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Hi guys!
I have a problem and I hope you can help me.
Every year I host a sports-event for friends and family, this year it´s also my 30th and my fathers 60th birthday and the events are themed engine-sports.
One of the contests is to race with a 1:43 slot car track which I bought on the internet, knowing nothing about them. BIG problem, it´s really slow. The cars sometimes get stuck and there is no way they can get round the loop.
The track itself is about 9.5meters long and it´s about 20 years old.
Do you experts have any tip´s for me to get it going for at least the event and thus making the day much better?

Best regards // Johan from Sweden

Try cleaning the track rails with a cloth. Just rub a dry cloth at first. You will likely notice black residue.

Next check the braids on the cars to make sure they are clean.

Lighter fluid such as Ronsonol is a great braid/rail cleaner.

Tried that and it didn´t work so I took another tip and used sandpaper to get the black stuff almost completely off. Still too slow though :/

If it is battery powered that could be the problem.If you have a wall wart(power supply) you could wire it into the track for more power..Another idea is to check the cars for build up around the axles.Carpet fibers,hair and just dirt will build up and really slow down cars..This can be removed with small pliers,small knifes etc..

Rusty

you can also check the rails for good contact. if you´re in doubt, bend the ends of the rails (not the noses, the parts where the noses go into), a little to inside with a small screwdriver, this gives better contact between the electric rails.

Hi Johan,
You say it's 20 years old so I just thought that are the cars original from the set?
Maybe you have Artin 7.5 V track and Carrera or SCX cars that needs 12-14 V ?

Cheers from Finland

Aki

Thank you for all the replies everyone! What a great forum.
Rusty: I´v now cleaned the axles but that was not sufficient. I do have a wall wart, when you wrote wire it into the track, do you mean that I should split the cable and solder the wires to the rail directly?

Pfuetze: Do you mean that I should bend the "metal connection-bits" so that they look live a V going into the connecting piece of lane?

Aki: They are the original cars. Good thinking though :)

yes Johan, a little V for the connectors (they look like a U and there are noses that go into it, right?)

do you have a chance to post a picture of the cars?
what is the voltage rating and the amperage rating of the wall wart?