#66 - or - To Infinity And Beyond

Every time you get a new car, there are a series of things that you can do to it to get it "setup" for your track. Things that are all minor, yet together improve performance dramatically. A setup is a thing I do on every car, often more than once. Slot cars are extremely sensitive to adjustment, so it's possible do a perfect setup for you. And you'll know when it's that perfect setup because it will be driving just how you like it. 

Such is the case with every car, such is the case with the Chaparral #66. He limped a bit out of the box, and an overexcited me did a quick setup on it. 

When I ran the Chappies against the Matra yesterday, I couldn't help thinking that maybe the problem lies in me not giving it the full treatment, instead going quick-n-dirty. So this morning while waiting for my box of clips to arrive, I decided to spend a little time with the car, going over everything. 

First thing I noticed were there was still some factory tread on the tires, so I needed to put them on the sandpaper for a bit longer. I reminded myself to do that at the end. I checked the drivetrain and axles to make sure there wasn't any binding anywhere. I didn't think there was, but there's no way that there's nothing wrong when the car was almost half a second per lap slower than the #65. 

I lubed and oiled the car again, getting everything this time. I cleaned up the extra and made sure everything else was nice and secure. I set the body up for medium/medium float and ran some laps. It performed much better this time, almost running as confidently as the #65. I think I really need to run a race to determine what both of these cars can do. 

So the Car Flinger is pretty interesting. If I'm trying to set a hot lap, I really have to pay attention to it. It's almost like slowing down for the inside of a 1/60 curve, except it'll throw you. It takes very little to catch air. 

I see myself using this sometimes, but not all the time. I'm going to keep it in the mix for awhile, trying some other stuff out, but ultimately I'll have enough track pieces to keep myself interested without having to resort to using it much. I will use it anytime I need an overpass, though. I think for that it's pretty great. 

Another little thing that's kinda turned into a cool and important thing: that new DS 3503D controller. I got my box of clips that I was waiting for today, and part of that order was 4mm banana clips for the controller. So they come, I take 'em out, run upstairs to see if one of them is going to fit in the spot. Hmm...touchy. Not so easy. Might get easier. Okay, maybe I should just go ahead and put it together and deal with getting it to fit after. Sounds like a hassle. Wish I could just pop off the connector from the Carrera plung....

This is how my brain works sometimes. The answer to my problem is not only staring me in the face, but it's openly, outwardly mocking me. I popped off the Carrera connector and a bit of cable, did the totally easy wiring, taped it up and within 15 minutes away we went. We being me and my controller. 

The DS 3503D Controller.

So now I can say it: that DS 3503D controller is perfect for my racetrack. It's got great midrange response, plenty of top end, and can be feathered around the tricky parts. 35 ohms seems to be just right for running the Slot.it cars on Carrera track. It'll be a great home controller, and is a breeze to operate. Not too sensitive that a noob would pick it up and crash a car, but still plenty of gusto. I can see it successfully running other brand cars as well. 

Additional Notes:

I've been running the #66 throughout the evening, getting better performance and a smoother ride. I think it was just down to the setup/tuneup. So instead of waiting until I had time to run all the cars, I just ran the #66 against the #65 and Matra's previous times. Before the #66 ran a 2:35, and tonight it ran 2:27. That's just behind #65, and there's probably still room for improvement. Of course I haven't done really much at all to the #65 yet, so there's going to be all kinds of opportunity to increase speeds. 

I also spent quite a bit of time with the new controller, which means I was on the outside lane. So there were all kinds of fresh experiences tonight. I think the controller is going to be fantastic, and I don't expect any problems. Running on the outside lane is interesting. I don't know if I like it any better than the inside, but I do like being able to switch lanes when I want. Plus the ability to now race against a drone car makes a big difference. I'll still do my races in the more traditional [for me] time trial manner. I'd rather have hard numbers for the important stuff. 

Chappie Things

There's a difference between the two Chaparrals I just picked up. The #65 is definitely smoother, faster, and handles better. The #66 isn't sluggish, but it isn't spry. It goes through it, but it doesn't feels as good as the #65. 

The more I drive this car, the higher my expectations get. I think it's going to tune into a screamer.

