrial design or for design in general, graphic arts? Like, what is your background and how did you take your original career or your schooling and turn it into this second career?
David Beattie: Number one, I didn’t graduate from high school. Number two, I thought that was a great social scene.
So I was really good at that, but you don’t get graded for that. And I have no shame in that. I always felt more artistic. I’m a self taught drummer. So at the age of 20, I got a record contract with a band out of Florida. So I moved to Key West for a short period of time and some of the members had been backup musicians in ABBA and bands like that.
So I was [00:07:00] a self taught drummer because my brother Leo, after he went from the racing, he went to work for a road manager for like Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton, Proko Harum. I was around a lot of music and I wanted to be a drummer. So it was a big chunk of my life there that now I was a drummer. I was playing around in Detroit, late seventies, early eighties, all, you know, in the punk bars and new wave.
So I really wanted to make it music. So that’s where I kind of turned away from the racing, but I was still watching formula one, which I really enjoyed. So that gap there, I was just trying to find myself in life, you know, because I was kind of like a lost soul. So I really turned to music, but I was also always had like an entrepreneurial spirit.
I was in sales and we drive down this road. I mean, it’s like our main strip. Gratiot tell my daughter, people used to cruise Gratiot back in the seventies and sixties here, just like Woodward, but they cruise Gratiot. And there’s all these little buildings and. I told her, I said, I used to go and knock on every one of these doors to try and sell people printing because that’s what I was into.
So I learned to be quick on my feet and [00:08:00] talking about things. And she’s like, Oh, you know, how many jobs did you have? I said, well, you know, because I kept taking different jobs in different fields. And I just told her, I said, you know, Mads, your dad can interview really well, but I get smoked out about six months later.
So I didn’t move on, but nothing really held my attention. I always liked old toys and so that kind of like had me going in the music part, but I was driven being the youngest of 11. My dad worked two jobs. There was a lot of struggle in there, but we always had holiday gifts and things like that. But I wanted to kind of, I don’t want to say break the mold.
When I saw the movie Wall Street, good or bad, it had this influence on me and I had the blue suit and I wanted to go sell and didn’t have the brains for it. But, um, to answer your question, I mean, there was young David having fun with slot cars and then the music and playing out and getting the really great opportunities there to then going, okay, what am I really going to do with my life?
I was in a car accident in 1992 that wiped out my memory for six months. I [00:09:00] could remember like an old episode of Gilligan’s Island, but if you just asked me what I had for dinner yesterday, I wouldn’t remember. It was kind of crazy. I recovered for over a year, but after that accident, you know, like my family and friends and everybody where I am today, they like said, man, what did that accident do to you?
Because my head went to the side window and I said, I don’t know, but I haven’t been the same sense. And thank God, because here’s what I’m doing. Not that I thought, oh, geez, life is short. It was just like, I want to do something. I want to do something. The economy crashed here in 2008. Prior to that, you know, like a year or two before that, my wife had gotten me that slot car set by Carrera.
From playing with the slot car set I got for Christmas, and then developing that, I met somebody and they said, Hey, you know, there’s a guy in Dearborn, which is out by Ford Motor Company. He has this large wooden slot car track. You should go there. And I’m like, yeah, I’d like to meet him. So I finagled an invitation and I went there and I took him a gift.
I had this mobile oil racing shirt and his name is Jimmy Adder. And he’s kind of my mentor from the early days. And [00:10:00] the way he talks, it’s like, Oh, thanks. He’s got a really high voice. He goes, no one’s ever given me a shirt. And I’m like, well, I always like to bring a gift. He and I bonded really quick. His track is phenomenal.
It’s called the North line raceway. And I said, boy, I’d like to build one of these. He goes, yeah, everyone says that. And I said, no, really, I want to build one of these. Jimmy came out and we measured in my basement. Okay. 18 by 18, we can fit a track. And so he comes over and I got the wood and he goes, where are your tools?
And I go, what tools? And I was a hammer. And it’s Screwdriver and he’s like, come on. So the next week he brought over his tools and table saw. And we started cutting things outside and really created a bond. And I learned a lot from him, but to that point, there was a lot of gentlemen who lost their jobs here in the automotive industry.
And there was about six other gentlemen. And so they would come over every two weeks and help me build out this big wooden slot car track. And then we’d host races. And that’s when I got into racing because Jimmy would hold these big races. And then I’d have races with [00:11:00] 12 guys over my track race, six cars.
And it was a great camaraderie. And at that time I wasn’t really thinking about this can become a business. It was just something I was doing. I was an operations manager at a large exhibit and display company. But then when I lost my job, Prior to that, I was trying to sell this do it yourself, you know, 4×16 kit.
And I showed William the picture of my daughter and I in the hobby shop that I went to after losing my job, thinking, what am I going to do? And then I thought, I love slot car racing. I think there’s people out there who will enjoy what I’m doing at this larger level, or even a small level, just to get people back into the hobby.
And that’s what I was really driven by. I never thought, oh, I’m gonna, I’m making a lot of money. So I’m like, I say, I’m going to make all this money because that really wasn’t the vision. It was more about getting this grassroot movement of bringing friends and families together through the joys of slack car racing, because that’s what I was experiencing with my friends during this difficult time in building this track and racing.
I was kind of lost, but then I thought, okay, I’m going to try to sell these tracks. I [00:12:00] went to a hobby shop. The gentleman said, Hey, you know what? I’ll let you set up an aisle six. So I set up a track that I routed on the side of my garage, a true story. And I took it there, set it up. My young daughter, Madeline, was with me, and I was just sitting there and people would come by and go, oh wow, you know, what’s this?
And I’d say, oh, there’s slot cars, you know, and the store was busy. So a lot of times they thought I was like one of the stock boys. So I’d start helping them and picking out slot cars. Oh yeah, here’s a good one for you. Through that, I met a gentleman, he came in and he goes, oh, everyone’s got a high voice in my world, I guess.
Oh, you know, but
William Ross: not
David Beattie: really. He said, this is really interesting. And he took my card and he said, you know, Dave, you should print some cards and leave them up at AutoZone, which is in the parts store, which is a really nice static model shop, magazine store on Woodward in Birmingham. And a lot of the heavy hitters, Ford Motor and such go there to get die cast cars.
And I mean, it’s a great, it’s called past diners. So I set some cards out there and in doing so, a gentleman picked up my card and he called me and said, Hey, you know, I’m interested in slot card track. And I said, well, you know, sure. Come [00:13:00] on over. Cause he had heard about mine, which was called legends. And he saw my track and he was like, Oh shit, this is amazing.
You know? And I said, Hey, so I started saying, okay, well, here’s these four by 16s that I sell. And he goes, no, no, how much for something like this? And I’m like, well, I don’t know. And I said, I can’t build you anything this big, which was eight by 18. Let’s just say. And he goes, what about a third? And I thought, ah, geez, you know, I said, ah, 4, 000.
And he goes, all right, let’s do it. And I’ll say, I’m like, wow, 4, 000. I’m leaning against my dryer in the basement thinking this guy’s going to actually pay me money to do this. Went out to his house and he and his wife were so excited. It was one of the coolest experiences because it was my first sale. I took it in my Dodge Caravan over there and installed it and they still have it.
And Jimmy actually came out and helped me build it. And as I was building it, I started getting the idea that man, slot mods could be something much bigger than just these four by 16 tracks. And I should really think about doing more of a scenic track. So I was working on that track. And that’s when the light went off about building these big tracks for private [00:14:00] clients.
As I was finishing up that track, I took an ad out in Garage Style Magazine, just on a whim that said custom slot car tracks and things like that. They reached out to me and they said, Hey, you know, the Pebble Beach concourse is coming up. And could you build us the Pebble Beach Raceway, which it was to be raised to the forest.
