Tables and Cars

First: The Table

I've been going over my track elevations, tweaking little bits here and there, mostly trying to keep integrity of banking in the corners. I'm starting to take the Carrera track to places where it begins to protest, as it really doesn't like to be manipulated very much. I've been working on Turn 3 [center] the past day or two and have gotten it to a much better angle. This allows a nice fishtail going into Turn 4, correcting halfway through and giving you a nice early acceleration point.

Carrera track is "formable" to an extent. While not as flexible as Scalextric track, it will still flex enough so that you can get a slight degree of banking out of it if you need it. And with cars with no magnets, even a little banking goes a long way. Add a half-inch or so of elevation to the outside of a turn and the weight of the track will do the rest.

As you go around the Turn 4 left-hander and up the hill toward the entry to the back stretch, it's not as easy to get out of shape as you would think back there. The way up the hill is still a bit of a climb, a lot due to the speed lost in Turns 3 &4, so by the time you get to the top you're in a good position to setup for the straight.

While a bit hard to see, each curve has a support under the outside edge of the curve. This allows a slight degree of banking, and gives enough support at this stage that the track doesn't sag under weight. Once the outside of the turn is raised, the main support is moved under it so that the track sits on it in its banked position.

Since I don't use borders, although I plan to for parts of the track later, I try to bank curve sections in a bit. It doesn't take much to make the difference between cars always going off and cars not going off. Plus you can go faster through sections set up that way.

Level shot of the beginning of the hillclimb in the foreground and the back stretch behind. I begin the banking coming out of the S-turn so that Turn 3 is more progressively banked. The back straight is level side-to-side, and drops about an inch before the real 1' drop happens.

I do a couple hundred laps, stopping occasionally if the cars get wiggly through a particular section. Once I work on that section to get it more race-worthy, I run more laps. Thing is, little things you do in one section have an effect on other sections.
When I put in the Sweeper, it wasn't that part of the track that was most interesting...it was what was going in and coming out of it. Softening that short left turn at the end of the back straight turned out to be a huge thing. The 3/30 turn can be hit with a lot of speed with comparatively very little problem, which meant that the back straight was essentially extended to include that curve and the two straights following it. While yeah, you could still launch your cars off it, you'd have to be going at maximum speed in order to do so. Now it can be used as the start of the braking zone and there's virtually no movement from any of the cars. I say virtually because while each car handles it differently, the trick now is going to be how fast each can go through it and still be in shape for the Sweeper. You can hit that thing at pretty insane speeds, and as long as you're not trying to speed up through it, you can run through it very fast.

It is, however, currently quite flat. It will eventually need to be about 3-5" off the ground all the way to the Kink, where it will drop dramatically for the front stretch. The left side of the table will be a rolling, grassy hillside, with the track carving through the top of it. The soft left off the back stretch [I need a name for that turn] will cut through a bit of hillside that will allow it to protect from cars flying too far away. This will be the same for the Sweeper, which will be about 50/50 over/under ground level. In the end I'm going to try no not bank the Sweeper too much, and rely more on tilting it a bit to get the effect. That and about a 4º angle on the curve out to keep them in the slot.

This is where I make the pancakes.

When I look at pics, the difference between the left and right sides of the track is pretty dramatic. But when racing it, the technical section becomes way more obvious due to the incredible speed of over 2/3rds of the rest of the track. Wish I could do sector lap times. That would be sick.

So it's entirely possible [and probable] that I'll keep the left side of the track reasonably level, just raised a bit. I'll mix it up with the scenery so that the hills undulate around and through the track. That way I can focus more on the track being fast for racing, and let the scenery grow around it, as opposed to trying to conform track to a particular scenery choice. Raising the left side of the track will have an effect on the back straight, as it won't be as radical of a drop. I am already considering raising the corner and the start of the back straight to compensate, but I'm running out of vertical space, so I need to be careful.

I am starting to think that somewhere in the left half of the table there needs to be a sweet midway with rides and booths and other stuff. And it would be fun if that stuff lit up and moved. I'll have to talk to my wife about that.

The Porsche gets up the hill faster than the Ford. Deal wid it.

So there we have it. This is the current status of the track, and is likely how it's going to stay for awhile. Next step will be track elevation support.

