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Scalextric spares - race and tune-up
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Significantly improve the performance of your classic Scalextric carsThese 7 simple changes greatly improve your old Scalextric cars and improve your enjoyment of racing these classic Scalextric cars. Tests show how a 1970s C.052 Ford Escort RS1600 is brought back to life. The car and the track layout are shown above and the astonishing results are given below.
Lap times improved from 18.72 seconds to 6.44 seconds. See how it's done.....
| Description |
Products
used |
Lap time
before (s) |
Lap time
after (s) |
Benefit |
Comment |
| Car as received |
|
N/A |
18.72 |
N/A |
The Escort was complete except for its bumpers, with reasonable original tyres. The Johnson motor was in good overall health. On the test run the car paused and hesitated and clearly suffered from lack of grip under acceleration and cornering. |
| Electrical service | 18.72 |
15.22 |
18 % |
The Escort operated more smoothly and consistently
with no pauses or hesitations. Lack of tyre grip under acceleration
and cornering was still evident. |
|
| Lubrication service | 15.22 |
13.77 |
9.5 % |
The Escort was noticeably quieter and operated more smoothly than in the previous tests. Lack of tyre grip was still evident. | |
| Fit wide axles and add weight to chassis |
|
13.77 |
12.50 |
9.2 % |
The Escort performed better through the corners and was more stable under acceleration. The tyre grip was improved a little with the addition of the weight. |
| Fit high grip tyres | 12.50 |
9.99 |
20.1 % |
The Escort performed significantly better through the corners and accelerated well out of the corners. | |
| Fit Mabuchi motor | 9.99 |
10.49 |
-0.5 % |
The Escort performed as expected but the lack of grip problem came back with the more powerful Mabuchi motor. | |
| Fit Neodymium magnet to chassis | 10.49 |
9.12 |
13.1 % |
The Escort experienced better grip all round the circuit. Cornering was better, acceleration was greatly improved and braking effort became greater due to the drag of the magnet. | |
| Fit MAX grip tyres | 9.12 |
6.44 |
25.5 % |
The Escort performed astonishingly well with the lack of grip problem resolved with the MAX grip tyres. This is a car worth racing. |
Overall comments:
The test car - view the test car
The C052 Ford Escort RS 1600 was selected as being typical of the Scalextric cars of the period. It was not prepared before the test apart from ensuring the motor operated as expected and the car was complete, electrically and mechanically with no obvious faults. The tyres were not cracked or split to any great degree and still had grip when run on classic Scalextric track. Our overall impression is that this car had been stood unused for a long period of time.
The test circuit - view the test circuit
The test circuit was specifically designed for this test. Built from the modern Sport Scalextric track the surface offers little mechanical grip with a smoother surface compared to the original classic Scalextric track. It incorporated tight inner corner hairpin sections, long straights, chicanes, corners that tightened, corners that opened out. Essentially all types of challenges.
The test results
Each test result is the best of 10 laps as recorded by the Scalextric Sport Race Management System. This ensures the best possible accuracy of the lap times. The same operator was used for all the tests to ensure driver consistency. Each test was cumulative. This means that for each test the previous test updates were retained. For example the last test with the Neodymium magnet was undertaken with all the previous updates present on the car.
Conclusion
It is possible to significantly improve the track performance of a classic Scalextric car with minimal effort with the products offered by Scalextric Car Restorations. Modifications that can be fully reversed will give as much as 46.6 % improvement in lap times. Even a simple electrical and lubrication service will return 26.4 % improvement in lap times. The lubrication would also reduce wear in the moving parts. Going all out and adding a more modern standard Mabuchi motor and Neodymium magnet gives an overall of 51.3 % improvement in lap times. Adding our MAX grip tyres completes the package making the car very stable and a joy to drive. The overall improvement was a staggering 65.6%.
It is of particular note that the Mabuchi motor used without the Neodymium magnet resulted in a minor loss of track performance. Therefore, the Mabuchi motor and Neodymium magnet should be considered as a single package rather than individual upgrades.
If you are into racing these classic scalextric cars then these improvements listed above are for you.
Which of these improvements will you do?