Inspection
The first step is to inspect the entire car, the moving and non-moving components. Look the under garage and replace or enhance anything that can be changed. For example, if you know of a better-performing motor, replacing the existing motor of your slot car is a good idea.
Check all car parts. Inspect how they fit with one another. If they're loose, tighten them. If they're very tight, loosen them up a bit. Take a mental note of all the parts and test drive the car. If it performs according to your expectations, you're done with inspection. If not, make some more adjustments.
Motor Burn-In Like in any car, real or miniature, burning-in the motor is critical to the car's performance. Some drivers like to do it the conventional way – that is racing a few laps; some prefer to do it underwater. If you are leaning towards the latter, follow the steps below:
First, remove the car's shell then attach the power source to the car's braids and submerge it underwater. You can use a bowl of distilled water for this. Run the car in the water for approximately 20 minutes while changing the voltage from lowest to the maximum speed the transformer could give. Hold the speed at slow, mid and high for about 5 minutes each. Now, for the final part, simulate the actual speed you run during an actual race.
Drying and Lubrication
The next step is to remove the water from every nook and cranny of the car then lubricating it. Use a spray lube on the motor, a door opener lube on the gears and light lube on the axles and bushings.
Wheel and Tire Tuning
Truing the tire, a process that involves polishing the surface of the tire on sandpaper, is a process that shouldn’t be missed when fine tuning a slot car.
Do this by first removing the tires from the rims and run these on 220 grit sandpaper. This should remove any burr that is created by the mold. Sand the cars down until the general profile becomes similar. For further polishing, use 220 to 800 grit sandpaper. You can see that they are ready for racing once they shine.
Braid and Guide Tuning
Inspect the guide and braids and remove them when you see that they need some polishing. The key here is to make these components as optimized for racing as possible by allowing them better contact with the groove on the track.
Axle Polishing and Gear Meshing
Before fixing the axles and the gears, it is advisable to glue the motor in place to prevent it from moving while on the track. Once you're done with that, you can look to the car's axles and gears and see where improvements can be made.
Now you're ready for the race. Put all the disassembled components of the car back in place and test-drive it. Learn how you can best control it by making further changes on its setting.
Slot Car Tacks
Home Racetracks
Racetracks for home use are built using injection-molded plastic snapped together to form tracks. Such courses are dubbed as plastic tracks. Home tracks usually have features that increase the racing challenge. Among such features are slots that wiggle or join lanes together, airborne jumps, bumps, and uneven surfaces. These features are typically found on toy tracks.
Tracks for Competition
Race tracks used for serious competition are built by hands and are called routed tracks. In such tracks, guide slots used for the whole racecourse are sliced into a few large sheets to offer smooth surface which allows slot cars to perform at their best. Tracks for competitions are made very much like road courses with twists and turns although ovals and trapezoidal ovals are commonly used.
Tracks for formal slot car racing competitions can be built with banked corners and may connect one portion to another without using trick configurations. Among the common tracks used for slot car racing are:
• 1:24 Scale tracks These tracks, which are used for competitions, are normally six to eight lane routed tracks with retaining walls that are made from wood or flexible plastic. The said tracks are usually seen in commercial racing centers.
• HO Scale tracks These competition tracks are usually 60 to 100 feet long and four to six lanes wide.
Slot car tracks are powered by a power supply that's being plug into a wall outlet. The power supply converts the alternating current coming from the wall outlet into direct current. The voltage delivered to the track usually ranges from twelve to eighteen volts and one or two amps. Slot car racers may increase the power supplied to the track by employing separate power supplies for every racing lane. If additional power supplies are used, the powerbase sometimes require modification to deal with the extra power used.
Track Layout
While many slot car racers concentrate on upgrading and modifying their cars to improve their speed and racing performance, some spend their time making elaborate tracks with landscaping and other details. There are in fact, a variety of special track segments that can be added to a race track to realize a more competitive racing.
There are track pieces made to bring cars closer to each other, forcing the racer to increase speed so his car can run ahead of the other car or to avoid the dangers of being pushed off the track. There are also pieces that make sharp turns and inclines, making the racer think as to when the right time to slow down or to speed up is.
The current advancements on slot car racing are the digital tracks which enable racers to transfer from one lane to another. Digital tracks and slot cars usually employ microchips which make it possible for several racers to run on the same lane.
Slot cars come in different scales – from the smaller HO scale to the larger 1:24 scale. The best scale size for you actually depends on how much room you can use to work with it and what you are planning to do with the car.