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Second: The Cars

Since I embiggened the track and got the new cars, things have changed a bit around here. One change is something I wasn't expecting; urethane tires not having the advantage. Maybe, since I've been running the two new cars for so long lately that I've laid down some rubber, the urethane doesn't get as much grip. Could be. So I'm going to experiment. I love that about this hobby. You can do it if you'd like and nobody's going to stop you.

So I replaced the urethanes with the stock factory C1 tires they came with.

Alfa Romeo 33/3 Targa Florio #2

The Alfa has been outperformed since the new large layout has been built. The urethanes didn't seem to provide much of an advantage over the rubbers, as far as I could tell.

I'm going to re-run the 100-lap race for the two cars and compare times with the other day. I don't know if it's the tires, to be honest. But if either car does significantly better, it will confirm my suspicions.

The Alfa started to chitter again, which it has done since the beginning on some of the turns with more banking. So I got the dremel out and shaved back the exhaust pipes of the car, which are hanging low due to the chassis being warped. I also shaved a little off the right rear quarter panel that was hanging low. This stopped the chitter.

Hard angle to really tell, but those tailpipes are right down on the track.

Ford GT40 #8

This tire change is pretty much a cry for help from the Shell team. They are running very lazy laps for having what are supposed to be superior tires.

Everything about the Shell car has been pretty much sucking lately. It can't beat the new #5 car, and that thing's still got the factory rubbers on it. The #5 crashed once and still beat it. It's best lap is a 5.12, which is hardly a threatening number. Average lap speed seems to be around 5.07. While it doesn't seem like much when looked at as a by-the-lap kind of time, it's well off the pace. At 100 laps, that's a 9 second difference. That shouldn't be happening, but it is. So I replaced the urethanes with the original C1 rubber tires.

I've been running both of these cars for some time now on urethanes, and I have expectations for both of them which neither are meeting. I'm not mad, just wtf. I don't accept that both cars suddenly just got shitty. So I have to think; what it is about these two cars that sets them apart from the others and may be contributing to their poor lap times?

Tires Tires Tires

There is one primary difference between these two cars and all the others. Each and every car came from the same manufacturer with essentially the same compound of rubber tires on them. I have replaced those with urethane tires on the two cars [the Alfa and #8 cars] and used to almost exclusively run them for two years. Only occasionally would I run the third car, the #11 Ford, which still had the factory rubber tires on it and couldn't keep up with the other two.
Then things changed. The track went up on a table. More track was added. A LOT more. 10 more straights. 17 more curves of varying radius. And more cars. But not more urethane tires. They became outnumbered. There is more rubber on the track now than there's been in well over two years. Great for the cars with rubber tires, but I don't think so great for the urethanes. They don't grab and guide you smoothly for the corners anymore. They chop and stagger as though they're looking for places to take hold.

I'm not going to bag on the tire manufacturer, because it's not his fault...not all tires work best in all conditions, but I will say the tires ended up also being really expensive [28 bucks for two pair] once international shipping and customs and all that came into play. That's on me, though. It was my choice to buy them, and they're not available over here. They are, however, great tires. Thing is, I don't think they work so great when combined with rubber tires taking up 3/5's of the lap time on my track now. The other cars are laying down rubber, and I don't think the urethanes like it very much. I think you have to kind of go all-in if you're going to go urethane, even though the general consensus seems to be that rubber and urethane tires cooperate on the same tracks. Yeah I'm not sure about that.

This is kind of important, because I've been bracing myself for a tire purchase to cover all the cars, as well as a few parts I need as well. I've found Ortmanns over here that don't cost nearly as much if I decide to go all urethane. If these rubbers end up working out and I don't need to stock all my cars with urethanes, then I'm saving 35 bucks right there. This would also allow me to look into other brands tires, or maybe even other compounds by Slot.it itself when it comes time for replacements. Truthfully, I'd rather have it be rubber tires than urethanes, but that opinion wasn't the same a few months ago.

In the meantime these kinds of savings help me along. That's probably about as much as wood is going to cost to do my elevation supports, give or take a couple bucks.

One thing I'm learning about this hobby is that you buy a part to make an improvement on a car, and it may work for awhile, but if it doesn't, don't let it get you down. Some things work and some things don't. I'm curious to see how the change back to rubber is going to do for these two cars. We'll see coming up.

New Season: Monolith Championship - Race 1 - Winter Showdown - 100-lap Endurance Race

After trying all day to get a race in with all the life going on around me, I was finally able to do it. Not the 200-lap monster I had planned, but a shorter, yet still long 100-lap endurance race. This should help show what these cars are made of.

