[SSD slotguy]

Magnets or no magnets?​

Which do you think is best?

Cars with magnets.	37	17.13%
Cars without magnets.	150	69.44%
Only ever used cars with magnets.	13	6.02%
Only ever used cars with out magnets.	16	7.41%

 

[SSD slotguy]

Hi I'm a bit curious about how many people use there cars with or without the magnets in place and whether I should start thinking about how I race these days, so if any one has anything to say feel free

 

[loosesalute]

With or without at home...all my vintage slots are mag free. So no probs there, they race without, and any modern cars fitted with magnets keep their magnets insitu. Never race my cars hard on my layouts, so it`s never been an issue for me in that respect.
However, at the club I attend it`s always been mag free racing...which means a lot more skill required-which I haven`t got! Great fun though..
Cheers
Kev

 

[keysandslots]

Been no-mag since punting the Scaley Sport junk and going with wood. Pick up some real throttles and a variable power supply, fool with tires and a bit of weight, and I feel like I'm actually driving a car instead of a roller coaster.

Turn down the power and let the kids take over, and everyone is still having fun, no magnets required.

Randy

 

[Dopamine]

Personally I can't stand magnets. I don't think they add anything positive to our hobby except, maybe, allowing very young children to participate without needing to concentrate. They have definitely contributed to sloppy product engineering, because the massive amount of grip they generate very effectively disguises poor tyres, poor track surfaces, poor chassis design and many other things.

Of course, to each his own, but I do not know one slotter who, once introduced to magnetless driving, has returned exclusively to driving with magnets.

 

[SSD slotguy]

I'm going to take out the magnets in a couple of my cars and see what happens

 

[Philip P]

I like magnets.....so there!!!

 

[SSD slotguy]

I dont dissagree with you one bit, I like magnets too but i,m going to try without them to 'get the feel of it'

 

[aerodynamic]

Basically, without magnets you have more control but go more slowly. With magnets you can't hang out the tail round corners or get a drifting effect to line a car up for the straight. Also because the line between being in and being out of control is much finer, you get much bigger offs. When we first got the new strong magnets (unlike the old Scalex bar ones) we immediately got a massive increase in spoiler destruction which a sea of superglue could not hold back. That said, having tried digital, you probably need magnets to manage the x-overs - non-magnet cars would fishtail too much.

 

[ewanmcken]

I think that Magnets add to our hobby Motors that spin.

I do not know one Slotter that does not use Magnets.

Regards,
Ewan

 

[SSD slotguy]

Thanks for the advice I'll still give non magnet racing a go just to say I've tried it

 

[Pioneer]

I prefer a medium strength magnet myself and shim it to get the downforce effect desired. For a 'real' driving experience a magnet will give you grip, grip, grip, grip....and then oops; kitty litter - just like the real thing.

Also, I'm damned lazy at the slot track and don't want to keep getting off the stool to rescue a magnet-less car that's taken a trip into the weeds. That is really tedious.

Love the topic, guaranteed to run at least 10 days with solid fans and strength of opinion in both camps.

Jules

 

[SSD slotguy]

QUOTE (Pioneer @ 13 Oct 2010, 20:04) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I prefer a medium strength magnet myself and shim it to get the downforce effect desired. For a 'real' driving experience a magnet will give you grip, grip, grip, grip....and then oops; kitty litter - just like the real thing.

Also, I'm damned lazy at the slot track and don't want to keep getting off the stool to rescue a magnet-less car that's taken a trip into the weeds. That is really tedious.

Love the topic, guaranteed to run at least 10 days with solid fans and strength of opinion in both camps.

Jules

Thanks. As you may or may not know I've started a few topics in the 4 days that I've been a member of this forum and I think this one it definitely the most interesting so far, the more replies the better, it helps me and a hope it helps others just as much

 

[DJ]

There's positives for with and without, personally I enjoy both types of racing. With magnet it's more fast and furious and can be great fun, without mags it's slower and in my opinion takes a bit more controlling but is satisfying when you get a great drift around a bend.

Don't just expect to take the magnets out and run because you might find some cars will be awful. You might need to change tyres (or true tyres at least) add weight here or there.....etc..

Most of all, enjoy what you do.

 

[ju5t1n]

i race with the kids with mags and on a routed track without i think its much more fun without mags gives you more of a drive.you cant just pin it on the exit on a corner as much or it just spins feathering the throttle in my opinion gives racing a more natural feel

 

[Nomadic Racer]

Magnets are great! for holding bits of paper to the fridge.
I race at a club on Friday nights where we run on wood with copper braid, Magnets have no affect so you learn two things, how to drive & how to set up a car. One day I hope to master at least one of these.
There is a club in Great Barr that races on a Saturday, they race on Ninco with magnets. 90% of the racers are children under 12 years of age. Magnets are a perfect learners tool, once they can learn to keep the car in the slot, they move to the Thursday night crowd where they run a mixture of magnet & non-magnet cars.

 

[FenderBender]

Looks like more people are non-mag fans than mag fans - personally I always remove magnets as I always felt the magnet was a bit 'artificial' - fast and furious certainly, and probably good fun for a while - but not the real thing - if a little plastic car can be the real thing, but I reckon you know what I mean.

Most (probably all actually) rally clubs in Spain ban magnets in their regulations with a rule something like:

No supplementary magnets allowed!!

Then they look for the motors with the most powerful magnets as these are not considered as 'supplementary'.
Smacks of a contradiction a bit, but there you have it. Of course, however strong a motor's magnet it gets nowhere near the extra magnets on some SCX and Ninco models - they can be so strong that the car would work even if the track was upside down!! And that would just be plain silly, wouldn't it?
!

FB

 

[glp]

I prefer to race both. I race slot.t non magnet and enjoy it. I also run NASCAR and GT Scalextric and SCX cars with magnets. All classes are fun. I like the trial and error of setting up my non mag cars as much as I sometimes just want to get a car, add new tires and oil it up, and race. As far as skill, I think the skill is tuning a car. I can race pretty good but suck at setting up cars. I also know a very good magnet racer that beats us almost every time he races us non magnet. My personal opinion is that non mag racing requires less skill because the cars are more forgiving. With magnet racing, there is a very fine line between staying on or falling off. More room for error on timing for non mag. Just my opinion for my racing!

 

[SKYWAY]

I personally hate Magnets

Pretty much all of the clubs ive raced at over the last few years have done away with them. I wish the slot car companies would give an option when purchasing with/without magnet. It would have saved me a few pounds over the years

Now,where did i put that magnet mountain i was building

 

[bigmarv27]

QUOTE (Philip P @ 13 Oct 2010, 12:33) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I like magnets.....so there!!!

Same here and not stopping no time soon. But at the same I respect those who run without them. But I also want everyone to remember the most important thing here is that we are all here for the same thing, the love of Racing Slot Cars ether mag or no mag Please Never Forgot That!!!!!.