I could have started this thread in "Vintage" or "Scratchbuilding", but, I thought it would get more eyeballs here, and since the first angle winder was a 1/32 car, it is also appropriate here 
The first anglewinder was generally believed to be be Built by Roy Moody for a Midwest NAMRA 1/32 race in Feb 1968, and while it did not win the race, its performance encouraged a few of the "pros" at that event to incorporate the design for 1/24 "PRO" racing.
The basic premise of the anglewinder was to position the motor at an angle in order that smaller pinions and Spur gears could be employed, to allow the use of much smaller dia. rear tires , which significantly lowered the Cg., and vastly improved handling. The ability to now use a smaller diameter/tooth count pinion also importantly allowed for higher numeric gear ratios, which the quickly developing 16d type motors really favoured.
This is a pic. of Roy Moody's car, taken from the March edition of the Model Car Journal......his car did use a 26D motor (bigger than the 16D's, so he needed a large motor angle, despite notching the back end of the corner of the can).
Also note that Roy still used a "pin" guide,.....most had gone "blades" at this stage.

While several of the "Pros" at this event were impressed with the performance of this car,.....it was Gene Husting who first incorporated its design for 1/24 racing
This is a pic. of Gene's car as it was entered (but apparently did not race) for an April 1968 event in California...........the clear handling benefits of this configuration, coupled with the pace of chassis development at the time, basically rendered the then popular "Inline" configuration obsolete with 3 to 4 months among 1/24 racers.
Over the years, motor case dimensions have become smaller and smaller, allowing far smaller motor angles to be used, with todays top end 1/24 commercial track cars, employing virtually no motor angle (pure sidewinders)
After seeing the results of the races in the last half of 1968, I attempted my first anglewinder later that year
Cheers
Chris Walker
The pic. below is Gene Hustings car........pinched from Electric Dreams

The first anglewinder was generally believed to be be Built by Roy Moody for a Midwest NAMRA 1/32 race in Feb 1968, and while it did not win the race, its performance encouraged a few of the "pros" at that event to incorporate the design for 1/24 "PRO" racing.
The basic premise of the anglewinder was to position the motor at an angle in order that smaller pinions and Spur gears could be employed, to allow the use of much smaller dia. rear tires , which significantly lowered the Cg., and vastly improved handling. The ability to now use a smaller diameter/tooth count pinion also importantly allowed for higher numeric gear ratios, which the quickly developing 16d type motors really favoured.
This is a pic. of Roy Moody's car, taken from the March edition of the Model Car Journal......his car did use a 26D motor (bigger than the 16D's, so he needed a large motor angle, despite notching the back end of the corner of the can).
Also note that Roy still used a "pin" guide,.....most had gone "blades" at this stage.
While several of the "Pros" at this event were impressed with the performance of this car,.....it was Gene Husting who first incorporated its design for 1/24 racing
This is a pic. of Gene's car as it was entered (but apparently did not race) for an April 1968 event in California...........the clear handling benefits of this configuration, coupled with the pace of chassis development at the time, basically rendered the then popular "Inline" configuration obsolete with 3 to 4 months among 1/24 racers.
Over the years, motor case dimensions have become smaller and smaller, allowing far smaller motor angles to be used, with todays top end 1/24 commercial track cars, employing virtually no motor angle (pure sidewinders)
After seeing the results of the races in the last half of 1968, I attempted my first anglewinder later that year
Cheers
Chris Walker
The pic. below is Gene Hustings car........pinched from Electric Dreams
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