And I said, sure. So borrowed 10 grand that I didn’t have from my friend and said, this is all I need. I’m going to build this track. I’m going to California. As I was building that track, I got an email from Jim Farley, Ford Motor Company president. Back then he was the global marketing president. I didn’t know who he was and so I had to Google him and he was like the golden boy Alexis before he came to Ford.
And I’m like, Oh wow, you know, Jim Farley wants me to build him a track. He said, Hey David, can you come out to my house? And I said, well, sure. So went out to his house, got to meet Him, he wanted Laguna Seca because he and his wife used to go out there and watch races when they were dating and such. And so I started building him that track, which now I couldn’t really work at my house.
So I had to go to a friend’s building who was kind of like a brother in law [00:15:00] to me, rent a space from him, you know, rent it. I think it was a hundred bucks a month, but it was probably 15 feet by 25 feet wide. So I could just build one thing in there. So I started working on Jim’s track. And I was also working on the Pebble Beach track.
But what year was that? That was 2010, 11, right around there. So it was early on, there was a lot going on because I was trying to grow the business and try to really kind of figure out what am I doing with this? You know, where do I want to go and how do I do this by myself? And Jimmy would still come around, but I had another guy that I was actually able to pay to work with me.
Jim mentioned something about possibly a Ford motor track. And at that time I couldn’t even imagine. I’m like, Let me just build these little tracks. And for me, it wasn’t little, it was like 10 by maybe 12. We shoehorned it into his basement. It was really cool. And he was really happy. But the actual launching point would have been when I went to Pebble Beach and I was able to set up in the retro automobile exhibit and Gooding Auction agreed to auction off the track so I could get my money back.
And then I could come home and such like that. [00:16:00] So the track went up for auction. But in the meantime, someone said, Hey, Jay Leno’s in the tent. And I said, Oh, that’s cool. And then His producer came over and he’s looking around and he goes, man, this is really cool. He goes, what’s your story? And so I just told him, I said, yeah, you know, I’m David Beatty.
I’m from Detroit. I made this track, blah, blah, blah. And kind of mentioned about my job a little bit. And he goes, Hey, I think Jay will dig this. So then, you know, Jay’s walking through. Hey, everybody. He comes over, he goes, whoa, what’s this? And so, you know, next thing he goes, let’s do a segment right then and there, you know, Jay and I are talking and he’s asking me about the track.
And I said, oh yeah, I’m building one for Jim Farley. And he’s like, oh yeah, Jim Farley, Ford motor. It was really exciting because. You know, I got to meet Jay and then there was other celebrities that I got to race slot cars with. And one of the coolest thing was they had a VIP dinner that I took this track to.
It was at some estate and I’m sitting there manning the track and, um, Sterling Moss came up to the track and I’m like, Oh man, this is awesome. I just saw him at the racetrack because I would go over there during the day, sneak away. And they were racing the historics. He got in an accident. So he was kind of in this wheelchair.
Someone was [00:17:00] helping him. So he came rolling up literally cause he’s in a wheelchair. I had his Mercedes going around. I think it’s when he raced at Targa Florio or something. He’s like, Oh, that’s my car. And then I just handed the controller to him. He was just sitting there squeezing it. It was just really a special moment.
One of the things that you can Google Sterling Moss racing slot cars, and they have this really cool black and white video of he and his wife laying on the floor and they’re racing slot cars. And his dad is carving the trophy and he’s talking about his love of slot cars and it’s about 10 minutes long.
He was very passionate about slot cars. That was really a highlight of that event. And the track sold for 29, 000 during the auction. So that gave me an idea of what these things were worth. And while I was there, I met people from Rob Report. And then in a blink of an eye, it was gift of the season and Rod report.
Just kind of like, Hey, David, you know, what can you offer us? And I’m like, well, I’m building this other track that I was taking to concourse here at Meadowbrook in Detroit. So much was happening, but before I knew it, I was building Jim Farley, a track [00:18:00] auto week magazine, a track Tom loans, reliable trucking up here.
Then as I finished up Jim’s track 2011, I got a call from a gentleman from Ford motor company and said, Hey, is this David Beatty? And I said, yeah, he goes, Hey, Jim Farley says you’re the best. Slot car track builder in the world. I said, okay, I’ll go with that. Yeah. I said, yeah. Okay. What’s going on? He goes, well, can you come down and see me?
And I went down to Ford when this guy’s office, he says, Hey, we’re, we’re launching Carroll Shelby. I don’t know if it was a 50th anniversary. There was some GT and can you build us a track and make us custom slot cars and such. And I said, sure. Not knowing how I was going to pull this off at that kind of level that they’re looking for with a nice shiny base and everything.
Yeah. Before I knew it, I was building Ford motor track and it went around to the North American auto show. But the real launching point would be pebble beach with the track. And the funny thing is when I was flying there, I met Bob Bondurant in the airport, you know? And he was sitting across from him looking at him like, man, you look familiar.
And he goes, Oh, I’m Bob Bondurant. And I said, Oh, I’m David Petey. Like, you know, who the [00:19:00] hell am I? It was really super cool.
Crew Chief Eric: Well, to use a metaphor, it sounds like you came out of the last corner and just slammed the plunger into the back of the controller. You accelerated so fast with an idea that you didn’t even think might even blossom.
And that’s absolutely incredible. And it’s super rare, especially in the modern times in the mid 2000s with everything that’s happened. And you’ve continued to perpetuate that over all these years. But I think we need to take a pit stop because you said you’re a big fan of Formula One. So I’m not going to ask you who’s your number one driver because you got Nigel Mansell on the wall behind you.
But I’ve heard you say in other interviews that you’re a big fan of WRC, which is a discipline of motorsport is near and dear to me as many fans of the show know. So I got to ask, favorite car driver and or era of world rally for me, Walter
David Beattie: roll with the Audi just because they were kind of out of control.
But when, when the, the Lancey Estrados and all that came out, you know, those are like formula one rally cars and they were just so fast, but you know, that era when Audi really took over. Yeah. The racing [00:20:00] scene, it’s the fastest cars. Those old videos of the rally racing and then racing through streets of South America, wherever they were cresting those hills and dropping in the pops and bangs out the exhaust.
I used to come home, go on YouTube to watch it. Then I bought the Duke videos, guys changing out the rear axle of a car on the side of the road during the middle of a race. And they didn’t know what they were going to do. And then a guy came by, a casual citizen came by with the same car. And he pulled over and the guy said, Oh, here, you can take my rear end out of my car.
And they put it in the rally car. I’m drawing a blank on the team, but I think it was a Rothman sponsored car. So the older rallies, late fifties, early sixties, into the seventies was kind of the era that I really enjoyed. And then back in the 2000s, you used to be able to watch WRC rally racing on TV. Be able to come home and see all the modern day races, Subaru and such.
And then, and then that went away. Colin McRae, unfortunate death. Do I have a favorite? Like Walter Roll, you know what I’m saying? But
Crew Chief Eric: yeah, that’s the, uh, group B period of rally. And then followed that up to your point, Colin McRae, you got Marco [00:21:00] Allain, Ran the Lancias, Delta HS. That was all group A. That was later.
I digress.
William Ross: For those of you to go watch the video, since you’re on the rally point of this, one track he is building currently for a client. That’s three tracks incorporates all kind of aspects of the rally. Cause you start on the one and you got it up in the mountains and the snow and a bunch of different things.
