[dazee]

G'day.  First let me say how happy I am to finally find a club within a 20-minute drive of my house.  So more than happy joining the membership there (comes with free gift car) and hoping my $ keeps his doors open.

But, I am having some issues adapting to the track after spending so long just using my home track which is Carrera.  This club track is a Ban Pro track.  Which is a 6 lane routed track.  These tracks are braided and have steel inserts running all the way around under the braid allowing for magnets to be used.  Lanes are set at 12v, not sure if this can be adjusted but seems plenty.

Most of the cars I have are fitted with silicone tires.  The track seems to be used at times for sponge tires and has had glue applied.  Owner runs his cars around there with rubber tires, but also applies a liquid to the tires to make them extra sticky.  My cars with silicone tires don't seem to like it.  If I run them with magnets after a few laps it seems like they are overheating the motor and then slow down. A couple of minutes cool down and they are good again for a little while.  Remove the magnets and the slowdowns stop, but they become both very tail-happy, and deslot easily.

The owner suggested running without the wire connected for the braking.  But as most my cars have the digital chip in, this was a non-starter for the first visit.  Planning another visit soon with some more cars to try and setups to check.  I think I will set a few cars dedicated to run at that track and the rest keep setup for home.

Where would you start to setup a car for a track that has been coated with glue for sponge tires - without going to sponge tires too?

http://www.mobara-base.com/photography_course.html

[nkarres]

Hi,
Silicone tires and glued track don't go along too well!!! No setup change will compensate that.

I would suggest to prepare cars for the club track only. 

Nico

[Gordon Steadman]

I suspect that the owner will start to suffer too if you use silicones on his track. They definitely leave a residue that spoils traction for other types.

There are some of us who think they are the work of the devil and should never be allowed on a slot car track. They just don't mix with other types.

Ditch them would be my advice but then, if all your cars have them, it might get expensive unless you just keep a few that you can race at the club.

I would try to persuade them to ditch anything but plain rubber or urethane, don't use anything that leaves the track less than pristine - apart from rubbering in of course.

[Top Down]

Two different environments, two different sets of cars. Trying to use and tweak one set is going to compromise your racing both home and away.

[dazee]

I have silicone tires purely because I needed lots of replacements and getting new tires over here where the slot car scene is not so big, gets expensive when you have to pay so much shipping.

So for costs, I make my own and use the materials readily available, which from my local model shop is a silicone rubber mix.  Happy to make new tires out of more conventional rubber.  Is there any compound anyone uses and would recommend?  I will do some shopping and set up the mold making.

Lap times on the track the owner was getting from rubber tires was about 5.4s, my times were coming in about 6.5 so a tad off and not consistent.  Sponge tire guy was getting low 4.2s.  Will be interesting to see what kind of races they do there.

[nkarres]

What scale, which cars, which rims are they using?

1/32 or 124

Open wheel cars or GT cars 

Plastic rims or aluminium rims



Nico

[Mitch58]

Silicone needs a CLEAN track, and doesn't play well with other compounds.  

If you want to race on a "club" track you need to set your cars up like the owner does.

When you remove your magnets you need to add weight, most people glue in lead.

You don't need to alter all of your cars, just pick some that fit into the classes the group want to run. Remove the chip and the magnets and set them up the way the others are racing.

Have fun, it's all about the fun.

[merkit the grof]

Best to select just a couple of cars to prepare for the club track to keep it simple.
For making your own tyres out of urethane rubber, try this
Smooth on

They do have a Japanese distributor


Joel

[dazee]

Thank you for that link.  I had seen that product before, but always considered it too expensive for my use.  Now from the direct distributor pager in Japan, I suspect what is happening is people are buying the kits, then selling the trial amount that comes with the kit for a higher price on Amazon.

7,900 yen for 8Kg of it sounds waaaaay better than the 9,800 yen for 900g on Amazon.  Ordering that now and will be making some tires :)  

Thanks again!

[Nonfractal]

When visiting a club as a new guy, there are 4 stages to get to the sharp end. 

1.Initially, do  what the top guys are doing.
Copy their car, motor, tyre, controller , guide, braid Selection.
You should make a decision to cannibalise some of your cars to dedicate to running at the club track.
Save your individuality for car colours and liveries. The mechanics should be straight copies of known winning cars.
Listen to the winners and ignore the squawking monkeys. 
If the winners are using sponges, use sponges! 

2. You'll find that even with the right kit, you won't be winning.
Next step is to optimise the setup of the cars 
Ride height, guide depth , axle height, tyre prep, and other tuning methods will slowly get the car to behave like a winner

3. Put in the laps and look for options to improve the cars 
Laps and laps and laps. Learn your  racecraft. Learn how to put in multiple races without any DeSlots.

4. Look for loopholes 
Are there any gaps in the rules that you can leverage?
- are there any cars that no one else races in a particular class that might be better?
- are there tyres that might be better?
- is there an alternative motor  that meets spec but has better characteristics?

Finally, when you're consistently in the top third, visit other clubs and repeat he process.
All experience makes you a better driver and better tuner.

Don't expect these steps to be made quickly. Diligence and Patience is needed. 

Alan