I've been switching back and forth between #65 and the Matra, running laps and looking at the similarities and differences. While the Matra has a shorter nose and longer wheelbase, the two cars have a similar feel. It's a good, planted feel. They drive different, but they feel easy to drive.

There are, however, more similarities between the Chaparral and the GT40 than the Matra. Both long nose/short tail, both solid, planted performers, and both using a similar driving approach. 

The differences between the two Chaparrals is going to come down more to setup than anything else. Both cars have the stuff, I just think the #66 isn't tuned just right yet. Neither has gotten a complete tire sanding yet. I did a mmmostly...tire sanding, so there's still a little more to be done. I also haven't run the new cars against the crew yet. 

I know you have it in you, little guy. You can do it. 

I might roll back on my plan to do a no-float/float to the #66. I did that because it seemed that if I loosened the body even a little the body would slip under the edge of the chassis, and I didn't like that. I have a idea I'm going to try this weekend. It's an old idea, but might still work. If it does, then I'll look at the idea of running one Chaparral float/float and the other float/no-float. It might be more interest to see just how much of a difference the pod makes in the equation. I've gotten to where I like to loosen the pod screws on my cars in general by about 1/4 turn. Bodies range from snug to loose. 

I'm planting on painting my track pieces this weekend, so I'll be running and tuning these cars until then. If I can settle on the track plan, maybe I'll try to cram a race in there. Cars like the #66 could be one of those that runs okay but consistently, always staying near the top without outright winning. Never know. I'd like to think that I probably just forgot to check something and it just needs an adjustment. That's probably it. If not, then I'll be curious to see where it's going to land in the pecking order of speed. I would hope it would beat the GT40s, but even that is a challenge nowadays, as the #5 is kicking butt and competing.

So here's hoping the track clips and banana clips come tomorrow. I'd like to have a 2nd controller running asap. I'm getting antsy.

High Chaparral - or - How I Went To The Races And Came Back With The Track

Better get comfortable, dear reader. This one's going to be a long one. 

So it was my birthday. And as usual on my birthdays and holidays I tend to acquire slot car stuff. This year was no different. In fact you could almost say I cleaned up. So let's get started, shall we?

The Cars

Unbelievably great looking race cars. I couldn't wait to get them out of the box and onto the track.

Slot.it Monterey Grand Prix Laguna Seca Can-Am 1966 Chaparral 2E [#65 Phil Hill 1st - #66 Jim Hall 2nd]. 

The history of this car is really interesting. It's all about aerodynamics, and it was a pioneer in the field. It had an automatic transmission, so the driver didn't use a clutch pedal. Instead, he used a pedal that controlled the wing as well as some front air intakes to balance the car. This thing stuck to the road. On the straights the driver would flatten the wing for least resistance and maximum speed, and tilt it forward when braking and in the corners for maximum grip. People were looking at wings, but nobody was going this crazy with it. Truly a legendary car. 

And Slot.it has done the Chaparral justice. The two-pack comes in a very nice collector box with a historical description inside the lid. It was on sale when I got it, so it ended up to be a pretty great deal. The cars are identical in practically every way, except for one.

I went through both cars, and the only difference I found between them was this: the lower side panel of the #65 cuts under the car at a sharp angle, whereas the #66 has a curved underside. 

But if you've been reading this blog, you'll already know that just because two cars may be identical in make, that doesn't mean squat until you get them on the track. My three GT40s could attest to that. They are totally different cars for being pretty much the same. Buy 6 of the same car, you'll get 6 different cars.

The cars come with sidewinder orange motors, and two sets of wings: one for show and one for go. The racing wing is a little more flexible and can take a punch. I don't know....I run nomag, and I hardly ever flip a car. They'll spin out at best. Hell, I've had that dang Alfa Romeo all this time and it still has the rear view mirror on it. 

The chassis is very nice, light, lots of control, and not a lot of waste. And while we're looking at them, let's give a shout to those sweet factory rubber tires. These cars come with such great tires. 

So before I got them on my track I had to do some things:

1. Remove axle blocks. These are the blocks that are holding the front tires off the track. All Slot.it cars come set up that way. I don't run them like that. I like my tires to be ON THE TRACK.