And it’s really neat. Then he’s got the middle section, which is the largest track of the three, all your greenery or like that. And it incorporates a lot of these cool aspects of like the mountains, Belvedere hotel and everything like that. And then he’s got the desert one right next to that. So it’s got all three disciplines in essence for the route, but the detail.
on it is just unbelievable in regards to what they get into and how they go about making the little pieces like a little toolbox on the desert one he’s got like little fire pits with little logs and everything like that and the trees and the bush and the brush going on and be just the detail that they get into on those i highly recommend watching the video because you’ll see what they get into and how they think of every little thing to make it so [00:22:00] realistic looking it’s it’s amazing that rally track
David Beattie: is the dakar rally eric that’s what that’s based on And the client, he actually has a brand new Dakar he wanted that rally represented.
Crew Chief Eric: And I appreciate William’s masterful segue into our next segment of the discussion, David. So let’s talk a little bit about the design and the build process. Obviously these are commission based. I’m sure there’s a few that brew in your head that for funsies, you probably want to put together on your own.
You’re like, now what do I do with this? But William brought up how detailed the tracks are and looking at the behind the scenes video, you can see all the different materials that you’re using, some really creative ideas. So what’s the build process like, say I come to you or actually my sister asked about this, she’d love to build a replica of VIR that would fit in her basement.
What would that process be like? From stem to stern,
David Beattie: she said, Hey, I’m going to build VAR. I’d say that’s fantastic track. We’d have a consultation call. How much space do you have? So we started with finding the parameters that we have to work in because we [00:23:00] can’t build something to scale because it’d have to be as big as VAR.
So I call it, we build them in the spirit of basically, I would be talking to her, to you about your space allowance. What era of racing did you enjoy there? Like if it’s sixties. And so that would start tuning me into the time period where I’d start to do in my mind thinking, okay, I understand if he had the oak tree turn, which I just thought was beautiful.
And I did incorporate that into 1 of my earlier tracks. I’m surprised they never put another tree there because without it, I don’t know what track that is. If you know what I mean, basically goes from a consultation call, getting to know what you’re looking for, what the size is, and then. As I work up a pricing, I would quote you like, okay, based on the size and scenic elements, your tracks going to be, let’s just say, 50, 000.
And then you would say, okay, let’s move forward. I’d say, okay, I need to, I need to design posit. And so with that, once I get that, then I sit down and I start to gather information. Yeah, books that I have on racing or YouTube [00:24:00] videos, and I’ll start to doodle a spirit of track and capturing turns and such.
And then I would get with my guy, Nick, who can take my doodles to the next level of doodles that William saw here that clients can actually frame. And then I would submit that to you to say, what do you think? And on there, it would show the call outs. The grandstands, pit areas, the trees, yoke tree turn.
And once you approve that, that part of it, then we take it to our three dimensional drawings, more engineering to show elevations and such. And then I would present that to you for your approval. So as the client now, you’re involved in the design process. It’s just not this blind thing that comes out the end.
You can see, I like that. I don’t like that. Hey, what about this? As we get through that, once there’s the final design that we’re showing you in 3D that you can spin around on the tube and see like, okay, I get this, get signed off, we get our first progress payment, and then we begin to build over six
William Ross: or eight month build period.
Someone might have heard that number price that he’s [00:25:00] stolen off. You have to understand that basically nothing is off the shelf. Everything is made by hand, even starting with not the base where it’s sitting on, but the base of the track. He starts with these solid. Um, blocks that can be 30, 40, 50, just with that, then he’s shaming it off.
The track itself is all hand done, all the details, everything. It’s all made by hand and by his guys and everything like that. Once you see how he goes about building and constructing these tracks, you get the sense of, Oh, wow. Okay. Because you’re not going to see another one like it. That’s for sure. But.
The detail that get into it, but you can see the value that’s there. Once you realize how this thing is built, because it’s just, it’s unbelievable.
Crew Chief Eric: And that’s down all the way to the track itself, to William’s point, you’re not using plastic track and then building around it. Like some DIYers might attempt to do.
You’re literally carving out the grooves that the cars will run in themselves.
David Beattie: Yes. Thank you, William, because I appreciate when people bring me back into it. how I do these things because I kind of give the cliff notes, you know, and to the point of like the scenic [00:26:00] elements, everything is made by hand.
Everything is looked at pictures and then we scale it down and we start making it to the track design. Once we take it from the CAD, we’re able to see all the elevation. So when we CNC cut them and we no longer hand routering them like we used to in the early days, and we did a lot of that. It’s more of an engineering interactive piece of art that by the time it’s done, you don’t really see all the internals.
You see the track and the beauty and the elevations and that miniature world that we’re creating, you know, from carving the foam to roll forming the Armco rails to painting the track surfaces. There’s just a lot of man hours structures. It’s just kind of crazy. If I’m building the Nürburgring and I’m doing the main straight building, yeah, you know, I’ve done that.
I’ve done, you know, the Monza big grandstand, but everything is thought well out and it’s all made by hand. And to your point, Eric, not buying things off the shelf, it’s not there and that would be boring.
Crew Chief Eric: So I would assume if you had a six lane track, be a lot harder to get the spirit of VIR or its footprint, unless you had a [00:27:00] massive amount of space, but maybe with a two lane track, you have a little bit more wiggle room to work in.
David Beattie: Absolutely. It’s kind of my trademark to do three lanes or less because once I do a four lane, I’m really trying to get the most linear feet racing length out of a track. So if I do three, it looks to scale with the buildings and such. And two, you can really get a lot of switchbacks and such. And with the threes, I’ve been able to capture turns and make some pretty cool tracks.
Crew Chief Eric: So you mentioned before having the opportunity to chat with legendary drivers like Sterling Moss, and you even mentioned that you get some input and perspective when you’re building these replicas from pro drivers that have driven on these circuits. Any other stories you want to share about your dealings with some of these pro drivers and their thoughts about your replica tracks?
Quick Vic, Vic
David Beattie: Elford is
Crew Chief Eric: a great
David Beattie: one. Yeah, I had this idea about doing a Porsche 917. And watching the videos in the early videos, Vic Alford racing at Lamar, you know, that really made an impression upon me. And so I don’t [00:28:00] know who gave me the introduction to him, but I reached out to him and I said, Hey, Vic, my name is David Beatty.
I’m going to do this 917 clamshells open and it can be seen on our site at www. slotmaster. com. And he said, well, I didn’t drive the Porsche Steve McQueen one, but I did drive. The long
Crew Chief Eric: tail
David Beattie: Martini car later. Yeah. Number four, Martini Rossi racing, Vic signed it. I said, well, I can do that version too. So we agreed that, okay, he’s going to let me use his name.
And first it was just kind of like, I just wanted to have a business, you know, like, Hey, look, I’d like you to put your name with this car. And I said, well, by the way, what was it like racing at Lamar? And what was it like racing at Monza? I said, I watched the video Grand Prix and I see the Monza rail. And I was like, So, you know, what’s that like?
He goes, Oh, David, crazy as hell. It’s stainless aluminum foil. I forget more about what he told me, but it was just like, it was hot in the cars. You really just had to have the concentration and the focus when racing at Target Florida. I mean, the guy raced everywhere. It was very interesting. He was a very [00:29:00] warm gentleman.
We kind of became friends and we just kind of talk about slot car tracks in real races. And from there, when Bobby Rahal commissioned a track, Bobby, he was interesting because, so I got to back up here. I get an email. Hey, I’m Zach Brown. I’m interested in you building me a track. Can you come down to my place?
And I’m like, who’s Zach Brown? So I Googled him. And at the time he had his JMI marketing, you know, and I said, okay. We were going back and forth and I said, well, well, what race tracks do you like? And he said, his favorites were Indy, Le Mans, Riverside, which is one of my favorites. Even though people say, well, it’s boring.
