Guides - deslotting - and whatever

It does require skill to keep the guide in the slot...that`s what the game is all about, that and keeping your car in a straight line with minimal tail slides and maintaining forward momentum are to me the key skills involved.

I`ve raced at clubs where the Pro Slot wooden guide, AKA Yacht keel, is allowed and the car does not come out. Obviously this is extreme but I`ve tried the Fly deeper guide as supplied with the Porsche GT1 cars and yes it makes a difference as it stays in more. So where is the dividing line? What size depth do we really want? The answer will as usual be dictated by the type of track you use or there is a danger of being deafened and driven mad by the clicking as the guide bottoms out

This is where tuning plays a big part for home racers as much as club racers. You could argue that you shouldn`t need or that you don`t want to but it helps to stay in the slot. No car should deslot at slow speed, it needs sorting.

I wouldn`t enjoy the style of racing described above with a deeper guide and cars that stay in the slot whilst the back end slides all over the place would cause chaos in six lane club racing. At least if a driver loses it and the car deslots to run freely I have a chance of getting by. Don`t take the hump with this comment, but staying in is about skill combined with car prep.

I can also see the validity of having a deeper slot for home racing where there are no marshals on hand to replace your car. I happen to know from my club experience that a lot of youngsters give up on slotting because in the early stages they cannot keep the car on. and get frustrated and abandon their set.

I`ve therefore persuaded myself that it is perfectly logical for manufacturers to provide alternative guides with a car. That way you can choose the type to meet your requirement to match your skill level, a bit like the magnet situation isn`t it? You can have a very strong, a weak or no magnet at all so why not a choice of guide. Well done Dave you`ve persuaded me

A snippet of a quote,as above, is misleading. I refered to the youngster at home. At a club new racers get all the support they need and as we have proved by maintaining a strong membership.

Ballet Surely you meant join the Guides

There we go we are sorted then. All we need now is to get the manufacturers listening. Just to finish...the Carrera guide is pretty deep and still deslots proving that perhaps it is not just about the guide? The full package is a reasonable guide and a tuned car and most of all a great deal of skill by the racer. At home the need to stay in the slot is just as important as for the club racer, although for differing reasons.

At ours the average number of deslots is one per race. I`d hate it if it was less as I`d never have a chance of catching the top drivers when they make a mistake, which is what it is when you deslot, a driving mistake. (That`ll get you thinking/ranting! )

We need a varity of guides supplied as standard with the car to keep us all happy