Each car got an opportunity to do a 20-lap warm up before the race after being prepped yesterday. I also reset the banking in Turn 3, as cars were coming off there during warmups. I used the controller settings for each car that I programmed the other day.

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RESULTS

Car    Time    [25]    [50]   [75]   [100]   Offs   Lap   Points

LH   8:23.22  2:07   2:06   2:02   2:07              5.03    10
#11  8:28.95  N/A    N/A   2:07   2:06              5.08     8
#5    8:30.32  2:05   2:07   2:07   2:09      1      5.10     6
#8    8:32.47  2:11   2:07   2:07   2:06              5.12     4
#2    8:41.99  2:08   2:07   2:05   2:19      2      5.21     2

That was interesting.

Not really surprised the LH won.

The Leyton House Porsche got off to a great start and got better as the race went on. This thing rocks endurance racing. The way it runs really allows you to find a groove with it, much easier than the GT40's. Somewhere near the 80th lap it started to wiggle, and I let off a little, which still made it race the magic number of 2:07.
This is a sweet race car. I'm loving it more each day.

Now this one is a bit of a surprise.

Nice run today for the #11. It got the best start of anybody and didn't let up. As I was racing at the 25-lap mark, I forgot to set the Split Time, and didn't reactivate it until the third split. Not sure what it ran the first two splits, but probably somewhere around 2:06 or faster. This makes me very happy that this car is doing so well, as this is my wife's car and had suffered miserably in last during last year's championship.

CRASH!!

The #5 got off to the fastest start, only to come crashing to earth on the 96th lap on Turn 2. It wasn't a big crash either....I reached over and put it on the track within two seconds. But it was enough to drop it to third. As I was driving it it felt like it was the clear winner. Toward the end I might have pushed a little hard.

The #8 started really rough, and only got as good as average. It didn't go off or anything...it just didn't make good time. Kinda funny since it's got the urethanes on it.

MEGA-CRASH

The #2. Where do I begin? On short tracks, it dominates. I could kind of make up for that on the hillclimb, but that's only so much speed. It really doesn't go as fast as the other cars through the fast section of the course. It kind of lumbers around the sweeper, and it doesn't have that raging top speed it needs to keep up. After finally pushing it hard, it ran a great 3rd split, only to crash on the very next turn. And it was a big crash....one of those hillclimb crashes where the car ends up under the track supports. Took what seemed like forever to retrieve it and get running again, but by then it was way too late.
On top of all that it crashed again. While not much of a crash, it was enough that I didn't get the racing groove back.


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I makes me really happy that I have FIVE competitive slot cars. These things are a blast and I can''t leave them alone. I've got an idea for my next race. Just gotta work out the details and I'll do it.

Early Day - PreRace Prep

My wife and daughters are going out of town today for a few days, so I plan on running an endurance race. Today is my early day....the day before I go to work I get up at 4 a.m. and is usually when I do in-depth slot car stuff. Can't race since it's too noisy, so I take stuff into the basement and get the tools out.
It's worth noting that this is primarily for the two newer cars, and the older cars will just be checked and cleaned and adjusted if necessary.

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Porsche 962C Leyton House

Before I started today, I had decided I needed to stop some of the noise that was coming out of this car. After all, a smooth-running race car is a fast race car. But this car has been suffering from vibration, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

The body is split into two pieces, and the vibration is coming from somewhere. Time to locate it.

So far the most that I've done is to sand the tires, lube/oil gears/axles, and rebuild the front end. I knew I wasn't finished yet, and the noise reminded me of that. This is the same thing the #8 Ford suffered from initially, and that required a pretty significant Dremel job, trimming down the chassis to stop the vibration. I opened the Porsche up and took a look.

The body is a two-piece design, almost 50/50. The seam can be clearly seen running across the middle of the car, looking like the point where the cowling meets the body. There are a few connections, but plenty of spots where there wasn't any contact other than two pieces of plastic butting up against each other. The body made a crinkling sound when I handled it. I dabbed a few areas with glue to add a bit of a seal and help stop the vibration.

I also added rubber gaskets to the body posts on the chassis to help cut vibrations. I really like these things. After running a few laps with them installed the car has significantly less vibration and noise. They were a gift to me from a friend who does lots of racing. I have a limited supply, but should be able to fix up a few more cars with them. I only use them when needed, and not just to pack the car.

