Guides - deslotting - and whatever

QUOTE The slot defines slot racing, embrace it, love it, cherish it.

Nuthin' wrong with staying in it though .

I'm with Tropi. I'd like to see a system where deslotting is a rare thing.

Okay, I'm a not-too-competitive home-tracker but there's something really sweet about regaining time lost after a bit of a lose (especially when there are only a few laps to go) and not having to rely on a flaggie finding somewhere for his beer before putting you back on the wrong lane.

That's not to say I think open slots are really, really bad and that they and their proponents should be banned from the hobby and locked away. I'd just like another option.

I'm trying to think of a way to build a routed track that would allow both the standard guides and one with a protrusion under the track to keep the car in the groove. The (captured?) guide would, preferably, allow the car to move more laterally, perhaps to just under 90 degrees and be sprung to absorb most of the slide before it hits the end of its travel. It would also have the added advantage of taking those nasty, crude magnets out of the equation.

For set track, perhaps a magnetised guide would be enough.

The guide would have to be a cheap universal fit and the track easy to make.

Hmmm, I think I'm dreamin'...

AussieCapri, have a look under digital for the thread about just such a track:
xlots system

For those of you who missed xlot/sliks video of xlots track featuring no deslots - here is the link:
xlot's non-deslotting track system

I don't believe deslotting is vital to the sport. However, I am also happy with a bit of deslotting, so to get back to the thread:

should scalextric's new guide be deeper? All the arguements about skill go out of the window unless you are arguing that the guide should be less deep, because that means more skill! I seem to have missed the masterclass thread where people trim their guides shallower so that the car deslots more! (yes I know people do make the guides shallower so they do not rub on the bottom of the slots, but that is a different issue)

The question is not about skill especially, it is about what the IDEAL guide depth is; Have scalextric got it spot on with the new guide, Carrera Ninco Fly and Slot-It should get their micrometer screw guages out and match this depth? Of course not.

Jonny also talked about prepping a car for races - well if the rules allow, then guide depth is one of the factors in prepping. And it is a simple thing to make a guide shallower, deepening a guide usually means replacing with another guide - not an easy thing with scalextric's new style guide.

So basically the guide depths we are talking about will not eliminate deslotting (even though imho such elimination would be very viable), but rather what depth gives the fastest laps - same as changing make of tyre, motor, loostening body etc etc. In 1:1 analogy, deepening the guide is probably analogous to dialling in the understeer.

For me, running magnet on lumpy plastic track, a deeper guide works better. My cars ALL deslot, and best lap times are cornering well below deslotting speeds (ie at speeds with a touch of oversteer, but not too much).

Add another vote for almost anything that reduces tendencies to deslot!
The slot is simply a necessary evil, not something to be venerated.
It really is a pain in the butt but anything that can make it a TOLERABLE pain is to be welcomed.

But also add a vote for STANDARDS that define the slot dimensions AND the flag dimensions. Is it really beyond the big four car manufacturers to collaborate on this matter? It would be in all their interests to ensure that their cars were interchangeable, and INARGUABLE in the consumers interest for that to be so. If they never agreed on anything else, this should be absolutely top of the list.

Now that Scalextric has finally joined the modern world with a slightly deeper slot, it remains incomprehensible that they do not yet provide a flag that actually takes advantage of their own track by matching the new slot depth. Utterly illogical.
I am certain that they will eventually, but it's LONG overdue!

Yes, their cars should be supplied with a slightly deeper flag as standard,
Yes, they should provide easy-change guides of both depths with every car sold.
Every little incompatibility creates consumer irritation and breeds sales resistance.

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

QUOTE have a look under digital for the thread about just such a track:

Ta, Astro, I had seen it and was impressed but it's being designed as a complete system for commercial tracks, as far as I can work out. I hope he succeeds, makes megabucks and goes on to design something like the things I'd like to see, ie:

(1) A home track system that allows for guides that won't deslot (easy to do if the bottom of the guide blade has a blob and only the curved section slots are thin enough to keep from deslotting.
(2) A magnetic drop-in replacement guide that doesn't require a major rework of the car (ribbed Teflon/Neodymium and trailing braids come to mind...).

As I said, I think I'm dreamin'...

On the deslot, nondeslot discussion (remember, I'm talking home racing here), My old pal Curly and my Scaley Porker GT1s are nice and slippery, closely matched for speed and reasonably de-slot resistant. When we race(?) them, the slightest drift can mean losing the lead and chasing for a few laps to get back on the tail of the other. Great stuff, 'specially if there's only two of you (as is usually the case at Kambah Innernashnul).
A deslot, on the other hand, will lose the race and make the remaining laps a procession. Not so much fun-'specially when there's very little prizemoney involved.