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Marty,
We need to figure out rules ASAP. Alan is in Europe and I don’t see the national rules being update anytime soon.
As far as tires go, we should get whichever foam tires are being used in Waxahachie; do we know that?Regarding the currently published rules (https://slotcarillustrated.com/portal/forums/showthread.php?p=899357):
Let’s start the wrongs list:
– Stock gearing: (fundamentally wrong – must on our club will understand why as it has been discussed over and over (there aren’t 2 motors alike, nevermind 20).
– Shoe goo only: those of us who raced at the BRM 24hrs know how well that rule worked – epoxy should be allowed.The good list: I did see that we can use lock nuts and use any size t-nuts to adjust body movement.
Steve,
I guess we need to try one and see if it won’t damage the track – otherwise it should be legal for open classes.
Marty,
Great stuff!! Just one thing; I think you should mention that this procedure is for an inline motor orientation.
Nice!
I wonder how much that will cost. The car is listed for 40 pounds but it says PCR ready, I’m guessing they will have a kit … another 40 pounds?
Oldpunk,
Come by the club Thursday around 5pm or whenever you can make it, we will be there till 9 pm – it will be the best time to meet the gang; more here: http://austinslotcarclub.com/2014-formula-1-usgp-meet-greet/
Our track takes XLR connectors but we have controllers/XLR adapters to lend. Track does have magnetic braid and we do use brakes. ;-P
Ary.
NASTXL,
Welcome to our website!
That oval track looks like a ton of fun, specially with “dirt” added. I’m sure you will find more people to race with you amongst our group.
We will be expecting a visit from you near Summer 2015; just bring some cars, he have controllers you can borrow.
Ary.
My suggestions are:
– All Slotcar F1 Series
– HRS/2 Modern GT series (2005 Up bodies on Slot.it HRS chassis)
– NSR Mosler Sidewinder (25K motor version, all stock, open gearing)
Mark,
BRM has only produced 3 gear sizes for angle-winders (38, 41 and 42); you can find them at 132slotcar.us. I do not recommend using non-BRM gears – the motor position cannot be adjusted in the chassis and it requires variable pitch gears.
Regarding the angle-winder conversion: I have not bought a kit but these articles cover the conversion:
https://slotcarillustrated.com/portal/forums/showthread.php?t=80731
https://www.slotcarillustrated.com/portal/forums/showthread.php?t=79021
[quote=6105]Is that the same guide David got and had trouble with them being brittle [/quote]
I don’t know. Can you verify?
All right, this is what I came up with:
1. Driving Techniques
– Holding the controller (just like golf, tennis and women – what’s the best grip?)No secrets here: whichever way suits you better, just don’t drop it.
– How much throttle/trigger, and when. e.g. do you punch it out of a turn or ease into the trigger?
– Braking; when; and full-off or coast or feather?
– Controller settings – how do we setup the Brake knob for various car characteristics – what behaviors do we look for, and then how do we adjust the brake control based on those behaviors? Throttle sensitivity – same question.Controller settings first (assuming your controller has both sensitivity and brake adjustments. Although the sensitivity adjustment is basically a personal preference and it varies from car to car, I would suggest the following: 1. turn the sensitivity knob to the lowest setting; 2. place your car on the track; 3. looking at your controller’s wiper blade, move it to the first contact bar of your controller (slowest); 4. adjust the sensitivity knob so that the cars moves as slow as possible without stopping (depending on your controller you will notice that even at the lowest sensitivity, the car is going too fast – probably because your controller was not made for what you are running; an example being a 1/32 car on a 1/24 (wing) controller. If you try to run a Group 12 car with a controller made for 1/32 scale racing , you will probably burn the controller).
For brake adjustment I suggest a minimal coast (around 6 inches): 1. place your car at the beginning of a straight (you will need some room for this setting); 2. accelerate and let the car reach maximum speed; 3. Let go of the throttle (full brake) and check the car’s behavior: If the car jerked to a side (be sure not to stop on a turn) or if it hopped, you have too much brakes; if it coasted more than 6 inches, you need more brakes.
Your question regarding how much throttle is impossible to answer (throttle on turns that is … we all know how much you need at a straight), all you need to do is practice with each of your cars, understand their limits or make adjustments to extract more from them.
Breaking point, again a suggestion, and totally based on the controller settings I just described: 1. from a straight to a turn: you want to start breaking on the straight, always before the turn, letting the car coast past the beginning of that turn – you can practice this one and it is easy to tell if you are doing it wrong – assuming your car coasts 6 inches from full speed to a full stop, you need to practice coming to a full stop around 1 or 2 inches inside the turn (on the club track, use the “straight” that leads to the carousel turn); 2. breaking/accelerating on a sinuous track section: practice.
