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Why are magnets viewed so negatively?

3208 Views 43 Replies 26 Participants Last post by  a Bill, 
M
Our Spanish friend has stated that 99% of club racing in Spain in raced with cars that have magnets removed. Rally car racing is very popular in Spain by all accounts and so this may have something to do with this very high percentage. I have yet to visit any club in Britain that caters for rally cars or has a circuit purpose built for rallying. The closest I have seen is Matt Tuckers time trial circuit at the Phoenis GT day.

Time and time again members at Slotforum say cars should run properly without magnets and that racing with magnets is for beginners as the magnets act as an aid like stabalisers on a bicycle.

What is wrong with racing with magnets?

What is wrong with manufacturers building cars that have magnets as an aid?

Basically I cannot see anything wrong with either so why continue to condemn those folk who enjoy racing with magnets, or those manufacturers who design to a standard with a magnet fitted. If a magnet makes manufacturers lazy then so what!

If the car runs OK out of the box with the magnet then surely that is what it is all about at the end of the day.

If anything a magnet acts as model downforce which adds realism to the handling of a car.

If folk choose to remove the magnet then surely those same folk cannot condemn the manufacturer for making cars that subsequently wobble and require work (in their opinion). It seems a very silly thing to do when you think about!


Ultimately cars have had magnets for many years and wobbling wheels. Nothing here has changed. Yet the hobby has grown over this time.

What has caused this growth?

Certainly not improved mechanicals as these are constantly condemned by those who know best.

Maybe its the detail and the better looking cars?

Improved mechanicals do not appear to have grown the hobby but better looking cars have. And strangely during this period of growth magnets have got stronger.

And through all this time we have heard the cries of "manufacturers should build cars with a decent chassis".

Bunkum!



Moped
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M
speedyweenie covered my thoughts exactly here.

But to explain to you (calmly) my thoughts on the differences between magnet and non-magnet racing, here goes...

It is easier for a newbie to drive a magnet car to a decent time than it is for a newbie to drive a non-magnet car to a decent time. Before you all start huffing, let me explain. Get the fastest driver at your club to do his best with an out-of-the-box Slot.It Audi R8C. Remove the magnet and get him to set his fastest time. Obviously the non-magnet time will be slower. Now take a newbie and get him to do his best with the same car with and without magnet. Now compare the times between the pro and the newbie.

Fact: The gap will be significantly larger between the two non-magnet times than between the two magnet times.

BTW. I chose the Audi R8C because it runs competitivly out-of-the-box in both magnet and non-magnet classes. The tests should be done on a reasonably sized club track, which is not to difficult to learn.

McLaren

PS. Moped: Oh, and why don't you just shut the fvck up?
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M
Slot.It cars run perfectly out of the box for under £30.

Scalextric cars do not.

Why can't you see that it's not acceptable to charge the same price for something which is of signifacntly lesser quality?

I can see what you are saying about the cars meeting the design goal of the manufacturers in the fact that they run ok with magnets, but what we are asking for is cars which do not come with magnets, and handle satisfactorily (is that a word?).

Do you understand now?

McLaren
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M
Fly cars are detailed beyond diecast standard these days, and they go alright with a magnet too.

Scalextric cars go ok with a magnet, but not as well as Fly cars.

And Scalextric have to make these cars, because (to my knowledge) they are the only cars which I don't think are acceptable to race out-of-the-box, without a magnet. Simple.

I have raced standard Ninco, SCX, Fly, Slot.It, Sprit and Proslot all out-of-the-box and still done well. I have never managed that with a Scalextric car in the last 5 years. That's why Scalextric need to up their game, not everyone else.

McLaren
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M
Holy carp! 100%?

Sweet...

McLaren
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M
Funny, I was thinking the same thing earlier only that I'm more into finding the perfect set up rather than sorting out defects. So if the chassis had potential it'd be great because tuners could work on it and make it better, rather than have something so fundimentally bad, that it has to be sent to Fate to sort out!


So Scalextric: don't go overboard, just make them a bit better... drivable, I mean. Just not too good...

McLaren

EDIT: QUOTE I agree with Moped.
I'm telling! You know we're not meant to say that...
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M
So I guess he doesn't race there any more?

That's pretty sad...

McLaren
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M
Taxi for Ken!


Mclaren
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M
HAHAHA!!!


Sweet, another one converted!!

McLaren

PS.
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M
Sorry, I was talking about modern Scalextric cars without magnets... I should really have stated that.

I really like the old Scalextric F1's (Ferrari F1 '87, McLaren MP4-4 and Lola something or other), which never came with magnets. But IMO the new Scaley cars are rubbish without magnets.

Mclaren
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