2. Inspect and reset all screws. A loose screw can come off a car and into the track. New cars quite often have loose screws. Always good to check them.

3. Lube and oil gearing and axles. This is the most normal thing you can do to a slot car to increase performance. A well-oiled race car is a happy race car.

4. Screw motor to pod. This will help power distribution and prevent vibration, movement or other unwanted distractions. Get the proper screw. Anything too long and you could wreck the motor.

5. Sand the tires. Even though the Slot.it factory rubber tires are so great, tires need to be treated properly to last and perform well. Sanding the tires will do wonders to your lap times. It doesn't take long and can evolve into a pretty obsessive little hobby on its own. 

I took the two cars out for a 20 lap run to see what kind of times they are projected to run. Not racing speed, mind you, but peppy snappy. For kicks I ran them against the reigning King of the Track, the Matra [#10]. Here's what happened:

Car        Time        Lap      

#65        2:23.0       7.15                       

#66        2:35.8       7.75                        

#10        2:13.9       6.65

So the Chappies have their work cut out for them. #65 is putting up numbers that are probably toward the front of the pack, but there's a ways to go before it's putting up Matra numbers. It's probably race-ready against the Alfa and the Porsche, though. 

The #66 is a little bit surprising. It was a half-second a lap slower than it's twin. When I first got the car, I noticed some loose lower side body paneling, but I glued that up and it was fine. I'm not worried about the car, though. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it. A high-7s lap is nothing to go home bragging to mama about. 

Oh yeah, I probably should have mentioned earlier, there was a new bit in the track today:

The Carrera Overpass/Hill/Whoopdeedoo thing [in Carrera black]. It was a gift. At first I thought, "hmm, yeah, okay", but then I tried it and it brought out the kid in me. 

The Overpass

                              

I don't really go for gimmicks, but I think this could actually be pretty usable. As it is set up in the picture, it's a big whoopdeedoo. Half throttle will launch the car. The transition itself is surprisingly smooth, almost too smooth. The car is up and over it before you know it. It's meant to be used as an overpass. My plan is to separate the hill in the middle and put an entire section between the up and the down. That'll give me multi-level without having to lift any flat track. 

The track itself takes up the exact same footprint as 4 straight pieces. They can be connected in any way, though the crest pieces have a direction they prefer based on the angle of the post mounts, and are reinforced with support rings underneath for the supports to connect to. Track pieces are solid and don't feel brittle or sketchy.

Overall a pretty cool addition and can produce mountains of car jumping fun. 

I was looking at the pieces a little closer today, and the lower incline pieces start the transition early, and begin to crest before you've hit the end of the track piece. That's probably how Carrera was able to match the length up with 4 standard straight pieces. It also probably is what helps launch cars if you're not too careful. 

I experimented with putting a straight piece in the apex of the hill. That slowed down the crazy jumping the cars were doing. Truthfully, what would really kick ass would be to have about six of these things so you can create elevation changes wherever you want. I like the entire of entire sections raised higher than the rest of the track, curves and all. But I think that the best use of the incline would be to put it right after a curve, as you wouldn't be able to get enough speed to get air right away. Any straight run-up is a death sentence for your car.

So yeah, with the addition of the hill my lap times got a little longer. I'll have to run the other cars and see what everybody's doing. I'll do that this weekend. I'll also be plugging in this bad boy:

DS 35 ohm controller. I needed a decent 2nd controller. This fits the bill perfectly, and it was inexpensive. Now I can race against drones. And people.

You'd think that the cars and the whoopdeedoo would be enough, but now we're doing controllers. That's going to help increase the amount of people that can race on my track by one. That's one more than before. The racing should be more competitive that way. 

The DS controller is nicely made, sturdy and ergonomic. It's a little smaller than the SCP-1 I have, but not by much. It doesn't have all those elaborate controls, either. Just the trigger. I'm waiting on the banana clips, which should be here tomorrow.

That's quite a load, eh? You'd think that with such a load like that, there would need to be anything else. A guy could be perfectly satisfied with all that stuff and never need to add anything more to the track ever again. 

