[moped rider]

Some folk say that they beat Challenger every time with their MG Lola or whatever and want to make Challenger go faster. In my mind Challenger is best not messed with to prolong its life. Also you don't want Challenger to overheat do you as the cut out will cut in. You will get much more Challenger race time if you leave it well alone and focus on your other cars.

So lets talk about making your box standard MG Lola and cars of that ilk slower, and dare I say it, more of a driver challenge, so that you then match the Challenger lap times. They do have "no magnet" classes at club tracks so this could be an interesting topic.

The strange thing is though on "no magnet" nights the attendance halves as the kids don't turn up, only the adults. Isn't that interesting?

And remember that a Ford Focus or a NASCAR Pontiac or a Lotus 7 will not beat Challenger so they need beefing up. However this thread is about detuning your high downforce cars.

Aside from taking the magnets out or moving the magnets around what are your best tips for making a car slower?

There are folk here who say that if you race with cars that have reduced downforce you will become a better racer overall. So lets all become better racers. What are your secrets?

Moped

 

[Swissracer]

Challenger is proving fairly easy to beat in either mode. Using Classic setting on Sport track seems to increase the challenge somewhat but then the saftey car deslots more, leading to many unfinished races.

Slowing your cars down is a good idea, but do it electrically maybe and not mechanically. Simply removing the magnet won't help much as many rtr cars won't run properly that way, having been designed to utilise the magnet to smooth out build quality faults.

How about lowering the voltage to the lane you are running on? Of course you have to have power supplies capable of doing this but then it is accepted that a power supply upgrade is one of the most cost effective and performance enhancing purchases you can make.

 

[moped rider]

Challenger is prooving a tough cookie to beat when I run it against my SCX rally cars, or my Scaley rally cars for that matter.

Lowering the voltage for your lane is not really an option for many home racers who simply do not have the size of circuit or even the permanance of circuit to merit such an investment and simply want to have fun without all the technical complications.

Why not put the bar magnet in your car in the forward position, or even just use the button magnet on its own?

Surely this is the simplest solution to making it a tougher contest for most experianced folk. For beginners Challenger is tough without any modifications but we are all hardened enthusiasts here.

Challenger will proove a consistent performer. To create a car that laps maybe 0.1 second slower than Challenger will provide a certain contest.

Moped

 

[s1255]

I've been tinkering with some of my cars recently, the main reason being that in some cases the cars had more motor than they could fully exploit, and I like to feel that I am using the cars to it full limits both handling wise and er thrashing the motor to within a inch of its life,

So first up was my Ninco Callway C12's(I've got two), both have had there NC-2 motors swapped for NC-1's, and one has a slot-it pro-axel starter kit added, the C12's have lost a bit of straight line performance but you can get the power on much earlier and when they slide, er they feel really nice, to sum them up now its like you can concentrate on keeping up/building up corner speed rather than blasting up the straights stopping ambling round the corners and blasting up the straights again, and lap times havent suffered too,

Also have a Nince Impreza with the Magnet removed and NC-1 motor in place along with a slot it pro axel starter kit and P2 Slicks, performance wise still reasonable as its got no magnet holding it back and did I say its smoooooooooth!!! as my first non magnet it a very enjoyable,

Now I've not got one of them Challenger cars(yet), but I reckon you could do pretty much the same as I've done to anycar to bring there performance in-line with the Challenger,

hth
Sunny

 

[Tropi]

QUOTE on "no magnet" nights the attendance halves as the kids don't turn up, only the adults. Isn't that interesting?
It's most interesting in that there is no data to support this sweeping statement!
My own experience is that people turn up or they don't for almost any reason other than whether magnets are used. My experience is that a mixture of race classes are run and that everyone present takes part in every single race, no matter what the class is. Nothing would stop them - even them not bringing a suitable car is taken care of by generous loans. This is my personal experience, but obviously clubs will vary and I don't have intimate knowledge of them all - but then who could possibly claim that they have?

Regarding matching Challenger and a multiplicity of other cars:
While Moped's suggestions are one way to approach it, logic strongly suggests that it would be infinitely more desirable and convenient to 'tune' a single Challenger than to detune a plethora of other cars, particularly as the usual slottist quest is to improve cars rather than to downgrade them. This would apply even moreso, if the cars had already been painstakingly improved.

I hope Scalextric will consider improvements to Challenger's intelligence and flexibility, because success there would definitely further enhance its attractiveness to almost any user. I feel confident that they will try. BTW, 'improve' includes the ability to tune it a little slower as well as faster, so that the cars that are alleged to have no chance of beating it at present then would have a chance. I wouldn't have though that a recent Focus would have too much bother, but can anyone make claims on behalf of a NASCAR Pontiac or a Lotus 7?

As has been pointed out elsewhere, flexible control is an area where one can see a need for Challenger to 'catch up' with the controllability of its Pacer predecessor.

 

[Intergrali]

erm we race no mags, and funnily enough if people can come they will come!

factor is moped, I can beat challenger with a ninco Ac cobra, NC2 and no mag.. it pished on it! I was like

anyway, I should be tuning challenger soon...

Rob.

