4/11/08

The Venerable (and Venerated) Aurora Vibrator

By Henry Harnish, interviewed by Bob Beers

In December 1960, Aurora came out with the first slot car set in its history. The cars were called Vibrators. Two years or so later, Aurora put on the first Grand National Championship, sponsored by Ford, in which a full sized Thunderbird was the prize for the national winner. That winner was Henry Harnish. Below are his tips for tunning this car.

Facts about the vibrator:

1. The car had the make up of a door bell.

2. The chassis and cars were made until 1963

3. They came with AC transformers, though will run on either.

Hello, I'm Bob Beers, most of you know me as the author of The Complete
Color Guide to Aurora H.O. Slot Cars. Today with the help of SlotcarBob of HO World fame we will be interviewing Henry Harnish on the intracacies of tuning The Aurora Vibrator slot car. Henry was fortunate enough to win the Ford-Aurora Grand National slot car race in 1962 with the Vibrator slot car.

BB - Henry, how would you compare the old vibrator chassis to the modern day
racing t-jet.

HH - The vibrator car is very similiar to all slot cars regardless of scale,
meaning that all wheels, tires, and axles, should be as true as possible. A
major secret to more speed is to eliminate any and all friction.

BB - Please tell us how this is done.

HH - If you look at the relationship between the drive gear and the chassis,
the best setup is to eliminate any drag with a little adjustment with a flat
screwdriver to make sure the drive gear does not rub against the chassis.
Another often overlooked rub, is the tire rubbing against the shoe on the
driver's side. This can be eliminated with a small washer between the wheel
and chassis, and a slight tweak on the shoe.

BB - Speaking of the shoes, can they be adjusted?

HH - The shoes can be flattened using a flat screwdriver to give a little
more of a contact patch. The shoe travel is similiar to a t-jet with a very
minimum amount of travel for optimum performance. This can be adjusted just
to the rear of the contact patch, also with a flat screwdriver.

BB - Is there anything that can be done to the bare chassis?

HH - The chassis are like t-jets, some good - some bad, and they need to be
sorted out through the process of elimination.

BB - I've heard you say that the reed plate is very instrumental, please
explain.

HH - I'm always amazed when I'm at one of your shows and I look at the old
Vibrator cars for sale. The first thing I do is to check the actuator reed
to feel the adjustment. Most of them have a distinct clicking or ratcheting
sound, and believe me, you couldn't race that and have fun with it at any
cost. This car is actually the car that I qualified with in 1962 and is well
tuned and fast. The sound you want is a very light free-wheeling action
between the reed and the drive gear. To achieve this, it takes a slight tug
on the back of the plate with your index finger in small increments. When
you get this right, the car will "whine" at the end of the straight when you
get off of the throttle.

BB - Henry, this has been a lot of fun, and I learned a few things.

HH - Thanks to you and SlotcarBob for participating in this article. One
thing that I may add to anyone interested in the Vibrator cars is to always
run them on 24 volts AC - fast Vibe cars do not like DC power. If you see me
at a race or one of the shows, please introduce yourself, and feel free to
ask me anything that relates to the old days of HO slot racing.

Note: When this article was first being planned, it was to be done in conjuction with John Jernstrom (jj). His sudden and tragic passing forced rethinking of the interview, a bit. It is with special thought and thanks to jj that this is submitted.