If you look closely you can see the rubber gaskets added to each of the mounting posts, as well as to the two front posts on the pod. The back post on this car is a little finicky. I find it's pretty easy to over-tighten, which brings the back end of the car up into the body. With the rubber gaskets, once I get the initial resistance the rubber provides, I stop tightening. The body now sits on top of the car making contact only through rubber.

I also did another lube/oil change. The car is ready to race.

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1966 Ford GT40 #5

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  - Bert Lance

I've discovered that sometimes the best thing to do is just to blow the dust off, check the tightening, and put the top back on. I did this for a long time with the #11 GT40, and it worked like a charm. That car still shows hardly any signs of aging and is running great. So that's the plan with this car. I'll keep it clean, lubed, oiled and sanded, but I'm not going to add parts that aren't needed.

A practically perfect car.

There are a few things that need to be done to the Ford, however. One of those was to add motor mounting screws. I went ahead and added one to the exposed hole, but didn't mess with the other one as the allotted space is very limited, through my experience. I also decided not to add gaskets [with exception to the two front pod posts] to this car as I don't think they're really needed.

No fancy gaskets or other gadgets on this car. Nothing but a little lube and oil.

Another thing I'll need to do is the same thing I had to do to the other two Fords, and that's to cut the end bell pin so the tire doesn't rub on it. This happened to both other cars, as when fully revved, the tires tend to expand as they spin. It's too early to fire up the Dremel, so I'll do that later today.

That pin is so close to that tire that on straights they'll rub together.

I lubed/oiled the car again and checked the screws. I also re-glued the tailpipe assembly to the body. It had fallen out. This car is ready to race.

The New Year

This blog is two and a half years old now. I was having coffee this morning, going through early posts and reading about what I was doing then. What kind of things satisfied me. What kind of ideas I had.
The various small progressions; whether they were adding track, new cars, painting...and the large progressions; new house, permanent place for slot cars, a table...there has been a lot going on. If I look at the progress overall, I'm pretty satisfied with how it came about. I think I had a pretty good amount of patience running the out-of-kit Carrera cars for so long, but I did it.
I tried some things that worked, and some that didn't. I made what turned out to be some unnecessary parts purchases. I made a racing series where the rules changed constantly. And I learned stuff.

But it has been fun.

That's what's important. Doing all these little things amount to putting time into a hobby that gives me satisfaction, takes my mind off of troubles or stress, and allows me to step into a different world. It's like a deeply immersive video game, except real.

I know I sometimes get dramatic about all of this. And you'd think by reading this that I'm some insufferable geek who you'd want to punch over his obsession with these stupid cars. Go ahead and think that.

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I've been watching a bit of stuff on YouTube lately. There's really not much out there when it comes to slot cars. I mean, there are some things. You can learn a lot. But there's no regular thing there. There needs to be nice, explanatory videos of things that matter not just to the enthusiast, but to the casual racer as well. Things like how to come up with cool track designs, introduction to working on cars, troubleshooting, introduction to racing concepts, things like that.

So I'm thinking there needs to be a video channel. I've been kicking the idea around for a bit, and have even come up with a list of 20 or so topics that I'd like to cover. Technically, I have all the equipment and know-how to pull it off, and would want to spend time fleshing out each idea in interesting ways, a lot to do with post-production.

I've done two test episodes, and have been mostly satisfied with the results. If I decide to do it, I'll re-shoot those episodes as well. All of those types of decisions will be made when I decide on the format of the video.

I'd like them to be casual, friendly and laid back. I don't want them to be like every other slot car video, though. I'd also like them to be wide-ranging in topics they approach.

Things are changing for me soon. I'm quitting my job and going back to being a stay-at-home dad, so I'll be adjusting to that and my availability to do stuff in the attic. If it works out and I find myself with time, then great. By then I'll have the rest of the format worked out.

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I hope to be quite far along on track construction this time next year. I'm going to make a prediction: I'll be doing track decor by then. That means I'll get this wood for the track support purchased and installed, and will start terraforming after that. Depending on how my wife feels about things, I could get an early start on this stuff, or it could be awhile. If I decide to add this video series, I'll be including all construction work as well. I actually have video from the first table construction onward at this point. I just haven't put it together yet.

Getting new cars also puts me back in the mood for photography, so expect to see more of that here as well.

I've got a couple buddies who are looking to get into slot cars, so hopefully they'll be coming around for some racing.

