Tire Options

[Double Naught]

So I've tried the following:

tires stock (low traction)
7mil black matt finish electrical tape (better but still low traction)
8mil black gloss finish electrical tape (better but still low traction)
Masking tape (much better with sharpie colored on but it wears off fairly quickly)
Contact cement (Awesome traction, TOO much traction and it wears off quickly)
Silicone tape (again awesome maybe too much, you have to put on two layers so it fuses to it self)
Grease Monkey glove fingers(Thanks for the idea Lasp) This might be it! Still a little slide but good traction. I didn't clean anything while testing.
The best part about running the rubber on the front wheels is the sound, quite a bit quieter.
I should have glued the tires with contact cement for the movie! Ooops low res.

[oldslotracer]

I like your track

I have masking tape on all the rear tires and figure the traction is just about right. The guys are getting much better at driving, too. Starting to get some good dicing.
Really looking forward to having reverse...no more marshals...yeah!

[Double Naught]

Thanks Luf the track is the last of the cardboard on to wood next. Yeah reverse will be excellent! I am also wondering if all latex paint is the same, the traction is good when the paint is still new but seems to go away as it hardens? You are using flat latex correct, Luf? I painted this new track mid week last week and by the weekend the traction was quite a bit less. The plain masking tape was OK but still lots of spins, it worked much better with Sharpie on them. I'll do some more testing and keep you guys posted.

Paul

[oldslotracer]

We used cheap flat Latex, and nobody here is complaining about lack of traction (or slow speeds).
I used a sharpie too, but it wore off pretty quick.

We've had two race nights now, racing 7 cars for over an hour without changing a single battery!
We run 5 minute heats, then change cars until everyone has driven each car, most laps wins.
At the start, cars are lined up single file in numerical order
The racing is getting noticably better

[Double Naught]

Hi Luf, so you buy a flat white base latex and have it tinted gray? I tried the rubber gloves and the cars are quite a bit quieter which I like a lot. I have done some testing with the track with a steep incline and I can run them up to about 14 degrees off chamber. I am amazed at how they stay on the track, can't wait to try a race. I did another video at 14 degrees, it is interesting the way the track changes at the lane changes they can work better or worse (sometimes they stop working completely) depending on the angle of the track. Reverse should be interesting, from the little bit I've done on this track (with gravity) it is difficult to go the right way. So it is possible to cover my hill climb slot car track with a MAGracing track.




Paul

[Keld]

Nice, when I see this down hill racing/breakingI can't stop thinking about realracing. there are also hills where we does break all the way down hill, very realistic, when we do slotracing we can give full speed down hill and just hit the brake, completely unrealistic.

What have you on the tires for this video?

the 14° can be much more if it only a single hill without corners etc. I will try measure my hill jump today. I think it is more, it is on the limit where the cars can stop and start again, mostly, some times the car go backwards when trying to stop/start on the hill.

[Double Naught]

Hi Keld, Yes the thought of replicating real race tracks is possible! The car is fitted with black Grease Monkey rubber glove fingers (Canadian company) around the front and rear tires. They must be glued on or they will blow off under load (I used contact cement). With the rubber on the tires you can start on the hill but you can't stop, just coast. The cars are able to climb up to about 16 degrees but they can't go around the corners at the bottom because the brakes are not that good. While driving in the video the brakes are being applied right at the top! I am considering covering my 90 foot three lane slot car track for a Targa florio theme but keep thinking about Luf's comment that it might be to big and boring where you never meet another car. I haven't run the cars long enough to check run time while climbing the hills, but I did check the temperature of the motor and rx and both were only 1 degree Celsius above room temperature. I was surprised to see that they run so cool!

Paul

[Keld]

great, my jump hill is only 11.4° and car with eletrical tape and cars with masking tape has no problem

[Double Naught]

To follow up, I guess all latex paint is not the same. I bought some fresh flat latex paint and had it tinted gray (for free,which was nice) and boy what a difference. Close to double the traction, much better. Lesson learned, the paint I using must have to old or something. Should have used a straight edge on the pin stripe, but for 10 minutes of work it's ok.

Paul

[Keld]

great you got grip, yes there are a lot of difference in the paint.

The pin stripe, where can we buy that, I think its a hell of a work to paint the stripe using masking tape, got a closer picture from it?