All-time lap record

577 Views 16 Replies 9 Participants Last post by driver#8, 2 mo ago

driver#8

Discussion Starter · 3 mo ago

Well, here's a thing. We voted to abandon the 'Super Magnet F1' class at the last AGM because running round flat-out isn't much of a competition. Plus my Renault R25 won every race it entered*, so not only were we not having fun but most people weren't winning much.

We haven't run the class since moving from Farnham to Farnborough Park, so just for fun I decided to wheel out Signor Alonso for a last blast 'off the books'.

Setup is bone stock with the magnet in place. Standard guide. NSR Ultragrip F1 rear tyres.

Now, for most classes a sub 10 second lap is quick. For Slot.It/NSR etc. a high 8s lap is possible.

Best time for Fernando> 5.33s

Trust me, the driver had nothing to do with it. I just mashed the throttle and let the magnet and tyres do the rest.

*Except that one time Ben left his controller on the track and I hit it, breaking both the body and the chassis, scattering plastic like a plane crash. Fortunately, an unboxed one came up on eBay that I could transfer the innards to.

Reactions: 2

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

Kevan

· #2 · 3 mo ago

And here's me getting criticised for saying racing non-mag takes more skill

...I'm going to share that vid, it may cause ructions...

Reactions: 1

driver#8

Discussion Starter · #3 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

I don’t think it went slower than a 5.55 in a 20-lap run (the DS couldn’t believe what it was being asked to record, so only logged every second lap. We had to call in VAR for the actual times!)

It does actually get quite tiring on the fingers. And you may be thinking that it looks a bit slow in a straight line, but the squishy NSRs pull the magnet closer to the rails and there’s your trade-off. No DRS on an R25!

Reactions: 1

300SLR

· #4 · 3 mo ago

Perhaps it's slightly off the original topic, but post #2 deserves a response.

Kevan said:
And here's me getting criticised for saying racing non-mag takes more skill

Obviously cars that can be driven all the way round the track at full power needs little or no driving skill.
That happens when the car hasn't got enough power for its cornering abilities.
That can be due to reducing the power without reducing the cornering ability - (for example overdoing turning down the voltage to make driving easier for beginners)
That can be due to increasing car's cornering ability without increasing the power - (for example overdoing adding magnets without a commensurate motor upgrade)

For sure we can agree that under some circumstances non-mag takes more skill. However, in other circumstances driving magnet cars takes as much skill as non mag.

jondene

· #5 · 3 mo ago

I find it amusing that some non-magnet racers buy out of scale, built for racing, cars like NSR, modify them for even more speed and then complain that magnet racing is too fast!

Reactions: 1

Charles R

· #6 · 3 mo ago

jondene said:
I find it amusing that some non-magnet racers buy out of scale, built for racing, cars like NSR, modify them for even more speed and then complain that magnet racing is too fast!

I think what most don't prefer (non-magnet racers) about magnet racing is the "lack of control". You are either on or off the track.

Where without magnets you can (hopefully) control the car to a larger degree... as in sliding the rear-end. Agree it takes a lot of skill to know/maintain the actual point right before the magnet car leaves the table!

300SLR

· #7 · 3 mo ago

Charles R said:
I think what most don't prefer (non-magnet racers) about magnet racing is the "lack of control". You are either on or off the track. Where without magnets you can (hopefully) control the car to a larger degree... as in sliding the rear-end.

Indeed "either on or off" cornering is a feature on many magnet cars including pretty much all ready to run magnet cars.
However, it is a mistake to think all magnet cars behave like that.
Some time back, some top magracers were trusting enough to let me have a go with their cars, as well as being controllable with the rear end sliding as much as no-mag cars, they way quicker than ready to run magnet cars.

Charles R

· #8 · 3 mo ago

300SLR said:
However, it is a mistake to think all magnet cars behave like that.

As most things it's to what degree. My NSR Moslers and Scaleauto F1 cars have Magnetic Effect motors. And on the other end of the scale the two Policar (Home Series) cars I had were glued to the track with the magnets inserted. That is until they hit a curve and flipped off the table.

SuperSlab

· #9 · 3 mo ago

jondene said:
I find it amusing that some non-magnet racers buy out of scale, built for racing, cars like NSR, modify them for even more speed and then complain that magnet racing is too fast!

You DID see the part that the OP said:

driver#8 said:
Now, for most classes a sub 10 second lap is quick. For Slot.It/NSR etc. a high 8s lap is possible.

Best time for Fernando> 5.33s

And you certainly do not get a fast non-magnet lap by keeping the controller in the flat out position for the whole lap!

Everything is relative I suppose...

jondene

· #10 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

"And you certainly do not get a fast non-magnet lap by keeping the controller in the flat out position for the whole lap! "

Maybe not quite flat out but 99.9% I reckon. 155 ft King track, 1.286 seconds, beat that Fernando:

Edit: same guy lowered the time to 1.258 seconds this month but I haven't found a video for it. If that is not flat out I don't know what is!

300SLR

· #11 · 3 mo ago

Charles R said:
As most things it's to what degree. My NSR Moslers and Scaleauto F1 cars have Magnetic Effect motors. And on the other end of the scale the two Policar (Home Series) cars I had were glued to the track with the magnets inserted. That is until they hit a curve and flipped off the table.

Really quick magnet cars not only have loads of magnetic downforce, they are also controllable with the rear end sliding as much as no-mag cars....but of course it all happens on very much quicker lap times. There's a lot of development involved to get there, a night and day difference from simply adding lots of magnetic attraction to a home series type car.

Kevan

· #12 · 3 mo ago

It's funny but there's at least 4 distinct types of racing a slot car racing regardless of scale

magnet
non magnet (gravity only)
foam & track glue
wing cars (pure aero)

...there's bound to be more but the slowest of those 4 is non mag

Nolakers

· #13 · 3 mo ago

jondene said:
If that is not flat out I don't know what is!

Seems crazy to me that a world record is set with a car inable to go faster than it's max corner speed.
And if that's flat out, how come these guys still crash?

Kit Spackman

· #14 · 3 mo ago

jondene said:
Maybe not quite flat out but 99.9% I reckon. 155 ft King track, 1.286 seconds, beat that Fernando:

Quite how they actually SEE to drive those 'cars' defies all logic. Or do they just bang the throttle wide open the whole time?

Dick Smith

· #15 · 3 mo ago

I'll stir this pot with a different spoon. Is it legimate to claim a lap record with only one car running on its own or in a practice session rather than in a race?

300SLR

· #16 · 3 mo ago

It's certainly legitimate to break a record under the same conditions as when the original record was set.
For example Brad's wing car world record was set in one driver at a time race qualifying, as were all the previous records.
Rather like the qualifying record at the INDY 500 where the qualifying is run one car at a time,

driver#8

Discussion Starter · #17 · 2 mo ago

Valid question, not sure of the answer. The previous best of 6.88 was set by a single car - the new Scalextric Lotus 99T - when Simon brought it along. So on that basis, I think we'd recognise it!

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