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There are all sorts of slot car clubs \u2013 from families racing on the living room floor, to international groups hiring sports halls to run 24-hour races on huge replicas of the Le Mans circuit. I\u2019ve enjoyed both those extremes \u2013 and everything in between. Of course, every club is different \u2013 from the cars they race, the tracks they race on and whether the format is one-car-per-lane \u2018analogue\u2019 or a multi-car digital.<\/p>\n
At my club \u2013 WHO\/digital<\/a> \u2013 we race mostly bog-standard Scalextric cars on Scalextric Sport track, using the Scalextric digital system.<\/p>\n You can see my race box containing the Ford Mustang (GT Championship), a Honda Civic (BTCC), Ford Sierra (Group A Saloons) and Porsche 956 (Slot.it Group C) for our Digital Saturdays \u2013 plus an AMC Javelin (Trans-Am) for Wednesday evening events. There\u2019s also a small tool kit, some spare braid, body screws and a digital chip \u2013 just in case!<\/p>\n Each club has its own rules and regulations. Ours are very simple. My Scalextric cars have all been prepared using the steps I\u2019ve outlined in this series. However, there are a few extra things I do\u2026<\/p>\n Common in all forms of motorsport, \u2018blueprinting\u2019 means stripping down your car and rebuilding it, making sure the parts are as good as possible and fit together perfectly. In a Scalextric racing class where parts must be standard, you’ll want to use the flattest underpan, straightest axles, roundest wheels, smoothest gears and most powerful motor. In Part 8 – Using Upgrade Parts<\/a>, I stripped out the standard components from a second Mustang GT4 to build the \u2018Monster Mustang\u2019 with NSR and Slot.it parts. I will look through the parts I removed and see if any of them are better than those I already have in the car. Whatever parts are left over can serve as spares for my race programme.<\/p>\n In Part 9 – Removing the Magnet<\/a>, the newly mag-less Mustang suffered from wheel-hop under acceleration. Although the NSR tyres and some weight improved things, I still want to tighten up the drive train. Gluing the motor was also mentioned back in Part 5 – Fixing Oversteer<\/a> when I was truing tyres. The main reason we tighten up the drive train is to conserve energy and prevent unnecessary wear and tear. It also makes the back of the car more rigid, which should improve handling under acceleration \u2013 reducing wheel-hop.<\/p>\n First, I remove the motor and rear axle, clean the surfaces I\u2019ll be gluing with lighter fluid (naphthalene) and then I put a couple of dabs of glue between the rear of the motor can and the motor mount – avoid gluing any moving parts! The glue can be a flexible glue (Shoe Goo or E6000, for example) or a superglue. I used E6000. Then I re-fitted the motor and let the glue set. When the glue was set, I fitted tungsten putty either side of the motor to replace the Blu-Tack I’d used before.<\/p>\n Next it\u2019s time to glue the rear axle bushings. I find superglue is best for this. After cleaning the surfaces to be glued, I placed a small drop of superglue in the socket and smoothed it round the edge with a cocktail stick. I prepared both sockets this way before pressing the axle into place. I checked the bushings clicked in fully and left the glue to set – making sure the wheels were off the ground, so not to push the bushings up.<\/p>\n Does it make a difference? A test run on the Jadlam SL6 test track<\/a> gave me a smooth handling car with good acceleration on the long straight and none of the wheel hop. The car sounded quieter under acceleration, suggesting less movement and better gear mesh. So I’m happy. A two minute run wasn’t spectacular – 20 laps and a best of 5:55 seconds. That was slower than last time, but everything I drove today was well below par. Blame the driver.<\/p>\n The Mustang GT4 is a Digital Plug Ready car and the C8515 chip<\/a> is just plug and play. I\u2019ve left digital conversion to this stage for two reasons: Firstly, I wanted to tune the car without the added complexity of digital – and second, some of the steps (tyre truing, for example) risk damaging the chip. Adding the chip introduces about two grams towards the front of the car, so there shouldn\u2019t be any extra tweaking necessary.<\/p>\n Once fitted, I always check the wires at the front do not stop the front axle rotating; the chip doesn’t interfere with the cockpit to prevent body float; and the Ferrite Man (see Part 1 – Parts of a Slot Car<\/a>) is fully isolated from the motor can.<\/p>\n I also check that the LED is not poking out the bottom of the underpan too far \u2013 it shouldn\u2019t be anywhere near touching the track. I check this on my acrylic set up block by passing a strip of plastic (1.2mm thick) under the car. In the case of the Mustang, the plastic strip lifts the front of the car up when it passes under the LED – it’s too low. This means the end of the lens will get worn and that might stop the LED communicating reliably with the track sensors. Scalextric have given us lovely low and flat underpans recently, but the chips are still designed for older cars that sat higher.<\/p>\n To fix this issue, I remove the chip from the car and very carefully slice off the two plastic retaining lugs at the front of the chip. I then pop the circuit board off the front plastic legs, so it is angled up – the tip of the LED moves to a position flush with the bottom of the flap. The board should stay in this position without adding any glue, spacers etc. The angle can make re-fitting the plastic plug into the underpan a little tight, especially with the older chips with the large silver capacitor.