22nd-Jan-21, 01:09 PM
This is a pic of one of the Scalextric cars on the Ninco off-road track...
You can see how the surface is both textured and - in places - raised by 1-2 mm.
The guide still sits on the flat rails, so it's mostly the front tyres and also the bottom of chassis (and any low-slung body-work) that will be worked by the bumps.
Some cars simply had their guides bounced out of the slot. 'Good' cars responded predictably - ie getting through fine at a slower speed. 'Bad' cars were completely unpredictable - sometimes getting through, sometimes not - even at crawling pace. Like with real-life off-road driving, going too slow can accentuate the bumps - so cars that couldn't get through really couldn't get through. It was a case of sitting on the floor and marshaling an off almost every lap. Thankfully, that was only 3-4 cars out of the 46.
Even if they didn't de-slot, a lot of cars were bumped about, with less-than-perfect power, rubbing the chassis etc. The overall experience hitting the off-road section was of suddenly slowing - like wading through treacle - and then jerky power and very noisy!
The faster cars skipped over the rough stuff and didn't come off. There was a little more noise and a slight sensation of being held back.
The Ninco and SRC cars did well - they have a sprung guide, independent suspension on all 4 wheels and a long can motor with some magnetic traction. All these factors keep the cars more stable. They also have decent ground clearance. The more modern SCX cars also have a sprung guide - so consistent power, even if the front wheels are being bounced up and down. Some of the older SCX and Scalextric cars also ran well over the off-road section - probably the extra ground clearance and loose front axle helping?
On the Scalextric Class A & B cars, there wasn't much to do to make things better - lower-profile front tyres maybe. For the Class C cars - a sprung guide is recommended.
You can see how the surface is both textured and - in places - raised by 1-2 mm.
The guide still sits on the flat rails, so it's mostly the front tyres and also the bottom of chassis (and any low-slung body-work) that will be worked by the bumps.
Some cars simply had their guides bounced out of the slot. 'Good' cars responded predictably - ie getting through fine at a slower speed. 'Bad' cars were completely unpredictable - sometimes getting through, sometimes not - even at crawling pace. Like with real-life off-road driving, going too slow can accentuate the bumps - so cars that couldn't get through really couldn't get through. It was a case of sitting on the floor and marshaling an off almost every lap. Thankfully, that was only 3-4 cars out of the 46.
Even if they didn't de-slot, a lot of cars were bumped about, with less-than-perfect power, rubbing the chassis etc. The overall experience hitting the off-road section was of suddenly slowing - like wading through treacle - and then jerky power and very noisy!
The faster cars skipped over the rough stuff and didn't come off. There was a little more noise and a slight sensation of being held back.
The Ninco and SRC cars did well - they have a sprung guide, independent suspension on all 4 wheels and a long can motor with some magnetic traction. All these factors keep the cars more stable. They also have decent ground clearance. The more modern SCX cars also have a sprung guide - so consistent power, even if the front wheels are being bounced up and down. Some of the older SCX and Scalextric cars also ran well over the off-road section - probably the extra ground clearance and loose front axle helping?
On the Scalextric Class A & B cars, there wasn't much to do to make things better - lower-profile front tyres maybe. For the Class C cars - a sprung guide is recommended.
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