MagnaTech-San Antonio

[BarkingSpyder]

I visited MagnaTech in June 2014. Cars I took: 1x Parma Flexi-car with a Super-D s/w motor; and stock 1/32 foam tires. Carerra Model-A hot-rod with 36k motor, 9/28 gearing and 20×12 Urethane tires. Carerra Willys with similar setup to the Model-A. My controller was a 2014 Professor Motor for 10-15 volt 1/32 and flexi-cars.

I went on Sat trying to get there when they opened at Noon. Owner finally opened about 12:45-1p. Nice guy, old-school, typical small business owner. We talked alot about business and my impression was this was place was on “life support” and he was not going to really do anything to increase his customer base (no 1/32 scale cars, no drag strip, no HO etc. – the “Same old story”)
Parts and cars were all focused on 1/24 flexi and wing-cars; no 1/32 or other sizes/types were available.
Connections were old-school gator-clips. Tracks included a banked 8-lane King style, but about 3/4 the size with only the back half banked; 2nd track was a flatter 8-lane figure 8 – used mainly for birthday parties etc. Both were probably 30 years old.

The track was dry and I did not use any goop on my flexi-car. About 1/2 the time my car desloted about 60% into the bank, it seemed to be hitting something (a track joint and braid-split?). After 30min a local racer came out to practice; he tracked the bank w/o any problems; he was driving a wing-car (w/ gp-7 or 12 motor?) much faster than mine. And he may have been using tire goop (his pit station was in the back so I did see him dope his tires.)

The Carerras were OK except on the bank. They just did not have the speed or grip. My conclusion was that BRMs would not fare much better unless they were using sponge-tires with goop, and/or a NSR 40k or 50k long-can motor.

While I was there a birthday party raced on the flatter track – using the standard parma/champion rental cars and cheap parma controllers. Speeds were slow, no goop was used, they had a good time.

CONCLUSIONS: 1/32 plastics would be best on the flat figure 8; but would have to be scheduled to compete with the birthday parties etc. The 8 is not really much larger than the ASCC track, altho the straights are a little longer. If some of the ASCC member have their wing-cars or flexis (and approp. controllers) they could have fun on the banked track. The facility is in decent condition, but not high-energy or very modern.
The mall is dominated by health-care clinics and some 3rd tier retail shops. The saving grace is a Dave&Busters in the parking lot for pre or post-racing food/beer.

VISIT?: If you are going to SA for a weekend, the track is 20 minutes West from the RiverWalk, so it may be fun to visit as a break from the standard tourista activities.
As for a day visit from the ASCC, it would have to be scheduled as a party and specific cars should be spec’ed (BRM or old-school 1/24s). Fresh sponge-tires & wheels can be purchased for $8 if needed. Cars we use for our regular series may be fun on the 8 but other than more room to drift in the curves, and slightly longer (true) straights, the results may be inconsistent and not dramatically better than the ASCC track.

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