Magnet or Non Magnet...

I wonder how we define those of us who like both? I like the magnets because they allow me to break things without getting arrested. I like the non-magnet because they make me angry enough to want to use the other ones. Must be a split personality

Jimmy

If I really think about it Carrera cars were never very good magnet cars out of the box. In fact, I don't run any magnets in their classics and I downgrade the motor to NC1 type. The Lemans cars need a bit of Magnet tuning if they are to be run with the other Mfgrs cars(except Ninco) of the same type. In non magnet mode the old chassis Bently isn't even a very good non magnet car out of the box. So if you're running Carrera cars and you're one of the "good" drivers that doen't use magnets you may find yourself near the back of the grid in box stock
Jim

Tropi,
I'm a little perplexed. How do you guys that run box stock manage to find time to run all the classes if you seperate mfgrs cars? Isn't it better to allow some tuning either weight or magnets, one motor type, one tire type or some combination so that many brands of the same type can run together. Even voltage handicaps for top 3 places can even things out if you manage it correctly and have seperate variable power for each lane (This can get overly complex). There are groups in northern Europe that are able to run low downforce magnet and non-magnet cars together competitively using a simple downforce measuring devise (scale setup).

Getting back to this whole magnet -no magnet discussion I don't think that the skills required are any greater for either if your're talking low to medium magnet downforce. In high downforce it gets very difficult to consistantly drive a car on the edge and running endurance races with this type of setup would be very challanging indeed. One missed decelleration point on the track and your car can require major maintainance. Non magnet cars are for the most part more forgiving and in a long race can probably be driven more consistantly with less concentration. Missed braking points don't usually spell disaster.

I was tuning a high magnet setup the other day and lost it on one of my 90degree turns that can usually be taken at full speed and a quick throttle blip with this type of setup. The car hit the wall and litterally self-destructed. Body broke, chassis broke, motor setup seperated, the rear axle bent as well as one rim and the crown gear was destroyed, probably by the motor seperation. I haven't had a non-magnet car incident like that since I had a controller fail full on. It just doesn't seem to happen. So while the skill required to drive each type of car may be different I don't think one can assume that one type of racing is better than the other. Maybe less expensive but not better.

Jim

I'll pretend I missed Scott,s comment since I don't know which is the "toy"; I thought they all were.

Tropi,
You guys may think I'm a big supporter of magnet cars. Well, I am only in classes where magnet downforce is set at a low-medium limit. In fact, I only make the high downforce cars for the proxy races where there are no limits. I personally don't like this type racing myself and prefer running with much lower downforce; be it weight or magnet. I'm a big supporter of performance matched tuning. Set the level of speed you want and then make the rules so that all the cars in that class stay within that spec. It's difficult with large numbers of cars but workable with reasonable numbers of entrants. I think spec motors probably works best. If you only have so much power to work with you can't be hanging pounds of magnets or weight on your car or you'll be in the rear. Having limited magnets with the motor or voltage rule usually allows a wider variety of cars to race together competitively. With no magnets you always find one car type that runs best and everyone uses that one type until a better one comes along, in my opinion.

PDLs TSRF is pretty close to the right idea in my opinion by developing a specific chassis and forcing all competitors to use it. The only problem is coming up with a design that fits everything available bodywise. The Slotit HRS chassis is also a good try at solving the same problem, intentionally or not.

Jimmy