Slot.it Car Tuning Tutorial

[Autorama]

The objective of this tutorial is to show how to prepare a Slot.it car for racing, specifically for the Austin Slot Car Club Slot.it Challenge.

The seven videos, made in 2012, followed the series rules of the same year. Although rules may change with time, they normally describe or limit the parts that can be used on the slot car, not the techniques used to prepare it. As you make your way through the videos, please take time to understand what is being done and why; when you are done, you should be able to prepare any slot car for racing.

Part #1: Straightening a chassis.

Part #2: Motor break-in.

Part #3: Tire selection & truing.

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Part #4: Gear selection.

Part #5: Guide selection and motor pod install.

Part #6: Front axle height adjustment.

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Part #7: Lubrication, body install and center of gravity.

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All the videos can also be found in our YouTube channel.

[sacesta]

Excellent tutorial guys! I’ve been racing slot cars for several years and I learned something new in each of these well-produced videos. Thanks for posting.

Steve

[Mach 2]

Stellar, I have the #39 Slot It Gulf McLaren F1 but an angle winder which runs well on our club’s track, I’ve replaced the stock plastic spur with 1 tooth larger ergal to enable a bit more speed on the 22 foot straight, 16 and 14 foot straights. Our club allows magnets (as many as the car will naturally hold, i.e., only in the areas MADE for them on the chassis) so, added a C7 at the rear and use Slot It’s 51mm hollow axles, CB Design Insert 17X11 rear, 17X8 front and trued the car’s original wheels to fit inside giving a stock appearance (all the racers at our club do do it to keep the stock appearance, so, nothing new there) with Quick Slicks on the rear, 0 Grips front (rear and fronts trued) and finished by lightly sanded the motor pod and chassis to remove flashing and allow movement on both with the body BUT had not thought about flattening the chassis OR using Slot It’s wood track guide. Fantastic videos and tutorial, I’m both amazed and grateful

All the best.

[Schylge F1]

What a nice piece of tuning! Sure my performance will increase. Greeetzzz from Holland.

[BarkingSpyder]

Thanks for the positive comments! These videos were made by a club founder and leadering racer who has been involved in slot cars since he was a teen (starting in Brazil). Ary Barbosa (Autorama) has experience including racing 1-24 flexi and piano wire cars (e.g. at “Z-Raceway” in Austin before it finally closed in 2004) plus extensive 1/32 RTR experience. He is a consistent podium winner and one of our excellent mentors. Other helpful videos and posts are made by another founder, Marty Muehlegger (Porshce-917) and our concours expert Russell Mill (Chap-65) and miniatures craftsman Marc Tyler (Datto).

Compared to some other slot-car tutorials, factors of the high quality of our videos include: — minimum hemming and hawing, — we get to the point instead of talking aimlessly as we wave the car or part around, — no overly produced or poorly matched music, — Fairly high quality camera work – the camera is stable, focused and contains the subject, — we don’t endlessly repeat instructions or easy to find best practices.

Please visit our Youtube channel for races (Six series with six rounds = 36 per year) and other tutorials. Please search this site is also filled with other hidden Gems of knowledge and opinion, and visit our Facebook page for helpful posts and pictures.

[Author]

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