Tuning a Scalextric Ferrari 430GT
for GT2 Racing

By Dave

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.
These are the average lap times for the Ferrari 430 out of the box.
9.800 seconds @ 167 SMPH.

For comparison I sanded the tires lightly by holding the car in my hand against sandpaper. This removed some of the bad spots in the tires and improved the cars performance.
These are the average lap times.
9.400 seconds @ 171 SMPH.

I then prepared the Ferrari the same as I did the Porsche 911 GT3R in the previous article. I spent about a half hour longer on the wheels and tires because the wheels were more out of round than the wheels on the Porsche. I am not sure what the rear tires on the Porsche and Ferrari are made from. The rear tires are different from the front tires, and they sanded similar to silicone.

These are the tire sizes for both cars.
Ferrari Front 9X20.5 Rear 11X21mm
Porsche Front 8X20.5 Rear 9.5X20.5mm

This article goes into more detail about sanding tires; True Your Rear Tires And Stop Bouncing

The body and interior are heavier than the Porsche, so while the chassis was running in the tire fixture I sanded down the interior. I wound up removing 3 grams from the sides, rear firewall, and bottom of the rear deck. I had to remove the top of the drivers helmet to get the interior to fit. The interior posts that sit on top of the rear axle bearings were also trimmed down to get the body to fit on the chassis properly.

I added one .010" bronze thrust washer between the rear axle bearing and spur gear to take up the axle clearance. The holes for the front axle were elongated with a round file to lower the front of the chassis. .030" shims were added between each front wheel and axle post.

After all the preparation the car fits together better, sits lower, and level on the track. The car now weighs 90 grams, 38 front and 52 rear.
These are the average lap times for the finished car.
7.800 seconds @ 183 SMPH.

I added two 1Amp diodes in parallel to reduce the power, the same as the Porsche.
These are the average lap times for the detuned Ferrari 430GT.
8.200 seconds @ 171 SMPH

To try to get both cars equal to each other I added 7 grams to the front firewall of the Porsche, the car now weighs 90 grams, 37 front and 53 on the rear.
These are the average lap times for the detuned and weighted Porsche 911GT3R.
8.200 seconds @ 167 SMPH.