It’s not, man. It’s one of the coolest tracks ever were was, you know, Zach’s telling me, you know, okay, this is what I like. And I said, well, I can glide down. My brother in law has a plane, built a kid plane. I helped pull some of the wires in it, so I was a little bit nervous about flying with him, just because I worked on it.
So what happened was, it was a snowstorm here, and I called Zach, and I said, hey, I can’t make it. And Zach said, well, don’t worry about it. I’ll send you my jet. And I’m like, yeah, okay. You [00:30:00] know, and I just kind of blew it off. And then his assistant came back and said, yeah, please be to the Pentastar terminal at the airport.
Zach’s jet will pick you up at 10 a. m. So I’m like, wow, this is awesome. Who sends a jet for you? Build and slack our tracks. Flew down there, Carmel, Indiana. Went to Zach’s beautiful home and went downstairs and the whole house is finished and the door he opens is this frickin bomb shelter, you know, shit hangin from the ceiling and it’s just an unfinished room, you know?
Like the builders, when they left it, wires were hangin and no drywall, just studded walls and He goes, well, this is as much room as you got and it was only enough for him to fit like a 20 by 14 track and this weird angle. And he goes, I want you to stuff as much as you can in here. And all I want is 4 feet on this side.
So I’m like, okay, so we got these really kind of funky shape and he goes, don’t worry. Just build me the track. The room will be ready. I ended up building this track for him and he had a Super Bowl party and he had like the vice president of marketing from 7up and all these heavy hitters and Bobby Rahal was there.
[00:31:00] Like, oh, this is cool. In my mind, I’m thinking, okay, Bobby Rahal. Yeah, man, he’s going to want to track. And Zach would talk about his friends that he was telling the track about. There’s a simulator in the next room and I hear all these guys on it. You know, and it’s like, I’m like, what is going on? Cause everyone was getting stuck against the walls and, you know, in those simulators, they’re difficult.
The next thing I know, I hear like, well, well, well, it was just something. Symphony of shifting and breaking and such. And I went and looked and I go, wow, who’s in there? And so I’m going, oh, that’s Bobby Ray hall. And I’m like, oh man, this is awesome. And he was racing at mid Ohio. It was kind of his home track, I guess.
I he’s from Ohio. Right. Drive it blind. Yeah. So then I was excited now and I was in, I was in the slot car room, the track and everything, and Bobby came in and he’s like, oh my God, this thing is awesome. And he saw us guys racing around and I’ve already get something to eat before I buy this. And I’m like, oh, well.
It was kind of like networking and I met Bobby and, you know, Zach was there. He was all proud of everything. I’m driving home and I’m kind of all out of builds and this is kind of [00:32:00] the ups and downs of the business world. I didn’t have any tracks, you know, in the queue, I was finishing some up, but nothing new.
And also I got this call as I’m driving back and, you know, it’s like, Hey Dave, it’s Bobby. I want you to build me a track. I said, you know, what are you interested in? And he’s like, I want to road America. Can you be in Chicago tomorrow? And I’m like, I’m thinking to myself tomorrow, man, I’m driving from Indiana to Detroit.
I just want to go home. You know, so I said, you turn, how about Monday? He’s like, okay, went to his place. He had a super cool place. He gave me a bunch of stacks from his racing career of the tracks, the programs. He just gave a lot of insight into what I was building for him. And normally my tracks start out low in the front and then plateau.
So you’re watching the cars go up and about. And Bobby’s like, no, I don’t want that. I want to just like road America where the beginning of the track is high. And then as they go out onto the course, it goes lower. And so Bobby was able to give me a lot of insight into that. And he had a party too. And I went to that party and met Don Devine, Emerson Fittipaldi, [00:33:00] Adrian Fernandez.
I built a track for, and just people who were kind of in the racing industry for quite a while.
William Ross: Wasn’t Adrian the one that was like. Super,
David Beattie: super particular. Yeah. Adrian reached out to me and he said, Hey David, I’d like you to build a track. He’s got a killer place. And it’s on the seventh floor of this office building down in Miami.
And he says, I want you to build me something very unique. And I’m very, very particular. And I thought, okay, well, everyone’s kind of particular, you know, that’s okay. I talked to Zach. I said, Hey, Adrian’s looking to get a track. And he’s like, oh, no, he’s a solid guy. You know, basically everyone knows Zach Brown.
That’s what I found out in the racing world. So Adrian and I hit it off. I made this track with drawers with leather inlays, and you know, you could put the cars in, and it was just, it was like a big jewelry box slot car track. And this was going in his man cave where he actually has one of his Indy cars hanging on the wall, which is super cool.
We built the track and we got it done and Adrian goes, thanks. You know, I, I, you know, I know I can be pretty particular. I said, Oh yes, you are very particular. And he just kind of [00:34:00] smiled and just a great experience trying to meet their expectations as drivers and wanting to have fun. And, you know, he just loved the slot car track for me.
Sometimes I feel like, well, I kind of get bored with this, but I think I’m so close to it every day that I don’t get that feeling. Like I did when I first saw my friend, Jimmy’s track, like, man, I want to come back every day. Yeah, geez. You know, from the racing world to the rock and roll world with Brian Setzer from the stray cats, he reached out to me, called me.
He goes, yeah, man, I’m interested, you know, in a slot car track. And I said, well, let me get this out of the way first. Are you Brian Setzer of these stray cats? And he goes, yeah, yeah, that’s me. So
William Ross: I had to go,
David Beattie: okay, I said, yeah, you know, big fan, you know, rock this town and things. And, you know, he went on to say about when he was younger, he and his brother used to race lock cars and he wanted to get a track for his home studio.
You know, you get to know these guys and you’re working with them over the course of the build and then you deliver it and you know, if they need things, they’ll reach out to me and things like that. The building of the track for Brian was [00:35:00] really cool.
Crew Chief Eric: My back’s starting to hurt from having to pick up all these names.
Going back to the scenario that we pose there, you’re building a replica of VIR. It is going to be a substantial amount of money. There’s a lot of time and care and effort put into making a replica of whatever it is. Even if you’re creating a fantasy track, maybe your version of National Corvette, where it’s a combination of other tracks to make that test track.
Is there a potential for people to go try a Slot Mods track or see one in person? Are there places that have them in public or that hold events on a Slot Mods track where somebody could basically try before they buy? The
David Beattie: only place that I know of, the LeMay Museum up in Washington, we built the track for them for their grand opening.
So the track is set up. Still there and the public can go there, can pay a donation of $5. You get to race on the super cold track that has parts of Road America, parts of Daytona, it’s all American tracks that are on there right now. Currently we built a track for Hot Wheels and it’s over in Abu [00:36:00] Dhabi at a mission play.
It’s like an indoor amusement park. So if you have the money and the means, you can go over to Abu Dhabi and race there. You know, unfortunately, there aren’t any in a real public setting here in the States. They go in private collections, car collections that people aren’t going to allow you in. Like Bobby Rahal’s not going to allow you in to race at his house.
You know, Zach Brown, he loved his track so much when he moved to England, we moved it over there and moved it. We had to go back to England twice and move it. You got a raise or something. He went from COO to something else, a general manager. Unfortunately, Eric, there’s not any tracks that the public can go race on.
And I, and I think it’s a shame. I would interject
William Ross: though, and I’ll chalk this up to today’s memory. Now, obviously it’s not a public place, but you can’t go there. To the facility when they have some events, they have some events that won’t probably get paid, but he is doing some stuff for the M1 concourse.
Thank you, William, that you will have the ability to test out and try, but not until the end of like 2025 though. Right. That’s
David Beattie: correct. M1 [00:37:00] concourse X center experience. They’re going to have two 10 by 20 tracks, one representing all European tracks. And then the other one, which is kind of interesting is tells the history of Pontiac triangle where the M1 course.
is located. It’s super cool. So the public will be able to go to Xcenter, uh, M1 concourse, and we’ll be putting that out as we get closer to it.