You'd think that, wouldn't you?

10-pack of straights, anyone?

So there ya there ya there ya have it. No more. Finished.

Quick Notes:

I'm going to be painting the new track pieces I got this weekend, so watch for that. In fact, I'm going to run video and make it a thing on YouTube. It's my most popular post here, so I should do a thing on it. 

Because I have two Chappies now, I'm going to go ahead and take them into two directions setup-wise. The #65 is going to have the more standard half-turn pod and chassis setup, while the #66 will have a loose pod and a tight chassis. I'll start them there and see what they need to get where they need to go. It'll also allow me to compare performance with different setups. Kinda the same thing I do with the Fords right now.

Once I get the clips for my controller I'll do a whole thing on it, comparing it to the one I have now as well as how it feels overall. 

I'm also going to do a thing on the practical [and impractical] uses of the whoopdeedoo. I've got some ideas I want to try.

Crazy eh? And that's not even the BIG news....

Magnets in Slot Cars - Good or Bad

There's nothing more fun than racing a slot car at full speed, ripping up the track lap after lap, hammer down full blast. Slot cars have always been great for that. Crazy speeds and fantastic wrecks. Cars flying like bullets [or baseballs depending on scale], taking out fancy nicknacks and breaking all kinds of stuff.

Alfa Romeo 33/3 coming for your lunch money.

What if you are starting to get bored sitting there with the hammer down, watching your car dutifully obey the call to maximum power? What if beating your little brother requires nothing more than max throttle? What if there was another way that was more challenging?

The first two slot cars I got, the Audi R18 LMP and the Audi R8 Safety car from Carrera, had two magnets each inside them. They were easy to access, so I took them out. It was a little sloppy at first, and I slid off the track a few times, but I noticed a few things. First was that instead of relying on the car to stay on the track through its magnets, I now found the car to be following a more natural physical thing. Physics was applicable now. Suddenly, if I go too fast in a corner, the back end will come out. It might even spin the car out completely. But I also notice that there are other factors at work.

I come from humble beginnings. Just after my first set of expansion tracks and my first paint job. I'd move furniture and set up on the rug in the main room.

Anybody who plays video games like Gran Turismo or Forza knows that when racing you have to set up the car before the curve, brake at the appropriate time and accelerate out at the appropriate time. None of that applies when you have magnets in your car, but ALL of that applies when you don't.
You have to think about how you get into a curve and what the optimum speed that could be without your backend coming out, all the while working through the curve patiently until accelerating at just the right time to get best speed out with least amount of wheel spin.

Another thing I noticed was that my cars were more competitive with each other with the magnets out. It seemed to put them all on a more level field. Taking the magnets out also made the setup of the slot car much more important. Suddenly the tires mattered, as well as the overall condition of the car. When before you could just slap a car on the track and jam the throttle down, now you notice whether tires need to be treated, or if a car needs to be lubed, or maybe an adjustment to the handling.

And if those things might sound like a hassle to you, like things you'd rather not have to worry about, then that's cool. Run magnets and have a blast.

But if you're the kind of person who wants to know if a Porsche 962C would go faster through a curve than an Alfa Romeo, and what that might be like....well, you can get a pretty good idea trying it with the slot cars.
I think the Alfa would probably go through a curve faster than a 962c, but then lose in the straight.

There's a lot of difference in wheelbase between these cars.

You might have you kids racing with you and think that taking the magnets out would be something they couldn't handle. If that's the case, try it. Kids catch on remarkably quick. My nephews have no problem racing on my track, and there are no magnets. It takes them at most two laps and they catch on.
And if it's YOU, and if you're the reason you think it won't be fun, try it. It's a two minute operation to take the magnet out of a slot car, and doing so might introduce you to something you didn't think you needed in your life. I'm just sayin'.

The Quarantine 50

That's right, sportsfans, it's time to get back to some real racing! No more thinking about it. No more table fixes. No more waiting until the end of the month! 50 laps around the largest layout yet!

