Simple Ways to Pimp Your Scalextric
Scalextric slot car racing is a popular hobby that continues to grow in popularity. Scalextric enthusiasts soon start to look for ways to enhance the performance of their cars and systems. Here are just a handful of techniques that will help your cars to literally fly around the track.
The principles that apply to slot cars are the same as those that apply to real life F1 racing cars and rally cars. To get more speed you can install a more powerful engine, optimise the tires and lower the weight. Optimising Scalextric cars can be very educational.
Let’s first think about the Scalextric cars engine. Of course they don’t use petrol engines they use tiny little motors and these can be replaced. You can readily find high performance Scalextric car motors that provide higher revs per minute (rpm) than those that are fitted as standard in most cars. Changing the motor will immediately give you a significant improvement in speed.
Increased speed can make it difficult to stay on the track on 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.
A further enhancement 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 the track? There are a few simple tweaks that can make all the difference. I recommend that you first try this enhancements on one of your two lanes so that you can compare the difference with the unmodified track.
Start by cleaning the Scalextric track. Any dirt, dust or grease on the track will lower friction and result in poor performance. Next, clean out the slot. The slots in your track will inevitabley gather dust and dirt. This will obviously slow the progress of your car. Keeping your slots clean will make a lot of difference.
Finish up by ensuring that all electrical connections in your system are as good as they can be. Clean all the electrical connectors and make certain taht your car contacts are as clean as possible.
Your car should now be flying around the track. Now’s the time to find a challenger for a race.