Crew Chief Eric: Let’s go back to our DIYers. Maybe we’ve got some slot car tracks. Collecting dust in a closet somewhere. I got to get back to that. You know, I’ve always wanted to build something or maybe you’re getting back into the modeling hobby, right?
Because that’s also part of this is like you said, not just the track layout, but the scenery and all the things that go with it. And there’s a lot of very creative people out there, especially on social media and the things that they can do with, you know, sadly Lego or with trains and how you combine all these different mediums together and things like that.
Maybe some tips and tricks from the master about what you can do with that off the shelf kit. It’s got that patina now. And you want to bring it out and do something with,
David Beattie: well, you know, [00:38:00] what I would recommend is if you really want to get back into it and you have an old track and you bring it out in today’s market, you can actually go out and buy a really nice track.
That’s going to run. And you’re not going to spend so much time getting that up to running. Carrera is very affordable and fun. Great slot car company. Have a great relationship with you. So those out there who are looking to get into the hobby, you know, on YouTube, there’s many guys out there showing their miniature modeling skills.
You can go to our website and look at what we’ve recreated. And we don’t really ever get into, I mean, there’s the video it’s called painting coconuts. Which Audi did a feature film short on me that won a pleo in the advertising world, which I didn’t expect to happen. But it shows me carving foam and kind of talking about how we do things here.
But when people say to me, Hey, I want to get back into slack car racing. I’ll say, you know, Carrera and Scalelectric makes a really good set and you can get these online. But then I say you can lay your track out, get a 4 by 8 sheet of foam, outline your track shape, carve [00:39:00] down, remove that, inset your track in there, and then start carving around the foam to get those reliefs of the berms and the side things, and then start scraping the topography.
It all depends on what the person’s skill level is. And, you know, if you want to get back into the hobby, and you want to pull out your old stuff, which is super cool, I collect vintage slot car sets. So I got things that still have the little trees in the box, and you can set up a little grandstand, little pit building.
I would suggest, Refurbing your own little set or looking at how to make your own set, which can be a good father and son kind of thing with the wood and the routering, by all means, just get back into the hobby, and there’s a lot of information out there on YouTube about building your tracks and scenic elements.
Crew Chief Eric: When you started out, Jimmy was saying, well, you only got a hammer and a screwdriver. That’s it for tools. What are the top five tools that a DIY er should have in their toolbox if they’re going to build their own set?
David Beattie: Let’s see, hand router, table saw, drills, break screw machine for, you know, cutting all the supports.
But basically if you [00:40:00] go out and you can go to Lowe’s or Home Depot’s, get yourself three quarter inch MDF and you can make a template. And there’s plenty of videos on how to make a wooden slot car track, but MDF board for the track surface. There’s magnetic braid that you can get through like professor motor.
That is the rails that’ll run. You can get a transformer from Professor Motor. So you can get all these items from a slot car supplier and you can make your own track and you can make it inexpensively. You can make your own little flat track that you put on a ping pong table. That’s a great place to start.
Even if you’d put the track on the ping pong table, that’s plastic. You know, you need some power tools. You need a router to route all the slots, but you don’t really use hammers. So, you know, you use drills and power screwdrivers and, you know, that kind of stuff. And then paint it with outdoor flat latex gray or black.
And then I come through with cans of Rust Oleum and I blend colors to make it look like pavement. I made the biggest mistake when I made my track, I painted it all. And Jimmy’s like, Oh, you got to spray it with doll coat. And I’m like, okay. And you know, that stuff’s [00:41:00] like. Death, you know, when you sprayed, it’s like, you know, from the 10 commandments when the plague came in, you know, and, you know, I didn’t put any blood around the door.
My wife came home and she’s like, what the hell is that smell? It was coming up to the air ducts and it was bad. I mean, I’m glad the pilot on the water heater. You didn’t get it. You know, just, you know, Blue at my house, but I’ve had people call me and say, Hey, I want to make a track for myself. Can you help me now listeners out there?
I am all about helping people out and I have to help people out. I’ve sold some tracks at cost, if not below, just because their passion for it and their situation. It isn’t about. The money. This is a business. I have guys I depend on. And when I first got married, my wife’s like, how can you live out of the ATM?
Like, I had all these receipts, you know, 20 bucks. I just said, I don’t know. You know, so she straightened me out. But sometimes it gets lost in doing podcast and interviews that people talk about the celebrities and we talk about where I’ve been with the tracks and this and that. But at the end of the day, What I got out of slot car racing [00:42:00] was I could sit down in my basement and just tune a car and with my lap timing system, trying to shave off a hundredth of a second, tenth of a second, or whatever that minimal thing was by sanding the tires, painting the front tires.
Here’s a trick. You paint the front tires with nail polish. So when they go around the turns, it cut backs the resistance. So the hard rubber isn’t pushing against the track. And so there’s just things like that, that the guys who really race know. All these tricks, but just to be able to go down there and go, Oh yeah, I got a lower lap time.
I’d spend three hours doing that. I’d get out of bed at three in the morning. Cause I couldn’t sleep. And I’d go downstairs and my wife would say, here’s, you know, and I had 121 foot linear slack our track and to paint the picture for you was a Sunday morning. It was about 56 degrees out track conditions were slightly dusty and I got my Rothman’s a nine 56.
Normal lap times to get around my track were like around 22 to 23 seconds. These are cars that are weighted. There’s [00:43:00] no magnets. You really had to have it tuned with silicone tires and the right magnets on there. So, I spent three hours and I went from an average lap speed of 23 seconds. to 19. 87 and I was racing on the edge and the rear tires were chattering around the turns and then when it was done I was exhausted but I was like yes because no one could ever beat that record on my track but I spent the time sanding the tires and just really being engrossed in it.
It was the greatest escape.
Crew Chief Eric: Well, I’m glad we went here because our last segment of the conversation was really going to be about the cars. Let’s walk back just a second. You specialize in 132nd scale cars, but you also mentioned in the old days, the 124th scale, but there’s also the HO scale cars. So when you look at, again, the DIY at home, Maybe go into the local hobby shop and they want to buy a set off the shelf to start with just to get the foundation going, or maybe they got that vintage set in the closet.
Your heart leans one 32nd, but some pros and cons of the other two scales
David Beattie: pros [00:44:00] of one 24th. They look super cool. They’re big. The details really great. The cons are they’re heavy and when you’re racing them, you really got to have a lot of fun. track length. And when they go around the turns on a plastic track, they’ll kind of pull the track a little bit.
The weight going through a turn. And so you’re always pushing the track sections together. The way to them was mostly the con of it. Unless you’re racing 1 24th scale, they look like a flying wedge and they’re super fast. That’s a whole nother level. But for the person getting back into it, I wouldn’t really recommend 1 24th scale.
I would just say I would stay away from 1 24th because there’s not enough variety of cars available. HO I think are great. They’re a scale that, you know, younger, I had a, had a track, but it didn’t really grow too fond of it because the cars were little. I thought they went too fast and it wasn’t realistic enough.
I mean, I’m going to be building my first HO track this year for a gentleman. He built this big house, of course, and he’s got this beautiful fireplace and on the side of it he has this. I’ll call it a table, but it’s four by [00:45:00] eight. He wants to put a track, have us recreate his home in such in the Colorado area.
I’m always up for a challenge. So we’ve been playing around with HO cars and everything. And I think they’re really cool. They’re just too small and they’re really fast. But I think for young kids, they can really enjoy it because they can set up a track in their bedroom and they got enough space to set up an HO track versus 132nd where you need a little bit more room and 124th where you need much more room.