<\/p>\n If you’re wondering why I’m using an older ‘Rev G’ version of the C8515 digital plug<\/strong>, then I’ll briefly explain… The latest version (Rev H) is a big improvement – it handles more powerful motors and gives a slightly more power. However, for non-mag cars that are top-heavy, I prefer the power profile of the older chip for racing on our big club tracks. I discovered this when developing my AMC Javelin – swapping the chips made the car easier to drive and a potential race winner. However, I use the latest chip (without the big silver capacitor) on most of my DPR cars – more power is a good thing!<\/p>\n Finally, the Mustang gets a quick digital shake-down<\/strong> on the SL6 layout with an ARC Pro powerbase and a digital lane changer fitted. I want to see that the chip works, communicates with the powerbase, counts laps and successfully triggers lane changes. I want to be totally confident my car will work when I get to a club event. The good news is that the Mustang passed all those tests with flying colours. In fact, it handled slightly better than earlier and a gentle two-minute run gave 20 laps and 5:46 seconds. That’s the final timed run of this development process.<\/p>\n Preparation at home does save time at the track \u2013 you know the car works. That means you can spend the practice session familiarising yourself with the track layout, relaxing and being sociable.<\/p>\n This first event will be all about understanding the character of the Mustang on the big tracks we use. I will focus on adjusting my driving style and evaluating the car\u2019s handling. I’ll record lap scores and times (taking a photo of the race screens with my phone), plus jotting down my impressions \u2013 and any feedback from my co-drivers \u2013 in a notebook or on my phone. I’ll be looking for what’s good and what isn’t – especially whatever factors might be causing crashes and where on the circuit I’m losing out to the better cars. Those notes will be useful as a reminder of what I need to work on between races and as a record of how any tweaks improve the car.<\/p>\n What I\u2019ll avoid are any hasty changes. So far, all my tuning steps have been methodical and thoroughly tested. Rushed changes at the track won\u2019t help. If the car is awful, I might try one thing to improve it. That might be using Slot.it P6 tyres to give more \u2018slide\u2019 if the car is very tippy in corners. Or it might be adding some weight in one place, depending on what the problem is. I\u2019ll take those P6 tyres and some Blu-Tack just in case.<\/p>\n The time between races is important \u2013 a good start are the maintenance tips in Part 3 – Maintenance & Repairs<\/a>. Done soon after the race, any repairs can be completed and new parts sourced and fitted. Once the car is clean and back to its best, any tweaks can be looked at. Any mention in my notes of oversteer, understeer, centre of gravity, wheel hop and weight should lead me to the solutions we’ve looked at in this series. Of course, an improvement in one area can make other characteristics worse. It’s a case of changing one thing at a time and testing it – at home and then at the club track.<\/p>\n At WHO\/digital, we race on a different layout at each event \u2013 a good all-round set-up is what I’m looking for. With more experience of the Mustang, I might come up with a \u2018fast-flowing\u2019 set-up and a slightly different set-up for more twisty tracks. At clubs that always race on the same track, searching for the perfect set-up is the aim.<\/p>\n It is exciting and satisfying to develop a race car. However, you can\u2019t do it entirely on your own \u2013 gathering information and advice is essential to progress. I discovered a few things as a youngster, tuning Scalextric cars at home \u2013 most of it handed down by my dad and older siblings. I\u2019ve picked-up much more from the people I\u2019ve raced with in recent years \u2013 and from resources I\u2019ve found in books, magazines, plus online forums and blogs.<\/p>\n Two WHO\/digital racers who\u2019ve generously shared their knowledge are Mike Dadson and Gary Skipp. Gary has written tuning articles for the Scalextric website, his DiSCA website<\/a> and also starred in an excellent video for the Scalextric Test Track team (https:\/\/youtu.be\/nod0pK00zvU<\/a>). Mike holds tuning sessions at his home for new WHO\/digital racers \u2013 if you\u2019re lucky, you might find something similar at your local club. Racers don\u2019t always have time to help or answer questions at a busy club event, but do ask \u2013 detailed help and advice might be offered via phone or email in between events.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.jadlamracingmodels.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2.1-2.jpg\")
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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nBlueprinting<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.jadlamracingmodels.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4.1.jpg\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.jadlamracingmodels.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4.3.jpg\")
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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nAt The Race Track<\/h4>\n
Between Races<\/h4>\n
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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nLearning From Others<\/h4>\n
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