A couple of important notes regarding today's race: this is the first official race of 2020, but since only one was run in 2019, I'm going to add this one to that one and start from there. It's also the Matra's 2nd only race, the first of which was an inaugural victory almost a year ago. This is also the first race since both expansions have been completed. The table now sits at a handy 20'x10'x4'.

Let's take a look at the layout:

I used up almost every track piece I had, trying to get as far down either side of the table as I could. Overall, it's a fast track, which favors the longer cars, but there are a few tricky bits thrown in. Not sure why it doesn't line up on the software like it does in real life. Oh well. It's working for me. Software - Softybahnplaner

Note: all cars were put on track with only a cleaning of the tires. None of the cars were given any special treatment beforehand.

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RESULTS:

Car              Time         Crashes         Lap          Points          Total     

Matra         5:24.81          0               6.48             11               22
Porsche       5:36.17          1                6.72              8                10
Alfa             5:37.65          1                6.74              6               12             
Shell            5:43.57          0               6.86               4                8     
Gulf             5:54.37          0               7.08               2                2     
Gold            6.08.96          2                7.36              0                 8   

Note: I give points this way in the hopes of avoiding a tie for 1st place at the end of the season, which was looking very likely last time I had a series. Making first place 11 points will give the winners a bit of an edge. This is also very much an experiment. But since it's my racing association...

We have a winner, racing fans. The Matra has stepped into the ring and slaughtered its opponents. 6.48 lap time.

I have everything good to say about the Matra. I think it's probably the best performing car I have, and would make a terrific race car on practically any track. I think it has just the right wheelbase and structure to make it fast, low and nimble, while still resembling a longer car when it needs to. It's one of the more exciting cars to drive as well. You can really put it on the edge and it'll perform. I was expecting somewhere around a 6.7 time, but I'll certainly take a 6.4. It'll be up to the other cars to answer the call to meet or beat it.

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2nd Place: Well would you look who showed up and brought the anger! With a solid lap time of 6.7, you can count on this guy to be a contender on all the longer tracks.

I was mildly surprised that the 962 showed up and put down such impressive lap times. In the last race, he clumsily posted an unimpressive fifth place finish, and I was starting to worry if he would be able to keep up with all the other cars. He proved me wrong today, that's for sure. I would expect my cars to break a 7 second lap here, and most are doing it without much trouble. A 6.7 is a very good solid lap. The driver should be proud of himself.

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3rd Place: Of course it wouldn't be a party without the Alfa showing up and stealing your girl.

There's something about the Alfa that makes me just know that it's going to put up a fight every time. While it doesn't have the straightaway speed the other cars have, it has so much muscle through the turns that it makes up for it. It crashed once today and was still a contender.

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4th Place: Such a fun, well rounded race car. 

If you look at the results of this race, and only this race, you'd almost think that I needed two separate classes. But that's not the situation here. I think there was a bit of unluck today. Not so with the #8 GT40. It ran as smooth as butter. In fact, I think that's why I ran a slower time with it; it's just too smooth and easy. If it wasn't so mellow I'd probably push it harder. I should just do it anyway. I think it could go a little faster.

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5th Place: Still running. Not winning. Running. 

So I went through this car the other day, cleaned it up, lubed it and oiled it, and it runs okay. It just feels uninspired. Like it needs something. I don't know what. When you're doing 50 laps, you tend to get into a groove, and I felt like we were getting a bit of a groove going, but the lap times weren't as good as I thought they'd be.

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Last Place: The surprise of the day. I wouldn't have expected a 6th place finish out of this car.

This car came in 2nd place in the last race, comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. This race it was all over the place. It crashed in two separate places and never really got going. Maybe because this was the first car I ran today. Who knows. But a lap time of 7.3 can only be attributed to crashes. All the cars should be well under 7 seconds...

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And there it is. Overall a pretty fun race, a bit of a surprise and a display of the force is going to be needed to shake the Matra off of its newly-discovered perch. Will anybody be able to shave the tenths needed to get ahead? We'll have to find out. I'll keep running laps and report on any significant speed breakthroughs.

I have more track coming at the end of the month, so this track will be redesigned, faster and longer. I'm very satisfied with how the extensions are working, and the 7 second lap times are a good lap. Not too long or too short.