SlotCarAustralia
Helping ALL slotcar racers
A Bit of Background
1:24th scale slotcars are the largest slotcars most commonly raced and produced.
Split into 2 catagories (Scale and wing/flexi), 1:24th wing and flexi slotcars are designed, basically, for going as fast as a slotcar can go. In this pursuit cars and components are usually out of scale with some bodies being "wedge" like (with ad-ons) for cutting through the air and producing downfoce unlike seen on other race tracks.
Back in the glory days of slotcar racing there was only one 1:24th scale slotcar. Some cars, tracks and motors began to be developed to the absoloute "N"th degree with just one thing in mind.........SPEED!
The most noteable definition between scale and wing/flexi slotcars is that wing/flexi cars are normally wider, shorter, with smaller/wider wheels and body styles that are virtually unrecogniseable to uninnitied people.
Even amongst flexi/wing slotcars there is a divide, mainly in body styles/modifications allowed. 1:24th wing cars are normally ultralite sporting low wedge like bodies with added front, rear and side plastic "wings" (where the name comes from) designed to produce massive amounts of downforce to keep the car slotted at speed.
Flexi cars are similar but have bodies designed to look much more like 1:1 cars
A typical 1:24th wing car (note the body and light-weight/minimalistic design
A typical 1:24th flexi/wing track (note the long straights and big/flowing corners)
A typical 1:24th flexi car
Wing cars and Flexi cars, in the pursuit of speed technology is pushed to the edge on all cars and parts. As a result good cars and parts are very expensive. Cheaper cars and parts are availble, but with lower performance and endurance. Pricing will be discussed more but ingeneral, as with most things, higher cost equals higher performance.
fig.1; depicting a typical wing/flexi guide with the keel/blade height pointed out
fig.2; front view of guide on chassis in slot. Note that the track rail/braid is level with the track surface in this case. The distance from chassis to track will change slightly if the track rail/braid is slightly above or below the track surface
Guide
The guide is an important part of a slotcar.
A good guide will:
A/ be free to rotate left and right (through an arc of about >90 degrees)
B/ have minimal play (rock back and forth, side to side)
C/ return to the forward facing position when released of pressure
D/ be fully inserted into the guide slot in the track
With all good handling slotcars, a lot of time is spent setting up the guide to achieve these conditions and more.
It is common for people to think that it is necessary to have a deep keel/blade in the guide (see fig.1). This, however, will not make a slotcar handle better. It may prevent it from deslotting as much but, many may argue, if it is being driven to those extremes (where 2mm of guide is saving the car), it has other problems that may be easier fixed.
It is, however, recomended to have as deeper guide keel as possible as it is wrong to assume that you will go through an entire race without any de-slots. For this reason a deeper guide won't give you faster lap times but may aid in higher lap totals as it may cause one less deslot by having slightly more keel/blade in the slot.
The height of the guide is important in relation to the height of the chassis and front wheels (guide-chassis height, fig.2). The height of the track braid plays an important role in this too.
The track braid height is fairly consistent on most good flexi/wing tracks. It still may vary slighly so it is recomended that guide-chassis height is played with a bit.
Usually it is best for the chassis to be at the minimum height to the track with the guide fully inserted into the guide slot in the track, whilst the car braids are inserted properly into the guide (fig.2).
I have found, on most slotcars, that they handle best when:
A/ the guide is free to rotate and remains perfectly horizontal through all rotated positions (fig.3)
B/ the guide (with car braids inserted) is hard in contact with the track braid (fig.2)
C/ the guide height is set so that the front of the chassis has minimum clearance between it’s bottom and the track surface with the front wheels in contact with the track surface (fig.2)
fig.3; top view of chassis showing guide fully roted left, straight, then fully rotated right.
fig.4; new braid, as bought
Braid
Having nice and neat braid (sometimes called brushes) is the best way to acheiving a smooth, good handeling slotcar. If the braid is Twisted/worn/not installed correctly/not in the correct position it can lead to problems with the car not working or not working correctly, as they are the only point of contact for the slotcar's electrical power.
Firstly lets look at installing braid correctly. Before the braid is installed it should be nice flat, square and even (fig.4). It is at this time the leadwire-guide braid connections should be decided. Most of the time it is best to install, what are knowen as, guide clips. Guide clips provide a small surface to solder the leadwires to, facilitating the easy moving/removal/attachment of them. It is necessary to move the position of the leadwire attatchment point to ensure the guide returns to th front, straight, center position when the car is lifted. This means that it can be marshalled easier and quicker. During a race this can save valuable seconds.
There are two (main) different methods of using/installing/making guide clips. One end of the guide clip is sandwiched in with the braid end when it is slipped into the hole in the guide for it (see the braid slot in the front of the guide in fig.1). The guide clip can then be cut to length as it curves across over the top of the guide. Most commonly the end of the leadwire can be soldered directly onto the top of the guide clip. Alternatively, if a bit more clearance between the top of the leadwires-body is needed, a guide with pre-moulded leadwire slots (as seen in fig.1) can be used and the leadwires carefully soldered to the top of the guide clips whilst they are located in the guide. This is a bit tricky to do and care must be taken.
Another way to connect the leawires to the braid is to insert the bare leadwire ends (with insulation removed) into the braid or leadwire slots at the same time as the braids are inserted into the braid slot in the guide. This method means that the end of the leadwire may become disloged when the braide is removed from the guide. This can cost valuable seconds if the braid is changed during a race.
fig.5 (3 photo's); leadwires neatly soldered to guide clips and retained evenly