2. Motor Types and Mounting options
– Advantages and challenges of boxers and other high-torque motorsIf you are just starting to discover 1/32 slot replica cars (not talking about womp-womps here), please avoid all high torque motors (boxers/FK180). The 1/32 cars we race have plastic chassis and are simply not heavy enough for ~300gm of torque; the chassis flexes under acceleration, with the flexing of the chassis you get wheel hop and the weight distribution is off (too heavy in the rear; a good distribution of weight will place 50% to 60% in the rear axle). Just don’t use it! Also avoid buying cars with those motors.
– Anglewinders, besides allowing a boxer/fk130 to be used, and accomodating some body styles, what are the Pros/cons?
Again, for 1/32 slot replica cars, in my opinion, there are absolutely no advantages running an angle-winder setup; NONE! Sure, you can use a smaller diameter spur gear but I don’t know of any model that can only run angle-winder motor orientation and the list of cons in doing so is too lengthy.
The only reason angle-winder substituted sidewinder was to allow bigger, “torquier” motors – but that was done for 1/24 scale racing. With 1/32 replica slot cars, what you really get with an angle-winder setup is a much flimsier chassis – the chassis need to accommodate the larger motor and it’s sides are normally very thin, allowing the chassis to flex even more (compared to its sidewinder or inline versions); if you combine a FK180 motor with a chassis that flexes you get a terrible combination. Slot.it has been producing the Flat-6 line of motors, a milder/flatter version of the FK180, these motors don’t produce as much torque but unfortunately the angle-winder chassis still needs to accommodate its size/length and are flimsy. The Flat-6 motors can be good when used with inline motor pods – but get used to the old FC130 (orange endbell, etc) motors first.
BTW, FK130 is not a boxer. The FK130 motors are used with 1/32 replica slot cars but it is not common.
– Sidewinders; Pros/Cons compared to inlines and anglewinders.
Aside from allowing a larger motor to be installed, some say that the angle-winder setup will produce better magnetic down-force than a sidewinder setup (for the magnet racing guys – I cannot verify or deny it, what I can say it that more often than not, if you try to run an angle-winder boxer setup you will go past the club’s maximum down-force limit of 30 grams).
Now, the main advantages of a sidewinder car are less gearing friction and the fact that when the motor turns, its torque direction is forward (not to the side as inline setups). The disadvantage of a sidewinder orientation is the size of the gears.
The sidewinder setup is the quieter of them all when done properly (something I like). Something else to notice is that because you have less gearing friction, you will not have as much brakes as you would with an inline setup (assuming, same car, motor, and gear ratio).
– Inlines allow FK130s and other large motors, but also impart torque that can lift the left rear wheels. They also have more range in gearing options as compared to AWs and SWs. What are the other Pros/Cons?
Inline setups allow all motors. The torque is lateral and can be a disadvantage if you use a motor with too much torque or if the chassis construction is poor (same issue described above with angle-winder setups). The use of smaller diameter gears is probably the reason so many manufactures/racers use inline configurations.
– Other than increased wear, whats the risk of using a SW spur for an AW setup (assuming thats the only spur type I can get with the tooth-count and pitch, until my order comes in from a WWW vendor?)
Just don’t use angle-winder gears on sidewinder setups and vice-versa; please – the pitch cannot, ever, be right. I understand what a PITA it is ordering parts online and spending shipping fees but you are wasting money just the same by damaging parts not made for a particular setup.
3. Guides, Braids, Wires
– Eyelets -vs- grub-screwsWith 1/32 replica slot cars? Eyelets always. I don’t know who was the genius at Slot.it (I believe they were the first to use screws to replace eyelets) who came-up with the grub-screw idea but that fella should be fired. As you install the grub-screw you always fray the wire – terrible idea.
– How long and deep is your love? Other than using Slot.It wood guides, are there any other guidelines we can use?
Have your guide/braid make full contact with the track. In other terms, make sure your front wheels do NOT contact the track before the guide does.
– Is soldering the bare wire that goes into the guide (as an alternate to eyelets) a good idea or trouble?
It is a bad idea. After some use, the wire breaks were the soldering ends (been there, done that).
– Using wires to make a natural “centering-spring”
You should try to accomplish what you just described with ALL of your cars.
4. Optimum RPMs
– I hear some people suggest 7000rpm is the optimum rear wheel speed, but in some races I can swear that the leaders are not limiting their cars to 7k ….. whats the real sweet-spot …by car style, torque, motor-type, tires, weight, etc. Why does my car thats tuned to 7500rpm get left in the dust by others who (in theory) are also tuning to 7-8k?No RPM suggestion will ever be the optimum value! The rear wheel RPM values I suggested on some of my videos/articles were starting points for a specific car/wheels size/etc., based on previous experiences. The idea behind suggesting a RPM value was that, while at home, away from the track, someone could install a gear ratio that would not be too far from optimum – that’s all relative to the car, wheels size, track, etc..
There is a sweet spot but you will only see it/find it after a lot of practice.
