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Repairing a Slot Car Chassis
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Published: August 9, 2008
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I found out that all previous Scalextric track from the 1960s (adapters from classic to Sport are required) onwards is compatible with digital racing. Almost all non-digital Scalextric cars, along with cars of most other makes, can be converted to run on a Scalextric Sport Digital (SSD) track. No other companies' digital race sets are as friendly to other brands as Scalextric.
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Published: June 10, 2008
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The level of detail one can put into a race track is only limited by your imagination. Scenery has long been the realm of the model train enthusiast, but is seeing more and more popularity in the slot racing world. All scales are benefiting from this new trend. Buildings, pit crews, landscaping and even spectators are now populating our endeavors giving even more realism and enjoyment to the hobby.
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Published: June 8, 2008
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To calculate the power of a small D.C. Motor you need to know the Stall Torque and the Maximum RPM.
To find the maximum RPM of the test motor, make a disc approximately 1” in diameter that will fit the armature shaft snugly. Use a magic marker to blacken half of the disc.
Connect the motor and a DVM to a variable power supply. Under fluorescent lighting, increase the motor’s RPM slowly from zero and watch the disc spin. The first time the pattern on the disc stops turning is at 3600 RPM, the second time it stops turning is at 7200 RPM.
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Published: May 29, 2008
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Wouldn’t it be great to be able to analyze, in detail, the motor performance of your top flight slot car, without having to run lap after lap? One to one engine builders use dynometers to rate the horse power their power plants are pushing out, so why not use that same concept to rate and compare our scale machines?
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Published: May 14, 2008
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I have always had a love for the high horse power nitro burning dragsters that I got to see at the local track during those hot summers of the past. Seeing the rails lift their wheels and scream down the quarter in the wink of an eye, the smell of rubber and fumes and smoke as they blow on by.
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Published: May 8, 2008
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Recently, I bought a Scalextric Ferrari F430 to participate in a club race. I figured it would be a great idea to open up the car, just to make sure everything looked race-ready inside. As I GENTLY tried to pry the motor out, the chassis snapped on both sides right under the motor mount. As there is a lot of stress on this area when inserting the motor, I knew I couldn't just put glue in the crack and hope for the best. There's just not enough surface area for the glue to bite into.
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Published: April 12, 2008
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If you run your cars with stock wheels this is bound to happen one day: you'll crash hard, the hub will crack and the wheel will fall off.
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Published: April 10, 2008
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We have all enjoyed Bob Schleicher’s articles on race courses you can build on a ping pong table. Faller now gives us an opportunity to build a slot car road course that fits on the top of an end table, the Go-Kart-Rennbahn set. This tiny gem requires some work to assemble, but the result is worth it, and it actually works pretty well. It is 21 inches by 16 inches including all of the scenery and buildings!
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Published: September 30, 2007
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The Scalextric Ferrari 430GT is the second car I am preparing for GT-2 racing on my track. Out of the box the car was quite disappointing when compared to the Scalextric Porsche 911GT3R. The car was very noisy and bounced severely, plus it was 9grams heavier than the Porsche.
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Published: September 19, 2007
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I am preparing a group of cars to create a category for the less experienced drivers that race on my track. Cars that run in the ALMS Series GT-2 category should be ideal for this class. The Scalextric Porsche 911 GT3R will be the first car that will be set up for this class.
The power of the motor is going to be reduced to make these cars more drivable for the less experienced drivers. I will use the original tires, since rubber tires in this lap time range are about three to four tenths a lap slower than silicone tires on my wood track.
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