So each scale has its pros and cons, but 132nd, the manufacturers are just making such high quality models. And the detail is just any scale, any model. Race them because you’re going to enjoy them.
Crew Chief Eric: So you mentioned your relationship with Carrera. That’s only one of the brands, you know, there’s a scale electrics.
There’s a CX there’s fly. There’s so many out there. Are there also, just like we’re talking about the track sizes, are there good, bad, and indifferent? You mentioned weighted cars versus magnetic cars. What would you suggest to a first timer or somebody coming back into the hobby? What should they be looking at, [00:46:00] or is there a compromise between quality and price?
What’s on your list when you’re selecting a car, especially to race?
David Beattie: If I’m going to race, slot it cars, slot it brand. Maurizio Ferrari, who’s not related to the family. He has like, I’ll call it a boutique business, but he’s one of the finest brands of slot cars in the world. And I’m talking about cars you can buy off a website.
NSR makes Wonderfully fast, beautiful slot cars. They’re almost too fast for my tracks because mine, I call it miniature model racing where you’re going to go fast, but you’re not going blistering fast. But NSR is a very fast car and in like South America and in Europe, they’ll have big races where they have eight lane tracks.
It’s plastic and they race these on there. If you’re going to get into the hobby, you’re going to go buy a track. Carrera makes wonderful tracks. They’re going to last a long time. The width of the track is more to scale. The quality of the pebble finish, let’s say, retraction is really good. And their magnetic downforce between the amount of steel they have in their tracks, because the cars [00:47:00] come with magnets, all modern day slot cars come with magnets that you’re buying out of the box.
You can buy a track. You’re going to spend maybe 140 to 250 on a Scalelectrics. Scalelectrics makes great cars. That’s what I give with my tracks because they run great out of the box and they run really well on wood. Ferrara pros and cons. Beautiful cars. The guide pins on them for a wooden track, they’re too thick.
And the Germans, bless their heart, they always over engineer things. They could have left the guides alone like they were 10 years ago. But you know, everyone wants to keep improving. But once you have one of those tracks, you can go back to your local hobby shop, which I would. Prefer people do, they’ll have slot cars, singular ones that you can buy from Lola’s to Mercedes to 911s to, you know, LMP cars from the 60s to current day models are available and they have the same quality as a die cast car.
When you’re looking at it, you’re not going to really get into racing with magnets unless you’re really diehard. Now the patients keep putting your car on while you learn how to take a turn at the proper speed. [00:48:00] I can race with or without magnets and I can be competitive with somebody on one of my tracks who has magnets and I’m running without them because I know where to let up in the turns.
And
Crew Chief Eric: I think it’s super cool. Like I geek out on this kind of stuff and I got out of the hobby. My sister’s still sort of in it. Like I was saying, you know, she wants to build BIR and stuff like that. So that’s why I ask. It’s like every once in a while she teases me. She’s like, Oh, I’m going to set up the track and we should come over and race like in the old days.
And I’m like, you know, that maybe I should buy a new car. What’s the Technology now, 20 plus years later. I don’t know. You know, I got to check it out.
David Beattie: You know, one of the things that is new is digital racing and that can be a lot of fun. And I was really against it early on when I had my career set, but then Carrera with the digital racing, you and your sister, you could buy plastic track and make a closest replica to VR as possible, but you can raise six cars on.
And do lane changing and you can go down there and race by yourself and put on the ghost cars. You’re single and you’re racing around these other cars that are automatically breaking. And first time I did that, I [00:49:00] got kind of dizzy because I was watching all these cars going up. I’m controlling mine, but with the lane changing, it’s really fun.
And so if you have limited space, And you have, let’s say, a couple of buddies that want to come over and race and not just stand there and watch two people race. A digitalist, they can all get into it. And I gifted my twin a track last year. Went over there and I surprised him and we built this track.
He’s like, I don’t know what I’m doing. I go, just sit back and watch. And so, I was just, I kept reconfiguring this thing. thing and it was a digital track and it’s just a blast. So he’s in a car group. He has a 57 Chevy. He’s got a model a, and he’s in this group called the taints is their car club.
And they’re all crazy bastards, but they all got super cool cars. But they go over his house and they race on Friday nights, but you can race four to six people, you know, that’s something to think about. But as far as technology, slot cars are the quality of the models. The construction is better. They operate the same.
They go fast, but there’s [00:50:00] just a bigger variety of the models themselves.
Crew Chief Eric: But it all really comes down to the tires at the end of the day, like you were saying, right? So like my old slot cars might benefit from new rubber technology like any old race car would. Put a brand new set of Hoosiers on it versus bias plies from the 60s.
It’s going to handle completely different without changing anything. So is the same true of the slot cars? Is the tire technology really improved?
David Beattie: Out of the box? I mean, the tires. You know, when they’re putting them together in China, that’s basically where they come from, unless you’re getting your NSRs, you know, and they’re making them over there in Italy and they’re truing the tires and everything, you know, when you pull it out of the box, it’s going to go on the track and it’s going to run great.
Similar to slotted. If you’re getting scale electrics. And Carrera, you know, they’re being made over, you know, in China, they’re being assembled, like people aren’t really passionate. Sometimes the chassis are screwed down really tight. So when I get a slot car, I’ll take it apart. I’ll make sure the gears are lined up and the tires are pressed.
First thing I do is I get rid of the stock tires and I put on silicone tires. And you can get those from a major slot car supplier, [00:51:00] be it Professor Motors or Electric Dreams, and that silicone will immediately give you better handling of the car, better traction through the corners, you know, a nice round ride and such.
So I take it apart. I’ll super glue any of the inside pieces. So nothing’s rattling just. tighten the screws, but then once I tighten them up, I’ll back all the screws out. So the chassis and the body’s got a little bit of a waiver. So when I go through the turns, it’s more like a suspension instead of just a stiff thing.
So you want it to give a little bit, there is a lot of tuning that you can do to cars. I mean, you can go online and you can upgrade the motors from 20, 000 RPMs to 25 to 30 to 40 red, green, blue motors, and they’ll fly and they’re fantastic. So it depends. You can take them out of the box and race them and have fun, or you can really get into tuning each car you get.
And that’s what I really got into for a long time. But now like I’ll get cars and I’ll give them to my slot car guy and go here, tune this for me, or I’ll call, you know, Oliver, I’ll go on his site and I’ll say, Hey, I see all these cars. I want these, but I want you to put these engines in [00:52:00] them, these tires, they’ll come to me and there’ll be pre tuned and there’ll be hot cars set up for me to run.
Maybe that’s one of the benefits I have of being the slot mods guy, but there’s so much available out there for slot car enthusiasts. You can go online. I don’t like to say Amazon, but you can find some stuff on Amazon, but support your local hobby dealer, go to garage sales, you know, go to a Facebook marketplace and you can pick this stuff up.
People are just getting rid of it. You know, they’ve only want 10 for it. But you know, once you get it home and clean it up, it’s worth hundreds for yourself, the amount of enjoyment you’re going to get out of it.
Crew Chief Eric: You’ve mentioned before, and even on the behind the scenes video with William about the custom cars that you guys make.
So how does that work? Because we had Rick shod, quote unquote, the Pope of plastic on a while back. And he talks about the recreations that he makes and how he modifies the cars. And he’s famous for doing all sorts of very intricate and realistic recreations, especially race cars. So are you guys basically taking, let’s say a chassis?
Like you just said, I’m going to Facebook marketplace, I’m going to eBay and I’m buying up the [00:53:00] chassis and then building bodies on top of them. Are you building your own thing? Forms, are you taking other sets apart? Like what constitutes a custom slot car?
