Scalextric 375 F1 just arrived

[3nickel]

Nothing new here guys, just showing this beautiful car off. Bought it new on Ebay. I haven't even opened the body up yet. The small button magnet is still too strong for me, and will have to be removed. Ran nicely out of the box. I read Harry's great review on this model here, and it will help me no end in the tuning department.

You can see its attracting quite a crowd.....

[williamg]

Sweet ride.
Those guys really were dare devils. Look at all that safety equipment the cars had.

[3nickel]

I know, and the crash barriers were concrete or hay bales. I got the button mag out. I've got some 1/32" lead sheet coming tomorrow. There Isn't much room on that little chassis for weight. Car is nicely made.

[3nickel]

I've now added about 10.7 grams of lead to this car after removing the button magnet. I was able to place 1.75 grams of 1/32 sheet neatly underneath. I then used a hole punch and made 1/4" disks to fit in the magnet space, and added a "u" shape under the drive line which added another 2.5 grams. Then 2.5 grams were added behind the rear screw mounts on the frame, and then 4 grams added low down in the gas tank area of the upper body since those tires are quite thin on the car compared to a lot of modern cars. I may pull the "gas tank" weight out if it messes the handling up. So far so good, but there have been a few roll overs. I read that weights typically should only be within the triangle formed by the guide pin, and rear wheels, but the space is very limited on this small frame. Besides the actual car had 195 litres of gas back there which amounts to about 320 lbs. (The obvious space right behind the motor is unusable for weight since the driver comes down all the way.)

I used regular silicone caulk so removal is easy. Would you old times have added lead only on the very bottom and covered the motor cooling vents? I wanted to keep it pretty. Maybe I spent 1.5 hours foolishly :oops:

[32lbking]

I like the neat job you have done of adding the weight. Looks like you're on the right track. I agree with removing the weight that you placed up higher in the body.
I am no expert as I haven't tuned one of these cars. It looks like you may be able to form another piece of lead around the rear of the magnet pocket and around the crown gear if you have the ground clearance. You could possibly add more on the louvered area just behind the actual vents of the motor can itself. There comes a point when you can have too much weight too, so you can try it. If it doesn't work take some off.
Not sure, but I am thinking this car could have a little more ground clearance than others, so you could try sanding the rear tires a little to lower the car. Sanding the tires will make them more round and give you less vibration and a smoother running car. If you want to add more lead underneath, I would do that first as once you sand the tires, if you want the height back you will have to get new tires.
Not sure what motor is in that car, but it may be over powered too. If you have an adjustable power supply you can turn the voltage down a little and that may solve the problem. A '50's F1 shouldn't run like a modern LMP car.
From my understanding front motored cars are a bit harder to tune than rear motored ones.
As far as wasting your time, no way! You learn something whether it works or not, and experience is the best teacher. There are guys on this forum that race these cars and love 'em so I'm sure someone that knows these cars will come along shortly.
Randy

[32lbking]

Hey Nickel, just noticed that so far there only 3 posts on this forum today. Looks like everyone is posting on the new sight. You will get a lot more replies if you move this over there.
Randy

[3nickel]

32lbking, thanks for replies. I will investigate the weight areas you mention when I remove the gas tank weight. You're right about the new forum. from now on I'll post there. I agree with you that the motor is probably too hot for this car without magnets. I run around 10 volts on the variable, and that's still plenty o juice.