9 replies to this topic

[KC from NC]

I've talked to a couple friends about going to the slot car track with me. None have an interest in building a car, but I think a couple might bite if they can buy a 1/32 off the shelf and put it on the track. My local track doesn't have rental cars (or at least doesn't advertise them.)

My questions:

Do they handle well enough to enjoy making laps straight out of the box?

Can they handle a hit at commercial speeds? (I think commercial tracks run more voltage than plastic track?)

Do urethane or silicone tires mess up the glue on the track for the commercial racers?

[slotcarone]

Any commercial raceway will have 1/24 scale RTR cars for sale that are fast and handle great. JK has quite a variety.

[Ramcatlarry]

Most plastic chassis 1/32 cars will have three  main issues :  Tires, balance, and controllers.

 

Tires - Out of the box, the hard rubber tires of most brands need to be replaced with something softer,  NSR and Slot-it and some brands that might be good  out of the box.  The lack of mass in most magnetic cars is also an issue. Magnets create artificial mass only on magnetic tracks - sometimes over 100 grams of mass.

 

Balance - Most of these cars need more mass - up to 60 - 80 gram total to improve the balance of the higher center of gravity hard plastic bodies.

 

Tires -  Most club racers change out to silicone or Urethane tires to race on dry or lightly glued painted  tracks.  Many commercial tracks are more heavily glued and might overload the lighter duty motors of club cars.

 

Controllers - Most raceway will not have a suitable loaner/rental controller.  Four ohms is too low.  Fifteen to thirtyfive ohms is a better range to use.  Transistor  or Professor motor diode controllers work fine as well since they step voltage not amps. 

 

Power - Most commercial tracks have very stabile voltage power supplies that are between 13 - 15 Volts DC.  The sets come with "safety' power supplies that fluctuate voltage down to 12 VDC under the car loads. The power supply for club racing usually rates about 5 amps per lane with 18 gauge stranded wire.  Commercial tracks are rarely built with less than 10 amps per lane and 12 gauge stranded wire.

 

Sturdiness -  Hard plastic CAN break.  Vacuum formed commercial bodies bounce better but can also be destroyed.  Racing is a 'Game of driver responsibility'.  

 

 

;

[bbr]

With some mods - 

 

Sponge tire - commercial raceways are glued; any other tires will not be fun

 

Add lead/weight

 

Change gear ratio for the long straights

 

A flatrack will be fun,,, but a king track is not that fun for plastic cars

[Courtney S]

https://youtu.be/TuH...--h0ZGlbIk-5cZV

This NorCal group does it every week and we did it for a short time at The Raceway in Cleveland TN.

Its just a different challenge but racing is always fun.

[Don Weaver]

I would think there would be a major issue with running these cars with flexi, retro and other 1/24 cars at the same time during "playtime".  I'm just sayin'...

 

Don

[MG Brown]

I second the suggestion of going with JK or Mid-America RTR cars. The price is a wash when you consider all of the parts you have to swap out to make the 1/32 cars run properly.

One of the major points other than that they are better suited for running out of the box is that you can get any and all of the replacement parts you might need, which isn't always the case with plastic chassis 1/32 cars.

[KC from NC]

Slotcarone - RTR is a great idea, I didn't even think about that. I do think there's a couple JKs hanging on the wall.

BBR - Flat track does sound nice, I wish they were more common. I know of one close-ish, but they only use it for special events.

Ramcatlarry - appreciate those setup tips, I might build one of my 1/32 toys to play on commercial tracks

[spudboy]

The Boston 1/32 Group races at routed wood home tracks and a commercial raceway.  On the commercial tracks foam tires are used.

 

NOTE - running 1/32 during playtime beside 1/24 cars would be a bad idea.  The differences in speed would be dramatic AND if the voltage is not reduced novice drivers will destroy their 1/32 plastic cars in no time.  We typically race at 10.4v or 10.8v depending on the track.  Commercial tracks typically run 13+v.

 

Search "Racing at Modelville Hobby" on YouTube to see how the cars run on the MVH Figure 8

 

Have fun Ken.

[Bill from NH]

Nate, is that video you mentioned above something relatively new or is it an old one? The two videos I found on the MVH Figure-8 was a 5-year-old "Racing on Friday Night" & a 9-year-old one of Rob running his 1/25 scratch-built Pontiac, He built that Pontiac either on Slotblog or OWH as a how-to project. I found nothing for the Boston 1/32 Group running anywhere.