Slot car racing with Scalextric is a hobby that continues to grow in popularity. Scalextric and slot car hobbyists soon start to look for ways to get the most speed from their systems. Here are just a few simple tweaks that will help make your cars fly around the track.
The same principles apply to slot cars as well as F1 racing cars and rally cars. To get more speed you can improve the engine, use more appropriate tires to get better traction and adjust the weight and weight distribution. Optimising Scalextric cars can be very educational.
Let’s first think about the Scalextric cars engine. Your Scalextric cars don’t use petrol engines, they use little electric motors that are very easy to swap out. There are some high performance Scalextric motors that will give you some significant speed enhancements. Changing the motor will immediately give you a significant improvement in speed.
Increasing your speed means that it is more likely that your car will fly off the track when it gets to a bend. Your car is kept on the track by means of a magnet. Many modern cars come fitted with these magnets but you might like to upgrade to a stronger magnet to help your car stick to the track.
Another simple improvement is to fit a new set of tires. Better grip with the track will help your car to fly around the track.
So your Scalextric car is fully pimped and ready to break the world land speed record. But what about your Scalextric track? There are a few simple enhancement that can make all the difference. I suggest that you try this on just one of your two tracks first so that you can compare with the unmodified track.
Start by cleaning the Scalextric track. Dust and grease will lower the traction and result in wheel spin. And the next thing to do is to clean dust and debris from your slot. The slots in your track will inevitabley gather dust and dirt. This will inevitable impede the movement of your car. Keeping your slots clean will make a lot of difference.
Don’t overlook your electrical system as ensuring all your connections are as good as they can be will bring performance enhancements. Clean all the electrical connectors, the slotted track and the contacts on your car.
By now your car should be breaking speed limits as it whizzes aroung the track. Now’s the time to find a challenger for a race.