David Beattie: For what we do when I say like we do custom slot cars, when we did the Audi project, they were launching the a four a seven.
So it doesn’t exist in a slot car. So we had those 3d printed and we were able to buy chassis that had adjustable facing from the front of the back tire. There’s screws and you can lengthen the chassis or close it in to fit within the wheel wells. So what we’re doing here, like we made a hundred Fiat, uh, what, what, what is that little Fiat?
The 500
Crew Chief Eric: Cinquecento?
David Beattie: Yeah. So we made a hundred of those for when we did the Lingotto Fiat factory and the cars were racing on the roof. But basically what we’re doing for those, we got sneaky, I’ll call it sneaky. We got one 43rd scale bodies and we printed the Fiat bodies because then they look to scale and they fit on those cars.
You know, I have a guy here, Nick, who’s wonderful and he’s got a great head of hair, right, William? Yeah. That guy’s got the best hair. You got to see
William Ross: it in the video. [00:54:00] Outstanding.
David Beattie: Yeah. Well, basically what we’re doing, like we’ll take a real world car, a slot car and Nick can design it in 3d CAD and everything, and then we’ll 3d print it.
And then we’ll fit it up to a chassis that is adjustable. That’s the extent versus the super. Talented guys that can modify cars and just call it hand weld brass chassis where there’s all these lines and everything. And I’m like, how did you do this? And they’re miniature works of art. I mean, they really are.
We don’t tend to get into that when I say that we do custom slot cars. We’ve done slot car shopping carts, you know, and they raced around the track and we’ve done Mercedes vans. We’ve done the Fiats. And right now, uh, William was here and the project we’re working on, we’re going to be making custom Gammond Porsche 356 slot cars.
We’re going to be designing those right from Nick’s head, like looking at the math and making those and possibly 3D printing the chassis. So that’s going to be a little bit more into pushing us beyond what we’re normally doing and kind of kit bashing by using the 3D printing. [00:55:00] 3D printing has come a long way.
And so that’s kind of what we do on the custom end. But there’s guys out there that are just building phenomenal slot cars. You don’t even want to race them. I mean, they’re that beautiful in the amount of detail.
Crew Chief Eric: So we’ve talked about tips and tricks for building the tracks for acquiring your cars and tires and things like that.
But I guess the last piece is some of us get frustrated. Like you said, there’s that patience factor. You’re there for three hours, trying to set your best lap time on the track with your timers and all that. When you get back into the hobby again, what are some ways to not fly off the track? Are there exercises you got to do with your finger, your trigger finger?
Like what are some of your tips and tricks for being a better racer and enjoying the experience of slot car racing more, especially if you’re getting back into it or getting into it for the first time?
David Beattie: I always say, pretend you’re in the car. And you wouldn’t go into a turn at full speed. So throttle control on the trigger, that’s your gas pedal, you know, go around slowly, but then as you start to build confidence, no, to let up before you go into a turn, [00:56:00] like two feet or one feet into it.
So you can flow through the apex. It’s more about start out slow, then build up your confidence level. Because people say, man, when I had a stock car track, they always went off in the first turn. It’s like, well, you don’t squeeze it. You got to, again, put yourself in the car and think about how you would be Braking and actually driving to get young Children.
And what we do, we send these tracks out to shows. You can buy magnets attached to the bottom of the car to give you really good down for us. You can put magnets on there are so strong. I can pull 12 volts full power and it will never come off. It’s a business, you know, but I like it to be a little bit of a challenge that, you know, there’s a consequence.
You need to learn how to drive. Start off slowly, pretend you’re in the car and just build up your feel for it. It’s sort of like when you get on the track, you got to warm up
Crew Chief Eric: your tires, your brakes, and your brain. Exactly.
David Beattie: You know, I was out at Thermal Raceway. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Thermal Club.
You know, they take you around a few times. We were in BMWs and I’m like, Oh yeah, I got this. In the lead driver, you’re following me saying, David, get off my ass, you know, because I’m kind of [00:57:00] competitive. And I, you know, I’m not a race car driver or anything like that. So then they let you have your own track time.
And I was getting real confident. And I came up over this crest and it went into these S’s and I just came over too hot and I started going off in the gravel. It scared the shit out of me. And then I was like, Whoa, that didn’t like automatically think about slot car racing. But it was just kind of like follow the lines, you know, in the apex and everything and build up your confidence.
And then you can really turn in some hot laps just by getting to work. The controller, just be patient, enjoy it. It’s fun. People love to crash. Yeah. You know, that’s one thing I found out, not the guys on the race nights. They don’t like to crash cause they got their really nice cars and stuff, but it’s fun, it’s a hobby guys.
Take it real serious. That’s fine too. There’s those groups. I say, get kids started young with a small track and then get them involved and get them on a bigger track and turn them on to, um, videos on YouTube. Or, you know, we don’t make enough videos. We’re too busy building these tracks.
Crew Chief Eric: So Dave, what’s next for slot mods?
David Beattie: Well, currently, right now, I’m [00:58:00] deciding to release these new half scale Porsche 917s. They’re art cars, which would be a fiberglass shell, which would be airbrushed, hand painted, with rubber wheels and everything, and it would be similar to the 917 that we did. You flip a latch, the track opens up, and then there’s a miniature Le Mans raceway in there, in 143rd scale.
Instead of on 132nd, you could actually have in your office thing would be about five feet long, maybe seven feet long, three feet wide, 917 that opens up and it’s got a miniature raceway in it and you can race slot cars. So when you’re not racing it, you just click a button and it closes. Looking to bring to market in 2025.
There’ll be limited editions. There’ll be the Steve McQueen number 20, the winning Salzburg Porsche, the red with the white livery. You know, we can talk rally, but I just got commissioned to build one of my largest builds, which is the recreation of Targa Florio and Miglia. Miglia. It’s going to be pretty incredible with those Italian villages and stuff, and it’s quite a project.
And the gentleman says to me, I want you to make your build of a lifetime, your [00:59:00] most magnificent, you know, and I said, well, this is the price. He goes, Oh, I wasn’t thinking it would be that much. And I said, well, we can take things away. And he goes, Oh no, I want it all. And I’m like, okay, well, it’s salesmanship, but there has to be a limit because we only have so much time to build these and we want to make each one special.
And that takes a lot out of me as an artist to make sure that it looks right. And it’s not that I’m just mailing it in. Because people are making a big investment in me and with my guys and we really do want to deliver and bring a lot of happiness to people and joy.
Crew Chief Eric: We’ve reached that point of the episode where I like to ask our guests to share any shout out promotions or anything else we haven’t covered thus far.
William Ross: Dave left out something there in the beginning when he was kind of getting going and starting this. Tabletop hockey games he builds. Not just talking these old chinky, old tin metal things. Primo, I mean outstanding. He’s got his little thing, you know, it’s a slobbery, but he does some other things too and got an unbelievable collection of old stuff sitting up in his rafters too at his shop.
But the one funny [01:00:00] thing was you were walking through what in the back, you know, you would think that as busy as he, all these different projects going on. Cause me and him talked about this. He’s at the front, he’s in the middle and he’s at the end of the whole process. Wearing all these different hats, so to speak.
But he finds the time to go do his own thing for everything. He’s building his own little track for himself. He’s like, I’m just doing this for me. Really neat. You can see the passion there that he still has for this. And this is the enjoyment. He’s like, this is my, I’m building this for myself. It’s fantastic to see what he puts into it.
And it’s going to be really cool to see technology advances, whatnot. He, you know, new techniques, everything like that. Better and better and better. I can’t wait to see what comes up out in like five years, what he’s going to be able to come out with. Cause he’s going to be unbelievable.
David Beattie: Well, thank you, William.
