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Food for thought. I ran a Porsche GT3 right out of the box. It was .4 a lap faster but could only run 17 laps to the non mag car which ran 20 on the same amount of fuel. The de-slot crashes were less dramatic for the non mag car too.

Stock Carrera 917's burn through fuel at a faster clip than other cars too, probably related to magnet pull and the juice that the motor needs to over-come it. It's neat that Carrera thought to account for fuel usage via magnet pull and amp draw.

Bruce, Any suggestions on how to convince guys that running without magnets is not in fact a blow against their masculinity?

A few of us in my group spend a lot of time on customizing our cars, don't want them wrecked in a magnet-fueld crash-fest, and as a result end up never running the cars we build. The majority of the guys seem to think that more magnets equals more speed which equals better. It's kind of like the American hot-rodder mentality that more horses and rubber left on the road is cooler than a tiny, light Porsche 356 pushing only 35HP that zips past them in the turns.

I've tried to explain that magnets are like training wheels, and that eventually to advance your skills you need to take them off. A couple guys won't even run if we go to a single magnet. My stance is that Carrera gives us the options to tune the cars to our liking, as evidenced by all of the extra shims that they give and pictorial step-by-steps on how to make changes. In order for kids and other initial racers to stay interested, they need to keep the cars on the track, hence the magnets. Folks would walk away if the cars kept flying off. That's fine for the beginners. But we've been running as a group for over a year now and it's time to put our big-boy pants on. I can't figure out how to change the minds of these people. Some won't try a single magnet car, and others won't even watch the race. It's nuts. Have you ever run in to such stubbornness?

I wish I were there with you turning laps:)

I would think that running non magnet would increase the value of your "man" card. I'm working on a video now of our last racing. Once it's done, I'll post a link.

Bruce