Comparisons and other Observations: Slot Car Garage

Comparisons and Other Observations by Gene Contatore

I have been running comparison tests between major brands of 1/32 scale slot cars. Mid-way through the testing I came to realize that the performance of slot cars that are produced by mainstream manufacturers such as Fly, Ninco, Scalextric, Proslot, SCX, and even Artin, are dependant on the car rather than the manufacturer. For example, A Ninco Ferrari F-50 did not handle as well through turns as did my Artin Porsche GT-2. The Ferrari’s rear end swung wide causing the car to lose a fraction of a second exiting from the turn. A Proslot Ferrari F-355, a beautiful car, was quite fast, but had a hard time in the turns. Still it out performed the Ninco Ferrari F-50. So far the fastest car has been Fly’s Ferrari 512. Probably due to its very light weight and powerful magnet.

Magnets are the major problem in fairly evaluating the individual cars. One of the fastest cars I tested was the SCX Ferrari 333sp. It’s handling and speed were dazzling, until I took out the magnet, then it could hardly match any of the other cars tested. I am awaiting delivery of a MRRC Ferrari 275p, which was recently reviewed by the OLD WEIRD HERALD. It was suggested that it was very nice, but because it had no magnet it did not compare to the other brand’s cars in speed and handling. I am sure OWH is right, but I will run it against cars with their magnets removed, and see what happens.

There are a number of people who have been advocating no magnet racing, and I have been trying some cars after removing the magnets. What happens is the track times go down significantly, and you just have to drive a lot better, but that’s what real racing is all about. Yes there are endurance races that test the cars abilities, but if those abilities are based on who is using the best magnet, or magnet configuration, what’s the driver for? Tweaking the motors or the gears within club regulations is not a problem, but magnets are just a cheat for poor drivers, as are spraying the track’s tight turns, and cars’ tires. I never saw Enzo Ferrari spraying glue on his cars’ tires. Can my expensive Fly Ferrari 512 keep up with my Artin Porsche GT-2 without benefit of the magnet? We will find out. Having discussed no magnet racing I must suggest that this is an adult thing. Most 13, 14, 15 year old early teens just want to go fast. The cars don’t even need to look like real cars.

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These are the responses I have received so far on this topic:

Our club in the UK is vehemently against magnets, basically because now they are so strong that the level of skill required is minimal and, as your contributor points out, they don't let you know which cars have the best genuine roadholding, i.e. due to balance, tyres, chassis, etc. Nobody seems that interested in substituting steel braid for copper tape on our wooden tracks. Also if you make your own cars you want to see how well they handle versus manufacturers products (my Mercedes 196 simply thrashes all manufacturers 50s cars and quite a few later ones).

I agree with the person who wrote the article non magnet cars or cars with weak magnets are a lot more fun and takes more skill to drive. Strong magnet cars tend to be boring and dull, alot more fun going sideways once in a while instead of flying off the track when you take a corner too fast. Very interesting and enlighting subject. Nice website!

I think its good to use magnets. But that You should be careful so that your not overdoing it. I mean there must be a thrill also. Then its very funny to experiment with different magnets

I disagree with Gene Contatore's article in which he states:

"magnets are just a cheat for poor drivers, as are spraying the track's tight turns, and cars' tires. I never saw Enzo Ferrari spraying glue on his cars' tires".

I do not recall ever seeing a slot in the track under Enzo's car nor a guide that rides in that slot either. Seriously though, it's a case of different strokes for different folks. Thats why there are different groups or classes in slot racing as there are in full scale racing - each with its own set of rules and regulations.

Whether a car has a magnet or not, whether they use glue or what types of motors are used is not a reflection of the quality of the car nor of the driver. If you like to race cars without magnets, that's fine - just create a class within your racing circle that disallows magnets.

Are we to conclude that Schumacher and Hakkinen are cheats because they drive a car with powerful engines, superb aerodynamics (using wings and other devices) and great handling with wide tires. Should they instead drive the family sedan in competition if they really are good drivers?

Slot racing, after all, is just a hobby for most of us. The important thing is to have fun and remember - to each his own.

What a subject....Recently at my local track I entered the Super G+ GTP series. Now the magnets on these cars is such that when raced at full speed I cannot keep up with which car is mine, let alone be able to enjoy any of the painting or other mods I made.

I have come to enjoy the "T-Jets" most of all. These non-magnets are really fun to drive, and require some skill in the driver. Of course compared to the SG+ cars the crawl along the track, but it's nice to actually be able to tell that I am racing a 69 Mustang fastback, and not just some black blur...

