Thanks very much. I did look through the Slot.it web site for instructions, but clearly didn't do a very thorough job of it, so I appreciate the link. Im sure Maurizio knows whereof he speaks when he says, once accustomed to it, we all will appreciate this new, and quite innovative, method. To me, right now, it looks a little complicated. Bring on those connectors.
I am a die-hard Slot it fan. However, I am not overly impressed with this car.
nhdungeonracer articulated well some of the same reasons that has left me
less than enthused. I've liked every Slot it I've purchased, but this one,
not so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nhdungeonracer
After reading the hype about the new Lola and how guys were saying this new car was the fastest one they had ever driven out of the box, I was curious to see for myself.
When we got them in last Monday, I had a chance that afternoon to look it over and run it some. By now some of you know I'm not a fan of anglewinder setups, but I did try to give this an objective lookover. I have come to understand the reasoning why the anglewinder was chosen. It was to allow a more "scale" look for the rear cowl (ie-no crown gear bump). But as I've been reading and talking with others, I've found out that there is a rear cowl for those who want to convert to the inline setup, but that's only available in the white kit. I have to be honest, I don't understand the idea behind that. Why is the guy who buys the full liveried version limited to what drive train type he can run? Why not have the rear cowl in full livery for the guys who like the inline setup?
As my track is silicone friendly, I mounted up a set of 1408R Supertires and trued them up. I also saw the note under the base recommending that the guide be changed to the new one (also under the base). I recall reading somewhere that Maurizio said something was wrong with the guide, but it was too late to fix it, so a new one was added as well. That's good customer service there . But it was not an "easy" swap. I found myself getting a little frustrated trying to change the guide on the car. I decided it was easier to unsolder the wires from the motor, and swap the wires to the guide off the car. Then I installed the new guide and resoldered the wires to the motor. This way was less aggravating for me.
While I was working with the front end of the car, I replaced the "caps" under the front axle and used M2 setscrews to locate the axle height.
On the track, the car made quite a bit of a rattling noise. It was by no means "Slot.It quiet". I'm guessing it's the 2 piece body work. Still, it ran ok, getting into the 6.7 range on occasion. By comparison, I had set up a Slot.It Audi R8C recently, and with very little time setting the car up, it was able to run 6.5 easily. I could get a 6.4 lap occasionnally. This was bone stock (except for 1408R Supertires), inline with the stock 9/26 gears. So this Lola certainly wasn't the quickest "out of the box" car I've ever driven.
Back to the workbench, I had noticed the 4 little holes at the corners of the chassis. I also noticed the little flat areas on the bottom of the body where setscrews could come up through the chassis and hold the body up. But looking again in the little baggies under the base, there were not enough setscrews (only found 2). Fortunately, I have a whole supply of these setscrews, but I wondered how many racers who bought this car would appreciate having the setscrews with the car. It might be disappointing to them if they found they had to buy these setscrews in order to use this feature. Anyway, I put the setscrews in place, and adjusted them to hold the body slightly off the chassis. Back on the track, the car could now easily run 8.6's, dipping into the 6.5's on occasion. So a 2/10ths improvement using the setscrews. Pretty good, I think. But the car still has an annoying rattling noise running around the track.
Over the course of last week, I've tuned it some more. I've gotten into the 6.4's with it, and it regularly hits the 6.5's. But this was with quite a bit of tuning, including putting tape along the bottom of the chassis. And it's still making the rattling noise
So..is a good car? Yes, I have no problem saying that. Just be ready to work on the car some. Is it the quickest "out of the box" I've heard so much? That I can't agree with. In fairness though, the track I ran on has no magnetic effect (copper braid), so the advantage of the anglewinder motor setup wasn't helping here.
And yes, I'm still bummed I can't convert to an inline setup and have a fully liveried car. IMHO, this is something that could have easily been done, and I doubt many would complain about a fully liveried car having a "gear bump" in the back. If anything, it should be the other way around. The low rear cowl without the bump should be made available to the white kits only.