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So it's been an interesting couple of years. There will be more things coming this year, and I'm looking forward to all of it. If you've been reading this, thanks for hanging around.

Cars Update

As we get closer to the start of a new racing season here in the attic, here's an update on each of the cars, with notes on added parts, modifications, and other stuff. I figured I would post this now so that come race time we'll already have the general history of all the competing cars.

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1966 Ford GT40 MKII #5

This car, like all of the Slot.it cars on this page, came great right out of the box. This company really knows their slot cars, and there's care and quality in each one. This one in particular is from the catalog a few years ago [although fresh out of the box for me], yet still is in great condition and runs like a champ. Detail is nicely done, with cool additions like the front tow hooks at a lighted motor housing that can be seen through the back window.

For a slot car, the GT40 has a nice balance. It's long enough so it doesn't get too squirrelly in the corners, yet not so long as to take the fun out of driving it. It tends to be a pretty forgiving race car for the driver who may not get much time on the track. This car in particular runs smoothest out of the three, likely because it's newer, and runs currently with no added parts. It comes with, according to the catalog, stock C1 tires. I find these tires to be different than the other stock C1's on the other Fords, but I could be imagining things. Either way, this is a very nice, clean, easy racer, and if you can get over the color [I have], you'll love it if not for the price alone. Pick one up. They're cheap.

Tuning Notes: Sanded stock C1 rubber tires, rebuilt front end so the front tires are on the track, removed front suspension, lubed/oiled gears/axles, added gaskets to pod, adjusted pod [med] and body [med] float.

I run in Linear mode and tend to leave the Power Trim and Min Speed % settings the same on all the cars. Those affect the feel of the trigger and how sensitive it is, which is more of a me thing than it is a car thing. The primary adjustments happen to Brake and Curve/Max. Curve/Max is the percentage of total power you allow your car. Brake is brake. Some cars use it, some don't. This car in particular doesn't like braking, and prefers to coast into the corners and accelerate out. Curve/Max, strangely enough, is at its lowest setting with this car at about 35% total power.

odds to win next racing season - 5:2

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1985 Porsche 962C Leyton House

This car was one I was waiting for...my first Group C car. I knew it would drive differently than the other cars, due to its design, length and structure, and it does. And while it hasn't won any races yet, once you get the hang of driving it, it's the fastest car I have. 

Group C cars come with an Inline motor. Since the motor sits in the middle of the car, there's a more even distribution of grip than with a Sidewinder. However, this car is sensitive when too much gas is applied in the corners. It has, however, an ability to run through the corners at a higher speed when driven properly. Overall the car is a bit noisy, but I expect that to settle down a bit as I open it more often.

Tuning Notes: Sanded stock C1 rubber tires, rebuilt front end so the front tires are on the track, removed front suspension and O-clips, lubed/oiled gears/axles, added gaskets to pod, adjusted pod [light] and body [tight] float.

No Brakes for this hot rod, as the front pulls the back around the corners. Also, it can really take the power, with Curve/Max set for this car to 50%. It's got such a dramatic power band you can really control it all the way through the throttle. 

odds to win next racing season - 4:1

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1968 Ford GT40 #8

This has been pretty much my favorite car in my collection up until the last two above came. You'd think all three Fords I own would drive the same, but they don't. Not quite. While identical in length, width, etc., each is different. This car feels the lightest, even though is isn't, runs on the quiet side and has aged well over the two years I've had it. It's also one of my most photogenic cars, and that's always fun.

I did a lot to this car to get it in the shape it's in. It didn't have all the screws for the pod when I got it, and had an issue with the spur gear. It also had vibration noise early on that got settled. Now it is a lean, mean, drifting machine. It's one of the few cars that respond to Brakes, so I use them a bit to help get this beast through the technical hill climb. Probably my best overall car.

Tuning Notes: Removed magnets, Sanded Paul Gage urethane tires, rebuilt front end so the front tires are on the track, replaced front suspension with grub screws, body edges trimmed to prevent vibration, added motor screws, lubed/oiled gears/axles, added gaskets to pod and body, adjusted pod [med] and body [soft] float, flipped spur gear to inside for better contact with the pinion.

This is what I would consider my standard setting for the smaller tracks I was running on. For whatever reason, it's the best for the #8 car. 40% Curve/Max is pretty damn respectable around here.

odds to win next racing season - 2:1

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Alfa Romeo Targa Florio #2

My lovely sweet Alfa Romeo. I love this car. It runs so well on small tracks that it's practically unbeatable. But now that I have a large track, it's starting to feel the pressure.

