16 replies to this topic

[anarot]

Talking with a couple of guys about cars last week and this is what one of them said. He said that he only uses his chassis for a year or 2 at the most, as the steel goes soft after that  (Turbo Flex). Mind you he is a guy that will retire a car body because he now uses a new paint scheme and not because the body is stuffed. 

 

I have never thought about this before. I have a couple of chassis the oldest I've had for 8 years and it was used before I got it, so it is probably well over 10 years old. It has had more hits than Elvis, but is still one of my favorite one to use and still handles good and still competitive.  

 

Do you guys replace a chassis just because it is old or just keep them and race it if it still goes good.

[Gator Bob]

 It has had more hits than Elvis, but is still one of my favorite one to use and still handles good and still competitive.  

 

 

 

 

I have been keeping them forever, they aren't worth much on ebay.

 

IMO ... Run your favorite .... brace the tongue and the rear up-rights and keep running it if you can get it back to straight, flat and true on the jig.  the softer they get.. the easier they are to get flat again.  

[idare2bdul]

Some chassis get better with age others don't.

One of my favorite races I was leading a friend of mine. He leaned over and asked me, what chassis are you running? I told him it was the one he had sold me recently. He asked what motor I was running that was pulling him down the straights?  I told him it was the one he had sold me recently. A change of tires and body had made the chassis work and the motor had responded to a wider air gap. Another way I find to make my cars go faster is to loan them to someone who drives better than i do. That list has been growing over time.

[Tex]

Another way I find to make my cars go faster is to loan them to someone who drives better than i do.

 

LOL 

[Milkman]

I keep chassis a very long time. Without abuse I think most chassis will last. I have JK, Torbo Flexi and Parma stamped chassis that I have been running for years and have not noticed any degredation in performance/handling. I think it comes down to how well you maintain your equipment.

[JohnnySlotcar]

Until i get a faster one for that class. Then I pass the "old" one on to someone needed an upgrade.

[NY Nick]

If I don't use it for a year it go's, give away sell it buy a new one. 

[Fast Freddie]

Still have all my old chassis and many of the old bodies except for my first Cox Chapparal hard plastic body later changed to a lighter Cheetah for racing. My brother sold it and all my other slot car stuff, my Marvel comic book collection (including many #1 like Spiderman, Avengers, X-Men, all total about 60 books read only once then put away, my arrowhead collection, and lost my bicycle. I went to Navy bootcamp and he thought I wouldn't be needing all that stuff. He got a grand total of $20 for all but the bike. He left that sitting on the side of the road when it got a flat tire, it was gone when he and my dad went to get it.

[Gator Bob]

Mike, That is funny!

 

Fred, Sorry to hear that, I kind of know how you feel and some grudges of insensitivity and injustice by others are nearly impossible to let go of.

[TSR]

My brother sold it and all my other slot car stuff, my Marvel comic book collection (including many #1 like Spiderman, Avengers, X-Men, all total about 60 books read only once then put away, my arrowhead collection, and lost my bicycle.

 

A perfect case for an excusable murder plot... 

[Fast Freddie]

Don't worry guys he's still alive we're just not speaking.

[Cap Henry]

I replace retro cars every couple months, not because they're wore out, just new designs replace the old ones.

 

Flexi cars seem to last a long time. My group 10 and gtp cars are very competitive and both are now 3 years old. Last year I won a bunch of oval races running a 4 year old 4.5 Turbo flex, I built a new car to replace it and the old car was actually the better driver.

 

IMO cars get better after a race or two.

[macman]

I still regularly race the Turboflex Carl Ford gave me in '94, as well as a '93 Slotworks Spyder... Both work as well as the JK I got 2 months ago

[Danny Zona]

It can depend really. I'm a believer sometimes racers hold on to an old chassis too long, at least flexi style cars. Once they have a couple bends, they tend to bend in the same spots with out even taking hard hits. A chassis can get old and start flexing too much also which is no good. Its something you kinda have to feel out.

[Gator Bob]

I'm on a budget ... so ... a couple since the 1960s.

[gotboostedvr6]

from Wikipedia:

In materials science, fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.

Fatigue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If the loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form at the stress concentrators such as the surface, persistent slip bands (PSBs), and grain interface.

[anarot]

OK. By the sounds of it there might be some merit in replacing the chassis after awhile. Thanks for you input.