For someone who’s just starting I would suggest picking-up a Slot.it McLaren F1 GTR or the Porsche 962 high tail and setup the car following the club’s Slot.it tuning video tutorials (beware the video is for a Mclaren F1 GTR, not the Porsche 962 – you will use Slot.it F30 tires for traction on the Porsche and there might be other discrepancies). After the car has been properly setup, install a moderate gear ratio – something that is easy to control but may bite; if you are alone at the track, turn the voltage down – and run that car until you need to replace the tires or if you just turned 100 laps without a de-slot. When you are ready to use a smaller gear ratio or to increase the voltage, do the process all over – another 100 laps without a de-slot. Keep doing it until all your laps are under 4 seconds. BTW, unless you really do something really wrong while setting the car up, the two models I just suggested are perfectly capable of sub-four-seconds laps, all that is needed is practice; if in doubt grab one of the senior members and ask him to take a lap with your car. After you are done learning how to drive fast on the track you will be able to judge how your next car is performing, then you can start to mess with motors, adding weight, buying a vintage Pink-Kar (don’t), etc..
5. The Pods are coming
– Whats the deal with off-set motor pods? I know they are necessary with certain spur/pinion combinations, but what are the guidelines? The vendors dont seem to offer any clear docs on what to use when….– Inline mounts – why do they need an offset mount (to accomodate shallower motor bodies on some of the boxer motors?)
Slot.it ships several cars with offset pods installed, probably because they determined they were the most suitable for that particular model.
Offset pods are used to raise the rear axle in relation the motor shaft; it is normally done to accommodate larger wheels and have a more realistic appearance. The need for different inline gears/pitch is simply the result of that offset . By using an offset motor pod you are also lowering the center of gravity of the car (by raising the axle you lower the chassis/body; review last video of the tutorial series to understand when you would want to lower/raise CG).
Offset inline gears should only be used in conjunction with 1.0mm offset motor pods. Guidelines can be found here: https://www.slot.it/INGLESE/KitPart/Technique/TecPinions.html.
– End-bell drive vs bushing drive. What are the Pos/Cons?
No pros/cons. Some motors are wound/timed to rotate clockwise, others counter-clockwise. If your motor performs better clockwise (assuming the track is wired with positive polarity – our case) you will want to use an end-bell pod; a bushing drive pod otherwise.
– On a sidewinder, why are some cars driven on the drivers side and others on the right side? Doesnt left side drive force the tire downward and counteract the natural tendency for right fishtails …isn’t this beneficial and therefor what Pros are there for right side SW configurations?
“ Doesnt left side drive force the tire downward and counteract the natural tendency for right fishtails” WHAT??!!??
Same reason as above…
– Motor screws, tape, glue, straps? whats the best per chassis type, motor type etc.
Forget straps. Just make sure the motor doesn’t move in any direction. As far as glue goes, be careful with CA around the shaft/moving parts of the motor.
6. Brands
– Is NSR any better than Slot.It? What about the other “premium” brands?NSR and Slot.it are equal in performance to me … but Slot.it is far more affordable and we have a small supply of parts at Kings. Premium brands normally make very pretty cars that don’t perform well, there are exceptions: Racer is the one that comes to mind as far as premium/raceable.
7. Bodies
– Scaleys and Carerras have great bodies, but poor tech. What are the best ways to marry a high detail, high mass body from these vendors to a Slot.it or generic chassis?Assuming a GT model (or similar in width): use the Carrera or Scalextric body of choice with an HRS2 chassis kit (for reasons already described, avoid the angle-winder/boxer kit). You need to spend some time sizing the chassis and attaching it properly to the body; the rest of the setup goes back to the same routine (tutorial videos).
Assuming a narrow car: … after a LOT of work you can get something that runs decently using MRRC or PCS universal chassis; again, a LOT of work.
– Scaleys and Carerras have high centers of gravity, whats the best way to counteract the imbalance, without making a lead-sled? Do we need to use geared-down high torque FK130s to move these beasts at competitive speeds?
Not all their bodies have a high CG, but…
IMO, forget using Carrera mechanics – all of it. For Scalextric you can use the chassis and dump all the rest – at which point you realize that buying a HRS kit from Slot.it will cost you less than upgrading all the other parts.
Anyway, in the list of things I have done to remove weight from Scalextric/Carrera bodies: 1. If the car windows are all in one piece, cut as much as the center area (below the roof) as possible; 2. Look for anything that can be sanded to reduce weight, including the body; 3. Replace the entire interior with a vacuum formed alternative.
You will use a FC130, 25K motor (Slot.it yellow end-bell or similar alternative) , geared accordingly, if, even after reducing weight on the body, your car needed 20+ grams of weight in the chassis to stop it from flipping over. – Forget using boxer motors (FK180); you might be able to use one of the flat-6 motors but I couldn’t tell you which.
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I hope it helps.
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