Is your head tilting slightly to the left while looking at this picture? That's not by design. That car is leaning. Apparently this particular model of Slot.it race car, the Alfa Romeo #2, had a warped chassis. I didn't know it when I bought it, but I've learned to live with it. It'll eventually be replaced by another Alfa, but not just yet. What does it mean that it leans? Well, for one it means it's not properly balanced. That'll give you all sorts of problems, depending on the direction of the curve you're going through. And it always fishtails a little bit more on one side than it should. 

Tuning Notes: Removed magnets, Sanded Paul Gage urethane tires, rebuilt front end so the front tires are on the track, replaced front suspension with grub screws, body edges trimmed to prevent vibration, added motor screws, lubed/oiled gears/axles, added gaskets to pod and body, adjusted pod [med] and body [med] float.

Identical settings to the #8. That's why I called it the standard. What is standard on your own track is what is standard if you race only there.

odds to win next racing season - 8:1

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1967 Ford GT40 #11

The third car I ever got, and it's actually one my wife picked out for herself. It also happens to be, the real-life 1:1 car, that is, the most successful car in my collection, as it actually won a race. Wrapped in the rare dark blue Gulf colors, this car was the first one to dominate, regularly beating the #2 and #8 in the early races.

Once I bought a couple pair of urethane tires [which went on the #2 and #8], this car struggled to keep up on the stock C1 rubber tires. The urethanes were much faster on the small tracks. Now that it's running on a larger track, it's got a much better chance.

Tuning Notes: Removed magnets, sanded stock C1 rubber tires, rebuilt front end, lubed/oiled gears/axles, added gaskets to pod, adjusted pod [light] and body [med] float.

Almost standard, except with no Brakes. The rubber tires tends to get twitchy when Brakes are applied.

odds to win next racing season - 9:1

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Controller Notes:

The Slot.it SCP-1 controller is obviously different than a stock Carrera controller. Being able to control these settings adds a much deeper level of involvement. You can really custom set each car. Digital versions of it can be bought as well.

I always run my controller on Linear as opposed to Curve, because although my track is large, it's not that large. Curve really has a lot of power at the high end. Dangerous power.

I'll be including controller settings on each individual car in the future.

And here is a video of some of them going through their paces:

Overall Tuning Notes:

Rebuilding the front end includes removing the axle blocks.
Rotating or removing the oval-shaped holder [discussed halfway down this article].
Information on the flipped spur gear here.
Other tuning info here.

Upcoming Season Notes:

I've been thinking more of the upcoming season and how to do it. I'm going to want to run more endurance races, since it'll be on the same layout all the time. It makes no sense to keep running the same 5-minute heat races.

I'm thinking of having races between 100 and 500 laps, and possibly even longer. It would take about 50 minutes for a car to run 500 laps. Ultimately I'd like each car to be able to make the trip and do well.

With 5 cars I need to be more careful to get each of them quality garage time before racing. Each car needs special attention, and I have to be on the ball or they'll suffer for it.

Also, since there has been no clear advantage regarding types of tires [at least none that has showed up yet], I'm going to hold off on buying new tires for now and go with what's on the cars. There are now enough cars to keep it interesting every race.

Speaking of every race, I'll have to change the points system. Before it was 5 for first, 3 for second and 1 for third. Now I think I can go 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, although that's really not very much points separation when you think of it. I might go for a larger number in order to get a larger spread. No incentive to come in first if there's no bonus. Maybe a 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 system would be better. It'll reward those who do well. We'll see.

I'll have all the details sorted....how many races, lengths, etc, soonish. This season also might be smaller with longer races. 

The Sweeper

I absolutely love the Sweeper curve that has been made from 2/30's, a 3/30 and a 1/30. It's fast enough to give you that satisfaction of speeding through a big turn, yet not so big that it feels like you're lost in it.

So now my problem. Originally I had wanted that section to be a bit higher in elevation, and not level with the front stretch of the track. Problem was, when I started to raise the sweeper section, cars started going off with more regularity. So I started added slight banking. Then that got bigger, and the banks started getting out of control. The cars were going around, but they were starting to stutter through the turn, almost as if they were catching somewhere.

So I went back to square one, took out all the elevation and banking, and did a race session. I was going to need to put a little banking back in.

