[32819toon]

Hi all,

I've read through lots of threads on tuning slot cars, with some switching running gear for the likes of Slot-It parts in search of better performance. My questions are which manufacturer has the better quality parts, and why do parts such as new axles or gears improve the performance of a car ?

My main hobby is radio control touring car racing, where tuning of suspension and better tyres make a huge difference to the handling of a car. I know that on slot cars tyres a big difference on handling, but as the front of the car is largely controlled by the guide in the slot, what other influence can you have on your slot car ?

Hope this waffle makes sense.

32819toon

 

[RichD]

If you run without magnets tuning becomes more important. With magnets defects like out of round tires, wobbly wheels, crooked axles and loose bearings tend to be masked. Adding aftermarket parts does not always make for a faster car. All of our cars use aftermarket parts, even ones that are good to start with like Slot.its and NSRs. One reason that we use aftermarket parts is for reliability, it can ruin your whole evening if a wheel falls off during a race. Another reason is flexibility of being able to try different gear ratios and tires. Finally there is the issue of consistency. You can count on a good brand of wheels being round and a good brand of gears having a smooth mesh.

 

[32819toon]

Thanks for the reply, that partially answers my question. What I'm getting at is are RTR cars so poor that they need the axles, gears and wheels replacing with parts from Slot It etc ? What is the difference between these parts ? Are Slot It gears better quality and better perfoming than say SCX or Scalextric ?

 

[brembo]

Hi
As already stated if you are running without magnets all cars need work new out of the box, the quickest and simplest way to gain performance is to replace the plastic mass produced running gear with precision manufactured after market "tuning" parts. They will of course need to be fitted correctly.
In short there is a big difference in these parts "out of the Box"
If you trawl through the Class Rules of any UK Slot Car club you will find some of them prefer to run "standard" cars.
In my experience they are far from standard, for example plastic wheels are trued and some even go to the trouble of removing the centre section of the central shoulder of the wheel.
There are a 1001 more tuning tricks for "standard" cars that give the more experienced a distinct advantage which would be negated if everyone was allowed to use "tuning parts"
It is the biggest lie in club slot car racing "Cars must be run with standard running gear so everyone is on a level playing field"
Anyway rant over coming back to your question - yes it is possible to get a car with its out of the box running gear to run very close to a car fitted with precision engineered aftermarket tuning parts but it takes a lot of work and a bit of know how.
As for which brand is best some are more popular than others for a good reason - my advice would be pick one of them and stick with it. In precise engineering terms they are not all the same and whilst many parts "fit" together they are not compatible.
Regards
brembo

 

[JamieG]

It depends also on what track you run.
In wooden ones the difference of a good tuning is more evident and it is a great satisfaction to feel the improvements.
I love slot.it cars because they are easy to tune and give already an excellent base to start with top of the line components. When I had my plastic track none could beat the NSR Moslers but now I have not been able yet to reach a good tuning on the wooden track...
Still I love to run all other brands, each has it's own character and the beauty is to reach the best out of each one.
I've experimented quite a lot with quality spares but some time the original would perform better, it happens rarely but so it is.
If you look only for the components I believe any of the aftermarket brand has top quality.
Cheers,
JamieG

 

[Screwneck]

Hardly any modern slotcars need the axles and hubs and gears changing.

However, some 'out of the box' setups are no good. Scalex tyres are very ungrippy after the surface coating has worn down and the only way you can change them is to swap out axles and hubs because how they make their running gear is not compatible with other manufacturers.

And as your own hobby does, lots of people simply habitually change parts for no real reason other than pure habit and not having anything better to do with their cash

Also, the guide makes very little difference to slotcar racing. It's a bit like saying your sender unit aerial is primarily what your radio controlled car relies upon to race well. Once you get into slotcar racing you'll realise this.

 

[JamieG]

QUOTE (Screwneck @ 26 Sep 2011, 06:59) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Also, the guide makes very little difference to slotcar racing. It's a bit like saying your sender unit aerial is primarily what your radio controlled car relies upon to race well. Once you get into slotcar racing you'll realise this.

I find that on wood a semi-deep guide is much better than other std guides. I do not particularly like the scaley sport guides even on plastic, not easy to set the correct clearance of the guide itself with the rest of the body/front wheels.

Cheers,
JamieG

 

[300SLR]

Hi 32819toon
There's so many different sorts of slot car, some of the things that make a big differance in some sorts of slot car are insignificant in others.

I guess it is fairly obvious to an RC racers that the motor makes a differance. Some rules allow the motor to be stripped and serviced, some don't. There's quite a bit to be gained from getting motors set up properly, but obviously that can only be done where the rules allow.
Gear ratio changes can make quite a differance to some car's characteristics.
Which make of gears is best depends on which sort of car you are using. Gears than run true and efficiently absorb less power. Gears that strip are obviously not good.

Getting the car picking up properly is essential, in a lot of cars that means getting the guide height just right is vital.
Getting the front ride height and the balance between load on the front wheels and load on the guide right makes a big difference to the handling of some types of car and much less differance to other types.
The guide should pivot freely, but not rock from side to side - with some chassis this more or less happens anyway, others need some tuning.
Which guide you can use depends on the chassis.

The way various bits flex, the way the body floats can also make a lot of difference, but there is little scope for that sort of thing with basic home set slot cars.

 

[32819toon]

Thanks for some interesting comments gentlemen, it's really good to start up some interesting debate. The point I made about the slot guide is because the front of the car will always follow the guide slot, provided you don't de-slot the car by entering the corner too fast. In RC, the front of the car's handling is essential as you need to get the car to be balanced on the corner,not understeer too much and not be too loose, and also be able to turn in sharply on a tight corner.

So, if I were to tune a car made with a PCS chassis, is the running gear supplied in that chassis of a suitable standard ? I must admit that of the PCS chassis cars I have, all of them perform differently. From my very limited experience with these cars, the guide is very poor. Which guide would be recommended to replace them ? I am running on Scalextric Classic track.

Thanks again for your comments.

 

[300SLR]

QUOTE (32819toon @ 26 Sep 2011, 19:19) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The point I made about the slot guide is because the front of the car will always follow the guide slot, provided you don't de-slot the car by entering the corner too fast. In RC, the front of the car's handling is essential as you need to get the car to be balanced on the corner,not understeer too much and not be too loose, and also be able to turn in sharply on a tight corner.
Coming from a radio control background, slot cars look deceptively simple. In fact there is a lot that can be done to maximise performance and handling of slot cars.
Slot cars can (and frequently do) deslot going round a corner or on the exit to a corner as well as on entry.
In slot cars the front of the car is also essential to the handling of the car.
Two of the most important aims of tuning a slot cars are quicker lap times and fewer deslots.
Some of the things that help with that are
..So they can go into a corner faster without deslotting
..So they can go round a corner faster without deslotting
..So they can accelerate out of a corner earlier without deslotting
..So they can be consistently driven round corners closer to the limit of adhesion and/or deslotting
The guide and how it's set up is one essential component in all of that. With some cars there are substantial gains to be made by carefully adjusting the guide; on others the guide can be left as it is while other parts of the car are adjusted.