Racing Ninco against SCX or other Makes?

[buzzro]

New to this. I am expecting my Ninco Master set (analog) to arrive soon. I want to buy a couple of extra cars but I want all 4 to run competitively against each other. Does it matter that much between makes. The cars I will start with have NC-5 motors. Are the NC-2's or 3's much slower? How about SCX, Scalextric, Slot it or Fly? Any help would be appreciated.

[Robert Livingston]

On a small, sectional home track, all the cars can be tuned to be competitive against each other by using the right tires. The softer rubber compounds from various makers give good grip on Ninco track, which has a rough surface, resembling an asphalt roofing shingle.

[ElSecundo]

Well, the Ninco mastertrack set is extremely tight and twisty. The NC-2's and NC-5's have similar performance at the low end (you won't find a lot of NC-3's lying around, so don't worry about them). At the high end, on average the NC-5's will be able to stretch their legs a little more, but they're generally not much faster than the NC-2's.

As far as getting different brands to run together, sometimes that's tough. But SCX and Carrera both have adjustable magnet systems that make this job much easier. Scalextric often has several different magnet 'pockets' that will change how your car handles. It's not quite as adjustable, but it helps.

You will find that it matters quite a bit between makes as far as speed goes, and there will be as many different opinions as there are guys on this board. You can even get four supposedly identical cars from one manufacturer, and they may perform differently. There can be wide variance between motors, sometimes you can get bum tires, magnet strengths vary quite a bit, some wheels may be slightly out-of-round....there are lots of factors that affect the speed out-of-the-box.

So you can do everything right to get cars that should run perfectly together, but it might not work out that way without making some modifications here or there. Get the cars you like, and you'll be happy, I think.

Oh yeah, and welcome to your next addiction.

[Robert Livingston]

Oh yes, the magnets. I race without them, and forgot that is the biggest variable. Adjust them up or down to vary their pull, and you can tune anything to run against anything. The SCX cars can be set with the magnets very close to the track. On other brands, you may just want to add more magnets. Or, take out the magnets altogether and start playing with different types of tires.

[martini917k]

if you're getting any cars w/ the set, you should match the new cars to them; ie., if you're getting 2 Ninco GT cars w/ the set, get 2 more Ninco GT cars - all the motors, tires, gears, magnets will be a match to each other & you will have even racing.
i just ran a builder's series & matching motors of different makes for performance was an absolute nightmare.

[ElSecundo]

I think it's tougher to match cars when the cars have a chance to stretch their legs a bit. A low-speed track like the mastertrack may be quite a bit different. Even the lower motored SCX cars can carry high average speeds on the twisty plastic tracks.

[glp]

No matter what you buy, I would buy in pairs. This way you can run the same or similar car against each other. I have a Ninco track with R1's and the Ninco set cars are real fast as is (with stock tires and magnet) but I bought two SCX rally cars 2wd and no-mag and stock tires and they are the funnest cars for me to run right now. The faster cars are fun too but a little too fast. Oh yea, the smaller cars like the R1 turns better than say a NASCAR!

[Jim Norton]

Match them

We race many types of cars but the rule is that you get better racing if you group cars from the same manufacturers with the same setups. It is rare that you can race 2 different manufacturers cars and have pleasing results. We have yet to find good crossovers for competitive racing.

But, for just casual racing you will do fine. As things get more compoetitive you will want equal setups....i.e. same manufacturers.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, AL

[madmax16117]

The new addiction

Welcome. I was where you are 2 years ago. Your starting in the right place though. I learned a lot just reading these boards. Some of these folks have been around slots awhile and are very helpful. All good advice above. When it comes to the cars you'll probably race what fancies your eye. The race pairs are a good starting point and learning the tuning is just one of the great facets of our hobby.

[buzzro]

Thanks to all, very helpful. I will buy 2 more GT cars. I am adding about 5' of straight to each side which should give about 10' on one side so hpefully I will be able to enjoy some of the speed of the NC 5's.

[Da Vols]

You'll have less of a headache by pairing up cars from the same manufacturer...especially if you run with magnets as each company uses different ones.

For instance, Ninco uses a button magnet that is about the width of the rails while Scalextric uses a longer bar magnet which will keep the downforce over a greater area as the car slides. Carrera uses 2 magnets which makes them probably the stickiest of all slot cars. In comparison, the well-regarded Slot.It cars which run quite well without a magnet, have a small one in comparison that make them not so good vs the more heavily magged cars.


Da Vol