However, I am not totally against magnets either. Today's modern cars use wings, weights, and aerodynamics that help to keep the car on the road. Therefore, I do not see the use of magnets as CHEATING as some people do. I
enjoy racing both types of cars in HO scale, but I prefer a little magnet in my 1/32 scale cars

I personally hate magnets. There is nothing like hanging round a bend with the back end way out. but then I also like the Scalextric cars that will spin right round too. I get bored with the magnet cars and rip them out pretty quick. I suppose I am in it for the fun rather than outright speed.

My preference is (drum roll please.... mmmmmmmmm) NO magnets. But most of the racing I do is with HO magnet cars. I prefer no magnets because I think it adds to the racing experience. Without magnets, you have to drive the car more. You have to think about what's going on around you. You can't just blast around someone on the outside, you have to set up a pass and then execute it. If you're getting passed, you better make sure you don't get passed on the inside. I'm not saying it takes more talent without magnets. The racing is different. Both are challenging. You also have much more visual feedback as you approach the handling limits. With strong magnets, your first hint is seeing the car tumbling the entire length of the track. Without magnets, you have to apply power smoothly exiting a turn or you will slide too much and lose time. With magnets, it's a lot more on/off power application. Maybe that's why it's more popular with the video game generation, to which I belong, by the way. I'm on the older end of the spectrum, but I've played many video games in my life. I wondered the other day if this opinion on magnet racing would carry over to 1/32 scale. I received an Artin 4 lane set for Christmas, so I had a chance to try it out. Prior to that I bought a 1/32 Strombecker F1 on eBay, so I could do a comparison. I like the Artin cars and I like the way they handle, but I enjoy the Strombecker a little more. It slides almost all the way around the track, but it's still pretty fast. The Artin's are fun, too, but I may try them without the magnets. Another thing I dislike about magnet cars is the fact that they require more track. In HO, a 5 sec track with a non magnet car is a 2.5 sec track with a magnet car. 4 x 8 makes a good layout with non magnet cars. Not so with magnet cars. You can also see a non magnet car on the track. Magnet cars are a blur. I have a P2E which is so fast that I can barely see what color it is, and it's not even close in speed to an RO or Unlimited. The body is blob-like which is OK for that car since any additional detail couldn't be seen anyway. This blur effect is not limited to magnet cars. 1/24 scale wing cars don't use and traction magnets, but they're still insanely fast. I assume the upper end of 1/32 raceway cars are the same. Give me a car with some detail that runs at a speed where I can see that detail. Oh, BTW, the reason I race mostly magnet cars is because, while I prefer cars without magnets, I prefer even more to race against an opponent vs racing alone. Magnet racing is what they do around here.

Another interesting thing I tried was to modify one of my Scalextric cars. I know that you have a survey on magnets at your site and their is a lot of controversy over the use of magnets. I personally like the Renaud cars from scalextric the way you can sway them around the curves. However I also like the speed of Fly cars like my Panoz and Joest Porshe. But you can make the Mercedes CLK D2 car go faster than these two Fly cars by inserting two Neodim Fly Ref. # B21. The Scalextric Mercedes D2 cars allow you to move or add magnets, they have 3 slots available in front of the motor that allow you to fit Fly neodymium magnets. I inserted two neodymium Fly magnets in front of the motor and placed the Scalextric original magnet in other slot. This keeps the car stuck on the track even at greater speeds. Try it you will be amazed by the speed you can reach.

Magnets are OK if they're not overdone. I've got a Ninco F1 set and think the NC-1 motored F1 cars perform beautifully. I like the way the tails hang out in the turns. The cars have a nice balance of power and handling. It takes skilled control to get the best possible times, yet the cars are very forgiving and do not deslot easily. Afterall, it's not much fun having to frequently replace deslotted cars. The Fly cars, while absolutely beautiful in terms of detail, have magnets that are far too strong. The magnets simply require stronger motors and controllers with less resistance. And the cars handle unrealistically and deslot unpredictably. When they do deslot it's potentially tragic. No skill is required to run them and subsequently the real fun, the fun of true racing is lost. So I'm somewhere in between. Balance is the key. I think Ninco's got it just right with their F1 set.

Any voluntary organization has the right to set up its own rules. So if some people want to use magnets, as long as they all agree, then let them - they are the ones who will never enjoy the thrill of skill that can be realized by building, tuning or driving a car well. I am anti-magnet. There are cars out there that have magnets so powerful they could race upside down - so what! More to the point, a powerful enough magnet can completely eliminate the slightest contribution made by tyres, chassis design, weight distribution, centre of gravity and every other consideration including driver skill! All you need to win a race is a vehicle containing an horrendously powerful magnet and the most brutal motor you can fit into whatever space remains inside the body. Where is the faintest modicum of skill in that? These guys would crack a nut with a sledge-hammer, go fishing with sticks of dynamite and commute to the office in a Sherman tank as a means of dealing with the traffic. However, stretching things to the limit, I do see one possibly legitimate use for magnets - just possibly to allow them to be mounted within a very small distance (to be debated) of the slot guide, merely to keep the guide in the slot without permanently gluing the whole damn car to the track. I'm not even sure I could approve of this. Right, I know, allow magnets to be built INSIDE THE CONFINES OF THE GUIDE FLAG itself. Yes, I could approve of that. How about it?

