Tyco Cars Without Traction Magnets

[RichD]

HOCOC has a class for Tyco 440X2s with weights in place of the traction magnets. We run those along with G-Jets, but score points separately. The guys have found that at 12 volts they are not much fun to race. I was asked to see how the cars would run at various voltages. Dropping down to 11 volts made the cars a lot more drivable and the average speed actually went up. At 10 volts they were even easier to drive and the average times went down even more. At 9 volts the lap times started to increase and at 8 volts the car was obviously slower and would be easy for even a child to drive. We may start running these cars by themselves at 10 volts.

[ourwayband]

Those are some fun cars to run.Dropping down the volts really make them a joy to run.

Rusty

[RV Racing]

I have a bunch of $3 Tyco chassis and would like to convert them for non-magnet racing. Are you using JW's brass weights in place of magnets, or something else? Wheels and tires? Hard bodies or Lexan? Any info much appreciated!

Thanks,
Rick V.

[RichD]

Look at the Limited Sportsman rules here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzLR42N ... =drive_web
Right now the cars have hard plastic NASCAR bodies. Since the Tyco based cars are slower than the G-Jets we may run the Tycos as a separate class, probably with hard bodies and not limited to NASCAR types. The Tyco cars that you have are intended to be run on battery powered tracks and do not have standard 6 ohm armatures. I do not have any of those cars myself, but they would have to be evaluated before we could write rules for our next season.

[BIG E]

Hey Rich, Ernie here -
How many ohms are the cheapie TYCO chassis arms rated at? I'm assuming that the standard 440-X2 are the 6 ohm type, and the cheapie chassis are the ones currently listed on the Mattel website. Just a quick clarification if you can.
As you probably know, I'm mostly a pancake motor guy, but have lots of inline stuff laying around that I use for drag cars, fun loaners, track cleaners, ect. I've already outsmarted myself by removing the traction magnets from 440 and Super G chassis for drag racing, figuring that the motor magnets would be enough to do the job (like on the original Aurora G-Plus), but that wasn't the case. Excessive wheelspin and/or erratic starts were usually the result, with or without the wheelie bar. Of course, all of my runner cars have a good pair of silicone tires on the rear wheels.
I'd like to try one of the low downforce inline cars on both oval and roadcourse tracks, just for fun, without getting into the expense of buying a couple of G-Jets.

Thanks for your time and input. Enjoy the racing... Ernie

[RichD]

As I said earlier I don't have any of the latest Tyco/Mattel cars. If I recall correctly they have 3 ohm or slightly higher armatures. A standard 440X-2 has a 6 ohm armature. The key to having the most fun with these cars is to experiment with the voltage. You will never get as much grip by adding more weight as you do by running with traction magnets. BSRT has part #263 ceramic grade motor magnets for these cars that should be stronger than the stock Tyco motor magnets.

[BIG E]

OK, Rich, thanks for the tip and the specs. -- Ernie