In
Just to add to this - I had Aurora sets in the 70's and was there when they made the transition from pancake to in-line motor.
The in-line motor had vast downforce (you could hold the track upside down and the car would stick to the rails). This meant the cars could corner way faster than pancake cars and let's face it - most circuits are more curve than straight. They also killed Aurora's wonderful flexy track because the increased downforce meant the cars would not move on the flexy track. This was bad news because flexy track allowed you to very easily create a layout without worrying about geometry.
The increase downforce of in-line also made the cars less fun - you were either going round the track fast or flying off without warning and whacking the skirting boards - there was no tail sliding and it made racing much less fun.
The old pancake motors were much more fun - you could control the cars on the edge of adhesion and back off from a slide to continue racing. The pancake was slower around corners BUT - given the lack of downforce - they were much faster than the in-line cars - a fact I proved by creating drag strips with all my straights and a friend's straights and placing pillows at the end of the run. The pancakes always beat the in-lines - it's great fun watching a Beetle blow an F1 Ferrari out of the water when you are 12!
The in-line motor had vast downforce (you could hold the track upside down and the car would stick to the rails). This meant the cars could corner way faster than pancake cars and let's face it - most circuits are more curve than straight. They also killed Aurora's wonderful flexy track because the increased downforce meant the cars would not move on the flexy track. This was bad news because flexy track allowed you to very easily create a layout without worrying about geometry.
The increase downforce of in-line also made the cars less fun - you were either going round the track fast or flying off without warning and whacking the skirting boards - there was no tail sliding and it made racing much less fun.
The old pancake motors were much more fun - you could control the cars on the edge of adhesion and back off from a slide to continue racing. The pancake was slower around corners BUT - given the lack of downforce - they were much faster than the in-line cars - a fact I proved by creating drag strips with all my straights and a friend's straights and placing pillows at the end of the run. The pancakes always beat the in-lines - it's great fun watching a Beetle blow an F1 Ferrari out of the water when you are 12!