Regards John Trott <johnatrott@hotmail.com>

The use of magnets are great for speed but surely takes a lot of the fun away from the driving experience though I agree with your point that the youngsters love blasting round the track as fast as they can without falling off too often. Our club track is wooden so magnets are of no use except for weight and at home I use a SCX Rally Set which is used for racing and testing, both the cars from the set: a Ford Focus and a Seat Cordoba have been converted to two wheel drive and had their magnets removed and some serious fun can now be had. The track is fitted with Scalextric track borders as these not only look better but are wider than the SCX ones supplied in the set and allow you to drift the back end of the cars out more, but where the real test comes is going down the straight side by side, if you're in the outside lane what do you do? Do you hold the power on and hope the other guy brakes first or do you brake and let him through 'cause get it wrong and you're off and he's away. Take the magnets out and give it a try if you don't like it you can always pop them back in, but above all - have fun!

I'm not in agreement with those who want to remove magnets. In our area we are developing classes for non-magnet, weak magnet, and strong magnet cars. I drive all three classes and enjoy them all for their differences. The comment by John Trott interests me. A magnet in the guide flag is a good idea. Many cars will not spin far enough around without the flag binding and throwing the car out of the slot instead of allowing the car to continue on with the rear end hung out. For those too young to remember it, the Gilbert race car sets of the 1950s used no slot, the guide was a set of magnets which slid along the guideway. These cars would hang the rear end out and still run pretty quick, yet with enough speed they would jump off the track. Maybe that's what we need.

Hello. I read the article on magnets in the cars. My dad and I are slot car fans. We have a large Aurora track set up with crossovers and banked turns. We are rebuilding some of my dad's old cars from the 60's which have no magnets. When we use these cars I can barley tap the throttle without them spinning and falling, being held on the track only by the guide pin. I agree that it is much better to know control, but on these new, fast tracks, knowing control is difficult. I feel it is okay to drive competitively with magnets, as long as these magnets are giving neither driver an advantage over the other.

I began slot racing in 1963, but had not raced in the last 10 years until just recently; I bought two JCPenney Artin 4 lane sets for Xmas "for the kids", hahaha! I was surprised to find the stock cars cornered pretty well, at least the Mercedes ones -the Porsches have the same chassis but larger diameter tires and higher Center of Gravity due to the body....I have been fiddling with raising the front axle in the chassis to drop the flag a bit, etc. Without the magnets, these cars would not work very well at all. Is that a cheat? No, it is inexpensive performance. I view magnets as a better solution (esthetically) than those ridiculous wings and 4" spoilers we ran on the late 70's Pro cars (and they still use a version of them). And if Enzo Ferrari had been permitted to do it, you can bet he would've been applying glue on every corner with a big roller.

John Malay

I agree with all the anti-magnet fans but I have to use the magnets in Scalextric cars to keep up as everybody has them fitted I'm fed up I got some articles on mags and showed them the racing is slowly changing, Scalextric mini's ok maybe not yet but no mags is way more fun. Also Ninco cars are perfect the F-1's are fast but a lighter mag is needed for some fun and McLaren GT cars are awesome I can beat the super maged F40 anyday in one!

Hi there, I've been reading your article "Tip's and comparisons" regarding "Magnets". I've rediscovered 1/32 slot racing in the past two months having only previously slot raced with the Polistils and HO Tycos back in the early to mid 1980's. Slot racing has come far in the past 15 years and the brands I currently own are Scalextric and Ninco. One of the first major differences of the cars which I had noticed was that of the magnets, especially when comparing Ninco and Scalextric. The Ninco Mercedes CLK DTM while a lovely car is probably one of the most boring cars I've raced with. Sure this car is fast (NC2 Motor) but the magnet is so damn strong that I simply sit with my finger on full throttle and watch the car go round the track. The Scalextric Audi (Jerver) A4, while alot slower then the Ninco requires more skill and patience to get the most out of it. Compared with my other Scalextric F1 cars and the Mercedes, the Audi initially felt like a bus and I pretty much regretted buying it. This was mainly due to the weak magnet (making handling difficult with the Audi body) when compared to the others. One has to carefully judge and negotiate curves and straights alike because this car can deslot even when exiting curves. Nevertheless, the poor handling eventually became more of a challenge then a nuisance. This car has done alot for my skills as a slot racer and I now race pretty fast with it. The feeling one gets when being able to handle a difficult car is really great and not something that will be provided by a high downforce car simply because the magnet (to a limited extent) takes skill out of racing.

Santosh