Food for thought...

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gordon
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Food for thought...

Post by gordon »

Hi Guys,

Came across this website which belongs to one of the most prolific posters on SlotForum (he goes by the handle "Mr. Flippant" there). Lots of good stuff on his site for us digital racers, however the one which stood out for me was this bit:
Remove the magnets!

At first, it can be a lot of fun to see a car go flying around the track at high speed, sticking to the turns and only coming off in a spectacular crash worthy of the best YouTube videos and TV shows. We imagine them happening in slow motion as the car bounces off the walls and lands upside-down, spinning on its roof. It's a lot of fun. I know some people that have spent years making their cars go faster and sticking better so that they never have to let go of the throttle, using extra magnets, faster motors, and glue on the tires to help keep them on the track. Those people predictably get bored of the game and move onto other hobbies. As strange as it may seem, while the goal is to go fast without coming off the track, slot cars are not MEANT to be stuck to the track and stay in the slot no matter what. If there's no challenge, then there's no fun for very long.

The quickest way to add challenge and fun, not to mention reducing the damage caused when the car does come off the track, is to go "magless". That is to say, remove the magnetic component from the car's traction equation. Open it up, and pop out the magnet. In some cases you don't even have to open the car up, the magnet's just unscrew or slide out. With the magnet removed, properly trued and round wheels, properly trued tires, tire traction, and weight distribution become vital to the performance of the car. Without those things, a car will wobble and hop out of the slot, or slip and slide all over the place going nowhere. Once the car is tuned, though, the pleasure of driving it around the track is hard to beat. It's no longer about the fastest car with the strongest magnets. Now it's about the best tuning and the best driving skills. To be able to control a drifting car around a corner without coming off or crashing into another car is sublime. You'll find that every car drives a little differently, and so your skill will be tested every time you put a different car on the track. Some people go so far as to eliminate the plastic track with metal rails altogether, building custom wood track with routed slots and copper tape for power delivery. Even the strongest magnets are nothing more than added weight on a wood track. You can still have tons of fun racing magless cars on plastic track, though. Just follow all the other tuning tips to make sure it's a smooth runner. Magnets cover up flaws that suddenly seem huge without them.
So, as the title of this post says, food for thought. What are your thoughts on trying a magnet-free class?

Gordon

(PS - IMPORTANT: You guys may be out of the habit of reading the FRC forum, but now that we've started racing again, this will be the primary place for announcements and discussions. No one responded to my request for feedback at the bottom of the last race report as to when we should race next or about our second annual endurance event, so I don't know what to plan. Over to you then.)
steveaca
Posts: 1574
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:12 pm

Re: Food for thought...

Post by steveaca »

I think a magnet-free class would be great fun. I know from Jonathan's own small track at home, that the fastest cars( Scalextric Porsche and Audi Le Mans cars) are actually the least fun. The reason that these cars are so fast (and they aren't really so fast in a straight line) is because of the very high cornering capabilities due to the magnets.The most fun car to drive, a Ninco McLaren F1 GTR, is actually the slowest against the clock. We have some great fun racing this against my stock Scalextric Ferrari F430. Magnet-free racing would also slow the cars down to more realistic speeds. I say give it a try !
Luke
Posts: 2245
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:54 pm

Re: Food for thought...

Post by Luke »

GG ~ Mr.Flippant website "WAY GONE"... this is a term Ethan uses when something looking great.

Its great to have a teenage son at my age... When we having a "old talk" about life it makes me feel like I am that young again.

Its a Reality Check though ~ when gettig up in the morning. I need to make sure all my body parts are in the right place before I get moving.

It wasn't so in the late 70's because when my buddies & I got going with Scalextric Ananlog Racing on our proudly built 4 lanes (table tennis size board) figure of eight track - we used to go on for hours on end.

We had know clue about using magnets, so we none the wiser and raced each other FLATOUT!!!

Also, you could imagine how puzzled we would have felt if someone like Mr. Flippant came and told us about Digital Racing.

I think Mr. Flippant is very right about getting tired of the magnet set-ups extravaganza - it will lead to a dead end eventually...

The "Magless" cars back in those days was great fun and skill... but the only problem I see for us FRC boys, will be the transition.

My suggestion to make this transition easy (which I dont think anyone will like) is we go MAGLESS for 2011 :!: :roll: :!: :lol:

Luke
Last edited by Luke on Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
Laird
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:29 pm

Re: Food for thought...

Post by Laird »

My car performs like it has no magnet anyway, almost like I'm "drifting". LOL Or is it my driving style?
I'm open to trying anything new. Maybe allocate one night to magnet-less racing with some options for modifications.
boo
Posts: 91
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:46 pm

Re: Food for thought...

Post by boo »

Hey Gordon,
Well that magnet senario is good, for a class, but not for all catergories, & we have a stock class already, but i still find that you should be checking cars for over magnetism. Gordon what cars are we racing tom.
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