Most slot car drivers these days settle with the generic HO scale. This scale varies from the smallest scale 1:82 to the larger scale of 1:64 and is relatively less expensive than the larger models. Originally, these scale sizes were used to create model railroad accessory cars in the 1960s and later evolved into the now popular HO scale.
This scale size run on smaller tracks and is best suited for home racetracks. The larger scales are equally popular too because of the intricate detailing that is often given to them. They are also more or less the exact miniature copy of the original model and are often raced in hobby shops and clubs. Because of their large size, they are often not seen among enthusiasts who race at home.
The 1:24 scale is the biggest there is. Although generally more expensive than their smaller cousins, this scale is preferred by slot car enthusiasts, hobbyists and collectors as these often feature the exact appearance and even performance of their much bigger counterparts. This is the scale that is often raced in competition circles.
Despite their size, large scales are less maintenance-hungry. Routine maintenance is also very easily done because there are no tiny parts that need extra attention.
The main disadvantage of using cars falling under this scale is that you need plenty of space to race them. The tracks, even while they are digital, need to accommodate the size of the car, about 7 to 8 inches long. If you have enough space, this is the best car for you. If not, it is advisable that you settle with racing in hobby shops or settle with much smaller cars.
1:32-sized cars, which are in general 5 to 6 inches long, are more popular in home racetracks than their larger cousins. These usually have decent detailing and can be modified to perform in the same manner that the original models perform. Only, the performance is scaled down as well.
1:32 is perhaps the most popular competition scale both in competition circles and home racetracks. This often requires an 8 by 16 feet track that could fit any decent sized basement or garage.
HO scales belong to the smallest of commercially available slot cars. Cars under this scale are 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches long and may or may not resemble the exact appearance of the car they are modeled after. The motors of the smaller cars are often bigger than what could actually fit the chassis so manufacturers usually modifying the appearance of the exterior.
As was previously mentioned, HO scales are currently the most popular scales there are. These could be found in home racetracks and are also quite common in competition circles.
There is more to slot cars than just being miniature mock-ups of real race cars. Most of them are lovingly made from scratch by slot aficionados and most of these cars can be modified to achieve better performance. Driving skills matter a lot in slot car racing because nothing's really keeping the car on track aside from the blade or pin in its bottom. So you really need to be proficient enough to make sure the cars don't fly off in the track's twists and turns.
Slot Car Sizes
Slot cars are available in different sizes including:
1:24 scale size– slot cars with this size need large course, making them inappropriate for home use. Most of the time, 1:24 racing is held at commercial or club tracks. Cars included in this type come seven to eight inches long.
1:32 scale size – this is the most popular slot car size. These cars come smaller than 1:24 scale cars so they are more suitable for home enthusiasts. These are also a common choice for racers and hobbyists out there. Most 1:32 slot cars measure five to six inches long.
HO-sized slot cars – these cars differ in scale, ranging from 1:97 to 1:64 scale sizes. No matter what their size are, they operate on track with the same width. A typical HO-sized slot car may come 2.5 to 3.5 inches long.
Aside from these three major scales, 1:43 slot cars are also available in the market as toddler's toys. In the 1960s, 1:48 slot cars were also marketed.
Slot Car Components
• Body Also called shell, this component is made up of solid molded plastic and is fitted over the car's chassis. Much like in real cars, the weight of the vehicle's body as well as the distribution of the said weight are considered in building a slot car. Attached to the body is an interior portion which oftentimes contains a driver figure. To make room for the motor and other components, most slot car interiors come only half the body's height.
• Electric motor This component can be positioned in front, in the middle, or in the rear of the slot car. Motors are rated by means of their speed or their revolutions per minute. This factor is determined by gauging the quantity of voltage received by the motor.
• Guide Dubbed as guide flag, this is the plastic piece placed under the vehicle's chassis to assist the car in running along the slot. This guide, which holds the braids, pivots in the slot.
• Gears These components play a major role in the slot car's acceleration and speed. Standard gears, including the small gear that's connected to the motor, can be upgraded using aftermarket components to deliver better performance.
• Magnets These components are installed in the front and rear portion of the slot to provide the vehicle with downforce. This makes sure the vehicle does not fly off the track. Some racers prefer slot cars without magnets and favor the use of lead weights. Some even want to race without magnets or weights at all.
• Microchip Not all slot cars come equipped with such component. The microchip allows the slot car to follow a car in the same race track or to change lane at a pre-set portions on the track.
Most components of slot cars can be modified, upgraded, or improved for better performance. However, without a track, your slot car will look nothing more like a car model.