This shows what i did to get around the low deck hieght. To give some more perspective the original motor was not bad. I did change to the Flat-6R and went .2 quicker. The problem was at RHH which has a long back straight and a few short straights with a good mix of corners it just was not enough. With the change to the NSR it gave a further .2 - .3.
I have found the car to be quite smooth and like some pointed out, a bit noisier than others, but not that much. What I did find surprising was how low the motor was. It literally hangs below the ground plane of the chassis and on those areas where the track isn't perfectly level, bottoms out. I can see the black marks on the leading edge of the motor where that has happened.
Means that this puppy will not pass the minimum clearance rules of our club. Too bad as it does run very well. I also left in the old guide and just removed the magnet and installed S2s as is the norm with slot.its on my track.
I don't own the car but I have driven it and against it. It is very good looking and reasonably fast but it is not the fastest out of the box or even the fastest after tuning on my track. A set of the right diameter super tires solves the clearance problem and even for us mag racers when the car has legal clearance it does not handle as well as all my other slot.It cars, again, on my track. Heck, I have a Fly Joest Porsche that, after installing a slot.It orange endbell 21,00rpm motor and a small thin bar magnet under the motor, turns faster laps and with less downforce. Bottom line, I won't be buying one and I will probably refrain from purchasing any of the new cars with anglewinder motor setups. I guess I fall under the category proving you can't please everyone.
I bought the car recently and tested it in stock form. I glued and trued the rear tires, removed the middle motor mount screws and that was it. The car is not bad and is not too noisy. It's a bit tail happy with the stock tires (on Ninco) and short geared. This motor would possibly like a 26T crown, or a 12T pinion.
Off course it was not the fastest car tested, in fact it was far from that. But, to be honest, it needs a set of tires equal to my fastest machines, to see how it will perform. I will try that in the near future. Strangely enough, it was almost as fast (or maybe a bit slower) as my Shootout Toyota grC (stock motor, pod, tires etc...) shod with the stock C1 tires. I thought it would be faster.
After 100 or so laps I will say that the flat 6 motor makes the Lola a bit more sensitive to throttle input than the Orange endbell cars. It appears to be very torquey leading to alot of wheelspin. This is not some thing I have seen on the orange motored cars also running C1s. I may have to get a set of F22s or similar to tame that. With all that though, it is by far the quickest "feeling" of my cars. I have yet to time it, but I think it will be the fastest on my track.
For my wood track, this is what I have found so far:
Rear tires: F22 work much better than the stock C1.
Noise: I reglued every joint in the body with some liquid cement, that helped some. I also ground away on the body for a bit more gear clearance and spaced the gear away from the pod by .025, that helped some more. I tried some tape across the frame in various places but that did not help the noise much and made the car twitchy.
Set-up: Body screws about 1/2 turn loose, no more than that. I still need to try the 4 setscrews throught the frame to touch the body, that might also reduce the noise. The motor pod screws on my track need to be quite snug front and rear, basically just loose enough that the pod slides fore and aft easily. The side screws need to be looser than that, about 3/4 to 1 turn out.
In this form, the car is about a tenth quicker than my Nissan RAW with the same tires, 6.2 vs 6.3 sec per lap. It is not as quiet yet as the Nissan, but I am getting there. I'm sure it has to do with how many parts are in the body, my McLarens and F40s are also noisy.
Dennis, re-gluing the body parts is a good idea for reducing noise. Do you think it might help if you used a tiny bit of lightweight oil along the seams where the body pieces meet? Sometimes these pieces meet and just squeak a little bit.
Last edited by ElSecundo; 06-14-2012 at 12:20 PM.
Reason: typo
. But it was not an "easy" swap. I found myself getting a little frustrated trying to change the guide on the car. I decided it was easier to unsolder the wires from the motor, and swap the wires to the guide off the car. Then I installed the new guide and resoldered the wires to the motor. This way was less aggravating for me. 
Linear Mode