[cars come in from the right rear] I wanted to have a bit of banking on the straight leading in to the Sweeper, as it helped the curve bank a bit better. This pic is with the new outer banking supports in place. 

I still needed to do some adjusting, but if I did it at just the right places, I should be fine. It amounts to about an inch on the outside of the track to about 1/2 inch on the inside. Barely noticeable, but enough to keep the cars happily going around the curve.

Here's how I did the inside banking:

First, buy a pack of these. They're sold as cable fasteners and got a bunch for not much. 

I took a cable fastener and cut the plastic loop a little over direct-center. Then I replaced the nail that came with it with a slightly longer nail.

Basically you make something that looks a little like that.

Carrera track has side sockets for clips that normally go unused unless you make a track with more than two lanes. There are usually two open rectangular areas on each side of the track. Insert the clip into the socket, then while grabbing the socket, bring it and the track down the length of the nail, holding it, which will free you up to hammer the nail. Be careful doing this. I am not responsible if you somehow hammer your track or crack it or break it or something.

There. I cut it slightly over direct-center so the plastic would be a little more flexible. This is an easy temporary fix if you want to try banking your track. Of course, there are a million other ways. This is just one.

See my point about grabbing the plastic and the track and bringing them down toward the table? It'll free up the nail head so you can hit it with a hammer. Nice thing is, this whole mechanism sits under track level, so it wouldn't get in the way of any sweet racing action.

So this is a temporary fix, as I'll eventually be raising the whole section at least a few inches. I'll still need to secure the track to the undersupport, and this might be a good way to do that.

Finished section. It's a subtle bank, but just enough to keep the cars on the turn at high speed. It really doesn't take much when you're running without magnets. A little banking goes a long way.

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Other Notes:

It's been bugging me that I haven't found a consistent way to name my cars for this blog now that I have so many of them. Brand names don't work: too many Fords. Model number? Too complicated. How about car number? The only problem is that I have two #11 cars. I have, however, only one car that is not a classic. It happens to be a #11. But it's also known by it's other name, Leyton House. The Porsche. The LH.

So, from this moment on, shorthand versions of the cars will be their numbers: #2, #5, #8, #11 and LH. I've changed them in the sidebar.

• Alfa                      #2
• '66 Ford GT40     #5
• '67 Ford GT40     #11
• '68 Ford GT40     #8
• Porsche 962C      LH

Also I think it's time to reincorporate the controller information into here. Reason being is that now the cars will be on the same layout all the time, so I'm going to try to get the best performance I can out of them. That means special controller settings for each car. I think it would be interesting to see the differences, plus it'll give me more to go on about. Just another aspect of slot cars.


It's going to be some time before I get more wood to continue with the next step, which will be to add the underlayer to the track. Until then I'm going to carry on. I'm loving how each car is running on the track these days, so I'm going to invest time in each one, tweaking and running trials. I'll probably do individual features on each car. I'd like to expand it even more by doing things like tire comparisons and other such things as well.


I'm considering doing some videos too. We'll see about that.

Visiting Day at the Track

I had a buddy come by today to visit with his family, and he is showing an interest in picking up a Carrera set. So I took him to the attic so he could see some possibilities. Needless to say we had a fun time.

As we were racing around, I had the outside lane, which I almost never use because there are no borders, so there's way more chance of a car going off. It was consistently going off in the sweeper, which has been getting progressively more angled as time has gone by.

Under the big curve lies that flat piece of dark wood as well as a series of small supports under it, lifting that section up about 3 inches. It had gotten a little out-of-hand lately, though.

The 2/30 curves are great, but they don't respond to subtle banking like the 1/60 curves do. The 2/30's have a tendency to fold at the joint, which makes you go through a series of flat pieces awkwardly cramming into a faux-bank. I think once they're put together with an under-track support, I'll have a bit more flexibility with them. Also, they're new. They haven't gone through the elements in my attic yet. So until then I'm doing away with all the support, and laying the sweeper primarily flat [except for a slight banking going in to the curve, which is the biggest problem].

I also need to shore up some sections regarding stopping flying slot cars. A few made it all the way off the table today. I attribute that to my overall laziness to approach the issue. Until I have the next step done, I'll be using rolled up T-shirts. I have a solution for the two ends, and I'm looking forward to trying it. It doesn't involve T-shirts.

It's either that or go slower, and I don't want to go slower.