 

[Swissracer]

Moped - moving the magnets or using a lighter one is all well and good BUT...what happens when you can beat it without a magnet?

I truly believe BTW that there can be NO circuit or setupup too small NOT to benefit from a power supply and controller upgrade.

An adequate power supply will set you back not alot more than two cars and controllers are about the same as a cart unless you are thinking Rolls Royce.

My advice to anyone who is into this hobby enough to drive more than a hour a week and who has more than 4 cars is..

Upgrade the power and control!
It is THE best move you can make.

 

[Intergrali]

I will use my track more as soon as I find a god damn socket for me controller!

Rob.

p.s it's minted boys! minted!

 

[moped rider]

QUOTE on "no magnet" nights the attendance halves as the kids don't turn up, only the adults. Isn't that interesting?

That seems to be the experiance of clubs who alternate classes every week. Clubs who run different classes throughout an evening cannot offer such evidence.

Kids basically seem to like racing cars that don't come off and don't like racing cars that do. However we are digressing from the Challenger topic.

Somebody may want to pose the question to club racers whose clubs have a lot of young members and who have have whole evenings devoted to one class if they wish to check out my comment. Ask them which evenings kids are more likely to turn up on?

If you want to encourage kids to participate at your clubs you would be best advised to have heavy magnet and double magnet evenings. Simple!

End of magnet argument really!

Moped

 

[Intergrali]

we got fed up with mags now..

1 mag catagories if we race em..

erm, fact.. if they drive slower and break earlier their cars stay on more!

Rob.

 

[moped rider]

The interesting thing though Inte is that when I turned up at your group meet last year when the two Mini BritSlotNuts were present, the general consensus was that the Trans Am and MG Lola type racers provided the most exciting racing of the day.

Yes, I know your Metro with no magnets kept pushing my NASCAR with magnets, but in terms of sheer excitment, the magnet cars had it and the Mini BSN's had a good day also. Would it have been so for them if they were racing cars with no magnets in?

Moped

 

[Fergy]

QUOTE If you want to encourage kids to participate at your clubs you would be best advised to have heavy magnet and double magnet evenings. Simple!

Simple? Nope, Mope!

My son started with HO magnet cars. Soon got tired of them because they "don't run like the race cars on TV". When I switched to non-mag cars on a routed track, he was much happier. Now he's looking forward to the new routed 1/32 track, and is already talking in terms of low-mag and no-mag cars. Go figure.

As for Challenger, let's face it, it wasn't conceived as a race mate for enthusiasts. Yes, it would be nice if Scaley continued to refine it so that future releases were adjustable to offer competition to accomplished racers, and I hope they do, but it wasn't designed for us. We aren't the Challenger market, no matter how much we'd like to be!

 

[Intergrali]

METRO?!! OUTRAGIOUS! how can you call one of the most successful rally cars ever a heap of sh..e! It was a Delta and it kicked your nastycars backside

Mope, this is a year on.. GT is a viper fest, I rang BSN the other night and said what about ninco GT cars box stock he laughed and said yup, defo do that.

you dont need aids for it to be fun! you make it what it is.. now is the time!

Rob.

 

[Tropi]

QUOTE Kids basically seem to like racing cars that don't come off and don't like racing cars that do.
Of course this is true.
But, as an argument for magnets, it doesn't actually hold together.
The fact is that the cars DO come off, they just do it at a much higher speed, creating far more damage.

I also find it most peculiar and somewhat amusing (bemusing?) that the same person, in the same topic, extols the use of magnetic assistance while advocating its reduction.
Very confusing.

 

[Intergrali]

Moped confused in his own little 2 stroke world..

 

[Difflock]

I suppose a Metro could be mistaken for a Delta Integrale - small, boxy, hatchback.

However, I've had the pleasure of driving a real 1:1 bog stock Integrale Evo2 and believe me it went a lot better than any Metro out of the factory

, apart from a 6R4 (not driven one of them yet

)

I can see why people like these rally cars - it was a very addictive drive. I can also understand why the rozzers wouldn't like 'em too

Mark.

 

[Intergrali]

However, I've had the pleasure of driving a real 1:1 bog stock Integrale Evo2

still to find someone with one.. and let me drive it aswell, lets just hope Gav gets one eh?

Rob.

 

[moped rider]

QUOTE Moped confused in his own little 2 stroke world..

Not at the moment. A police report has gone in as has an insurance claim!

The moped is at the garage after vandal damage consequential to an attempted theft.

And isn't it nice to be in a position to promote the virtues of increasing downforce and reducing downforce all in the same topic!

Moped

 

[Intergrali]

serves ya right for calling my delta a metro!

so are ya comin on sat? I need to decide who I'm letting in

Rob.

 

[moped rider]

No. Can't make it sadly. I can make the following Saturday or I could have made it last Saturday but this Saturday clashes with something.

I would have liked to have gone as I have an Aunt in Gobowen Hospital right now and I could have visited her on the way back but I am heading South rather than North on Saturday.

I passed within 3 miles of your club last Friday on the way back from Wales along the A5 and visited the hospital at Gobowen that evening.

Enjoy the day.

Moped