And the tabletop hockey was a real passion of mine from childhood. And Eric, I have over 200 vintage tabletop hockey games just above my head. And it inspired me to build my own custom tabletop hockey. And I kind of did it out of spike because a guy in New York sold me a game and he sent it with it cracked and I wanted my money and he’s like, well, you wanted me to rush it.
And I’m like, [01:01:00] oh yeah, I’ll show you. And I’m not boasting. I built my games and it got to be the gift of the year and cigar aficionado. I printed out the article and I sent it to him on the Christmas card. And I was like, you know,
Crew Chief Brad: yeah,
David Beattie: there you go, buddy. Anger can really kind of motivate me, but you know, it’s kind of funny because the tabletop hockey as a kid and racing slot cars and Christmas morning, it’s all those kinds of things that I enjoy.
And, you know, the business side of it, it can take the shine off of what we do, but then when we deliver these things to people and their eyes light up and. You know, there’s a gentleman, we built him some point Raceway and he raised his nine 11 there and we built this for him and he was over the moon.
He’s like, yeah, all my buddies come over. We race now every Thursday night and they bring their wives. And when I heard that, it just, it made me feel so good. And then they sent me a summit point t shirt and you bring these things into people’s lives because they’re not watching TV, you know, they’re having fun with their friends and they’re racing.
And, you know, it’s just like you setting up the track with [01:02:00] your sister. I mean, I think you should do it. I think you should come to Detroit. You and William should come up when we get these three massive tracks done. But other than that, we’re really busy with just building these really incredible one offs for clients.
And for the listeners out there in 2025, William and I are going to work together in bringing a track for a donation to raise some funds for his charities, a charity of his choice, because I’m at a point where I really want to give back in any way I can. And that’s pretty much what’s
Crew Chief Eric: going on. David’s creations have been featured in publications across the globe, including Car and Driver, Sports Illustrated, and CNBC.
And he has made appearances on Jay Leno’s Garage, the Today Show, Discovery Channel, the BBC, Galileo, and multiple enthusiast podcasts, including this one. Inspired by legendary circuits from around the world, Slot Mods creates wooden 1 32nd scale megatracks. And every inch of these raceways, from the corkscrews to the chicanes, from the paddocks to the pits, right down to the mounting bolts on the aluminum guardrails, is handmade with incredible [01:03:00] precision and built to withstand years of intense racing.
If you’d like to get your very own bespoke slot car track, be sure to check out www. slotmods. com. Slot mods. com and learn more or follow them on social at slot underscore mods, underscore raceways on Instagram and YouTube at slot mods, raceways on Facebook. And you can also connect with David via LinkedIn.
And with that, David, I can’t thank you enough for coming on break fix and reigniting a passion for many of us collecting patina in a corner. Some are going, man, I got to bust that slot card track out and turn some laps again. It’s a great way to introduce a younger crowd of petrol heads into the many disciplines of motorsport that we all enjoy.
And I’m all for perpetuating the continuation of motorsports out there in the world. So thank you for what you’re doing and thank you for being a unique part of the autosphere.
David Beattie: Well, thank you, Eric and William for having me on. Sometimes I think that everyone knows about slot cars, so. A show like this helps reintroduce to people who maybe [01:04:00] forgot that they can get back into the hobby of slot cars and they can do something with their kid while the kid’s plugged in on the couch to Nintendo.
From my experience, all little kids love to race slot cars with each other and with their parents. So it’s really a great interaction, be it the plastic track, be it a slot mods track. What you guys are doing is amazing for hobbyists, not only in the slot cars, but your other followers and interest in shows that you’ve shared.
Crew Chief Eric: You know, I feel like a kid again. I love it.
David Beattie: Yeah. You know, right on. Thanks for having me on.
Crew Chief Eric: We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of break fix podcasts brought to you by Grand Touring Motorsports. If you’d like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure to follow us on all social media platforms at Grand Touring Motorsports, and if you’d like to learn more about the content of this episode, be sure to check out the follow on article at gtmotorsports.
org. We remain a commercial free and no annual fees [01:05:00] organization through our sponsors, but also through the generous support of our fans, families, and friends through Patreon. For as little as 2. 50 a month, you can get access to more behind the scenes action, additional Pit Stop minisodes, and other VIP goodies, as well as keeping our team of creators Fed on their strict diet of fig Newtons, gummy bears, and monster.
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Highlights
Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.
- 00:00 Introduction to Break/Fix Podcast
- 00:27 Meet David Beattie: Founder of Slot Mods
- 00:45 David’s Early Life and Motorsports Passion
- 00:57 The Influence of McLaren and Family
- 01:26 From Childhood to Slot Car Enthusiast
- 04:47 Reconnecting with Slot Car Racing
- 06:15 The Birth of Slot Mods
- 09:30 Building the First Custom Tracks
- 13:43 Expanding the Business and Early Success
- 16:01 Meeting Celebrities and Gaining Recognition
- 22:16 Designing and Building Custom Tracks
- 27:28 Collaborations with Pro Drivers
- 29:12 Zak Brown and Bobby Rahal Stories
- 31:36 Exciting Beginnings with Bobby
- 32:11 Building Tracks for Racing Legends
- 34:21 From Racing to Rock and Roll
- 35:22 Public Slot Car Tracks and Challenges
- 37:20 DIY Slot Car Track Tips
- 43:35 Choosing the Right Slot Car Scale
- 52:31 Custom Slot Cars and 3D Printing
- 57:55 Future Projects and Personal Passions
- 01:02:28 Final Thoughts and Shoutouts
Learn More
David’s creations have been featured in publications across the globe including Car and Driver, Sports Illustrated, and CNBC, and he has made appearances on Jay Leno’s Garage, The Today Show, Discovery Channel, the BBC, Galileo, and multiple enthusiasts’ podcasts, including this one!
Inspired by legendary circuits from around the world, Slot Mods creates wooden 1:32 scale MegaTracks. Every inch of these raceways, from the corkscrews to the chicanes, from the paddocks to the pits, right down to the mounting bolts on the aluminum guardrails, is handmade with incredible precision and built to withstand years of intense racing action.
Limited Edition ART CARS by SLOT MODS & HOT SHOE STUDIOS
Slot Mods is collaborating with Tony Lauro’s Hot Shoe Studios, offering limited-edition 1/2 scale cars from one of the greatest eras of racing. Each Art Car is masterfully built on a hand-crafted tubular chassis underpinning a hand-painted exterior shell. Just release the latch to open the body and reveal the ultimate slot car racing experience!
The 1/2 scale 917K is a faithful reproduction with composite body panels true to its original shape. Specifications: original-style center lock wheels, race-worn tires, working headlights and taillights, and inside… a beautiful 1:43 scale slot car wooden raceway, featuring hand-crafted period-correct signs, banners, aluminum Armco railing, trees and structures. But we couldn’t stop there. Also available from this historical grid, we’re offering the legendary Ferrari 330P4. Learn More.
Hot Wheels track with Ferrari’s by Slot Mods Raceways
Check out one of the tracks from Slot Mods Raceways that was mentioned on this episode! Conceived to provide the ultimate HotWheels experience, this impressive 9′ x 12′ setup is ideally suited for any location. This track can now be seen and raced on in a track in the middle east! Learn More.
If you’d like to get your very own bespoke slot car track, be sure to check out www.slotmods.com and learn more or follow them on social @slot_mods_raceways on Instagram and YouTube, @SlotModsRaceways on Facebook, and you can also connect with David via LinkedIn!
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Guest Co-Host: William Ross
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The symposium is named in honor of Michael R. Argetsinger (1944-2015), an award-winning motorsports author and longtime member of the Center's Governing Council. Michael's work on motorsports includes:
